So, the expiry of the 15 day lock-up period finally occurred and we were able to sell 5% of our Google shares today. It was quite a relief to finally be able to take a bite out of the carrot that has been dangling in front of us for several years.

Being at work was a unique experience today, as our small circle of friends compared trading experiences and prices obtained. It seems that everyone did very well and the market remained buoyant throughout the day.

It’s another media feeding frenzy today.

As I left work to go to lunch around noon today, I noticed the van of a news team parked on the verge of Amphitheatre Parkway. They were setting up cameras and erecting a satellite dish on top of the van’s roof, but I couldn’t tell which radio or television station they represented.

Anyway, one of the news men overheard me telling a colleague how to walk to our lunch destination. He tapped me on the shoulder and asked me, “Do millionaires still walk?”

Not being a lawyer or a sportsman or a spokesman or some other public functionary, I’m not used to being approached by the media. Given that I administer Linux computers and Internet services, I consider this incident yet another amusing anecdote with which to regale my future children a few years from now.

Whether or not any money is generated by this whole escapade is, in some ways, secondary to the whole experience of having been party to the rise and continued rise of Google. The last few years have represented a unique period in the history of Silicon Valley. I consider myself very fortunate to have been a part of it all, regardless of how things pan out. I don’t expect there to be another phenomenon to match the Internet boom in my lifetime.

My reply to the reporter, by the way, was, “I can’t even be seen to smile at you, or they’ll cut off my head.”

I was lucky enough to be able to attend a talk today by Burton Malkiel, esteemed author of The Random Walk Guide To Investing and A Random Walk Down Wall Street.

With an IPO on the horizon, my employer has taken the amazing step of inviting companies and speakers to come in and educate us, the humble workforce, about the shark-infested world known as the financial investment market.

Slowly but surely, I’m learning what index and mutual funds are, as well as small vs. large cap stocks, actively vs. passively managed funds, etc. I now know what an 83b election is; I even largely understand AMT tax and grasp when I would pay short term capital gains tax vs. long term.

Of course, for all the education, my attitude hasn’t changed very much: I don’t actually want to know any of this. It’s just plain bloody boring. Things were a lot simpler when I had neither a pot to piss in, nor a window to throw it through, as the saying goes.

The rush of advisors and investors, all eager to get me on the hook as a customer, serves to remind me that some people are taking the IPO very seriously, indeed. It’s a useful reminder that behind all the hype, something quite unique is coming to pass. And true enough, it could turn out to be a life-changing event.

We’ll see what happens. I come from a very modest background, so it’s hard to imagine ever really transcending that, especially by way of something as patently silly as a stock market floatation. My parents taught me that if I worked hard, I would be rewarded. At the same time, they worked hard and died poor.

IPOs really go against the work ethic. Roll into work around noon, lazily tap some things into a computer and you stand to make a fortune. Meanwhile, ambulance drivers, firemen and teachers struggle to make a living. It’s strange what society values and decides to reward, don’t you think?

And to think that the only reason I went into this business was that I liked playing with computers. I could just as easily have been turned on by sociology, and where would that have put me now?

Work hard, my arse. It’s all about luck. You make your own decisions in this life, but you need a fair amount of luck as well, to get ahead. I hope mine holds out a little longer.

Google held its third annual party for its Engineering wing employees today. It was in the usual place, namely The Beach Boardwalk, down in Santa Cruz.

I wasn’t really in the mood for it this year, truth be told. Intellectually, I realise that not every company pays for its employees to spend a day at the beach, but… well, I’m spoilt, I suppose. I woke up in a foul mood and it took a work-out back at the gym in the late afternoon to dissipate some of my bile. I didn’t even bother to go on any of the rides, having ridden on all of the interesting-looking ones last year. Still, it beats a day in the office; that’s for sure.

Anyway, the occasion presented another useful opportunity to get to grips with our new camera, prior to going on holiday in August. As usual, the photos have been placed in the gallery.