Adventures in Google Land. (And, Why Google Maps Couldn't Find Google.)

Last week, I was jetlagged after an intense four-day weekend in New York visiting the family.  Given the choice, I would stayed home and recovered from my post "visiting the parents" hangover.  Trooping takes energy, and I had none of it come Tuesday morning.  But, we were short troopers, and since I work in a school, I'm one of the few folks with the luxury of being off work in the summertime.  So, I printed the ops orders, loaded my stormtrooper gear and my tired carcass into the car and headed northward.  The last thing I did before I point the car northward was type the address into Google Maps.  Simple enough.  I was headed to Google, after all.  Google Maps had to be able to find the place.

Eh... but no...

I drove up and down the street, past Googlers on bicyclers.  But, the address printed on the sheet of paper took me to Yahoo.

Even once I called and received the correct address, the navigation still couldn't find it because the entire place was under construction which threw navigation  off.  

One of my garrison mates discovered the place accidentally by going the wrong way in a construction zone. She guided several of our other people in. I found my own way by calling the receptionist and asking her to stay on the phone with me until I was standing right in front of her.  (She was exceptionally nice, for the record.) This is a very old school of navigating, in the era of Google Maps, but it did work. Can't argue with a result, I suppose.

It was a very short troop (less than an hour,) but very enjoyable. We did some photo ops and played a few games with the genius techie folks. Since I'm a fan of the regular version of Jenga, I enjoyed joining a team of Googlers battling it on a "Giant Jenga" set. The game got very competitive. It was a delight to see them shriek each time it looked as if I was going to knock the tower down.  (I did no such thing.  I am actually very graceful in my suit.  I played Jenga with them and carefully pulled blocks from the middle of the tower.) I pull all of the misbegotten hours I spent in my youth playing the game to good use.

And, during target practice, I proved that stormtroopers truly "can't see a thing" in their helmets. I had a perfect record of not hitting the targets. I blame it on the Nerf blaster not being properly calibrated to Imperial specifications.

And, a total win-win, I made it home without falling asleep at the wheel. 

Oh... and Google Maps found my house on the first try.

Playing shooting games at Google.
I did nothing to improve the reputation of stormtrooper shooting accuracy.