Hello? Is this thing on? Check 1, 2...
This update is long overdue. Life in the Pacific Northwest continues to fire on all cylinders, so I'll do my best to chronicle what's happened in the past month since the last post.
Work is as busy and fun as ever. I feel like a fully integrated member of the team, to the point where I'm able to answer questions and deal with anything that comes my way. I'm still always learning new things, and probably will for a long time. My colleagues have started to feel more like friends in some cases, and that's huge. My goal has always been to find a job that inspires and motivates me because of what I work on and who I work with - something along the lines of "do what you love, love what you do." I found that, have it, and feel incredibly fortunate because of it.
Last weekend we had some friends over for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving, complete with turkey, corn-on-the-cob, sweet potatoes, and pie. It's a tradition I've been a part of since junior year of college, where there's lots of cooking and friends. I was happy to continue it this year, and see it as affirmation that this place is really home and that I'm forming great groups of friends.
My roommates and I have also started attending weekly bar trivia on Tuesdays. It's something I did occasionally in school, and we've all wanted to find a good place, but we were very particular in some of the details around it. For example, we wanted to play for cash prizes, but without too steep of an entrance fee. We also wanted it to be multiple rounds so that we'd have a chance to catch up should we ever fall behind. We finally found a place in Bellevue, and usually get dinner there as well. We actually ended up winning our 1st week there, which was election night. Our team of 6 payed $12 ($2/person), and won $68. The next week (this past one), we came in 3rd and won a $10 gift card to the bar. We're planning on pooling all of our winnings to pay four our entrance every week, and also eventually buy our dinner/drinks. I'm personally not very good at trivia, but I have contributed at least 1 answer (out of 60+) each week. Andrew is a genius when it comes to music and movies, and even most sports, so that really comes in handy.
Last night I went to a dueling piano bar in Queen Anne with a friend from school and her friends from work. I had been to one in New Orleans, but this was much different. The way it works is you "tip" the pianists to play songs you want to hear, but the more you tip, the sooner your song gets played. The "dueling" part comes in when they start playing a song you don't want to hear. You can then pay to stop that song and play one you want for at least $1 more than was originally paid. This can go back and forth for however long people want, and is actually quite entertaining. At one point, a Taylor Swift song was playing before getting stopped. People then pooled money together to get it playing again, only to have it snuffed out again. The room of 75+ people was fiercely divided in their allegiance in this battle and others. I'll definitely be going back.
Tomorrow I'm going to the Seattle Sounders soccer game against the LA Galaxy. I also went to one a couple weeks ago which was the quarterfinals against San Jose. MLS playoffs are different than most American sports - it's a 2-legged aggregate scoring system, meaning whoever has the most goals after 2 games moves to the next round. I saw the first game against San Jose, so there was no guarantee Seattle would advance. Luckily they did, and now I'll be at the last semifinal game. Seattle is really dedicated to their soccer team - they average over 40,000 attendance per game, and tomorrow's game is sold out. Surprisingly, tickets are relatively cheap, though I do get a discount through work since Microsoft is a big sponsor of the team.
Next week I'll be going to Colorado to see family for Thanksgiving. We're coming from all over the country and meeting there, so it'll be interesting to see how things work out. I'm used to having to bring homework and working on job/internship applications around this time, but now I get to just relax and enjoy some time off. Hopefully everyone reading this will too.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Sunday, October 21, 2012
The Honeymoon is Over
12 weeks have elapsed since I arrived in Seattle. In the grand scheme of things, 3 months probably doesn't seem like that much time. But in the context of my life so far, that usually marks a point at which something moderate happens: the end of a soccer season, an academic marking period/semester, a summer job/internship (or more generally, the summer), etc. So usually after this much time spent doing something, I've come to anticipate a certain amount of change. For the first time, though, that won't be the case.
I didn't expect something to change at this point. My plan has always been to stay here for maybe 3-5 years and then re-evaluate how things are going, how (if at all) my interests have changed, and what other opportunities might be available. I'm not opposed to doing this earlier, but I certainly need at least a year under my belt before I can adequately judge the state of things. So I'll stay the course for now, but will start to make some larger plans like traveling to Japan and possibly starting grad school (though I'm perfectly happy NOT being in school right now).
On Thursday I had yet another (and final) orientation at work. This one was specifically for the group I work for, that being Apex (Apple productivity experiences). Effectively, what we work on is Microsoft Office for Mac. This was a day-long event where I learned about this history of our group and how it's changed over time. I met executives and people that have been working on the team for 20+ years, as well as lots of other people that just joined the team. That includes people that work at the Mountain View and Beijing locations. Part of the reason I didn't have this until 3 months in was that they only do this twice a year since it does involve people traveling from other areas.
As I think I've said before, I find learning about this history incredibly fascinating - getting the inside scoop of a company that was a major influence on the history of the entire industry, and more specifically my team's role in that history. I hear about products that were done in the past, how we build them, what worked and what didn't, and how all of that influences how and what we do now. The team had celebrated their 15th year anniversary a couple years ago, and they showed us the video that people made to celebrate it. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates made appearances, so it was really cool to hear them talk about the immediate group that I now work for.
The first thing we did was get to know some of the people there. I had already met about 8 out of the 30 people at the event, but there were still plenty of others to meet. There were people from Redmond I still didn't know, but also plenty of others. One person I met particularly stuck out in my mind. He just started in Redmond earlier that week and had just got back from an international backpacking vacation with his wife and kids. He's from Philadelphia, and consequently a Flyers fan, so we were commiserating on the likely lack of a season this year. He's deaf, and so he had sign language interpreters (yes, plural) there to help him out. I realized that I think this was the first time I'd ever interacted directly with someone that couldn't hear or speak, and I found myself curious about a lot of things. Should I look at him or the interpreters when talking? We discussed some confidential stuff at the meeting, so are his interpreters under the same NDA as everyone else? How much can actually get translated into sign language? The interaction seemed very normal, but it stuck with me for the days after, so I've decided to take a sign language class. The local colleges offer classes, and I think it'll be interesting to learn about everything associated with it.
Other recent activities include restaurant week, meeting people at a friend's housewarming party, karaoke, and more soccer. We met some different people at the park and got a good game going. I've also seen people at another park playing cool games like bicycle polo and foosball. Foosball involves playing soccer on a tennis court, but the players are attached to ropes stretching across the court so you can only move laterally. I'll have to take pictures at some point because it really is awesome to watch.
I didn't expect something to change at this point. My plan has always been to stay here for maybe 3-5 years and then re-evaluate how things are going, how (if at all) my interests have changed, and what other opportunities might be available. I'm not opposed to doing this earlier, but I certainly need at least a year under my belt before I can adequately judge the state of things. So I'll stay the course for now, but will start to make some larger plans like traveling to Japan and possibly starting grad school (though I'm perfectly happy NOT being in school right now).
On Thursday I had yet another (and final) orientation at work. This one was specifically for the group I work for, that being Apex (Apple productivity experiences). Effectively, what we work on is Microsoft Office for Mac. This was a day-long event where I learned about this history of our group and how it's changed over time. I met executives and people that have been working on the team for 20+ years, as well as lots of other people that just joined the team. That includes people that work at the Mountain View and Beijing locations. Part of the reason I didn't have this until 3 months in was that they only do this twice a year since it does involve people traveling from other areas.
As I think I've said before, I find learning about this history incredibly fascinating - getting the inside scoop of a company that was a major influence on the history of the entire industry, and more specifically my team's role in that history. I hear about products that were done in the past, how we build them, what worked and what didn't, and how all of that influences how and what we do now. The team had celebrated their 15th year anniversary a couple years ago, and they showed us the video that people made to celebrate it. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates made appearances, so it was really cool to hear them talk about the immediate group that I now work for.
The first thing we did was get to know some of the people there. I had already met about 8 out of the 30 people at the event, but there were still plenty of others to meet. There were people from Redmond I still didn't know, but also plenty of others. One person I met particularly stuck out in my mind. He just started in Redmond earlier that week and had just got back from an international backpacking vacation with his wife and kids. He's from Philadelphia, and consequently a Flyers fan, so we were commiserating on the likely lack of a season this year. He's deaf, and so he had sign language interpreters (yes, plural) there to help him out. I realized that I think this was the first time I'd ever interacted directly with someone that couldn't hear or speak, and I found myself curious about a lot of things. Should I look at him or the interpreters when talking? We discussed some confidential stuff at the meeting, so are his interpreters under the same NDA as everyone else? How much can actually get translated into sign language? The interaction seemed very normal, but it stuck with me for the days after, so I've decided to take a sign language class. The local colleges offer classes, and I think it'll be interesting to learn about everything associated with it.
