The Best and the Worst of Working at Microsoft

The Best:

• All the cafeterias.... The fresh, diverse and healthy options, the hours of operation (like 6 AM to 11 PM!), the accessibility (there's one in or near every building). Yes siree -- the cafeterias and the food at Microsoft are just about the best things about working there.
• The beautiful campus. It really feels like an Ivy League college (though I sure don't remember being chaparoned to my classes in cute little white hybrid vehicles!).
• Yeah, free beverages... all you want, too. Crazy thing is, this includes just about everything (juices, pops, sparkly stuff, all varieties of milk) EXCEPT bottled water. Turns out bottled water is too expensive! (No kidding; I wrote to the powers that be about this and that was their answer.)
• Cheap software.
• There are "new mothers" rooms in most buildings, with cozy chairs for breastfeeding and mothering. Thing is, I've never seen a pregnant woman or a baby on campus. Ever.
• Men get 6 weeks' paternity leave; women get 6 weeks' maternity leave. (See above.)
• No one cares when I get to work or when I leave or how I spend my days. As long as I do good work, my time and my schedules are non-issues.
• No dress code -- though I still dress professionally.
• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (Problem is, he forgot to remind the people he left behind to do good things and to treat each other well.)
• A Starbucks within steps of my office.

The Worst:

• My cell doesn't work on campus. In fact, even on the freeway between the campuses cell calls are constantly dropped. Anyone who drives on 520 knows this. Either finish your conversation before you approach Microsoft or wait till after you pass to make the call.
• Something goes wrong technically in just about every meeting I've been to. No kidding! The IT support at the tiny nonprofit I used to work for was better than Microsoft IT support! More than once, my simple PowerPoint presentation had to be scratched because of technical issues. I've had to wing it because of technical problems! @@
• All that left-brained, social awkwardness! It absolutely seems like UNFRIENDLINESS, but it's probably more social awkwardness. It's hard to get used to every elevator ride in averted-gaze silence, no matter how friendly I try to be.
• Contractors are treated like sub-standard, don't-really-count workers. Employees are treated like valued, brilliant professionals. "The lawsuit," of course, is completely responsible. The snooty people themselves are completely innocent.
• The corporation as a whole is out of touch with the average consumer -- especially the average educator. No teacher will see Vista or have a GIG of memory for YEARS to come!
• The whole goal of the company for 30 years has basically been to take over the world. To do that, you need a mentality of ruthlessness. It shows.

*Disclaimer to ward off Microsoft lawyers: this is all just the opinion of a lowly worker.

"I'm not s'posed to like water???"

"What'chu talkin' 'bout?! This is one of my favorite hang outs!"

Hey!!

"Hey, Ma... Dad's not reading after all! Look -- he's ASLEEEEP!!"

Bestest Friends (??)

The problem with bestest friends who are guys is that they tend to get weird and suddenly disappear, without so much as an explanation. I miss my friends. Where ARE you guys?!

Heartbreak and Love at 16 (and 19 and 22 and 16)

I knew something was wrong at dinner, but it was only after dinner, when I ever-so-slightly reprimanded Aleks that I knew that something was really, REALLY upsetting him. Turns out he broke up with his girlfriend, Kelsey, today. I remember Love at Sixteen, and no matter who's the break-upper and who's the break-uppee, it HURTS. I remember, when John Naber broke up with me at 17, being more shattered than I've been since, even though the relationships I've had since have of course been far more mature.

There's just something about teenage heartbreak that stays with you forever.

Now if and when Peter and Danelle ever break up, we'll have a real catastophe on our hands... because I'm willing to bet they'll get married. They've been together for two years and no one can see either of them with anyone else... NO WAY!










And my girls?? Well...

Elisabeth met Ben at 16, and at 19 told my mom that she'd "marry him someday." She broke up with Ben her freshman year in college when they were at different schools in different states, but I really still have a gut feeling (as does she!) that she was right that someday... Hopefully she'll get the Seattle territory this year and then -- well, who knows!










Kat, my "baby" (well, one of them; she's Aleks' twin) fell hard for Ian, Elisabeth's college housemate:
...but she knows that --for now, at least -- he's really too old for her. He's in grad school this year and she has yet to complete high school. But I think they'll always have something for each other. Ian, being the good guy he is, knows Kat's too young. Who knows what will happen in a few years, but for now...

...well, *right* now she's at Adam's house -- again. Adam just graduated from high school last year and seems like a really nice guy. Now if only she'd bring him around more! (She just called to tell me that his mom made the two of them dinner and she'll be home a bit late... hey, I can make dinner, too!!)

Dang, weren't these four JUST babies and toddlers?! Seriously, it was just yesterday that they were all toddling around around the house, playing hide and seek. Time is such a strange thing!!

Our Secret Forest and Our Torn-Up Yard

One of the reasons we bought the house we did eleven years ago was because waaaaay in the backyard, behind the garden shed, there's a forest... or as my kids used to call it, a "deep dark." I think I've been in the forest maybe five times, total -- usually looking for a child or a pet. Today, while doing some major gardening while T was building a wall, I went into the "deep dark" to dump a wheelbarrow load of brush, and I wondered why I don't go back there more often. You'd never know that there are neighbors witnin a stone's throw on three sides because our forest is truly a dense, natural Pacific Northwest deal.

We decided to re-do the front yard and hired a contractor to do most of the hardscape. Here are some "before" and "during" (now) pictures:













And "during" (now). Yes, that's the beginnings of a river rock wall:














And this weekend, T built this wall, while I weeded and hoed every inch of lawn (almost an acre of it) perimenter and flower beds. All I can say is everything HURTS!

Scrapbook Obsession!

The next scrapbook is underway... which means that I'll start staying up till the wee hours, that I'll spend unreasonable amounts of time at the local craft store, and that my family will be fending for themselves for food and all other basic necessities.

This scrapbook is for Laura, our exchange student from Germany who left us in June. Hopefully I'll be done in time to give it to her for her 18th birthday in November. If not, it'll be her Christmas present.

Like any good Seattle-ite, Laura and her AFS friends were sufficiently addicted to Starbuck's. In fact, by springtime, they'd all take buses to downtown Seattle from various locations in the Puget Sound in order to sip coffee at a variety of Starbuck's locations -- including the first-ever Starbucks (the top-left photo). Yes, those are coffee beans.

The next picture was taken on our day at Mt. Rainier. I love how the picture tends to blend right into the background... and I had a blast with the leaf ribbon.

Needless to say, Boo is absolutely NO help at all!



And on the off-chance that Laura's checking in, I won't post any more pictures of her scrapbook. Wouldn't want to ruin her surprise!!

Best Friends

Boo, our kitty, and Shasta, our Golden Retriever, are best friends. They play and roughhouse for hours at a time, sometimes just frolicking like this, sometimes actively playing hide and seek all over the house, and sometimes falling asleep together mid-frolick!

There are even times when I see a gold and gray streak pass by me and realize that Shasta has Boo in her mouth and is dragging him along the slippery hardwood floors. You can almost hear a dim "Wheeeeee!!" as they pass by!
We have three cats, yet Boo isn't interested in them, nor are they (an "ice princess" and an old, senile lady) interested in him. Shasta's much more fun for Boo and I haven't figured out yet whether Shasta thinks she's a cat ot Boo thinks he's a dog -- or whether either of them care one way or another, as long as the frolicking continues!