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| Happy Birthday Google! |
Twelve is the best age. If I could close my eyes and be 12 again, all would be right with the world--my parents would still be together, my bills would be nonexistent and I would be a much smaller shoe and clothing size. Oh well... We all know age is inevitable.
I wanted to use today's blog post to honor Google. I always remember Google as the internet search engine company many of my former coworkers jumped ship to work for. Between 1999-2001, I was working at a teen internet company called Snowball.com which owned the male gaming website IGN.com, a girl power website called ChickClick.com (I loved ChickClick!) and some other sites like HighSchoolAlumni.com.
Business wasn't going very well by 2001. Our stock options dropped to about 40 cents a share and there were rounds of layoffs every quarter. It was so depressing. I loved that job. It was my first copy writing job and I had the chance to work on awesome interactive ad campaigns. I remember each time I made the layoff cut, I felt as if I had won some sort of job lottery. As the dot bomb blew up, my coworkers began leaving in droves for a place called Google. The name made me giggle and I wasn't really sure what it was they did exactly.
I remember receiving a call from a former coworker a few weeks after she and about ten others left for Google. She asked if I would mind helping her with a writing project. One of my biggest career regrets is turning her down. I told her I wasn't good enough to write something targeted to adults. At that time, I had only written for kids. She urged me to give it a shot, I refused. Yet another awesome opportunity turned down by low self-esteem.
Today, our VP who left for Google is now the CEO of AOL, another internet company I worked for and fell victim to rounds of layoffs. Anyway, that's my Google story. Happy birthday Google! We'd be lost without you--literally, I love Google Maps. My Verizon DROID phone is just as dependent on you as I am. Thank you for Blogger and Google Analytics and much, much more!
Wow. This is definitely a "If I knew then what I knew now" post. Google is 12? Happy Birthday to it! Still my favorite search engine! =)
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Hooray for google!
ReplyDeleteMy husband is sure the Google wants to take over the world. I'm okay with that.
ReplyDeleteGoogle is only 12? I feel like it's been around forever. How did people find random information or directions or e-mail each other before Google?
ReplyDeleteBefore Google I was a Lycos guy. Thank goodness for google. lol
ReplyDeleteUm. Wow, I can't believe that Google is 12...this makes me feel OLD!!
ReplyDeleteI remember when it came out...I thought, "Well, Google is stupid, that's a dumb name. That'll never catch on."
WOOPS!
Honestly, everything happens for a reason. Your time will come ms. Author, I can feel it in my bones.
ReplyDeleteLove Google. I love how the company name became a verb. It took like two seconds for that to happen. Google is also well known for treating their employees fabulously.
ReplyDeleteWhat exactly do people do for Google besides take photos of my house for google maps?
ReplyDeleteaww, I remember when google was so small and always dribbing and barfing. They grow up so fast!
ReplyDeleteI've been happy with everything google related that I've used. I also have a verizon Droid and love it. Some day I hope to figure out all the features...
ReplyDeletegood post Ally...