Memoirs of a CPUNERD

If anyone was in Davis this past Spring, you know that Baskin Robbin’s started charging $1.50 for their $1 scoop night (you could get a half-sized, kid’s scoop for $1 still). Shakeh and I both said that within a month, their $1 scoop night would come to a screeching halt. Behold, six months later, $1 scoop night is back to normal. I asked what happened, the worker there said that within a month they had lost 90% of their business on $1 scoop night. F*&^ing told you, bitches!

My friend Brian released his first app for the iPhone today and it’s pretty nifty.  It’s a color picker and conversion tool called Colors, and it’s surprisingly useful, especially for anyone in web design. It’s also really easy to use. Also, he was telling me about some of the stuff that’s gonna be released in a couple weeks and it sounded intriguing. Right now it’s probably an app that’s suited for web designers and developers, but I think eventually more people will find some use from it. And if you couldn’t guess from the title, Brian’s company is called cliqcliq You can check out Colors on iTunes. Good job Brian, now just port my thesis to the iPhone.

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?

Well, actually just firsts. Ordering is completely random, here’s my best of awards:

Country for plain ol’ chocolate        Switzerland, specifically Frey (owned by Migros).

Country for chocolate in general        Belgium, without a doubt.

Public Transit System        Germany’s Deutschebahn. Really, could you ever pick something else?

Favorite Subway        I already said this, but the Roman subway. It went everywhere, even though there were only two lines.

Nicest Train Line        Thalys, on the direct line between Bruxelles and Paris.

Scariest Accent        This would have to go to the older Dutch people.

Best-Hidden Accent        The younger Dutch people often times don’t have an accent.

Most Pleasant Accent        This would have to be either the Bavarian or the Edinburgh-Scottish, it’s a toss up.

Favorite Food        Italy - Napolese Pizza. Switzerland - Half a Rösti. Germany - Frederick’s spätzle. Netherlands - actually didn’t have any authentic Netherlands cuisine. Belgium - Nor from here, though the chocolate was awesome. France - You want me to say escargot, but no, the texture was just too weird for me. Spain - Jamon Iberica, totally. England and Scotland - Need you even ask? The pasties of course!

Favorite Dessert        It’s Europe, if anyone doesn’t say gelato, they have a problem.

Favorite Pastry        German croissants.

Most Impressing Sight        It’s a tie between the Eiffel tower at night and the Duomo in Firenze at night.

Favorite Statue         The statue of the fallen angel in Retiro Park, Madrid, Spain. A close second is the hooker statue in Konstanz, now that Verena informed me of its history.

Most Attractive  Women        German women, especially in Bavaria. Really though, Germany won by such a small margin. European women seemed to be really attractive, probably because on average they’re more fit and dress in a more proper fashion.

Most Attractive Men        If you throw out the language (American girls dig the French accent), I picture the Dutch guys attracting the most American women. Then again, all the girls I talked to with an opinion on the matter said that the German guys were the hottest.

Earliest To Bed        Is there any question here? The English of course.

Latest To Bed        There’s even less of a question on this one. When you don’t even walk in to a club until 04h00, you know you’ve won. Kudos for the Spanish, some how you consistently kept me up past my bed time.

Best Time Notation        The French. HHhMM. And the HH is twenty-four hour time.

Favorite Area        Montmarte, a close second goes to the area in Berlin where Sarah was staying.

Favorite City        Paris, there was so much to do, so much culture, and it was easy to get around. Roma would have to be second, for the same reasons, I just liked Paris more. Edinburgh would be third. Getting around was easy because Old Town was so small, and I really liked the feel of the city. London would probably usurp one of these positions if it wasn’t so freaking expensive.

Favorite Country        You would think that it would be France because of Paris, but I would actually say Germany. Overall, it left the best impression on me.

Tour de Arc        I could look at the photos and count, but I think I saw so many arches that I won’t bother.  In order, we have the Constantine Arch in Roma, the “Triumphal Arch” in München, the Arc du Triomphe in Bruxelles, Le Arc du Triomphe d’Carousel in Paris, Le Arch Du Triomphe de l’Etoile in Paris, An Arch in Barcelona, An Arch in Madrid, and the Marble Arch in London.