Other recent activities include restaurant week, meeting people at a friend's housewarming party, karaoke, and more soccer. We met some different people at the park and got a good game going. I've also seen people at another park playing cool games like bicycle polo and foosball. Foosball involves playing soccer on a tennis court, but the players are attached to ropes stretching across the court so you can only move laterally. I'll have to take pictures at some point because it really is awesome to watch.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Where Did The Sun Go?
The moment I have been warned about for months has finally come: it has been overcast and rainy for the last 3 days in Seattle. Anywhere else, that may just sound like a lousy weekend. Here, however, it indicates that summer is finally over, and with that the fantastic weather I've been enjoying.
Thursday was the last day it was mostly clear and sunny, which was good since there was a big celebration at work. For a few hours at the end of the day, there was free food and drinks, and an awesome cover band playing. They even set off some fireworks - it was a great last day in the sun.
Friday started out a little cold, wet, and windy. Nothing unbearable, and certainly not as cold as it gets on the East coast, but enough that I wore a rain jacket (one I get specifically for the weather out here). Saturday was more of the same, but my roommates and I still went to the park to play some soccer. We were hoping to meet up with the people we played with last week, but they never showed up so we just stayed for a couple hours. There were some younger kids there playing with their parents watching, and they wanted to join us when they saw us taking penalty kicks. We let them take turns shooting on goal, mostly letting them score. Their parents were very appreciative, and it was actually fun for us too. I was surprised their parents were okay with it at first; I half expected their parents to shoo them away from us for fear that they were either bothering us or that we wouldn't "play nice".
The rain held off enough that we still got to go out on Friday and Saturday night. During the day it was enough to have us stay in, at least on Sunday, which was fine since there was plenty of football to watch. The Patriots were in Seattle this weekend, and the Seahawks got a narrow victory. We could hear the fireworks go off whenever Seattle scored, and Andrew (being from Massachusetts) was upset about the loss.
We also met some friends at a restaurant on Sunday night for dinner. This week is Restaurant Week in Seattle where you can get a 3-course meal for $28 at a LOT of restaurants. We went to a place called Aqua in Belltown, and it was awesome. It's right on the edge of the pier, so there's a great view of the water and the port. The food was also fantastic. I don't tend to order seafood a lot, but it's really great out here so I'm starting to get a great taste for it.
Bad weather aside, some things look pretty cool. The view from out apartment has a great view of the area with lots of trees which have started to turn all sorts of colors. At some point I'll take a picture, which I wish I had done with a lot of the stuff this week. Nothing much else to write about, other than I should be getting ready for work tomorrow. They added a new shuttle stop that is only a couple blocks from our apartment, so my commute is even shorter now. All I've done as a result is stay up later since now I can sleep in a little longer.
Thursday was the last day it was mostly clear and sunny, which was good since there was a big celebration at work. For a few hours at the end of the day, there was free food and drinks, and an awesome cover band playing. They even set off some fireworks - it was a great last day in the sun.
Friday started out a little cold, wet, and windy. Nothing unbearable, and certainly not as cold as it gets on the East coast, but enough that I wore a rain jacket (one I get specifically for the weather out here). Saturday was more of the same, but my roommates and I still went to the park to play some soccer. We were hoping to meet up with the people we played with last week, but they never showed up so we just stayed for a couple hours. There were some younger kids there playing with their parents watching, and they wanted to join us when they saw us taking penalty kicks. We let them take turns shooting on goal, mostly letting them score. Their parents were very appreciative, and it was actually fun for us too. I was surprised their parents were okay with it at first; I half expected their parents to shoo them away from us for fear that they were either bothering us or that we wouldn't "play nice".
The rain held off enough that we still got to go out on Friday and Saturday night. During the day it was enough to have us stay in, at least on Sunday, which was fine since there was plenty of football to watch. The Patriots were in Seattle this weekend, and the Seahawks got a narrow victory. We could hear the fireworks go off whenever Seattle scored, and Andrew (being from Massachusetts) was upset about the loss.
We also met some friends at a restaurant on Sunday night for dinner. This week is Restaurant Week in Seattle where you can get a 3-course meal for $28 at a LOT of restaurants. We went to a place called Aqua in Belltown, and it was awesome. It's right on the edge of the pier, so there's a great view of the water and the port. The food was also fantastic. I don't tend to order seafood a lot, but it's really great out here so I'm starting to get a great taste for it.
Bad weather aside, some things look pretty cool. The view from out apartment has a great view of the area with lots of trees which have started to turn all sorts of colors. At some point I'll take a picture, which I wish I had done with a lot of the stuff this week. Nothing much else to write about, other than I should be getting ready for work tomorrow. They added a new shuttle stop that is only a couple blocks from our apartment, so my commute is even shorter now. All I've done as a result is stay up later since now I can sleep in a little longer.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
A Day in the Life (Part 1)
Yes, I've neglected this blog for far too long. No, I don't really have a good excuse for doing so. Now that that's out of the way, let's get to it:
First, I'll briefly recap what I've missed. 2 weeks ago, work was really busy but also a lot of fun. We had a big milestone coming up, so people were pretty much "heads down", meaning intently focussed on getting everything done. While that might sound stressful, I actually enjoyed the time. People wanted to make sure we hit the milestone with a high level of quality, so nobody had a problem staying late to ensure that. I would have found it frustrating if 5pm rolled around and some of the team felt like the workday was over so it was no longer any of their concern. Quite the contrary, actually - people wanted to be satisfied with the work we did before we went home at the end of the day. Not only is that the type of place I love to work, but it's great that everyone also feels that way.
This week was a little more difficult. I hit some roadblocks when I kept running into things I didn't know how to do. It wasn't necessarily a problem I couldn't solve, more that I just wasn't sure of the protocol when I was asked to do certain things. Eventually, I could help from more colleagues and mentor who were extremely helpful and got me out of the rut. I felt I ended the week on a high note with some meaningful contributions. There were even points where people came to ask me questions and I knew the answer! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's really the little things that start to make the difference, that make me feel like a valued member of my team.
This weekend was also pretty fun. Friday night, my friend from school had some people over to celebrate her birthday. There aren't many people from Tufts out here, so it was really good to see people from there again, even if it was really only 1 person. Saturday turned out to be quite a long day. In the afternoon, my roommates and I went to a nearby park to play some soccer. There was you youth game going on when we got there, so we killed time until it was over. While we were there, some other guys came up and asked if we wanted to play. We ended up have a 5-on-5 game for a couple hours which was a lot of fun. I can't remember the last time I seriously played soccer, so it was great to finally do it again. These guys were from Colombia and Saudi Arabia, and were pretty decent at the game. We held our own, though, at least until our stamina gave out. I am horribly out of shape, and this was a stark reminder of that. We said we'd meet them there at the same time next Saturday, so I'll have to start working out. People at work are also talking about making a team to compete in company leagues where there are games on the weekend. Yup, definitely gonna have to start making time for the gym. Sunday we went and saw "Looper" which was a pretty good movie. A really interesting concept, with one of my favorite actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
And now to the main point of this post. I'll be using pictures to take you through what a usual day looks like for me. To make sure I don't ramble of for too long, this will just be the first part. I'm not sure how many parts there will be, so I'll keep you in suspense to keep you checking back. Without further adieu:
I took these pictures a few weeks ago, but the weather still looks like that. My commute takes about 45 minutes from when I leave my apartment to when I walk into my office, and a good portion of that I'm checking email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. At some point I'll have more pictures to take you through the rest of the day.
First, I'll briefly recap what I've missed. 2 weeks ago, work was really busy but also a lot of fun. We had a big milestone coming up, so people were pretty much "heads down", meaning intently focussed on getting everything done. While that might sound stressful, I actually enjoyed the time. People wanted to make sure we hit the milestone with a high level of quality, so nobody had a problem staying late to ensure that. I would have found it frustrating if 5pm rolled around and some of the team felt like the workday was over so it was no longer any of their concern. Quite the contrary, actually - people wanted to be satisfied with the work we did before we went home at the end of the day. Not only is that the type of place I love to work, but it's great that everyone also feels that way.
This week was a little more difficult. I hit some roadblocks when I kept running into things I didn't know how to do. It wasn't necessarily a problem I couldn't solve, more that I just wasn't sure of the protocol when I was asked to do certain things. Eventually, I could help from more colleagues and mentor who were extremely helpful and got me out of the rut. I felt I ended the week on a high note with some meaningful contributions. There were even points where people came to ask me questions and I knew the answer! I know it doesn't sound like much, but it's really the little things that start to make the difference, that make me feel like a valued member of my team.
