LWSD - Logging into laptops for the first time

 Getting Started - Setting up your school laptop for Microsoft Teams 

After picking up a school laptop for our 5th grader this week, I got things set up for our upcoming first week of remote learning.  I wanted to share some nitty-gritty details for other families getting ready.  Although this walkthrough is geared for the Windows Surface laptop we received, if it would be helpful to add sections for specific tablets or other platforms, please reach out and I’ll see what I can do! 

 

Step 1: Log into Skyward on another device & find 7 digit student ID: 

1. I always find the login page by going to https://www.lwsd.org/students-families/for-students-and-families and clicking on the green “Skyward” button. 
2. Log in.  If you don’t know your Login ID or password, click “Forgot your Login/Password” link.  As a hint, this Login ID is likely 5 digits of your last name, 3 digits of your first name, and 3 numbers.  Hermoine Granger’s login might look like GrangHer000.  You likely have a Skyward account in addition to your student having one. 
3. Click on “Student Info” tab 
4. Find the 7 digit “Other ID” number. 

Step 2: Log into new student laptop 

1. Student name should already be available as a login. 
2. For the password, replace the zeros with the 7 digit student number and enter this: 21Stu#0000000 
3. Note that the “S” is capital and “tu” are lowercase.  If T’Challa’s student number was 1234567, his password would be: 21Stu#1234567 

Step 3: Logging on to the internet 

1. In the lower right corner of the screen, find the icon that looks like a wireframe globe.  Click it. 
2. Find your home wireless router and log in. 
3. At the top of the list is something that says “Elementary DirectAccess.”  This may be where people can log in to hotspots, once you receive that info, although I don’t have any details on that yet. 

 

Step 4: Adjusting brightness (optional) 

If the default brightness is too dim, you can adjust it quickly.   

1. Minimize any open windows and right-click the desktop. 
2. Click “Display Settings.” 
3. Adjust the brightness bar at the top of the screen. 

 

 

Step 5: Change background picture (optional) 

This isn’t an urgent startup task, but after changing the display brightness it’s a quick thing to make the laptop fun and welcoming.  Note that this can be a great way to keep math tables, sight-word for reading, reminders, family pictures, or fun student-selected pictures nearby. 

1. Minimize any open windows and right-click the desktop 
2. Select “Personalize” 
3. Under “Choose your picture” click the “Browse” button.   
4. Select any picture that has been downloaded.  If you want to send a picture that isn’t on the internet, you can e-mail your student’s e-mail account or save it to their OneDrive account, and from either of those places it can be downloaded to the laptop. 

 

Step 6: Adding wired headphones (only necessary if you don’t have Bluetooth headphones) 

Have you ever been to an event and heard microphone feedback?  It happens when a microphone sends the regular microphone input + the background audio from speakers back to the speakers.  Then, the speakers project the microphone input that had repeated speaker audio and creates a “feedback loop” with ultimately distorted audio.  It doesn’t sound great. 

During conference calling, a smaller scale of this can happen if the laptop microphone picks up audio from the speakers.  Instead of a screeching sound that you might hear when big microphones & speakers create feedback loops at events, students might hear echoed audio in their speakers, which makes it really frustrating for them to participate in group discussions.   

The best way to prevent this is to wear headphones so that the laptop microphone doesn’t pick up audio.  Headphones with microphones aren’t necessary as the laptop microphone still works.  Some kind of headphones, whether wired or Bluetooth, are important, though. 

Here is some info on connecting wired headphones.  The next section will walk through connecting Bluetooth headphones. 

1. Click the white square Windows button in the lower left corner to bring up the Start Menu. 
2. In the textbox that says, “Type here to search” type this: Sound 
3. Click “Sound settings.” 
4. Plug in your wired headphones (if they’re not Bluetooth.)  If you have light up headphones that have both an audio jack & a USB plug, and if don’t have a USB port on your laptop, don’t worry.  Most headphones with both audio jacks and USB plugs are for lights on headphones.  As long as you can plug in the audio jack to the audio port, they should function fine, even if they don’t light up.   
5. Under “Choose your output device” select “Headphones” 
6. Under “Master volume” slide the volume bar around so that it’s the right volume. 
7. 
8. If you don’t hear out of your headphones, check the headphones cord.  Sometimes there is a volume slider on fancy headphone cords. 

