2 and a half weeks to go

I flew last weekend, with Robert French of Bay Area Learn To Fly in a Cessna C-172N Skyhawk at Sundance Flying Club.

I also finished Dune and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass. Now on to Shadow of the Hegemon (Ender's series book 6).

Work is good; I am done on Friday, August 13. Matt, Justin, and I are rafting Saturday on the Middle Fork American. Though it starts uber early due to the Tevis Cup horse race (they are releasing the rapids earlier so that the river level can be back down later for the horses & riders to cross the river).

Peace

Matt

Matt.Rand()

Bush in 30 seconds

I'm flying on Saturday, for the first time ever. Should be fun.

I'm done with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, now I'm reading Dune.

Peace

Matt

What dorks listen to

If I pick my job preference from my musical tastes, I'm a Linux man.

JetBlue has ultra cheap fares from San Jose, but not starting til September. After I leave.

Peace

Matt

Thoughts on the area

I guess if I wanted to be in California, or in this area, as an adult I would want to live in Half Moon Bay. Yeah, the commute would be longer, yeah I wouldn't be near anything but isn't that the point? I could be near the ocean, 40 minutes from Google, 40 minutes from San Francisco, 50 minutes from Santa Cruz and living in an awesome place.

I'm trying to see if I can get a flying lesson this weekend. That would be cool; I realized this week that I'm likely going to be more comfortable in life than I'd expected. It's really a nice thought.



(that's from my new image gallery)

Peace

Matt

Music Plasma

Music plasma is really interesting, it seems to accurately match up your favorite musicians with similar ones. Not sure how.

I'll get pictures up soon from my visit to Krista

Peace

Matt

Books and NYC

Just finished Xenocide (the book after Speaker for the Dead) and just started Children of the Mind (the book after Xenocide)

Flying to NYC this weekend to visit Krista (and see Blue Man Group).

Peace

Roach

Cool beans

My parents land on Thursday at about 1 and are here til Monday at about 1, so I should be getting to those harder to reach places while they're here.

Tomorrow: Spiderman 2 on the company
A week from Thursday: gone to NY for a 3 day weekend with Krista

Let's see, past that
Just read Zodiac, by Neal Stephenson
Reading Speaker for the Dead (the book that comes after Ender's Game)
and Dune

So for my goal of 20 books, I'm on my 12th.

Peace

Matt

More books I've read

Finished Fast Food Nation (must mail to Kris) and BNW. Didn't read BNW revisited. Got too boring.

Off to Santa Cruz for the night, was going to go to Pride parade tomorrow. Turns out it's on Sunday. Bad Shashi!

Matt

Love this company

So today was the Eng offsite in Santa Cruz. Very fun. Very braindead. I think that next time I drink more water and less beer.

I got a blogger shirt finally, and the Eng offsite shirt too :)

Parents are here in a week, leaving for Krista's in 2. Got to go!

Matt

So far this summer

Slaughterhouse Five
Force 10 from Navarone
Bourne Ultimatum
Harry Potter 1
Harry Potter 2
Harry Potter 3
2001
I, Robot

Currently: Fast Food Nation
Next: Brave New World & Brave New World revisited

Matt

More ways I'm like a kid here

I get to ride a Segway, borrowed from Google!
Stallman's here tomorrow, he was interesting at h2k but a little... odd. Like 2k+1.

-Matt

Groggy

I'm like a kid again, and it's great!
When I go home, I have no computer to use.
The last 2 movies I've seen are Shrek 2 and Harry Potter 3.
I'm reading Harry Potter book 1.
I'm enjoying all these really new experiences. (San Francisco, Santa Cruz)
Google is like a giant playground for nerds
I haven't driven since I was home
No responsibilities (or very limited)

Oh, and a coworker today described me as "having a personality like a labrador retriever."

Matt

San Francisco

Click the title for pictures of my trip Sunday with Meghan.

Having a blast!

Matt

TGIF

PowerBook with a Conscience

Pretty roses trying out the Macro Mode on my new Canon SD-110

The rest of the rose pictures

Check out the afterburners on the thunderbirds

The rest of the airshow pictures

Sea lions in Santa Cruz

The rest of Santa Cruz pictures

I see this on the way home every day... (The mountains are across the bay)

Images root



Matt


(I miss Krista... but hey. I wouldn't have seen her yet if I lived at home either. And in Maine I wouldn't have a job.)

Weekend: 75% good

Lonely Monday. SF trip was cancelled for the interns. Air show was good, little overly patriotic... more so than I remember. Santa cruz was good too. If you add the 2 together you know why I'm burned.

I'll post pictures soon. I have good pictures of the air show, and of sea lions at Santa Cruz, and trying to take some of the roses in front of the Burstein's.

Matt

Here, working

So I got a full idea of what I'm doing here at Google and I have mastered the necessities.

Interesting things:

To get easy mac, campbell's soups, and chef boyardee one must go to an inorganic grocery store (the opposite of Whole Foods).

Major League Soccer is fun!

The bay area is georgeous... and no rain rocks too. And bike paths are awesome. And Google is awesome. Do I have to leave?

I am currently working with jsp+struts+ant+beans. If that means anything you know what I'm doing. If you don't... basically high end web based application stuff.

Peace

California here I come

I enjoy flying :)

Important stops:
2 pm lunch with Kacy
5:30 flight
8:30 (EST) land in Minneapolis
1:58 (EST) land in San Jose

Goals for the summer: (non work related ones)
Get to San Francisco 5 times
Go to Alcatraz
Get white water rafting at least once
See Krista at least once
Have fun :)

Only in Kenya

Must start packing tomorrow

Amatos

I shall miss Amato's. I miss it when I'm at school too. Amato's Pepperoni Italian is just awesome.

Now I must seriously prepare for my departure. Or at least think about getting serious...

California .... here I come!

Everything's coming together nicely for the summer, can hardly wait to leave. Have clothing, housing, transportation, a new backpack... hrm. Seem prepared!