CodeCon 2006, Day 4
San Francisco streets
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
It's a little disorienting to wake up in a different place every night. When I opened my eyes on Saturday morning, I was sleeping on maradydd's daybed. I padded off to the kitchen to get a drink of water and then tried to figure out what to do.
It was very late in the morning and I was exhausted from the late nights and early mornings. But I did manage to rent a car and get spider88 up and about before the sunset. We drove to Google and tried to get inside.
We managed to park the car and find our way to Building 43, where I convinced someone to let us into the front door. In the lobby was a projector that showed a scrolling list of queries that were being submitted to Google right that second. I stole a couple of smoothies for Spider and myself, while we waited for Jim Morrison to come downstairs.
I had to sign an NDA on going inside, which I did by putting down a large X. What can I say? I'm illiterate!
We walked about the place and were introduced to some co-workers. I noticed that he had my inspirational poster up on his door. I'm glad that I'm making a positive impact at Google, even though I don't work there. I met some of his co-workers, strolled around the building, and noticed that many of their inflatable meeting rooms lacked straitjackets.
Royan Hotel
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
They have amusing whiteboards all over the place, which are used for generating collaborative ideas. It would be neat if we did the same thing at NITI.
Shopping needed to be done, so we went outside and drove to some supermarkets. There, we picked up the ingredients for dinner. Man, I still can't get over how small the produce sections are in U.S. stores. And their yuppie-food stores are a lot less charming than ours. But I was happy to be able to get melon and prosciutto in the dead of winter, so who am I to complain?
Once done, we went to Jim's place. It was there that we found wealhtheow waiting for us. As well as Joel and Rhoda, whom I only see at parties and I cook for. Rhoda had brought some ice cream which was now slowly melting, so Jim went to quick work making vodka creamsicles.
I started making meatballs when other people started arriving. I recall a Justin and a Jeffrey. Oh, and Katelyn because Jim had borrowed her mobile phone. Jim is really difficult to reach, he doesn't have a working telephone number at all. Not even at work! Lucky bastard.
We put the meatballs in the oven and started making pasta sauce. Then the linguine went into a pot of boiling water and dinner was basically ready. Unfortunately, the meatballs had overcooked a bit in the oven and the dish they were in had shattered. Whoops! I need to practise more cooking in different conditions, I think.
In the end, we had a very decent time and I was the only one who abused alcohol. Which led to Rhoda identifying that I had moved to Québec and segued into a discussion about swearing. :)