A Little Google in July

We had several opportunities to do stuff at or with Google this month.  Here are some pictures.

 Steve's team went to a Mariner's game.  I was supposed to go, but I got sick and we had to give my ticket away.  Boo!

We try to go to lunch with Steve once a month.  The kids particularly like the Kayak cafeteria.  They serve 2 kinds of pizza every day.

Google Washington had it's annual summer picnic this month.  It was held at the University of Washington football field.  It was hot but fun.  We had push-pops, roasted corn, pizza, and peach lemonade for lunch.

 The kids got arm paintings and a balloon staff & sword.  They also took a pic with the statue of the UW Husky.

February 2014

February was an interesting month for us.  Anna and I started it out by making beeswax candles for Candlemas.  Anna made a heart candle for Valentine's day and a purple taper.  I made 4 small red candles to be used for Advent later.  It was a simple activity and Anna had a lot of fun.

A day later, though, I broke out in terrible, horrible, awful hives.  They were so bad!  I had them on my eyelids and the soles of my feet!  I ended up having to go on several medications plus get a steroid shot.  It took the rest of the month for them to completely disappear.  Steve was a trooper and took several days off of work to take care of the kids because all I could do was itch, take oatmeal baths, and be miserable.  Matthew was also a trooper.  Because of the steroid shot, I had to stop nursing him cold turkey that day.  Heavenly Father must have been helping him, because he hardly fussed at all to moving to a sippy cup.  The sister missionaries were great and came over to clean the house because I was so behind.  My visiting teacher also came and took my laundry home to do for me.  My doctor thinks I may be allergic to the antibiotic Flagyl because I had just finished a course when the hives came on.  Needless to say, there are no pictures from this period of time.

Matti Ihalmo & Steve

Steve & Sirpa Ihalmo

The last big thing in February was Steve's week long trip to Poland.  Google flew him and his team out there to meet with the rest of his group to have some team-building time.  On the way, he stopped in Finland to visit some friends, the Ihalmos.  Unfortunately, his layover in Frankfurt turned into a nightmare.  When he arrived, the security people were having a strike so although he got in, he couldn't get out.  His 3 hour layover turned into a 36 hour one.  When he finally did get to Finland, the airline had lost his luggage!  Luckily, Matti Ihalmo had a suit that fit Steve for church.


The rest of the time was spent in Poland at a resort outside of Krakow.  I'll put labels on the pictures so you know what you're looking at.

We're a Google Family! (think Addam's Family theme song)

Steve by the sign to his Google building.

This is the beginning of Steve's third week at Google.  So far, so good.

The first week was spent at Noogler trainings (New + Googler = Noogler).  As far as I can tell, there is a LOT to be learned.  Google makes its own software tools to make its software, instead of buying tools from other companies.  So that means Steve has to learn them all.  Steve's project is with the GoogleTV group.  There are a lot of different teams doing a lot of different things and they're all spread out at different buildings.

FYI- the Google campus isn't like a college campus, ie one big piece of land with lots of buildings, all owned by Google.  Instead, it's in an area of lots of office buildings.  The Google offices are mixed up with offices of different companies.  I was expecting to enter a gate into Google-land.  Maybe someday, but not now.

                                        Some interesting things that I've learned:

A G-bike waiting to be used

Googlers get from building to building on G-bikes.  They are tacky bicycles that just sit around at each building.  When you need to get somewhere, pick one up and off you go!

Googlers are allowed to drink on the job.  In fact, they stock beer and such at the snack stations!

There are 28 different cafeteria/restaurants spread throughout the campus and they are all free to employees (and their guests).

Most of the Android statues (missing original & donut)

Each version of Android has a different name, named after a dessert.  There's a group of dessert statues at the Android building celebrating each one.

During Steve's Noogler training, he was given a Noogler hat and a Google shirt.  We decided that it would be fun to take some family pictures of all of us wearing Google shirts.

So, there's a little bit about what I've learned.  It isn't a whole lot, because the actual work and products Steve and his co-workers are doing is confidential.  I'll keep you posted as I learn more!