Leaving Seattle

We really liked the Seattle area - nice weather (people kept apologizing for the rain, but cool and rainy is best case for December in Madison [we heard Madison is getting a bit of snow as of late] so we thought the Seattle weather was great for this time of year!), excellent seafood, great coffee (Tully's!), and a scenic downtown with both ocean and mountains.  What's not to like?  The people were also really friendly for such a large city - that was a very pleasant surprise.

Rain in Seattle - nothing a little caffeine can't fix :)

Downtown Seattle - celebrating 11 years of marital bliss

It was a beautiful day in downtown Seattle, and we had a great time!  Sam found her store, Chris rode a rodeo pig, and there were jellyfish, night lights, and everything in between.  See for yourself:

Celebrating 11 years of marriage in Seattle

Saturday is our wedding anniversary - 11 years of bliss!  We usually go to a bed and breakfast, but this year we're still in Seattle, so we'll take the day to explore downtown.  And our hotel has a bed, and it also serves breakfast, so we are at a B+B, in a way.  Perfect!

And I'm also looking forward to saying hi to those guys in the "Fish!" movie.

Sushi!

Being so close to the ocean has us in the mood to eat seafood - and what better seafood to eat than sushi!  We stopped by SushiMe for a crack at their conveyor belt of sushi - it just keeps coming.  We left happy.

Microsoft Prime

A very neat thing about being a Microsoft employee - *huge* discounts on all sorts of things.  I'm not even talking just about Microsoft products (although you can get crazy discounts on those, too).  Once you are in the system, you get a card called "Microsoft Prime" that you can use to get discounts on all sorts of things Microsoft doesn't make.  Click on the Washington icon on this site: http://www.microsoftprime.com/and roam around a bit.

Sam was particularly amazed by the deals you can get on cars with the Prime card.

...while Chris has his first day at Microsoft

Today was my first day of orientation at Microsoft.  Lots of talk about the corporate culture, it seems like a great company.  I think I'll really like working here.

Note my wardrobe's best attempt at Microsoft blue.

Sam does Seattle...

Sam went out on the town today and saw many famous Seattle sights - pine trees, the ocean, the Space Needle, the original Starbucks, and the Pike Place "Fish" people.  It was foggy in the morning and rainy in the evening, but the afternoon was very nice for Sam's day out.

We made it to Seattle

And we are staying very close to the Microsoft campus in Redmond - here is a rented office outside our hotel.  Check out my new parka, too - stylin'!

Tomorrow I have new employee orientation (NEO) - should be fun!