As thrilled as I am to start teaching again next week, I can’t help wondering how much better it could be if my college was pimped out like Google’s New York City office.

On a Thursday afternoon before the holidays, the game room at Google’s new offices in Chelsea was being put to good use. Two engineers were taking a break from coding at the pool table. A programmer in a purple Phish T-shirt was practicing juggling. “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses blasted from the flat-screen television, where two 22-year-olds played Guitar Hero, a video game that lets players strum scaled-down guitars — karaoke without the singing.

Google also has free food for the employees. heh. Our last college Christmas party was pot-luck.