Spice Girls Reunion.... Anyone?

So the word on the street is that the Spice Girls are reuniting for an 11-city world tour kicking off in Los Angeles, CA on Dec 7th, 2007. Can we see a resurgence of sugary pop-licious music after nearly a decade of dominating Hip Hop? We can only hope...

Which cities will be oh so lucky to see the Spice Girls stop by their neck of the woods?

• Los Angeles
• Las Vegas
• New York
• London
• Cologne, Germany
• Madrid, Spain
• Beijing
• Hong Kong
• Sydney, Australia
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Buenos Aires, Argentina

In case you were quick to forget, the Spice Girls had such lovable songs as 'Holler,' 'Wannabe' and '2 become 1.'

Interestingly enough, in recent memory, I've been listening to their last album 'Forever' (2000). They have some great tunes on that album. It's somewhat hip-hop centric. Their other two albums include 'Spice' (1997) and 'Spiceworld' (1997).

Who would like to join me in some random city to see some Spicy Music?

Gwen Stefani Concert (6.19.07) at Shoreline Amphitheatre - Mountain View, CA

I headed to Shoreline Amphitheatre to see Gwen Stefani in Concert a few days back. The good thing is that I can walk from work directly to the amphitheatre without having to drive. The downside is that getting out of the area after the concert is crazy madness. I think I'll have a couple of tricks up my sleeve next time around.

Anywho, We got to the concert on time and found out that there is a 'no cap' or 'can' policy when entering the show. Apparently the rules get stricter depending on who's performing.

The concert was really fun. I know all of her solo stuff, so I was familiar with all of the tracks. She was really interactive with the audience and seemed to love to be in Nor Cal. At one point she went into the audience, grabbed a girl's purse, and proceeded to open up and take a look at what was inside. That was really funny. Oh... and Gwen has quite the potty mouth. It was funny cause some of the parents would cover their children's ears. We were sitting near the 'family section' on the lawn.

Here are a few pics:

First Pinkberry Clone In The Silicon Valley: Fraiche Yogurt

I've been waiting for this day for quite some time. Which day you ask? The day when somebody opens a Pinkberry-esque shop and brings it to the Silicon Valley. For some reason the 'tart' fro-yo craze has only migrated to So Cal and NYC. It seems as if the first clone in Nor Cal also opened up recently and is called Harmony Yogurt in San Carlos.

Anywho, Fraiche Yogurt is the name of the new shop in the Silicon Valley. Where is it located? On the Peninsula in Downtown Palo Alto.

It's been open a week or so and people have already been raving about it on Yelp! I haven't been yet, but I'm super excited to try it this weekend. I hear it's a bit pricey (even more so than Pinkberry) but it's organic and all of the yogurt is made in house (rather than from a powder - a la Pinkberry). I'll make sure to report back this weekend...



Location:
644 Emerson
Palo Alto, CA 94301
(650) 566-0055

Hours:
Monday – Friday 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Pricing (Subject to Change):
$2.95 & Up

Website:
http://www.fraicheyogurt.com/

What the Other Blogs are Saying:
From FoodNotebook.com - The Interview With Owners; The Opening

Teaser Entry on SF Pride 2007

This weekend was Pride in San Francisco. I had such a great time. I was in the city all three days at some point. I got to see several of my so-cal friends and loads of my nor-cal and Google buddies. I met a lot of new people. This was my first year going to/being a part of the parade. This was by far my favorite part, despite the huge time commitment and early morning hours.

Thanks to Nai for trekking it up with me on Saturday/Sunday. He's SUCH A TROOPER. It really meant a lot to me that he came up.

Here is a teaser entry from Valley Wag on Google's presence in the 2007 Pride parade: http://valleywag.com/tech/gay-pride/sulu-joins-the-starship-google-271784.php

More to come when I upload pictures and such. Must... recover.... some.... sleep....

RIP: The 3rd Classmate to Pass Away

I was tipped off that one of my fellow Bishop Alemany alum passed away earlier this week in a motorcycle accident. Quite tragic according to this Los Angeles Daily News Article.

RIP John Samuel
1983-2007

The Wine Cellar - Los Gatos, CA

One of the teams I belong to at Google decided to have an offsite in Downtown Los Gatos, CA. It's a very cute and quaint town south of the Silicon Valley.

