All the UT interns at our Texas Picnic
At the office late at night
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Devs....taking a nap at the office after a long night at work
The winners of the Guitar Hero Contest....Exchange employees take the comp. very seriously
Exchange Explorers
Our police escort lining up
Traffic stopped on the highway
The bridge close down
At the intern party
Ben Folds, one of the performers of the night
@ the Microsoft company picnic
w/ Mt. Si in the background
This was one of the tractors full of drinks
Motorcross
These are two of my fellow interns
Microsoft store with Mt. Si in the background
Explorers at the picnic
Mt. Rainier
Barefoot in the snow!
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WITH STEVE BALLMER!!!!!
So this weekend was full of fun Microsoft Activities. It was much needed after a hard week of working late nights (until 4 AM one night). Friday was great because we finally checked in our code, thus ending development hell for the time being (until the bugs start coming in of course). We only worked half a day and then went to a really nice park for the Exchange Summer Picnic. There was burgers and hotdogs, lots of games and rides for kids, a Guitar Hero concert/contest (yes super nerdy...again), and a dodgeball tournament. My teammate and my admins formed a team call "You got Servered"...haha get it we work on exchange SERVER. Anyways, they ended up winning! It was so funny to watch all these people that I work with everyday, including my bosses boss, playing dodgeball. It was lots of fun, but we left early to get back to Microsoft in time to catch the busses that would take us to the zoo for the intern party. There were 21 busses, and since Microsoft basically just does whatever it wants, they shut down entire 4 lane highways, all the side streets, and the entire bridge to get into Seattle just for us. We had a police escort the entire way. Traffic was crazy! We were so shocked that Microsoft did that. We got to the zoo, and they gave us fold out chairs that said microsoft on them and blankets (cuz it actually gets cold at night here haha), and we set up our stuff by the stage. There was lots of good food, 4 freezers kept stocked with Ice cream, a candy bar and a beer garden which I couldnt go into. There was a band and a solo artist, both were very good. It was lots of fun, and at the end of the night they gave us Zunes (which is like Microsofts version of the iPod.) The next day, we were up pretty early to make it to the Microsoft Company picnic. It was at the gorgeous park right at the base of Mt. Si. The scenery was so Beautiful, and the picnic was more like a carnival that just a company picnic. There were 3 bands playing throughout the park, tons of rides and games, guest performances including motorcross, and TONS of free food. It was amazing, there were so many different food stations with everything from hamburgers to curry chicken, bbq ribs, grilles salmon, salads, stir fry, and fresh fruit. Then the drinks were huge tractors just filled with sodas, and when one would run out they would just drive another one in. There were soooo many people too, and the picnic goes on Saturday and Sunday for 2 weekends. After all this it was really obvious that Microsoft is an Empire. They have so much money as a company its unbelievable ( and they use it to treat their employees so great!) The next day, we had a hike on Mt. Rainier planned. I almost didnt go because I woke up 15 minutes before the busses were scheduled to leave. But I got ready really fast (and thankfully I work for Microsoft where nothing starts on time) so I made it. But because I was rushing, a few minutes after the bus pulled out, I realized I had left my tennis shoes in my car and was still wearing flip flops. So that kinda sucked. I slept for most of the drive there, and when I woke up the scenery was amazing. All of a sudden that small mountain we see from the city was HUGE! So we go to climb the mountain, and I'm thinking that ya my feet will probably hurt like crazy at the end of the day, but I should be able to do it nonetheless. Its a well traveled path, it should be pretty easy. NOPE! It was ALL snow!!! Definitely a weird experience trying to hike in flip flops, and yes I got made fun of pretty badly. It was hard enough for people in tennis shoes to not fall, much less me. So about 1o minutes up the mountain, my feet are frozen and my leather shoes are soaked. Luckily one of my friends was nice enough to stay with me so we just found a rock and hung out up on the mountain for awhile. I attempted to make a snowman, and we just sat and enjoyed the scenery. Then we climbed down, which went much faster granted I was on my butt a lot of the way haha. We played in the snow at the bottom and ate lunch and the others were back down soon. Even without getting to climb the whole way, it was so beautiful out there and I was really happy to have gotten to take the trip. Everyone was so sore and tired from falling anyways, maybe I got the better deal. So the weekend was packed but it was great. Today, tuesday, was the annual product fair. They set up booths for all the new products and technologies for everyone to learn about. They reserve the morning of the first day just for interns, and have a special keynote from Steve Ballmer, the CEO. It was sooo awesome, and he is sooo funny. I was a little stalkerish after the talk and I went and got a picture with him. It was a group pic but it was still really cool and I was super excited. A work update, we are now in the testing stage and are hoping to get lots of bugs worked out, and start working on our presentation. I can't believe our product that was nothing when we came is almost ship quality!!! But work has been good, and i'm just enjoying my last 2 weeks with my friends and all the amazing people at work!
