The Dallas Roundup

I really don't enjoy flying. Well... it's not so much the FLYING I don't mind, it's the possibility of FALLING 37 thousand feet. However my mind was put at ease yesterday (a little ipso-facto) by a Boeing engineer who told me that the plans are rated to land with a ton of systems not working properly. (My thought was that they could create a giant airbag for a plane so that if it started falling to earth it would suddenly engulf the plane in a large rubber like balloon.)

Anyway, the DFW area was a lot greener than I had expected it to be. To get an idea of what I had in my pick a John Wayne western and take a look at the scenery. That is my take on the Texas area. I was pleased to find myself wrong.

Driving for the first time in a new place is always a bit unnerving so I found myself driving, in what I hoped was the right direction, and praying at the same time. I eventually found my hotel, but ironically I found Microsoft (by accident) first.

It was "late" by Dallas standards but I hadn't eaten dinner yet and wouldn't you know it the only place open on a Wednesday night near the hotel was an Applebee's. I picked up a little Texas culture with the waitress having a bit of southern flair, but the menu's just about the same.

Following dinner I returned to the "Hilton Garden Inn" where I was lodged for the night. Admired my surroundings, talked to Lisa on the phone, thought over my interview for the next day and then tried to go to sleep. Sadly sleep was long in coming. I had a king sized bed to myself and it was like sleeping on bedrock. (I figured it would be a King-size, everything in Texas is big right?) So around 2am Dallas time I nod off... Only to be waken by my horrid alarm 5 hours later.

I arrived to my supposed 11am interview at 10:40am (I noticed the promanate sign on the entrance that said "No Guns") and was ushered into an upper floor conference room where I waited until 11:35 for a little pre-interview interview from my Recruiter... Who was calling from her desk in Redmond. (Go figure)

Following that I was given a lunch interview with a pretty cool guy who was himself a TAM. After lunch we headed back to my little corner of the campus, IE the conference room I had just spent 50 minutes in, and I was interviewed by another person who did his bit of the interview in 30 minutes and then left me there for another 30 minutes while the next guy was lined up. Finally two guys came in and asked me all sorts of questions from my resume. I was even asked to draw a network up on the white-board. (I of course haven't done networking stuff in a good 2-3 years) He asked me all sorts of questions at that point and this was quite honestly the hardest part of my day.

After this was done I was allowed to ask some questions and then the day was over and I went out to 97 degree day and headed back to the airport. (Where I waited for 5ish hours for my flight)

It was a lot of waiting on the trip. I'm not sure that I approve of all the waiting, but it was interesting to be interviewed in different ways and by different people. (It was also nice of MS to pick up the tab for the whole thing)

Overall I think it went well, every asked a lot of similar questions, so after I had been asked the first time my answer came more readily. I'll be hearing this week sometime if they want to offer me a job or not. I of course also need to decide this week if I want that job at MS or not. Either way the trip to Dallas really wore me out. I'm glad it bumped into a weekend, it would have made for a very long week.

Lisa and I spent the day in Seattle yesterday. First at the Woodlawn Park Zoo, followed by lunch at Dicks, then chill'n out by the cannel by SPU, and then we went on SPU's Senior Salute Cruise. They provided dinner and boated us around Lake Union and Lake Washington for 3 hours in an old wooden boat. (The Virginia V)

Now I have 5 days of school left (not counting days I don't go to school) and two finals days. Then I'm done. If I get the job with MS I won't be starting until the 5th of July, so I'll have some time to kick back and do some things I have been meaning to get done around the condo.

I'll let you all know the verdict of the Interview when I find out.

~B.