BlueBadgeMojo.com

A quiet lunch in 37

                             

It was sort of anti-climactic: the date was set, about a dozen people feigned interest and accepted the invitation, and then two of us showed up. What is up with that? Well, maybe it was because this tour stop was late in coming: the building has been open for months, most of us had already visited the building and the cafeteria, and it all seemed kind of forced. What was the point of it all? I forgot my camera on the last two outings.

So there we were, sitting in a booth overlooking the nice, new cafeteria in Building 37. Which is almost identical to Building 99. The main difference between the two? Building 99 has a higher geek quotient, as it is the home of R&D. Thirty-seven houses a good portion of our marketing folks. Other than that, it's all the same.

I had the slightly seared, mostly raw tuna steak on a bed of baby spinach, while Kimberley went with Indian. Then we left.

                           

The Cafeteria Tour Coming Back To Life

                             

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is once again time to iron your Jim Ward fan club t-shirts, dust off your official gerbil-cam coffee mugs, and join us for yet another instalment of the historic Microsoft Cafeteria Tour as we visit the relatively new and yet-to-be-christened Building 37 cafeteria over on main campus.

Please join us on Wednesday, August 6th!

A Room With A View: Lincoln Square

                        

Way back in 2006, I can remember visiting friends in SMS&G (one of our sales organizations) over in the slightly-off-the-beaten-path Building 22, and thinking to myself, "Wow. This is ok, but not exactly impressive if you're bringing big clients back to a conference room." It was dark, the furnishings were outdated, and they just didn't have the hi-tech perks being built out in newer offices.

And then they announced the "expansion" of Microsoft's campus across Redmond and Bellevue, and the Lincoln Square space. And it is Mecca. Wow. The cafeteria sits on the 28th floor overlooking the entire Puget Sound, with views from 3 sides of the building. There's even a small patio looking down at the Bellevue Mall (I commented on the low walls -- a jumper's dream spot)

Of course, there had to be some disappointment. I heard all about the tandoori oven -- and saw it back behind the counter -- but there didn't seem to be any selections. But I wound up with an apple-stuffed squash dish, with rice and veggies on the side. Very good. Oh, and those obviously heroin-filled oatmeal raisin cookies, because I am addicted.

Mike got there ahead of me (my shuttle from Redwest took forever to find its way down there), and had already consumed some kind of unhealthy junk food-ish offering. For once, I took a picture of my food prior to eating it. Makes for better storytelling, I think.

And that's about it. We ate, we chatted, we took some video and pictures, and moved on. Hey -- we're both busy guys.

Update: just found out that Kevin and Ryan showed up at 11:30, and likely left before I even arrived. Bad timing, but wanted to throw out some props to them for the attempt (you know, for the resume stuffer).

But Mike, what's up with the sock on your head?

Video: MSCT2k8 at Lincoln Square

Lincoln Square, Anyone?

The time has come to arrange a visit to the last campus cafeteria in the Puget Sound not already visited by the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour (at current count, 26) - Lincoln Square. Of particular interest to the MSCT2k8 crowd is rumour of a tandoori oven onsite.

I'd like to suggest Friday, February 1st. Who's game?

Lunch at Microsoft, Research Style

                           

Me: Any ideas for a cool place to do a team offsite?
Her: Most places start at around $1000 for a day. What's your budget?
Me: Um...does McDonald's still book birthday party groups? Plus we'd have access to the play area. Well, the shorter folks on my team.
Her: What about the new Safeco buildings, or Building 99. The new conference rooms are really nice.
Me: Oh yeah, completely forgot about 99 -- the new Research Building. It's huge, and sparkly new. Let's do that.
Her: Should I order you lunch, or will you use their new cafeteria.
Me: Oh, no question about it -- we'll eat in the cafeteria.

You've read the news here, here and here. And now we can all finally partake of the (current) gem of the West Campus, the new cafeteria in Building 99. (The next gem will be the Xbox building on 40th, which should contain plentiful architectural bling) Some research people or something are also on the premises. Whatever. Unimportant. It's all about the cafeteria. The rest is window dressing.

Entering Building 99 is more like the London office experience - an expansive space, with ultra-modern "subway" card access instead of large glass doors. The cafeteria itself is not so impressive for such a large building, but the variety of seating space more than makes up for the lack of culinary variety. You have your essentials: salad bar and fryer, but that's about it. No specialty foods, no outside vendors represented, other than the omnipresent Wolfgang Puck and his packaged salads and sandwiches. (I swear, that man is everywhere)

My team had a pleasant offsite experience, although we had speaker issues in the room. But our conference room on the 4th floor had a wall of glass looking down into the atrium, and we enjoyed a bit of people watching on the breaks. Especially peering down into other meetings. And for those who have not seen the new office designs being rolled out in every new building (Safeco, the new RTC building, Advanta, etc), here is a glimpse. I especially like the new thinking around creative breakout spaces, where you'll turn a corner and find an otherwise wasted architectural anomaly filled with small sofas and whiteboards for ad hoc employee gatherings.

I have seen the future of Microsoft buildings, and it does not lack meeting room space. Finally.

MSCT2k7 goes to New York + London

I caught a lot of flack the last time I made the trip out to the London office -- and neglected to take any pictures. Not this time! And I forced others to participate. Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2007 is alive and well! (and I am looking forward to the new Building 99 next week)

I know, I know...I've already blogged about the NY cafeteria. But since my last trip, my team has migrated from 6th floor to 4th floor, and the new digs are nice! More of the "new Microsoft" look, with sliding doors to offices and meeting rooms, a more open floor plan, and a very modern motif. Plus there are xbox 360's sprouting up all over the place. We were playing Halo 3.

     

And a side note: what's the story behind the BLING shoes that were up by the cafeteria on the 6th floor? We just had to admire them...

In London, not many people actually sit down and eat in the cafeteria -- it more of a consolation prize when you don't have time to dash out and grab a serious meal somewhere else. Although, I had soup on two different days, and it was excellent. Some kind of pumpkin, and a lentil the other time. Most people escape to one of the many local pubs, all of which offer up the standard fare of fish and chips with mushy peas. Mmmm.

