How we got to Microsoft, Vol 1

My wife and I decided to accept the offer presented by MSFT on or about March 25th. We had received the initial offer on 5/21.

The decision to accept the offer was a tough one for us. It meant leaving everything we were familiar with, and moving approximately 3,000 miles away. We moved just about as far as you can, and still be in this country at the start and end of the move.

Following our acceptance of the offer, we started talking to MSFT relo. The young woman who was assigned to help us is named Denise. Denise was/is amazing. She answered every one of my numerous questions, and was very responsive, even when I was having her paged at 9 and 10 at night.

The first step in the process is a house hunting trip. We came out to Redmond for 5 days, to look for a place to live. That was quite an experience. Housing in the Seattle area is rare, to say the least. We spent most of the 5 days looking at houses to rent, and didn't find one that met our needs.

This failure to find a home was less stressful than it might have been, since we were already set up for temporary housing, on MSFT's tab.

We left the area without a permanent home, but having fallen even more in love with the area. We were starting to get really excited about the move.

Our housing trip was in April, around the 20th or so. I was scheduled to start at MSFT on May 15th.