SC0855_b51_f08_Diary_1985

August 17 through December 31, 1985

Since the middle of the summer I have not written a diary. The last day on which I wrote in a book was July 31 the day that I met with Kaycee Kristi and decided that Personal Accountant was dead. Even so I made one last plea for it in my August 7 progress report but on August 16 (mid quarter) Ida Cole told me that Microsoft had decided to shelve the product indefinitely. That weekend I went to San Diego and Laguna Beach and ended up with a terminated relationship with Bruce Spencer.

The next 6 weeks I began by finishing report generation and various odds and ends for Personnal Accountant. Bob and I have continued to use the software especially in the last 3 months (see below). Next I started to look at Microsoft Windows the IBM AT and the EGA card. In anticipation of helping with Windows Works I began to look at Mouseworks and Excel on the Mac comparing them. Then I set up my AT and EGA and studied Windows technical details via the example applications in the Programers guide. I concluded this work period by a progress report October 4.

Over that same six weeks I took 3 trips to LA: one in Aug 21 & 22 immediately after my breakup with Bruce one Labor Day Weekend and one Sept 21-24. Just before the third LA trip I consolidated many feelings about where to live next deciding that LA would be best. Immediately after the third LA trip, I listed problems with LA OC and SD. I concluded Southern California was out.

Because the next 2 weekends in Seattle hurt me I took a trip the next weekend (Oct 11-14) to SF but before starting the weekend I sat in Stanford Library Friday afternoon and wrote up my expectations. SF did not live up to them and I wrote up the outcome of my visit. However I did have a beautiful Sunday afternoon at GG park and a fun evening with Steve Markham at the I-Beam.

(These four papers are all written on yellow paper and can be found in the souvenir stack. They are thorough and a good reminder of my feelings.)

I havent been to California since that trip to SF except for a very quick and dirty weekend in LA October 26 for the beginning of Halloween week. I went down Friday afternoon and returned Monday morning. Pegasus went too. Given that today is December 31 that was the last trip of 1985.

One element which may have colored my whole experience this fall is the Amitriptyline which Dr. Kuharic prescribed when I visited him Oct 19. That is a lightweight antifepressan which for the first two weeks made me feel

very drowsy so I have a feeling that it may have made me less sharp than I normally am at work. But it helped me through the autumn. I stopped taking it a week ago because January has always been a positive month for me and I want to approach the new year as the real me.

Since the last progress report October 4 I have not written any progress reports because I havent felt like it. First it feels off not to be working for Bill even if he hasnt been involved with my work for quite some time. And its odd to have a project leader like Tony who technically has been my boss and who wears blue jeans to work. Hes smart but no style and he giggles too much. I cant bring myself to give him a progress report. Consequentially for my own memoirs I will describe this quarters work here.

One of the first things I did this quarter was request to exercise my stock options. On October 9 I formally asked to exercise all the options that had vested so far specifically 26250 shares. I did this because I was afraid that if I wanted to leave Bill would unilaterally refuse to fulfill the grant and it would cause me hassle grief and frustration. I didnt want that uncertainty. And at the September company meeting Bill said the fair market value was $5.50 per share so I was sure it was a good investment that I didnt want to risk losing the right to since it would only cost me $0.475/share. I have subsequently fully paid for those shares as well as the last 3750 shares and placed both certificates into a safe deposit box.

As my first task instead of creating a small Windows application as an exercise Tony and I felt it would be good to move the current character based Multiplan onto my AT. That turned out to be a very good exercise in learning to use Microsoft (Cmerge) C. After setting up Windows development files and an environment for working on C code I compiled as many of the current Multiplan (2.00) modules as were applicable to the future Windows Works and got them to link albeit with quite a few undefined externals.

Next I moved onto the more rewarding task of updating the Windows Multiplan (Wimp) that Karl Stork had working last spring. There have been several changes to Windows since then so it was a challenge to modify the code appropriately to make it work again. Learning to do this and debugging the code were at least as good an exercise as creating a small application of my own would have been. Parts of the sources were in various directories on the Windows Development network but I eventually got a full set of sources and a full set of laser listings. After this work Plan could come up and it was possible to move the curser around and see it change as it passed from area to area on the screen. You could even select a cell and enter a number and

use the menu to format the cell. And you could setup a formula in another cell that depends on the first cell.

I was so into this work that I sacrificed my own dignity and had very quick lunches by myself and had dinner almost every night at Wendys. That is not good for me since I feel like I should develop more personality character and a dear set of friends.

Also during this early period of the quarter there were also some design meetings primarily with Ross Hunter Tony and Jeff and occasionally with Bill Gates and Jody Snodgras. I did not contribute much to these meetings because I really didnt care much about the design of the product. Bill noticed this when we all met in late October and said via email October 31 that he was surprised that I wasnt more vocal in the meeting and said it is critical that I write and design and communicate at high bandwidth and show technical leadership.

In the same memo of October 31 Bill said he decided that leaving my salary alone and not having a bonus is fair. After some thought I agreed about the bonus and wrote up a 3 page memo to myself why basically because I hadnt worked full-time all the time. But I felt that my salary and/or options should increase because I now have skills I didnt have two years ago: I have experience designing and researching a product I have worked on all aspects independently Ive created a full-featured SS & DB app in a window environment I know the Mac and Windows environments I have CDP Certificate Also I should get at least and 8% raise due to increase in the CPI.