     

MSCT2k7 hits RTC

Nothing warms the heart, stirs the emotions, parts the hair, curdles the cheese, tickles the spider monkey deep inside as the opening of a new cafeteria here at Microsoft. Without a doubt, I'll look back on this epic day and share my feelings with my great-grandchildren about how I was there on the Monday following the official Friday opening of the Redmond Town Center cafeteria. Woo hoo!

I know, I know. We missed the official launch. The only reason I know about the launch last week was that Doug happened to walk by to check status. My org had an offsite last week, otherwise we would have been celebrating the official launch. But we were there in spirit.

     

Participating in this grand event were Doug, Preston, Jeremy, Kimberley, Christian, Cliff, John, Kevin, Ryan, and a drop-in by Todd. Quite the turnout for what resulted in yet another hard-core-cycling discussion (I tuned out at that point, and decided a more pleasant experience would be to stab hot pokers into my eye sockets)

Hey, something new! In an effort to increase traffic, I thought I'd throw a bunch of unrelated links into the blog and see what happens! Alrighty! Like the link to the download for the NEW Windows Live! Or maybe the new beta site for Live Search! How about a cheese log? Or possibly a link to my favorite ninja site?

New York Snack Time

                     

After talking with a team member in the New York field office about how he had never set foot inside one of the Microsoft cafeterias on his trips out to Redmond, I honestly felt bad. I mean, come on -- its part of the whole Microsoft campus experience, right? As part of OSG, you'd think he'd at least find his way over to Redwest, but apparently he spent the majority of his time in Redmond at the RTC building and [gasp!] working, and just hadn't found his way over to the main campus, much less one of our wonderful cafeterias.

And then I saw their small eating area. With the foosball (food AND foosball?), padded seating (two chair heights, no less), and a flat panel tv.

Do not feel sorry for them, folks. These NY people have a posh setup, and don't need our sympathy. What's next -- having their office name put on every can of soda they drink?

                          

Or maybe they get a few more slices of cold cuts on their deli sandwich?

                           

Ok, that last one is from a place around the corner. And man, it was tasty. I'll be running it off for a couple more weeks, tho...

Update: I neglected to mention an experience from my NY trip. The night I arrived, I walked around the corner to the closest TGIFridays to grab a quick dinner, and was placed in a corner table looking out over the rest of the restaurant. I ordered a sandwich and quickly downed one of many Diet Pepsi's, when three guys walked in and were seated at the table right next to me. I very quickly realized that the guy with his back to the rest of the restaurant (intentionally) was none other than Reade Seligman, one of the three falsely accused Duke lacrosse players. Yes, it was definitely him. In fact, a few other people also recognized him, and he was noticeably trying to avoid any attention. At one point, one of his two buddies made some comment, asking Reade how he felt to be "through with all of it," and he said something to the effect of "I'm just so glad its all over and I can get on with my life." Why am I commenting on this? It has more to do with what Reade didn't say. After a couple minutes, both of his friends starting talking about girls they had dated, and the language got downright crude. A couple times I noticed that their comments had floated across the room, and were picked up by a table of women -- a couple mothers and their daughters, and they shot offended looks over to the oblivious friends chatting away. But I was happy to see that Reade wasn't participating in the comments. In fact, he wasn't smiling at their crude jokes, and even changed the subject at one point. Given everything he has been through, I got the impression that Reade had learned something from his experience and was intentionally avoiding the inappropriate and demeaning topics of his friends. I was glad to see that.  

MSCT2k6 Encore in 110

                         

Ok, we are NOW officially done with the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006, having visited the small yet hip cafeteria in Building 110, hidden over behind the soon-to-be-assimilated-just-like-the-Borg Eddie Bauer building on the West Campus. While the layout was confusing and non-organic, this site reigns supreme over other smaller cafeterias because of the presence of a grill.....although I did not partake of the sacred Boca Burger on this day. Instead, I went for the overflowing plate of Indian, and quite enjoyed it. A bit spicier than previous attempts. I likey.

I'm not sure what David was going for with the hat, but yes, in case you were wondering, we openly mocked him.

                     

With 2006 quickly coming to an end, the team here at BlueBadgeMojo is quietly making plans for....yes, you guessed it: MSCT2k7. Don't worry -- it won't be more of the same. We're gonna mix things up a bit. Good times.

This One Goes to 11....or possibly 110

Ok, I am definitely firing our tour manager and PR firms, because both were asleep at the wheel on this one: we didn't include Building 110. Don't know how that happened, but we're headed for an encore performance next Monday as we...once again...wrap up this historical tour of each and every Microsoft cafeteria in the Puget Sound.

Are they adding any new eating facilities between now and Monday? Does anyone know? If so, drop us a line. Can't be too careful. Those cafeteria people can be sneaky...

The Final MSCT2k6 Tour Stop

            

With much fanfare and tears, the historic Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006 rolled through the Building 34/35 Cafeteria as its final destination. Many inspiring stories were told, and cherished memories shared during this emotional event. I was especially fond of John's teeth-gritting tale of skin-piercing-broken-collarbone-man-vs-fire-hydrant adventures from his childhood. I didn't take a count, but many of his stories ended with sets of broken bones. Not "a" broken bone, but "sets" of broken bones. Even as a boy, John was manly-er than most.

Mike then entertained us with his past-life adventures as a cotton-gin-burning pyromaniac child prone to shooting his friends with pellet guns. Wow. Mike knew how to party. But who doesn't have a story from childhood of setting a 7-acre parcel of trees and shrubs on fire? Haven't we all ridden our bikes off the roof into a dumpster of metal scraps and a couple old mattresses? Who hasn't learned the ins and outs of rope burns while attempting to slide down an improvised zip-line tied to a 3-story scaffolding with your bare hands? Or known the joys of cliff diving into a fast-moving and ice cold river without first checking the depth?

All in good fun. Gosh, I miss those days.

