Six years ago on a fifth of July Wednesday, I woke up early after spending my first night in Microsoft temporary housing. I showered and cleaned myself up. I dressed in a Billabong tee, some jean shorts, and a pair of flip-flops. Having no food in the new temporary digs, I decided to pick up breakfast on the way.
I was a year and a couple months out of college and four days removed from a Cannonball Run-esque two-day blast from central Florida to northwest Montana. I was also the poorest (and this is relative) I'd been since my mother passed away five years prior; the dotcom bubble that we joke about now had burst all over me.
Still munching on my bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, I wandered into the Microsoft conference center for my NEO. I found a seat amid a sea of suits and skirts and nerds trying to look like adults. Mounds of paperwork and photos filled the next several hours.
Then, Bill Gates came, and this was auspicious. The whats and wheres of his talk are lost to the ages for me. However, I did get the distinct impression that I'd made a mistake since I wouldn't drink the Koolaid and that for fifty billion someone should tell you that your pants don't reach the top of your shoes.
After that I met my new manager and was immediately handed off to another manager, who didn't know what to do with a security engineer. Hours later, I loaded my new Thinkbook with the miraculous new 802.11b card and headed for my temporary housing. I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some food for the apartment, and on impulse, I threw in some sushi, Japanese beer, and a package of Le Petit Ecolier cookies to celebrate.
After that I sat in my empty new apartment and wondered if I'd made a mistake.
Today, I sit in that very same apartment (I took over the lease from the temporary housing company). I have leftover Ezell's chicken and red beans and rice from Kingfish for dinner.
Today, I know that Microsoft was a mistake, but Seattle definitely wasn't.
Love to all my Seattle people.
I was a year and a couple months out of college and four days removed from a Cannonball Run-esque two-day blast from central Florida to northwest Montana. I was also the poorest (and this is relative) I'd been since my mother passed away five years prior; the dotcom bubble that we joke about now had burst all over me.
Still munching on my bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit, I wandered into the Microsoft conference center for my NEO. I found a seat amid a sea of suits and skirts and nerds trying to look like adults. Mounds of paperwork and photos filled the next several hours.
Then, Bill Gates came, and this was auspicious. The whats and wheres of his talk are lost to the ages for me. However, I did get the distinct impression that I'd made a mistake since I wouldn't drink the Koolaid and that for fifty billion someone should tell you that your pants don't reach the top of your shoes.
After that I met my new manager and was immediately handed off to another manager, who didn't know what to do with a security engineer. Hours later, I loaded my new Thinkbook with the miraculous new 802.11b card and headed for my temporary housing. I stopped at a grocery store and picked up some food for the apartment, and on impulse, I threw in some sushi, Japanese beer, and a package of Le Petit Ecolier cookies to celebrate.
After that I sat in my empty new apartment and wondered if I'd made a mistake.
Today, I sit in that very same apartment (I took over the lease from the temporary housing company). I have leftover Ezell's chicken and red beans and rice from Kingfish for dinner.
Today, I know that Microsoft was a mistake, but Seattle definitely wasn't.
Love to all my Seattle people.
VIEW 9 of 9 COMMENTS
flux:
Literati indeed. You're one of the most compelling, um, bloggers on this entire goddamned website.
flux:
They're just so much more honest and simple than the rest of it all.