After the first two days of orientation, I met the other developers in my team and got some more details about my project. I’m working with Live Search, Microsoft’s competition to Google’s search engine. The first week or two is a lot of setting up and getting familiar with the system. It’s a great place to work! Everyone’s really enthusiastic. Have a look at an aerial photo of my building.
My workspace, complete with dual monitors!
I’m sharing an office with Tristan (another UQ intern) and Alex.
Redmond town centre.
When we went for dinner in Redmond town centre the other night, we found all-you-can-eat Tacos for $5!
Taco Tuesday: David and Jeff from UWA.
Jeff braves the cold in shorts, t-shirt and pluggers.
We brought the other interns back next week (this was the original plan, but the cars got separated 
), but this time the tacos were only available at the bar and you had to be 21. Doh!
On the home front, I’ve managed to cook 1 batch of spaghetti bolognaise, 2 batches of French toast, and some bacon. 
MMmmm.. French toast.
Deliciously easy. Although I have to admit the budget maple syrup probably wasn’t worth it. Same for the orange juice – $1.80 a gallon (~3.8L) is too cheap. I later discovered that my “juice” was 2% actual juice… sick.
The spag bol was good for 4 nights.
Looking back at this photo, I’m not sure I got the meat-to-pasta ratio right. Oh well!
On the weekend, I met Chad, Shauna and Max, some friends of my aunt, Amanda. We went to the Experience Music Project in Seattle, which had some fantastic Jimi Hendrix recordings! They showed me around Pike Place Market and we ate dinner at the brewery there. We also went to the movies that night.
Giant guitar sculpture at the EMP.
There were some robotic guitars in there strumming away.
The building itself is pretty funky. The Experience Music Project shares it with the Science Fiction Museum.
The EMP is at the base of the Seattle Space Needle.
The famous Pike Place Market.
Chad, Shauna and Max at the Pike Place brewery.
Walked back past the Space Needle on the way home.
And Tom’s moved in with me! So it was a real action-packed week. I’ll stick up some car photos soon! My hire car is a red Chevrolet
