Wow. Having lived in Los Angeles from '81-'04 (now in Seattle). The most exposure I've had to snow and extreme cold is Vegas in the winter and ski and snowboard trips to Big Bear and Mammoth Mountain. Most don't consider this to be "real snow". These locations are an hour or so outside of Los Angeles and serve as the place where everyone floods to escape the city for a weekend of fun. Often more drinking and socializing is done than actual snow sports. Anyway, a few days worth of snow must serve for weeks of fun and thousands of people. Of course after a while the snow becomes quite dirty and slushy. "Fake snow" must be created and sprayed over the old snow each night. So imagine my surprise upon flying to Detroit to be met with bitter cold and white stuff mysteriously falling out of the sky. At first I was a lil' annoyed but as the sun came up the whole scene grew on me. I felt like I was in a movie. It was dark and snowing pretty heavily when I landed so I had some trouble finding the hotel. I actually had to whip out my laptop at a red light and use Microsoft Streets and Trips 2005 to find my hotel (Thanks guys!).
 This was my first time attending a career fair representing an employer and I was a little nervous. However, I found the whole experience to be fun and unstressful. First, I drove to Ann Arbor to the University of Michigan campus. This was very beautiful and I had lots of fun checking out the campus (impressive!) and observing how people who live there handle the heavy snow fall and move on with their daily lives. People didn't seem to mind the snow and simply strolled to class and chatted with their Wolverine buddies. Same vibe the next day at Michigan State at Lansing (also impressive). I guess it doesn't bother you if you live there. The students at both campuses were very interested in MS and its products. Most seemed capable and eager to begin their careers.
 All I could think of was myself and how nervous I felt at my first career fair during my freshman year. I gathered up the courage to talk to Microsoft and here I am years later. The journey has already been rewarding on many levels and I feel that it will only get better. So, I tried to be as encouraging as possible to everyone I talked to.  Their was a steady stream of bright students approaching our table to discuss possible internships and jobs in all types of fields. Other companies who were located near our table commented on how they were glad that they got some of our traffic. Other companies were not so happy about us having the most traffic. But we all managed to have a good time, enjoy free food, share giveaways with each other, trade stories, and even recommend students whom we had just met to one another. This trip showed me that MS has a great relationship with the present and the future. Nice.

Stan