Yew Jin's Sometimes Blog

Reveille

Due to the time difference between Singapore and US, I wake up at around 6am PST while the Mrs stays up late (by our standards) to videoconference. This arrangement means that I normally sleep by around 10pm. As such, I normally get to work by 8ish, which brings us to the one frequently asked question is what the working hours are like. There are people here at this time of the day, but let's just say if someone is working at this time, it's being a looooong night. The working hours vary greatly from project to project, but people tend to incline towards starting around 10am and going home after dinner (it's free anyway).

After arriving at my desk, I normally throw down my bag at my desk, and think to myself how unfit I am to be this out of breath.

Self-Powered Commuting

I cycle to work daily as I live about 5-6 miles (depending on the route I take) away. This is apparently quite Googley, so for every 5 days you cycle to work, Google will donate $25 to a selected charity. See Forward Management and Sierra Club Mutual Funds Announce 2007 Green Leaders and Bike to Work Day [danvk.org].

Here today, Gone tomorrow

The first two weeks as a noogler involves a lot of learning and going for lectures. By the second week, I learnt how to ignore certain emails, what classes to attend or not (and what classes to try your darnest to get a place in), and, well, where to find out what you do not know.

I have a mentor who guides me, but it turns out that my group has gone to Hawaii this week, leaving me and a noogler who joined a week before me back in Googleplex.

I have a goal

I started a personal project to sample all non-alcoholic distinct canned and bottled drinks available at Googleplex. At last count, I had about 40 bottles and cans listed in my spreadsheet, and I reckon I am about half-way done (I still have not gotten to the Cokes and Pepsis).

My last marathon

I have a deal with the Mrs that I can run one more marathon, and I have my sights set on one in the Bay area. Definitely. And this time, it will be sub-4 hours. Oh yeah.

Does anyone have a good suggestion for marathons in the Bay area? Preferably as close as possible to Mountain View, California (don't have a car).

Perks

Friends and family keep asking me for what other perks Google has to offer. Let's see, you get $5000 off when you buy a green car (although that's about to change for 2008). Free laundry room with free washing powder/liquid. Did I mention the food? Free gym membership with subsidized personal training rates. Subsidized massage plus one-time free one-hour massage. On-site doctors. Medical, dental and vision coverage. High-end desktops with 30" monitors for software development plus a laptop (Mac, Windows or Linux). Nap pods (these are cool, basically they are sofas with screens and lounge music that allow you to take naps). Dog-friendly. Great talks (e.g. Obama visited Google). California weather.

It's a nice great almost-perfect place to work for, ok? :)