We ended up having dinner at the Wine Cellar. It's super cute and located underground. There is a patio area located above ground so you can people watch.

We started off with some great white wine, which I felt hit me pretty damn early in the evening. I I can attribute that to either (1) Weight loss or (2) Not drinking in forever.

Later on we had some dinner. It was a pre-fix menu made for us. What did I end up getting?

• Starter: Chicken tortilla soup (Yummy!).
• Entrée: Chicken Ana. It was pretty heavy, but I focused on not having too much of it. It was mighty tasty, nonetheless.
• Dessert: Chocolate Fondue. Loads of fruits and dessert type things to dip in dark chocolate. Yum!

Team Offsite: Horseback Riding in Half Moon Bay, CA

Last Tuesday, my team in AdWords went on an offsite to in Half Moon Bay at Sea Horse Ranch. First off, the weather was picturesque and quite out of the ordinary for Half Moon Bay. It tends to be cloudy there.

I was a bit afraid of riding horses. I've never done something in while another thing was in control of me. After a while, I became 'one' with my horse. We understood each other. I felt at peace. It was such a beautiful offsite in which you could connect with your co-workers. We chatted while making our way from a long trail that ended at the beach. After the two-ish hour horseback riding adventure, we had a picnic dinner to end the evening.

This made me think about riding horses in the future. Okay... if I were rich I would do it more often. But I could totally see what people love about horses. Loved it!

Sunday in SF: From Dolores Park to Parking Tickets

Sunday was my 3rd day in a row in San Francisco. I honestly can't believe i spent all three days in the city. That's unheard of for a suburbia boy such as myself.

Anyways, Sunday was very fun.

• Chilled with Norm and some of his buddies at Dolores Park. Such a beautiful view of the city skyline. I also find it interesting how the park is segmented socially. The gay guys in one area, the families in the other, etc.

• I managed to get a parking ticket while parking on Guerrero St. It was for parking over 18 inches from the curb. That's just a fancy way of saying I parked in the street. I just saw that everyone else was and I thought it was cool. Learned my $35 lesson. *Sigh*
• We then decided to Salsa dance to a live band at El Rio in the Mission District. It's a mixed crowd, so that was nice. I really liked the band, although I don't really know how to dance to Salsa. I interpreted it in my own fashion. :P

• After dancing, we grabbed some grub nearby at Papalote, a fine not-quite-hole-in-the-wall Mexican establishment. They have quite possibly the BEST salsa I've ever tasted. I'm being totally serious. Great food there.
• Norm, Patrick, John & I decided to head to Badlands to end the night by dancing to some trashy music videos. Quite honestly, I miss seeing Tommy as the bouncer. I heard he was let go. Such a cool guy. Norm knew the door guy, so that's cool. Oh, and Rudy, who I met a few weeks back at Dragon, came up to me and said hello. I didn't remember his name, but I remembered the face.

Meet My Canadian Friend: Matt

This was somewhat of a surreal Saturday. I met Matt online about a year ago. We became pretty good friends really quickly. We had a lot in common and I knew he was a good guy.

I never thought we'd ever meet... at least not this soon. As it turns out, he was meeting another friend in San Francisco this past weekend. So we decided to meet up and hang out for a bit at Badlands SF in the Castro.

Although we didn't hang out for more than an hour and a half, due to unfortunate circumstances, it was a pleasure meeting him in person. I still find it interesting meeting people in person after you only know them online. What's their voice going to sound like? What about their mannerisms? One of the first things out of Matt's mouth was, 'I thought you'd be Taller!'

I might make a trip up to Vancouver one weekend this summer. I've heard it's a beautiful place...

Friday Night (6.15.07) - Jet, San Francisco

I made back up to SF on Friday to hang out with Ty, one of my co-workers, and some of his buddies. As usual, it was scandalous fun. Jet is the Castro's 'Hip Hop' club. The music is always great. It's super tiny, but I guess that adds to the fun.

Pictures can be found here:

Jet 6.15.07

Safari 3 Beta For Windows

Wow. Apple has released a Beta version of its internet browser, Safari, for Windows.

Check it out here.

Amusing Website: youparklikeanasshole.com

Steph K. pinged me a website last week that I found highly amusing. It's called 'youparklikeanasshole.com.' You can check out galleries of photos or you can print out 'notices' that you can stick on other people's cars to let them know how badly they've parked.

