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<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="http://blogs.technet.com/utility/FeedStylesheets/rss.xsl" media="screen"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"><channel><title>Pieces of me on community... : personal</title><link>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/tags/personal/default.aspx</link><description>Tags: personal</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><generator>CommunityServer 2.1 SP1 (Build: 61025.2)</generator><item><title>Five things I love about Microsoft</title><link>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/2008/12/19/five-things-i-love-about-microsoft.aspx</link><pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2008 22:03:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:3171354</guid><dc:creator>b2ix</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><comments>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/comments/3171354.aspx</comments><wfw:commentRss>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/commentrss.aspx?PostID=3171354</wfw:commentRss><description>&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Giving&lt;/STRONG&gt; -- As someone who does a lot in the community, I really appreciate the fact that Microsoft spends a lot of money each year to support those organizations where I volunteer.&amp;nbsp; Whether it's matching my time with money, or matching dollar for dollar, Microsoft's commitment to the community is inspiring.&amp;nbsp; Expand this out to some 90,000 employees and the amount that Microsoft gives to the community is staggering.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Learning&lt;/STRONG&gt; -- Pretty much everyone you meet at Microsoft is interested in learning about something.&amp;nbsp; Perhaps this is why they have so many incredible speakers come through.&amp;nbsp; Whether it's authors like Malcolm Gladwell, global innovators like Muhammad Yunus, and former President Bill Clinton, there's always someone fascinating that comes to Microsoft to share their thoughts.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Global perspective&lt;/STRONG&gt; -- With offices world wide, and software and services that reach well beyond the geographic footprint of Microsoft, the need to work and play well on a global level is always front and center in planning.&amp;nbsp; Having this global perspective is very beneficial in ensuring the right products, services and messaging is delivered.&amp;nbsp; I personally don't know of many places that really take this to heart.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;Diversity&lt;/STRONG&gt; -- From my perspective, the diversity at Microsoft is comparable to that which you'd find in New York City.&amp;nbsp; Microsoft works with people from all different backgrounds, experiences, opinions, and the like.&amp;nbsp; Not your typical perspective of a Microsoftie, now is it?&amp;nbsp; One new blog that profiles many different Microsoft perspectives is &lt;A class="" href="http://www.microspotting.com/" mce_href="http://www.microspotting.com/"&gt;Microspotting&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;&lt;STRONG&gt;People&lt;/STRONG&gt; -- the company would not be where it is today were it not for the passion and dedication of so many individuals.&amp;nbsp; From contract employees, vendors, interns, partners, and of course the full time employees, Microsoft draws an incredible range of smart, talented, and incredible individuals.&amp;nbsp; &lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;It is with that though, I must bid farewell to a company I dedicated my last eight years to (six as a vendor with MSN Games, and two as a full time employee with the teams responsible for MSDN, TechNet and Expression).&amp;nbsp; It's time for me to move on and pursue new opportunities.&amp;nbsp; To all the people in games, community, and elsewhere at Microsoft who I worked with over the last several years, you have my thanks and admiration!&lt;/P&gt;&lt;img src="http://blogs.technet.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=3171354" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/tags/personal/default.aspx">personal</category><category domain="http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/tags/community/default.aspx">community</category></item><item><title>hello world (again, and again...)</title><link>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/2007/01/10/hello-world-again-and-again.aspx</link><pubDate>Wed, 10 Jan 2007 03:29:00 GMT</pubDate><guid isPermaLink="false">d5e57398-b9ef-4490-9955-07cbb4e4a80d:588406</guid><dc:creator>b2ix</dc:creator><slash:comments>0</slash:comments><comments>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/comments/588406.aspx</comments><wfw:commentRss>http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/commentrss.aspx?PostID=588406</wfw:commentRss><description>&lt;P&gt;Hi again.&amp;nbsp; I'm going to be building out this blog to house all of my work related items.&amp;nbsp; Stay tuned for more info.&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;P&gt;In the mean time, some pieces of me may be found at:&lt;/P&gt;
&lt;UL&gt;
&lt;LI&gt;&lt;A class="" href="http://shinescafe.spaces.live.com/" mce_href="http://shinescafe.spaces.live.com"&gt;shine's cafe&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;
&lt;LI&gt;&lt;A class="" href="http://b2ix.spaces.live.com/" mce_href="http://b2ix.spaces.live.com"&gt;my other spaces site&lt;/A&gt;&lt;/LI&gt;
&lt;LI&gt;my &lt;A class="" href="http://b2ix.blogspot.com/" mce_href="http://b2ix.blogspot.com"&gt;personal &lt;/A&gt;site&lt;/LI&gt;&lt;/UL&gt;&lt;img src="http://blogs.technet.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=588406" width="1" height="1"&gt;</description><category domain="http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/tags/personal/default.aspx">personal</category><category domain="http://blogs.technet.com/b2ix/archive/tags/general/default.aspx">general</category></item></channel></rss>