This past week I was in Bellevue, Washington, for 2007 Transforming Local Government conference. Our team was presenting our rules for managing inhouse projects, and keeping them on “trek”. That’s right - it was a Star Trek themed performance, complete with uniforms, warp drive, a holodeck, and at least one pushy Ferengi. It was my first time on stage (to act, not to speak), and it seemed to go over rather well.
After presenting on Wednesday, our crew spent the majority of our remaining time seeing Washington. If you haven’t been, you should go - hearing me say “It’s absolutely beautiful” will not do it justice.
We drove into Redmond and through the Microsoft complex. It’s huge, with at least 41 buildings, several soccer and volleyball fields, and baseball diamond, and a handful of fountains. Oh, and geeks - lots of them, walking the streets.
Friday we had a full day, starting with a trip to the Boeing plant for a tour. Expect no pictures, as the tour guide, and security, were adamant that no cameras, cell phones, PDAs, or electronics of any kind were allowed on the tour, on pain of death and a tasering for good measure. The plant is huge (largest building in the world by volume), and can fit 990 soccer fields inside. The entire Disneyland resort can fit inside with 12 acres left over. Actually, that part might not be accurate - I can’t recall if the tour guide said it could fit it once, or thrice. Either way, it’s huge.
The plant has 6 hanger bays, 2 for each of the major planes they build there - the 747, 777, and the new 787 Dreamliner. Because security had closed the 777 and 787 bays to tours for that day (at least, that’s the convenient excuse), we only saw the 747 assembly area, but that alone was worth it. It takes a little over 4 months to build a plane. The facility is massive, and impressive.
After the Boeing plant we drove to Seattle to catch a seaplane for a 20 minute tour of Seattle by air. Very cool. After landing, we went up in the Space Needle, and stayed for about 2 hours, snapping pictures and several video scenes for the DVD we’re creating of the trip (and presentation).
All said, and excluding the terrible experiences flying to and from Seattle on Delta, the whole crew had a fantastic time. Next conference that goes to Seattle, I’m there.
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