So this weekend was full of fun Microsoft Activities. It was much needed after a hard week of working late nights (until 4 AM one night). Friday was great because we finally checked in our code, thus ending development hell for the time being (until the bugs start coming in of course). We only worked half a day and then went to a really nice park for the Exchange Summer Picnic. There was burgers and hotdogs, lots of games and rides for kids, a Guitar Hero concert/contest (yes super nerdy...again), and a dodgeball tournament. My teammate and my admins formed a team call "You got Servered"...haha get it we work on exchange SERVER. Anyways, they ended up winning! It was so funny to watch all these people that I work with everyday, including my bosses boss, playing dodgeball. It was lots of fun, but we left early to get back to Microsoft in time to catch the busses that would take us to the zoo for the intern party. There were 21 busses, and since Microsoft basically just does whatever it wants, they shut down entire 4 lane highways, all the side streets, and the entire bridge to get into Seattle just for us. We had a police escort the entire way. Traffic was crazy! We were so shocked that Microsoft did that. We got to the zoo, and they gave us fold out chairs that said microsoft on them and blankets (cuz it actually gets cold at night here haha), and we set up our stuff by the stage. There was lots of good food, 4 freezers kept stocked with Ice cream, a candy bar and a beer garden which I couldnt go into. There was a band and a solo artist, both were very good. It was lots of fun, and at the end of the night they gave us Zunes (which is like Microsofts version of the iPod.) The next day, we were up pretty early to make it to the Microsoft Company picnic. It was at the gorgeous park right at the base of Mt. Si. The scenery was so Beautiful, and the picnic was more like a carnival that just a company picnic. There were 3 bands playing throughout the park, tons of rides and games, guest performances including motorcross, and TONS of free food. It was amazing, there were so many different food stations with everything from hamburgers to curry chicken, bbq ribs, grilles salmon, salads, stir fry, and fresh fruit. Then the drinks were huge tractors just filled with sodas, and when one would run out they would just drive another one in. There were soooo many people too, and the picnic goes on Saturday and Sunday for 2 weekends. After all this it was really obvious that Microsoft is an Empire. They have so much money as a company its unbelievable ( and they use it to treat their employees so great!) The next day, we had a hike on Mt. Rainier planned. I almost didnt go because I woke up 15 minutes before the busses were scheduled to leave. But I got ready really fast (and thankfully I work for Microsoft where nothing starts on time) so I made it. But because I was rushing, a few minutes after the bus pulled out, I realized I had left my tennis shoes in my car and was still wearing flip flops. So that kinda sucked. I slept for most of the drive there, and when I woke up the scenery was amazing. All of a sudden that small mountain we see from the city was HUGE! So we go to climb the mountain, and I'm thinking that ya my feet will probably hurt like crazy at the end of the day, but I should be able to do it nonetheless. Its a well traveled path, it should be pretty easy. NOPE! It was ALL snow!!! Definitely a weird experience trying to hike in flip flops, and yes I got made fun of pretty badly. It was hard enough for people in tennis shoes to not fall, much less me. So about 1o minutes up the mountain, my feet are frozen and my leather shoes are soaked. Luckily one of my friends was nice enough to stay with me so we just found a rock and hung out up on the mountain for awhile. I attempted to make a snowman, and we just sat and enjoyed the scenery. Then we climbed down, which went much faster granted I was on my butt a lot of the way haha. We played in the snow at the bottom and ate lunch and the others were back down soon. Even without getting to climb the whole way, it was so beautiful out there and I was really happy to have gotten to take the trip. Everyone was so sore and tired from falling anyways, maybe I got the better deal. So the weekend was packed but it was great. Today, tuesday, was the annual product fair. They set up booths for all the new products and technologies for everyone to learn about. They reserve the morning of the first day just for interns, and have a special keynote from Steve Ballmer, the CEO. It was sooo awesome, and he is sooo funny. I was a little stalkerish after the talk and I went and got a picture with him. It was a group pic but it was still really cool and I was super excited. A work update, we are now in the testing stage and are hoping to get lots of bugs worked out, and start working on our presentation. I can't believe our product that was nothing when we came is almost ship quality!!! But work has been good, and i'm just enjoying my last 2 weeks with my friends and all the amazing people at work!
1 comment:
In this day and age of disgruntled people, it's certainly nice to know there are companies out there who still value their employees. I have even more respect for Microsoft after reading your comments this summer. Take care and enjoy your last few days.
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