Christmas Formal Party

Microsoft’s CSD (Connected Systems Division) held their annual Christmas Party today. Attire was formal, though we did see some people with sweaters and jeans, but I guess that’s just Microsoft or programmers in general. I was told the minimum I could wear was at least a jacket or tie, so I went for the cheaper route, the tie. While I started my laundry today (I was out of pants to wear), I went to Ross stores and picked up a tie. I was expecting to pay more, but the tie only cost $10. w00t! Also picked up a belt cause I can’t find my old one either for yet another whopping $10. Haha. I already had plenty of dress shirts and slacks and a pair of dress shoes, so that was taken care of. The final outcome:

toland in formal attire

I actually forgot how to tie a tie, and after googling it, the first linke was: Learn How to Tie a Tie. The instructions were pretty clear, but my first attempt ended up with the tail being longer than the head (tail = narrow end and head = wide end). But my 2nd attempt is what you see above. I went with the easy Windsor Knot. Hehe.

I was going to take pictures at the party, but I got lazy and I didn’t really know a lot of people there. Guess I just didn’t get comfortable enough to start shooting, but Asaf took a lot pictures. The food was pretty good. We had tons of weird stuff like crab cakes and shrimp paste cream puffs and salmon pieces and honey ham and different cheese sampling and etc etc. Of course they had better names than that, but I don’t really remember them. Got to see Vani, Tekman and his wife Angel, Derek and his wife Shanna, Jeremy, Rakesh, Asaf and his wife, Eric and his wife, Mark, let’s see… Oh yah Don and his wife. I think that’s how you spell his name, such a cool name though!

The party was held at Museum of Flight, right smack in the middle of the Boeing fields. It was really neat. We got to check the exhibitions for free. Even got to ride on the flight simulators and virtual reality things for free. There was pool tables and ice hockey tables. They also hired professional casino people to host and there was poker, black jack, pai gow, craps, roulette, etc etc. Each person started off with $2000 (fake money). I think I left the poker table with $3000 (with my peak around $5000). When you’re playing with fake money, it’s so much easier to make calls. Hehe. Back to the museum, they had exhibitions like the Blackbird. X-Men had a plane called the Blackbird and it actually resembles this quite a bit, so I’m thinking they got their idea from here. I didn’t even know it was a real airplane! Also the ex-Air Force One is supposedly here too, but I didn’t get to check it out. So if you’re in Seattle and interested in airplanes, the Museum of Flight is definitely a place to visit.

Since it was open bar, and there wasn’t anything besides coffee and water and soda to drink, I ended up getting 2 drinks. I got a Screwdriver followed by a Whiskey Sour. Both were bleh. After my 2nd drink, I decided that bottle water was the way to go. Plus I needed to drive home later that night. I could’ve gotten a taxi voucher, but would need a way to come back tomorrow to pick up my car.

All in all, I had a great time. Everyone got to dress up fancy, for a change (We are Microsoftites, and rumor is we don’t know how to dress). Vani actually came in a Sari (Saree) which was really pretty. Jeremy joked beforehand when we went to The Keg earlier this week (or was it last week) that he would wear one too. Tekman said it would be too terrified to see, but I chimed in and said I’d like to see it. The guys that work around me are so cool!

What shocked all of us was the number of Lambourghinis and Ferraris that parked there tonight. Although, the CSD probably contains about 800 or so people with several high executives, the number of fancy cars were beyond my expectation. The group of us joked that either there are many high level executives here tonight or they aren’t paying us enough. Hehe. On our way out, Derek joked and asked me which Ferrari did I drive here with today. I replied the Ferrari that looks like a Civic.

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