At Microsoft, Monday Starts at 7PM on Sunday Night

I was at a party last night to celebrate the finish of a friend's kitchen remodel. (I arrived late and brought champagne.) The friend is David Rasmussen, a program manager on the Office team. We got into several interesting conversations, including a detailed analysis of P vs. NP mathematics (OK, detailed for a bunch of non-mathematicians), a conversation about whether to buy a plasma TV yet (the verdict: wait a year and see what other technologies evolve), and a conversation about the relative absolute compensation packages between Microsoft in Redmond, people in the Bay Area, and people in Sydney. Interestingly, Microsoft in Redmond still did pretty well, thanks to a nice benefits package and lack of a state income tax.

But the most interesting thing was that everyone agreed that Monday morning comes at 7PM on Sunday night. That's when all the Microsofties finish dinner, put the kids to bed, and sit down to clear out their inboxes before Monday starts.