 

Step 7: Adding Bluetooth devices (optional) 

While school laptops come with built in pointing devices and speakers, your family may want the option of a Bluetooth mouse, keyboard, speakers, or headset.  Most laptops that support Bluetooth can have multiple Bluetooth devices paired, although it can depend on the laptop & devices.  It’s recommended to pair your most important thing first, and then pair less important things subsequently, just to make sure.  To pair Bluetooth devices: 

1. Click the white square Windows button in the lower left corner to bring up the Start Menu. 
2. In the textbox that says, “Type here to search” type this: Bluetooth 
3. Click “Bluetooth and other devices settings.” 
4. 
5. Make sure Bluetooth is turned on and click “Add Bluetooth or other device.” 
6. Select the type of device (most likely “Bluetooth” option.) 
7. On your Bluetooth device, find and click the pairing button. 
8. Device should pair.  Once it pairs, it should show up as a connected device.  After we paired a Bluetooth mouse it showed up.  Note that since this is a list of all connected devices, the Bluetooth mouse shows up above the wired headphones. 

 

 

 

Step 8: Adding a wireless printer (optional) 

Hopefully, it won’t be required to have a printer at home.  By default, Microsoft Teams prints to PDF, which will make things easy to send to teachers electronically.  If you do have a wireless computer at home, here is info on connecting it. 

1. Make sure the printer is on. 
2. Click the white square Windows button in the lower left corner to bring up the Start Menu. 
3. In the textbox that says, “Type here to search” type this: Printer 
4. Click “Printers and Scanners.” 
5. Click “Add a printer or scanner.” 
6. Find your printer and click “Add device. 

 

Step 9: Dealing with popup messages 

While setting up your computer, you may see popups appear as the laptop makes updates during the first login.  If you see some messages appear and then fade off the screen, you can always find them again by clicking the square speech bubble icon in the lower right corner of the screen.  They usually aren’t too important, though. 

 

Now that your laptop should be set up with internet, headphones, Bluetooth devices, and readable brightness, it’s time to launch Microsoft Teams! 

 

Step 1: Logging in 

Microsoft Teams should already be installed on your device.  

1. To log in, use your student’s e-mail, rather than the student number needed to log into the laptop.  If Dr. Seuss logged in, his login might look like s-DSeuss@lwsd.org.  
2. Use the 21Stu#1234567 password (with your student's 7 digit ID)

 

Step 2: Getting started with OneDrive 

OneDrive is a server-based way to store files.  This way, even if something happens to the laptop, the files will still be on OneDrive.  Also, if your student periodically uses different devices, OneDrive is available on any device.  I have Microsoft Teams and OneDrive installed on my phone and logged into my student’s account so that I can easily check status of various documents.  You can log into your student's OneDrive from any device by logging in with their student e-mail at https://onedrive.live.com.  It’s a great way to manage files.   

1. On the left side of teams, click “Files” and then find “OneDrive.” 
2. In OneDrive, find “+ New” near the top and click it. 
3. Click “Word document” and give it a name like “testing.” 
4. Type in something, and then at the bottom of the page find “ – 100 + “ 
5. Click the plus or minus on either side of 100.  By changing the zoom level of the text, you can make it easier to read on your screen, without actually changing the final font size of text.  It’s a little thing that can make reading much more comfortable for your student. 
6. 
7. When you are finished, you can go to the “File” menu and just click “Exit” without saving.  By starting the Word document from within OneDrive, it is saved automatically.  You can also select “Save As” and save a copy of the document. 

 

Step 3: Making a test call in Teams 

With all of the basics figured out, it’s time to make a test call to make sure your audio and visual equipment is ready for online meetings!  Fingers and toes crossed, right? 

