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Cafeteria Tour Stop - The Commons

Just a quick note that the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour will be stopping by The Commons, the new mall and eatery within the Entertainment and Devices west campus, on Wednesday, April 29th from 11:30am to 1pm. Other locations planned for this summer include Advanta and the Bravern building in downtown Bellevue (I've been slacking, apparently). Hope everyone can make it to these historic events!

Spaminals In the Workplace

Nothing says team spirit like carving animal shapes out of something that once resembled a meat product. That's right -- we had a team-building activity using spam! Three teams squared off in competition to build the best spaminal. To the winner went a brand new can of spam. Entries included a prehistoric spamosaurus, a pork-upine, and a horse-shaped, headless road kill of some kind.

   

The pork-upine team walked away with the win, and are the proud recipients of another can of spam. And in case the pictures aren't enough to satisfy your spam fetish, I've included an instructional video below:

New Cafeteria Options

                                

MSW has some interesting articles this morning, and I thought I'd share the MSCT2k8-relevant content with all of our external readers (reprinted sans permission)

You spoke, we listened. New combo plates are sure to satisfy.

April 1, 2008
By Jared Subway

Sea Urchin Cola (twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew), pictured right. 

In a continuing effort to provide employees exactly what they want no matter how much it costs, Microsoft is rolling out a revamped lunch menu with a series of cool new options designed to address the complicated dietary whims of even the most finicky Microsoft employee.

“We challenged ourselves to think outside the box, beyond traditional food-pairing options,” said CIO (Culinary Imagination Officer) Bertha V. Waistline. “Once we let go of our normal thinking on what goes well with what, the brilliant ideas just started flowing in.”

A sampling of the new items follows:

Entrées
• Turkey and Brussels Sprouts Calzone
• Mongolian Lasagna
• Goat Bacon ‘n Chips with Tossed Mango Salad
• Honey-Glazed, Almond Encrusted Oysters with Canteloupe
• Soy Nut Butter and Paprika Corn Muffins

Drinks
• Double Tall Non-Fat Whipped Salmon Mocha Latte—for extra foam, add 25 cents
• Sea Urchin Cola (twice the caffeine of Mountain Dew)
• Possum Extract Protein Shake

Desserts
• Shredded Pork Yogurt Parfait
• General Tso’s Pudding
• Philly Cheese Steak Pie with Strawberry Glaze

*Special Monthly Featured Item
• Sautéed Rotisserie Snickers Bar au Gratin and Steamed Bluegrass with an Espresso-Ginger Reduction

Oh Joel, Say It Isn't So

                         

Alas, one of the founders of the Microsoft Cafeteria Tour is leaving the herd, venturing into uncharted waters, leaving the ranch, abandoning his friends, skipping breakfast, retiring his colours, riding into the sunset. That's right, Joel Oleson of SharePoint fame is leaving Microsoft to build his SharePoint empire. It seems like only yesterday that we co-presented at TechReady4. And it was not too long ago on a cold, wet, slightly snowy day we tried to get a moving van up your still unfinished driveway without having the van slide down the ice and into a swelling stream. Good times.

And who could forget those fun moments from past Cafeteria Tour events, such as the time we watched Doug suck down what appeared to be (from our perspective) some kind of cold oatmeal/possible monkey brain concoction? (eww, Doug, eww) Or the time we wolfed down large quantities of "the man" hot sauce, and to which I mocked you and Mike for dainty portions which led to me shoving an entire spoonful into my mouth, only to experience great pain moments later, much to your delight?

But most of all, I will remember you for your stories of the wild North American Midget Yeti which you claimed to have captured via cell phone audio, but which nobody else could discern from your crappy recording. But you attempted to recreate the sound, to much hilarity (captured on video) - and then we secretly mocked you for weeks and weeks. Ah yes, I suggest that the humour we find through the mocking of others is the sweetest.

Joel, with you gone, who will visit cafeterias in distant lands, but then never take pictures or share those stories with our MSCT readers? And who will rarely make time for lunch for friends, and then reply to email lunch invites days later when nobody else is available? And most importantly, who will pursue the dream and track down all of the segway drivers on campus, interviewing each of them? Ok, Microspotting.com has that one, but still....

Joel, good luck with your next gig!

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?

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?

Post Mid-Year Food Festivus

As advertised, a group of us met up for lunch at the Building 26 Cafeteria for the fantabulous PMYCDFF2k7 event, dusting off and then sharing all of our favorite mid-year career discussion stories. <sarcasm>Surprisingly</sarcasm>, the stories were fairly consistent -- our collective experiences were uninspiring. I don't know...maybe my expectations were too high. I thought I'd get some more specific feedback and guidance on my career options. Apparently, the folks at the table were equally unimpressed with their experiences. Bummer. Nothing groundbreaking to fill this blog entry. And so we turned our attention to eating.

In the picture on the left are Mike, Jonathan, Drew, and Drew's bike. (I should also mention that Drew didn't wear his helmet on the ride over, and got yelled at by a cop). On the other side of the table were Doug, Chris, and Christian. Yes folks, it was as exciting as it looks. Woo.

For those of you who don't blog, here's a great best practice: if you're going to blog on a specific topic or event, don't wait several days to do it. Write about it while its still fresh in your mind. I've already moved past this event, and frankly, I'm kind of busy today. Busy = lame blog entry.

But hey, you get what you pay for, right?

Post Mid-Year Career Discussion Foodfest

It's been quiet for a while over here on Blue Badge Mojo. I guess people have been busy, possibly working or something. In celebration of the end of the mid year career discussion process here at Microsoft, I thought it made sense to get together for lunch next week for an official post mid-year discussion foodfest, or PMYCDFF2k7. Fluffy hats or feather boas welcome.

Where: Bldg 26 cafeteria
When: Thursday, April 5th, noon

Friend or Pho

We've discussed adding reviews of some of our favorite off-campus eateries to this site, and so I thought I'd kick things off with my current favorite -- but I'd love to hear about other spots we should check out, so please leave your comments.

We've started a Thursday evening ritual of eating soup and noodles over at Pho Hao, next to Arby's. Man oh man, that stuff is addictive. #45 is the favorite. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Here's a picture of the aftermath of last night's meal.

What is it about this simple meal that draws us there weekly? (well, truth be told, we're there 2-3 times a week) Water, onion, noodles, and various thinly sliced cow parts. Add your own sauces, spicy or sweet. Mmmm. Ok, I am sooo going there after work.