And now for the obligatory cafeteria review: what I like about this cafeteria is the high ceiling and openness. A few of the cafeterias on campus have similarly high ceilings, but I think the fact that this building is sort of separate from 34 and 35, sitting inbetween (there's a small conference center upstairs) makes the facility brighter and seem bigger. Someone remarked that it was a similar vibe of the Safeco cafeteria by Building 86. I guess. Safeco has a beautiful facility, although you have to buy your own soda (I'm still bitter about that). A couple folks tried their hand at Garlic Jim's pizza, which appeared to be a flat, greasy NY style pie. Maybe one day they'll offer a soy-cheese-based option....

In celebration of our final tour stop this year, John placed a giant #2 candle atop his Boca burger, and I added a #3 candle to my taco salad -- representing the 23 cafeteria tour stop we've made during the last 5.5 months. We cheered, we clapped, we probably looked like dorks. But we're all looking forward to next year's adventures. Planning is already underway.

I wonder if those balloons are recyclable?

The End of MSCT2k6: Tour Stop #23

I can't believe we're here at the end of the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006. The latter half of 2006 has been a blur. It all started on July 28th in the Building 9 cafeteria, and was somehow missed by the national press. How that could happen, we don't know. There have been whispers of conspiracy, but we at MSCT2k6 choose to rise above the fray and focus on the positive.

And now today, it all comes to an end. Our final tour stop will be 11:30am in the 35/34 cafeteria. Will BillG or SteveB appear to make a few remarks to close out this historic event? Who knows. We can't make any promises, but watch for the helicopter...

The Story for Todai

   

What is it about a buffet style restaurant that makes people eat beyond sensible limits? We pondered this while sitting amongst several Microsoft teams, watching them return -- repeatedly -- to the sushi troughs at Redmond Town Center's Todai restaurant. Of course, I could eat my own body weight in endamame if given the chance...

Why did we venture down to RTC for a non-cafeteria MSCT2k6 tour stop? A few fellow Softies asked us to include RTC in our plans, and so we ventured forth -- only to get stood up by the locals. What's up with that, anyway? Microsoft rents several buildings in the vicinity, including some of the old AT&T buildings, and we just didn't want to leave them out of the MSCT2k6 juggernaut. That, and I never turn down an opportunity to eat sushi. I also love Todai's spicy cajun-like jumbo shrimp.

The main topic of conversation was hilarious -- Mike and I were the first to arrive, and started talking about life insurance and benefits, and somehow got onto the topic of how both of our wives have, at some point, brought up the topic of whether or not we would ever remarry should they pass away early in life.

Ok, if you're married and have not yet had this conversation, DANGER! DANGER! Your wife will likely tell you that she would never remarry. She'll then turn to you and casually ask what you would do under the same circumstances. The CORRECT answer is that you would NOT get remarried. And yet, somehow, no man on the planet has answered this question correctly.

(If you're part of the tiny subset of men with wives who say they will remarry, we still recommend that you deny deny deny. It might be a trap.)

Mike admitted to going down in a blaze of flames in his conversation. Reliving my experience, I shared how I made it worse by making a joke -- my wife asked me how long I'd wait to start dating again (DANGER!), and I (jokingly, remember) told her 6 to 8 weeks. For some reason she was mad at me all afternoon. And the next day. And it was rehashed a few times over the subsequent week. And her mother somehow heard about it (although she had a good sense of humor about it).

What's funny is that when Doug arrived, we told him the topic, and he laughed because the night before, after years of marriage, his wife had randomly brought up this topic for the first time, and he made the same mistakes we made. Then David showed up, and shared a similar story. All in all, it was a memorable tour stop.

We're all looking forward to the final tour stop on the 12th. Hope to see you in Cafeteria over in 34/35 at noon.

The Final Dash

As we approach the end of the calendar year, we also prepare for the final two tour stops of the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006, otherwise known as MSCT2k6 (to keep things simple). It's been a hectic pace, to be sure, with participation leveling off due to the typical busy work schedules here in the Puget Sound, and other lame excuses. Two more tour stop, people - time to prioritize!

Here are the locations of the last two stops:

• Wednesday, December 6th -- Todai's Restaurant in Redmond Town Center. Yes, we know...no cafeteria. But this tour stop is to support our co-workers in RTC and Bear Creek buildings. And who can withstand the allure of room-temperature, buffet-style sushi? Yummy.
• Tuesday, December 12th -- Building 35 Cafeteria. This is the final tour stop, folks. Don't miss the fireworks (figuratively speaking, of course)

And then there is "Press Day" for MSCT2k6. That's right -- an opportunity for tour participants to meet with the local/regional/national press and answer questions about the tour, our experiences, and the phenomena that is MSCT2k6. It should be riveting. Quite. And of course, the plan is to reveal our final tour t-shirt design, complete with tour dates, and have all participants autograph the shirt. You'll be able to pick up your own commemorative t-shirt at http://www.cafepress.com/msct2k6

Should be a hoot. Don't miss it on Friday, December 15th (location pending)

Game Faces All Around in 25 & Willows

Vacation fever is running rampant on the Microsoft campus -- as people are gearing up to take some time off, schedules seem to be jam packed with "meetings" and "priorities" and other unjustifiable excuses for not joining the Cafeteria Tour. Good golly people, you need to occasionally focus on things that are irrelevant and unimportant, or your heads might burst!

Tour Stop #20: Yesterday's visit to the Building 25 cafeteria was nice -- as you can see in the picture to the left, John and Ryan were fully engaged in game console war stories, with John chatting about possibly taking advantage of the employee offer on the Xbox Live, and Ryan telling his sad tale of buying almost the exact same package -- a couple weeks before the employee offer. Ouch. Retail always hurts. Mike and I pretended to be interested, but mostly just stared at John's half-eaten pesto cheese stick things. Mmmm...poly-unsaturated fats.

The highlights of the conversation were the flagrant slams against the fresh-off-the-trucks PS3 game console, which also seems to be getting kicked around a bit in the press, such as this New York Times review. Here's a video of the exchange at our table:

Video: cafeteria 25

And it was all caught on video. That's right. woo.

Tour Stop #21: Today's visit to the Willows cafeteria started off with some game system chatter, but quickly moved into the work-related aspects of Xbox, since Doug was in the house. Doug did have a fun story about the Nintendo Wii and their faulty wrist-bands -- apparently there's some video floating around of a guy playing a bowling game and the wrist band breaking, slamming the motion wand into his plasma television. Need to find and post that video.

