Google Birthday? Oh yeah!

My day started at midnight, when I got home, and rushed around the house making sure I had everything packed. Procrastinators for the win. =D

I then tried to get a few hours of sleep. I managed to see my phone at 2:15ish, and then was promptly woke up by my mother at 4:45. I must have passed out at some point, but I'm not exactly sure. I woke up smoothly though, and it was crazy packing last minute stuff and electronics.

I got into the airport, and boarded the plane smoothly, this time no high school English teacher to keep me company on the flight. I was going to take a nap, but decided to wait on the drinks before napping. Before I could finish my drink my nose started bleeding. Woohoo, right? Next thing I hear, the flight is ending in 15 minutes. Yay for not sleeping on flights.

When I got out of the plane at DFW I texted Sara and Mario, so I could meet up with them, and found out I was the first one to arrive. They got there shortly after I did, and we got some food then boarded our flight. The flight was uneventful, but I used my laptop to charge my phone, which was dying because of all of the birthday texts. Ridiculous!

At LaGuardia we went to get our luggage, and Jhan (one of the FUSEers) ran around trying to find us. He finally did, and we met up with 3 other FUSEers. We got 2 more, and then waited for Lynn, the final arrival. They had me call this Limo company, with a decent price, and work on setting up a ride. That was a hassle.

I called several times with the guy telling me, "25 minutes! We'll call you." (25 minutes later) "Are you almost here?" "5 minutes! We'll call you!" (5 minutes later) "1 Minute. Head upstairs."
...
A few calls later we finally got in the limo, and managed to shove 20 of us in the limo, which was better than having to wait on a second one.

Walking into Google was crazy. It's in the building, but not the entire building, so we had to go up to the fourth floor to get the greeting table. We met Isa, Stephanie, and Cathie (I think on the names, sorry if it's wrong), who gave us all our introduction stuff. While talking to them we were ambushed by Emily Stumme, who ran out and hugged us. It was awesome!!

We then walked into the room where the intro was taking place, and it was like an awesome family reunion where I got to say hi to a ton of the CSSIers from last year. Truly and honestly, I felt like I was home. It was beautiful. =D

We got the introduction speech, and a little talk from an engineer, and then they started a few icebreakers. We felt like we were cheating, because our group was 4 CSSIers and one new person. It was fun though, and I got to meet Faye.

After our icebreakers, we took a tour of the offices. There are some super sweet places in these offices, and I'm sure enough time will make me love them more, but I'm still more attached to the Mountain View office. Beth found me some strawberries and it was heavenly. We finished the tour at a new cafeteria, which opened specifically for us. =D

I got to meet Joseph, Mike, and another Googler while I ate. It was a fun meal, and I got to learn a lot from the three of them. After the meal we were cleared to go, and Emily and Lynn and them almost broke out into Happy Birthday, but I hid so they didn't. After we finally got back, and got checked in I tagged along with Izzy and Beth to a pizza place.

It started raining when we decided to leave, so we went back to the hotel, where I then met up with Emily and Lynn. They wanted to go to CVS so I tagged along with them. Then we returned to their room where I started to tackle thanking all of the birthday wishes. While that was happening we tried to Hangout with Michelle, Kasra, and Jessica. Then we got to Hangout with Kat for a bit. I finally finished the thank yous, and then finally got to start blogging.

This is where you come in, and now I sleep...

Long day... Great birthday...

I love Google, and I love all the CSSIers, and I really do feel like this is exactly where I belong.

I do miss everyone from Amarillo and UT though...

Love ya guys,
Stay tuned,
William Combs