Entry posted by GSR
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Hoo boy. Where to start?
Well, last Wednesday sounds good.
So as you may have heard, last week was my final week at Microsoft. This was all well and good, but there was also the slight issue that this meant I needed to present my summer's work to management on Thursday morning. (I actually wound up doing it twice at my boss' request, but more on that in a second.)
As you might expect, I was pretty busy Wednesday revising and re-revising and practicing my presentation. When I did finally get home about 8 PST, I got a message from Valixia and Velox asking if I could sit for the ECC critic final interview. After I grabbed some dinner, we went ahead and did it - and it must have gone well, since I was hired immediately afterward. I was now an official ECC critic. Figuring that would conclude my major BZP business for the week, I retired for the night.
In the morning I woke up and checked BZP to find a message waiting from me. Well, two, actually. The first was from Valixia asking if I could write up an ECC bio.
The other was from Black Six asking if I would be a Forum Mentor.
After shaking my head for a second to make sure I was actually fully awake (this was all at 7:45 in the morning, remember), I sent back my acceptance, albeit with a note that I'd be pretty busy the next few days. Still, it was a nice confidence booster going into my presentation...
...which couldn't have gone much better. I got through in the allotted time, fielded some questions from management, and managed to show off how my project would be legitimately helpful in the future.
My boss apparently agreed; that afternoon we sat down for my final review, which to not bore you all on went well.
I got home to see a response from B6 in my inbox about my acceptance. I relaxed a bit that evening - but not too much. I still had a second presentation to get through the next day.
So, Friday. Woke up, got into work, gave the presentation to a different group, where it went over very well (though I can't say why without breaking several NDAs, haha.) That afternoon I had a meeting with my recruiter, who offered me a position next year as well. I tentatively accepted - the formal acceptance and all that will come later, after mountains of paperwork and talks with my family. That night I went out with some friends, then came home and packed.
Saturday I was up early to catch my flight. Security and all that went as well as could be expected; the only problem was rather than the almost straight shot MS had originally booked for me, I was set to fly to Houston and then back up to Wisconsin. This is apparently cheaper for MS somehow. The flights consisted mostly of sleeping and A Game of Thrones, which I was rapidly finding more and more reasons to kick myself over not starting earlier. I got in pretty late Saturday and hit the hay before too long.
Sunday was unfortunately not the day of rest I'd have liked. Since I'd be moving out Monday, I had to consolidate my stuff from Seattle and my stuff from college last year and get it all packed together. It was also raining like the dickens, which kind of precluded going out for much of anything.
Monday, I finished up the packing and took off for my junior year of uni. This year I'm living with some friends in an apartment right near campus, rather than a dorm, so move-in was a little interesting. Unfortunately we got so sidetracked hanging out and stuff that we didn't actually put together my bed, so I crashed on the couch and was gently reminded of just how loud this town can get at night. I missed it.
Tuesday was that time-honored tradition of running around campus figuring out where my classes actually are. At a uni this big, that is a concern, believe me.
And here we are Wednesday, mostly settled in, my name now a shiny turquoise color and myself still moderately shell-shocked. Classes start in about a week (though I'll be getting out of town this weekend for a quick trip with my family), but until then I suppose I'm mostly just catching my breath before the semester starts.
I do still have a good chunk of A Game of Thrones to get through, though, and a new internet job. Those seem to be keeping me busy enough for me to come up with blog title references mixing the two. 
(Oh, and guess who can't seem to grasp the concept of "blog posts are published on 24-hour time"? Here's a hint. It is me.)
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