Having never been to the Willows building (which is easy to miss because its detached from all Redmond campus life way out in the hinterlands of Redmond), Mike and I were impressed with the overall vibe of the place, although the cafeteria was not as impressive as some of the others on the main campus. WARNING: Willows is one of two locations (the other  being 41)  that practice the pagan art of nuking their boca burgers. It's disgusting, folks. Chewy nuked boca = evil boca. I asked -- nay, demanded (nicely) -- that he throw my boca onto the grill for a couple minutes so that I could get a healthy dose of carcinogens before hitting the road.

As we were wrapping up our visit, it was also nice to see some friendly faces. Christian Matsumori (Product Manager, Casual MCG....whatever that is) and Chad Long (SDET, X Arcade) both passed through and said hello. Plus there were those masks by the front door which Mike and I had to try on for size. Two minutes of pure self-entertainment. Good times.

                         

I'm out.  www.buckleyplanet.com

Glorified Salad Bar in 109

                       

Wow, there is nothing inspiring to say about the cafeteria in building 109. And I thought Eastpointe was small. At least Eastpointe offers stir fry (and a fireplace to warm the toes on a cold day). Now I understand why everyone from 109 wanders up to the cafeteria in 112....no grill, nothing hot whatsoever. Well, you can nuke a burrito or hot pocket. Yummy.

Mike and I ventured into 109 alone this time, and for a brief moment discussed rescheduling the event to get better attendance....but there's nothing to come back to. I decided to part with my hard earned cash on an uninspiring salad, while Mike went for a bland sandwich.

We went, we ate, we left. That's it. MSCT2k6 Tour Stop #19 whimpers into the annals of history, and I'm bored even writing about the experience.

Being a tad bit disappointed by the lackluster attendance, we decided to walk over to 115 and pester David Weiss, who had "claimed" he was going to participate. Just as we were about to enter, David exited the building. Apparently he got held up in a late-running meeting (oh David, where are your priorities?). If it weren't for the lame-ness of the tour stop, we would have given him a hard time. Instead, we snapped a picture and headed back to afternoon meetings.

                              

I am sure looking forward to Building 25 today. I need my boca burger fix.

One, Two Punch

Hey folks, its a short week due to Thanksgiving, but a heavy-hitter as far as the sooon-to-be-completed Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006 (MSCT2k6). We're venturing into Green Badge Territory today as we invade Building 25 and see what lunchtime life is like with the greenies. Tomorrow we make our way into the hinterlands to visit the lessor-known Redmond building over at Willows. No idea where that is? Neither do I....yet. Somewhere out on the Redmond outer banks.

Both tour stops are at high noon. Look for the camera flashes. And as always, we welcome all willing/unwilling participants to join the fray. Only FOUR tour stops left, folks! To be followed by the press event and t-shirt signing, of course...

Won Oh Nein

Just a reminder to everyone that the MSCT2k6 tour bus will be pulling into the Building 109 cafeteria tomorrow at noon-ish. Of course, between the parking situation around 109 and the construction chaos between 112/115 and 117, I think we're going to have to use one of the airport parking services. Valet service / Park N Ride = same difference.

(The picture is a dramatization of the Microsoft valet parking experience. We wanted to get the guy from the Mac/PC commercials to pose in the shot, but apparently he's a MOVIE guy now, not a COMMERCIAL guy. Sheesh. A guy gets a b-slot in a couple bad movies and suddenly he gets an attitude)

Rumored to be participating tomorrow are David Weiss from the MacBu, Preston Green from MSN Advertising Ops (new addition to the tour), John Durant from VisualStudio, Mike Watson from MMS, and me. Joel is off in Barcelona working or something. Drew usually just magically appears. We'll see who else shows up.

By the way, I thought I'd do a little self-promotion here for a new Squidoo lens I created last weekend which embodies everything that we stand for here at BlueBadgeMojo.com -- check it out at www.squidoo.com/cheesefuel

I'm out.  www.buckleyplanet.com

From Here to Eastpointe

Mike: Where is this place? And what is it called again?
Christian: Eastpointe. I don't know - somewhere down by the Sammamish campus somewhere. I think it's near the roundabout.
     [After searching for buildings near to the roundabout, and a
      short drive up into Newcastle]
Mike: Do you have a map?
Christian: No. I figured we'd just drive around until we found it.
     [Another 20 minutes of driving around]
Christian: Maybe we should head over to the Sammamish buildings and ask.
Mike: Good idea.

Good thing we booked a little extra time last Friday, because the building wasn't where we thought it was. Mike and I ventured over to the Sammamish campus and asked for directions -- turns out, the Eastpointe building is a stone's throw from the Sammamish campus, up on the hill.

                             

As we quickly made our way into the building with a cold drizzle coming down, the first thing we noticed about the Eastpointe cafeteria was the nice fireplace outside the main door. LisaB, please accept this as my formal request to put a fireplace in every single cafeteria on campus. Think of the team bonding opportunities! Team smores activities. Team jiffy pop sessions. Standing next to teammates as you warm your toes after wearing sandals on the 1 day a year when it snows outside. I'm telling you, these are quality team functions!

                   

Our host for this event was our primary Sammamish contact, Ryan Jenkins, who, even though we got lost and arrived well past the anticipated time, was fashionably late, as well....so everything worked out. The Eastpointe cafeteria is, well....dinky. No grill, hence no boca burger. Limited options on food, but I must admit that the place is quaint. The back room expanded dining reminded me of a Motel 6 / Moose Lodge-type setup, so we kept things real out in the cafe section. I went with some spicy stir fry concoction (chicken cashew, I think), and just about choked when I inhaled some rice. A rice. A single piece of rice. What a wuss I am. 

Now that we've crossed Eastpointe off the list, I don't know that we'll ever have a work-related need to go back. Of course, the same is true with most Microsoft buildings - but that's the whole point of the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006: to say that we've been there, done that. That's it.

There are five more tour stops, folks. Climb onboard this train while you can!