Also Bills memo didnt mention more stock options even though my current grant ran out November 16 the fourth anniversary of my coming to Microsoft. But I didnt want to say anything until I got my first 26250 shares into a vault which I did on November 12. Therefore on November 14 I emailed a memo to Bill asking what Microsoft was willing to grant me in the future. And on Monday November 18 sent a request to exercise the final 3750 shares.

The first half of this quarter had some fun moments. I already talked about SF on Oct 11-14. The next Sunday I went shopping for a new gym because I was fed up with the Body Nautilus after they tried to charge me a $10 late fee. I found the PumpHouse gym in Bellevue. The next weekend I was in LA for Halloween as Peg going to Chris Haywards party and the Probe. (Sheehean and Dean...) Neighbours threw a fun party on Halloween night. I

wore Pandors Pegs Harness and my own orange/black punk wig and danced with the four Cathy Clones (Ken Kaleel was one) and with John Goodman (Dan Donahues old beau) who I took home. And Saturday Nov 2 was the party at the Aquarium which I went to as a diver with green seaweed and a lavender eel. Carol Channing was there so we sang Hello Dolly as she descended the staircase. The next Saturday Nov 9 Bob and I went to Lucia De Lamermoor and then with Gary Vaughn briefly to Stop Making Sense at the Egyptian and then I took John home again with me. On Saturday Nov 16 I drove Bob and Gary to the Vashon Ferry which they missed so we had dinner in West Seattle and then I went shopping at Fredericks till midnite and dancing afterward at Neighbours. That makes Seattle seem like a really sophisticated city...

Also during the first half of the quarter I reviewed the piano lessons I had taken in 1982 and 1983. Then on Tuesday November 19 I began taking lessons from David Burns who recently moved back from San Diego.

Starting the second half of this quarter I put aside Wimp for awhile and decided that I felt that the SS/DB part of Works was important and I compared Excel and Mouseworks with the works spec to see if Works has everything I want/ I did this Mon Nov 18 through Wed morning and then Wed afternoon had a meeting with Tony Bill and Ed to discuss the spec. I was quite vocal during that meeting.

On Wed night I had felt that I wanted to stay at home and get accounting for depreciation and losses done. On Thurs morning it started to snow hard and it kept snowing hard all day so I had my excuse! It felt GREAT to stay home and get personal things done. I didnt go to work Friday either. Saturday and Sunday were also spent doing miscellaneous jobs and accounting except for brunch with Mom and Dad at Spinkers in Shilshole.

The next Monday I had to talk with the CBT group together with Tony. It felt strange for him to take the leading role in those discussions. After 10 years with Microsoft and 4 years recently in Bellvue one would think I would be off the bottom rung! On Tuesday Ed Bill Tony and I met to talk about reports and forms. Good meeting. (After piano lesson David and I went to Michaels for hottub; it snowed hard that night). And Wednesday (the last day before Thanksgiving break), all I did was put new Masm into system and Tony broached subject of managing testing which sounded good at the time.

Also that Wednesday Bill Gates offered to grant me 2000 shares over 4 years. Thats just 500 a year compared to the 30000 I already have. I can

invest only $4.40 times 500 or $2750 per year and the shares wont be appreciating as fast as the previous ones. I was not inspired and enthused.

Then on Thanksgiving I did more accounting getting the book values for investments accurate and using Excel to present market values of investments. Very nice day even though I just spent it alone accounting. I went to Edgewater for dinner with parents and Emily. The rest of the break was spend on personal odd jobs finishing accounting and market evaluation gym and Mom and Emilys birthday Saturday Nov 30 (shopping and Wharf). On Sunday evening I helped Bob print reports showing budget for Dec 1985 and the first quarter of 1986.

The next week Starting Mon Dec 2 I worked on Wimp more studying flow of control to and from Windows via Symdeb to feel really confident that I understand Windows from a technical point of view. Tuesday evening I was really into finishing my accounting so after piano lesson I finally unraveled Henry Kuharics bill to me. I took Thursday to do odd jobs.

Friday because I had the options response and the check for the 3750 shares had cleared I finally emailed Bill my feelings that I should have at least a CPI raise. Also that day my AT hard disk was replaced and I worked on Wimp some more and on Saturday all day too. That evening I watched the first part of Victor/Victoria on TV and went to Fredericks very late and then dancing at Neighbours. Sunday after the gym Bob and I dressed up and went to Bill Morgans crowded Christmas party and then to the Seattle Counseling Center for their charity auction at which I bought a $250 German Parlor table and various crystal and Porcelain. Good time.

On Mon Dec 9 I studied the new Works spec and finished Wimp dialogs in the evening so that I could distribute it at the design meeting Tuesday morning where the whole group (but not Bill) met. Tuesday afternoon I finally wrote up a note on why Personal Accountant cant help consumers. Wednesday morning I went to the first dental checkup since Aug 84 and in the afternoon I had a project scheduling meeting with Tony Bill Bader Ed Ringness and Jeff. I didnt contribute much and was unexcited.

Thursday morning Dec 12 I went to the gym and picked up the final 3750 Microsoft shares and put the certificate in the safe deposit box. In the afternoon I talked with Mark Moeller about testing. In the evening I took home and put away all my Pers Acct notes. Friday afternoon I talked with Jeff and Tony about testing. I couldnt WAIT to be done with that meeting and get away. That night was the Microsoft Christmas party at the Westin the first one I ever went to. It wasnt bad on coffee and Schnapps. Talked