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In the Seattle tech industry (and beyond) Microsoft is sometimes referred to as the "Evil Empire." This comes from their overwhelming majority in the software market, as well as their relentless drive. The Seattle Times once referred to Microsoft as the "Velvet Sweatshop" because of their plush conditions and high energy level. In my first week back, after 11 years away, I find that much of the culture has remained, although it seems to be mellowing a bit with age.

While the intensity is still higher than other companies I've worked for, it doesn't have the same frenetic feeling as I recall. I must temper this observation since I know that each product group is so isolated from the others that they each develop variations on this theme. The group I am associated with, the Health Solutions Group, has balanced intensity and ingenuity with work-life balance. It may take me a while to understand the correct balance to be a success here.

The first week on a new job is usually fraught with wasted time – hours of boredom, punctuated with moments of panic – such as being introduced to 12 team members  and wondering if you’ll ever remember their names. This becomes even more exciting when your team includes an internationally diverse family, many whose names are unfamiliar.

My first week back at Microsoft was different from other companies. The Orientation courses were only one and a half days long. The rest of the week I spent most of my time working in a structured “on boarding” plan that included filling-out on-line forms and completing on-line classes. I did manage to attend one meeting, and reached out to my team members with lots of chocolate.

I know that I’ll run the gamut of emotions over the next three or four months as I evaluate the new job. There’s always the panic, excitement, despair, and finally joy that comes from being in a new environment, with new opportunities, and making new friends – and maybe reconnect with some old friends too.  I’m excited to have this job and I am looking forward to playing a role in our products.
 

Last night we had the opportunity to spend a few hours with friends at Emory's on Silver Lake. Not only was it great to spend time with friends, but the food and the service were outstanding.

Emory's is located on the south east side of Everett, along the Bothell-Everett highway. Given their name, you might expect that the restaurant is on the shores of Silver Lake - and you'd be right! We weren't able to drink in the wonderful view for very long, since our dinner started at dusk, but we've noted in previous visits that it was nice.

The service was excellent. Our server knew the menu, the bar, was prompt, and very curteous. While I was enjoying a Manny's Pale Ale, he brought a sample of Blue Moon (a Belguim-style white beer) for me to try.

The food was varied and wonderful. I had their Kobe Steak, drizzled in a plum-raisin sauce. Anne enjoyed trout. It was yummy, although expect to spend $20+ for an entre.

Want to try Emory's and save a little money? Be sure to visit their website to print a $25 coupon. The coupon is good for "off hours" dinning, which includes Sunday through Thursday after 4:00 pm and Friday and Saturday after 8:00 pm.

We'll be back...

Anne and I spent a couple of days in Walla Walla earlier this week. We intended to visit wineries - an industry that sprang forth in 1977 and how boasts nearly 150 entities. However, we were quickly seduced by the history of the area. Much of the "old town," near Whitman College, was built before 1900. I managed to snap a few interesting pictures as we wandered.

I'll post a few more pictures from the area later this week, but I'm posting these as artifacts of a new post-production tool I'm using on my photographs. Previously, I've used an inexpensive (now discontinued) tool from Microsoft: Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006. While I enjoyed using the suite, it didn't provide the best conversion of my Nikon "raw" camera files to JPG and I had outgrown it's photo touch-up capabilities.

Since I shoot with Nikon equipment, I decided to give Nikon Capture NX2 a try. As you might expect, it does a dandy job converting the "raw" files into JPGs. Beyond the normal photo touch-up fare, it includes some interesting tools to address image issues at the base color level. I'm just beginning to understand some of the power of this tool set.

I'll continue to work on the images from the trip, and a short travel-log (for the history buffs), for posting later this week. For the photography phans, these are a quick peek at some of my early attempts to manipulate images with Capture NX2.

It's been over a week since I posted my initial FIOS TV experience - time for an update. A Verizon technician (not a contractor) was scheduled to arrive on Sunday afternoon, after 1 p.m. I arrived home at 12:30 to discover that he'd already been at the house and left. A quick call to his cell phone uncovered that he'd been told that the work needed to be done before 1 p.m. By 2 p.m. he was back at the house and began investigating our non-functional TV service.

There were several calls to the a center where they can perform remote diagnostics on the Set Top Boxes (STB) attached to the televisions. They were unable to get a consistent reading from the boxes. Several resets were attempted, renewal of the service, but nothing seemed to work. The technician them placed one of his diagnostic tools on the cable from the FIOS box that is attached to the side of the house. He discovered that the box wasn't sending a proper signal. It seems that after one day of service, the TV module in the box had failed. The technician then replaced the entire box - having to disconnect and reconnect our phones, Internet, and TV services.

We've been using FIOS TV for one week since the fix.

I have the following observations:

1) Good: The picture is better than Comcast. It appears to have more detail, contrast, with less pixelation.

2) Bad: The picture sometimes stutters. I'm not sure what causes this, but sometimes the picture will freeze (about every 10 to 15 seconds) for about a second. It seems to be in this mode until the channel is somehow refreshed. It's incredibly irritating - not sure what is happening there.

3) Good: The phone and Internet services appear to be running quite well. The Internet package we have currently is 20/5 mbps and it consistently maintains this speed.

4) Undecided: The on-screen guide is more difficult for me to read than the old Comcast guide. It might be the number of available channels (much more now), the intermingling of free / pay channels, the font size... I'm not exactly sure, but I have been trying to use a "favorites" list to reduce the noise. Still, it is more difficult to navigate, even if it is only because I had become used to the Comcast guide.

So, is it better than Comcast? Usually. Was it worth the switch? For me, "Yes." However, I'm a nerd and there's a certain "coolness" to having a high speed digital fiber connected to the side of the house... even if it's just a subject evaluation...

Do you have a cell phone? Do you read the bill carefully? I comb through the technology bills pretty carefully and have historically found overcharges - services we didn't sign-up for, equipment we didn't have.

On our latest family cell phone bill I discovered a charge for $9.99 from "Predicto". I asked Anne about it and she said, "I have been seeing some spam text messages with that name. I just delete them." So I called Verizon. The operator claimed that the only way to get onto the Predicto list was to text them from the target cell phone. She then agreed to reverse the change, "Just this one time," while I investigated more deeply.

A little digging on the Internet uncovered a number of complaints from people who have been receiving these charges without previous action on their part. One woman even documented how she had been in the hospital, unconscious, when she had supposedly requested the service. The company does have a method for turning off the "service" - the user needs to send a text message to 654654 with the text STOP - this should stop the billing and the spam. Watch your phone bills!