Friday, February 10, 2006

I'm goofing off

Big ship party today at work. We have all been working our tails off to get a release of our software products that can be demo'd at a large conference in Spain (no, I don't get to go, I'm a lowly worker bee). I flashed my device (sounds sexy, huh?) and packed up my hardware to give to the BizDev guys last night. So off they went, and now everyone is taking a breather. Party at 1:00 at Parlor Billiards in Bellevue. Not that exciting, really, but there'll be food, beer, and people can shoot pool and play video games for those who care for that kind of thing (which I don't). Just goof off time for the whole afternoon. Yay!

I'm reading my book for the TBR challenge (see my sidebar): Secret Swan by Shana Abé. About a third of the way through and I'm enjoying it. I really should avoid books with the word 'secret' in the title because I notice that if a secret goes on too long I get pissed off, but I'm not there yet. It was driving me crazy so I peaked ahead a little to see if hero figures out heroine's secret soon and it looks like he does. Whew, I really didn't want to have to throw this one against the wall.

5 comments:

CindyS said...

YAY!! for you. I was picturing you on a little cruise ship for the afternoon though ;) Is the company you work for smaller than most. Never heard of a company actually rewarding it's employees with some play time! Sounds like a great company to work for!!

I have yet to read Abe so I'll be interested in your thoughts twin o' mine!

CindyS

ReneeW said...

Actually, play time for employees when a product is shipped is pretty standard in the software industry especially in this area where Microsoft has a big influence. When they ship (that's the term used when a product is ready for release) Microsoft goes all out for the employees in that group. They have huge catered buffets, rock bands, games like a carnival but cooler. Some groups spend huge amounts of cash on ship parties. This tends to influence all the software companies especially those with connections to Microsoft which we do (in a small way).

Our company is pretty small (about 44) but they have doubled in size since I started last April. We have lots of former Microsofties (I worked there for a short while and hated it). They treat us very well here. One time we had a play day at Game Works where there was putt-putt golf and go-carts.

The billiard parlor place turned out to be very classy. Very ritzy deep carpets, cherry wood tables and walls, and gorgeous wood pool tables. The food was fantastic and there was an open bar and we toasted our hard work with champagne. Bob says I'm spoiled rotten and he's right.

I hope to finish Secret Swan today. It's very good.

CindyS said...

I am so very happy for you. Finding a place to work where you are treated fairly and respected for the job you do is hard to come by so Kudos!! to you. You deserve it!!

CindyS

Reese said...

Hey Renee, I composed a really long, beautiful comment on your blog a few days ago, then blogger ate it. I was mad. Real mad.

Anyway, re: our conversation about what book I should read to get out of my reading slump - I went to the bookstore to get "To Kill a Mockingbird," but wound up getting "The Piano Teacher" (an Austraian book, which was made into a racy French film with Isabelle Huppert a while ago)

Thanks so much for giving consideration to my problem, though. I appreciate it.

ReneeW said...

Cindy: Thanks so much!

Reese: I can't tell you how many times that has happened to me (damn blogger). I've never heard of The Piano Teacher. I'd like to hear how you like it.

Wow, I haven't touched my blog in over 6 years and I'm still logged in!  Good thing because I have no idea what my password is.  In ...