On the advice of my psychic, my therapist, and my better judgement, I am in the Pacific Northwest on a spontaneous vacation. I flew out here with just a car reservation with the idea that I would drive around and see what I could see.
Yesterday I was in Seattle and I stopped in at The Pike, a local brewpub. I ended up talking with a fellow patron and we got into a bit of a disagreement. We were discussing wine (yes, yes, I know...talking wine in a brewpub, how snooty...patootie even) and the ranking of Virginia as a wine producing state came up...which is where we disagreed. I said it was in the top 3 and he, a professional in the local regional wine industry, said it was not even in the top 10...turns out we were both wrong, it actually ranks 5th. After we resolved our debate, he mentioned that I should check out Woodenville, where there are many good wineries (and a good brewpub). After we parted ways, I tried to look Woodenville up on my GPS but had no luck.
Later on in the day, I visited the Space Needle and on my way out, I noticed one of those racks that holds tourist brochures. Lo and behold...there was a brochure advertising the Woodinville wine country. That explains my difficulty, I had been spelling it wrong. So I decided to head north, check into a hotel, and visit the wineries the next day. The back of the brochure listed 3 places to stay near the wineries so I figured I was all set. My first choice was a B&B, so I drove to it thinking they were sure to have a room on a Wednesday night. However, when I got there, the door was locked and I just got an answering machine when I called. Giving up on it, I picked my 2nd choice and, being a little smarter now, called them to check their availability. Wouldn't you know it, they were sold out. Ah well...last choice, a Marriott, it is.
I drove to the Marriott and checked in. It is located in a kind of town center, somewhat similar to the Reston town center with lots of stores and office buildings. This morning I went for a run and at one point I stopped and checked out a map of what was in the center. Turns out Microsoft has a major presence right here...coincidence? act of God? the breath of the universe pushing me along in the right direction? I don't know, but for an out of work software engineer, finding out that the largest software company in the world is 2 doors down from you seems somewhat miraculous. So...I am going to get cleaned up from my run and then pop on over and ask if they could use my services. I figure the worst that could happen is they call security (not like I haven't been there before) and...who knows?...I could end up with one of those cushy jobs on a death star.
Later on in the day, I visited the Space Needle and on my way out, I noticed one of those racks that holds tourist brochures. Lo and behold...there was a brochure advertising the Woodinville wine country. That explains my difficulty, I had been spelling it wrong. So I decided to head north, check into a hotel, and visit the wineries the next day. The back of the brochure listed 3 places to stay near the wineries so I figured I was all set. My first choice was a B&B, so I drove to it thinking they were sure to have a room on a Wednesday night. However, when I got there, the door was locked and I just got an answering machine when I called. Giving up on it, I picked my 2nd choice and, being a little smarter now, called them to check their availability. Wouldn't you know it, they were sold out. Ah well...last choice, a Marriott, it is.
I drove to the Marriott and checked in. It is located in a kind of town center, somewhat similar to the Reston town center with lots of stores and office buildings. This morning I went for a run and at one point I stopped and checked out a map of what was in the center. Turns out Microsoft has a major presence right here...coincidence? act of God? the breath of the universe pushing me along in the right direction? I don't know, but for an out of work software engineer, finding out that the largest software company in the world is 2 doors down from you seems somewhat miraculous. So...I am going to get cleaned up from my run and then pop on over and ask if they could use my services. I figure the worst that could happen is they call security (not like I haven't been there before) and...who knows?...I could end up with one of those cushy jobs on a death star.
2 comments:
So are you checking out the wineries before or after you apply to work on the Death Star? ;-)
Serendipity.
I hear employees get get to wear cool black helmets.
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