Cool traditions at Microsoft (btw, you can find jobs at Microsoft at www.microsoft.com) or at Career Builder at www.careerbuilder.com (especially through Volt) - like with many huge corporations, Microsoft has had its unique traditions. Including an annual picinic, Mariner's games, and more
The Microsoft Picinic in North Bend, WA
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Prior to this summer of 2009, every year, Microsoft would host a huge company picnic at Mountain Medows Farm near Mount Si in North Bend, WA. This anual event was great for creating memories, having some fun, getting deliciious food (lots of it too), meeting new people, and taking some time to relax and celebrate the past year of Microsoft. If you lived near the main campus in Redmond or one of its' satellite campuses around the Puget Sound region, you can actually catch a company bus that takes visitors to the picnic site, though some people like my family usually drives there.
Plenty of activities for everyone, including games for the kids, bingo, a free casino (no money is gained or lost), beer gardens, hay rides, scavanger hunt activities, a petting zoo, as well as plenty of other memorable activities. There is also plenty of free food for everyone there (how Microsoft is able to pay the price tags of these picnics is beyone me). The picinics usually ran in late July. In additon, employees were able to bring their family and sometimes friends to these gatherings each year.
Note: as of this summer (2009), it appears that the Microsoft Picnic may now be a thing of the past since they did not have it this year (probably due to the recession).
Highlights of mine
- driving through the country side to get there (one of the most direct routes to Northbend from Snohomish is by driving through Duvall, Carnation and Fall City)
- Getting twirled around with a gyroscope
- free food
-The beer gardens and free casino was quite fun for me
- The bingo games (usually I did not win anything, but it was still fun)
- the scavenger hunts
- wagon train rides
- watching shows (for example, one year they had a Monster Truck show).
- Running into familiar faces (such as classmates) |
Marniners Games
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This tradition only lasted to towards the beginning of this decade (around the year of 2000), but this was another memorable tradition. At least once every year (prior to 2000), Microsoft employees and their families were invited to attend a Seattle Mariner's game and hang out. You got to watch the game, meet new people, and get a nice view of the city.
Highlights of mine:
- watching the mariners games
- driving to Seattle (from Snohomish)
- Seeing the water front and other landmarks in the distance
- seeing fellow Microsoft employees and their families
- I even met a Mariner once while doing a demo at the QFC in the University District (Jamie Moyer) |
Visiting various Seattle attractions, such as Woodland Park Zoo and the Pacific Science center
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This was actually a shortlived tradition(which ended in the late 1990's), but like the Mariners' game and The Microsoft Picinic, at least once a year, all of the MS employees and their families were invited to hang out at a popular Seattle attraction, such as the Pacific Science Center or the Woodland Park Zoo.
Highlights of my experience:
- visited the Pacific Science center on at least 2 occassions
- free food (they usually served food at them)
- free admission to these attractions
- watching movies at the Imax Theater |
Information about the Seattle area
I have lived in the Seattle area since 1994 and have lived in the area long enough to share my thoughts on the city (I actually live in the Everett area, but it is about 30 miles away from the Seattle).
Map of Seattle, courtesy of Google Maps at http://maps.google.com:
View Larger Map
Companies of interest in Seattle:
- Microsoft Store. Hundreds of software titles available to download now.
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Seatlle is famous for its coffee (particularly espresso), thanks in part to the Starbucks Franchise (which has its roots at the Pike Place market in downtown Seattle). The original store is still open to the public by the way at The Pike Place Market , which is another popular Seattlite attraction.
- www.amazon.com
Amazon is the major ecommerce website that is perhaps the biggest rival to ebay, and offers plenty of products to choose from. You can also get a merchants account. BTW, if any of you are looking to make extra cash, they do have an affiliate program you can take advantage of at http://affiliate-program.amazon.com where you can promote featured products from Amazon and various merchants and earn commissions. They even offer niche-based affiliate stores you can build, like the Seattle Gamer's Pimp Store (a niche store that sells video games and related products at http://astore.amazon.com/rjvideogamer-20
- Boeing (home of the famous Paine Field, which is perhaps the location of one of the largest buildings in the world, believe it or not).
- Get a 7-Day Free Trial to GameHouse FunPass this is the sister site for Real Arcade, and Real Networks is located in the Seattle area too. By the way, they are giving out free trials (inlcuding the 7 day free trial at Game House and the 30 day free trial at the Unlimited Pass program at Real Arcade). It is currently on demand at Earn Money Space as I got at least 20 sign ups so far and they all seem to like it. So what do you have to lose in joining? By the way, if you don't want to keep the free trial, you can always unsubcribe within the first 5 days of the free trial (at game house), and you will not have to pay a dime.
- Nintendo of America at www.nintendo.com (interestingly, Nintendo is actually just down the road from Microsoft off of SR 520 in Redmond)
and plenty of other places
(more info to be added over time)