1. In the upper right corner of Microsoft Teams, to the left of the closing [x] icon, click on your student’s icon.  There is likely a green dot next to it indicating that you’re online. 
2. Under their name there’s an option to add or change a picture. 
3. Click “Settings.” 
4. 
5. Next, click “Devices” and make sure the right headphones and microphone are selected. 
6. Click “Make a test call.” 
7. 
8. You should hear a voice ask you to speak after the first beep.  After a second beep your audio should be played back to you.  If it sounds faint, try moving closer to the laptop if that is your microphone to see if that improves.   
9. 
10.  

 

7. Once you have heard your voice repeated back to you, heard something through the headphones, and seen video of yourself, Teams is set up and your student is ready for their first Teams class this year!   

8. 
   
   
   

 

Camping Sites within 90 minutes of Seattle & Redmond

Since campgrounds can be owned by the U.S. government, the state government, a county, a city, or even a private business, and since they all have different information and reservation sites, it can be challenging to find a comprehensive list of nearby campgrounds in one place.  Here is one list of camping sites within 90 minutes of Seattle or Redmond.

King County Campgrounds
Snohomish County Campgrounds
Washington State Campgrounds
U.S Campgrounds
Private Campgrounds

***King County Campgrounds***

#2 Tolt Macdonald Park & Campground
Location: Carnation, WA
URL: https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/parks-recreation/parks/parks-and-natural-lands/popular-parks/toltmacdonald.aspx
About the campground: Tolt Macdonald Park is a 574 acre park located on the Snoqualmie River near downtown Carnation.  Some of the walk-in camping sites are close to the river, so make sure to check out the site-map if you have young kids.  The RV & car camping sites on Campground Loop Road are open, without many trees or bushes between sites.  The walk-in sites 36-40 have some trees between the sites, but they are fairly close to the river.  There is a playground near the two baseball diamonds on the east side of the park.  A suspension bridge over the Snoqualmie River connects the west and east sides of the park.  This is a must see!
Types of camping: Car camping, RV camping with utilities, yurts, container camping, and walk-in tent sites
Reservations available: Reservations are required and must be made at least a week in advance. camping: https://www.kingcounty.gov/services/parks-recreation/parks/activities-rentals/rentals/booking.aspx
Restroom facilities: The restrooms in the center of Campground Loop Road on the east side of the river have running water.  The restrooms on the west side of the river, near the yurts and the large group camp north shelter are pit toilets and sanicans.
Open year-round: Yes
Pet policy: Pets are allowed in some camping sites.
Campground map: https://aqua.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/parks-and-recreation/documents/maps/tolt_mac_2011_kiosk_map.pdf
Photos:

Walk-in site #36 is near the river and some privacy trees

Suspension bridge over the Snoqualmie

***Snohomish County Campgrounds***

Flowing Lake Park
Location: Snohomish, WA
URL: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Flowing-Lake-Park-at-Leckies-Beach-31
About the campground: Flowing Lake Park is a great family park destination, even if camping isn't on the plan.  The campsites are as close as most car camping sites.  However, there are trees and bushes that give the sites relatively good privacy. In addition to the camping sites, there is a wonderful beach with lush grass, a restroom with running water, a designated swimming area, and a playground in the shade, which can be a great break on a hot, sunny day. Anyone that visits without a camping reservation will need to pay a parking fee, which is usually about $10.  There is a credit card machine, but at least one time we went it wasn't working, so it's great to have $10 on hand.  Due to the popularity of the beach (it really is great), there can be a 45 minute line to get into the park on sunny weekend evenings.  On summer weekends, it's best to plan to arrive before the evening BBQ rush starts.
Types of camping: Car camping, RV camping with utilities, cabins
Reservations available: Yes.  https://snoco.usedirect.com/snohomishweb
Restroom facilities: There are restrooms with running water near the utility campsites and at the beach.  There are sanicans located around the other campsites.

