That same night we celebrated Adam’s birthday by Pub Golfing in downtown Santa Barbara. Pub Golfing is an event where participants dress up as golfers and score plus or minus strokes at a list of bars. Since we aren’t too crazy, we only did a 9 bar (hole) Pub Golf, which included penalties for PDA, water hazards, or bars at which people, couldn’t pee, and sand traps, or being caught talking to a cougar. Bonuses were offered for drinking the hole specialty, downing a drink in a single attempt, buying drinks for others and drinking more than the 1 required drink per hole. No one was penalized for a water hazard, but Adam did get trapped in the sand when a cougar pounced. Fortunately he escaped from the cougar’s paws before more penalties occurred. It was a glorious night.

The weekend following the previous events I decided it was time to properly network our apartment, so I took it upon myself to run wires between the rooms through the attic, as well as between the first and second floor. Wiring between the rooms was a piece of cake but getting between the first and second floor was a bit trickier. I’ll just say involved a coat hanger and some duct tape. With our house fully connected we can now stream movies or TV shows from any computer in the house down to our huge ass rear projection TV, which we got for $100 from our old neighbor.

As one of three co-chairs for the UCSB ACM club, I have organized and ran two events. The first was the Annual UCSB Programming Competition, which we use as a qualifying round for the Southern California Regional Competition. This year, sixteen students competed in the competition, which greatly surpasses the turnout from years past. The top 9 willing participants went on to compete in the regional competition in Riverside this past weekend. This year was the first time in UCSB history that we were able to send three full teams to the competition. I consider this a success the department, the club, as well as for myself.

The second event I organized was an Install Ubuntu event in which anyone was welcome to drop in and install Ubuntu on their computer. In all, about ten people successfully installed Ubuntu on their laptops, with zero failures or data loss. I was impressed that the wireless adapters on all the laptops worked immediately after installation, which has been a problem with Linux in the past. One person had a problem with their computer randomly freezing after a period of usage. We unfortunately could not alleviate this issue. Despite the one problem, I feel this event was a huge success, and expect an even bigger turnout next year.

Excluding what has really been taking up the majority of my life for the last eight weeks this pretty much covers everything up until now. My next entry will really focus on the adventures of a Ph.D. student.

Monday I attended a new student orientation for the Department of Computer science. I’m pretty sure I had heard most of the material already, but I was not there for the information. I was there to meet the new faces that I would likely be hanging out with for the next five years. Among the new Ph.D. students was a girl from Lebanon, a married man with two kids from South Africa and some other familiar faces.

Tuesday there was an all department TA orientation in which myself along with a few other CS students attended the breakout sessions TAing Engineering Students and Profiles of UCSB Students. The second session was rather interesting as I found the “profiles” of UCSB students to be rather accurate. Additionally it was also the first time I heard the phrase Helicopter parent, which seemed incredibly strange to me since my parents are definitely not that way, and as far as I can tell none of my friends’ parents are either. Nonetheless since I heard the phrase I’ve overheard people’s conversations with Helicopter parents and I must say it’s ridiculous how involved some parents are.

By Wednesday Scott and Adam were back and the three of us started the hunt for a place to live. We started with Sesame Tree, the place we originally planned to live, despite being told we didn’t meet their income requirement. We figured since we had plenty of income from the summer to cover expenses we could work around it. We were told us they would consider us.

Class started on Thursday and my only class was CS 594 which is a course offered by the Computer Science Department on writing and presentations. I took the course last fall, but my writing can always improve as well as my presentation skills, thus I signed up to take it again. Friday I received a call in the morning that we could live at Sesame Tree under one circumstance, paying all nine months rent up front. Given the apartment’s fair price, as well as its proximity to UCSB, we decided to pay a significant portion of our summer savings up front for nine months rent. It was by far the most money I had ever spent at once.

Friday night we were given the keys, and Saturday morning we got a U-haul to make the two trips from our storage unit to our new place. Most of the weekend was spent unpacking and settings things up, but by the end of the weekend I was fully moved into my room. Since this time I have absolutely loved my new room as it feels like an actual room, unlike the hallway-ish room I had for the last three years. Finally words cannot describe how awesome sleeping on my own bed for the first time since June was, however I can say that I was finally home.

