Memoirs of a CPUNERD

Yes, I worked on Google Earth for the iPhone this summer. You should check it out at the iPhone app store. It’s free, and I helped with it!

So many things were the same this Summer, but so many things were different. For example of things that were the same, our apartment still wasn’t finished, just like last summer. This time, there was still the smell of paint in the air, and portions of the place weren’t finished being painted. I again had to go to Home Depot to get two to three-prong converters. Most of the cafes at Google were still there. The food was still great. The gyms were still the same, though the locker rooms were different.

If you didn’t know already, I was working on the Earth Client team. I say client because, if again you didn’t know, the team that works on the user interface is completely different from the team that works on the data side. What I did exactly I can’t say yet, but when it’s released, you’ll know I had a part.

The group of people I worked with this Summer was amazing. We meshed really well, and shared a common view on the way my project should unfold. My boss was actually one of the founders of Keyhole (the original Earth project). It was really cool to hear him talk about all the tricks the team uses to get Earth to be performant and do the things it does.

I got to meet up with a lot of friends from last Summer. Besides my roommates, I got to see Katie, as she was starting full time. Roma, a friend from my time at NVIDIA, was working at a place right next to the Google campus. Speaking of NVIDIA, Mafu was back at NVIDIA, this time as a full timer. And of course, Ciderman, Sean, and Lee were all still at NVIDIA. There were few other people from Google last Summer, but actually not as many as I would have though. Most of the friends I had either didn’t get rehired or chose to stay and do research with their adviser.

As opposed to last Summer, I actually took the time and played squash. I originially was going to play with a new friend from Google, and another Google intern that I didn’t really get to know. Turns out that I was a bit better than both of them, so we only ever played once. However, as Mafu was back in town, we played a few times. Not as often as I would’ve liked, but more than last summer. I also took the opportunity and got worked by a sixteen-year old. I’m not exaggerating about either part. I really did get worked (0-9, 3-9, 2-9), and the kid really was sixteen.

I also managed to get in a ton of tennis. At least two times a week, I was either taking a lesson or playing with a friend. My primary opponent was Roma, though I also played in a doubles tournament with a friend from Google named Jenya. The lessons I took were from a recent Stanford graduate. He was actually on both the squash and tennis team, and he offered lessons for both. I was aiming to take a squash lesson, but it never panned out. The tennis lessons worked really well though. My backhand improved tremendously, and I changed my forehand quite a bit. Of course, that still left my serve.

Speaking of serving, that was the one way that Roma kept beating me. It was odd because I was doing so well against her at first, and then I had a slump. Luckily I broke through though, and didn’t get completely worked over by Roma for the remainder of the summer. My serve also improved enough to help me in the doubles tournament. Jenya managed to always get points off her serve, even though it was pretty slow. Me, I was dragging our team down. As the tournament progressed though, the lessons helped and I finally showed her I didn’t completely suck. We ended up winning our last game, though that only took Jenya half way through the tournament. I’m not sure how she finished out.

Something else the Summer brought was a ton of football action. Euro2008 ate away at least thirty hours of my time, and it caused me to spend $180 on Russia jerseys. I also started taking football lessons from this Ex-Chilean goalie. He played for the national team, and he was also a pro on one of the countries teams. My technique improved slightly, and my defense and fitness went up significantly. Also, thanks to him, I finally felt what it was like to have ridiculously sore abs and hamstrings.

It seems that my number of concerts per Summer is slowly dropping. Though perhaps the quality is increasing. I went to see Type O Negative and Mindless Self Indulgence. Both of which were absolutely awesome. I also saw Projekt Revolution. Linkin Park put on another great show, and some of the other bands were also really good. ASHES dIVIDE was incredible, they sounded amazing. Atreyu I thought was good, but Shakeh didn’t really like them live (she loves their albums). It was cool to see Chris Cornell perform some of the Soundgarden songs and do a few songs with Linkin Park, but he wasn’t my favorite.

Obviously it’s hard to summarize an entire Summer into a few-thousand words. I left out so many experiences like the Boat Cruise and picnic. I didn’t get a chance to talk about so many new people and friends, David, Naren, Garrett, Giselle, Valkyrie Savage (yes, her real name), and tons more. But honestly, who wants to read through a daily list of all the boring crap I did?