Last Leg of the MSCT2k6 Tour

We're quickly approaching the end of the calendar year -- and with it, the end of the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006. When we started this project, our goal was simple: eat lunch at each and every cafeteria at Microsoft headquarters. We're 6 tour stops away from achieving that goal (I get all misty-eyed when I think about it).

The upcoming MSCT2k6 schedule:

• Eastpointe (Sammmammmish) -- Friday, Nov 10th
• Building 109 -- Friday, Nov 17th
• Building 25 -- Monday, Nov 20th
• Willows -- Tuesday, Nov 21st
• Redmond Town Center and Bear Creek -- Thursday, Dec 7th
  (no cafeteria, but hey, we didn't want to leave them out)
• Building 35 -- Tuesday, Dec 12th

As always, we'd love to have other people participate. If we're heading your way, drop us a line and let us know. Or if you notice us in your midst, c'mon over.

Penultimate Redwest Experience

                                   

I know it looks like a dead squirrel on John's head, but its really a dog-sized parka or hat or something. Yvonne introduced us to a couple items she made for Halloween tomorrow night for her dog/s. The other was a hilarious yellow "Beauty and the Beast" dress. I don't recall John putting that one on his head, but I could be mistaken.

While this MSCT2k6 may have lacked in participation, it turned out to be a great event.....which is exactly what we expected, what with Miss Yvonne (Staffing Blackbelt over in the MSN/search space) joining us for the tour stop. Of course, the conversation was fast, ranging from dog costumes to Minnesota Swedes to the Provo City mental health ward (which I used to live about 4 blocks from). Oh, and then Yvonne shared with us her great idea for expanding MS recruiting efforts out to spouses of new hires. I think she mentioned that there were over 8,000 married new hires last year, and an estimated 70% of those spouses work. What a great benefit if MS helped those spouses find work -- inside OR outside of MS. A great idea, we all agreed. 

Oh yeah, and for lunch I had a small cup of soup, and one of those sushi platters. That's right....lentil soup and sushi. What can I say? I had a craving. And now it's 7:16pm. The sleepy time, she comes. Must go home.

                                        

Speakeasy in 117

I've grown to admire those people who walk around in big cities wearing masks, avoiding the many toxins and pollutants floating around in the air. Especially when I'm stuck on a plane, in an elevator, or in a classroom where someone is inevitably wheezing and coughing with the latest strain of bird flu virus or pancreatic monkey cancer (look it up). So I was happy to join a two day Speakeasy class where none of the participants showed any signs of sickness, and where two compatriots backed out of the class due to this fever/coughing/pukefest thing that seems to be going around Redmond. It's always a plus when you can enjoy a training class without fear of sharing germs. Of course, I went home to kids each night, so there goes that lucky streak. 

I don't get over to 117 very often -- maybe once a month for a gathering of foaming-at-the-mouth SharePoint zealot frenzy, but had yet to visit the cafeteria down on the main floor. The class I took was on public speaking, and we had to come up with random topics for our presentations. I chose to talk about my passion for documenting everything irrelevant at Microsoft, which, naturally, led into an intro of BlueBadgeMojo.com. So, of course, when we broke for lunch, several members of the class asked if we could make our visit an official Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006 (MSCT2k6) visit. Why not? So I whipped out the camera and away we went.

Video: lunch in 117

Participants in this session included Ann Vu, Derek O'Loughlin, Nick Hardin, Linda Shaw, Andrew Grove, Judy Edelstein, Brendyn Alexander (HUGE Harry Potter fan, by the way), and our instructor, Joanne Meyer.

The Building 117 cafeteria is larger than most, with easy access to all of the serving areas. The one thing that stands out, however, is the prominence of cashiers right there at the food serving area, instead of sitting as henchmen to patrol your access to the dining hall. It truly is an honor system over there in 117. So my question is....are people in 117 more trustworthy? Why is it that other cafeterias block your way to your seats by strategically placing cashiers in your way? Are they inferring something about our trustworthiness? Or maybe its just that the suveilance system is much better in 117, sort of like the coverage they provide at casinos -- where everyone who walks through the door is "marked" and tracked throughout their stay. Step out of line, and two guys named Bruno and Tony "escort" you into a back room to "discuss" your situation.

 Just be sure you pay for everything on your tray, folks. That's all I'm saying.

Reflecting on Foodfest

                                       

Ah yes, it was everything we thought it would be - and then some. Three cafeterias during a single lunch outing. An ambitious endeavor, yes, but it was totally necessary. Someone had been ribbing me that "this whole cafeteria tour thing has been done," and we just couldn't let it rest. We had to turn it up to 11. Which led us to the triple tour stop foodfest. I'll not go into much detail here, since John was the holder of the video equipment and will soon be sharing his thoughts. However, I would like to highlight one inspiring moment from the day: after having made our way through the cafeterias in buildings 26, 4, and 36, and seeing Joel, Drew, Ryan and John depart for their various buildings, Mike and I took some time to stop and reflect on the day's adventure, meditating by a small pond on all that we had seen. It was a very special moment on the Microsoft campus, one I shan't forget for a long time. Well, at least until this blog post falls off the front page so I am not reminded by it. 

October Foodfest Frenzy

3 cafeterias in one day!!!

They say it can't be done. And when I say "they," I am, of course, referring to the sinister group of middle-aged white men housed somewhere in the midwest who sit around all day passing judgement on every possible topic. When someone tells you not to talk on your cell phone while pumping gas, you'll hear this group referenced, such as "Don't you know what they say about cell phones and the risk of causing a gas fire or explosion?" They have become very pervasive in our society, and, personally, I think someone should apply for some grants and, after 5 or 6 years of studying this issue, create some very expensive bar charts. Maybe one of those 3D pie charts. That'd be cool. 

Ok, back on topic: 3 cafeterias in one day! That’s right, it’s completely insane. Some might call it a publicity stunt. I call it totally necessary. A brief press release is here. It came in a dream......a waking dream. Maybe it is the lack of caffeine in my system (I’m a recovering sodaholic), maybe it’s the effects of sitting in a center hallway office with inadequate lighting. Or maybe it is the work of pure genius.

