To answer it the Microsoft way: 1. [some blocking call] 2. [some other blocking call] 3. [draw a black rectangle in the area for impending animation easing o

To answer it the Microsoft way: 1. [some blocking call] 2. [some other blocking call] 3. [draw a black rectangle in the area for impending animation easing of the menu] 4. [yet another blocking call] 5. [oops, user clicked the Start, no choice except to cancel the whole thing right after] 6. [we blocking one last time for good measure, and finally...] 7. [make sure we're idle so that we can guarantee that we redraw the start button slowly enough to cause a flicker] 8. Success!