If you’ve been keeping up, I hurt my wrist a few weeks ago (as of writing this, more than two weeks ago).  So far, I’ve been getting along alright, but I am limited in my activity. I got x-rays the day after it happened, and they turned up negative on fractures. The only thought from there is that I probably have soft tissue damage, as in muscles, tendons, etc. Ugh… last time this happened, I dislocated my shoulder five times and eventually had surgery and was out for more than three months because of it. God I hate in injuries. And this wasn’t even my fault! I didn’t do something stupid like fly off a skateboard or roll an ankle. No, I got tripped by a girl while playing a co-ed game. LAME! Who knows when I’ll feel better, but I do have a doctor’s appointment coming up.

Again, I got up at 0700 on Monday morning, and got straight to work. Shakeh got in at 1000. I had a brief chat with a Microsoft recruiter at 1030, then went back to my place before going to Sacramento. We went to the Elephant Bar for lunch, then saw Bodies Revealed. It was so cool! My favorite part was the exposition where all the blood vessels were extracted from the organs, and then even from a full body. It was just so crazy. I took Shakeh to Jamba Juice once we got back to Davis. We finished out the night with laundry, more work, and then a viewing of Lord of War.

I still didn’t play indoor on Tuesday. Instead, I played three matches of squash with John, then went to tumbling a bit late. My wrist was still bad, but there were a few exercises and spots that I could do. Shakeh came over for lunch, then after that I got right to work. I finished some more stuff before my research meeting. After the meeting, I worked for a bit more, then went to Steve’s Pizza with Shakeh for dinner. I went to the last Salsa lesson, which was good. I got out from that and went to say hi to Antoine. Other people were showing up, so I took the opportunity and left there around 2145, then went home and did some more work before going to sleep. Did I mention that I did some work?

I tried playing volleyball on Wednesday, but it was useless. I couldn’t pass, and I definitely could’t set. I played doubles racquetball with some beginners, then played two matches with the advanced class before Tim and I played a full game. I got it this time… Shakeh and I went to Pluto’s for lunch, then I walked home and did some work while she was in class. We went to Thai Nakorn for dinner, then checked out the lunar eclipse. I went to Sudwerks for an hour or so, but no one brought games so I didn’t stay long.

I finally tried indoor during class on Thursday, and it went alright. I had to hold back though, I didn’t feel comfortable running all out, because my wrist was still hurting. For lunch, I met up with Antoine, Isabel, and Javi. We started at Border’s, then walked to Burgers & Brew. Javi dropped me off at the academic surge after lunch. I talked to Tony for a bit, then installed the new G92 cards in burn-2 and burn-3. At 1630, I met up with Kurt Akeley from MSR, and had a nice chat with him and John. It just so happened that as I was leaving, the Little Bang Banquet was happening. I stuck around for a bit, talked to Dave Wiley, then walked to the ARC. I saw the coed match, which we drew 4-4 after being down 1-2 at the half. Inbetween matches, I went with Tom, Alex, Emma, Jess, and Laura to Yogurt Shack. When we got back, the men’s match just started. Unfortunately we lost (2-1). The worst part was the team was bunch of disrespectful jackasses. We shrugged them off though. After another hour, I went to Little Prague with the gang, then picked Shakeh up around 2300 from her lab.

Randy came into town on Friday. I got some work done beforehand, then we walked to the Mustard Seed and discussed what needed to be done. After lunch, we headed back to my place and worked for awhile. Once we got to an acceptable point, Randy headed back to Reno. I stayed at home until 2100 or so, then went over to Shakeh’s. We ran to In ‘n Out for dinner, then went home, watched some Family Guy, and went to sleep.

I woke up to College Gameday on Saturday and got right to work. Shakeh and I went to Tucos for lunch. Yes, we indulged in cheese and wine again, and I ended up dropping $75…  but it was worth it, damn’t! I watched the Memphis-Tennessee game, then some of the SAP open semis. For dinner, Justin, Ramon, Javi, Verena, and Lee joined us at Thai Recipes. After that, all of us except Lee and Verena went to go see Charlie Bartlett. The movie turned out to be a lot better than I expected. One thing I found hard to swallow though was the lead female role. A seventeen year old girl her age rarely acts the way she does. Still though, it was such a minor blip that I didn’t even think about it until after the movie was over.