But rain or shine, we’re going to start off in Bldg 26 at 11:30am and partake of appetizers, make our way down to Bldg 4 at around 11:50am for the main course, and polish off dessert in Bldg 36 at around 12:30pm.

People will be talking about this for years. I’m talking dozens of people (mostly family members). Serious.

Be there.

Tour Stop

After an extended siesta, the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006 tour bus is rearing its head once again with a return to the Redwest cafeteria. The last time we visited the west campus, it was just a bad day. The building was crowded with banners that blocked out most of the light, and we experienced the first real rain day in Redmond. On top of that, our host, Yvonne Johnson ("Staffing Manager to the Stars"), had to back out at the last minute. So we're going to give it another try on Monday, October 30th. Costumes optional.

Microsoft Sales Secrets

    

We did our lunch at the cafeteria in Sammamish (I echo Christian's question: How many m's are there in Sammmammish?). The buildings there have offices for many sales-oriented workers at Microsoft. We did see an employee there with full-blown camo pants, chains, sneakers, and a colored mohawk. You should know that Microsoft refines the sales channel and try to match each custom sector with the best possible sales representative. I have it on authority that this fellow is responsible for the sales channel that targets UK rock bands and record companies that specialize in 80's punk rock. All true.

  I bought a tofu hot dog from a booth outside the building. It was part of a fundraiser for www.summitdogs.org. It's an organization that helps match up people with disabilities with an assistance dog. Cool.

The cafeteria in Sammammamamish is really quite large. It must service a larger  population of employees than a typical cafeteria on the main campus. I noticed that Christian had the Pad Thai: $7.95. Ouch. [cbuck note: I ordered it "spicy," or #3. not even close. as a major fan of pad thai, I have to say that I was greatly disappointed. Ryan says there's a fantastic place in downtown Bellevue that we need to try out]

I showed up looking like Jackie Chan- without the martial arts skills, the money, the accent, the Hong Kong heritage, or the charm. But other than that, we would be indistinguishable.

We met one of our friends there, Ryan (who also blew $7.95 on the Pad Thai). He works regional sales for Microsoft. He taught us some of the treasured sales techniques in use at Microsoft. In the interest of our readers, I'm going to disclose one of them right now using the very code words Ryan shared with us:

Red piper long fin; Self-organise merchant core; Pretty star black swan.

Say this to any Microsoft sales person you encounter and see what happens.

(hint: think backward masking)

John

http://blogs.msdn.com/johnrdurant

Maimed in 43

I went for the hot dog, I stayed for the bloodshed. Nothing better than watching a good bludgeoning while scarfing down some bratwurst. What is thing thing of which I speaketh? As I'm sure most of you on campus have done, I have completely ignored the new batch of posters flanking the walls of every building in Redmond touting the lunchtime "jousting" between Live Search and Google Search. Have you see them? Old english typeface, mostly small print, no big pictures to catch your attention and tell you exactly why you should pay attention. They were trying to be clever.

Note to promotional poster people: unless the tagline for a poster includes large, bold type and bright colors telling me "free t-shirt," I just don't take the time to stop and read these internal promotional posters in the 1.37 seconds it is in my view while walking past it in the stairwell. Had I read one of these poorly designed posters, I might have known what was coming.

The event itself was fun to watch: knights and wenches (hey, she called herself a serving wench, not me) were walking around the building 43 cafeteria handing out flyers/cards detailing the superiority of Live Search over competitors. Suddenly, there was shouting, leading to a scene of knights jousting with their horse costumes. There was a lot of shouting, some poor quality old english accents, and annoyed lunchgoers trying to get out of the way. It was like a louder version of a sub-par high school stage play. And I loved it.

I'd like to see more fun, creative stuff like this on campus. Great way to push a new product/service while having fun.

Entering Sammamish

How many m's are in Sammamish, anyway? Maybe I should spell it Sammmammish, just to be safe.

In honor of our Salesfolk, the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour 2006 adventure makes its way off of the Redmond campus this week, and over to our sister campus (step-sister?) in nearby Sammamish, which I'm fairly certain is Latin for "canned ham." I'll have to check into that. Either way, its just tasty sounding. Makes me hungry. Our host for this event is the dynamic Ryan Jenkins, one of the gentle Salesfolk who inhabit the Shire in Sammamishland. If we're nice, maybe he'll show us his hairy feet.

I've never been to the Sammamish campus. In fact, as a California transplant, I'm not even sure where it is. Guess I'll find out. Why do they separate these people from the rest of us? What is wrong with them? Or, what is wrong with us? Ok, less of a mystery..... But if you're in the neighborhood, be sure to stop by. We'll be the dorks with the camera and BlueBadgeMojo.com signage.

Jackie Chan Invades 121

One of the things I love about having a guest host is that you never know which direction the conversation might turn. We were joined today by Microsoft Staffing God in Embryo, Heather Hamilton, purveyor of the much adored blog powerhouse 'One Louder'. (“this is an exact replica of my inner structure") 

Sorry. Obscure Spinal Tap reference. She'll love that I've added her picture to the site, too. Just go with it, Heather.

For those on the outside who came to this site thinking they'd get a good view of what life is like during lunch at Microsoft, here's a token video of nothing particularly exciting happening over in Cafeteria 121:

Woo. Gosh. Wow. Let's move on....

Last time out, the conversation was all about multi-level marketing and Bill Gates’ secret tunnels connecting the steam tunnels beneath Building 31 with his crib out on Lake Washington. (It's true -- I've seen them, if only in my dreams) The topics this time out? The bathing habits of Segway drivers, the consistency of Boca Burgers, the future of MSCT2k6 (2k7?), and Heather’s secret love for everything Jackie Chan. I’m telling you, she was embarrassing us with her constant chatter about Jackie this and Jackie that. She insisted on sitting right next to some vendor pushing some low carb green tea cure-all in a little plastic tube with Jackie's picture all over it. There were t-shirts, too.

I wanted one.

Of course, I did enjoy the brief discussion on the downsides of having super powers. For example, how being invisible sounds cool, but you have to be naked. My fear is that I'm out there -- literally -- and then I come into contact with some guy who has the power to negate other people's powers. That would just suck, so why risk it?

