Friday, August 27, 2010

moffett field, we have a problem

Yesterday Peter Norvig came by the office for lunch. Before Google, Peter was at NASA for three years. Yishan and I told him how Ed Lu (former Google manager and also former NASA astronaut) comes to the office from time to time.

Me: "I feel safer when Ed is around. If there were some catastrophe, he could MacGyver a solution to get us out."

Peter: "If the office started losing oxygen rapidly, he would know what to do."

Me and Yishan: "Yes, exactly! You understand."

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

zzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzz zzzz zzzzzzz zzzzzz

PatrickC said...

so i'm curious, did you just make your name up when you were 16 or something? I'm 100% confident that 90% of the people who meet you don't know how to pronounce your made up name.
i know that is not your real first name.

N said...

I got my name from a book, "The Last Enchantment" by Mary Stewart. You are correct that I was 16 at the time.

I am aware that most people cannot pronounce my name. It is a source of insecurity for me, where I am occasionally hit by a pang of wondering if I should've picked a more common name.

The second-choice name I also considered was Elaine. I could've been 'Elaine Wang"!

If I had to do it over again, I would pick the name "Verona Wang" or possibly "Vienna Wang".

PatrickC said...

oh well such is life!
at least you took the time to explain. thanks

ArC said...

There's something to be said for being easily found on search engines. {shrug}

Yishan said...

I would never start an office with someone named "Elaine." Pfft!

Also: There is nothing wrong with the name "Niniane," pronunciation or otherwise. People are idiots!

Also: Ed Lu was here today!

Anonymous said...

How about using you real Chinese name? What's wrong with that?

Yishan said...

How about using your real name?

Anonymous said...

Niniane, what's your Chinese name? Let's us know.

Unknown said...

I wonder if my daughter, Niniane, wishes I had chosen an unusual historical name. It's rather fun knowing there are two Niniane's in the Bay Area. ;-)

It's a beautiful name, Ms. Wang, and we chose the name from the same book. You when you were 16, and me when I was three months pregnant.

N said...

Nobody knows how to pronounce "Niniane"! I think you should rename your daughter, if it's not too late. I am so annoyed at my stupid 16-year-old self!

Colleen said...

I just stumbled across your comment about my changing my daughter's name if it is not too late. She is 31 years old now. A little late for me to be changing it... ;-)