I just got back from two very intense days in Redmond.

We're trying a small experiment with the content for next quarter's MSDN Events, and it took a team of us all of yesterday (about 8:00 AM - 10:00 PM (OK - that's counting dinner, but still)) and all of today to get things going (thinking, writing, coding, editing, deleting, complaining, eating, fighting, agreeing).

This was my first time spending more than just a few hours working closely with other members of the team.

It was weird.

I'm used to other places I've worked where a meeting is just a place for some egotistical blowhard to beat chest and spew bad ideas at workers who are sick and bloody tired of "all the crap."

These past two days, on the other hand, reminded me a hell of a lot more of time I spent at Reed than of time I've spent with any business.

It was a group of highly enthused people arguing with each other about how to best go about doing something. It might not be the most practical way to accomplish a goal, but I think it's the way that's going to result in the best work.

Very cool. Very fun, actually.

To make things even stranger, I left my hotel room the other night to grab a water from a hallway vending machine when I ran into Jay Kimble. Redmond is a very small world. I had also seen Shawn Morrissey the day before when I didn't have a hotel room, and I was basically begging to sleep in the MSDN offices.

Anyway, for those of you live in either Portland or Tacoma and would like to come to an event, here's the schedule:

- 11/16/2004: Tacoma, WA (Auburn)

- 11/18/2004: Portland, OR (Hillsboro)

My next post, I think, is going to have to be about Vegas.

So many things happened that I'm scared to even begin writing it.