I just came across this funny video about something we've all done, or thought about doing, while waiting for a conference call to get underway. I was at a meeting this week where 2 or 3 of us sat waiting, and spontaneously added to the music by tapping fingers and pens on the table. What I'd love to see next is a break beats remix of the song. Hmmm...something fun to do this weekend....
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.
[Updated to pay proper homage to Heather, who first introduced this idea]
We've all heard the tales of interns and newbies roaming the campus in search of sustenance, but where are the "hot spots" of free food? I just polled the BlueBadgeMojo DL for their thoughts, and got a nice kickoff to the topic from Ann [although the idea originally came from Heather], who claims she "knew someone" who made a practice of scavenging on campus for food. Sure Ann, sure. Don't be embarrassed - we all go through tough times. Do you need to borrow some cash?
Why am I thinking about this today? Maybe sitting here listening to Tom Waits made me think of my own lean college years. Or, more likely, Tom Waits himself made me think of dumpster diving. Who knows. [One thing is clear -- Heather suggested this topic at one of our MSCT2k6 events, so all props must go to her]
Here's Ann's list of hot spots:
Please feel free to add to this list [which does not adequately encapsule the great wisdom and creativity provided by Heather on this subject, or most other subjects, for that matter]. It might also make for a nice campus map overlay, right up there with my idea to create a "slackers guide" to campus game areas. It's all good.
Ok, back to work!
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.
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.
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