A rose by any other name would not smell as sweet        But apparently the same movie with a different name in each country will bring in better box office number. Deception, starring Hugh Jackman and Ewan McGregor, was just being released in Italy and France. It went by different names in both countries. Think you can guess which is which? Don’t look at anything but the title. Actuall, nevermind, kinda hard not to take the visual clues.

Things I wish I had known ahead of time

• Tri-band cell phones don’t work well in Europe, and they don’t get 3G signal. Get a quad-band.
• Make sure your Java settings on the phone are unlocked. I couldn’t use any of the applets because of this.
• Bathrooms almost always cost money.
• Wi-fi hotspots are significantly more rare. Get used to using (occasionally shady) internet cafes.
• Regional trains are free with the Eurail. Eurostar trains offer virtually no discount.
• The youth Eurail pass is second class, the adult is first class.
• Reserve spots on the ICs and ICEs.
• Italy has the cheapest trains, Spain the most expensive.
• Trains don’t usually stop on border crossings.
• You can get a boat ride to the hot springs in Konstanz.
• Book ahead of time at the Moulin Rouge, and bring lots of money.
• The Alhambra also requires an advanced reservation.
• The train station in Munchen isn’t near anything. Don’t think you can walk somewhere from it.
• The northern-Scottish highlands are a full day’s train away from Edinburgh, not a few hours.
• If you don’t claim baggage online with Ryanair, it costs €20 in person.
• Some hotels are listed on hostel sites, and they’re much cheaper on the hostel sites than the hotel sites.
• Don’t bother with the public transit passes in Amsterdam and Utrecht.
• Supposedly they have no common root, but (Old) Dutch and Scottish people have very similar accents.
• Haggas is made from the heart, lungs, and intestines of sheep. Yum!
• Learn the key phrases, directions, and orientations in the languages you’ll be hearing. Many people speak English, but not always enough. And trust me, when you really need a bathroom, they’re nowhere to be found.
• Learn to relax about your luggage on the train. I was really nervous about people just picking up my backpack and going. Not only did I never have that happen, I never saw it happen to anyone else either. I’m sure it does happen, but if you just put your stuff where you can see it, you should be fine. Verena suggests sleeping on the luggage; when possible it works great.
• More time! Whether you’re in a city for five hours or five days, it’s rarely enough.

Repent, for the end is nigh. My last week in Europe, and it went so fast. I felt as if I had just arrived, and I definitely didn’t want to leave. After all, who would? Luckily, I got to see Rachel, Miles, and Jen before I left. With those three, there’s no end of mischievous possibilities.

The Cesspool of England        Liverpool, not the football team, but the city. Ask almost anyone not from Liverpool, with the exception of the Beatles and Sport, nothing good comes from there. In fact, quite the opposite, only crap. When I was going through Customs, the female agent was just mean. The people around weren’t much nicer either. Who says that first impressions aren’t everything?

It’s like it’s not even fair        I had the pleasure of watching a Premiership game in person for the first time. We would’ve just missed the Blackburn game if we tried to get to it, so instead we opted for a later game and went to watch Man City play Portsmouth. It wasn’t even close! 6-nil Man City. It was awesome to watch. Portsmouth played well, they just weren’t as good and paid for their lapses. And get this, not a single person for Man City scored more than one point. Talk about balance!

Wow, you guys are on a completely different level of swearing over here        Watch the first twenty seconds of this. It’s so true! When I was at the Man City game, the English football fans made the jeering from American football fans seem like proper gossip at a little girls tea party. Simply put, astounding.

It really is a meat pie        Also during the Man City game, I had a lovely experience with a steak and kidney pie, courtesy of Mz. Horsfield. It was exactly what I thought it would be, steak, kidney beans, and pie crust. Not bad, though I think it cost something like £4, yikes!

That’s not a knife, it’s a spoon. Oh, well, I see you’ve played knifey spooney before        When Rachel was showing me around the Ribble Valley, we went with our friend Fay to this place called something like “The Wild Boar Park.” No, there were no wild boars. There were plenty of Wallabee’s, deer, and goats though. Also, there were two dumb meercats and one smart one.

