In the building where Guy Tozzoli hatched plans in the early 1960’s for an urban renewal project called the World Trade Center, young Google engineers now build software for the ultimate answer machine.

Welcome to Google: the reception area of Google’s NYC offices.

Work spaces in the New York offices of Google.

One of Google NYC’s office spaces.

Razor scooters, a preferred mode of inter-office transport.

Snac-tion: The New York offices of Google have micro kitchens and snack stations throughout.

Lots of Almonds, Yogert Covered Raisins, Sunridge Farms Jelly Beans, Peanut M&M’s, Cheerios and Sunridge Farms Trail Mix.

Google NYC’s gaming area features a pool table, air hockey and Guitar Hero.

Google’s tribute to Albert Einstein “Google=mc2” with Einsign:

Today is my birthday, so it’s going to be a mellow day.

I’ve been working many hours night and day including weekends, so today I’m taking a day for myself.

I share a birthday with a couple famous musicians:

• Elvis Presley – East Tupelo, Mississippi, USA
• David Bowie – Brixton, London, England, UK

I think it completely rocks that I share a birthday with “the king of rock and roll” and also David Bowie.

Speaking of David Bowie, what is he considered in the music world?

As an added bonus, there are also some World famous events that have taken place on this day in different years as well:

1790 – George Washington delivers the first “State of the Union Address” address in New York City.

1958 – Fourteen-year-old Bobby Fischer wins the United States Chess Championship.

1973 – Watergate scandal: The trial of seven men accused of placing bugs in Democratic Party headquarters at Watergate begins.

1977 – Soviet space mission Luna 21 is launched.

1982 – AT&T agrees to divest itself of twenty-two subdivisions.

1987 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 8.30 to close at 2,002.25 which was The Dow’s first close above 2,000.

So there you go, my annual “happy birthday to me” post with some added value for my trivia friends and readers… and now off to eat cake!

Yes, I know that my post title is a little shocking but before you freak out thinking about possible criminal elements, read on. I’m a lock picking hobbyist.

There is a lot of math and physics involved with many locks and this is why it’s of interest to me. I see locks as puzzles and solving such a puzzle provides an enormous thrill.

Some people like jigsaw puzzles, I like locks. The thrill I receive from solving a lock motivates me to try an even more difficult lock.

To help in my continued education and learning to become better at my hobby and sport, I’ve taken a few professional locksmith courses, have read a ton of books and have also become a licensed locksmith.

So what exactly is the hobby of lock picking you might be asking yourself?

Lock picking is the art of opening a lock without damaging it or using a key. This “opening without damage” can be done in various ways but is generally done with special tools for that purpose.

Of course when you hear the term “lock picking” most people in the general public will immediately think about the criminal elements of this hobby and sport.

Let me clarify a few things about the “criminal elements” you might be thinking about.

If someone wanted to be able to break in to a building or car, then they should go buy a crowbar or a screwdriver; lock picking will be of little help to them.

Disclaimer: I’m not suggesting you go break into buildings or cars because that would be against the law.

With a crowbar, breaking in takes seconds. All you have to do is watch TV and see movies or shows about people breaking into buildings. A good example of this is a favorite movie of mine Oceans 11.

To be good at lock picking on the other hand requires years of practice and enormous amounts of patience. Again, I do this as a hobby and sport, not for ill will.

I open locks in my hands or fix them to a table with a clamp. This works quite differently than opening a lock in a door. In fact, that is an inconvenient placement and demands an entirely different position and technique.

So hopefully this post will answer a few questions that I received in emails this morning and if you’d like to learn more about the hobby and sport, check out TOOOL: The Open Organization Of Lockpickers website.

If there is enough interest, I could post some pictures of my practice locks and the tools I use in my hobby.

Well Christmas is coming to a close and I figured why not do a Christmas 2006 wrap up post.

This is the first year we’re not with other family members and it’s actually ok with us… nice and relaxing without all the “family fun” and bah humbugs

In the picture, you can see I’m wearing my WordCamp 2006 shirt and yes before you comment, I know that I’m not smiling in the picture… I was barely awake and I’m sporting my Don King morning hair. At least I’m upright and have a shirt on.