Give it a whirl if you have time. :)

Hunters Nighclub / Video Bar - San Jose, CA

Friday night was the 'pre-party' for San Jose pride at the new gay bar in San Jose, Hunters. The only other gay club that really competes is Splash.

To tell you the truth, I don't go out socially in San Jose that much. If I did, it would probably be at the more posh (i.e. straight) Lounges and Clubs around the city. I don't mind shopping or having a nice meal in San Jose because it's a pretty nice city. However, I usually keep it low key in Mountain View, Sunnyvale or Palo Alto. If i'm really clubbing, It's in SF.

Who did I go with? Well, I met up with someone I knew in High School, Kyle. He doesn't look the same at all. He brought some of his friends along, like Rick, Mike, David, etc. Someone asked if he knew I was gay in High School. He was like 'Um... Ya! Hello!' We then started to say who we knew was gay at Alemany. Lol. Fun Times.

It was nice to hang out with a new set of people. It's refreshing to have people in the South Bay to hang out with. Kyle and I will probably grab dinner and watch a movie one of these days to catch up. I also (albeit at the last minute) went up to a guy I thought was cute. We gave 'the look' to each other quite often but never went up to each other. While outside, I asked him his name and he wanted my number. He's a nice guy and we chatted for a few minutes tonight on the phone.

About Hunters:

• Parking is okay in the area. You can park at the garage at 2nd and San Carlos with no problems.
• The club has only been open for two weeks but has got some local press.
• The line situation is okay before 10:30pm. However, I hear that around 11 it got really whack. 30-45 minute waits were typical, even, when it wasn't all that packed in side.
  
• The sound system isn't all the good. When I walked in, I was pretty shocked. I think eventually they were able to get the sound levels right.
• The LCD TV's are a nice touch, but often times the 'VJ' playing the Videos had some technical issues.
• There are two patio areas. A small one in front and a large one in back. I wonder if there will ever be a 'front patio scene' a la 'Rage' or 'Fiesta Cantina' in Los Angeles. Places in the Bay don't tend to have a front patio due to space issues and rent prices. I'm also sure Zoning is also involved.
• The main bar area is nice, although slightly small. There is also a nice front section with seats to just chill.
  
• The bar hasn't quite found a personality yet. I'm sure that will come over time. I wonder if they'll have theme nights in the future. (A Dragon-type night would be FANTASTIC!)
• There is small open area for dancing, although no-one really started to dance until midnight.
• They had trashy Go Go boys. Although, none were my type.
• The crowd is really all over the map. I would say the crowd reminds me of Badlands in SF, but with less white guys.
• Drinks are slightly more expensive than the gay bars in SF, but they use better alcohol.
• I'll be back for sure.

Pictures:

Hunters Nightclub - San Jose, CA

John Mayer / Ben Folds Concert (Tuesday June 5th, 2007)

This past Tuesday I had the pleasure of seeing both John Mayer and Ben Folds in concert at HP Pavilion in San Jose.

I drove up from LA and made it to the South Bay around 6pm, which was a perfect amount of time to meet up with Nai and drive to the concert. Nai was a bit sick, but I still think he had fun.

The Highlights:

• Saw the one of the Google VP's I know at the concert.
• Ben Folds using a synthesizer to cover 'Such Great Heights.'
• John Mayer babbling about random 80's nostalgia.

The Set List:

John Mayer's set list was pretty phenomenal. I liked how he did a mix of new and old. Past concerts tend to lean toward new stuff. According to his website, this was his set list:

Belief
No Such Thing
Good Love is On the Way
Gravity
Bigger Than My Body
Dreaming With A Broken Heart
Vultures
I Don't Need No Doctor
Wheel
Why Georgia
Waiting on the World to Change
-- encore --
Slow Dancing (acoustic)
83 (acoustic)
Who Did You Think I Was (acoustic)
I'm Gonna Find Another You

Some Pictures:

John Mayer & Ben Folds - June 5, 2007

So Cal Post 4: The Highlander Reunion & Gay Karaoke (Mon. June 4th, 2007)

Monday night after working at Google, I headed over to lovely Riverside, CA for the annual banquet for the UC Riverside Highlander. After possibly the worst traffic I've experienced in some time, I finally made it to the Mission Inn in Downtown Riverside around 7:15pm. The Mission Inn is by far one of the coolest landmarks in Southern California.

