gon' head and download internet explorer 8 beta 2. it's good stuff
http://www.microsoft.com/ie8

and, you can read more about it here and here

i plan on making a post this weekend for other updates. holla!

so, i've been a for real for real employee with microsoft for a week now :-). i had orientation for the first day + half alongside about 200 other new employees. on tues afternoon, i got a chance to meet up with my boss for lunch, meet others in the dept, and check out my office (yep, my office ;-). the rest of the week was spent setting up my office, my computers, getting access to files, fillin out more paperwork, and meeting other folk. good times y'all, good times.
it was also a nice surprise to see that one of my former freshman floormates ray is workin at microsoft, too. we caught up over lunch on friday. it was good to see a familiar face.
my mommy, shannon, and granny flew back home on tuesday nite :-(. that was a long drive to the airport. of course (praise Jesus), they made it home safely early the next morning. i miss you shannon!

on saturday evening, i had the pleasure of kickin it with the seidels. daniel, a student that i met while i was an intervarsity intern, is from seattle and told his family that i was relocating to seattle. of course, i got a chance to meet his family, but daniel is in ethiopia.... so, yep, i went to the seidel's home for dinner, and i ain't never met them before in my life. but, they totally welcomed me into their home. i met the family and some family friends, had a great dinner (mrs. seidel threw down in the kitchen), and s'mores in the backyard. i wish i had brought my camera!
afterwards, i hung out with luke (daniel's older brother) and his friends for catchphrase. good times y'all, good times.

sunday was off the chain. after church (at mt. zion baptist church), i met up with yasmin, who's on staff with intervarsity at u-dub. marshae, who's on staff in portland, was in town visiting yasmin, and david's (yasmin's husband) parents were in town, too. so, we all went to brunch at a vegan restuarant (don't worry-- i'm not vegan y'all), and it was pretty good (but i'll never admit it to my vegan dad).
yasmin and david took marshae and me downtown to check out some of the sights. we took a ride on the water taxi (pics below) across puget sound and went walkin around west seattle. we then went to dinner and saw iron man at the theater. so, yeah, i didn't plan on this when i left for church this mornin, it just kinda.... happened. and, yeah, i didn't get home until 1am, so i'm still adjusting to not being in college anymore ;-)  but, don't worry; i did get to work on time and had a productive day (don't yell at me momma...).

it's so cool to see God provide for me like this: hanging out with people that, initially, i barely knew but instantly connected with. that's how tight the Body of Christ can be. good times y'all, good times.

by the way, i put captions on all of the pics that i post on my blog. simply hover on them for more details.... holla!

so, i've used my one-way ticket and it's been 3 days since i've arrived in the emerald city. so far, so good:

• i got in on wed afternoon and, after getting my luggage, went to the counter to get my rental car. so, the guy was like, "how about a hummer h3?" and i was like "okay..." in my expected sarcastic tone. well... sarcasm lost to reality as he handed me the keys to a hummer h3, which i gleefully drove out the garage.
  my mom, lil sis shannon, and granny arrived later wed evening. after picking them up, we picked up the keys to my temp apt and brought our bags in. we immediately became comfortable after a long day of traveling.
  
• the next day, we went shopping and stocking up on stuff for me to have for the month, especially in the grocery department :-). mad props to granny and momma
• today, we went downtown to do touristy stuff. we went to the top of the space needle to look over seattle and beyond. we also walked through the pike place market, which was hustling and bustling with people, produce, and (of course) fish being tossed around at one of seafood stands. granny bought some ears of fresh corn, and i bought some rainier cherries. then, we went to red robin for a late lunch only to come back to the apartment for each of us to enter into our own food comas.
  

prayer points
- my new employee orientation is mon/tues. pray for favor, excitement, and openness
- sage and wisdom as i start makin grown decisions
- whatever else you think of if you think of me :-)

holla!