Well it was colder in Seattle today, at least I thought so! It was around 10 degrees, but still nice and sunny for most of the day. Today we were at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, you can read the geek related stuff here. The campus is really a lot bigger than I thought, easily covers more space than the University as far as I can tell!

Continuing a tradition Dickson and I started, I caught the very last MVP bus from the hotels at 7:30 am today. No idea how I made it up and out the door either. They had some awesome stuff in the sessions today, and I also saw some of the famous Microsoft fridges! Yes they had Pepsi crap, but there was also Coke, Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke, Diet Caffeine Free Coke, Cherry Coke, Cherry Diet Coke. Didn’t see any of the lemon or lime ones in the two fridges I saw. Also tons of other “sodas” (Kevin made fun of me when I said “pop” lol).

I discovered another Starbucks within walking distance of my hotel. This one is a block west and a block south – hadn’t looked in that area earlier. Speaking of Starbucks, I swiped a paper cup from the Starbucks in one of the cafeteria’s on campus as it has both the Starbucks and Microsoft logos on it! Thats cool too, Starbucks right on campus! Too bad the UofA doesn’t have that!

Tomorrow looks interesting, lots of important people speaking! And I don’t have to get up quite so early as the Convention Center is only a 5 minute walk from the hotel. That makes me happy, because these “heavenly” beds in my hotel room are AMAZING (all the stuff seems to be called heavenly, beds, soap, shampoo, etc). Hope you people back home are having fun in class! HAHA!

Well today was the first day of my trip, and it has been quite exciting! You can read my post about the geek-related stuff here. I arrived in Seattle around 3 PM local time.

First off, big airport. At least big enough to have its own subway to get to the terminal! Secondly, very humid. Compared to dry old Edmonton at least, the air feels very heavy. Thirdly, there is so much green! Edmonton is so brown and drab and dusty right now, the green grass and trees is a nice change!

The trip from the airport to the hotel was crazy for a couple reasons. There really is a Starbucks on almost every corner! I lost count of how many I saw today (I went to one tonight too, not the original yet tho). Also, I was instantly reminded this isn’t Canada, as there is a huge Niketown, three level Gap and three level Old Navy, Kenneth Cole, Louis Vuitton, Barnes and Noble, Nordstroms, etc. all within four blocks of my hotel (Westin Seattle Downtown). I am definitely going to have to visit the Barnes and Noble and Old Navy.

Nice hotel room too, two beds, broadband Internet, TV, alarm clock, fridge, the normal stuff you expect in a hotel room. Unlike our room in Barcelona, right Dickson! I am going to steal the coffee mugs as they are emblazoned with the Starbucsk logo 🙂

Looks like this is going to be an awesome week, I will post updates here when I can (and at my .NET blog). Tomorrow we are the Redmond campus, so that will be neat! Oh, so far the free shirt count is at 2 (usually events like this are full of free t-shirts).

I will blog more later, but just wanted to post that I have now arrived in Seattle. I am typing this looking outside my 42nd floor room at the entire city pretty much!

Just wanted to say a quick happy birthday to Courtney! Hope you have a good time tonight 🙂