Bill's turn

Coincidentally, my last post was about seeing Hillary speak at Microsoft; this time I'll just mention in brief my vain attempt to see Bill speak at Microsoft on Friday. Again, I only found out the day prior because of warnings from Facilities about extra security that day in and around Building 33. Unfortunately he was going to speak at 9am, which meant my getting up rather earlier than I was accustomed to! Hard as it was, I managed to get up in time but I should have known that demand would be high -- only members of MSPAC were going to be allowed in the same room, and I pitied the optimistic souls lining up outside in the freezing cold on the hope that there'd be spare seats. Instead, I decided to watch in the "overflow" room in Cafe 34, where they had a live video feed.

Bill's a good speaker, and he touched mainly on topics like the environment and the poor. Not sure why he was visiting, except that it was the end of Microsoft's annual giving campaign that is held in October, and Steve B was even there to receive him. (Speaking of giving, Microsoft employees managed to donate $72 million this year.) I do wish I could have had the opportunity to be in the same room and feel the vibe that he's supposed to give off. He was certainly polished in the same way Hillary was polished, but with less of the guardedness that comes from running in a Presidential campaign. Bill did say something striking -- the year he entered office, 1993, there was a grand total of 50 websites. That's incredible, that the web has become so much a part of our every day lives that it's hard to evoke a time where it didn't exist... that, and the fact that it was 14 years ago since he became President!