Not much to report. 2 bridge evenings, one at Google and one at Stanford, lots of work to do but good progress made, kind of a usual week in a sense...
In a couple of hours, I'll head home to meet S. at the airport. :-) :-) It's going to be a looooong (1h drive + 2-3h waiting + 10-11h flight + 2h waiting for S. + 1-2 hours transport = probably a 19 hour trip but lets just hope we'll be spared the usual delays... We should have a temporary apartment for the next 2 weeks and will need to find 'normal' accommodation from the end of those two weeks onwards.
On the one hand, I received confirmation almost 4 weeks ago that an apartment has been reserved for us and I do have the address. On the other hand, I have been trying to get some information on how I should get hold of the keys or who we should meet up with to get the keys and I haven't had any answers yet. I guess we'll just see tomorrow what surprises they have in store for us...
Stay tuned...
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
A week-end with A.
Last week-end was very nice. I took the Caltrain followed by the Bart to San Francisco and discovered that late running trains was not a peculiarity of Scotland alone...
On Saturday we visited a winery in the Napa valley. Thanks to D. we had access to the private wine tasting area and tried around 12 different wines. They were all very good! After this, we came back to San Francisco and walked a little bit around the town.
On Sunday, we had a very good bike ride. We left from K.'s home and cycled over the Golden Gate bridge then around Richardson Bay finishing in Tiburon (23.5 miles total). We then took the ferry back to SF and had another 5 mile ride in SF to reach K's house. The ride was really nice. I tried to take some photos while cycling and I posted them here for the time being:
On Saturday we visited a winery in the Napa valley. Thanks to D. we had access to the private wine tasting area and tried around 12 different wines. They were all very good! After this, we came back to San Francisco and walked a little bit around the town.
On Sunday, we had a very good bike ride. We left from K.'s home and cycled over the Golden Gate bridge then around Richardson Bay finishing in Tiburon (23.5 miles total). We then took the ferry back to SF and had another 5 mile ride in SF to reach K's house. The ride was really nice. I tried to take some photos while cycling and I posted them here for the time being:
 |
| California |
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Second Week in Mountain View
Apart from a faulty laptop :-( I don't have much to report this week. The training was very interesting but unfortunately for you there's nothing I can talk about... This week-end is going to be exciting since I'll meet up with A. and we'll visit around San Francisco. :-)
Stay tuned for some more photos.
Stay tuned for some more photos.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
An excursion at Stanford
This week-end, I decided to follow A.'s advice. I cycled to Stanford Campus which is a great University campus. I found a nice little cacti botanic garden in the Nort-West of the campus and then headed to the Dish hike (http://dish.stanford.edu/) which was nice. Photos further below.
The only unfortunate result of this day out was the sunburn. But at least, I filled up my sunshine batteries to get me through the next few months in Dublin... ;-)
The roads in Mountain View are really great for cyclists. Most of them have a cycle path, either a reserved band on the side of the road or a shared footpath which makes cycling around a much safer option. I also found that drivers are very friendly and don't hesitate to let bikes go first. Thumbs up!
The only unfortunate result of this day out was the sunburn. But at least, I filled up my sunshine batteries to get me through the next few months in Dublin... ;-)
The roads in Mountain View are really great for cyclists. Most of them have a cycle path, either a reserved band on the side of the road or a shared footpath which makes cycling around a much safer option. I also found that drivers are very friendly and don't hesitate to let bikes go first. Thumbs up!
Saturday, March 22, 2008
California - End of week one
The first week in Mountain View is over and the experience was good. The trainings were interesting and I got in touch with a few other Nooglers. One of them, G. is sitting just next to me and he also plays bridge. We played a few hands together at lunch time today and are going to play some more on Monday. On Wednesday, Google lent me a nice bike so I don't have to ask my room-mate to taxi me anymore. This means more flexibility. There are cycle paths alongside the road so it's quite safe.
Monday, March 17, 2008
The Second Week
The second week at Google flew by quickly. I went through some registrations / codelabs / reading...
I also found out that a S.E. colleague (J.) was also flying to San Francisco on the same flight so we teamed up. It's much easier to fly and go around with someone who knows the place already.
The flight to San Francisco went well. It did not seem too long (special thanks to the individual in-flight entertainment units and also the book I brought along). I don't know yet what I'm supposed to do tomorrow so there's a bit of suspense right now but after having stayed awake for about 24h, I doubt this will prevent me from sleeping... On the plus side, J. gave me a quick tour of the Google-plex so at least I know in which direction I need to go tomorrow morning.
The weather is great here and I could see some blue sky again and this big yellow ball (sorry, forgot the name...)
Oh, and good news: My friend A. will come over to California for a week-end and we'll visit places together. :-) Current plan is one day in San Francisco and one day in the nature. That means I only have to find an occupation for the first week-end. It shouldn't be too hard...
I also found out that a S.E. colleague (J.) was also flying to San Francisco on the same flight so we teamed up. It's much easier to fly and go around with someone who knows the place already.
The flight to San Francisco went well. It did not seem too long (special thanks to the individual in-flight entertainment units and also the book I brought along). I don't know yet what I'm supposed to do tomorrow so there's a bit of suspense right now but after having stayed awake for about 24h, I doubt this will prevent me from sleeping... On the plus side, J. gave me a quick tour of the Google-plex so at least I know in which direction I need to go tomorrow morning.
The weather is great here and I could see some blue sky again and this big yellow ball (sorry, forgot the name...)
Oh, and good news: My friend A. will come over to California for a week-end and we'll visit places together. :-) Current plan is one day in San Francisco and one day in the nature. That means I only have to find an occupation for the first week-end. It shouldn't be too hard...
Friday, March 7, 2008
The first week @ Google
The first week is just over and I can already say: I love it and I'm sure it's going to be even better...
The people are great, the food is great, the IT infrastructure is great, the job looks like its going to be great (I won't start on the project for another month or so but I'm starting to get a feel). In short: I don't regret the move at all. :-)
The first week consisted mainly in meeting new people every day, some general training, setting up the laptop and desktop, registering at different places, organizing the trip to the USA, getting a PPS number and a bank account (in order to be able to get paid) ... No real work done but sorting out all those kind of things which are required to do when you move.
The people are great, the food is great, the IT infrastructure is great, the job looks like its going to be great (I won't start on the project for another month or so but I'm starting to get a feel). In short: I don't regret the move at all. :-)
The first week consisted mainly in meeting new people every day, some general training, setting up the laptop and desktop, registering at different places, organizing the trip to the USA, getting a PPS number and a bank account (in order to be able to get paid) ... No real work done but sorting out all those kind of things which are required to do when you move.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)