brian's blog

My bro got offers from both of the groups he interviewed with: Office Shared Services and Access. Pretty strange to realize he'll be here all summer! Way to go, Dave.

My brother's flying out to Seattle as I type to interview on Monday for a Microsoft intern dev position. Flights were limited so he's flying first class. Lucky jerk.

It's a Seattle family extravaganza. I'm a little touristed out from last week with my mom, though, so I'm not sure what we'll do.

From the Weather gadget on my Live.com homepage:

What does that icon on Saturday mean? Fall is coming early? Or maybe the sun will be blocked out by a thick blanket of leaves? Beats me.

The pop-up text visible when I hover says "Sunny/Wind." Oh. Okay.

Interview went well. It was a blast to do and Mike and Matt gave some great answers. I think I might have come across a little stiff as I tried to act cool and professional, but that might be just my nerves talking.

We talked about censorship, the "war" with South Park, and Patrick Stewart. (And they shouted "Porn!" a lot. Hah.)

The studio guy is out of town for a few days and can't edit & prep the recording right away, so unfortunately it won't go live for a week or two. I'll point to the link when it's up.

Okay, my interview with the American Dad co-creators is tomorrow afternoon. Fantastic time to be coming down with a cold.

Here's my rough list of questions so far:

• What's the reaction you've seen to American Dad so far?
• With The Simpsons and (most recently) South Park taking shots at American Dad and Family Guy on the air, is there a cartoon war brewing?
• Any plans for a Canadian Dad? (Thanks Jesse.)
• What's your take on all the downloads of American Dad and other TV shows on places like BitTorrent?
• (Insert question here designed to get them to do any voices they've done on the shows. Mike = Terry, one of the two gay news co-anchors.)
• The show, and Stan's personification of the right wing especially, make plenty of fun of the more conservative side of America. Do you catch any flak for that?

Hmm, I have fewer questions than I thought. Any other suggestions? My brain is too muddled from the cold. Maybe I'll just wing it. What could go wrong?

My mom has been in town for the past 5 days, and flew back to Toronto this morning. I took some time off of work to show her around Seattle. I haven't done a whole lot of the tourist circuit, so it was a good time. We hit up:

• Pike Place Market
• A 2.5 hour narrated boat cruise
• The Ballard locks
• The Underground Tour
• The Arboretum
• The Seattle Aquarium
• Fremont
• An IMAX movie
• The Microsoft tour (main campus, my office, the company store, and the Microsoft Museum
• STOMP
• The Science Fiction Museum

We didn't go up the Space Needle - for some reason, no one I know from Canada seems too excited about this. Must be a CN Tower thing.

MSN TV's site producer, Dave, has offered me the chance to interview Mike Barker and Matt Weitzman, co-creators (along with Seth MacFarlane) of American Dad and writers on Family Guy. We'll record the interview and post it on the site. I'm psyched.

Please help me come up with questions! (I'm supposed to mostly ask questions revolving around American Dad, but I'm sure I'll also work a few Family Guy questions.)

Today we did the 4 mile MS Walk from Husky Stadium to Gasworks Park and back again. It was nice to do something unselfish for a great cause, but it felt a little strange to raise only the minimum amount of money required - I'm saving the big "please sponsor me" push for the MS 150 bike ride later this year.

I still don't own a car, since commuting via the bus + a bike has been much less of a hassle than I originally thought it would be. It also means no traffic stress, gets me exercise, and gives me the ability to get things done while commuting. The big downside is the lack of convenient mobility on the weekends. (At least I'll be able to partially fix that in 2 months with a Flexcar, which I'm currently unable to get due to, erm, problems on my driving history...)

Thanks to my commute, I've also realized that I really enjoy cycling. Since I need more past-times and hobbies besides working, I've decided to get into recreational cycling this year. The big goal will be to raise money to take part in the MS 150 Bike Tour, a 150 mile long, 2 day charity ride for multiple sclerosis. I'll also aim to do the Tour de Cure and the just-for-fun Flying Wheels Summer Century rides.

So I've been stocking up on cycling gear over the past few weeks to prepare. Here's all the stuff I've picked up:

• Short sleeved cycling shirt
• Cycling shorts
• Shimano shoes (though I don't have any cleats, since my bike has old-timey toe clip pedals)
• Sunglasses (with different lenses for different conditions)
• A patch kit
• Spare tube
• Tire levers
• A Swiss Army-like multifunction bike tool
• A new front tire (I've already replaced the original back tire and the front one is starting to show tears)

Hooray for a hobby!