Had a curious encounter just now with the one entity nobody in his or her right mind should dare mess with, Google. I was doing my usual Google stuff. Search. Mail. Reader. Analytics. Webmaster Tools. Apps. Blogger. Suddenly...

We're sorry...

... but your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application. To protect our users, we can't process your request right now.

We'll restore your access as quickly as possible, so try again soon. In the meantime, if you suspect that your computer or network has been infected, you might want to run a virus checker or spyware remover to make sure that your systems are free of viruses and other spurious software.

If you're continually receiving this error, you may be able to resolve the problem by deleting your Google cookie and revisiting Google. For browser-specific instructions, please consult your browser's online support center.

If your entire network is affected, more information is available in the Google Web Search Help Center.

We apologize for the inconvenience, and hope we'll see you again on Google.

Scary. Apparently, the volume of queries sent from my IP address was too high for Google to handle. Go figure. This posed a host of problems for me, the most consequential of which was my being blocked from my blog's dashboard!

Good thing I'm using a humble USB HSDPA dongle for my Internet connection, which translates to dynamic IP addresses. I disconnected from the network, reconnected and sighed with relief. Nice to see you again, Google.

It's interesting to note that this incident happened a mere two hours after I successfully installed a Google-powered search engine on this blog. It's that lovely thing right there at the upper right corner. I woke up feeling particularly geeky so I signed up for an API here and set out to fashion myself my very own Ajax search engine. It was quite a demanding task but I'm mighty proud of the result. Try it out! Enter a keyword in the search bar and the results will automagically appear right below it. Click on the three little tabs to show just one result, show more results, or show all results. Thank God for Ajax.

After trying my very own implementation of Google, you might also want to try these cool Google mods:

• Blackle
• Klingon
• Elmer Fudd
• Pirate
• Hacker

I <3 Google. Even if it shut me off my blog.