Angela L. Das

In my freelance journeys I’ve gone everywhere from having an office of my own with a view of the Hollywood sign, to sitting in open office plans, to sitting in a blackened cubicle in a maze of identically spaced and completely nondescript office walls with strict rules on “personalization”. At the moment, I’m sharing my daytime office with 4 other people. And not for the first time, I realize how although my environment changes from contract to contract, one thing never does: I google everything.

When I say “everything”, I do literally mean all things possible to google. Someone in my office asks what an obscure acronym means, and I’m the first to know. Mostly quiet and serious in the workplace, I can assure you this is a surface thing. Under the calm exterior is an avid googler, googling away at the speed of light and sound. In the process of writing this article, I have already googled four things, which I kept track of by opening multiple tabs in Firefox:

1. Recognizing that I am a Googleholic, I decided to google support groups in my area. Result: One poor Facebook page in Ohio called “Googlers Anonymous” that has only 26 members. These members seem more interested in new Google news than in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive Googling.
2. In choosing the title of this article, I was curious to know if anyone else had already written similar content. Result: No. But someone did hyphenate “Google-holic”, which lead me to my next search…
3. Should “Googling” be capitalized? Result: No. Google and “to google” as a verb joined the Oxford English Dictionary back in 2006, which again, I actually knew, but had to google just to make sure.
4. Googling again, I was lead to its first known usage, in a blogpost by Larry Page in 2006 which ended “…keep googling!”. Subsequently, I edited this info on Wikipedia.

As a former Google employee (where the office was open plan, if you were curious), I feel like I am somewhat justified in my manic obsession to Google things. I know it is the fastest, most efficient resource at my fingertips. I was an avid googler before working there (which is, in fact, how I got a job there, too). As an academic, I also understand that it’s like having the entire web categorized like a library at my doorstep, which I can visit any time of day or night, rain or shine, and regardless of whether or not my books are seriously overdue. To me, Google allows me to cross reference information at high speeds (since I type as fast as I think most of the time), and come up with well-researched information about anything from the best ways to grill toast (for my current job) to finding replacement shoelaces at bargain prices (which my husband needed).

A friend of mine on Facebook who was concluding her PhD at Oxford once posted that she was considering only limiting her internet time to an hour a day, including Facebook and Googling time. I thought she was mad until I realized I’d broken into a bit of a cold sweat over the thought of it. What would I do if I couldn’t Google? The anxiety rose up in my throat as I realized how many things I would just sit and wonder about, or if my teenage years were an indication, how many hours I would have to spend reading the encyclopedias in the library. Yes, if you didn’t know this by now, I am a true geek.

As I conclude this article, I’m resisting the urge to google many more things. I feel like this urge is exactly what makes me so good at what I do since I am updating myself daily on how search works, what’s new in the search world, and what’s new with Google. The point though is to understand that if you have met me or work with me, or are thinking about working with me, this is one of my quirks and one of my strongest selling points: I am a googleholic.

Grand Ave Florals, Los Angeles

Where Angela extols on the 3 Easy Truths About Getting Married

Welcome back to the series of “I Heart…” by me. The original title for this article was “Wedding Bliss Can Kiss My…”, but that sounded a lot harsher than was truly necessary. The truth of the matter is, for an event that is supposed to be so saccharine romantic, there’s a whole lot of blood, sweat and good ol’ fashioned hard work that has to go into it.

Dreaming of getting married? Closing your eyes and visualizing heart-stopping wedding shoes by Jimmy Choo, elegant and embossed invitations, designer wedding bouquets and your beautiful bridesmaids (wearing fugly and unflattering dresses in a gorgeous color) all flocking around you, making you, The Bride, shine? Keep your eyes closed, honey. That’s the fantasy stuff. The reality of getting married (and I should know because this is numero dos) is that it’s a hard sudoku puzzle of matching numbers to squares. Think of the seating plan alone: are you really going to sit your loud and opinionated aunt next to your shy academic uncle? That’s no way to wedding day well-wishes.

The best advice about getting married that I ever received came from my own gut. “Gutspeak” is the stuff that, surprisingly, should be the most simple information your brain ever processes. Yet your brain will argue with it, ignore it, try to bargain with it, and ultimately leave you feeling totally torn as to what on earth “the right decision” is. Allow me to offer clarification on your Gutspeak:

3 Easy Truths About Getting Married

1. Getting married doesn’t mean you have to sprint to the finish. Recognizing now that nothing should change between you and your hubby-to-be post-ceremony puts you wayyy ahead of the game. Everyone has their own reasons for getting married, but thinking things will change between you two afterward is the only wrong one. If your gut is telling you “he’s not the one!”, maybe you should humour it and talk to your future spouse about it. Vocalizing your fears might just help him (or her!) to relate to your issues and apprehensions. On the other hand, it might send things into the downward spiral of whose stuff belong to whom and calling the bakery to cancel the wedding cake. Either way, take it from me, your gut won’t lead you astray so just listen.

(more…)

A "hodad" is a 50's term for surfer groupie

It started, as it has for so many since, with Guy Fieri’s show on The Food Network.  The show, plus the appeal of seeing something on TV one Saturday morning, liking it, and driving 3 hours to go and see it for myself. It also starts with a literal starvation for a decent burger while living in London (a matter not addressed by English restauranteurs until relatively recently).

A good burger shouldn’t be hard to make. I’m not for over-seasoned beef, over-cooked or processed into perfect looking, 12 cm diameter patties. Good bread, good meat, good salad and good ketchup should be all that is required.  And, generally speaking, the number of napkins used to eat a burger with any kind of social etiquette is directly proportional to the excellence of the flavour. My order of 1 hamburger, 1 side of onions and 1 strawberry milkshake took approximately 11 napkins to consume gracefully, scoring Hodad’s an 11 on a normal scale of 1 to 10. Good job, guys! (more…)

He’s pint sized, he’s clever, he’s learning to speak…This little bundle of terror and imagination is my nephew, who is currently experiencing being “Terrible Two”.

They don’t call being two years old “terrible” without good reason. He’s got good questions about stuff (particularly about the vacuum cleaner), he just doesn’t know how to phrase them. Nor does he have the necessary vocabulary to fully understand an adult’s explanation of the question’s answer. How frustrating, poor guy! (more…)