Then there was the food. Doug went with some kind of pasta, cheese thing. I couldn't tell, but he seemed to like it. No obvious retching or passing out on the floor, so I assume it was good. Heather was doing the South Beach Diet Lawn Clipping Special, and commented that it tasted like foot. I might be paraphrasing. Who remembers the details? I went with the Boca Burger again, of course, but this time smothered in sauteed mushrooms. On the side were two over-cooked cookies (which were still really really good). In addition to Heather and an effigy of Jackie Chan were MSCT2k6 regular John Durant (who already posted this afternoon - and who also went with the Boca), Drew Linerud -- an SDE from Windows Mobile, and Lary Cullimore, a Readiness PM from SMSGR Business Solutions. I have absolutely no idea what that group does.....so until he corrects me, I'll just assume it has something to do with human cloning or the reanimation of dead human flesh. A division of Microsoft Research, most likely. Drew intentionally sought us out today, while Lary innocently wandered into our midst -- and once we saw him, felt pressured to actually sit and eat with us. He'll not make that mistake again, I suspect.

One thing Heather did encourage me to write about were my thoughts on my first company meeting last week. Ok, so here's my constructive criticism: improve your marketing message. You have a captive audience of your best customers in front of you -- your employees. Yes, its about recognizing achievement, it's about getting the troops jazzed about what is coming next. But the whole school in China thing and bringing the student (Dandan) out on stage -- it was just a pathetically weak attempt to manipulate our emotions. Look, it was a really cool thing that we, as a company, did to help this girl and her family and her school. It has clearly changed the lives of these people forever. So why attempt to make us cry? Why not make it more of a high-five event? Instead of the emotional card, why not rally behind it and make it exciting? It was poorly executed, and came off as obvious and lame. I felt bad. And then Dandan was rushed off stage for the next event. If I can tap into the topic from our last tour stop -- about the MLM companies -- this is one area where Microsoft can really learn from the experts on how to "market" the emotion of helping people, or, as my former employer puts it, "span(ing) the globe, working in the world community and spreading the resolve to enhance the quality of life for children and families everywhere." Now THAT'S the way to spin it! If you're on the team that put together that whole Dandan segment, please drop me a line and I'll point you to a couple events where you can learn from the experts, because clearly you folks need to think out of the box. Seriously. Actual events. You can take notes. Really.

Ok, I got preachy there. Too much Boca, methinks.

I'm out.  http://buckleyplanet.typepad.com

Miguel in Building 121

So, the last Boca burger I had in building 16 was on a day when I was dealing with some of my vexing health problems, one of the symptoms being constant nausea. Well, that lunch didn't agree with me on a number of levels.

Now, more than a month later I'm have a decent day, so I decided to give the veggie burger another go. I'm a regular veggie burger consumer, so I figured it would be good if I could get this item back in my repertoire. So far so good. I'll let you know how things turn out.

Now, building 121 is a different sort of ambience. I get this feeling it is not a developer-centric building. You see, in the Troon cafeteria (40/41), there is a strong developer focus: not much in the way of boutique foods. We want volumes of cheese, and we want it fast. Building 121 has a different ethos- more up-scale (which just means that the lights are little dimmer actually).

Along they way, I met Miguel. He's the new general manager of the cafeteria in 121. He's a gregarious, enthusiastic, and handsome fellow. I told him about our cafeteria tour, and he was immediately interested. [Closed-circuit to Miguel: I enjoyed the cafeteria and food, so rest easy!].

In the past few days I reserved www.bluebadgemojo.com so we have a "branded" site for our shenanigans. Cool.

I'm jamming to the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Stadium Arcadium" right now, and I need to get back to work.

Later.

John

http://blogs.msdn.com/johnrdurant

Big News

Alongside our visit to Building 121 tomorrow with Guest Host Heather Hamilton, we'll be making some big announcements about an expansion to this blog. More info tomorrow, but here's a taste of what's to come....

                              

A Cacophony of Bland in 31

Nobody was in a singing mood. After the first couple punches to the shoulder, we decided that we just weren't in the mood for Opera Day, and so it withered pathetically on the Cafeteria Tour vine...snuffed out before it even really got going. Collectively, the MSCT2k6 crew was just tired today -- exhausted from a long week. Not that we didn't give it a try.  Mike and I entered the building from the top of the stairs, where we saw Jeff waiting for us near the cashiers. After hitting him in the shoulder once for talking instead of singing (and I got punched back for scolding him for not singing -- and forgot to sing myself), Jeff reluctantly obliged and, as we approached the menu above the counter, belted out his order in a strikingly Celine Dion-like manner. It was kind of creepy, actually.

Ok, it was nothing like that. But I love the visuals of the story. So why were we so tired today, you ask? Come to find out that John was in the office past 2am this morning trying to get a server setup for a customer demo this afternoon. For me, I was also all demo'd out: a 7am customer demo yesterday, followed by my first company meeting experience sitting in the freezing Safeco Field watching each foggy breath escape out of my chest, followed by an hour of watching a frenzy of apparently clothing-and-cheap-trinket-deprived people savagely snatch up t-shirts and frisbees and seizure-inducing-blinking-diversity-buttons (some folks literally had armfuls of swag), and then back to the office for a couple hours to prepare for a 6am LiveMeeting training with a customer in London this morning. Given all that, it was not surprising that we were just too pooped to care about breaking into Menudo-like melodies today. As for Jeff and Mike, they didn't have an excuse -- they just didn't want to sing, or get punched in the shoulder. Go figure.

However, I have to say that one major highlight of going to the cafeteria in Building 31 was getting an authentic Acapulco Fresh burrito. (Odd that they should close down restaurants in both Bellevue and Duvall, and yet here they are thriving inside the Microsoft campus. Yippee for us!) I've always been a huge fan of the fast food burrito. Over the last decade, living in NorCal, I don't think I went a week of work without stopping at least once at an Una Mas or 360 Degree Gourmet Burrito. Mmmm....salsa bar. Today I went with the Chicken Verde Burrito with no cheese, waited 20 minutes, and then received my beef verde burrito with a little cheese. Um, hello? I didn't realize we were playing the telephone game. I sucked it up/walked it off/rose above it and scraped the cheese off, and went ahead and ate it. The line was too long for whiners, folks. I'm too impatient to get angry about little stuff. The burrito was still good (in the end, it all tastes like chicken anyway), but where was the QA on that process? Their customer sat rating just went down.

