Today I visited Google for lunch with a friend, and it was absolutely amazing. There were yoga balls, lava lamps, magic eight balls, various renditions of Google logos (even cooler than the Seattle logo), and colors. Colors everywhere. I seemed to have stepped into a second grader's dream-land...with grown ups.
And then there was the food. Aside from having a wide assortment of drinks and snacks, Google's cafeteria is first rate. The salad bar had a wide assortment of fresh vegetables. Not only did they have the usual baby corn, crutons and dressing, they also had greek olives, a rare find even in some 3 star restaraunts in Seattle. The main entree was first rate: okra stir fry (another rare find), sweet pork roasted with pineapple, and rice. I didn't try the soup or the rest of the entrees, but can't imagine them to be much worse. The real difference with Google's food is not just the assortment of dishes, but the quality of the meals themselves. Google's food leaves you full, but doesn't weigh you down. You don't get the unsettling rumbles in your stomache that indicate something down there doesn't agree with you. You don't get that unpleasant taste in your mouth afterwards that indicates a distasteful meal masked with heavy sauces, flavoring, and MSG. You just feel satisfied, and full.
Of course, there's more to Google than just food: Games! I had the pleasure of playing ping pong and air hockey with my friend (we managed to scare a few employees off with our almost frighteningly intense air hockey game), which was a lot of fun.
And then there's of course the countless numbers of really intelligent people surrounding you with their discussions of Pascal, Fortran, and Python. That's always fun, if you can understand it.
I left Google today a little dissapointed. Not because all I got was a lousy T-shirt, however (in fact, the T-shirt is really awesome! Especially since it's a women's shirt!), but because I knew I wouldn't be going back there again. Well, at least not until next week ;)
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