A Microsoft Summer

What to do, what to do...

2004-09-07T16:42:00.000-07:00

So here I am, it's my last week and I have done a good job on all of my projects. I have a review tomorrow and have uploaded the docs for everyone to review already...there's nothing really to do! There is volleyball scheduled for 7:30 tonight but I don't think I can wait that long. I think my friend John will be free, he never does any work, maybe I'll go bug him. Anyways, just thought I would take this free time to share with everyone that I am antsy. Talk to ya later.

Just to say hello.

2004-09-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, so this coming week is my last week up here at Microsoft. I will be wrapping up the last of my project in order to hand it off to someone else. I've had just a great time up here with all the new friends I've made. I will admit though I am ready to head back down to Santa Barbara. I have to go get a good start on Grad school and also meet my new roomies which I found just this last week. The weather up here is starting to turn but is not the reason why I want to go back. I have enjoyed all the fun trips I went on and will post pictures when I get time back in S.B.

I really think I could live up here full-time though. I would need a nice cozy house with a warm fireplace that I could sit in a comfy chair and read a book next to. The real thing that I feel draws me to this place though is the church. I have grown so much in my faith this summer and I find that more than reason enough to come back. Anyways, it's a half sunny day so I thought I'd just share a little...

Wonderful Buds.

2004-08-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

Seeking to find those who are my age and active in the church I went this last Monday what is called a cadre. A cadre is defined to be a tightly knit group of zealots who are active in advancing the interests of a revolutionary party. That party my friends is Jesus's party, the Gospel. I cannot fully express how invigorating these group of guys are to me. They are so passionate about Jesus that they touch something deep inside of my that I cannot fully explain. Seriously, you have to go experience it to know what I'm talking about. Their Godly spirit challenges me to push harder into seeking God and knowing him. I just can't believe how much there is for me up here...it's just crazy...just amazing what God can do in your life if you just listen. Anyways, that's all the gossip I have for you now...I'll let you know when I'm able to gather some roommies for this next year. Talk to you all soon.

It's been awhile...

2004-08-17T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hey all, so here's the update. I've been working hard as usual. Trying to get all my work done for the summer as I only have 4 weeks left. Some of the interns have already left to go back to school(semester system). All us Californians however are still here working up a storm. Life outside of work has been fun. My friend George came up to visit this last weekend. We showed him around Microsoft and the Seattle area. Saturday night we played some pictionary and had some fun trying to draw with our eyes closed and such. On Sunday we wanted to go for a tour at Boeing later in the day but ended up talking with a guy at the Apple store for two and a half hours(George and I are considering Apple laptops). Other than that it has just been the same ol' stuff. Late nights of work/fun and friends talking about how the summer has gone by so fast. Anyways, that's all for now. Check back sooner than later as I will try to do shorter more frequent posts.

Summer Midpoint Check

2004-08-01T09:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

So this last week I had my midpoint review. Leading up to it I was crazy swamped with work wanting to make sure that I did the best I could before the review. The review ended up going really well, they have been quite pleased with my work and gave me the good checkbox. What this means is that I can start setting up interviews for full-time positions here, kinda scary huh?!?!? I don't know about you but I am so excited. I have learned so much and been able to have such an impact on the product so far and it only gets better. When looking ahead to the last six weeks we were trying to decide whether to have me explore one road or another. In my midpoint review my mentor and manager looked at me and said "well we've decided...and...were gonna do both". They thought I was handling the workload perfectly fine thus far and want to challenge me. This is great because it will only help me in the long run and give me more experience with quick beneficial decision making. We also talked about some cool stuff like how the decisions the VP's make is no different from those that I make only that they are on a larger scale. In fact Dave my mentor pointed out that all the VP's started out in a PM position learning these valuable decision making skills which helped them grow into their positions today. This was just too cool because you are always worried about where the employment ceiling is in your position. To know that it doesn't stop and goes straight to the top is just awesome.

Anyways, I'm just getting ready to go to church so I thought I might talk to everyone and let them know how I am doing. I hope you all have a great Sunday and don't hesitate to give me a call if you want to say hello in person. Adios for now.