For some odd reason, there was also a zip line. We had some fun with that. On the way out, Rachel also decided to try her luck with a wrench. Look at the pictures, you’ll get it.

That house costs how much?!        I didn’t know this, but Edinburgh is one of the three most expensive places in Europe to purchase a home. It has something to do with the fact that three banks house their headquarters within the city. Apparently a slummy house in Edinburgh that in San Francisco would cost about $500,000, costs almost £1.5mil. This city is nice, but not that nice.

Walk a Royal Mile in someone else’s shoes        Or not. I chose to do it in my own. Partnered with Rachel, Miles, Jen, and Ceira (not all at once), I got to experience the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle, as well as the university. The area was similar to Bruxelles in exactly one way, there were tons of “ancient” buildings on every corner. It was possible to tell the purpose of some, but not others.

Did you just say “Abe Lincoln?”        Actually, yes I did. Don’t ask me why, but for some reason there is a memorial to the Civil War. Standing prominently, approximately five meters high is Abe Lincoln. Below him is a freed slave, with knees on crumpled flags laying on the ground. An arm is extended in gratitude to Lincoln. Apparently this is the only US Civil War Memorial outside of The States.

A Celtic-Catalan cocktail to blow both minds and budgets         Designed by a Catalan architect, the Scottish Parliament building was pretty eccentric on the outside. I must admit that once one stepped inside, it was just a normal governmental debate building. Apparently the thing was freaking expensive though, and the architect died before it was completed. Right outside of the building was the Royal Art Gallery, as well as an “authentic Scottish” souvenir shop run by a Pakistani family. Right.

Climbing the crags of Mt. Doom        Well, actually just The Crag. It’s a debatably active volcano just outside of the Scottish Parliament building. There was a nice, smooth trail up to a summit, which we took gingerly (though not as gingerly as this one older gentleman, he was booking it up there!). The view was pretty spectacular, not something that could be captured adequately with film (though I obviously tried).

Haggas!        Yes, I did indeed try the stuff. It wasn’t that bad! Jen insisted that I try a thoroughly Scottish meal, so we had Haggas, potatoes, and turnip. I give her an A+ on the cooking. Way to go on microwaving the haggas dear. = )

The Scene        Picture the Castro in San Francisco, but everyone has Scottish accents. Yes,”the scene” is the British name for it (I say British because it extends across the England-Scotland border). Again, Jen wanted me to have an authentic Scottish night out, and since it was Tuesday, the scene was where it was at. I must admit that I’m slightly sad I didn’t get hit on. Apparently there was a short, thin, bald guy checking me out while I was at the bar, but no one ever came up and said anything to me. Why can’t I ever be the piece of meat?! Huh?

Pasties!        Rachel and I went on a tour on our second day in Scotland. We stopped briefly in the main square in Glasgow. First off, I had an easy time in Scotland with the accent. In Glasgow, that was not English damn’t. That was some abomination of the language. It’s as if a demonic rat took English, chewed it up, fed it to the little baby demonic rats, then gave it back when it came out of them. But I digress. When we stopped in the main city square of Glasgow, Rachel and I wanted to get breakfast. There was a pastry shop right outside the bus. We ran there, and what did I see? Pasties! Glorious, hot, delicious, ever-fattening, peppery, gravy-filled pasties. I wasted no time and devoured one in but a moment. I also happened to find many more “East Cornwall Pasty Co.” stands throughout Britain, I frequented them as much as possible.

When you pronounce the “ch”, pretend like you’re choking        Loch Lomond supposedly is supposedly the largest lake in Scotland by surface area (Loch Ness is the largest by volume). It’s in the pseudo-shape of a tear drop, with a long inlet from the Atlantic, and a few islands in the center. It was really, Really, REALLY, REALLY cold as we got further out on the lake. Rachel and I eventually retreated to the warmth of the indoor cabin and a hot cup of tea.

