back to blogging

i have not posted anything in a looong time. it's not that i was too busy (well, i was sorta busy). it's just that i've been enjoying all the new experiences by myself, and i was not in the share mood. well, now i am back in the share mood, so i can tell you people what's been going on with me.

first of all, i started my internship with Microsoft in seattle.i am currently working with the Commerce Search team on some data quality stuff (i wont go into details). i REALLY REALLY like this place so far. i know there are all sorts of rumors about microsoft going on; well, they are all false.
- "microsoft is full of geeks": FALSE. there are a lot of smart folks around here. and they are really not the geeky, unadapted type you see in the PC-Mac commercials.
- "microsoft is too competitive": FALSE. there is just a lot of good energy around here. people work hard on their stuff. it is nice coming to work and seeing that people are so involved with what they are doing. i'd much rather have this kind of high energy, than get bored all day long and wait for my 8 hours to finish.
- "at microsoft work takes over your life". HAHA, FALSE, unless you really want to make it that way. as an intern, i can say i am doing a lot of fun stuff. there are a lot of activities planned for us and no, they do not involve "code-offs".

coming to microsoft also meant moving to seattle for the summer...and here comes the only thing i don't like so far: it rains a lot in seattle. i think summer is supposed to be really nice in seattle but, so far, it has been chilly and rainy. however, i like that the city has a LOT of coffee shops (no, i don't mean starbucks, i mean the independent, small ones). the city is also really clean (compared to DC, Baltimore, NY) and there are a LOT of flowers everywhere. the place i like the best is called "Pike Place Market". it has a lot of small shops where you can find anything. this past weekend, there was a festival at Pike Place, and it was full of hippies and raggae-loving folks; it was a very "flower-power" atmosphere.

i hope i can purchase a digital camera soon, so i can post pictures of seattle and of the microsoft campus. by the way, the campus is pretty amazing. the buildings look really nice, on the inside and out. i have not seen any cubicles in any of the microsoft buildings (i hate cubicles). actually, here is my favorite thing about my building: it has a lot of games: mini-golf, mini-basketball, pool, ping-pong, darts. it means a lot to be able to de-stress during your work-day (and no one minds you taking 10 minutes off to clear your mind, while shooting some hoops). the people in my building also have this ping-pong tournament going on. my manager said that, whoever wins the tournament gets to play bill gates (pretty cool, huh?)

speaking of managers, mine is pretty cool. he is really open, and does not mind all my questions. he has given me a lot of useful information so far. i was really confused the first couple of days (i felt like a retard, not knowing what was going on), but he handled my obvious inexperience really well.
actually, everyone on my team is really cool. you don't have to set up special appointments to talk to any of them; you can drop by their office, ask a question, and they are happy to answer. it is a pretty relaxed work environment, but everyone still does their job really well.

ok...so...in the end, i am enjoying my summer so far. i hope it only keeps getting better. i will keep posting cool stuff; i will make it a lot more often from now on, because there are a lot of things going on (and yeah, as i said, my share mood is back).

- btw, that's me in the picture (looking really geeky, i know) and the msft logo. i had to take it and send it to my parents -