I started working at Microsoft just under seven years ago.  My seven year anniversary will be on July 9th of this year.  It has always been an honor and privelage to work at Microsoft.  This is mostly because I have been honored to work for a truly brilliant and good man: Bill Gates.

Today was Bill's last full day as a Microsoft employee.  The company produced a send-off meeting for the employees to express their gratitude towards him.  Since the facility could only hold about 900 people, a raffle was held to see who could attend.  Anyone else had to watch it on their computers.  I was lucky enough to be chosen, and I took it very seriously.  Seating began at 8:45, but I wanted to make sure I had a great seat.  I was there at 7:15.  There were still about two dozen people in front of me.

 

I ended up getting a front row seat and had an excellent view.  I was about 15 feet away from Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates.  To my right was a "Who's Who?" of Microsoft.  Melinda Gates (Bill's wife), their children, Ray Ozzie, Lissa Brummel, Kevin Turner, Jeff Raikes, Chris Liddell, and other VIPs were right within my view.  It was extremely cool to be there and quite an honor.

I hear that I even made it on TV for the web cast given my front row seat.  Now i'll have to watch it to see.

Bill - thanks so much for the opportunity to work at one of the best companies in the world.  I really do love my job.

I was asked to make my blog a bit simpler so it would load faster.  Here you go world! :)

Virgin Airlines is spending millions and millions of dollars worth of capital in order to develop a space tourism industry.  This is absolutely amazing.  The fact that a company is willing to take on the burdens of R&D, manufacturing, insurance and profitability risk, etc to build this industry.  Tickets will not be cheap.  They will start at 100,000 English Pounds (Yikes!).  If you can afford it, I'm sure it is worth it though.

That's the thing - if you can afford it.  Virgin has every right to charge this given the risk they take in building this industry.  However, look at one of the comments by some idiotic liberal bloke concerning the service.

Apparently high prices "discriminate" against those who cannot afford them.  With that logic I should be able to go out and buy a Mercedes right now for a buck because my current salary does not give me enough capital to afford that.  I realize that this is just one random voice, but wow - this sense of entitlement just annoys the hell out of me.

 

Update - forgot to include the URL: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23433757-details/Book+a+space+now+on+out+of+this+world+tourist+flight/article.do

That really went by quickly.  Life is definately going well for me.  Suzanne and I are truly blessed.

Thanks Suzanne for marrying me! :)

My Windows Vista Ultimate machine just started recording Deep Space Nine off of the Spike Network.  It is the episode where Sisko goes crazy trying to find Edington (after he was betrayed by him).

Windows says that the original air date of this episode was 1997.  Ten years ago.  Wow.

While I don't think that I will ever get tired of watching DS9 (especially seasons 4-7), I would like some new Star Trek.  I think it is time.  Enterprise, overall, was a disappointment.  I did not watch it past season 1.  Fire Rick Berman - keep him as far away from it as possible, but let's get it done people! :)

I've found myself listening to Christmas music these days.  Using a Zune Pass makes listening to new and random music so easy.  I usually roll my eyes and despise people celebrating Christmas early.  However this year I find myself really looking forward to December 25th.  Part of this is that my work on the Zune project will be seeing the first real fruits as people get Zunes underneath their Christmas trees.  That will be really cool.

However, I think that the real reason is that this is my first Christmas with Suzanne as my wife, not just my girlfriend or fiance.  It's our first Christmas as a family.  It's cool. :)

I forgot how theraputic listening to Metallica can be when you're pissed off.

Today is my first experience using the Microsoft Connector.  Microsoft now provides its employees with their own shuttle system.  It leaves my area 5 times each morning and comes back 5 times as well.  The coolest part is that it also has built in wireless access and A/C power adapters!

The bus is currently half full.  We are in route to the 2nd stop (there are only 2 stops before getting to Redmond) to pick up the other half.  So far things are pretty good, except the seats are a it cramped.  I think a Tablet PC would be much better suited here.

Connect on! 

The UAW just walked out of GM.  This is great news for people who hate Michigan.  So, it's horrible news for me.

 

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070924/BUSINESS01/70924034&theme=AUTOTALKS072007 

I haven't gotten political in a while, so here we go.

 

Michael Moore released his movie "Sicko a few months ago.  Moore asserts that a program like the kind in Canada should be implented in the United States.  Pundits have criticized Moore pointing out the long wait times in countries like Britain and Canada.  To fight these assertions, Moore listed some statistics on his web site.  They are listed here.

 

 

The thing is that these stats come straight from the Canadian government.  Shouldn't Moore be just as skeptical of information from that government as he is of the USA's?  The stat that I find most amusing is "70 to 80 percent of Canadians feel their wait times are acceptable."

Somehow I doubt that lie, err, stat.

  

I recently re-discovered the band "Sponge" through the use of my Zune Pass, and furthermore their song Molly (Sixteen Candles).

Man I love this song.  It brings back a wave of memories of high school (mostly late nights working on stage crew).  Detroit bands rock.

 

You can download the album here: http://music.msn.com/music/launchzune.aspx?artist=Sponge&album=Rotting%20Pinata

I've been using Facebook for about a week now.  I have roughly 70 people in my friends list with a few more in the queue waiting for approval.  My gut tells me that this is cool, and that the application has merit.

However, I still can't figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do with m Facebook account?  Facebook needs a client so that you can communicate in real time with your contacts.  It needs an IM program. 

It's just been way too long since I've seen this.

 

  

Professor Soloway was one of the best professors I had at the University of Michigan.  I liked him because of his passion and his ability to see how technology can change people's lives.  His class (software engineering) was infinately more valuable to me than any computer science theory I studied.

This interview is well worth your time.  By the way, Professor Soloway is also on Facebook. :) 

No explanation needed.

 

  

I give up.  I surrender.  Ug, I finally did it.

I actually signed in to my Facebook page and added a number of friends.

I have been resisting this for a long time.  I hate social networking sites.  I don't disagree with the concept.  I actually think that they are fairly cool.  However, I hate that I have to be members to all of them.  LinkedIn, Facebook, Windows Live Contacts, Google Talk, AIM, Yahoo Messenger - ug!  I dont have that much time, and I hate having all those accounts.

However, given Facebook's recent surge in popularity, I dont think I have any choice.  Therefore, I offer a modest proposal.  Microsoft should buy Facebook.  They should not do this for any real strategic or business related reason.  They should do it to make my life easier, so that I can log in to Facebook right from Windows Live Messenger and receive gleams whenever a friend changes something.  It really does make sense.

Anywho, feel free to add me as a friend.

Anyone out there want to take bets on how long I can resist setting up an avatar on Second Life?

In one of the most bizarre stories I've read in quite a long time, the government of China has outlawed the people of Tibet from reincarnating.  This seems to be a system of control aimed at limiting the influence of religion in their society.  The Catholic Church is similarly regulated in China, leading to an underground movement.

This is just weird though.

 

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article2194682.ece 

This ad is a great explanation of why I joined the Zune team.  I haven't been this excited about the product that I work on in quite some time.