More trips = More fun!

2004-07-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

So I just got back in from the Mt. Rainier trip and wow it was cool. That place is just so beautiful and untouched. We started out this morning at 7AM and took two buses full of MS people up to the mountain.

On the way up to the paradise parking lot we stopped off at a waterfall and took some pictures(which I wil post a little later). The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, there were so many trees, I couldn't believe it and they were all so green. When we finally arrived at the parking lot for the paradise lodge we quickly chose a trail and headed out to explore. The climb was steep at times but quite enjoyable. As we came around one of the trail bends we foud a patch of snow! It was so cool, and by cool I mean cool cause let me tell you it was a hot day. Nikolay was the first to take advantage of the opportunity to make a snowball and proceeded to try and cover us with them.

Shortly after this we took a break for lunch and found yet another(bigger) patch of snow just down the hill from us. Of course Nikolay took off for it right away, trying to make snowballs and once again hit us. Because he was getting quite close to hitting us we decided to join him and started a snowball throwing contest. After getting soaked with melted snow we made some quick attempts at snowmen and continued up the mountain.

On the way up there was more and more snow which was great because it was so hot. The weather was absolutely perfect, we couldn't have asked for a better day. The view that kept getting better and better as we got higher up the mountain. You could see so many other mountains that were layered one behind the other out toward the west. When we finally got to the top of the trail there were a lot of other MS people already checking out the view and taking pictures. Nikolay however saw the giant mountain of snow behind us and told everyone to watch as he slid down it on his butt. This was hilarious to see and was a great ending to the hike.

After this we headed down the mountain and back to the buses. We were all so tired and just wanted to sit and rest our legs for awhile. On the ride back home most of us napped while the rest watched the movie Hot Shots, what a silly comedy. The trip ended up lasting all day as we got back to MS campus at about 8PM. Wow what a great day!

More fun than you can throw a stick at

2004-07-19T21:12:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

So Since I last wrote I have done quite a bit. The lake thing with the YP(young professionals) group from my church was lots of fun. I didn't actually get to go out on the lake but I did meet some really neat people and chatted it up quite a bit. After that I got ready for the next week which was even more fun than the previous week.

Starting out the next week I really got into my work. Planning, sketching, researching and such. Later on Monday however I went to the "billg BBQ" which in case you didn't know stands for Bill Gates BBQ. This was too cool. A group of graduating seniors were invited to Bill Gate's house for an evening with the VP's and of course Bill himself. I couldn't believe it, I actually saw bill. I kept blinking my eyes when he came out because I kept thinking 'man he is too clear, he looks too real'. I was amazed that he didn't look all pixelated as he normally does on TV. Going over and listening to him speak was also quite interesting. He was able to answer every question the nerdy interns could muster up, the guy is brilliant no doubt about that. I couldn't help but notice however that the whole time he had the crowd of interns around him he kept glancing over in the direction of the bar, longing for a glass of water or a Fresca. I wanted to get a chance just to say thanks for all that he's done, working so hard so we all could be here doing what we love, but he seemed just a tad too busy. Anyways, I also met with the VP's and GPM's which was lots of fun as well, think my VP Antoine is the coolest. He is this French Canadian that has been working here for quite awhile now. I'll tell you more about him a little later.

Getting work done here is difficult, not because it's impossible work(don't get me wrong it's hard alright) but there is just so much to do besides work. For instance later on in the week after the BillG BBQ there was another BBQ in the middle of the day for all the "West Region" interns. This was a big catered event out on the soccer field by my building. We played volleyball, ate and then played frisbee. There were raffles where they gave away an Xbox, pocket PC and a bunch of other cool stuff. After this it was back to work to try and finish out the week strong. I have had a lot of design work to do in order to develop my feature. I have to say though, it's lookin' mighty cool.

That weekend I got together with my usual crowd and hung out, played some raquetball and watched some movies. We have been staying up pretty late doing all this stuff as well as just hanging out and talking. Due to this sleep has been pretty few and far between but the weekends are always nice for playing catch-up with this. Stay tuned as I will be posting again soon with some more fun adventures. On the horizon is go-kart racing and hiking on Mt. Rainier.

