Went out for a meal with Andy and Andrew tonight. Andy suggested a place where they come to the table and cook your food in front of you.
We had "The Chef in the Green Hat". He was very cool. And the food was delicious.
The right way to burn an onion...
A great place to eat
Cunning use of minimal space on the ground. But I wouldn't like to live there...
Today we went for a boat trip out from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, which is around half an hour away. There was nothing particular on the island we wanted to see, but it was a nice trip nonetheless.
On the Boat
Seattle from the bay
The weather could have been nicer, but the views were excellent. It just made me more determined to come back here in sunnier times.
Today was the last day of the summit proper, and we had keynote addresses from Ray Ozzie and Steve Balmer
Gathering for the keynote
Ray Ozzie was first to speak and take questions.
Steve Balmer arrived looking like this:
..and left dressed like this
I think we had better find a University of Hull sweatshirt to give him next time.
I've never heard Steve talk before, and I must say I'm impressed. He was knowledgeable, smart, self aware and, above all, funny. A great way to end a very interesting four days.
Today was our final day on the Microsoft Campus. Yesterday I carefully scoped out the best place to sit on the bus for photographs and today I took some.
Driving past the bay
The view down the road
The road is interesting, in that for parts of the journey you are pretty much level with the lake, which is a bit strange. Once we got to the campus we again went off for some sessions, and then I got to "Have lunch with my publisher". I've always wanted to say that. We went to a very nice place and I showed my poise and breeding by choosing the one thing on the menu that came with chips. And very nice it was too. The good news (for me at any rate) is that I think I'm going to be writing another book.
After lunch I met up with Brian, another MVP who teaches with XNA (all these acronyms - don't we sound cool) and then I shot across the campus to meet up with Andy Sterland and Andrew Neil, ex Hull students who now work for Microsoft. As we were talking I noticed a chap outside the building who looked a bit familiar. It turned to be the legendary Phil Price, another Redmond employee from Hull. Out came the camera......
Andy, Phil, Andrew and Andy. If you see what I mean.
Then I shot back to another meeting (they have these amazing shuttles to ferry you around the place), and finally made it onto the bus. The journey back took a while, but I did get some interesting pictures.
This guy is using his laptop whilst driving....
I love the idea of a "Super Heavy" sticker. And talking of "super heavy"...
I took this at the Summit party, which was ace. They had Rock Band set up in a theatre and were letting folk have a go. These guys got booed off after around 30 seconds....
More entertainment
The party in full swing
Microsoft Redmond Campus is huge. No other word. Lots of buildings, lots of people, lots of software. And quite a bit of rain.
The rainy view of Building 118
..a more conventional view.
Today we had lots of sessions about this and that. I'm always surprised by how Microsoft send their chief product managers to get roasted by us. I'm glad they do though, it is always very interesting.
In the afternoon we slipped over to the fabled Microsoft Company Store, where you can get software at cost prices. We had been allocated 120 dollars to spend on stuff, so I duly did my bit. I was very pleased to be able to pick up a cost price copy of Microsoft Home Server, which I'm looking forward to having a play with. I was even more pleased to find that they had a big display of my book.
Rob in the Microsoft Company Store
I'm never sure whether having lots of copies left in a shop is a good thing ("We've sold loads") or a bad thing ("Nobody is buying it"). Anyhoo, it was just nice to see it there. I've found my book in Barnes and Noble and Fry's as well, so if people aren't grabbing copies it isn't for lack of opportunity......
They had a Microsoft Surface in Building 117. Think of it as a huge iPhone which lets you do wonderful things with multi-touch. Wonderful stuff.
Today was the first day of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Summit. Before everything kicked off we went for a walk around Seattle.
We found this really cool magic shop. Check out the Elvis Zoltar inside...
I managed to blag a visit to Alan's room. His hotel room is rather high, with some nice views.
Overhead view of the monorail
Seattle skyline, with clouds
Gathering for the opening session. I've never been to one of these before, but the thing that struck me was just how many MVPs there are. This is a big affair. And there are people from all over the world.
This was the gathering before we went in for dinner.
The food, and the company, was excellent. On the way out I grabbed a picture of the view from the conference centre.
