My.Seattle.Story

Seattle is nice and I like it there. It's winter there and it's chilly *brrrr* but it's really nice. The cold is quite different between indoors and outdoors. The outdoor chill is nice but too much of it can kill ya. The indoor cold is like normal air-conditioning in a mall.

For me, it was just nice since I was wearing double t-shirts (thanks to my ex-manager's advice) and I have got a trusty double-layer winter-jacket with hood (thanks to Randy's advice). The gloves didn't work for me, so I stuffed my hands into my pockets to keep them warm. Lip balm and moisturizer are a must! It drizzles everyday but of course, it is nothing compared to the showers we have back here.

There, you can still walk in the rain as most people do - just need to becareful not to end-up in a puddle or slipping off the side-walk. The temperature indoors are more or less the same with ours. Infact, I was sweating at some outlets because I was wearing double t-shirts.

The majority of people there are quite friendly. When you hold the door for them, 9 out of 10 people will say, "Thank You". Everyone in the shops and restaurants are very polite and friendly - excellent customer service!

The Shop Assistants, Waiters and Waitresses always greet their customers with "How are you today?". Back here is all, "Leng-lui/leng-chai, sik-mutt-yeh?" (Hey! Pretty face/handsome, wotcha wanna eat?). The people at the restaurants really make sure you are happy with their service and food. They will keep checking you out every now and then. For some of my colleagues, it is of course a bit kacau (disturbing).

I remember one night I was dining-out with Randy in one of the restaurants and they somehow lost our order. Not that Randy and I noticed it because we were too engrossed in talking. The manager actually came to us and apologized and we had our meal for free. I don't think we can get such a thing in our country.

Speaking of Randy, it was nice of him to show me around and brought me on a "night-safari" around the Redmond campus. We went from blocks to blocks and he was telling me the history of each building and what the people in there do. Honestly speaking, they all look the same to me *HeHe* (and they don't have a Sky-Bridge *Hint* *Hint*). Since most buildings don't have curtains, they look like transparent apartments (or more like those toy houses where you have one side opened).

Here's a picture of me in one of the buildings with the Vista logo. *How I wished I can develop kick @$$ products like these. Dream on baby... dream on*

Randy also showed me around his office. Almost everyone have their own office room. How cool?

A few days back, one of my colleagues (another newbie) was flashing some photographs that he took outside the campus and my senior said to me, "How can you not take a picture of the campus when you are here. All Microsofties should have atleast one taken mah..." and he ended with a "What lah you?".

Feeling a bit kiasu, I asked Randy to bring me to take pictures with the Microsoft campus sign. Since it turns dark after 5:00PM here during winter, all I can get are night shots.

And here's the shot that almost all Microsofties will have.

And here's another one. Since Randy said that I'm blocking the "T" and I don't want to step on those flowers. I posed as the "T".


Nice eh? Have droplets effect somemore. Those droplets are not snow but rain-drops. So we have two silly Microsofties taking pictures in the rain. Thank Randy for playing along.

On nights that I'm with my colleagues, we will just dine in whatever place that we can find. Here's a place I went to with a colleague the night before I came home. It is just a few blocks away from the hotel - or was it one block? *Hmmm*

Somehow, my colleague was craving for steak since he heard good comments from the others who been there, but I was just looking for something to fill my stomach. I never really fancy steaks. The closest stuff I like is Chicken-chop or Fish & Chips but I didn't manage to try any of those when I was there.

I was going for those small small bites but even that, I gained a few kilos. Mom had already warned me before I left, "Don't you eat until fat-fat and come back ah!"

So, I usually go for half-size or anything that has small servings. Even that, I won't be able to finish. I am also very happy to share my food with my colleagues if they still don't have enough.

The full-size servings here are really HUGE! Checkout these starters man. Oh! Only the soup is mine. I was smart to order 'a cup' instead of 'a bowl'. I can't imagine if I ordered a bowl - sure drink until lao-sai (diarrhoea). Looking at the servings I was smiling at my colleague. *Ngek Ngek Ngek! Mun-Lei-Sei-Mei* So, I asked him whether he could finish and he said... "Can help me out ah?".

"Where can lah?". So, he tar-pao (doggie bag) the food for his breakfast.

I was also told that there was a cheese cake factory nearby but I didn't visit it. Here's a picture of the factory I took from the convention centre across the street.

There were some cakes served during lunch time in the convention centre but I'm not sure if it was from the factory. I did taste some of them and they were quite good though.

Overall, the trip was nice. I spent most of my time attending the seminar and making friends with people - since all 5,000 plus people there are Microsofties anyway. I sure miss that place and hopefully, I can go there again oneday.

Signing off this post with a picture of my first plate of sauce-fried noodle at the Narita airport in Japan (my first Japanese dish in Japan) and the moose head at Claim Jumper.


Sauce-fried noodle - Cost USD 4.60. Does not taste like anything here.


Moose head at Claim Jumper - a restaurant where I had my first dinner.

*HuGs*