Ok, on with the post… for gifts I received the following (not in any special order):

• Handmade scarf (gray in color)
• 2007 Ford Mustang wall calendar
• Tripod for my camera and video recorder
• Trivial Pursuit DVD Pop Culture Board Game
• RC car parts (tires, chrome rims, alignment tools, foam inserts)
• 2007 “Far Side” comic desk calendar
• Black & Decker Auto Wrench
• 2 shot glasses for my ever growing collection
• Duracell Pen Light (with batteries included)
• A wide variety of boxer shorts with fun messages on them
• Woppers candy
• Reeces Pieces candy
• $100.00 USD Visa gift card (w00t. time to buy some clothes)
• Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion (perfect for cold weather)

One of the shot glasses says “Hawaii” on it and the other one has a sexy girl posed on it. Hubba hubba.

A couple of the fun messages on the boxer shorts are:

“You shook me all night long” and “I’m smart but I work with nuts”.

Good times. I’m looking forward to wearing them around the house.

Around 1:00 PM we finally made some food for breakfast… ok, a late lunch… we made scrambled eggs with shredded cheese, an entire pound of bacon (I love bacon) and toast with butter and jelly.

All and all it’s been a pretty nice and relaxing low stress day. I plan on taking it easy over the next couple of days as well. I put in a ton of hours for work and personal projects, so now I’m taking some time for myself and my lady… and the dog too

I hope everyone is having a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday.

For those of you who don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you’re having a good day as well.

This time of year we all like warm and tasty deserts, so I figured it was time to share my family secret recipe for apple pie and homemade crust.

As a time saver you can use a pre-made pie crust.

Also, a nice big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of warm pie is always a welcomed addition.

Needed Ingredients For The Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups white flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup cold butter, broken into small pieces
• 5 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
• 8 tablespoons ice water

Crust Preparation:

Measure the flour, sugar and salt together. Stir to combine.

Add the chilled butter pieces and shortening to the bowl. Cut them in with a pastry cutter or knife. Don’t over mix them.

Add the ice water. Mix until the dough holds together (add a bit more water, if necessary).

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead it together, then divide in half.

Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for at least half an hour.

Roll out one of the disks on a lightly floured surface until you have a circle that’s about 12 inches in diameter.

Put the circle in a 9″ pie plate, trimming any extra dough from the edges with a sharp knife. Return it to the refrigerator until you are ready to make the pie.

Add filling (see below).

Roll out the second ball of dough and cover top. Use a fork or your fingers to pinch the edges together. Cut a couple slits in the top.

Needed Ingredients For Filling:

• 1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 8 medium sized apples (a medium apple = about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons margarine

Filling Preparation:

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Peel, core and slice the apples. Try to keep the size of the slices even.

Mix sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Stir in apples. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with margarine.

Cover with top crust and seal the edges. Cut slits in the top.

OPTIONAL: Cover edge with 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent too much browning. Remove foil during last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

Growing up over the past 30+ years, I’ve seen, heard and experienced so many amazing things in my lifetime. Not that I’m old but damn, a lot of things have transpired in my life looking back and I’m only in my early 30’s.

I’ve done a lot of good and I’ve done my share of bad… yes folks, I am human and have made my share of mistakes and bad choices… as Albert Einstein once said “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”

The title of my post is Alphaville “Forever Young” and that’s what you’re about to experience… a grand piece of music from my youth and days gone by… I’ve even included the lyrics after the video if you care to sing along. Enjoy.

Let’s dance in style, lets dance for a while. Heaven can wait we’re only watching the skies. Hoping for the best but expecting the worst – are you going to drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever. We don’t have the power but we never say never. Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip. The music’s for the sad men.

Can you imagine when this race is won. Turn our golden faces into the sun. Praising our leaders we’re getting in tune. The music’s played by the madmen.

Forever young, I want to be forever young. Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever.

Some are like water, some are like the heat. Some are a melody and some are the beat. Sooner or later they all will be gone. Why don’t they stay young?

It’s so hard to get old without a cause. I don’t want to perish like a fading horse. Youth is like diamonds in the sun and diamonds are forever.

So many adventures couldn’t happen today. So many songs we forgot to play. So many dreams are swinging out of the blue. We let them come true.

Forever young, I want to be forever young. Do you really want to live forever, forever and ever.

Lyrics and Music Copyright © 1982/83
Alphaville: Marian Gold, Bernhard Lloyd and Frank Mertens