A2 Landing

Well hello there!

It's been awhile since my last post, obviously I'm not very good at this thing. Just making note that I am officially in Ann Arbor! It feels good to be somewhere permanent. :)

Things I miss from CA: not worrying about the weather, the cafes, and my distributed co-workers.

Things I enjoy about the Midwest: everything except for the weather and the Vikings. And let me add, the prices are about half of what they are in CA, which is an extra bonus.

So I'm still in "training" but start doing my first client calls on Tuesday (we get MLK off, which is freaking amazing)! So my job seems really cool, and my co-workers are awesome. They are a really fun team, so I'm glad to be part of it. My official role will be as an Online Marketing Strategist for Google's Media Parternships and Acquisitions team (otherwise known as Inside Sales Ops) and I'm focusing on emerging Canadian market opportunities. Yes, there is a Canadian flag hanging over my cube. It should be interesting to see if I do well on this team, I'm anxious and excited.

Other than that, nothing too new. Just trying to get organized which is a huge undertaking. I have sooo muchh stuffffff. Missing the dogs as always! :(

Happy December

Okay, so I went the whole month of November without writing in this thing. I know I promised to write in it more often, but it was a crazy busy month! Anyways, things are going well here. I'm wrapping up my training and will head for home on the 19th. I start my full time role in Ann Arbor on January 4th so I'll work a little from home over the holiday break and then move to Michigan! I can't wait to be back in the Midwest, although I have to admit it is not the most ideal time of year to move....

One slight hitch in my plan is that we can't actually move into our apartment until January 7th...so I will be a staying with a few of my favorite Googlers for a couple of days. See, I told you guys, everyone is super nice here!

Today was really cool at the office because we got to see Ben Affleck do a little "fireside chat" with the VP of google.org and talk about his humanitarian work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was really eye opening and I was glad to have been there. Plus, now I can say I've really seen a celebrity! Haha, and I also have to love him because he's married to Sydney Bristow (aka Jennifer Garner, not the other way around)....!

Anyways, exciting news about my placement. I'm on the Acquisitions/Inside Sales Operations team in Ann Arbor and I'm so pumped! At first I was a little nervous about my placement because I feel so intimidated by this role, but the more I hear about the position and the team the more enthusiastic I'm feeling! I think a lot of us felt we were going to do reactive support first and then be transitioned into roles in dedicated client services and ISO, but I think we are really lucky to have been placed on those teams right away! Although the pressure is on!! My team is a relatively small one, but there's going to be a lot of growth this year and in the future so I'm really looking forward to seeing how things pan out. I couldn't be a luckier girl. I am so grateful for all the opportunities I've been given! I have the best friends and family (and dogs) a girl could ask for, and I'd have to say that life doesn't get much better than this. Additionally, I can't believe what a tremendous experience I've been given in the past 4 months. Google is really an amazing and magical place. It truly has been one of the greatest learning experiences in my life and I will remember my time here in California forever.

For everyone back home and in MN, I miss you guys and CAN'T WAIT to see you!! Without you guys I could have never made it through all these tremendous changes in my life. I'm counting down the days until I get to see you guys!

And as a side note...WAY TO GO PACKERS!!! One step closer to securing a wild card spot and one step closer to WINNING THE SUPERBOWL!! And also, for anyone who watched the Carrie Underwood holiday special...she's AMAZING and I'm obsessed.

Song of the Day: "Songs Like This"-Carrie Underwood

Heyhey!

So I apologize for never writing in this thing (like I promised I would) but things get a little crazy here! I'm always always busy and there are never enough hours in the day. Work is still really busy although I think this week my project will start winding down and I can actually start working a normal work week.

Today we had the Secretary of Energy, Stephen Chu stop by the 'Plex for a little chat with the Googlers. I still can't believe how many cool people come here and how awesome it is! I also can't believe there have been multiple times where I have been within arm's length of Larry and Sergey! Someone please pinch me!

This weekend was way more relaxed than the past two (Napa and Yosemite), but I got to see an awesome concert in Mountain View. It was Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit Concert and we saw....Fleet Foxes, Wolfmother, Monsters of Folk, Gavin Rossdale, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Buffett, Chris Martin from Coldplay, and No Doubt...ALL UNPLUGGED. It was LEGIT!

This weekend Mom and Aunt Kay are coming to visit....Yay!!! I'm excited to finally have visitors! Plus, it's Halloween! On Friday Google is having their annual Googleween festivities, I can't wait to see what it's like! Also, to shout out...HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!!! (She turned 27 today!!!)

Below is a video I took from the concert (can you believe how amazing Gwen Stefani is?!):

Song of the Day: I'm Just a Girl-No Doubt

Plus on Youtube I just found a video of Chris Martin and his awesome piano version of Yellow that he played!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQA-CaT8fw

Okay, now I'm done. I swear!

More pictures!

So here's some links from Napa and Yosemite!

I'm having a great time here in Cali! Busy busy busy though! Miss you all!

Napa pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/LENevens/Napa?authkey=Gv1sRgCMD-jruT5LrImwE#

Yosemite pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/LENevens/Yosemite?authkey=Gv1sRgCMm0hoioudfqJA#

Song of the Day: You Are the Best Thing-Ray LaMontagne

Pictures!

So here are a few pictures from my adventures in CA so far! How is everyone doing back home!? Feel free to comment, I want to know what you're all up to! Anyways, Google is still great, busy as ever and I'm having a blast. We had to wear the crazy Noogler hats to TGIF our first week at Google. Pretty funny! Anyways, the other pictures are from San Francisco as well as hiking in the Santa Cruz mountains. Plans for this weekend are to go to Napa/Sonoma and then the next weekend we're going to YOSEMITE! So excited!

Go Packers!

Tonight was probably the hardest football game I ever had to watch. It's really sad to see a purple #4 jersey. Brett Favre would have hurt me less if he would have just stabbed me in the heart! While I'm not okay with Vikings fans, it's even worse for me to see a Packers fan attempt to defend Brett Favre. He totally slapped the state of WI in the face by purposely going to the Vikings, our arch enemies!

Enough of my ranting though.

What a great game for Aaron Rodgers though. I hope this loss isn't too hard on him because he really played well. He has had so much pressure on his shoulders, and I deeply respect him. If we had a halfway decent offensive line he could DOMINATE. He played so well under pressure with the pocket collapsing almost instantaneously after every play. 384 yards? Way to go Rodgers! Also, props for the defense on locking down AP! And forcing the turnover!

It's a sad day in Wisconsin, but we'll get over it, move on, and whoop the Vikings come the Lambeau showdown. I anticipate the Vikings will lose every single game from here on out. :)

Busy Bee!

I apologize for my blogging hiatus, but things have been busy over here! Work is going really well, but I'm definitely putting a ton of hours in! I'm working hard, but we also have a ton of fun too! This week we had a cube decorating contest, which was really fun; our group decided on a Mardi Gras theme. I also bought a (Chinese Fighting) fish for my cube and I named him Dexter (I've been watching that show a lot lately).

I mean to post pictures, but my computer is very old and slow so it's hard to upload anything on my computer and takes a really long time. I promise I will soon though!

My sister came to visit this weekend, which was awesome! We went to see the Dierks Bentley and Brad Paisley concert in Mountain view, and it was amazing! We also spent all day Saturday in San Francisco, where we took a trip up and down Lombard Street, went to Pier 39/Fisherman's Wharf, and Union Square. It was such a great weekend, it couldn't have been any better!

Hope all is well back there, I miss you all!

Song of the Day: 'Welcome to the Future'-Brad Paisley