Never fear, I'm still here!

2004-07-11T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hey all, So I know it's been awhile since the last time I posted but I want you all to know that doesn't mean I care any less about you. =)

Ok, so here's the skinny on what I've been up to. After the first day I started learning what my task is to be this summer...This took awhile...I am still learning about the full extent of my task this summer. There are many phases to my internship and I have just finished phase 1. This coming week brings with it all the joys of phase 2. It is a time when I am able to move on past the research and begin the creative process. Throughout this time when I have been concentrating on my job I have also been having loads of fun. So much in fact that it's sometimes tiring.

For starters last week there was the summer MS Office event where you could choose to join your friends from work kayaking on lake Washington, watching a Mariner's game or trying your luck at golf. I chose to go with some friends to the Mariner's game(pictures are soon to be posted). This was great, it was Thursday and none of us were in the office. The weather was great and guess what, the Mariner's WON! WOO HOO!

That weekend we decided to go to a 4th of July celebration at one of the local parks. Upon getting there we found that all the vendors(except the hotdogs) were out of food! Can you believe it, no food. Because of this we ended up leaving to go join the other thousands of people gathered in northern Seattle to watch the Gas Works Fireworks(pictures will be posted soon). These were absolutely awesome. I have to say that this quite possibly could have been the best fireworks I have ever seen. I think my Russian friend Nikolay put it best when he said "Oh, dis is soooo cool, they do not have dis in Russia!". After this we headed to my buddy Mike's house to hang out a play some games of mafia way into the night.

Now onto today. Today I went to The City Church which is just so so cool. I love this church. This is anything but a stagnant group of people. There are three different locations for this church where people watch sermons broadcast live from the church in Kirkland while having one's of their own. The people are of all kinds, the diversity is awesome, God is truly in this place! Right now I am getting ready to go out to one of the local parks on the lake where there is a BBQ for young professionals. I love it! I've got my wetsuit, kneeboard and California spirit, look out lake here I come! Don't worry I'll be back and let you all know how it went. I hope you all have just an awesome Sunday.

The First Day...weeeeeee!

2004-06-22T23:39:00.000-07:00

So let me just start by saying the word awesome. This is the word that I would attach to this day if I could. My life thus far has become so clear, things are really happening, my dreams are being realized, WOW!

To give you a play by play I'll start with this morning. This weeks batch of new interns met in the Microsoft(MS) Conference room for an orientation presentation. We were treated to a breakfast which included fresh squeezed orange juice(for those of you who know me you can just imagine the smile on my face). While eating we heard about MS policies, goals, and employee experiences. After this and some admin stuff we went out to eat lunch with the HR people and all the interns. We sat around and introduced ourselves, told what we would be doing and where we liked to spend our free time. This was fun because I got to meet some neat people that I will probably go on trips with later on. After this the day of work officially started...

It was off to my building where I met with my mentor David. He is such a cool guy, we really hit it off. He spent time showing me my office(yes my own office, door and all) and introducing me to the Office Shared Services(OSS) crew. After this we sat down and went over what I will actually be doing this summer. Although I cannot tell you much I will say that I am working on a significant update that will effect the new Office product. Discussing with David what I would be doing and getting to know him had us talking till about 6. After that I called my buddy Mike who was taking his rental car back and arranged to meet him to catch a shuttle home.

After arriving back at my place Mike and I talked about our various groups, what we would be working on and such. We called our friends(George and Lauren) to tell them how cool it was up here and that they should come join us. Lastly we decided it would be nice to finish the day with a good soak in the hot tub so we headed to Mike's and proceeded to soak. Now Mike wanted to sit and bask in his accomplishments while smoking a cigar his dad had bought him for graduation but...well...there's really no smoking at the pool and I was not in the mood for basking so we just sat and smiled, nodding profusely. Ah yes, and all was well...so ends the beginning of the summer.