I finished my Internship at Google and said goodbye to all the friends I made there. On my last day I gave a presentation on my summer at Google and what it was that I actually did. It went quite well, but prompted a few last minute changes to my work, a few of which I was unable to accomplish. I had my last Google meal at Lunch, my last Google iced mocha around 3:00, quickly followed by my last drinking at Google. Someone had purchased Rockband 2 that week, so we played that for a bit, and then we decided to head to In and Out for my last meal with Googlers. At In and Out I attempted to discover the name of a song that I had stuck in my head. Steve was able to contribute a few lines to the song, and Dan, after much convincing allowed us, with our slightly greasy hamburger hands, permitted us to look up the song on his Iphone. Dan had actually turned the ordeal into a bet, by saying we couldn’t find the name from a single query containing the fragmented phrases we had. Well he was wrong, and we quickly discovered that the song was Jukebox Hero, by Foreigner.

Later that evening I hung out with Julie and a few of her friends. We watched a movie with a ton of action, I mean it couldn’t get more manly. It definitely was not Step Up 2: The Streets We later played a game of Kings Cup which I believe I lost. I must have shouted “Light up the eyes boys!” a few times, as we put 3 Ninjas on in the background. After the game and the movie I said my goodbyes and headed home.

Saturday afternoon I spent packing and cleaning which wasn’t terribly exciting. That evening I went up to Berkeley one last time to hang out with Mira, Bung and Reina. I ended the summer the same way I started it, by playing pool at a bar, crashing at Mira’s, finally followed by breakfast the next morning. Yet again I said my goodbyes, and headed back to Los Altos Hills for the last time. From there it took me a few hours to load up my things and hit the road for Santa Barbara thus ending my summer.

The summer of ‘08 was by far the best summer since the summer of ’04 in which I went to Hawaii. I had the opportunity to meet a ton of new people, and experience an internship like no other. Sadly, unless I work for Google again, or another Googley company, I likely wont have any other experience similar to it. That however, wont stop me from making the most of whatever situation I find myself in.

Up next: Between Google and School

• A bit of grilled wild boar bratwurst with sauerkraut, caramelized onions, mushrooms, shoestring celery root, turnips, brandy, Guinness
• A bit of pacific almandine tilapia with crunchy almonds, lemon teriyaki and diced ginger Shrimp
• A bit of smoked salmon alfredo with orzo, roasted garlic, cream, arugula, parmesan cheese, chives, caper and red onion relish
• A bit of sauteed broccolini with red cabbage, shallots, corn and blackberry–walnut vinaigrette
• A devil’s food cupcake, with white chocolate-raspberry cream
• A glass of water

I hope you’ve enjoyed this indirect taste of Google’s food. I sure enjoyed consuming it

• A few profiteroles
• An iced mocha special made from the friendly barista
• A little piece of chocolaty goodness
• About 10 minutes ago Travis and I had a shot of Knob Creek to polish off what was left from our Autotest party night
• And I’m feeling a light beer to finish off the day will go well before dinner. I just selected a Kona Longboard.

Mmm enjoying my beer prior to dinner.

• 2 Falafel patties(?) with Tahini and Yogurt Cucumber Mint Sauce
• Caesar Salad with Caper Anchovy Dressing
• 4 pieces of Tuna Poke Hand Roll
• Plum Streusel Toffee Cake
• A glass of strawberry lemonade

After lunch we explored the micro-kitchens in the nearby building because the word is they had Hershey and Dorito products which none of the other micro-kitchens have. It turns out this was correct so I treated myself to a tiny size Krackel bar, tiny bag of nacho cheese Doritos, a few peanut M&Ms and finally some organic jelly beans. I only had the M&Ms because they came out of a cool dispenser, rather than the fun size packages they have in my building, and the jelly beans because I had never had organic jelly beans before. They were quite good, but tasted more like a cross between jelly beans and fruit snacks.

Stay tuned for coffee/snack time, followed by dinner!

