Employees say 150-mile “run of misery” across the Gobi Desert will test their limits, march them closer to their customers.
By Robin Dalmas
MSW Senior Editor
June 2, 2008
A masochist’s dream starts June 8. That’s when employees Orlando Ayala, Debby Fry Wilson, and William Calarese will begin an epic 150-mile (241.4-km) foot race across the Gobi Desert, a grueling rite of passage journey from Gazi to Upal in China’s Xinjiang Province. It’s called the Gobi March, and it’s built for pain.
The Gobi will punish them with 40°F (4.4°C) nights and 100°F (37.8°C) days. Its 10,000-foot (3,048-meter) mountain passes will squeeze their lungs. Sudden sandstorms could choke their oxygen supply, blow away their tents, and render the course invisible. And there are no bathrooms.
“It’s pretty much a comfort-free activity,” said Debby Fry Wilson, team captain.
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Steve Clayton likes the forest.
The geek in question: Steve Clayton
The job title: Software plus Services Lead
Let’s start with the easy stuff – what are you working on right now?
I’m working on Software plus Services strategy in a part of the company called Microsoft International.
You were also involved in that whole Blue Monster thing a year or two back, right? How is the Blue Monster aging?
Hugh McLeod did the cartoon, and he was just asking me, “What should we do now?”
I said, “We don’t do anything. We created this thing that’s out there — it splits opinion and inspires dialog. It’s got a life of its own.” I don’t push it, but I still get mail from people about it.
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Dana Badeen IS the empire
Like anyone who works in marketing, I have a lot of crappy swag tshirts. These shirts are almost all poorly fitting (too big!), poorly designed (massive logo!), and of poor quality.
So when it came time to make some Microspotting tshirts, I was insistent: I would only make swag if it was something I would actually wear. Swag that fit, swag that felt good, swag that looked good, and bonus points for making me laugh.
Enter the Microspotting tshirts.
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Fola has a wingspan of over six feet
The geek in question: Fola Adeleke-Adedoyin
The job title: Developer, MSIT Relationship Experience Division (RXD)
So what are you working on?
I’m a developer with MSSolve, the Microsoft Services business incident management solution, which is on track to replace a 12-year Clarify legacy system with a Microsoft technology stack such as WPF, WCF, MS CRM Dynamics 4.0 (titan), and much more.
Goodness. I see you like acronyms. How long have you been at Microsoft, Land of the Acronym (LotA)?
A year and a half — although I did a six-month internship before that.
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