This weekend was also pretty fun. Friday night, my friend from school had some people over to celebrate her birthday. There aren't many people from Tufts out here, so it was really good to see people from there again, even if it was really only 1 person. Saturday turned out to be quite a long day. In the afternoon, my roommates and I went to a nearby park to play some soccer. There was you youth game going on when we got there, so we killed time until it was over. While we were there, some other guys came up and asked if we wanted to play. We ended up have a 5-on-5 game for a couple hours which was a lot of fun. I can't remember the last time I seriously played soccer, so it was great to finally do it again. These guys were from Colombia and Saudi Arabia, and were pretty decent at the game. We held our own, though, at least until our stamina gave out. I am horribly out of shape, and this was a stark reminder of that. We said we'd meet them there at the same time next Saturday, so I'll have to start working out. People at work are also talking about making a team to compete in company leagues where there are games on the weekend. Yup, definitely gonna have to start making time for the gym. Sunday we went and saw "Looper" which was a pretty good movie. A really interesting concept, with one of my favorite actors: Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
And now to the main point of this post. I'll be using pictures to take you through what a usual day looks like for me. To make sure I don't ramble of for too long, this will just be the first part. I'm not sure how many parts there will be, so I'll keep you in suspense to keep you checking back. Without further adieu:
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| My day starts here with some morning SportsCenter and cereal. This was taken at night, so just imagine it light outside |
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| On my way to the bus stop. |
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| The Connector! A shuttle with wifi just for employees. I work in Redmond, but this one goes to Bellevue. |
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| View from the 520 bridge. |
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| Some people out on Lake Washington. |
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| Some day, it would be awesome to have a house there. |
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| Who says Seattle doesn't have clear skies? |
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| This house wouldn't be bad either... |
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| A small cove where it would also be awesome to live. |
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| People like to have fun with their office windows. |
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| Off the bus, I walk through half of campus. |
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| One of many cafeterias with outdoor seating. |
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| My favorite part of morning where I basically walk through a mini forest to get to my building. |
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| Some days I take another shuttle from where the Connector drops off that goes straight to my building. |
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| This is just too awesome to pass up, though. |
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| My building! |
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| Master Chief greets me in the lobby every day. |
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Perfection in the Form of a Wedding
It feels a little weird to update this thing midweek, but here goes:
Last week was the busiest week I've had since moving out here. My work week was essentially condensed into only 3 days (more on that in a bit), so I needed to get everything I would normally have 5 days to do done in less time. That involved me staying at work late Monday through Wednesday, but I always enjoyed what I was working on, I never stayed too late, and there were always other people there. The good news is that I managed to get everything done on time. Even with all that, though, there was still plenty going on.
On Wednesday, Apple announced the iPhone 5. This impacted me as a potential consumer (since I'm in the market for a smartphone) and as an employee that helps develop software on Apple platforms. I've had lots of people ask what I think about the iPhone 5, and ultimately I don't have much to say. It was pretty much what the industry expected it to be, except for the fact that it lacks Near-Field Communications (NFC) which allow you to do things like tap your phone to a sensor to pay for things at checkout. It seems to me to be the incremental upgrade everyone was hoping for, and it also sold out the fastest of any iPhone yet. Again, nothing new to the story here. Do I think it's an awesome product? Yes. Will I be getting one? Maybe. My dad and I seem to be the last holdouts on the planet in getting a smartphone, and I'm not sure I'm ready to let him win that race...
The coincidental followup to the Apple announcement was the Microsoft Company Meeting on Thursday. This was a day-long event where thousands of people assembled to watch presentations and demonstrations from executives throughout the company. They also stream it for employees to watch, which is good since not everyone can go (not enough tickets, employees around the world, etc). It was quite an experience being there; I'd never been to anything like that before. There were high and low points, and I walked away pretty excited about the next year for the company, and the role I will play in it.
The other reason I had a shortened work week was because I agreed to be Kristen's (my friend from Tufts) +1 to a wedding in California last weekend. This had been planned for at least a month, but I had no idea what I was in for. My flight left on Friday afternoon (so I took a day off of work) for Sacramento, which is only a 1.5 hour flight. It went by even fast because as soon as I sat in my seat, I passed out until we were getting ready to land. After killing some time in the airport, meeting up with Kristen, and getting to our hotel, we got dinner in town. We called it an early night since we were both tired from the week and traveling.
Disclaimer: I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have pictures. The post after this will have tons of pictures to show you my day-in-day-out routine of work, so just deal with the wall of text until then.
We spent Saturday in an area called Old Sacramento, named after the fact that it keeps the old-western/gold-rush aesthetics of decades ago. It's a very strange place because it really does look like it came right out of an old western movie, but it's right in the middle of the state's capitol and next to I-5 (the major highway that runs all the way North to Vancouver, B.C.). There is a lot of interesting stuff there, but really it made me thankful that I live in a modern society. Although if I lived during the time, I probably would have thought the telegraph was coolest thing ever.
Attending a wedding was also a good reason to wear the suit I bought a few months ago. Packing it was definitely an interesting exercise - apparently you fold half of the jacket inside-out and then tuck the other half into the inside-out half. It worked like a charm, and before I knew it we were off to the wedding. It was at the bride's mom's house, and I didn't really know what to expect. It was almost an hour away from the city, and got very rural very quickly. Once at the house, though, I started to understand why those chose that location.
Rolling hills and valleys spread pretty much as far as the eye could see. Trees dotted the bare ground, giving the land a touch of green. After parking the car, there were little carts to take us up to the house, where you walked through a trail of sunflowers to the front lawn. Immediately following that were the seats for the ~200 people attending and the wedding canopy, all outdoors without a cloud in the sky. There was a small pond just beyond, with a little paddle boat. Guests started to congregate and shmooze, while everyone in the wedding was getting ready and taking pictures.
Eventually we took our seats, making sure Kristen got an isle seat so she could see everything and have a got spot to take pictures from. I had never met the couple getting married, and I really only saw them for a few minutes before they were finally married. It was a picture-perfect ceremony, and I will admit to tearing at the event (for many reasons). After that, everyone proceeded to the reception on the other side of the house. We sat with some of the newlywed's friends from school (high school and college) and their dates. We had a great time meeting them, watching the requisite slideshow, eating awesome food, and watching people make fools of themselves (us included) on the dancefloor.
I could go on and on about everything that happened, but hopefully by now, you've got the picture. If not, allow me to be more direct: people in Hollywood film romance movies hoping that the wedding scene turns out even half as good as this wedding actually was. When I say perfect, I really mean that I don't think there's a single aspect of the whole event I would have changed. Granted, I know as much about weddings as I do about art history... nothing. This is the first real wedding I've ever been to (not counting relatives from when I was too young to remember), so every one I go to from now on has the bar set pretty high. If anyone needs a +1 for a wedding in the future, look no further (references available upon request).
I returned to Seattle on Sunday night, wishing my extended weekend vacation wasn't over. This was the last major thing I had planned until Thanksgiving, so for now I'll just continue learning what it means to live and work in the pacific northwest. Possible activities include a bar-tending class, motorcycle driving class, hiking, mountain biking, electronic music festivals, baseball/soccer/football games, and more.
Last week was the busiest week I've had since moving out here. My work week was essentially condensed into only 3 days (more on that in a bit), so I needed to get everything I would normally have 5 days to do done in less time. That involved me staying at work late Monday through Wednesday, but I always enjoyed what I was working on, I never stayed too late, and there were always other people there. The good news is that I managed to get everything done on time. Even with all that, though, there was still plenty going on.
On Wednesday, Apple announced the iPhone 5. This impacted me as a potential consumer (since I'm in the market for a smartphone) and as an employee that helps develop software on Apple platforms. I've had lots of people ask what I think about the iPhone 5, and ultimately I don't have much to say. It was pretty much what the industry expected it to be, except for the fact that it lacks Near-Field Communications (NFC) which allow you to do things like tap your phone to a sensor to pay for things at checkout. It seems to me to be the incremental upgrade everyone was hoping for, and it also sold out the fastest of any iPhone yet. Again, nothing new to the story here. Do I think it's an awesome product? Yes. Will I be getting one? Maybe. My dad and I seem to be the last holdouts on the planet in getting a smartphone, and I'm not sure I'm ready to let him win that race...
The coincidental followup to the Apple announcement was the Microsoft Company Meeting on Thursday. This was a day-long event where thousands of people assembled to watch presentations and demonstrations from executives throughout the company. They also stream it for employees to watch, which is good since not everyone can go (not enough tickets, employees around the world, etc). It was quite an experience being there; I'd never been to anything like that before. There were high and low points, and I walked away pretty excited about the next year for the company, and the role I will play in it.
The other reason I had a shortened work week was because I agreed to be Kristen's (my friend from Tufts) +1 to a wedding in California last weekend. This had been planned for at least a month, but I had no idea what I was in for. My flight left on Friday afternoon (so I took a day off of work) for Sacramento, which is only a 1.5 hour flight. It went by even fast because as soon as I sat in my seat, I passed out until we were getting ready to land. After killing some time in the airport, meeting up with Kristen, and getting to our hotel, we got dinner in town. We called it an early night since we were both tired from the week and traveling.
