And now for something completely different

I'd just like to say that, so far, working for Microsoft is the best job I've ever had. Ever. Ever ever ever. Not only do I get to actually write code for interesting, new, cutting-edge research technologies, but I get paid a reasonable salary plus astonishingly good benefits to do so. And the political maneuvering is not bad at all; I'm still only a software development engineer (SDE), but I'm being fairly successful at inserting myself into good projects and there isn't that much push-back yet. I suppose we'll see how successful a strategy I'm pursuing come semi-annual review time.