The quality of the weather dipped a bit overnight, but at least it wasn't raining. Went over to meet up with Boss at his hotel and it looked like they were prepared for him.
Did somebody call the cops?
Turns out the Dalai Lama was in town, and staying in the same place as Boss. These were the outriders for his trips out. We went off in search of breakfast.
This place does good sandwiches
This place does nice peppers
The Dalai Lama hits the road.
Boss and hired car
Boss in hired car
Lego bits, lots of them.
Lego pigs
I nearly bought lots of things, but was actually very good. Perhaps tomorrow.
We went out for a look around Seattle. And the weather was lovely. I'm breaking in a new camera (what a surprise). It is a tiny Fuji FinePix F50fd. I was unsure it would improve much on my old FinePix F10. But it does. It has already taken some lovely shots. Fuji seem to put some magic pixie dust or something in their cameras that make them just take good pictures.
Like this
Or this.
We had tea in a super little place on the waterfront. Seattle seems to give priority to the quirky, home grown kind of establishment, and I reckon this is a seriously good move. It gives the place real character.
This is where ate. When I took this picture they were playing a Bay City Rollers track ("Saturday night" if you must know..). If that's not personality, I don't know what is.
It had a good view of the bay too.
After tea we had a walk around.
How tasteful. But not as scary as....
Of course they have skyscrapers
"Pig and Pigeon" Sounds like a good name for a pub.
I think Seattle is going to replace San Francisco as my favourite city in the US. Then again, the forecast is for rain tomorrow.....
Woke up this morning feeling much better. So it was off to the airport and on to the plane. I'm going to the Microsoft MVP Summit in Seattle and to be quite honest I'm rather excited.
I've also taken the camera(s).
Obligatory Taxi shot from airport
Seattle skyline
The view from my hotel window. Might be a bit noisy tonight....
The weather was supposed to be horrible. Snow on high ground. Roads becoming impassable. Etc etc. But we went anyway. After all, we like Whitby very much. It is a strange place really, touristy in a way that only England can do properly. And we were dead lucky, because the weather, although very cold, was wonderful. Especially for photos.
Whitby church on top of the cliffs, and a few boats
The bay.
Steam Train. Mike knows which one.
Air Sea Rescue
They say Dracula is buried here somewhere. I'm not going looking.....
For ages they have been working on the Students Union building on campus. Now that we can see what it is they have been doing, it actually looks quite nice.
And the campus is looking good at the moment too.
I took this in the conservatory today. Of course, I've no idea what it is.
This place reminds me a lot of San Francisco. Same nice weather. Same driving on the wrong side of the road.
Kind of similar bridge
Same amazing skies
..and they had a very nice conference centre too
I had a really good time over here. Next time I'm going to try to stay a lot longer.
On the way back to the hotel I passed a bus full of students who had been at one of my talks and were now heading home.
Frankly, I fear for them....
After a very smooth trip last night I'm now in Lisbon at TechDays 08. I came along last year, to the sensibly name TechDays 07 and had such fun that I've come back again and to do two sessions. I've just finished the XNA one and it seemed to OK from my point of view (although I'm worried that I might not have mentioned the book enough....)
Where I'm speaking (they have lovely weather here)
As is usual for Portugal, I had a fantastic audience.
Left
Middle
Right
After I told my first joke (the people at the back are sound technicians who are paid to be there....)
I had a great time promoting the book and VerySillyGames. I've got another session this afternoon. Wish me (and the audience) luck.
Today was kind of special. We had some of our ex-graduates come to see us. These are people who are now working in the games industry, and they popped by to say hello and see what we are doing. Unfortunately I was moving at speed, having to pick up the pieces that seem to result if I go away from the office for a couple of days. So all I managed to do was grab photographs. There was no time for much chat. I'll fill in the details when Jon lets me know who's what.
The chap on the right (who's name I completely forgot to note down) is an ex-Hull grad who now works for Blackrock Studios. The game that is being played on the big screen is a yet to be released title they brought along to show off. From what I saw it looked pretty darned good.
Now, some of these people I do know. In amongst this gathering are the Electronic Arts posse, including Steven Yau (third from right in dark blue). He was once a project student of mine and is the chap who wrote the article about how how to break into the video games industry. It seemed to work for him.....
