Back in a lecture hall

I'm on the train back from Princeton. My co-worker and I just gave a presentation to a lecture hall of potential Google summer interns and full-time employees. It was really a lot of fun doing a tag-team presentation!

The trip started off on the wrong foot. We had to finish preparing the slide transitions on the train down to Princeton and managed to sit in the single quiet car on the whole train. Yes, we were the annoying people getting shushed by fellow passengers as we repeated the main points of each slide three times over. It probably didn't help that the topic was the operational transformation algorithm used in Google Docs for collaboration...

But the presentation went off great. I joked about Jeff having a couch at his desk at work since last April Fools. Jeff tried to convince them that I had respect for him, because he actually pretends to write some code every so often. And we both relived our albeit short, but hopefully illustrative careers at Google. Oh and all I got for this was a yellow silly band that says Google. :)

It's been almost four years since I stood in front of a lecture hall filled with CS students and it was quite exhilarating. A complete different kind of energy than standing in front of a room of co-workers.

I just got an email about the 5 year reunion since I got my Bachelors. Weird.

P.S. Does anyone know a song about trains? My default "the wheels on the bus go round and round" that I sing on the bus to and from I-town is failing me...

Scuba diving in Cairns

Here's how we spent Max's 22nd birthday: photos.

Scuba diving is fun, scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef doubly so (or at least that's my estimate, because this was my first time). I recommend it!

We found Nemo, various other fishes, corals, giant mollusks, and supposedly a shark hiding in a reef which the instructor tried to poke at, but it didn't want come out. We got to pet a couple different kinds of sea cucumbers.

I also tried snorkeling for the first time, but found it more difficult than diving. I kept getting water in my snorkel when I tried to dive with it.

Sydney week 1

The days in Sydney kind of flew by because of work. Monday night was drinks with co-workers, Tuesday was walking the Botanical Gardens and dinner at a Thai place and yesterday was Madame Butterfly at the opera. Some photos are here.

Today we flew to Cairns in an attempt to see the Great Barrier Reef. The most surprising part of the whole trip so far was that no one checked our passports (or any other form of id) to get on the domestic flight. We'll see if it ever stops raining.

G'day mate

Anyone out there?

Plötzlich!

One of my most favorite German words, which I just encountered on the first page of the book I'm reading!

On Friday when I got to my parents' house, I opened one of my Christmas presents. (Yes that's right people, I opened a present before Christmas!) I knew what it was going to be too, because I'd asked for it. A book in German.

My mom's school friend who lives in Germany came to visit my parents in December, which was a convenient way for my parents to get me my German books. I'm starting to wish she hadn't come... I opened one of three books and it was 'Das Experiment'. This is good in that I've seen the movie and bad in that it's not written for 5-year-olds, which is about the level of my rusty German right now.

Have I set myself up for complete failure or just regular failure? :)

...

I hope the other two books are children's books.

Photos from Hyderabad

We've had the warmest welcome from our team in Hyderabad, who came out on Sunday and today to show us around the city! It's getting late here and I'm about to go to bed, but here are the photos of our trip to Hyderabad so far... (I'll keep adding to this album.)

Photos from Bombay

The cyclone was a bust (or at least in our part of Bombay). Jan and I figured this out 3/4 of the way home and instead of having the light drizzle keep us indoors, we went shopping. Amongst our purchases was some delicious Masala chai.

Here are some photos from Bombay:



Funny story about that cow. We met it on our way to the beach, while it was taking a leisurely nap. On the way back from our walk, the cow was not in it's napping spot, but we found it a few meters down the road. Apparently it's horns got itchy... and it chose a near by taxi as a scratching post. The Muslim driver of the cab was furious. Unable to do anything to the cow under the watchful eyes of the laughing passersby, he attempted (in vain) to shake the cab so the cow would go away.

Cyclone warning

I really wanted to post today, but now there's a cyclone warning so the office is being closed down and we're heading home to wait out the weather and wander the streets in the rain. Hope it'll be over by tomorrow. :)

Sign in Bombay

Neighbors beware
Terrorism boomerangs

And I've arrived

No adventures yet.