Sunday, I didn’t do much of anything besides work. Shakeh and I took a brief expedition to Chipotle for lunch, then watched the SAP-open final match between… Radek (Stepanek) and (Andy) Roddick. After tennis, we tuned in to the Oscars. I would like to say that I’m very happy that Daniel Day-Lewis won for his part in There Will Be Blood, and I’m very happy Atonement didn’t win much. Both were long, but with There Will Be Blood, I didn’t mind and was actually sad to see it over. Anyways, after the show, we went to Bistro 33 for dinner. We got back pretty late, then watched two episodes of Lost before going to bed.

It’s official! I’m going to Europe at the end of the summer. I don’t have exact dates down yet, but most likely it’s going to be from the end of August until mid-September. I face castration and other irreparable harm if I don’t visit England, Spain, Germany, and Italy. The thing is, I’m going to be in Europe for three full weeks, and being as I want to see a lot, I need some advice! Yes, I’ll have friends around as guides, but they have lived in their home countries, and as I know from experience, one rarely visits nearby tourist attractions. So… If you have suggestions for more countries, and better yet, specific cities, buildings (restaurants, bars, museums, gov’t buildings, etc), or natural landmarks (the Alps, the river Seine, etc.), I would really appreciate it = )

Cities so far (far more than I can actually do of course):

England: London, Stonehenge, probably Bath or Brighton.
Spain: Madrid, Barcelona, maybe Granada or Sevilla
Germany: Berlin, Stuttgart, Munich
Italy: Mantova, Venice, Rome (and The Vatican), Sicily
Greece: Athens, Crete
France: Paris, Grenoble, Bordeaux
Scotland: Edinburgh
Czech Republic: Prague
Ireland: Dublin, Cork
Switzerland: Zurich, Lucerne

My wrist was still hurting on Monday, so I couldn’t do more than a few lifts. All the cardio machines were taken, so Justin and I went upstairs. The elliptical machine was strangely hard. I played racquetball instead of volleyball. Later in the advanced class, I lost a game I should’ve won, but so far I’m 2-1. I had a really nice and relaxing lunch at Raja’s with Shakeh. We went to Safeway at night, got some supplies and some brocolli+cheddar soup. The recipe changed, it’s much more oily since last we had it. I had a big sweet tooth that night, so we went to Baskin Robbins later that night.

On Tuesday I was able to do a few more lifts because it was leg day. I played squash and racquetball instead of indoor, and didn’t do anything in tumbling. I went to the MU for lunch, then had a phone interview with Rambus at 1400. It went well. I didn’t get a lot of “do this problem” questions, it was more me explaining what I do for my research. For some reason, our research meeting went really long. I stuck around for a bit , then went to the Google recruitment talk. Later in the night, Shakeh and I went to see Meet the Spartans, which was really bad.

I did ladders for lifting on Wednesday, meaning I started out with a low weight and went up by small increments, but did lots of sets. I think I did seventeen sets of leg press! In racquetball, I actually pushed a guy that usually crushes me to 8-11, whereas 3-11 probably would be more accurate. I went 4-1 today. Shakeh brought chipotle for lunch, which was nice because I had my google phone interview around 1300. I won my last divisional racquetball match, then went to Pluto’s for dinner. Shakeh and I watched Hook to end the night.

A bunch of us went to Cafe Mediteranee for lunch. John had a visiting german Ph.D. student, so I talked with him about research for half an hour or so. I did another phone interview with rambus when I got home, then cooked a wonderful Valentine’s dinner for Shakeh. After we got done, I took her to see Definitely Maybe. The movie was very enjoyable, though definitely a chick flick.

I had a follow-up doctor’s appointment in the morning. Afterwards, I went to the GSA breakfast, then picked up some parts from the ECE office. I went to lunch at the MU, then rode back home and found Tony, Shubho, and Hari on the way home. I sat with them at Chipotle while they ate. Shakeh and I had leftovers for dinner before going to see Jumper. Now I know that many people are going to have problems with this movie. But seriously, I’m so sick of movies trying to over-explain and justify everything. This movie was fun just to sit back and watch. I must say that I was secretly hoping Hayden Christiansen would utter a line about how much he hates sand (Episode II anyone?), but no luck.

On Saturday, I woke up and got a bunch of work done. In the afternoon, I went to the tennis match with Martyn, then walked around downtown and ended up at Zia’s for a late lunch. I went home after that, worked a while more, watched some of the NBA all-star skills challenges, then went to pick up Martyn and Dave for dinner at Thai Nakorn. After we got done there, we went to Cold Stone, which is apparently closed! Not like a store closing would deter us, so we headed over to Ben & Jerry’s. Once we were done with our delectable treats, we dropped by Sophia’s to say hi to Dani, then I dropped the kids off at their place and went home to sleep.