Disclaimer: I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have pictures. The post after this will have tons of pictures to show you my day-in-day-out routine of work, so just deal with the wall of text until then.
We spent Saturday in an area called Old Sacramento, named after the fact that it keeps the old-western/gold-rush aesthetics of decades ago. It's a very strange place because it really does look like it came right out of an old western movie, but it's right in the middle of the state's capitol and next to I-5 (the major highway that runs all the way North to Vancouver, B.C.). There is a lot of interesting stuff there, but really it made me thankful that I live in a modern society. Although if I lived during the time, I probably would have thought the telegraph was coolest thing ever.
Attending a wedding was also a good reason to wear the suit I bought a few months ago. Packing it was definitely an interesting exercise - apparently you fold half of the jacket inside-out and then tuck the other half into the inside-out half. It worked like a charm, and before I knew it we were off to the wedding. It was at the bride's mom's house, and I didn't really know what to expect. It was almost an hour away from the city, and got very rural very quickly. Once at the house, though, I started to understand why those chose that location.
Rolling hills and valleys spread pretty much as far as the eye could see. Trees dotted the bare ground, giving the land a touch of green. After parking the car, there were little carts to take us up to the house, where you walked through a trail of sunflowers to the front lawn. Immediately following that were the seats for the ~200 people attending and the wedding canopy, all outdoors without a cloud in the sky. There was a small pond just beyond, with a little paddle boat. Guests started to congregate and shmooze, while everyone in the wedding was getting ready and taking pictures.
Eventually we took our seats, making sure Kristen got an isle seat so she could see everything and have a got spot to take pictures from. I had never met the couple getting married, and I really only saw them for a few minutes before they were finally married. It was a picture-perfect ceremony, and I will admit to tearing at the event (for many reasons). After that, everyone proceeded to the reception on the other side of the house. We sat with some of the newlywed's friends from school (high school and college) and their dates. We had a great time meeting them, watching the requisite slideshow, eating awesome food, and watching people make fools of themselves (us included) on the dancefloor.
I could go on and on about everything that happened, but hopefully by now, you've got the picture. If not, allow me to be more direct: people in Hollywood film romance movies hoping that the wedding scene turns out even half as good as this wedding actually was. When I say perfect, I really mean that I don't think there's a single aspect of the whole event I would have changed. Granted, I know as much about weddings as I do about art history... nothing. This is the first real wedding I've ever been to (not counting relatives from when I was too young to remember), so every one I go to from now on has the bar set pretty high. If anyone needs a +1 for a wedding in the future, look no further (references available upon request).
I returned to Seattle on Sunday night, wishing my extended weekend vacation wasn't over. This was the last major thing I had planned until Thanksgiving, so for now I'll just continue learning what it means to live and work in the pacific northwest. Possible activities include a bar-tending class, motorcycle driving class, hiking, mountain biking, electronic music festivals, baseball/soccer/football games, and more.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Everything Falling into Place
This was the first week without any major events planned. The only big thing was we got a bit of furniture delivered on Thursday (more on that in a bit), but that didn't require much effort on our part. That enabled me to start figuring out how to go about running errands, which is just another step to making this feel more like home.
Labor Day was great. It was technically my first day off of work, and a 3-day weekend was great to sleep in and just get a lot of stuff done. Additionally, Calvin's family was in town celebrating his grandparent's anniversary. The impact for me was that they had a giant BBQ which we were invited to. Even better was that they gave us a bunch of the leftover food, which we are still working on. Tonight is pasta with chicken Alfredo. Previous nights' feasts include leftover chinese, onion sausage, baked beans, and more.
Work was fairly uneventful. The person in the office across the hall from me just started on Tuesday, and I've been answering a lot of their questions which really makes me feel like I've settled in. It's really the first time I've been able to help someone else, which is a great feeling. I've also started to hang out with people from work outside of the office. I joined a fantasy football league with some of them, and have been doing okay so far, but Payton Manning absolutely destroyed me. Good for him, I guess. Last weekend I met a bunch of people from work for pizza nearby, and Calvin has a friend who had people over to watch the Cowboys/Giants game on Wednesday. Saturday night we had a few people over for drinks before heading out; I continue to find bars and restaurants that I absolutely love out here. This place Linda's has an outdoor seating area, and an additional smoking area that is littered with "No Smoking" signs (read: hilarious).
Furniture delivery this week was definitely a big deal, though. Andrew was around to let the movers in, and apparently our sectional fit in the elevator with just one inch of vertical space to spare. Everything worked out though, and it really makes the living room a lot more "livable". I also managed to finish installing a cabinet and DVD case. Calvin also picked up some plants and scattered them around. I could go on about more, but here's a picture to give you an idea:
The only thing left for the apartment is the dining table and chairs, but that should be here in the next couple weeks. After that, everything will be in place.
Seasonal change has started to hit Seattle, although it's still been fairly warm, reaching the 80s at times. At night the wind makes it pretty chilly, and I'm mentally preparing myself for the grey, overcast skies to come. I'm enjoying the awesome weather while it's here, though. At some point before fall and winter take over, we're going to take a nice picture of Rainier from our apartment and mount it on a wall. Calvin is pretty good with a camera, and although you can't see Rainier in this picture because it's not that clear of a night, it'll give you an idea of what we're looking for:
This week will be pretty interesting. I'm curious what Apple will do during their press event on Wednesday. This weekend I'll be in Sacramento for a wedding with a friend from school. I will be wearing the suit I purchased a few months ago for only the second time. That's big deal for me.
And now for something completely different:
We've started watching the show New Girl with Zooey Deschanel (from such classics as (500) Days of Summer). I absolutely love it. I thought I would not enjoy it because it seemed too contrived and the characters were not entertaining. Well, I'm eating my own words. Yes, it's a little weird at times, but after the first couple of episodes it had me hooked. It's not for everyone, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it.
Labor Day was great. It was technically my first day off of work, and a 3-day weekend was great to sleep in and just get a lot of stuff done. Additionally, Calvin's family was in town celebrating his grandparent's anniversary. The impact for me was that they had a giant BBQ which we were invited to. Even better was that they gave us a bunch of the leftover food, which we are still working on. Tonight is pasta with chicken Alfredo. Previous nights' feasts include leftover chinese, onion sausage, baked beans, and more.
Work was fairly uneventful. The person in the office across the hall from me just started on Tuesday, and I've been answering a lot of their questions which really makes me feel like I've settled in. It's really the first time I've been able to help someone else, which is a great feeling. I've also started to hang out with people from work outside of the office. I joined a fantasy football league with some of them, and have been doing okay so far, but Payton Manning absolutely destroyed me. Good for him, I guess. Last weekend I met a bunch of people from work for pizza nearby, and Calvin has a friend who had people over to watch the Cowboys/Giants game on Wednesday. Saturday night we had a few people over for drinks before heading out; I continue to find bars and restaurants that I absolutely love out here. This place Linda's has an outdoor seating area, and an additional smoking area that is littered with "No Smoking" signs (read: hilarious).
Furniture delivery this week was definitely a big deal, though. Andrew was around to let the movers in, and apparently our sectional fit in the elevator with just one inch of vertical space to spare. Everything worked out though, and it really makes the living room a lot more "livable". I also managed to finish installing a cabinet and DVD case. Calvin also picked up some plants and scattered them around. I could go on about more, but here's a picture to give you an idea:
The only thing left for the apartment is the dining table and chairs, but that should be here in the next couple weeks. After that, everything will be in place.
Seasonal change has started to hit Seattle, although it's still been fairly warm, reaching the 80s at times. At night the wind makes it pretty chilly, and I'm mentally preparing myself for the grey, overcast skies to come. I'm enjoying the awesome weather while it's here, though. At some point before fall and winter take over, we're going to take a nice picture of Rainier from our apartment and mount it on a wall. Calvin is pretty good with a camera, and although you can't see Rainier in this picture because it's not that clear of a night, it'll give you an idea of what we're looking for:
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| Yes, that was actually taken with my camera. Believe it. Props to Calvin. |
And now for something completely different:
We've started watching the show New Girl with Zooey Deschanel (from such classics as (500) Days of Summer). I absolutely love it. I thought I would not enjoy it because it seemed too contrived and the characters were not entertaining. Well, I'm eating my own words. Yes, it's a little weird at times, but after the first couple of episodes it had me hooked. It's not for everyone, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it.
Friday, August 31, 2012
The Gang's All Here
Not even a dozen posts into this thing and I'm already falling behind. I was on a pretty good schedule of posting by Sunday night every week, but as you know (if you've been reading), life keeps getting busier... in a good way.
Andrew is now here, so things at the apartment are in full swing. I did another big furniture trip with him last weekend, similar to Calvin the week before. I don't think I'll ever spend too much time in IKEA; I think I may have been an interior decorator in another life. I have no taste for style/color schemes, but I like just thinking about the layout of stuff and how everything will fit. I think I said this at least once already, but it really is like life-size LEGOs. After getting my drill and saw, I've also been slowly making adjustments to things that make me feel like I'm at the expert level of not following the instructions.