• The stewardess gave me the non-spicy version of the air plane snack when she looked at me. It was potato crisps with raisins and various nuts.
• A guard and two of his airport co-workers we trying to give water to their pet bird from the cap of a water bottle.
• A welcoming sign reminding visitors to 'say no' if a stranger asks to take you to a hotel.
  

And then just a car ride home on the wrong side of the road w/ Jan at the wheel driving stick. It's a pleasant 86F in Bombay, India in contrast to the 52F in Bombay, New York (according to weather.com).

And I'm off

Well not quite yet. I'm in my seat on the plane and I'm pretty sure I am the only white girl here. :)

In other new, blogging on an android is painful.

Jan - here I come! :)

Malarone regimen starts tomorrow

After I basically self-prescribed Malarone for my trip, I've been preparing for taking it by reading up about the drug, which only gave me nightmares about it... I guess tomorrow night will show if I'll have homicidal ones.

N Step Plan

1. Lady Gaga album
2. Visa to India
3. ...
4. PROFIT!!!

j/k

1. Lady Gaga album (wasn't kidding about that one).
2. Sending application for a visa to India.
3. Busy but stress free day at work.
4. Delicious Italian dinner with perfectly sized portions and a great bottle of wine with two of my closest friends.
5. An episode of House.
6. A foot massage with lotion.
7. PROFIT!!!

Just need to hit up my doctor for some malaria pills to ensure homicidal nightmares during my trip.

YAY INDIA!!!!!!! I CAN'T WAIT :)

Bah!

Still up... 2:15AM... must mean Jan's back in India and that's sad. Firefox just crashed, so I switched to Chrome... Was a long day at work 11am - 10:30pm. And I didn't even write any of the peer reviews, though I spent a large portion of the weekend doing that so I guess I deserved a break.

K, gotta get up at 10am. Good night!

P.S. Watched the season premiere of 'How I Met Your Mother" earlier and it was *awesome*!

P.P.S. 'watched' can also be spelled 'whatched' at 2:19AM.

AAAAAHHHHH!!!!

It’s what we’ve all feared. The zombies have formed a corporation.

US Open

Sooo much fun! I got to see the end of a Djokovic match, Sharapova, Roddick, Serena and Murray.

Zombie attack

This is a three part story:

1. I woke up Saturday and the first article I read was this.

2. To keep the theme alive, in the afternoon I purchased Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

3. Nick visited me on his way back from the Motherland this weekend and we had quite a lengthy and detailed discussion regarding strategic answers to the question outlined in the form below.



I'll share the answers I've collected shortly, but for now I'm still rethinking the sidekick to match my soundtrack!

Welcome to Bollywood!

To prepare me for my upcoming visit to India, Jan took me to see a Hindi movie call "Love Aaj Kal" (which translates to "Love Now and Then"). We came to the theater for the opening night 9:30pm showing on Friday. It was sold out! So we got tickets for the following evening.

Two and a half hours of singing and dancing and romantic comedy and a prolonged scene of the dreamy main actor coming out of the shower with only a towel on is a perfect girl's night out.

And nothing makes a Sunday at work more fun than listening to the song from the movie over and over and over again:

Now I just need to learn the dance moves before I can make my trip. (Well that and get malaria pills.) According to Jan she has to do at least one jig on the way to and from work :).

3 very cool things in photos

We've had some really incredible thunderstorms and downpours in NYC. Here's a view from my office window with my plant which is thankful for being relocated to my much sunshinier office:


Here's my typical lunch. Mmm salad bar.


I got some freeze-dried mangosteens from Trader Joe's! They actually taste like dried mangosteens! Most amazing fruit ever! Can't wait until I can have fresh ones again.

Gah I need to get a life

Sorry I've been so bad at blogging. Just swamped with work. But I've finally uploaded photos from Ithaca: http://picasaweb.google.com/obelomestnykh/IthacaSummer09?feat=directlink

Wish I was there now so I could go swimming!

TODO: Get a life so I have stuff to blog about :) or else I'll be reduced to blogging about my lunch...