I woke up at 0700 on Sunday and got straight to work. I took an interlude at Konditorei from 1100-1230 with Tina and Mauricio. I went back to work for two hours, then joined Dani, David, and Martyn for some football. After playing for an hour and a half, we went to the ARC, and Martyn and I played some squash. Right after we finished, we went to Burgers & Brew with the guys from football, including all the Italians and a Dutch guy named Taj. I went home and worked for a few more hours, then met Jay and Anna at Ciocolat. Once they finished their wine, I convinced them to go to Crepeville to get a decent sized dessert. Anna and Jay split something as well. Jay and I inadvertantely made Anna snort wine through her nose, which I’m sure burned like hell. Jay and I headed back to my place, then waited for Lindsay and Mauricio to show up so we could watch Sicko.

I know several peopl, myself included, who would be thrilled to have Premiereship games abroad, particularly in the USA. The NFL already has one regular season game played in the UK at Wembley stadium. Why not return the favor? From what I’ve heard, every team in the league would get one game abroad, and seeding would be done to ensure that two teams in the current top-five don’t play (so as not to have one team’s homefield advantage stripped away).

As I said, I’m excited at this prospect. Many Brits are not. And really, I just can’t agree with them. I understand that it would suck to not have that extra home-game, but why not finally let some real football be played in the USA and other countries. Who knows, we might even return the favor with that European NBA division. Oh, let’s just hope you don’t read the last post I wrote…

Shakeh and I ventured to Chipotle for lunch on Monday. Due to all the heavy rain Davis recently endured, my bike was showing some rust and a major lack of oil. So, I did what any reasonable bloke (wait, Rachel said I was a chap) would do and took my bike to the bike shop. While there, I also got the rear wheel adjusted.

Tuesday brought the understanding that I really just need to work on my handstand. Several things will come more naturally I think if I do that. I brought some carrot cake with me to Pluto’s and let Martyn, Alex, and Emma tryt it. Before my meeting, I read at the MU and chatted with Ita. Shakeh got home and we went to Burgers & Brew, then to Salsa.

On Wednesday, Shakeh and I tried Sam’s. The chicken shawerma was awesome.  After that, I went home and worked solid until 2300! Craziness. I did take a small break to cook and eat dinner though. Drat, I had a nice, nine-month streak going where-in I never cooked myself a single meal.

I couldn’t sleep well on Wednesday night, so early Thursday morning I noticed an email from Google EMEA. I played Justin at squash, then Priscilla at racquetball, since I didn’t feel like doing any real cardio. I figured out that I can run my ass off in indoor, and then just sub out. I tend to do much better when I do that (go figure). Tumbling was alright, then I went to hit some tennis balls with Amy, which was so good. It feels great to finally be hitting again. Funny enough, I also got an email from the US Google office. I hurt myself playing indoor at night, I got tripped and fell and used my wrist to break my fall. U played through it for racquetball (which I won), but sat out the men’s indoor game.

I decided to get my wrist checked out on Friday, so I went to health center triage. I joined Shakeh and Javi for lunch at Orange Hut.  Afterwards, I went back to health center and got some X-rays, which came up clean. I watched some of the UCD women’s tennis match, then went home. I worked some more, got another US Google email (when it rains it pours). Shakeh and I went to Thai2k for dinner, then Ciocolat for dessert.

Saturday morning brought a walk to Chipotle. Afterwards, Shakeh and I took a stroll around the neighborhood by 3rd and C. I continued icing my wrist, and watched the Nevada-Hawaii game. I’m happy to say it looks like we’re starting to pick up finally. Javi came over and I helped him with his resume for a bit. We were going to go to Sac with Lee and Verena, but neither Shakeh nor I felt up to it when the time came. We went to manna for dinner instead, then went to watch Fool’s Gold. The movie wasn’t anything special, but it was exciting and fun to watch.

We went to Starbucks and Posh Bagel on Sunday morning. For lunch, Jenny prepared some wonderful food for Lee, Verena, Shakeh, Lindsay, and I. That night, ,y heart sank as I found out that the graphics cards in burn only support compute 1.0, not 1.1. ARGH!