In a Blue State of
Mind
Or
A short biography
about Me
It all started with
a nine year old girl begging her father for an Apple IIe for
Christmas…
Several computers later, and a brief
quandary as to whether to pursue fashion design or computer programming as a
career, I’m pleased to report “none of the above”. I’m currently employed
with Expedia, in the marketing department, handling the operational
aspects for our database/email marketing team. Prior to that, I
worked as a contract employee in the Seattle tech industry, most recently at
Microsoft in the Xbox division. As a result, I’ve earned sufficient
gamer-geek creds for “Coolest. Job. Ever.” Officially, I was
the Associate Site Manager/Content Coordinator for Xbox.com handling various
content and project management responsibilities for all things Xbox Live.
I worked with everyone from executive, product development, marketing, PR, and
account managers to publishers and vendors in order to get our content published
on the website.
I was born and raised in Longview, WA, a
place that has two unique claims to fame. One, it was the “first planned
city” (the only other one in the US is Washington, D.C.). Second, the band
Green Day wrote a song about the town. I begin my career path working in a
bookstore and handling most of the computer-related and newsletter creation
tasks. After four years, I got hired at a small computer shop doing tech
support and inside sales. I’ve always been in love with big cities and the
idea of moving to Seattle was a constant nag. Fortunately, I had a number
of friends and acquaintances. One in particular gave me the contact
information of a technical recruiter. Maybe it was serendipity, or perhaps
because we were still in the dot.com boom, I landed a one-year contract at
Microsoft in 1999. I worked on both MSN Search and Encarta
Encyclopedia as a Software Test Engineer. Over the next few years, I would
land contracts at Adobe, MS, and local start-ups, increasing my skills as a
tester. In 2002, I was recommended for the beta coordinator position for
the upcoming launch of the Xbox Live online gaming service. It was the
first step into where I wanted to be career-wise… Project Management.
Fast Forward to the present, where I
am now attending Washington State University to finish my degree
in Management Information Systems, while juggling full-time
employment.
You may not have guessed it, but some
of my hobbies include gaming. My current favorites right now are D&D
3rd edition, City of Heroes and World of Warcraft for the PC, Animal Crossing,
Osu Tatakae Ouendan, and Age of Empires for the DS Lite, Final Fantasy
Tactics on my Game Boy, card games, board games and more. Other things I
enjoy are gadgets, gizmos, knitting, dancing, anime, music, single malt scotch,
and my favorite color is blue. I’m not married, but my boyfriend and I are
very committed to each other. He’s a computer technician/support analyst,
and shares my wacky outlook on life. We have a Russian blue cat
named Zelda and someday we hope to add an english bulldog to the
family.