It’s been very, very hot here in Cambridge. Fortunately, it’s been getting gradually cooler since about yesterday. But “getting cooler” is a bit like Lucifer cracking open a window down in Hell. Yes, we do have an air conditioned apartment, but we can only crank that thing up so high before sweating again due to fear of the impending electric bill.

I’ve been trying to work out in the morning (ok, way into the afternoon) to start off my day. There’s a Bally Total Fitness in Porter Square that’s only a short run away and it’s been quite convenient. Anyway: today, toward the end of my workout, a fellow gym goer approached me and asked if I was a Googler. I was confused at first, but I remembered what my standard gym attire consisted of: a blue Google tshirt. I told him I wasn’t (I just like to sweat on their logo), but I learned that he worked at Google in Kendall Square, Boston.

We chat a bit and I find out he’s pretty interested in startups. I mention Y Combinator and what we’re doing here in Cambridge, and it turns out he’s very familiar with YC and a Paul Graham fan, having gone to the first startup school at Harvard and even considered applying to the program a couple times.

He works in Google Book Search and told me that Google Boston is a bit different in that there aren’t as many of the young straight-out-of-Stanford type grads that Google is known for. The employees in Boston skew a bit older (straight-out-of-PhD, conversely) and many have families, so the culture is a bit different. I asked him what else goes on at that Google location, and he mentions a stealthy mobile project that he can’t talk about. There’s been some buzz (and expectations) that Google is going to dive much deeper into the mobile space, so I’m pretty intrigued in this hush-hush mobile thing.

On that note, I am utterly overwhelmed at the attention that the iPhone is getting during launch. I think it’s a neat gadget and I think Apple is great. But am I the only one that really doesn’t care much for the thing? I will maintain this attitude until I first come across someone that owns one. Then I will act nonchalant for a few seconds before clamoring to get my poke, pinch, slide, and rotate on with that widescreen.