To give you an idea of how things look, here are a couple more pictures of our ever-in-shambles apartment:
Things have improve a lot since I took those pictures, but I think I'll wait until everything is finally setup before I take more. At least know you'll be able to appreciate how far the place will have come since we moved in.
Work has been extremely satisfying. I'm constantly working on cool and important things, as well as learning and meeting all sorts of smart and interesting people. Things sometimes seem a little overwhelming, but I somehow manage to figure things out in the end (with a LOT of help from the people I work with).
Calvin has been cooking dinner consistently, which means my diet has vastly improved. We have the luxury of being able to just walk downstairs to the grocery store every night and choose what we want to have for dinner (although Calvin and Andrew usually do most of the choosing). I actually managed to cook sausage tonight, and by "cook" I mean "put on the stove and heat the precooked sausage", but I ate it nonetheless. There are nights when Calvin doesn't cook and I'm left to fend for myself.
I also think I forgot to talk about my time at the gym I have access to. It feels like a small town just inside the building. There are restaurants and cafes which someone people go to regardless of the fact that there's also workout facilities. There are 3 different rooms for cardio, each with a different amount of light depending on your personal preference. Apparently the "dark room" is good if you don't want anyone else to see you work out. There are squash and tennis courts, swimming pools, saunas, spas, and more.
One of the cool things was I got a free personal training session as a new member. The guy was pretty cool, and I got along with him well. We talked a lot about soccer since he's a big Sounders fan. He showed me some cool exercises, but more importantly made me realize how out of shape I really am. I still haven't exactly figured out when I'll be going to the gym, and I've contemplated sticking with a trainer just so I'm practically forced to do it. It's a bit expensive, though, so I'll definitely try to do it on my own first.
3-day weekend coming up, and apparently Calvin's family is having a potluck BBQ on Labor Day so we'll be doing that in addition to finalizing furniture. I also look forward to getting lots of sleep and enjoying the awesome weather. I do have a post planned to (literally) walk you through my day at work, but not sure when I'll get around to that.
Andrew is now here, so things at the apartment are in full swing. I did another big furniture trip with him last weekend, similar to Calvin the week before. I don't think I'll ever spend too much time in IKEA; I think I may have been an interior decorator in another life. I have no taste for style/color schemes, but I like just thinking about the layout of stuff and how everything will fit. I think I said this at least once already, but it really is like life-size LEGOs. After getting my drill and saw, I've also been slowly making adjustments to things that make me feel like I'm at the expert level of not following the instructions.
To give you an idea of how things look, here are a couple more pictures of our ever-in-shambles apartment:
 |
| Living Room |
 |
| Andrew's room |
Work has been extremely satisfying. I'm constantly working on cool and important things, as well as learning and meeting all sorts of smart and interesting people. Things sometimes seem a little overwhelming, but I somehow manage to figure things out in the end (with a LOT of help from the people I work with).
Calvin has been cooking dinner consistently, which means my diet has vastly improved. We have the luxury of being able to just walk downstairs to the grocery store every night and choose what we want to have for dinner (although Calvin and Andrew usually do most of the choosing). I actually managed to cook sausage tonight, and by "cook" I mean "put on the stove and heat the precooked sausage", but I ate it nonetheless. There are nights when Calvin doesn't cook and I'm left to fend for myself.
I also think I forgot to talk about my time at the gym I have access to. It feels like a small town just inside the building. There are restaurants and cafes which someone people go to regardless of the fact that there's also workout facilities. There are 3 different rooms for cardio, each with a different amount of light depending on your personal preference. Apparently the "dark room" is good if you don't want anyone else to see you work out. There are squash and tennis courts, swimming pools, saunas, spas, and more.
One of the cool things was I got a free personal training session as a new member. The guy was pretty cool, and I got along with him well. We talked a lot about soccer since he's a big Sounders fan. He showed me some cool exercises, but more importantly made me realize how out of shape I really am. I still haven't exactly figured out when I'll be going to the gym, and I've contemplated sticking with a trainer just so I'm practically forced to do it. It's a bit expensive, though, so I'll definitely try to do it on my own first.
3-day weekend coming up, and apparently Calvin's family is having a potluck BBQ on Labor Day so we'll be doing that in addition to finalizing furniture. I also look forward to getting lots of sleep and enjoying the awesome weather. I do have a post planned to (literally) walk you through my day at work, but not sure when I'll get around to that.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Murphy's Law
This week, Seattle really started to feel like home. Calvin has been here since Tuesday, so it's been nice to come home every day and have the place not be empty. Work has been feeling like a normal routine as well since I'm getting really good at knowing where things are and even getting to do some real work. I'm having meetings with really cool people, and even made my first submission into the code base. Basically what that means is that hidden somewhere in the depths of all the code that makes up Microsoft Word for Mac is a small change that I made. It wasn't a very important change, and not even a "customer-facing" one (meaning nobody will really see the effects of it by using the product), but it means that every version of Word for Mac from this point on will have something that I did in it. That's something that I find pretty profound, and am very happy I have the opportunity to accomplish.
One of the best things about having Calvin here is that I no longer am just eating pasta with tomato sauce for dinner every night. The first night he cooked, we have sausage-stuffed peppers with garlic bread. In all, there was not a single part of that meal that I'm capable of doing, except for toasting the bread. We also now have a bunch of real food and cooking utensils, including real (i.e. not plastic) silverware. I'm constantly surprised how much it's the little things like those that can make a huge difference in how the place feels.
Saturday was a pretty eventful day for us. The plan was to do a bunch of furniture shopping, although we were mostly just browsing options so we can decide what we wanted to do for the living and dining rooms. Calvin had a big agenda though, since the only furniture he had up until that point was a mattress. We found a bunch of furniture stores and went around to see what they had. We're waiting on our third and final roommates to make final decisions, but we came out with a lot of good ideas. Towards the end of the day, we picked up a U-Haul and went to spend the afternoon at IKEA. We didn't have to return the van until Sunday, so we got to take our time and peruse. For a bit, I felt like I was doing something straight out of (500) Days of Summer:
I think we spent about 3 hours there altogether, including the time it took us to actually load the van with all our stuff. In all, we got 3 bookshelves, a DVD rack, a nice TV stand, Calvin's bed frame, a bunch of shelves, as well as some other small stuff. It was a lot, to say the least. That night the only thing we put together was the bed frame because we were entirely too exhausted after that to do anything else. We both slept well that night, except that I keep waking up earlier than I want in the morning. It seems that the later I go to sleep, the earlier I wake up. I don't really feel tired during the day, so I'm not really sure what the deal is.
Today (Sunday) was a productive day, but also a perfect example of Murphy's Law at work. Nothing that bad really happened, it was just one thing after another that made what we wanted to accomplish a littler more difficult.
We started off with putting together the TV stand. For some reason, it seemed like it was missing certain screws, although they didn't seem terribly necessary to the integrity of the thing. So despite my OCD, I decided to let it go and move on to one of my bookshelves. That setup went well for the most part, aside from accidentally stripping a small bit of the wood on one of the selves. The real trouble started went I went to put it again the wall. The bottom of the piece has a cut-out so that it can fit against the wall even with the molding on the bottom. Unfortunately, the molding in our apartment is just higher than the cut-out allows, so I tried to come up with an alternative. I could try to just leave it the way it is, but that means the top of it would lean back which I would not have been okay with. I could put some cardboard underneath the bottom to raise it above the molding, which seemed to make it look a little worse. Lastly, I could find a saw and increase the size of the cut-out to fit the molding. The first problem was that I didn't have a saw. Second was that to secure the bookshelf to the wall, I needed to put a screw in the wall which required me to have (1) the right screw which was not included, and (2) a drill, which I did not own, to make a pilot hole. I was gonna think about all that while I went to help Calvin assemble the TV stand. There, too, we realized we needed a circular saw attachment for a drill so we could wire everything the way we wanted.
We decided to set out for a local hardware store, and luckily there was one only 10 blocks down the street that was open for another couple hours. I got myself a drill, some accessories for it, a hand saw, and we got the screws we needed. Happy with the purchase, and that we headed home to finish everything we started. First, we stopped at a local food co-op to pick up some food for dinner. We've already eaten, and I'm not entirely sure what I ate (it contained pork), but it was delicious.
Excited to get everything ready, we went right to work. I found out the hard way that the saw attachment I got for my drill didn't fit, so that would be useless for now. So instead I had to use the drill-bits I got, which is something you're explicitly not supposed to do with them. Additionally, the stand we got for the TV was just too small to fit one of the speakers in the audio system (read: first world problems). One of the things Calvin got needed another part that wasn't included, which we of course did not get. We didn't have enough coaxial cable to reach where the TV was without jerryrigging something. In short, it was really just a bunch of small things that made it difficult for us to get things done.