Open year-round: Yes
Pet policy:Domestic pets allowed at the utility sites, the non-utility sites, and cabin 4.  No pets allowed in cabins 1-3.
Campground map: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/46748/Flowing-Lake-Re-Numbered-Sites-Map
Photos:

Campsite with firepit

A peaceful walk to the lake in the morning

Swimming in the lake in the afternoon

Cabins are open year-round

Kayak Point Regional County Park
Location: Stanwood, WA
URL: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Kayak-Point-Regional-County-Park-51
About the campground:  Kayak Point is a large saltwater beach park north of Everett.
Types of camping: Car and RV camping with utilities, yurts, and one Kayak Kottage
Reservations available: Yes https://snoco.usedirect.com/snohomishweb/
Restroom facilities: There is a restroom with showers near the camp sites.
Open year-round: Yes
Pet policy: Domestic pets are allowed at the tent sites but not in the yurts or Kayak Kottage
Campground map: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7074/Map-of-Park
Photos:

River Meadows Park
Location: Arlington, WA
URL: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/River-Meadows-Park-46
About the campground:  The tent sites are in an open meadow.  While there isn't any privacy when camping with just your family, it can be a great place for a large group.  The yurts are located near some trees, a little away from the tent meadow.
Types of camping: Non-utility car and RV camping, yurts
Reservations available: Yes: https://snoco.usedirect.com/snohomishweb/
Restroom facilities: Yes
Open year-round: Yes
Pet policy: Domestic pets allowed at tent sites.  No pets allowed in the yurts.
Campground map: Note that West is up: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/7087/Map-of-the-Park-
Photos:

Squire Creek County Park
Location: Arlington, WA, just off of highway 530
URL: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Squire-Creek-Park-54
About the campground:
Types of camping: Non-utility car and RV camp sites
Reservations available: Yes https://snoco.usedirect.com/snohomishweb/
Restroom facilities: Restrooms with running water and sanicans
Open year-round: Yes
Pet policy:Domestic pets allowed
Campground map: Note that East is up: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8604/Squire-Creek-Map
Photos:

Wenberg County Park
Location: Stanwood, WA
URL: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Wenberg-County-Park-62
About the campground: There are utility and non-utility car and RV tent sites.  The swimming area on Lake Goodwin make this a fun area for families.
Types of camping: Utility and non-utility car and RV sites.
Reservations available: Yes https://snoco.usedirect.com/SnohomishWeb/
Restroom facilities: Restrooms with running water and showers available.
Open year-round: Sites available May - October.
Pet policy: Domestic pets allowed
Campground map: https://snohomishcountywa.gov/DocumentCenter/View/28324/Map-WE-Campsites
Photos:

Location: Snohomish, WA
URL:
About the campground:
Types of camping: Car camping, RV camping with utilities, cabins
Reservations available:
Restroom facilities:
Open year-round:
Pet policy:
Campground map:
Photos:

Blue Angels and Seafair

If you live near Seattle but have never watched the Blue Angels' Seafair air show, you are missing out on unique experience!  Traffic and crowds can be a genuine challenge, but with some planning and patience, it can be really fun!  It is totally free to walk on to the bridge to watch, so if you can find the patience to deal with traffic, parking, and crowds, it is a great budget-friend and family-friendly experience!

Here are some things to plan for if going to the air show from the east side.
1. Be aware that they do a practice run on Saturday that is the exact same show.  The only difference is traffic and crowds can be somewhat not as awful as on Sunday.
2. There aren't any real restaurants of coffee stands right near the bridge.  However, there will likely be some clever ice-cream stands.  Bring cash for cold treat opportunities.
3. Because it's not easy to buy a cold drink, bring plenty of water for everyone, and pack snacks & bubbles for kids who may get bored while waiting.  We didn't bring bubbles last year, but totally appreciated the family who had thought to do so as it perked our guy up a bit.
4. Bring ear protection if you can.  If you don't have decibel-reducing earphones (they can often be found at home improvement stores near power tools), look for some earplugs at a pharmacy before heading out. The jets fly pretty close and can be loud.
5. Parking and traffic will be worse than you think they will be.  Plan to get there a little early and have a picnic at the park ahead of time to reduce the stress of waiting in traffic for 2 hours and not finding a parking spot before the show actually starts.  Parking strategies below.

Earphones!

It's fun to walk onto the center of the freeway over Lake Washington.

To walk on to the I-90 bridge from Mercer Island on the east side, plan to use the on-ramp near West Mercer Way & SE 24th St. (marked with a star.)  Traffic getting to Mercer Island from Bellevue will be slower than you expect, and getting from the east side of Mercer Island to the west side will be even slower than that.  Plan to get to Bellevue 90 minutes to two hours before the air show starts in order to have sufficient time to deal with traffic congestion, parking, and hiking in.