I arrived at Cafe Moma for breakfast at approximately 9:15 and I filled my plate with the following:

• 2 Pancakes which I put a very light amount of raspberry syrup on
• A piece of Sourdough French Toast, with a little maple syrup
• A scoop of Roasted Chicken and Avocado Scrambled eggs
• A scoop of Moma’s Home Fries, which I add a little Moma salsa to
• A slice of cantaloupe
• A small glass of water

Everything but the french toast and avocado scramble are part of my standard breakfast. French toast seems to appear every few weeks, and the scrambles vary from day to day. Once I got back to my office I grabbed the “Green Machine” variety of Naked juice which I’m still sipping on. I’m full but I can’t help but wonder what I’ll be having for lunch…

Week 12 gave me the opportunity to complete more of my project and even expand outward a bit. Friday I added a much needed feature to Autotest which simply was an email notification when an Autotest job completes. Nothing too exciting but it was the change I needed to finish the week strong as my project has really started to dull out. Last Monday we had a dodgeball match which we unfortunately lost. Tuesday I played a grueling match of volleyball followed by a game of dodgeball in which we dominated. I have developed what I believe to be a case of tennis elbow, which must be synonymous with volleyball and dodgeball elbow. Anyway we knew we couldn’t advance out of pool play with our best case 2-2 record, so I decided to change up my strategy to avoid irritating my elbow. I stood in the back basically acting as a target and feeding others the balls. I did throw four times of which I managed to make three kills, so that felt good. I also pulled off two or three catches, thus ending my dodgeball career at Google.

Thursday I again played volleyball at lunch and very strongly believe that Keri Walsh watched me play, or at least that’s what I’m telling people. The four of us who were playing believe we saw Keri Walsh (or her double) walk by the Google beach volleyball court. Despite the lack of eye contact we deduced that at one point she must have glanced over, or at least peripherally noticed us playing while laughing to herself about how much she would dominate us. Keri, please come back and dominate us!

Friday, as I mentioned earlier, kept me occupied with my Autotest frontend patch. Additionally around 2PM, a man we’ll call “scottz” came into the office and asked if anyone was up for whiskey. Well, duh! So him and I both had a dry finger of Knob Creek. I don’t sip dry whiskey very well so I ended up shooting it, then moved on to a Pilsner. Despite the light boozing, my production went way up as I pounded out the rest of the patch. Around 5:30 a little bit of Rock Band took place and at 6:30 Steve and I met up with Molly and Julie at Stanford for the UCSB Stanford Women’s volleyball match. Julie, Molly and I were decked out in our UCSB gear, and all were hoping for a UCSB upset against the #2 ranked Stanford girls, however it unfortunately did not happen. Nonetheless we represented our school by starting the Gaucho cheer: “OLE!, OLE! OLE! OLE!, GUACHOS!, GAUCHOS! (repeat)” Following the game the four of us went to Pizza My Heart and then the Rose and Crown for some darts. I still remain undefeated at darts this summer

Saturday morning I talked with Ben who asked about returning the laptop he leant me. Being as awesome as he is, he suggested I pickup a Macbook which he’d reimburse me for. I wasn’t going to argue with that! So that morning in the free time I had before my BBQ I picked up a Macbook and first generation Ipod Touch. The Ipod Touch was free pending a mail in rebate thus, Saturday just started off awesome. When I returned from my Apple store adventure I played with the Macbook until people started arriving for the BBQ, which ended up being quite awesome. For nostalgic purposes these people showed up, in order of appearance: Alison, Evanne, Mira, Bung, Molly, Julie, Steve, Dan, Victor, Glen, Jeremy, Jermey’s gf (sorry forgot name), Kristen, and Adam. I’ll sure feel like an ass if I forgot someone… Anyway throughout the BBQ Steve and I did backflips into the 5′ deep pool. Steve + Dan beat me + Bung in a chicken fight, and the rest basically involved hanging out, chatting and enjoying the food cooked by Al, who I’m renting the room from.

Sunday was another one of those hang out and chill days. I made a quick trip to Frys to pick up 4GB of RAM for lappy2.0. After installing I played around with the Macbook a bit and got caught up on Entourage, Prison Break, Weeds, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and Dexter. Today Adam and Kristen came to Google for lunch. I sold the Ipod Touch to a follow Googler for $180, which when the time comes I’ll put this money toward an Android based phone, or maybe a 120GB Ipod classic. Additionally today I fixed up quite a few things, added a few features and was assigned a bug for Autotest. I feel kind of weird working on Autotest when that’s not specifically my project, but I think Google would prefer I be some manor of productive rather than twiddling my thumbs waiting for the next thing to do. Have I mentioned that I don’t work well when I don’t have much to do?

