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After a team meeting at work, I stopped by the laundry room to wash some undergarments. Yes, we have a laundry room at work.
I have a handful of tighty whities in hand, headed for the washing machine and the door opens. It's Colin Powell. He greeted me.
Nervously cracking up, I said hi back. He asked me what I'm doing.
"Washing my underwear". Filing in after him to hear the truth were Eric Schmidt, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and a throng of other Googlers who have come to show Colin Powell our laundry room.
"Well, you're mixing colors!" Colin Powell said as he looked into the washing machine, noting that I've already dumped a pair of black jeans in there.
"I don't want to waste water!" I explain.
I got to press the flesh and explain to Colin Powell what a UI designer does, since he stared at me slightly blankly when I responded to his question of "What do you do here?" with "UI Designer."
But mostly, I shamed my company. :)
Updates: Some of my friends had awesome "should have said"s to the "mixing colors" comment. Nick would have said "These colors don't run, sir!" Mariam and Steve would have said "It's okay for blacks and whites to mix!"
In case you weren't clear, anything I say on this blog is my own opinion and not that of my employer, or anyone else for that matter. It's just me.
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March 14 2005, 23:43:57 UTC 7 years ago
March 15 2005, 00:07:00 UTC 7 years ago
lol.
I'm totally telling this story at lunch tomorrow.Where is the Onion coverage on that story?
it has been far too long since seeing you. email me your plans to frolick in the city. :)
s/e
March 15 2005, 01:52:41 UTC 7 years ago
June 26 2010, 02:23:00 UTC 1 year ago
March 15 2005, 03:47:08 UTC 7 years ago
June 26 2010, 06:51:18 UTC 1 year ago
March 15 2005, 04:48:10 UTC 7 years ago
March 16 2005, 10:44:55 UTC 7 years ago
March 17 2005, 01:36:00 UTC 7 years ago
heard he was making the rounds at Google but had decided not to
bother, as meeting famous people in the past (school newspaper and the
like) really didn't do much for me. I was working at my desk when I
heard a commotion near our microkitchen. I peeked out and Bill Clinton
was there, surrounded by throngs of Googlers. Noticing that I had a
disposable camera in my bag, I thought "I might as well snap a picture
for my mom. My mom was a big Bill Clinton fan pre-Monica. So I went
out into the hallway, about 30 feet away as he was greeting others and
held the camera to my face to snap the picture. At which point Bill
Clinton turned towards me, pointed, and said "Come on over." Like a
girl in the headlights of a Beatles concert, I walked over, caught and
stunned. Bill Clinton put his arm around me, some number of people
snapped a picture, and the only thing I thought to say was "Oh my god,
my mom has all of your christmas cards!" I then returned to my desk,
jumped up and down, and freaked out 12-year-old girl style, completely
shocking myself.
The punchline, really, was that when the photos of Clinton and the
dark-haired, pale-skinned intern was circulated, along with other
event photos, in the company, the Monica-related heckles were
non-stop.
7 years ago
Anonymous
March 18 2005, 19:49:05 UTC 7 years ago
Classic!
This is sure to grant you more than a little celebrity status. Perhaps Letterman could swing an invite? How would you like an appearance on Late Night?.... :-)Bryan
Jonesblog (http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/)
March 18 2005, 19:56:50 UTC 7 years ago
March 18 2005, 20:09:39 UTC 7 years ago
Anyway, what a great story!
Anonymous
7 years ago
March 18 2005, 20:07:25 UTC 7 years ago
March 18 2005, 20:14:12 UTC 7 years ago
I don't really know what to say except congrats on such a neat, cool experience!
Nice response to him about mixing colors, if I may say.
:D
March 18 2005, 20:21:59 UTC 7 years ago
March 18 2005, 20:44:59 UTC 7 years ago
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Anonymous
7 years ago
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
March 18 2005, 21:28:12 UTC 7 years ago
that is a really funny story!
I am working at the office today and laughed out loud, which is something that I don't normally do.you should really post the picture of you and Clinton
oh, and dito on the why was Colin Powell there?
Anonymous
March 18 2005, 21:47:28 UTC 7 years ago
Mr. Christmas Lights (http://www.komar.org/xmas/)
March 18 2005, 21:53:17 UTC 7 years ago
And yeah, you probably are going to get swamped now. Linked in off my Google blog RSS. <grin>
March 18 2005, 23:13:10 UTC 7 years ago
7 years ago
Anonymous
March 18 2005, 22:30:49 UTC 7 years ago
esprit de l’escalier
The french term is "esprit de l’escalier", or "spirit of the staircase", that witty retort you think of only having just left the party. I have a friend who will live out his days knowing that his response to the pope, when asked "how are you?", was the inspired "hot, sweaty".Jim Spice
Milwaukee
March 18 2005, 23:04:13 UTC 7 years ago
March 19 2005, 00:08:35 UTC 7 years ago
How come you are on Livejournal?
Wait a person working at google HQ writes her blog on livejournal?!March 19 2005, 00:25:33 UTC 7 years ago
Re: How come you are on Livejournal?
I had this before I started at Google. :P7 years ago
7 years ago
7 years ago
March 19 2005, 00:59:54 UTC 7 years ago
(came from
March 19 2005, 02:42:34 UTC 7 years ago
Famous!
Now the whole world knows about your underwear escapades with the former Secretary of State! Of course, I find it even more funny that he was talking about mixing and matching colors incorrectly to a UI designer. Maybe he thought your laundry basket was too hard to navigate ;-)March 19 2005, 03:45:28 UTC 7 years ago
Hello!
Hey Lilly -- Yinj here, from way back in school (that EE hardware requirement where we worked on combined assignments... remember?). Yes, I'm of those masses who followed the Google Blog link to here. Great to hear you're doing well (or as well as your described situation would lead one to infer, anyway).March 19 2005, 03:59:29 UTC 7 years ago
I laughed when I read this and shared it with my bk2w. Little did I know it was going to show up on half of my friends list a few days later.
Guess it's your fifteen seconds of fame. =)
March 19 2005, 04:28:20 UTC 7 years ago
Anyways, the reason I'm writing this is that I'm a senior in high school, and am considering a career in UI design. I've done loads of scripting in mIRC, and I am usually the one that gets to design the interface for whatever group project I'm currently a part of. I've been told I'm good at designing them, and figured I'd look in to interface design as a possible career.
Could you point me in the right direction? Maybe give me some insight? I'd really appreciate it :)
Thanks,
Chris
P.S. you can contact me via email at INH@Burntmail.com or you can comment on my LJ, though I never update it. Thanks again :)
March 19 2005, 05:38:58 UTC 7 years ago
Wow
Wow, you seem to meet a lot of really cool people at work.Anonymous
March 19 2005, 09:30:09 UTC 7 years ago
Re: Wow
If you consider someone who makes a living out of war 'cool'.7 years ago
7 years ago
7 years ago
March 19 2005, 12:13:42 UTC 7 years ago
I love what Mariam and Steve would've said, but having met (and made a complete fool of myself around) celebrities before, you alway think of the best things to say about 30 minutes later.
March 20 2005, 06:29:41 UTC 7 years ago
Great story!
Anonymous
March 20 2005, 21:14:39 UTC 7 years ago
Tighty-whities saving the world
In actual fact you didn't shame your company (unless perhaps your TWs were in a hideous state...to where one should not go) - you were 'saving water' by mixing colours. That suggest Googlers are green as well as everything else.(And your anti-spam-bot audition thing is outrageous fun. I did it just to have a laugh.)
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