Vivid Dreaming

I had this strangely vivid dream today. I was at Microsoft as part of an ongoing vendor presentation, perhaps a part two. I was with two other people from my company. We were there early and people were still setting up in a large conference room. A buzz of activity permeated the room, people moving busily in and out. White tablecloths draped two long rows of tables, one row on each side of the room, seats of each row facing the other. At the far end, raised, was another row of tables. I think microphones were positioned on those tables. An InFocus projector cast a blue backdrop onto the distant screen behind the head table.

I set my black laptop bag down and wandered out of the large conference room. A door just outside was white and had a blue logo on it - like a bathroom door in a public place. But as I approached it I could see that someone had taped up a piece of paper with another blue logo, I can't remember of what, making it clear that the door did not lead to a bathroom. I recall thinking in my dream, People probably used to walk through that door all the time thinking it's a bathroom. Not far from there I found the actual bathroom door with the universal "men's room" symbol.

Stepping inside to take care of business (Did I need to in real life? Not urgently I found out later.), I found the men's room a very sanitary-looking multi-hued tiled chamber. I approached a futuristic urinal that was wide and tall, set into the wall with shiny chrome fixtures. In the "splash area" was a big glossy many-colored poster that asked me to help with a usability study: someone wants to understand whether I like to stand close or far away. Complete with diagrams. I thought, impressed, Wow, Microsoft doesn't miss any details. In the dream, I took it seriously, though in retrospect it's pretty ridiculous.

As I headed for the sinks I saw someone leaving through a second door in the back. He looked my way, looked away and back again, and then left quickly. I recognized him and called after him, Thomas! He had hurried out, as if he didn't want to have to talk with me. I quickly put my hand under the soap dispenser, which was shiny and though small, automatically detected my presense and squirted some white foamy soap. I hurried out after Thomas, into an unfamiliar office corridor.

I remember soft classical music was piped into the hallway, and the walls were designer painted, rich burgundy here, cool blue there. It wasn't a sterile feeling; it was warm and inviting. It may have been carpted. I remember vaguely thinking, This is a good idea - helps with productivity. And why not? People were busy heading this way or that in the hall. A bit like being in school between classes. I peered into some of the meeting rooms hoping to catch a glimpse of Thomas. Nothing. Eventually I realized I had to return to my own meeting, and I found my way back into the big conference room.

People were getting seated. I looked around for my two colleagues and found them on the right side table. I grabbed my bag after having to look around for it a bit and headed over. I have a vivid memory of seeing coffee cups and crumbs from pastries as I searched for a place to sit. Someone from Microsoft on the dias had put up the first of our company's slides. But the projector had pixilated the display, and the Microsoft guy made some comment about it. Amy, who sat to my left, reached over and pressed a button on the InFocus projector. That fixed the problem right away. I remember being proud of the slide presentation we had brought. Just as the meeting was about to begin, I woke up.

I don't quite know what to make of this one. I think it's a bit of an amalgam of my recent conference/meeting with Sequoia where everyone sat at a U-shaped white tablecloth table, plus my trips up to Microsoft (where the facilities are a bit more mundane), plus my recent flurry of PowerPoint slide creation for work, plus having recently read Joel Spolsky's Bionic Office, plus we're about to relocate at work, not to a place as nice as Joel's.

My brain is strange. I would like to make some suggestions on our new digs though: even doing some colorful paint.

- posted by Joe @ 12:35 PM

 
After reading and following a number of blogs for a long time now, and having tried, enjoyed and bought a license for NewsGator recently, I'm going to give this blogging thing a try myself. I'm pretty busy in general, so probably won't post a blog daily - but who knows!
- posted by Joe @ 12:10 PM