Why would they name this area after pants? No, you moron, it’s Trossachs, not trousers        The southwestern part of the Scottish highlands were gorgeous. It wasn’t quite as mountainous and green as I pictured, but it was quite breathtaking. Apparently if we had been there a week earlier, the entire floor of the highlands would be purple with this blooming flower. And if we were there three weeks later, the leaves would be changing colors and we would see Scotland in the Fall. Oh well, I’ll take what I can get.

What pretty eyes you have        Hamish is the name of the tourist attraction that is a Scottish highland cow. Regular cows have a hard time surviving the winters in Scotland, they aren’t cut out for it. The rugged beast line to which Hamish belongs thrives though, well, when they aren’t being led into a slaughterhouse of course.

Sterling as Silver        Stirling Castle is one of the largest non-ruinous castles in Scotland. About the same size as Edinburgh Castle, it boasts the (at the time of construction) largest entertaining hall of any castle. Of course, modern buildings make one scoff at the size, but when put in context it’s quite impressive. There was also a Scottish was museum, and I learned all about the history of the kilt!

If you’re interested, there’s another East Cornwall Pasty Co. in the Edinburgh airport        Yes, of course I had one.

All that glitters is bronze        To start my first day in Southern England,  Rachel, Michael and I took a nine mile hike around the valley near Droxford. Our first destination was a bronze-age settlement. It was right on top of a hill overlooking the entire valley for miles around. We continued through all sorts of wonderful country side. After the hike, we walked around the village outside of their place. I found more wonderful ivy, as well as a ruined castle. Apparently it was destroyed because it had previously been conquered and then retaken, and the original holder didn’t want it to be used against him again.

Almost like I’m home again        My friends Ciderman and Sean were also taking a Eurotrip. They were just getting started on their trip as I was finishing up mine. We met up with them, as well as my friend Carl and his friend Zaid at a bar near the Waterloo station, then headed to dinner and eventually to this interesting club underneath the London Bridge called the Shunt Vaults. It was weird, the club doesn’t advertise, and it doesn’t even have a sign for entrance, just an unmarked door.

Yet another arch        After seeing so many, I guess I know how seriously the Europeans take their arches. The last one for me to see was the Marble Arch in London, England. And yes, that is why the tube stop is called such. I wonder how many the US has…

 

I’ve never seen so many of them        If you ever walk the south bank, you’ll get a glorious view of the London skyline. However, you’ll also get a glorious view of hundreds of construction cranes.  Apparently amidst the financial crisis in Europe, London is able to continually bulldoze and rebuild. Of course, I find this even more humorous because London is so short. I think thec ity has an anti-skyscraper view, so whenever they want to build a new building, they just tear down an old one and make the new one more compact (if that’s even possible).

That can’t be it, the world is flat        Har har har. Yes, I visited the globe. Yes, I know that it was built after Columbus sailed across the Atlantic. Sadly I did not get to see a play inside of it.

Everyone’s a little bit racist/sometimes        It doesn’t me walk around committing/hate crimes! Yes, you guessed correctly. Rachel and I got tickets to see Avenue Q in Leicester square. We got to the box office early enough that we secured central seats in the second tier balcony on the first row, woohoo! The show was awesome, and I know it’s in the US (I missed it when it was in San Francisco). I strongly recommend you see it.

Places of Interest:

• Liverpool: Ha! Oxymoron.
• Manchester: The Eastlands, Downtown (is there really much else?).
• Ribble Valley: The Wild Boar Farm (where there are no boars), Lots of the country side.

• Edinburgh: Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, Old Town, New Town, the Uni, Birthplace of Harry Potter (now with draught beer!), Scottish Parliament, Old Calton Cemetary, The Crag, more that I can’t remember.

• Glasgow: See Liverpool.
• Scottish Highlands: The Trossachs, Loch Lomond, Hamish, Stirling Castle.
• South England: A lot of the country side, including a bronze age settlement.
• London:The Marble Arch, Leicester Square, Shunted Vaults (The club under the London Bridge), London Bridge, Tower Bridge,  Trafalgar Square, St. James’ Park, South Bank, The Globe, Waterloo Station, The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Google.