Viraj's Weblog

This week I'm in Seattle attending OSDI. Google presented 2 papers that were fun to watch: Bigtable and Chubby . Check both of those blogs for interesting comments. What was rather humorous was after each Google talk, Yahoo and Microsoft employees stormed the microphone with questions. It's nice to see the little fights being picked .

I'm flying back to Mountain View tomorrow. I made sure to send in my absentee ballot, and am glad with the results. At least one of my nights here was in a drunken stupor. The weather is pretty bad, but I think Seattle is a wonderful place.

Well I got back from the company ski trip and had a blast. The weather was horrible and rainy, but I did learn to ski. I didn't fall once. Well I did fall getting off of the ski lift, but that doesn't count (it's damn scary!).

In the evening there was a big party, and as you can probably tell from the pictures, it was a 80s high school reunion theme. There was a great band playing good 80s music and everyone was getting crazy. I got pretty wasted.

Google has started putting up some of its techtalks on video.google.com. These are great lectures that happen throughout the week here on all sorts of interesting topics. Keep an eye out for them.

This week I'm going on a company ski trip to Squaw Valley. I signed up for the beginner skiing group, and hopefully I will not sustain too much damage.

Well I've just finished my first week at my new job. Though it wouldn't be wise of me to say much (and you may notice the new disclaimer on my site), I will say that I have a very challenging and fun time ahead of me.

I rode my bike to work 2 days of last week, due mostly to rain. I quickly realized that I needed gloves because by the time I got to the office my fingers were about to fall off. It's damn cold in the morning. I also found out it is illegal in CA to ride a bike at night without a light. Note to self to get one .

I purchased a bike recently. It's a pretty nice 'hybrid', meant for road and trail biking. The gear shifting is done by rotating the handles, which I thought was cool and easy to use.

This morning I timed how long it would take me to get to work: about 20 minutes. It was sunny and 60 degrees F so I didn't sweat at all even with a sweater and t-shirt. Going there is alot downhill, but coming back is a bit tougher. I took a trail that is right next to my apartment. As long as the weather is ok, I think this will be some good exercise.

Riding on roads is kinda scary, and I just need to get comfortable riding close to cars . I'll definitely be wearing a helmet.