Ah, the second time my bargin bin scanner has been put to use, this time to present pictures from my spring break at Seattle! If you grind through with me, I have a little easter egg for y'all at the end. Heh heh. No cheating though, mmkay? here's a quick recap of my trip:

    Originally, it was meant for me to embark upon this journey myself, but at the 11th hour, my dad begged to come along. Sigh, what could I say to the poor man? So reluctantly, I waved him in with me... Actually, not exactly. He kind of decided that he wanted to come along too, and so I blurted a quick affirmative in meek obedience. Anyhow, we arrived at our cousin's house Saturday night. Many thanks to their generous hospitality that made me feel right at home the entire time. =)

    Wasting no time, Tony took me through a quick tour at Microsoft 11:00 P.M. at night! Obviously people there worked 24/7. No downtime allowed in the process of world economical domination I guess. Since Tony was a certified employee, he had access to the entire place. We first entered the building where he works at. The entire complex is BIG. Microsoft probably occupies about 90% of Redmond. The other 10% is split between Nintendo, Eddie Bauer, and residential etc... his building is probably 1/100th of the entire MS. Yeah, that's 1/100th, not 1/10th.

    My first impression was a jaw-dropping wow. MS is where the "future is now". Inside, it was architechturally symmetrical, with story atop story maxing out somewhere at 7 or so. Banners of MSN, Windows Millenium, and the Intellimouse were plastered on walls. The doors of offices were made of fine wood. It ain't cubicles, mind you. Even the lowest employees get their own office with a small window to the hallway! Well, there were a lot. On the average, inside each were 2 or 3 PC's of various configs ranging from old Pentiums to the latest hotrod.

    Unfortunately, due to privacy and security concerns, I was discouraged from taking pictures of the inside. Sorry guys... I'll try to be as descriptive as possible. Hm, what else. Even the elevators were shined to a sharp silver gleam. As Tony described it, "I still can't believe I work here". In every building, there were several kitchens with a huge fridge containing every non-alcoholic drink known to man... except water! I guess that's what water fountains are for. Anyways, It's free for all and restocked often. Milk, soda, juice, Snapple, you name it. I resisted the urge to snatch a Mountain Dew. Heh heh. Just kidding. I try not to drink too much of the sperm-killer.

    The best part was the gaming section. There was one end with four arcade racers hooked up together via LAN equipped with MS Force Feedback steering wheels and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Chairs and gas/brake pedals were provided as well, just like the arcades! Plus you get a mouse and a keyboard too. I tried my hand at one, racing with the incomparable Ferrari F50. I stunk. My car was wrecked on the virtual road within a minute. Force feedback really works! At the end of just one race my arms were tired in wrestling with the wheel.

    The other end was a load of classic arcade setups ranging from Pac-man and Pong to Neogeo. They only had one up to date flavor in that building which was some fighting game. I forgot if it was Virtua Fighter or Tekken. Whatever... the best part was that it was free! Just smack the start button and off you go wiggling the joystick against the computer or the opponent. Wheee! Tony and I played a few rounds of that, but since we were both newbies, all we did was button smash throughout.

    Well, I went back to MS to take some shots of it during the day with my camera on Tuesday, my last day. Here's when I really saw how big the entire campus was. They have numerous shuttles transferring employees around different buildings on wide avenues. There are a total of over 50 buildings. Not small little shacks, but full blown 5+ story office buildings... and they're expanding! I actually saw construction workers looking to build new ones. I'd hazard a quick guess that the entire thing was about the size of UCLA + the dorms + the main Westwood shopping areas.

    Thanks to the plush Washington landscape, it doesn't look like a dark industrial area with ominous back alleys and smelly sewers. On the contrary, it was very clean and aesthetically pleasing. At the back of one of the cafeterias I visited, there was even a garden with a nice pond complementing a scenic background of mountains and pine trees. Too bad it rains most of the time, so the outside picnic tables are hardly used. Speaking of the cafeteria, it smokes every cafeteria I've ever visited. The one I saw was constructed of dark wood which was very relaxing to the eye. Inside, they served a variety of dishes ranging from fried chicken to spaghetti to cold subs and pizza's. Alas, they aren't free, so you gotta dish out dough for the entrees. Grown-up nerds with thick glasses and bushy beards scurried around plucking various courses before heading back to work.

    Well, that about wraps up the MS section. Next page will contain the rest of the narration including shots of and from the Space Needle. There are a batch of pictures on the next page as well, so take a gander at those after you peruse these. Pictures are worth a thousand words... and here are some of my hand picked shots that I personally took. Click them to enlarge. They'll open up a new browser. Enjoy!

A great vantage point of downtown Seattle.	Safeco field. This is where the Mariners will play. Only baseball here...	May I direct your attention to the top of the center tower. Starbucks! =)

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Microsoft owns this entire avenue... and more!	It's so big, you'll need directions to various buildings and food courts.	A spontaneous shot of what the outside of buildings look like.

Big logo here. I think this is one of their main HQ. Note I said "one".	Lots of toys in the MS garage. Yellow Acura NSX.	Red Porsche 911 Carrera 4. Drooool....

The motherlode: Silver Ferrari F355. This probably costs more than a condo.	Here's the outside of the Museum of Flight. That's a retired Air Force One.

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