Google / Mountain View

If you've never associated with Google on a professional level or lived in the Bay Area, you can ignore this post

A friend of mine, metawade, is applying to work at Google. He is a nifty poly transhumanist with a Ph.D. in Computer Science who has been being a Professor, but is sick of academia. He's specifically applying to research scientist and software engineering positions.

Questions:
(1) Anyone who has applied to Google willing to offer him advice or descriptions of your experiences? Please leave it for him here, or alternatively visit his LJ and leave it as a comment there.
(2) Anyone who works or has worked at Google have any thoughts to share with him?
(3) He was thinking of ditching his car. I told him that working in Mountain View and having an active social life (one of his motivations for moving to the Bay Area) without a car would be very difficult. Anyone have insight on this? Am I wrong?

A new experience

Some of you may know that I have difficulty with nodding off while at work, often falling asleep against my will.

Some of you may ALSO know that I often have little mini-dreams while I nod off. They last for a very short period of time, of course.

About an hour ago, I began to nod off, and... I had a dream about some kind of tower-like object that I or my 'thing' was attached to, and then while I was away, someone else detached to it, and I felt angry and hurt that the tower-like object had betrayed me. I woke up from the nod still feeling hurt, angry, and betrayed.

I've woken up from normal dreams feeling strong emotions. But never from nodding off. That was freaky.