Day 0 of Training (I call it travel day)

So excited to be off to Redmond for the MACH Conference. Sounds silly but this is the first time I would be traveling for a Microsoft event, so it was too exciting for me. Unfortunately this time I had the worst flight times ever so I had to get up really early and get to the airport. The flight was good, and the only complaint I had was that the weather landing in Seattle was horrible, so it was kinda bumpy near the end, oh well.

It was so exciting to land at SeaTac airport. Got my bags and went over to Avis to pick up the rental car. Got there and found out that they were all out of compact cars, so they were like will you take something else and I was like sure. They started looking and began to go down a list and started with a Ford Mustang. The minute I heard that I was like, Ill take it. So I went to the lot and picked up a Red Ford Mustang, which was great and I know its not like the best car in the world, but I never drove a car like that before so I was just too excited.

Anyway's finally got in and started to drive to Redmond and get to the hotel. It was fun driving in the city, but since it was my first time here, I wasn't too sure where I was going and got a little lost but finally made it to my hotel (unfortunately there were 2 hotels with the same name and I landed up at the wrong one, and apparently everyone did that).

Well finally I landed there and then called up Ted and he decided to drive by and pick me up with Ed and head back to the airport to get Drew. Ted was driving his new car which he got the day before.  It is a Lexus and simply awesome. So it was fun driving around in that and hanging out with him and basically catching up. We got to the airport and picked up Drew and then basically decided to go over and hang out at Ted's apartment and just catch up and see how things were going. We also got a chance to drive around Campus and see the different buildings and basically Ted started telling us where things were and what each building was and it was great to see how things worked here and the campus was huge which was great so there was a lot to see. We also got a chance to see Ted's office in Sammamish which was great and it was just nice for me at least to see another Microsoft Campus. Then of course we all got hungry and decided to go out for dinner where we met up with Derek and Sam.

Finally after dinner people started to split and go back to their hotels. Ted was going to drop me back and then I told him I would help out with setting up his bed that he had finally got in Ikea. Well I was really exhausted from being up at like 6 in the morning and then traveling but was able to help him out. It started getting really tiring and things started getting slower and slower. Finally after about an hour we were able to get it setup. Then oops, we found out that we had left some parts out of the bed. I told him I was too tired to help him fix it, but sleep on it now and see if it is even needed, and we will take care of it tomorrow. He was worried about impaling himself with the steel underneath and I told him that there was a mattress and a wooden backing underneath him that would protect him (I don't think that was reassuring enough because he decided to set it up later on after I left). Anyway's he drove me back to my hotel and decided to finally get some sleep and get ready to meet MACH's the next day.

Day 1 of Training

Training started at like 7 in the morning with a great breakfast. Unfortunately everyone was in the hotel that it was occurring at or across the street. I was unfortunately on the other side of town because I got my reservations late. Finally got there and when I did they told me I wasn't registered, but then found out that they had me down and just couldn't find me on the forms (I told them to check for Karen). They then handed me a jump suit and told me to go and grab breakfast.

I walked into the room and it was great because people started showing up and met up with some of the Charlotte crowd. It was awesome and a good time, and I started asking everyone to point out other TAM's that I keep talking to everyday over the phone. Finally got a chance to meet people from the WA, TX and ND teams and talk to them all. It was a lot of fun and each time it was, oh you are Karan and so and so. It was good times and then of course the activities started.

So we got split into groups and ours was asked to wear Jumpsuit's.  Why? Well it was for our special team building event where we all got a chance to get into groups and pretend as if we were in a pit crew and actually get a chance to change tires on a Nascar. It was awesome and we had a lot of fun. We were group 6 and there is a video of one of the times we changed the tires on the car.

Pit Crew Challenge

Now however the first time we made it, we were trying to be a little smarter than everyone else (its called thinking outside the box :P). Well anyway's we decided to start from the closest side and have the gunners take of the nuts from the drivers side of the car and then the tire changers would change the tires while they got to the other side and took the wheel nuts off. Now we though this was allowed due to the rules, but apparently it was a no no and after we completed it (we did get the fastest time, but got penalties due to wheel nuts being loose and our equipment being in the pit area when the car took off). So when we were all discussing it later on and talking about teamwork we all felt famous because there was a lot of, everyone did well and then Team 6 just took it to the next level.

Anyway's it was a lot of fun and we got a chance to practice team skills and interact with each other that we all just had fun. The next session involved us all in a personality workshop where we got a chance to see what personality types we were and how we are perceived by others. It was really interesting and we had a lot of fun. We did win the Pit Crew Challenge, which meant that the last time we did it, all out times were combined and with 6 groups and our penalties we got a time less that 11:02 which the driver said is what he wants to see.

Dinner came around and we all just hung out. Finally that ended and I decided to hang out with Ted and we ended up watching Shop Girl which was an amazing movie and is highly recommended (but before that I spent half an hour getting to his appartment which was 5 minutes away because I kept getting lost and got on highways when I shouldn't have and oh well) I then called it a night because I was too tired and had another early day ahead of me, but not before I got lost getting back to the hotel :D.

Day 2 of Training

We got a chance to start at 7:30 and of course I decided to walk this time because it was located next to my hotel. I finally made it after like half an hour because there was a lot of construction going on and I had to keep crossing the street and going to the other side and go around traffic and construction and finally had to cut through some of the Microsoft buildings.

Anyway's I finally made it and it was a session on Precision Questioning which was great because it is something that I am not  good at, so it was great to practice this. Training was a little long though, but we got through it and it was fun. We were then told that they had an event for us and it was us going to Garage Billiards for a fun night of Pool and Bowling.

After that we decided to go over to the Company Store and do some shopping and buy some things. The company store was huge and it was amazing because people were walking around with shopping carts in the store buying stuff. Then we headed over to the Visitor's Center where basically it was like a walk through time to see where Microsoft had been and what all it did and where it is now. We had a lot of fun just walking around, and looking at all the cool pictures and products.

We then decided to start heading out towards Garage Billiards. We all drove down and it was a fun time. When we got there, Ted  showed up also and we hung out and introduced him to everyone. We were then hanging out and just having fun and then Stephen showed up also which was great, so we all got a chance to hang out.

We all left at the end and it was good times as I spent my last day in Redmond.

Day 3 of Training

In the morning we all got together to wrap down the MACH training event. We also got a chance to hear MACH 05's talk about the MACH program and that was a lot of fun. At the end we all said bye and left the building.

From there we decided to go to Lunch and had a fun meal. After that the workaholic me decided to head over to the Sammamish office with Ted to get some work done. It was fun because it was great to meet some of the other TAM's that I work with all the time. That was a lot of fun.

In the end we drove back and got back to the hotel to get ready to leave. Ted dropped me and Drew at the airport and we said bye to him and went to get our tickets.

Anyway's as we were getting our tickets, I was having trouble with the silly Kiosk machine, and finally I was able to get my ticket printed out. During check in, the airline person had a baggage ticket printed out and said Karen (this was at the Kiosk). I of course shot my hand up and said that, its me. She then said Witker, and I didn't know what the hell it was but I was like yup its me. Then the lady next to me at the Kiosk, asked if the airline person had said Witker, and she said yes, and she was like that's me. So after a second, I realized that there was an actual person named Karen standing next to me, and my baggage ticket was the next one printing out (it was just too funny because I respond to Karen all the time).

Anyway's we got on the plane, and made it all the way to Detroit and then finally Charlotte, where it was 9 in the morning when we landed, and then it was time for work. What a fun trip and we all had fun. Definitely looking forward for another training event.