My younger brother, Wilson, set sail on Monday for his first deployment as an officer in the United States Navy. Above is an image of his ship — the U.S.S. Makin Island (LH-8) — leaving San Diego. (Image captured from this impressive video of the ship leaving the port). The Makin Island is the first hybrid-power ship in the American Navy, and it also has a system to produce over 200,000 gallons per day of fresh water from an onboard desalination system. This is the ship’s maiden deployment, having been certified after a series of qualifying exercises over the past year.
Although his assigned “day job” is as a public affairs officer, he is one of the few officers on board qualified to serve as “Officer of the Deck” — that is, he has been certified by the captain and other executive officers to command the ship from the bridge when the executive officers are elsewhere. He does this for six hours or so each day. So, he is much more of a badass than me.
Friday was my last day at Google, after two years working for the legal department’s Product Counsel team. It was really hard to turn in my badge and computer to HR. This opportunity brought so many positive changes to my life — both personal and professional. I’m eternally thankful for the entire experience. I’m leaving behind great colleagues and friends. It’s also hard to cut myself off from the fire hose of insider information I could access at Google… but also liberating that I can now talk more freely about the company and its developments.
