Jamie's Space

So it turns out, I'm not very good at keeping up a personal blog.

 

I'm looking at my last post and am slightly shocked that it was about my moving to Microsoft. As it stands right now, I left Microsoft in late March '08 and have been working for Verdiem ever since. For those of you who I haven't "pitched" Verdiem to, I'm really excited about it! We're a software company that up until Wednesday (8/6) specialized in energy management software for the enterprise space. And then (drum roll), we announced Edison, which we describe as the PC energy management tool for everyone (www.verdiem.com/edison). It's free, gives consumers better control over their power settings on their PCs, and lets you save money on your energy bill. I'm steadily becoming more and more passionate about the importance of "greening" things as much as possible, so am thrilled that this is a product I can really get excited about.

 

In addition to that, I'm convinced the projects I get to work on at Verdiem are just about my ideal set of work. I basically get to manage our corporate web and social media presence, in addition to helping with larger projects like branding and partner integration. When I take a step back and really evaluate the set of work I get to manage, I think it's quite possible this is one of the most perfect jobs I could have. :)

 

Beyond the work, all's going really well. Ben and I moved into our duplex on Capitol Hill in late January, and have really been enjoying it ever since. I surprised him with a new fancy bbq earlier in the summer, so we've been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and grill outside whenever we get the chance.

 

My sister and her husband are flying in from Germany tomorrow - Ben and I are going to pick them up from the airport and I CANNOT wait (this is my 4-day window of time to hang out with them for the year). Then next Friday is my best friend, Sarah's, wedding. I still need to buy some shoes and think up a good speech. Ack!

 

With that, I'm off to bed. I'd like to say that I'll write again soon, but that seems a little risky given my track record...

 

 

Not sure if everyone knows this yet, but tomorrow is my last day at Weber Shandwick. Starting next Monday, I'll be working over at Microsoft in a marketing/technical writing role that will focus largely on the company's interoperability initiatives. While I'm really going to miss WS, I'm looking forward to this great new opportunity to grow my career and take on a new challenge. From what I can tell, my team seems to be super smart and nice, so I'm guessing it will be fun as well as interesting. For those of you working over there, I hope you can come visit me in building 8! :) I'll be sure to blog again on how it's going once I've actually started.

Alright, so I spent a couple hours over at Victrola today looking thru the Stranger and coming up with a list of activities I'd like to do in the next few months. This is something where I keep remembering random things that sound like fun, and finally have decided to start a more formal list than just trying to remember them all. :) I've tried to organize them by individual groups to make it a little clearer. I'd also love it if anyone else has suggestions to add!

 

Music/Live entertainment:

-The Killers - at WAMU Theater May 20

-The Paperboys - at the Showbox March 17

-Fiasco and Dan Purser - at Neumo's March 15

-Cabaret - maybe at Linda's?

 

"Cultural" activities and other odds and ends:

-Olympic Sculpture Park

-Asian Art Museum

-Go to a reading at the Richard Hugo House

-SIFF Cinema - started today!

-Picnic at Gasworks

-Trivia night

-Crepes at Joe Bar

 

Restaurants and Clubs I haven't been to yet:

-Tavolata - this just got a great review in the Stranger

-Via Tribunali

-Baltic Room

-Tractor Tavern

-Cafe Metropolitan

 

Let me know if you're interested in checking out any of these!

 

 

 

 

So it's been about six months since I posted an entry, and since I'm relatively immobile right now due to my back injury, I've decided this is the night for the big semi-annual post! In some ways, my life hasn't changed a ton in the last six months, with the exception of one thing - my new home! I'm now living on Capitol Hill in this great old mansion near Cornish. The house itself dates back just about 100 years, to the time when the Fishers (ie. Fisher Communications) built it. To differentiate it from Ben's "mansion," Ben's friend Jeremy nicknamed the house "the Fish."

 

So far, it's been amazing living over here. I think this is such a beautiful neighborhood with amazing old houses, and am so excited about no longer crossing the bridge or just generally having to live on the eastside. I can definitely see myself moving to the eastside later on, but for right now, almost all of my life is on the west side.

 

The house itself is completely spectacular (see pictures I uploaded tonight). I've got the cutest suite with an amazing view of Lake Union. Another cool feature of the house is its basement billiard room. I finally made it down there to play some pool a few days ago. Despite the dust and major cobwebs, it was great!

 

One fun activity I've taken up since Christmastime is playing Wii, which was my big Christmas present from Ben. It's perfect for a non-gamer like me, because it's a more social game and does not require a lot of "gaming" skills. Perfect:)

 

Work has finally calmed down dramatically for me. In the next two weeks, I will transition completely off the HD DVD/Consumer Media Technology team and focus on broadcast efforts (mostly for Microsoft, along with several other companies). While I'm excited for the change, I will definitely miss my old team and the technology a lot.

 

Looking to the future, Ben and I have planned a trip to Hawaii in late April for a week. We're going to Oahu, which neither of us has actually stayed on before, so it should be really really fun. Feel free to let us know if you have suggestions for great places to visit on the island!

Ben and I are heading up to Priest Lake (Potato Lake) this weekend - I can't wait!! For those of you who know me, you know it's absolutely one of my favorite places in the entire world. The lake is absolutely gorgeous, the people are super friendly and the atmosphere is totally laid back. All-in-all, a great place to spend a summer vacation. I'll be sure to post some pictures when we get back. For now, an old one of me and my niece a few years ago.