I parked on the street and walked up to the hotel. In typical fashion, there was brand new Lamborghini parked outside. I made my way to the Spanish Art Gallery room only to find not one single person I know. I called James in a panic and found out that James, Brian, Milt & Steve were at the Bar. I met up with those guys. I haven't seen some of them in years... so It was pretty damn fantastic... just like old times.

We eventually made our way to the banquet in the Spanish Art Gallery. I saw more familiar faces like Joe, Danielle, Mrs. B., Zuhair, Chapman, etc. However, it made me miss all of my old co-workers who couldn't make it.

After drinking alcoholic drinks, long conversations, picture taking, grubbing, laughing, trash talking and the awards ceremony, the banquet had ended.

What is a post-college student to do? Fear not! Karaoke at a Gay Bar to the rescue! We headed on over to The Menagerie, one of a whopping 2 gays bars in Riverside. That's not bad, considering how conservative the city is in general.

We sang a mix between 80's songs and boy/girl band pop. James got into the Karaoke a lot. He kicked off the night by singing a drunken version of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Bonnie Tyler. Make sure to check out the karaoke video on YouTube! We sang a group version of 'Come Sail Away' by Styx. Lastly, Chapman and I butchered a Spice Girls song.

We parted ways after Karaoke. I however, got a little reminiscent about Riverside. So I decided to drive random places around the city. Mainly spots around the University, Downtown and Riverside Plaza. I'm still amazed at how quickly things change for the better in Riverside.

Highlander Banquet & Reunion - June 4, 2007

So Cal Post 3: Rage, Cindy & Santa Monica Google (Sun & Mon - June 3rd & 4th, 2007)

I drove back to LA from San Diego on Sunday Night. I arrived around 11pm. I met up with Cindy at her Redondo Beach pad for a few minutes. Her place is totally swanky. Nice find, girl!

After visiting Cindy, I went Rage in West Hollywood to meet up with Simeon. It was probably a bad idea because I had to wake up early to drive to work in Santa Monica from the Valley.

On Monday, I made the commute on the 405 to the Santa Monica Google office. I decided to work from this office so I didn't have to waste a vacation day. This office is mainly engineers, so It was a bit weird being surrounded by guys who talk about javascript and ajax all day. Nonetheless, I still had my fab snacks and ocean views. I even figured out how to VC into a meeting in Mountain View. Yay!

I met up for lunch with Cindy at California Chicken Cafe in Venice. I love this place, but this was the first time I've been to this location. I usually go to one of the valley locations. We talked about boys and work. It was a nice mid-day convo. We parted ways and I went back to work...

So Cal Post 2: Semi-Sunny San Diego (Sun. June 3rd, 2007)

On Sunday, I met up with my old Washington DC boss from the US Chamber, Brent. I haven't seen him since this time last year, right around when I got converted at Google. He and a few of his friends ran the Rock and Roll Marathon in San Diego.

We met up for Dinner at Rama, this fantastic Thai restaurant in the Gaslamp District. I ended up getting the Pra Ram, spinach with chicken in a peanut sauce. It was very tasty. After that, we grabbed some dessert at the local Ghirardelli a few blocks away.

All and all it was a nice little getaway. Brent made me realize how much I miss DC. And apparently smoking is banned at Bars in DC now. That was my MAJOR bet peeve before. Lol.

San Diego Trip - June 3, 2007

So Cal Post 1: The Abbey & Buddah Lounge (Sat. June 2, 2007)

As many of you know, I made a kinda last minute trip to So Cal last weekend (June 2 to 5). I made it home around 6pm after leaving the Silicon Valley via car around 1pm.

I convinced Kenny to go out to West Hollywood on Saturday night (after about 30 minutes of begging... lol). I haven't seen him in forever. We've never actually hung out on a weekend night before because he's never in Nor Cal on a weekend. But we've hung out plenty of times in Nor Cal on weeknights. We met at the Abbey and grabbed some coffee. Neither of us drank, but we caught up with some convo.

Later in the evening, Simeon and Paul came and met us. I've met Simeon a few times before but this was the first time I've met Paul. So far I haven't met a friend of a friend I haven't liked. After chilling at the Abbey, we made our way to the revitalized Buddah Lounge LA at Ultra Suede. Apparently it was the poppin' gaysian club back in the 90's and early 2000's. After 5 or so years of being away, it's back. It's basically a 21+ version of GAMeBoi on a Saturday night. I had a great time there.