So this is my last week. It’s going to be sad to leave this all behind, but I am eager to officially start my PhD. Other than Wednesday WTF (assuming I write one), the next time you read from me, it’ll be written from Santa Barbara. Adios from the Hills!

Wednesday Art and Eric came to Google with their bowels full after reading about my bidet adventure. We ate a huge lunch, I gave them a little tour, and then they entered the post-bidet-experience world. On his way out Eric gave me two tickets to the Stanford vs. Oregon State football game which was the following night. That Thursday I played volleyball, and then took off a bit early to attend the football game with Julie which Stanford won. Friday after work I went to Chili’s with a Volley-oogler (I just made that up) followed by a few hours of open volleyball. This was the first time I had played indoor all summer, and damn it felt good.

Saturday I headed up to Walnut Creek to meet up with my high school friend Britt at her barbeque. I met some really cool people, did some back flips in the pool, whilst getting pretty hammered. Sunday morning I headed into Berkeley and met up with Mira, Bung, and Christine for breakfast. After Christine left, Mira, Bung and I headed into the city to meet up with Molly and Lindsey at Ocean Beach, where the wind was blowing hard making cool formations in the sand. We later went to sushi at an awesome place but I seem to have forgotten the name [update: Sushi Bistro -- thanks Molly]. After dinner I met up with Swardlick and Adam E. We grabbed a drink at a bar and then went to see Pineapple Express. Following the movie we headed back to Swardlick’s sweet pad to have some gin and tonics. In the morning we went to a little breakfast place down the street, then I headed back to Los Altos Hills.

That brings me to week 11, in which there was the usual Tuesday volleyball. Wednesday the Google dodgeball league started and our team won our first match. Our Thursday volleyball game was canceled but it wasn’t too bad since we had another dodgeball match which we unfortunately lost this time. Friday was pretty much a double dose of a short day as I played volleyball in the morning and then took off early for an offsite with the Autotest team at a beach a few miles south of Santa Cruz. We grilled some steaks and drank until our livers quivered. Yesterday was simply a recovery day in which I watched quite a few episodes of House.

And that reminds me I forgot to mention I finished the Star Trek series The Next Generation a week or so ago which I had started over Christmas break. I’m pretty sure it’s all downhill from here with respect to Star Trek, but nonetheless I will complete DS9, Voyager and Enterprise before I am done with my PhD. However my current TV adventure is catching up on House, which I just today finished the second season.

Finally, today as I already mentioned, I sold the 944. I also went to Google for some Sunday afternoon volleyball. After grabbing some dinner, I came back, watched some TV, and decided it was time for the two week update.

Entering week 12 means that I have two more weeks of summer, and more specifically two more weeks at Google. Breaking this down further: I have 4 more regular opportunities for Google volleyball, 10 more Google breakfasts, 10 more Google lunches, at least 8 more Google dinners and who knows how many more bidet experiences. In either case I’m going to make the most of these last two weeks, and enjoy as much as I can.

Person A: I just heard the most ridiculous thing.
Person B: Oh yeah, what is it?
Person A: My friend who works at [XYZ Coorporation] told me they discovered the problem as to why a few of their servers crashed. They found wood in the CPU socket.
Person B: They found what!?
Person A: They found wood.
Person B: You must be kidding me.
Person A: Nope. It would seem that the people who put together the servers stick all the memory chips in the slots at once, place a wood block across them, and then hammer them in. Apparently this sometimes causes splinters to fly off into other locations, and then in some cases the CPUs are added with little wood splinters in the socket, thus causing future issues.
Person B: That’s ridiculous.
Person A: Indeed.

What the fuck? Why aren’t they using a rubber block or something that doesn’t leave pieces behind. More so why are they hammering them in? I guess if your job all day is to place memory chips into the motherboard your fingers are likely to get sore. Nonetheless I agree with Person B, that’s just ridiculous.