At the table, the dialog was fascinating, as always. Rarely do we talk shop -- it's always something more obscure, laced with creative embellishment (i.e., some parts made up). Today -- we told campfire stories about multi-level marketing. While I am contractually obligated to say nothing but roses about my own experience in the industry (I was briefly in IT for one of them, folks), John had some interesting stories about life as a young lad working for a company that edited/packaged "inspirational" videos and tapes for the industry. I had no idea - I know his former company well. Interacted with them a few times. Some great stories there, and it made for an all-around fun conversation.

And then there was the construction activity in the middle of the room. What is up with that? No signs explaining what sort of renovation is underway, so of course our imaginations were running wild. My guess is a test missile range. Totally makes sense, if you suffer from blunt trauma to the head. Or maybe its an effort to reinforce the roof to the secret tunnel running between campus and BillG's house out by Lake Washington. I didn't think his tunnels ran down as far as Building 31, but I suppose it could be one of the backup chutes in case there is some sort of natural disaster making the other tunnels inoperable. See, it's starting to all make sense, isn't it?

I'm out.  http://buckleyplanet.typepad.com

Upcoming Tour Stops

On Friday, our visit to the cafeteria in Building 31 will mark our 10th MSCT2k6 tour stop!!! I can't believe we've come this far. It's been like a dream, except I'm not in my underwear and gravity hasn't stopped working so that I slowly float off into space. In celebration (of the 10th tour stop, not the underwear/gravity thing), we're going to submit ourselves to something special -- Opera Day. That's right, everything spoken while in the presence of others must be sung. If you don't, you get hit in the shoulder. Juvenile, yes, but totally necessary. I am soooo looking forward to this event. I just hope I don't run into anyone I know so that I don't have to sing to them.

As for upcoming tour dates, here's what is scheduled:

Building 31 -- Friday, September 22nd
Building 121 -- Thursday, Sept 28th, hosted by Heather Hamilton
Sammamish -- Friday, Oct 6th, hosted by Ryan Jenkins
Redwest, Part 2 -- Thursday, Oct 26th, hosted by Yvonne Johnsson

We're always looking for hosts, so please let us know if you'd like to participate. We need someone to show us the ropes, point out the local favorites, and guide us away from the jocks and band geeks so that we don't get beat up by either.

Here are the buildings where we have not yet scheduled tour stops: 25, 35, 36, 4, 26, 117, 110, 109, Willows, Bear Creek/RTC (I know, no cafeteria, but we must go), Canyon Park (ditto), and Liberty (because someone asked). We may also venture to the new sales space in downtown Bellevue if we're feeling especially frisky. 

Firestorm at Redwest (Part 1?)

 It started out innocent enough: I wandered into the Redwest cafeteria with aspirations of a glorious meal with good friends and a warm, inviting atmosphere. Instead, it was kind of dark, and crowded. The last time I was in Redwest was about a year and a half ago, as part of one of my interview loops with MSN. Today, it was too crowded to find anyone, and so I wandered around looking for the Boca Burgers. Alas, not today. A sign had been left out near the grill informing me that I was going to be having soup again. (what's in a Boca Burger, anyway? Methinks we need to explore the topic) I wanted a Boca Burger. I settled for soup and brown rice.

Then I spotted Joel across the room, fresh off a plane from his two week "working" trip to Thailand, Malaysia, and Australia. Stories of cafeterias in foreign lands dancing in my head, I flagged him down. We agreed to meet down on the lower level, as I already had my soup and oatmeal/raisin cookies and was making my way toward the cashier. Just then, David lumbered down the stairs (oddly, without his MacBook in hand, which I was certain had been surgically attached to his body) and informed me that they had secured a table upstairs -- which was where, he claims, anyone who is anyone in Redwest eats their lunch. I climbed the stairs and found Doug, and shortly thereafter was joined by David and Joel. We spotted John just as things were getting underway....who was also disappointed to find the Boca Burger factory out of commission today. We held each other and wept. It was a touching moment. In a manly way, of course.

The coversation today turned toward emergency preparedness, and we shared experiences of trying to get our families ready for the next major natural disaster, should it hit. Earthquake, typhoon, locusts, the reformation of 80's band DeBarge  -- you just never know how disaster is going to strike, and you have to be prepared. Personally, I am against natural disasters -- I think there should be legislation against them. But I digress...

We all commented on how noticeably dark it was in the building, a combination of the lovely rain-filled clouds that rolled in yesterday, and the layers upon layers of banners, posters, and other internal marketing material (promoting something about Windows Live? what is this thing of which they speak?) draped over anything permanent. David snatched a quick video, and we all agreed that today was an "off" day for Redwest. This cafeteria was once the pinnacle of the dining experience at Microsoft -- veterans have told me tales of driving over to Redwest a couple times a week to partake of its beauty, and 2 massive refrigerators filled with an assortment of sushi like no other here on campus. But today was a bit dark... and we just weren't feeling it. And then there were the fire alarms and evacuation, confused patrons, chaos, etc etc.

Oh, what an adventure, my friends. An otherwise normal day for the Puget Sound campus, and grand plans for yet another successful tour stop on the MSCT2k6 adventure -- and then everything went horribly wrong. The fire alarms sounded, blinking lights surrounded us, and chaos ensued. To compound it all, panicked lunch-goers weren't sure whether to separate their recyclables, throw it all into the garbage together, or -- as Joel attempted to do -- just get up and walk away from their trash (for shame, Joel, for shame). Luckily, a few of us kept our wits about us. After a brief stop, drop and roll, we cleaned up after Joel, then made our way to the exits.

There must be a triumphant return to Redwest, to bask in its glory once more. With more friends, less fire alarms, and better MSCT2k6 "positioning" to try and edge out that fly-by-night Windows Live stuff. The single flyer today was just not cutting it. Btw...I think we left it there...oops.