Some parking options include:
1.  Finding street parking within a half a mile of the on-ramp.  Most people walk around 2 mph, so even if you can find something a half a mile away, you should be able to walk there within 15 or 20 minutes. Wear comfortable shoes.
2. The Mercer Island Park & Ride looks far away on a map, but it's really only a 15 minute walk.  If it fills up, pack some patience and try to find some legal street parking.
3. If your family has bikes, one way to bypass the traffic between Bellevue and the I-90 bridge on the Seattle side of Mercer Island is to park at the Bellevue Park & Ride and bike across the island. Here are some maps with a zoomed out view as well as a zoomed in view.
4. If your family has a kayak or canoe, there is a boat launch on the Mercer Slough that connects to Lake Washington.  Lake Washington will likely be a bit choppy with all of the power boats out watching the show, but if you're comfortable kayaking in Lake Washington, this is another option to avoid parking on Mercer Island all together.  I have some very fond (and maybe somewhat hazy) memories of boating during Seafair while growing up.
5. Since the bridge between Bellevue and Mercer Island can be a frustrating bottleneck, especially on Sunday, consider getting to the island 2-3 hours ahead of time and having lunch at the Islander or another restaurant before hand.
6. Last year we went on Saturday so there was less traffic.  We got to Bellevue about 2 hours before the air show and made it across the island and found parking within an hour.  We then just hung out in the air conditioned mini-van and I put on a video for Jake until about 30 minutes before the show.  It was much less stressful than being stuck in traffic 30 minutes before go time.

If you get through traffic and parking ahead of time, the Aubrey Davis Park has restrooms, a playground, and plenty of comfortable lawn space to hang out.  It can be a nice place to wait until they open the bridge for pedestrians.

Links:

• Videos of Blue Angels performing at previous Seafairs: http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Blue%20Angels%20Seafair 
• News about Seafair: http://www.bing.com/news/search?q=Seafair+2017&qpvt=Seafair+2017&FORM=EWRE 
• Official Seafar Weekend site with air show schedule: http://www.seafair.com/events/2017/seafair-weekend 
• Traffic closures: http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/northwest/king/seafair/default.htm 

Random Conversation Generator

Jake, the Random Conversation Generator

I love talking with Jake.  When we go out on adventures, the kid can chat for hours  At home, when he has a willing ear, it can be like a pressure valve getting released from all of the ideas swirling around his head.  This is a summary of our conversation between the time he got out of bath (around 7:20 PM) and bedtime (around 7:45 PM.)

Jake: Did you know we had a teeeeeeeeeny, tiny desert in our backyard, but don't now?
Me: I have no idea what you are talking about.
Jake: Our sandbox, you silly! It was like a desert, but smaller. It had sand, like the desert and like the beach.  What makes sand?
Me: Erosion. (I then talked about erosion for about 2 minutes.)
Jake: Oh yeah, so the water and wind hit the rocks and wear them down and make sand. When was the first sand made?
Me:I have no idea.
Jake: Oooooh, I have an idea.  When was the first person?  It was after the dinosaurs, right, because people came after the dinosaurs, but how do we know when people today weren't around then?  How did people become people?
Me: Evolution (I then talked about evolution for about 2 minutes.)
Jake: So people used to have tails?
Me: People generally don't have tails now, but our DNA may still have evidence that people or our ancestors did.  Did you know you have a tail bone?
Jake: *mind explodes* Oh my gosh!  Can I grow a tail?
Me: Unlikely, although you could grow up to become a scientist that studies DNA.
Jake: So I get DNA from your egg and dad's sperm?
Me: Yes.  I think you got my nose and dad's height.  The curly part of your hair is from me and the straight part is from dad. Those crazy double-jointed fingers of yours are all from your dad *shudders.*
Jake: So I got my brown eyes from both of you?  And my long legs from dad
Me: Yup.
Jake: Oooh, I get it!  On my fingers, on the back of my fingers, I have these lines from you...
Me: Wrinkles?  You're saying you get your wrinkles from me? Not cool, man.
Jake: No, I mean the ovals, the what's the word?
Andy: Knuckles?
Jake: Yes!  Wait, no, the oval lines on the top of my knuckles.  I got those from mom.
Andy: (Chuckles that Jake is contributing some finger wrinkles to me)
Me: (Half-amusedly glares at Andy)
Jake: Ooh, and you know how mom and I think a lot and dad doesn't, or puts stuff aside?
Me and Andy: Hey, what?  Daddy totally thinks!
Me: (Chuckles that Jake is calling Andy out for not being with it)
Jake: No, I mean how mom's and my imagination won't stop around scary things, but dad can control his brain with scary stuff?
Me: Yup, daddy is good about being in control about what's real & what's fake while you & I have imaginations that won't stop.
Jake: Oh, and guess what?
Me & Andy: What?
Jake: If a sperm is a Y and the egg is an X, a baby will be a boy, but if the sperm is an X and the egg is an X, it will be a girl.  I bet you didn't know I knew that?
Me: Very true.
Jake: Goodnight, I love you.
Andy & Me: We love you, too.
Jake: Oh, and tomorrow can you teach me the letter number cryptogram algebra?  I think I want to learn that.


