Bruce Dawson shows that he can go just as far, or farther, on one wheel. He commutes 15 miles a day to work and recently finished a 500-mile team unicycle relay race across Nova Scotia.
By Jennifer Warnick
July 3, 2008
A lot about Bruce Dawson’s life can be explained with numbers, starting with the number 1. That’s how many wheels Dawson, a software design engineer in the Games group, uses to commute almost eight miles each way to work on an Avondale Road bike path in Redmond.
He averages 12 to 14 miles per hour (19 to 23 kilometers per hour) on his unicycle. On a recent training ride in Fremont, he achieved speeds of 16 to 17 mph (26 to 27 km/h). When pedaling to work or on the Sammamish and Burke Gilman bike trails, he routinely passes bicycles. “Anybody out for a casual ride is likely to be passed,” Dawson said. “It’s kind of a cruel pleasure I allow myself.”
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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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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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Five times Fola Adeleke-Adedoyin interviewed for an internship. He finally got it, and ultimately, his blue badge.
By Brian Donohue
Growing up in Nigeria, Fola Adeleke-Adedoyin didn’t even see the Internet or a Microsoft product until he was 15. Once he did, he knew he wanted to pursue a technology career. He had no idea, though, how much pursuit it would entail.
A middle-class background, solid academic skills, and competitive swimming talent gave him the opportunity to attend Howard University in Washington, D.C. Fola worked on a four-year degree in systems and computer science. Each year, Microsoft visited the historically black campus to interview for internships and full-time positions. Each year Fola showed up, hopeful, but left empty-handed.
Others might have given up, but Fola didn’t. Now he sits in a Sammamish, Washington, office, wearing a blue Microsoft badge and a well-earned smile about his application developer job.
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