Today marked my first official day back at Google. It was wonderful. Still the same amazing place it was a year ago, full of many familiar faces, as well as a few thousand extra ones. Couple of funny anecdotes regarding getting around thus far…

Sadly, I had to leave Lauren in our as-yet unfurnished apartment for a week of training and orientation in Mountain View, CA. At the Seattle airport as I was boarding I noticed a guy wearing a bright yellow Google t-shirt, and hurried off to me seat in 18c. I was in the aisle, and next to me, in the dreaded middle seat, was a lady perhaps in her late 60s / early 70s. As I got my things in order and sat down, she gave a welcoming smile and friendly nod. Moments after buckling in, she began making a myriad of oddball comments about everything from the volume of the flight attendant voices, to “I wonder how many times that man has given the safety demonstration” kind of things. She was looking for laughs, not solely from me, but from any innocent passer-by. I meanwhile was looking for just a little quiet reading time before the crazy week began. The man to her left, near the window, was a bit more gracious to her conversation attempts and generally played along. That was until he got the 10,000 foot all-clear for electronics usage, as he whipped out his iPod headphones, turned up the volume and zoned out (we would never hear from him again). I was getting to that point myself as I fiddled with my iPhone, trying out a few new games only to realize that my neighbor-in-flight was committed to talking the entire way. No big deal, really — typically I try to talk with who’s seated next to me at least a little. I’m fascinated by the amount of travelers and what journey they’re on. I fully appreciated and enjoyed sitting next to her, although this was just one of those times I wanted to sit in quiet.

We talked. And we talked. Actually, she talked and she talked. Politely I’d ask a question here and there, but you get the idea. Eventually my reason for travel came up and I told her it was for work… “what kind of work are you in?” “Internet… Google. I work for Google.” Everyone’s got something to say about Google — makes for a really fun topic. So she told me everything she knew about Google. Friends of friends daughters that work there, stories of the same people who eventually left, etc. We quickly jumped back into discussing her art collection and her history of growing up in San Francisco — she’s lived in the city for close to 50 years now. She’s got a lot of art — we perused the in-flight magazine as she pointed out what she liked, didn’t like, the whole kit-n-caboodle. Overall it was time well-spent, just a bit different from what I’d pictured heading to the airport.

At some point just after we landed I reached for my phone and I must have made some off-hand remark along the lines of “Guess it’s about time I figure out how to get where I’m going.” Unbenowst to me she would made note of that. We said our goodbyes, nice-to-meet-yous and parted ways. Five minutes later, we’re all waiting for our baggage to roll up. She rushes to me out of nowhere as I’m on the phone, checking in with Lauren, and interrupts to happily tell me she found “another man on the plane that works for Google! He was wearing a yellow shirt and I asked him and well, he works at Google!” She scurries around the corner to get him, and up he walks with a slightly confused look on his face. “I thought you could get a ride with this man, perhaps! Maybe you can ride together wherever you’re going!” It actually was a pretty great idea, however he’d had his own arrangements and itinerary and I had my own and it just didn’t match up.

In the end, I ended up getting towncar service to the hotel and met a Googler in the process. Funny note: Our luggage was taking a little while to show up and fellow co-worker whispered to me that perhaps we should build Google Search for Baggage in our spare time. Har har har…