Every 15 minutes with Jake can be a wild ride of conversation, and he can ramble from a sandbox in the backyard to evolution to knuckle wrinkles to algebra in the blink of an eye.  He is a bit crazy, but he's the best!

Jennbo is back

I am so excited to start at Harebrained Schemes today!  Here is a little about me:

TLDR: I love shipping games, I took some time with my family, I'm excited to ship games again, and I can't wait to meet everyone at HBS!

More info:
Sorry this may be the longest intro mail in the history of the planet.  I'm excited to be back in games and typed more than I planned on!

I'm a local who grew up on Mercer Island, double-majored in Economics & Environmental Studies at WWU, and started at Microsoft Games Studios in 1998 as a tester on card & board games.  After shipping a ratings system, Bridge 2.0, and Chess 2.0 for an event with Gary Kasparov, I became the test lead for the Windows Internet Games on Win ME & Win XP.

While that project had minimal focus on gameplay, I loved the production aspect of getting our old 1980s game clients (with hard coded strings and everything) compliant with Windows quality gates.  I learned about localization (something the Zone hadn't done previously), STRIDE threat modeling, right-to-left displays, pseudo-loc, high ASCii, double byte character sets, COPPA, accessibility, creating keyboard controls for mouse-dominant games, and working across several divisions. I loved it. I had fun learning Visual Test (which was similar to some Java I had picked up in college) and taking advantage of keyboard access to create some basic black-box test automation.

In 2001 I moved over to the Roleplaying Adventure Technology (RAT) team and helped ship some titles including Nightcaster, Psychonauts, and Shenmue II. After developing a way to automate testing on our Xbox titles, I because an SDET Lead and supported titles like Sudeki, Dungeon Siege, and Kameo.  In the evenings I started teaching classes at Cascadia Community College on test automation.  A group of us gave the first presentation on test automation in games at GDC in 2004, which was fun.

Around that time, several SDET teams merged with some other shared tech teams to become the MGS Tools aND Technology (TNT) Team. I was the Test Lead/Test Manager for the test tools, R1 graphics engine, and the title server backend for Project Gotham Racing 3, a 360 launch title.

Losing interest in the 3-year planning and budgeting marathons of Test Managers, I switched things up and joined the Rare Test Team to focus on developing test tools & automation for titles like Viva Piñata.

When I had the opportunity to join Xbox LIVE Arcade, I took it! It was a chance to get back to my roots of casual games while leveraging Xbox shipping experience.  This is when I met Mitch!  I of course loved the people of XBLA.  I also loved getting to work with multiple 3rd party partners as well as meet some folks in MS Research for Kodu.

