February 02, 2008
An email to my Friends and Family
I would normally delete emails like this so I can understand your hesitation. I honestly think Barack Obama is different and deserves your attention.
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December 31, 2007
Happy New Year from Obama Headquarters!
It is a bit after 9pm. I am on the phone with an Iowa voter asking him who he plans to caucus for and if he needs any help getting to his caucus location or daycare for his kids. Alexander taps on the glass of the small conference room I am sitting in and flashes me a thumbs up with a huge smile on his face. The Iowa voter answers that this is probably the 13th phone call he has gotten from our campaign; that he is definitely going to caucus; and that he is definitely going to caucus for Barack Obama. His response turns out to be a harbinger of what I am about to learn: the latest and likely most accurate poll has Barack Obama ahead of all other democrats by seven percent points. This is huge.
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December 22, 2007
Obama Week One
Working in a campaign is a lot like swimming in the ocean: it looks fun on the surface but underneath you are paddling as fast as they can to stay afloat and despite your best efforts you never know where the currents will take you.
This is the first of what I hope to be a handful of posts about my month-long hiatus from Google to work for Barack Obama’s campaign in Chicago.
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June 18, 2006
Public Education
The last time you heard from me was close to a year ago. Obviously a lot has happened in that time. I'm not here to talk about that though. I've stumbled upon a very interesting essay and would like to share it. This blog has tended to shy away from linking to outside sources in favor of producing unique content (for no good reason really), but I found this essay so insightful I had to tell others about it. Read how public education cripples our kids, and why.
May 29, 2006
Graduation
The tagline of our blog (“a blog by identical twins separated by rival universities”) may soon have to change. Why? We’ve been reunited. Last weekend my brother graduated from Berkeley and last June I graduated from Stanford.
May 11, 2006
What would you say you do here?
A couple of people have asked me recently what I'm actually going to be doing when I start full-time work at Google on August 7th. My title is going to be Associate Product Manager (APM), but what does that mean?
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April 18, 2006
We're under attack!
About fifteen minutes ago I heard a loud rumbling noise. It sounded like a helicopter was right outside my window. That's because there was a FRICKEN HELICOPTER RIGHT OUTSIDE MY WINDOW! In fact, four of them. I glanced outside and I caught a glimpse of a huge green military helicopter, with the words “United States of America” written on the side, disappear behind the trees adjacent to the field across the street. When most people in the world would hide under their bed or go into a bomb shelter at the sight of a military helicopter, I did the opposite. I ran outside to investigate.
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March 18, 2006
I signed with Google
I finally decided. I am going to forgo finishing my master's degree in AI at Stanford to start work at Google. After spending two summers as an intern at Google I couldn't imagine working for another company anywhere in the world. Google is the place to be right now!
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August 26, 2005
In Memoriam of My Opa, Frans Kortie
Last week hundreds of friends and family came to say their final goodbye to my grandfather, my Opa, Frans Kortie. I flew to the Netherlands from San Francisco and stayed with my mother and uncle for four short days in the home that my grandparents had lived in together for almost half a century. I decided to come in order to be with my family and to say goodbye.
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