In the end, we finally got a good amount of stuff done. Here are some pictures of the state of our living room at various points to give you an idea:
There's still plenty of work to be done, but we made decent progress this weekend. It will get even crazier next week when our last roommate gets here on Thursday since he'll also need furniture. That means next weekend will probably involve another IKEA run, and even more furniture construction. My hands are getting pretty calloused, but hopefully having power tools now will make that a little better.
Time to eat some toaster strudels. BYE.
One of the best things about having Calvin here is that I no longer am just eating pasta with tomato sauce for dinner every night. The first night he cooked, we have sausage-stuffed peppers with garlic bread. In all, there was not a single part of that meal that I'm capable of doing, except for toasting the bread. We also now have a bunch of real food and cooking utensils, including real (i.e. not plastic) silverware. I'm constantly surprised how much it's the little things like those that can make a huge difference in how the place feels.
Saturday was a pretty eventful day for us. The plan was to do a bunch of furniture shopping, although we were mostly just browsing options so we can decide what we wanted to do for the living and dining rooms. Calvin had a big agenda though, since the only furniture he had up until that point was a mattress. We found a bunch of furniture stores and went around to see what they had. We're waiting on our third and final roommates to make final decisions, but we came out with a lot of good ideas. Towards the end of the day, we picked up a U-Haul and went to spend the afternoon at IKEA. We didn't have to return the van until Sunday, so we got to take our time and peruse. For a bit, I felt like I was doing something straight out of (500) Days of Summer:
I think we spent about 3 hours there altogether, including the time it took us to actually load the van with all our stuff. In all, we got 3 bookshelves, a DVD rack, a nice TV stand, Calvin's bed frame, a bunch of shelves, as well as some other small stuff. It was a lot, to say the least. That night the only thing we put together was the bed frame because we were entirely too exhausted after that to do anything else. We both slept well that night, except that I keep waking up earlier than I want in the morning. It seems that the later I go to sleep, the earlier I wake up. I don't really feel tired during the day, so I'm not really sure what the deal is.
Today (Sunday) was a productive day, but also a perfect example of Murphy's Law at work. Nothing that bad really happened, it was just one thing after another that made what we wanted to accomplish a littler more difficult.
We started off with putting together the TV stand. For some reason, it seemed like it was missing certain screws, although they didn't seem terribly necessary to the integrity of the thing. So despite my OCD, I decided to let it go and move on to one of my bookshelves. That setup went well for the most part, aside from accidentally stripping a small bit of the wood on one of the selves. The real trouble started went I went to put it again the wall. The bottom of the piece has a cut-out so that it can fit against the wall even with the molding on the bottom. Unfortunately, the molding in our apartment is just higher than the cut-out allows, so I tried to come up with an alternative. I could try to just leave it the way it is, but that means the top of it would lean back which I would not have been okay with. I could put some cardboard underneath the bottom to raise it above the molding, which seemed to make it look a little worse. Lastly, I could find a saw and increase the size of the cut-out to fit the molding. The first problem was that I didn't have a saw. Second was that to secure the bookshelf to the wall, I needed to put a screw in the wall which required me to have (1) the right screw which was not included, and (2) a drill, which I did not own, to make a pilot hole. I was gonna think about all that while I went to help Calvin assemble the TV stand. There, too, we realized we needed a circular saw attachment for a drill so we could wire everything the way we wanted.
We decided to set out for a local hardware store, and luckily there was one only 10 blocks down the street that was open for another couple hours. I got myself a drill, some accessories for it, a hand saw, and we got the screws we needed. Happy with the purchase, and that we headed home to finish everything we started. First, we stopped at a local food co-op to pick up some food for dinner. We've already eaten, and I'm not entirely sure what I ate (it contained pork), but it was delicious.
Excited to get everything ready, we went right to work. I found out the hard way that the saw attachment I got for my drill didn't fit, so that would be useless for now. So instead I had to use the drill-bits I got, which is something you're explicitly not supposed to do with them. Additionally, the stand we got for the TV was just too small to fit one of the speakers in the audio system (read: first world problems). One of the things Calvin got needed another part that wasn't included, which we of course did not get. We didn't have enough coaxial cable to reach where the TV was without jerryrigging something. In short, it was really just a bunch of small things that made it difficult for us to get things done.
In the end, we finally got a good amount of stuff done. Here are some pictures of the state of our living room at various points to give you an idea:
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| Boxes... |
 |
| ...boxes everywhere. |
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| Our living/dining room. Note that Calvin has been using it as an office before he gets a desk. |
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| We have a lot of packing materials that we're getting rid of a little bit at a time. |
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| The TV stand is finally finished. |
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| Yes, the TV glows in the back. |
Time to eat some toaster strudels. BYE.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
Learning the Ropes
No pictures this time, so bear with me. I will definitely have some next time because Calvin will have moved in by that point and I'll be sure to document it.
You would think that my downtime out here would be pretty quiet and uneventful given that I've only been here 2 weeks and neither of my roommates have moved in yet. While I might normally be content to stay in and relax, I've become enamored with everything out here. Akin to my "culture shock" in Palo Alto, I want to take in as much as I can. Unlike last summer, however, I have no idea how long I will be out here. It will certainly be longer than the 3-month internship, and likely at least a year so that I don't back out of my apartment lease. I have been ball-parking my time here at 3-5 years which has to do with career decisions as well as personal reasons. There's nothing that says I won't stay longer than that, especially considering I've been told many times that it's very easy to become accustomed to life and work out here. But I figure that's a good point to reevaluate my options and interests. I anticipate a lot will happen between now and then, though.
Anyway, on to what I've actually been up to. Work this week was really interesting. First off, I still don't have that much explicit work to do as I'm still in the ramping-up phase. I think that's a good thing for now, since every day I still feel like I'm learning a lot and getting the lay of the land. I still felt plenty busy, though. One of the best parts of my week was yet another orientation.
I feel I should preface this with some more information about exactly what I'm doing. First and foremost, I work at Microsoft. Within the entire company, there are about 7 different divisions. These include Windows, Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB - basically Xbox), and Microsoft Office Division (MOD, where I am). Within each division, there are even more groups. I really only know about MOD, so I'll confine my discussions to that. I work in the Apple Productivity and Experiences (APEX) group within MOD.
So the New Employee Orientation (NEO) I went to on my first day was for all new employees regardless of what division you're in, or even if you're an engineer. That was all well and good, but it didn't really drill down that much. That wasn't its purpose, though, and I did get a decent overview of various aspects about the company as a whole. This week, I have the opportunity to attend an orientation specifically for new hires within MOD. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but definitely wanted to learn as much as I could in my first few weeks on the job. I was pleasantly surprised - I got to learn all about the history of Office, how it's changed over the years, where my group and I fit within the context of everything, etc. It was really crazy to see the very first version of Microsoft Word - a command line tool with no graphical interface that was still revolutionary for its time because its main competitor was the typewriter. The graphical version was released for Apple's Macintosh before Windows, in fact 5 years earlier. A lot of people are unaware of the close relationship between Microsoft and Apple, although it may not be as close now as it was in the late 80s. I find the history of this industry incredibly interesting, and not just because it has given me the opportunity for the career I want. I highly recommend people go learn about it. You can watch Pirates of Silicon Valley for a dramatized viewing of how events transpired, and of course the de facto Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson for a more personal account. And lastly there's the combined interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the All Things D conference in 2007, the first part of which is below, and the entire thing of about 90 minutes here.
Hang on, I'm off on a tangent again. So the Office orientation was really cool, and I learned a lot. The other thing that I learned a lot from was making various decisions with my parents about some of the benefits I receive at work. I had to learn about the different health care plans, which was right for me, what (if anything) I should contribute to my Health Savings Account, etc. Additionally, what is a pre-tax vs. Roth 401(k), how much should I contribute to that, and so on. It was pretty big stuff, and something I knew extremely little about, so I was glad to have their help.
For Saturday, I planned to attend a picnic in Bellevue. The local chapter of 1 of the professional societies I belong to was sponsoring it, and I figured if nothing else, it was free food1 2. So I planned the various bus routes I would take and headed out to get there. As I approached a stop where I would transfer busses, I saw a bunch of orange traffic signs that could not be good. Essentially, I learned that the 520 floating bridge (the one I take to get to and from work) was closed for the weekend for construction. Unfortunately, that is how the bus I planned to take would get across the lake, and so there was no service for that route this weekend. Feeling a little flustered, I tried to think of an easy way around it, but the only conclusion I came to was that I'd have to figure out how to take another bus that crosses the 90 bridge further South. I had already missed half the event by the time I figured out what to do, so I just ended up not going. I was pretty bummed about it, partly because of the free food and partly because of the opportunity to meet some people out here. I had other things to do, though.
