4 min read
Today my friend and I took a trip back over to the Chelsea Market office with the intent of playing the Google claw machine. We had seen an already-assembled Google Cardboard VR headset inside it yesterday and we were hell-bent on winning it. Unfortunately, all the tokens were in the machine and needed to be removed so we were told by the secretary to try again tomorrow, which was today. We came by a little too early although it was only 11 am so we tried again at lunch.
We noticed after stepping outside that the O's now look
like they do at the Googleplex in support of Pride Month
After getting 4 tokens each for a single guaranteed win, we scootered off to the claw machine. I didn't want to, but I went first to try to get the Cardboard out. I can't remember ever actually playing a claw machine game so I don't have any skills to speak of other than my best judgement of how I thought the claw would fall.
The Cardboard was sitting right against the front side rather than in the middle, making it difficult. Although it seemed there was a bit of a gap for the prongs of the claw to wedge between to grab the Cardboard, it was still too far away as the claw kept falling away from the wall when it hit the pile of huge white cotton balls and actual prizes.
After nearly grabbing it as well as a cotton ball several times, the claw finally grabbed a firm hold on a cotton ball with the YouTube logo on it and dropped it down the chute signaling the end of my turn. I was bummed but I had at least nudged the Cardboard enough to make it easier for my friend to try to get.
After she took several attempts, the Cardboard was knocked onto its side so it could be picked up by the claw easier. On the last attempt, the claw finally grabbed the Cardboard, miraculously didn't drop it, and sent it down the chute. We were jumping up and down like little kids excited about the win.
I was seriously reminded of this episode from long ago
Afterwards, it was back to work for several hours. During that time I made a few more changes on the massive 900+ line CL and finally got an approval from one of my two reviewers. I need two since it's a large addition that affects another team's directory so now I have more changes to make in order to get the last approval.
I kept working until 6:20 when I got a message to go to Water Tower. I didn't want to break my workflow but then an intern mentioned they were giving out Carboard among other Google goodies. I ran out of my office and up to meet the others. There were a lot of unfamiliar people there introducing themselves, half-empty boxes of pizza, and all the goodies on the table next to the pizza.
Apparently it was a networking event/party for all interns in the NYC area so there were people there from the New York Times, Goldman Sachs, and other nearby companies. After getting free stuff and a slice of pizza, I was second to last to introduce myself since I arrived over an hour of late (I get pretty absorbed in my work). I talked to several people for a while as I discussed my thesis, my internship project, and my EEG headset.
Eventually I checked my phone and saw an automated email telling me one of my jobs running on one of the datacenters was using too many resources so I had to excuse myself and sprint off back to my workstation to kill the resource hog. I felt stupid for forgetting to kill the jobs before leaving my workstation since they were only for practice, but I was too excited about getting the Cardboard.
My prizes of the day: Google sunglasses, Cardboard,
an Android collectible, and the YouTube cotton ball
After even more work, I finally called it a day to play ping pong for the first time in years and to watch a Netflix movie in "Drive In" on the 11th floor, known for its giant TV and fake grass pillows. Soon enough it was 11:30 and time to head back. I get to meet up with some folks from back home and give them a tour of the office bright and early.