At XBLA, one funny conversation happened over South Park.  To my surprise, I was assigned as the Test Lead for that project.While I am OK with the company shipping all kinds of titles, I did not want to have to work on something that featured racism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, etc.  I knew South Park prides itself on discriminating against everyone, and claims that neutralizes their jokes.  I am someone who volunteered with Hands Off Washington in college and lost some friends I had had since I was 3 years-old because my heart is committed to equal rights. I am part Native American and my bio mother was born on a reservation. I grew up with a fleet of Jewish friends on the Island.  All of those things that HR nag people about? I actually believe them to my core and have zero tolerance for that kind of crap.

After an impassioned plea to my Test Manager to not have me work on South Park, he said that because he knew he could trust me to not let any stuff slip by that would not represent MS well, he wanted me on the project.  He asked if it'd be OK to have poor jokes, though, because of Kenny.  I was raised by a single mom and still remember the sting of hand-me-down corduroy pants (which are the worst kind of hand-me-downs because worn-down ridges are so visible.)  I sighed and said I'd accept poor jokes with a cringe, if he could guarantee no LGBT, gender, race, or religious jokes.  Deal made.

In 2008 I moved over to work in ACES as the Train Sim Test Lead. When TS was cancelled 10 weeks later, the department was restructured so that everyone started working on a military sim project. Our team focused on ground physics during combat. I learned that when our American soldiers patrolled in Humvees and drove over mines in Afghanistan and Iraq, shrapnel projected up into the vehicles with devastating results.  MRAPs were being deployed, with v-shaped hulls to help shrapnel project away from our soldiers, and part of our job was to take the new design into consideration in the sim. Although the entire studio of 200 people was laid off in January 2009, working on that project was one of the most meaningful projects I ever worked on.

After the studio was laid off, they hired 20 of us back to start a new Flight Live studio, and I was hired on as the new Test Manager.  I helped shut down the old studio (which sucked), start the new studio (which was awesome), and took on some Project Management tasks along the way.

In 2010 I had our first son, so I took some time off.  When it became apparent he needed a little more support than daycare could provide, I decided to officially stay home for a while.

During my time with my family and while learning about sensory processing disorder, autism, ADD, and how crazy boys are in general, I produced an outdoor sculpture show, volunteered with Little Bit (which provided horse riding therapy for children with different abilities), did some volunteer genealogy work, and volunteer taught Hour of Code at our elementary school for 3 years.

I also picked up some very basic PhotoShop skills.  In 2013, some devastating tornadoes struck Oklahoma and killed 24 people.  As I learned about it in the news and heard about how groups of people were organizing to sweep through fields to look for photos, the genealogist in me couldn't stand the idea of family photos being lost forever.  I joined a facebook group created to reunite photo owners with photos, and started helping with digital restoration from afar. Over the past couple of years, here are a couple of restorations I've done for Operation Photo Rescue, a friend, and a tornado victim.

Now that my youngest is 1 and is making eye contact, playing peek-a-boo, and doing all of the typical baby things, I am ready to dive back in to making games!  I am very excited to learn a whole bunch of new stuff, help, and meet the team!

-Jennbo


Boku (in XNA) and South Park and 6 second party titles: Wallace and Gromit, The Maw, King of Campus, The Price Is Right, Universally Challenged, and Cletus Clay



Longest ever:
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I'm a local who grew up on Mercer Island, double-majored in Economics & Environmental Studies at WWU, and started at Microsoft Games Studios in 1998 as a tester.  At the Zone, I focused on card & board games like Bridge 2.0 (This landed me in an emergency conference call with Warren Buffet because the new release no longer supported his Win 3.1 machine. 6 months out of college that was a scary call to take!)  I had fun writing little JavaScript tools to expedite the manual test process.

After shipping Chess 2.0 for a project with Gary Kasparov, I became the test lead for the Windows ME & Windows XP internet games.  While that project had minimal focus on gameplay, I loved the production aspect of getting our old 1980s game clients (with hard coded strings and everything) compliant with Windows quality gates.  I got to learn about localization (something the Zone hadn't done previously), STRIDE threat modeling, right-to-left displays, pseudo-loc, high ASCii, double byte character sets, COPPA, accessibility, creating keyboard controls for mouse-dominant games, and working across several divisions. I loved it. I had fun learning Visual Test (which was similar to some Java I had picked up in college) and taking advantage of keyboard access to create some basic black-box test automation.