My roommates have been sending themselves packages here, and it's worked out pretty well for the most part. One package from the USPS needed to be picked up at the local office, though, so I figured out how to take the bus there. This time the busses worked just fine, but my destination was nowhere to be found. The little packing slip I had listed the address, and I was staring at a building at that address that looked nothing like a post office. After some exploring the area, I asked some people walking by if there was in fact a post office around, and they said there was not. The nearest one was a couple miles North, and I figured that would be a decent place to start. After spending enough time navigating the busses, I knew off the top of my head how to get there, and so I did. While on the bus, I realized my mistake: the building numbers on the street I was on effectively reset at a certain point. Essentially, I had gone really far away when in fact that post office was only a couple blocks from my apartment. In the end, I got the package (which was heavier than I anticipated) and walked back to my apartment.
I spent some time downtown throughout the weekend as well, seeing what was out there. I saw the new Zach Galifianakis movie, The Campaign which was alright. Getting to and from downtown is really easy on the bus, and there is always plenty to do there. I also finally went to the gym for the first time since moving out, and it was not fun. There's a fitness center in my apartment complex, so at least I didn't have far to go.
After getting back late on Saturday night, I went up to the roof deck of my building for a chance to see the Perseid Meteor Shower which is one of the most prominent and easily viewed meteor showers. I was a little to close to the light pollution of Seattle, so I didn't quite see the 100 meteors per hour that NASA predicted, but I did get to see at least a few. Some of them were faint against the surrounding light, and I'm sure I missed some just by blinking. I tried to take some long exposure pictures with my camera, but again the light was not in my advantage. Next time I'll have to go to some remote location, of which there is no shortage here.
I picked up some more furnishings as well from people that are moving out of my building next week. It was mostly small things for the most part, stuff like garbage bins, a fruit bowl, laundry basket, etc. It's surprising how much those things make a difference in the feel of the place, though. There's also another comfy chair for the living room so that my desk chair can now reclaim its rightful place. And some floor lamps help a LOT since there are only a couple overhead lights in the apartment.
Well, I'm hungry now, and I want a sandwich. Time to go to Subway just a couple stories down. No real plans for the rest of the day - just gonna enjoy my new 55" plasma TV and get ready for this week. My first roommate, Calvin, arrives on Tuesday so I'll be going into work a little late that day, but things will be a lot different after that.
1. Still in that college mindset ↩
2. This one is just for my friend Ian. See what I did with these footnotes? ↩
You would think that my downtime out here would be pretty quiet and uneventful given that I've only been here 2 weeks and neither of my roommates have moved in yet. While I might normally be content to stay in and relax, I've become enamored with everything out here. Akin to my "culture shock" in Palo Alto, I want to take in as much as I can. Unlike last summer, however, I have no idea how long I will be out here. It will certainly be longer than the 3-month internship, and likely at least a year so that I don't back out of my apartment lease. I have been ball-parking my time here at 3-5 years which has to do with career decisions as well as personal reasons. There's nothing that says I won't stay longer than that, especially considering I've been told many times that it's very easy to become accustomed to life and work out here. But I figure that's a good point to reevaluate my options and interests. I anticipate a lot will happen between now and then, though.
Anyway, on to what I've actually been up to. Work this week was really interesting. First off, I still don't have that much explicit work to do as I'm still in the ramping-up phase. I think that's a good thing for now, since every day I still feel like I'm learning a lot and getting the lay of the land. I still felt plenty busy, though. One of the best parts of my week was yet another orientation.
I feel I should preface this with some more information about exactly what I'm doing. First and foremost, I work at Microsoft. Within the entire company, there are about 7 different divisions. These include Windows, Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB - basically Xbox), and Microsoft Office Division (MOD, where I am). Within each division, there are even more groups. I really only know about MOD, so I'll confine my discussions to that. I work in the Apple Productivity and Experiences (APEX) group within MOD.
So the New Employee Orientation (NEO) I went to on my first day was for all new employees regardless of what division you're in, or even if you're an engineer. That was all well and good, but it didn't really drill down that much. That wasn't its purpose, though, and I did get a decent overview of various aspects about the company as a whole. This week, I have the opportunity to attend an orientation specifically for new hires within MOD. I wasn't entirely sure what to expect, but definitely wanted to learn as much as I could in my first few weeks on the job. I was pleasantly surprised - I got to learn all about the history of Office, how it's changed over the years, where my group and I fit within the context of everything, etc. It was really crazy to see the very first version of Microsoft Word - a command line tool with no graphical interface that was still revolutionary for its time because its main competitor was the typewriter. The graphical version was released for Apple's Macintosh before Windows, in fact 5 years earlier. A lot of people are unaware of the close relationship between Microsoft and Apple, although it may not be as close now as it was in the late 80s. I find the history of this industry incredibly interesting, and not just because it has given me the opportunity for the career I want. I highly recommend people go learn about it. You can watch Pirates of Silicon Valley for a dramatized viewing of how events transpired, and of course the de facto Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson for a more personal account. And lastly there's the combined interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates at the All Things D conference in 2007, the first part of which is below, and the entire thing of about 90 minutes here.
Hang on, I'm off on a tangent again. So the Office orientation was really cool, and I learned a lot. The other thing that I learned a lot from was making various decisions with my parents about some of the benefits I receive at work. I had to learn about the different health care plans, which was right for me, what (if anything) I should contribute to my Health Savings Account, etc. Additionally, what is a pre-tax vs. Roth 401(k), how much should I contribute to that, and so on. It was pretty big stuff, and something I knew extremely little about, so I was glad to have their help.
For Saturday, I planned to attend a picnic in Bellevue. The local chapter of 1 of the professional societies I belong to was sponsoring it, and I figured if nothing else, it was free food1 2. So I planned the various bus routes I would take and headed out to get there. As I approached a stop where I would transfer busses, I saw a bunch of orange traffic signs that could not be good. Essentially, I learned that the 520 floating bridge (the one I take to get to and from work) was closed for the weekend for construction. Unfortunately, that is how the bus I planned to take would get across the lake, and so there was no service for that route this weekend. Feeling a little flustered, I tried to think of an easy way around it, but the only conclusion I came to was that I'd have to figure out how to take another bus that crosses the 90 bridge further South. I had already missed half the event by the time I figured out what to do, so I just ended up not going. I was pretty bummed about it, partly because of the free food and partly because of the opportunity to meet some people out here. I had other things to do, though.
My roommates have been sending themselves packages here, and it's worked out pretty well for the most part. One package from the USPS needed to be picked up at the local office, though, so I figured out how to take the bus there. This time the busses worked just fine, but my destination was nowhere to be found. The little packing slip I had listed the address, and I was staring at a building at that address that looked nothing like a post office. After some exploring the area, I asked some people walking by if there was in fact a post office around, and they said there was not. The nearest one was a couple miles North, and I figured that would be a decent place to start. After spending enough time navigating the busses, I knew off the top of my head how to get there, and so I did. While on the bus, I realized my mistake: the building numbers on the street I was on effectively reset at a certain point. Essentially, I had gone really far away when in fact that post office was only a couple blocks from my apartment. In the end, I got the package (which was heavier than I anticipated) and walked back to my apartment.
I spent some time downtown throughout the weekend as well, seeing what was out there. I saw the new Zach Galifianakis movie, The Campaign which was alright. Getting to and from downtown is really easy on the bus, and there is always plenty to do there. I also finally went to the gym for the first time since moving out, and it was not fun. There's a fitness center in my apartment complex, so at least I didn't have far to go.
After getting back late on Saturday night, I went up to the roof deck of my building for a chance to see the Perseid Meteor Shower which is one of the most prominent and easily viewed meteor showers. I was a little to close to the light pollution of Seattle, so I didn't quite see the 100 meteors per hour that NASA predicted, but I did get to see at least a few. Some of them were faint against the surrounding light, and I'm sure I missed some just by blinking. I tried to take some long exposure pictures with my camera, but again the light was not in my advantage. Next time I'll have to go to some remote location, of which there is no shortage here.
I picked up some more furnishings as well from people that are moving out of my building next week. It was mostly small things for the most part, stuff like garbage bins, a fruit bowl, laundry basket, etc. It's surprising how much those things make a difference in the feel of the place, though. There's also another comfy chair for the living room so that my desk chair can now reclaim its rightful place. And some floor lamps help a LOT since there are only a couple overhead lights in the apartment.
Well, I'm hungry now, and I want a sandwich. Time to go to Subway just a couple stories down. No real plans for the rest of the day - just gonna enjoy my new 55" plasma TV and get ready for this week. My first roommate, Calvin, arrives on Tuesday so I'll be going into work a little late that day, but things will be a lot different after that.
