Strange connections to Google. Spyware? *&^%$$^^*& or what?

I've been closing my browser (Fx). Deleting cookies and clearing the cache, etc, and then reopening my browser (no homepage) and just letting it sit for a couple of minutes. After a short period of time, I get these connections without even trying to open a bookmark or connect to any site as something on a cable show caught my eye, and I started seeing 'net activity without initiating anything. I've removed Google from the seach-engine toolbar (over a year ago). Just a ?, should I remove any references to google in my about:config settings? (and where/what else could be iniating these connections to google. btw, I really like the google search engine, but I absolutely despise their tracking, as well as all these toobars (yahoo, google etc) unsolicited outbound connections. Also I'm posting this under "general topics" because I don't see anywhere else to post it. And, can someone tell me what this Google NS-1 server is? thx

Date/Time :2008-01-14 22:36:10
Severity :Medium
Reporter :Network Monitor
Description: Outbound Policy Violation (Access Denied, IP = 72.14.253.91, Port = http(80))
Protocol: TCP Outgoing
Source: "" my computer address:1126
Destination: 72.14.253.91:http(80)
TCP Flags: SYN



Date/Time :2008-01-14 22:36:05
Severity :Medium
Reporter :Network Monitor
Description: Outbound Policy Violation (Access Denied, IP = 72.14.253.91, Port = http(80))
Protocol: TCP Outgoing
Source: "" my computer address:1126
Destination: 72.14.253.91:http(80)
TCP Flags: SYN

Date/Time :2008-01-14 22:36:00
Severity :Medium
Reporter :Network Monitor
Description: Outbound Policy Violation (Access Denied, IP = 72.14.253.91, Port = http(80))
Protocol: TCP Outgoing
Source: "" my computer address :1126
Destination: 72.14.253.91:http(80)
TCP Flags: SYN



Date/Time :2008-01-14 22:36:00
Severity :Low
Reporter :Network Monitor
Description: Information (Access Granted, IP = 172.16.0.1, Port = dns(53))
Protocol: UDP Outgoing
Source: "" my computer address:1125
Destination:""my Router address:dns(53)
Reason: Network Control Rule ID = 73

Date/Time :2008-01-14 22:36:00
Severity :Medium
Reporter :Network Monitor
Description: Outbound Policy Violation (Access Denied, IP OrgName: Google Inc.
OrgID: GOGL
Address: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
City: Mountain View
StateProv: CA
PostalCode: 94043
Country: US

NetRange: 72.14.192.0 - 72.14.255.255
CIDR: 72.14.192.0/18
NetName: GOOGLE
NetHandle: NET-72-14-192-0-1
Parent: NET-72-0-0-0-0
NetType: Direct Allocation
NameServer: NS1.GOOGLE.COM
NameServer: NS2.GOOGLE.COM
NameServer: NS3.GOOGLE.COM
NameServer: NS4.GOOGLE.COM