Google This, Kim Kolchiak!

Well, if Kim Kolchiak can sing a song called "Google Me," then I can certainly post a photo taken in Google's DC office when I was visiting once, using the miracle of my cell phone camera.  I sort of like the fun decor and bright colors and the plant, but you do have to sign in electronically at the nice young receptionist's desk on some great long form that no one really takes the time to read but is probably some sort of non-disclosure thing. There's candy to eat too as well if you like as well as a screen on the wall which gives an electronic picture of where all the Google searches in the world are taking place -- beams of light of higher and lower density coming up from a map of the earth. It really does reveal where or where there isn't electricity on the planet (e.g., there's not that many people googling from the middle of Africa).  Then it sometimes switches to another view, showing all the keywords that people are searching on all across the world in all the different languages. I'd be real surprised to see my name being searched, that's for sure! But I bet Kim Kolchiak gets searched a lot and I wonder if Google likes her new cute song?  Someone told me that the most common things googled for are religious things, like people use Google to search for all kinds of things in the Bible, or when they start looking for God.  Now that's awesome!

World Cup Connections

The World Cup Finals have actually got me watching sports, something I usually don't do but these games are quick and diverse and it's clear millions of people the world over are engaged in this. For my own part,I've noticed how despite being in America, people are drawn to supporting their home country team. Half a dozen people have initiated talking to me about how disappointed I might be because of the U.K. team's lost goal. I found myself high fiving one of the guys in the garage where I sometimes park the car; his car had an Argentina flag hanging from the rear view mirror and I said, "Hey, Argentina go!" or something equally stupid. But he lit right up with a big proud smile, and said "Yeah, we're good" or something -- my Spanish isn't that sharp. Another colleague whose parents are Italian was raving about the Italian team and my neighbor whose father is Nigerian talked about how Nigeria didn't get into the finals. Since our satellite TV basic package doesn't get the cable channel with the games, we've been watching on Telemundo, the Spanish language channel and finding it very enjoyable; we may even be learning a little Spanish alongside. If only all patriotism were worked out through football! Maybe God works that way too, sometimes.