Random ruminations as I figure out and deal with life, grad school, being an engineer and a product manger; learn more about technology, marketing, economics, news, writing short stories and other stuff that distracts me from doing whatever I'm supposed to be doing....
Back at the Harper Center
Get link
Facebook
X
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
-
Looking back, one of those white tables may have been where I spent the most time while in business school. :)
A few days ago I had the following conversation with a customs agent at San Francisco airport - as an Indian returning from India I get sent to the customs line even when I check "No food" on the customs form. :-) Agent: "Any food?" Me: "No" Agent: "Sure? No jira or cadipatta ? Me : "No.... well actually I do have a box of cereal." Agent: "Huh. What? Really?" Me: "Yes. Its a brand you don't get here." Agent: "Seriously. Even in the Indian stores? I've never heard that before." Me: "Ummm....yeah." I love reading local customization stories, particularly about how international chains tailor their offerings to local markets - the food industry has the best examples of these - check out this McDonald's story about the McPaneer , or how KFC is incredibly successful in China . But I seem to have missed that the customization extended to breakfast cereal. Turns out the ...
After a few weeks off, I started a new gig within Google yesterday and it hit me that for the first time in almost eight years I won’t be working on some part of Google Search. Eight years ago, I told the team when I was interviewing that I was “looking for a place to call home for a while and grow there”. My experiences here more than met that need. I used to write a regular “10 things about…” listy column for a while at a college newspaper. So in that style here’s 8 things (one for each year) I feel grateful to have experienced/learned in this time. Also, like that column which I banged out the night before it was due, this post is something that I don’t need to do, yet I feel somehow compelled to do (and so it’ll likely be longer and less crisp than it should be :-)) It actually is awesome to work on something so many people use and love, and that positively touches people’s lives. There’s a talk I give externally about Search and a line I often end up ...
I'd been hearing about BarCamp for a while, and decided it'd be really cool to go and check one out. A big one ( BarCampBlock ) was taking place a couple of minutes from where I live, so I registered last week and drove back early from the Sacramento suburbs last night to check one out. You've got to love the idea, as I did when I first heard about it! Basically, its a conference "of the people, by the people, for the people." There isn't a fixed agenda or known speakers. People show up, sign up on a big open board for sessions they'd like to lead or help out with, other people show up to listen em and a discussions/presentations take place. The agenda can be tweaked through the day and sessions can be just a few people chatting or larger lectures. It works really well and the topics are wide-ranging: from geeky to super-geeky to wannabe-geeky. The same applies to the participants.:) I really enjoyed my first BarCamp and I might actually head back tomorr...
Comments