More Photos from Redmond

This cereal is basically lots of little choc chip bikkies.

Breakfest! Part 1

Sausage “stir fry” with salad

Brown sugar snags, onions, jalapenos and lime.

Cucumber, capsicum lettuce, tomato, carrot and Balsamic.

On Christmas Eve, Jon and I went up to Snoqualmie for a snowboarding lesson. It snowed for the whole day and there was about a foot of powder on the slopes.

Driving up the I-90 to Snoqualmie Pass.

Jono drove.

We had a bit of trouble getting out, but we didn't end up needing the chains.

That night we got a few interns together and went to Claim Jumper for dinner.

John took on a gigantic plate of ribs.

I had the "Widow Maker Burger".

"Ch-antler-ier"

Chris, Jeff, David, John and John.

We split the 6 layer "Mother Lode" cake between 6 people.

On Christmas Day I made a snowman.

He only lasted a couple of days.

Going...

...going...

Gone!

Then on Christmas Day, Jeff did a roast for everyone.

John, Jeff and John.

Chris, David and Luke.

Then trifle, jelly and crumble for dessert.

On New Years’ Eve, we went in to Lincoln Square in Bellevue to watch the Space Needle fireworks.

Someone let off a firework in front of Lake Washington.

More fireworks.

Yay long exposure.

Hanging out in the Microsoft cafeteria on the top floor.

Then next weekend we hit up Snoqualmie again.

The Impala made it back up no worries.

Pretty solid snowfall up there!

Tom heading up to the slopes.

I don't think these things actually go below "Moderate".

A crow...

And a mountain.

The slopes are open until 10pm.

Slopes at night again.

Snowing in Seattle!

Having trouble finding time to post. Here’s some photos!!

A bunch of us at the Space Needle.

Looking out from the revolving restaurant.

Outside the building 86 cafeteria.

Inside the building 86 cafeteria.

Our place after the first day of snow!

Trekking off to work.

I made a snow angel!

Snowed under at Microsoft.

Started coming down pretty hard!

The full-time Microsoft Aussies had made a giant snow man.

Strolling back at night.

The Chevrolet.

Walking in the next morning.

Roads were looking a bit better now.

View from the balcony at night.

Snowy tree.

First Week at Microsoft

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

Arriving in Redmond

I touched down at Seattle airport at 12.10pm, after leaving Brisbane at 12.05pm the same day. We stopped over in LA from 7-9.30am.

Los Angeles sunrise over the 747 wing.

The three other Brisbane interns (that we know of) on the flight were Matt, John and Tom. Tom had opted for a rental car from Seattle-Tacoma airport, so he drove us all to Redmond. It was pretty nerve-racking driving on the right hand side of the road – left turns especially – but he picked it up in no time!

Concentration.

Safely made it to Timberlawn to pick up the keys.

I’m staying in a 2 bedroom apartment at Trails of Redmond, Matt’s sharing a 2 bedroom apartment with David from Western Australia at Timberlawn, Tom and John have studio apartments at Homestead Hotel. I haven’t heard whether I’ll be sharing the accommodation with anyone yet.

My place is the left side, middle floor.

The dining room and balcony from the living room.

The kitchen.

And here’s a few snaps I took when I was walking through the Microsoft campus last night.

Maple and pine trees down either side of the road.

More trees stretching around the corner.

Light and leaves cast on the footpath.

Streetlight behind a tree on the way home.

I’m starting at Microsoft tomorrow, with New Employee Orientation in the morning.

Microsoft Internship over Summer Holidays

A couple of weeks ago I went to an information session at UQ about working at Microsoft as an intern over the 3 month summer break. I was planning to wait and consider applying when I was in 3rd year, but I decided I had nothing to lose by applying this year and I sent off a resume the next day. After answering some email questions about experience, etc, they organised to interview me over the phone next week.

The phone interview consisted of a few language-specific questions (in your strongest language – C++/C# for me), some data structures/algorithms and a bit of problem solving/testing thrown in. I actually botched my C++ question, then I asked for more at the end. Phewph!

After the phone interview, Microsoft sent me an email saying that my interview was in Melbourne tomorrow! They explained that didn’t have time to organise flights, but they’d reimburse me if I bought them. So on Thursday I flew down and caught up with my cousins for a cappuccino/frappe before the coding interview.

Approaching Melbourne's Southbank from the Skybus stop.

Pedestrian bridge over the Yarra River.

View from the bench where I chilled out and brushed up on some syntax.

Looking down the river to the MCG.

The three in-person interviews lasted half an hour each. One for software development, one for software development in testing and one for problem solving/sorting out details/having a chat. All the interviews went fairly well, although I did slip up a little bit at the start of the coding interview.

The following week, Microsoft sent me an email offering me a position over the holidays! So I’ll be working in Redmond, USA (near Seattle) from December to February. Woohoo!!

Edit: A bit of added hilarity… I’m going to have to learn to cook meals to some degree. Check out my last batch of fish fingers.

Whipping up a few fish fingers. Circa 2006.