Finally, these two look pleased because they are team D&D, who have made it into the next round of the Microsoft Imagine Cup XNA Game Development competition. You can find out more about their entry here. Well done folks, and good luck.
Today was pitch day. But before Team X got to strut their stuff we had a talk from Andrea Blakersley from Mudhut. She did a session to help the teams how to make their pitches stand out and how to structure their presentations for maximum impact. This was excellent. I don't know how much Mudhut were being paid for the session today. But I do know that the session and the support that was given was worth it. First class stuff.
I've been presenting for a while (although I've never given a venture capital pitch) and Andrea managed to come up with some insights on the process that gave me cause to think about what I do. Wonderful stuff, and just what the competitors needed at this point. I don't think that many of the students at the session actually realize how lucky they were to get tuition at this level, but I do, and you were big winners today folks.
Dave from Rare (industrial mentor) and Anthony, Johno and Jon from Team X
Team X went through the rehearsal, got some feedback, incorporated it into their material and then sallied forth for the big pitch. They were excellent. These are first year students, who joined us in September. They have not even finished my programming course yet. But the way that they sharpened up during the day, and their professional approach to the competition bodes really well for these people. Whether they win the cup or not. The other three teams from Hull were also working away during the day (to my eternal shame I forgot to take pictures of you all - for that I apologise). I think they all got a great deal out of the event, and thanks to Microsoft for setting it up.
Just before the big pitch....
The next phase is to work up an entry and get some code running, ready for the next part of the competition.
We are in a ultra-posh hotel in Manchester. Microsoft really do look after you in these competitions. For some reason I've been upgraded to a posh suite, which has a patio, huge bed and all kinds of extras (and like a proper hotel also has a kettle and stuff for making tea). Excellent.
I arrived in Manchester just in time to meet up with the team and have a look at their presentation. Things had been coming along quite nicely (as is usually the case until I turn up....)
Anyhoo, after we had to move out from the hotel meeting room to make way for the Guitar Hero setup, of which more later, we repaired to my room for a planning session. We got set up, and were just about to get to the important stuff when all the lights in the room went out. Yours truly, the suave, globetrotting traveller had forgotten to put his room card in the switch at the door, which meant that all the power and lighting had timed out. So it was a series of muffled curses and stubbed toes as I made it the length of my suddenly enormous room to put the lights back on.
So, after that we met up for a Guitar Hero competition. People seem to confuse me owning a game (I've got lots) with me actually being any good at it. This is a common mistake, in that I don't actually spend too much time dwelling on my abilities in the games (just as well), but it did mean that I ended up playing my round of the competition on the "normal" mode, as opposed to my preferred easy setting. I made a right idiot of myself, but fortunately as we were being ranked for the competition I only had to play once..
Johno from our team turned out to be quite the guitar whizz, and finished third. He took away a really nice webcam. The winner, a chap from St. Andrews, was a well worthy champion, with amazing axe skills. He got an Xbox 360. Then, after a few more tunes, it was time for bed.
Anthony and Johno getting to grips with the guitar.
Andy and Dave from Microsoft giving it their all
My digital home from home. I just like the shadows.
As luck would have it I was due to do an early radio thing this morning. With added jetlag. Fortunately things worked out quite well, as my whacked out body clock had me wide awake at five in the morning, and I actually got to the studio early. Things seemed to go OK, and I staggered into work for a rest. Or something.
Bright and early Hull
I got back bright and early this morning. And then spent most of the day asleep.
Getting rid of the last of the silly pictures, I wonder what the aircraft cleaners will make of it?
Thanks to these folks for making sure that I had some legroom on the flights.
Quite a nice SF sunrise to finish off with.
Warren and John's hotel faces in a much nicer direction than mine. And they have a balcony. Cue Rob turning up with a tripod and a winning smile.
Straight out from the balcony
Looking towards the bay
Rob Miles is technology author and educator who spent many years as a lecturer in Computer Science at the University of Hull. He is also a Microsoft Developer Technologies MVP. He is into technology, teaching and photography. He is the author of the World Famous C# Yellow Book and almost as handsome as he thinks he is.