Finally Settled...for now

2004-06-21T01:28:00.000-07:00

So I've been in Redmond for 3 days now and I have to say, it is gorgeous. It has been clear blue sky's and 85 degree weather ever since I arrived. The drive up here was also quite interesting, Oregon has some of the most beautiful scenery and interesting people. Did you know that for the past 50 years there has been a law in Oregon that requires all gas stations to have someone pump your gas for you? I sure didn't until I pulled off to fill up and a man approached me and asked if I was getting gas. I said yes and began to put my card into the machine. Then the man stopped me and alerted me that I am not allowed by state law to operate a gas pump. I talked with him for awhile and found out that the law had started out as a way to ensure safer gas stations but is now kept simply because of the jobs it created. As you might know there is not much to do as far as work in Oregon and therefore forcing the gas companies to employ more citizens is always a good thing.

Moving further north I have found great people, scenery and culture. Seattle and the surrounding area has really surprised me so far, I absolutely love it here. My friend Mike and I were driving back from the downtown area today crossing lake Washington and talked yet again about how we still could not believe we had made it. We continued to praise the beautiful lake and its deep blue color, the snow topped volcanoes in the background and abundance of green all around. This place is gorgeous! Towards the end of the bridge we gave each other a high five just as we passed what we thought was Bill Gates's lake front house. We are both so thrilled to be up here; a little freaked out but thrilled nonetheless.

It is now just one day before I start work. On Tuesday there will be a New Employee Orientation(NEO) where we will be briefed on all that is to come in the months ahead. This year my roommate has told me that there are over 1000 interns. This is up from around 700 just last year. If you think about it that's just crazy! I mean over 1000 others like myself working for the summer from universities all around the world. I so can't wait for my first day and I will surely do a post after it is all done, wish me luck =).

The Day After Yesterday...

2004-06-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

So that's it...Graduation is complete. The ceremony was long but worth it. Bill Nye "The Science Guy" spoke to the new graduates about the inventions we should all get to work on. He also spoke of what to do with our new-found knowledge. "Change the World" he said; think about your commitment to all those less knowledgeable and most importantly vote your mind. Throughout the ceremony there were many awards given to both profs and students. All in all it was "pretty standard really" and oh yes, there was even room for a joke from our youthful chancellor Yang, here goes...Speaking on how UCSB managed to get on the nations top 10 "hottest schools" list he went on to say that "I don't think UCSB is 'hot' but rather very cool..."(chancellor waits for laughs). Maybe it's one of those you-have-to-be-there jokes but we all thought it was quite funny.

On a similar note, I had a great Graduation BBQ the following day at my aunt's house in Paso Robles. All of my family(and I mean ALL) attended the event. It was really enjoyable to see everyone there and find out where all their lives are headed. Back when all the cousins were still in diapers or on training wheels(myself included) we had very similar goals in life; candy, stay up late and test the rules. Now it seems it's a little hard to get the conversation going about what everyone is up to, we are all so different. None the less once we do start chatting it is so neat to hear everyone's stories in life. From Sam's Import Car Shop to Pammy's International Hair Salon we are all in hot pursuit of our dreams. I really enjoy the diversity that you become exposed to, both within your family and in the world. I guess that is one of the things I will miss the most when I finally leave the college scene, people..different intelligent people...there are so many out there and we are lucky to be able to befriend some of them. Here's to my diverse group of friends...your all wonderful and I wish you the best of luck in life. Who knows maybe someday our paths will cross again someday...until then, take care.

We have Liftoff...

2004-06-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

So finally I have set up this web-log(blog) so everyone will be able to ride shotgun with me this summer. If you didn't already know I will be heading up to the Seattle, WA area to do a Program Manager Internship with Microsoft. Currently I am still in the process of packing and getting everything set for the drive. Tomorrow is also "The Big Day" in which I will be going through the time tested ritual of graduation.

As I look at my gown hanging out to dry I can't help but think back on the past four years of college and realize how fast it has flown by. It seems like just yesterday my folks were dropping me off at the dorms and saying their goodbye's to the son who was now all grown up (sob...sob). Grown Up? Ha, I think not, but a mounting pile of responsibilities, that is for sure. With each new year I seem to grow more and more into those shoes I feel I am someday destined to wear...