Kenny bounced a bit early. Simeon left around 2am. I stayed and talked with Paul for a bit. Then he was kind enough to drop me off to my car which was parked way down Santa Monica Blvd. I liked the white Apple logo on his Honda Accord. I knew we would get along. Haha. Paul was kinda excited to see Madonna's choreographer at Buddah Lounge. He was a bit star struck. Lol.

Buddah Lounge LA - June 2, 2007

Dragon SF: Fri. June 1st, 2007

I ended up going to Dragon (held at Club Eight) last Friday. I was kinda talked into it by Ty and Devon. I had a pretty good time and met loads of new folks. I also ran into some familiar faces, that being Kelvin and Ronald. The photos can be viewed below:

Dragon SF

Nancy in SF / Dinner at Incanto: Fri. June 1st, 2007

Nancy, one of my old co-workers, who now is based out of Kansas City, came to SF last weekend. Jackie, Danny, Jen, Steph and I had dinner with Nancy at an Italian restaurant in the SF district of Noe Valley called Incanto.

I thought the food was inventive and an unconventional approach to traditional Italian food. One of the cool things is that every table gets complimentary sparking water or filtered water. That's a nice touch if you don't feel like drinking. I ended up getting the Balsamic-braised pork shoulder with polenta. We also had some wine and nice desserts. I believe the desserts were the 'Milk chocolate mocha with frozen cherry pearls' and 'panna cotta with strawberries & 15-year balsamic.' The panna cotta was pretty amazing stuff. It was a nice night out with fun conversation involving boy and girl talk. What else can you ask for?

Nancy in SF / Dinner at Incanto

Work at Google: Past, Present & Future

I've been working at Google for just over a year and a half. This week I hit that mark and I actually didn't really think about it until now.

Quite honestly, If I look back on everything, I never thought I would be working at a tech company in the Silicon Valley or doing what I'm doing. I thought I would be working at some ad agency in LA, commuting on the 405, and slaving away with a salary less than $25K. Salary has never been my focus, so I'd be happily working for $25K, as long as I am loving what I'm doing and who I'm working with.

The Past

I came in at Google as a contractor/temp worker working in their AdWords department under their Online Sales and Operations division. AdWords is one of two advertising products Google has, the other being AdSense.

I started off as a 'representative' reviewing online ads. You had to be sharp, quick, and able to understand a vast amount of policies and apply them on a constant basis. During this time, I had Dara as my manager. She really helped me stay focused on improving performance. I also learned a lot from Kenji, who was not my direct manager, but the manager of some members on my team. From there I converted after 6 or so months of the stress as a temporary worker and turned into a 'coordinator.' As a coordinator, you actually interact with advertisers by answering emails, phones and chats. I didn't have any dedicated clients, but this was the time when I ramped up on product knowledge to understand a very very complex product. During this time, there was so much change. Flexibility is quite possibly the best trait to have as a Googler.

The Present

Recently, our 'coordinator' title changed to 'associate.' No promotion really, it was done out of making sure all departments had similar titles for the same job roles. I've continued to improve my product knowledge. However, for the past two quarters, I've mainly focused on internal mentoring, quality control, and customer satisfaction. I've had less interaction with clients, but I do truly enjoy helping people make the most of their online advertising.

The Future

I'll hit my 1 year working as a full-hire employee in July. I've virtually had the same manager, who had the same start date as me, since I converted. I had Matt as my manager my first quarter. But ever since then, I've had Megan, who I've learned a lot from. She's good at making me look at the big picture and not getting so focused on the present. Quite honestly, I'll miss having her as my manager. Everyone is sort of going different places next quarter.

I found out what team I'll be joining next quarter. It's a new team that's small and highly needed. I fought like nobody's business to get on this team. The primary focuses of this team will be (1) mentoring, (2) training, (3) quality control, (4) project management and (5) account management. It's sort of a hybrid team. That blends all of my interests into one. After being at Google for this long, I truly realized how much I like mentoring people. I always thought my first profession would be a teacher. So you could kind of think of it as being a teacher in corporate America.

Although I'll have a new manager, I wouldn't be where I am today without my temp manager Dara and my full hire managers Matt & Megan. I look forward to the challenges of Q3 and beyond.