In 2001, after the Zone split into 2 departments and after I shipped XP, I moved to the Roleplaying, Adventure, Technology (RAT) team. I joined the Nightcaster team a month after they were supposed to have RTM'd to help them lock things down, get compliant with TCRs, and ship.

After working on a French project for a few months that got cancelled, I moved on to Psychonauts. I loved everything about this title.  Well, almost. The production side felt one part was way too difficult, but the developers did not. During usability testing, my job as QA was to stand next to the white board behind the mirrored glass and draw a tick mark every time someone died. OMG my arm hurt because everyone died all of the time and it totally irritated me.

In investigating if there was a way to automate that process, I was told that it was not possible to do any automation of any kind on Xbox.  I knew no one had done it, but that didn't mean that it wasn't actually possible.  Over the weekend I poured through the Xbox XDK, figured out how to instrument the controller XDK sample with the debug channel XDK sample, and modified the debug channel XDK sample to read and execute batch files.  It was possibly the worst code ever compiled in the walls of MS, but dang if I hadn't shown a proof of concept that worked! I became an SDET Lead.

After shipping Shenmue II (I'm still hoping for a Shenmue III someday), my team focused on figuring out the best way to automate the games of RAT.  I learned so much during these years, including that automation can save time & money sometimes, but it can also have a horrible ROI if not used strategically.  Fully automating walkthroughs of Sudeki looked awesome and shiny, but I think that manual testers are still the smartest use of resources for playthroughs.  Modifying tools to test assets in Dungeon Siege was awesome, though.

Around 2003 my team joined a couple of other SDET teams that had popped up in MGS and we became a shared SDET team. I primarily continued to support RAT titles but I also got to help with Kameo: Elements of Power.  Around 2004 our team merged with some other tech teams around MGS to become the Tools aNd Technology (TNT) team. I took on the role of Test Manager and owned testing for our test tools, the R1 graphics engine from Rare, and the Title Server shipping with Project Gotham Racing 3, a 360 launch title.

While I loved the people and opportunities on that team, I wasn't excited about spending time in 3 year-planning marathons and high-level budgeting plans.  I missed being in the trenches so in 2006 I decided to jump back to being an SDET to spend time actually writing tools for the Rare test team.  On Viva Piñata, I owned tools, automation, and certification because I love owning the endgame shipping process.

When I had the opportunity to join Xbox LIVE Arcade, I took it! It was a chance to get back to my roots of casual games while leveraging Xbox shipping experience.  This is when I met Mitch!  I of course loved the people of XBLA.  I also loved getting to work with multiple 3rd party partners as well as meet some folks in MS Research for Kodu.

At XBLA, one funny conversation happened over South Park.  To my surprise, I was assigned as the Test Lead for South Park. I met with the Test Manager to tell him that pretty much anyone else would be a better fit for that project.  While I am totally OK with the company shipping all kinds of titles, I did not want to have to work on something that featured racism, misogyny, homophobia, anti-Semitism, etc.  I knew South Park prides itself on discriminating against everyone, claiming that neutralized their jokes.  I am someone who volunteered with Hands Off Washington in college and lost some friends I had had since I was 3 years-old because my heart is committed to equal rights. I am part Native American and my bio mother was born on a reservation. I grew up with a fleet of Jewish friends on the Island.  All of those things that HR nags people about? I actually believe in equal rights for everyone and have zero tolerance for that kind of crap.

After my impassioned plea to not have me work on South Park, my test manager said that because he knew me so well, he could trust me to not let any crap slip by.  He needed Microsoft to be represented well, so I needed to go jennbo on anything that would reflect poorly on the company.  He asked if it'd be OK to have poor jokes, though, because of Kenny.  I was raised by a single mom and still remember the sting of hand-me-down corduroy pants (which are the worst kind of hand-me-downs because worn-down ridges are so visible.)  I signed and said I'd accept poor jokes with a cringe, if he could guarantee no LGBT, gender, race, religious, or sexual assault jokes.  Deal made.  For part of my job, I reviewed some South Park episodes for MS (and jennbo) appropriate content.