1. Still in that college mindset ↩
2. This one is just for my friend Ian. See what I did with these footnotes? ↩
Monday, August 6, 2012
Stitching Some Pictures
Just wanted to share some very wide pictures I took over the weekend. I've been experimenting with this photo-stitching thing where you can take multiple pictures across a scene and then software "stitches" them together. Some of them didn't come out that great, and you can see how the vertical alignment doesn't look right, but here they are nonetheless:
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| View from top of the building in Bellevue |
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| Green Lake |
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| MORE Green Lake. I love this place. |
Who Said Seattle Doesn't Have Nice Weather?
I initially anticipated this weekend to be laid-back and relaxed. After my first week of work, I just wanted to decompress and do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Despite my best efforts, I didn't quite turn out like that, but I think things ended up even better that way.
After a long night's sleep, I woke up on Saturday with only one thing in mind: buying a TV. My roommates and I have been doing lots of research about what TV to get, but ultimately I was going to buy it and so it came down to my decision. After reading lots of reviews and even going to look at some in person, I finally decided which one to get. It would be my very first plasma TV (as opposed to LCD) and also the largest at 55". The Best Buy in Bellevue (just South of Redmond) had it in stock at a good price, and so I decided to spend some time in Bellevue since I would be out there. The weather forecast predicted 80's and sunny all weekend.
One adventure I would attempt would be to located the company headquarters of Valve, a video game company. They make a lot of good stuff for only have a couple hundred employees, but also apparently have one of the coolest offices to visit. I even sent their CEO an email asking if I could stop by because I've heard of that working for other people. I haven't heard back from him yet, but it is a nice weekend so perhaps he wasn't checking his email. Regardless, I decided to stop by anyway and see if I could just snap a picture or two.
I wasn't exactly sure where to park once I found the building, but I did see a sign for Microsoft employee parking. Since I technically fit into that group, and had registered my rental car, I figured to try it. My ID badge let me into the garage, and so I had a free place to park out of the sun. The building I parked in was right next to where Valve purportedly was, so it was a quick walk over. Unfortunately, you needed badge access to get into that building. I saw a couple people going in and out, but couldn't muster up the courage to just follow someone inside. It reminded me of that time my mom & I did something similar to get into the computer science and engineering building at the University of Washington. I wasn't technically allowed to be in there, and figured that maybe the building is open during the week and so I could try then. We'll have to wait and see...
Another thing I was aware of was Seafair happening in the Pudget Sound area all weekend. It's an annual summer festival featuring a bunch of events you can read about if you want. One I was acutely aware of was the Blue Angels' performance. All week, the local government had been advertising that due to safety regulations, the I-90 bridge that I usually take to and from work would be closed at various points for practices and performances. I had some time to kill since I didn't make it to Valve, so I went to the top of the Microsoft building - the 26th floor to be precise. This gave me a great view of Lake Washington and the performance:
There were a bunch of other people up there with me, so I got to do a bit of bonding. When the show was over, though, I set out to get my TV. To make a long story short, the TV wouldn't fit in the rental car I brought with me. Not wanting to wait for delivery, and risk that they try to deliver it while I'm at work, I decided to drive back to Seattle. From there, I managed to secure a large ZipCar that I got to and from on the bus. After lugging the TV into my apartment safe and sound, I returned the car with just minutes to spare. I spent some time around the big shopping area downtown where the car was, which I didn't realize was there until I had to navigate through all the pedestrian traffic.
Sunday was another fun day. In the afternoon I hopped on the bus North to an area called Green Lake. This suburb outside of the city surrounds a swamp-turned-lake that seems to be a popular destination, especially when the weather is nice as it was this weekend. There's a walking and bike path that goes around the entire lake, almost 3 miles altogether. As soon as I got off the bus, I knew this would become one of my favorite destinations. There are tons of great places to eat near there too, as well as some frozen yogurt places. Some more pictures:
So I got to read, relax, explore, get some sun, basically anything you could ask for on a sunny Sunday afternoon. After taking the bus back to my apartment, I went to see some furniture and stuff that people were selling just 2 floors down from my apartment. They are moving to Australia in a week and a half, so it's an "everything must go" thing. They were really nice, and gave me some recommendations about stuff to do in the area.
I was glad to have my TV set up so that I could spend Sunday night watching NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, make a clean landing. It was an amazing accomplishment for the JPL (Jet-Propulsion Laboratory). I literally spent like 2.5 hours watching the feed and news coverage as Curiosity attempted to complete its 7 Minutes of Terror:
Eventually, the people in the control room were celebrating as they confirmed the rover had successfully made the landing. The first results were new pictures of Mars:
While it may not be on the same level as putting a man on the moon, it's quite a feat. One that I (and many others) hope renews interest and excitement in technology and engineering. Who knows, maybe NASA lies in my future somewhere.
After a long night's sleep, I woke up on Saturday with only one thing in mind: buying a TV. My roommates and I have been doing lots of research about what TV to get, but ultimately I was going to buy it and so it came down to my decision. After reading lots of reviews and even going to look at some in person, I finally decided which one to get. It would be my very first plasma TV (as opposed to LCD) and also the largest at 55". The Best Buy in Bellevue (just South of Redmond) had it in stock at a good price, and so I decided to spend some time in Bellevue since I would be out there. The weather forecast predicted 80's and sunny all weekend.
One adventure I would attempt would be to located the company headquarters of Valve, a video game company. They make a lot of good stuff for only have a couple hundred employees, but also apparently have one of the coolest offices to visit. I even sent their CEO an email asking if I could stop by because I've heard of that working for other people. I haven't heard back from him yet, but it is a nice weekend so perhaps he wasn't checking his email. Regardless, I decided to stop by anyway and see if I could just snap a picture or two.
I wasn't exactly sure where to park once I found the building, but I did see a sign for Microsoft employee parking. Since I technically fit into that group, and had registered my rental car, I figured to try it. My ID badge let me into the garage, and so I had a free place to park out of the sun. The building I parked in was right next to where Valve purportedly was, so it was a quick walk over. Unfortunately, you needed badge access to get into that building. I saw a couple people going in and out, but couldn't muster up the courage to just follow someone inside. It reminded me of that time my mom & I did something similar to get into the computer science and engineering building at the University of Washington. I wasn't technically allowed to be in there, and figured that maybe the building is open during the week and so I could try then. We'll have to wait and see...
Another thing I was aware of was Seafair happening in the Pudget Sound area all weekend. It's an annual summer festival featuring a bunch of events you can read about if you want. One I was acutely aware of was the Blue Angels' performance. All week, the local government had been advertising that due to safety regulations, the I-90 bridge that I usually take to and from work would be closed at various points for practices and performances. I had some time to kill since I didn't make it to Valve, so I went to the top of the Microsoft building - the 26th floor to be precise. This gave me a great view of Lake Washington and the performance:
 |
| The building on the right is what I was on top of. |
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| View from the top. |
 |
| ZOOM. Lots of boats getting ready to watch. |
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| View of Mt. Rainier |
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| Begin lots of pictures. I got lazy. |
There were a bunch of other people up there with me, so I got to do a bit of bonding. When the show was over, though, I set out to get my TV. To make a long story short, the TV wouldn't fit in the rental car I brought with me. Not wanting to wait for delivery, and risk that they try to deliver it while I'm at work, I decided to drive back to Seattle. From there, I managed to secure a large ZipCar that I got to and from on the bus. After lugging the TV into my apartment safe and sound, I returned the car with just minutes to spare. I spent some time around the big shopping area downtown where the car was, which I didn't realize was there until I had to navigate through all the pedestrian traffic.
Sunday was another fun day. In the afternoon I hopped on the bus North to an area called Green Lake. This suburb outside of the city surrounds a swamp-turned-lake that seems to be a popular destination, especially when the weather is nice as it was this weekend. There's a walking and bike path that goes around the entire lake, almost 3 miles altogether. As soon as I got off the bus, I knew this would become one of my favorite destinations. There are tons of great places to eat near there too, as well as some frozen yogurt places. Some more pictures:
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| Lots to do. |
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| The view from my spot. |
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| Doggy paddle. |
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| Also plenty of open field space |
So I got to read, relax, explore, get some sun, basically anything you could ask for on a sunny Sunday afternoon. After taking the bus back to my apartment, I went to see some furniture and stuff that people were selling just 2 floors down from my apartment. They are moving to Australia in a week and a half, so it's an "everything must go" thing. They were really nice, and gave me some recommendations about stuff to do in the area.
I was glad to have my TV set up so that I could spend Sunday night watching NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, make a clean landing. It was an amazing accomplishment for the JPL (Jet-Propulsion Laboratory). I literally spent like 2.5 hours watching the feed and news coverage as Curiosity attempted to complete its 7 Minutes of Terror:
Eventually, the people in the control room were celebrating as they confirmed the rover had successfully made the landing. The first results were new pictures of Mars:
 |
| Left: front camera showing the shadow of the rover. Right: wheel and Mars horizon |
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