Richard's Reveries and Rantings: Seattle Stuff

Farewell Seattle

Sun, 29 Jan 2006 08:04:42 GMT

Tonight marks my last official day as a resident of Seattle. For those of you who don't know yet, I have decided to move to the Bay Area. I'll keep my job at Microsoft and continuing working on the same stuff, only now I'll be sitting with the product team in Mountain View and making frequent trips to Redmond. While I'm excited about returning to sunny CA, I'll sad to leave Seattle.

Here are the things I will miss most about this awesome city:

1. Living in Belltown, just a stones throw from all the great bars, restaurants, and clubs in the city. Being able to walk 4 blocks to the Puget Sound and go running along the water.

2. Seeing the Mountain (Ranier) on the way to work and the snow capped Olympics on the way home.

3. The friendliest people in the world.

4. Scoring tickets to the Sonics, Seahawks, Mariners, and a ton of concerts through tix exchange at work.

5. Can you say, PRIME CARD? Discounts everywhere!

6. Wing Dome, Wibbleys, Dick's.

7. Buying seafood and flowers at the Fish Market.

8. Summers

My mobile number will stay the same so you know how to reach me.

Climbing

Wed, 14 Sep 2005 08:26:44 GMT

One of the great things about working at MSN is that the company sponsors teams to have really cool events to boost morale. (e.g. MSN company-wide golf tournament, MSN 10 anniversary party, etc). Several weeks ago, the core communications planning group got together for an all day outdoor climbing event off exit 38 in North Bend. Led by our experienced climbing guides Dan C (MSN messenger planner) & Dan K (a world class climbing competitor and HS intern at MSN), the team had a great time scaling the wall and making fun of the one person climbing while the others watched and heckled.

Highlights from the day included:

1. Seeing Tom's facial expression as he straddled the rock and nearly ruined any chance to have babies

2. Making fun of each teammate who attempted to climb the wall (equal opportunity heckling)

3. Watching in awe as nearly everyone made it to the top

3. Knowing that the rest of MSN was busy at work while we were out enjoying the sun

I think the only lowlight was seeing Dan in his biker shorts. All in all, it was a great team building event and an amazing day in the sun.

Full Contact Golf

Thu, 28 Jul 2005 03:16:36 GMT

I had a great time yesterday playing at the annual MSN golf tournament at Trilogy Golf Course. Lots of beer, , food, sun, and fun. However, on my way home from the tournament, I came to a disturbing realization.

You see, just a few weeks ago, Lori and I were golfing together and one of her iron shots came within 12 inches of taking off my head. Now mind you, I was standing about 20 yards away at a 90 degree angle from her line of fire so I was completely out of play. A few days prior to the tournament, Lori jokingly suggested that I wear a helmet since we were on the same team.

This is the same Lori whose ball striking accuracy won her the "closest to the pin" tournament yesterday by landing 5 feet, 5 inches away from the pin on a 150+ yard par 3. I am no longer friends with Lori.

Enjoy the photos... can you tell what we're spelling in the third photo? Yeah, we've sold our soul to the butterfly. And yes, thats Blake doing whatever it takes to help the MSN team.

Happy 4th!

Tue, 05 Jul 2005 16:56:45 GMT

Happy Birthday America. Just thought I'd post some photos from last night's celebration. I love living in Belltown, where I can walk 5 blocks to the Bay and watch the fireworks there and then cruise another 5 blocks to the Space Needle where I can see the fireworks from Gas Works Park over Lake Union. I don't think I could ever live on the East side... the only people from MS who live there are either married or engineers.