Well, today marks Christmas in the US. It's an experience, my first christmas abroad. Egyptian christians are mostly orthodox and they celebrate Christmas on January 7th though.
It's actually quite interesting the story of how the whole thing of dec 25th vs jan 7th Christmas began. Because actually when you think about it, Christmas should have been Jan 1st, Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ and the calendar widely in use today is based on the same event. So it only makes sense for Christmas to be on Jan 1st.
However, It seems that at some point in time people thought we had a slight glitch in the calendar system and that the calendar year did not accurately represent what a year should be. They then started calculating the time difference to compensate for it and "move" Christmas. Everybody agreed the error was around 7 days, weirdly enough, they could not then decide on whether to add or subtract those days. They calculated miniscule difference in the calendar year, and added them up across centuries, but they couldn't determing the "sign" of the magnitude. One would think they knew what they were doing doing all those calculations, but one would be wrong.
So some ended up adding those days and some ended up subtracting them. That's supposed to be how the whole December 25th vs Jan 7th started, and that's how they are equidistant from Jan 1st. Kinda funny.
So, back to Christmas here. It's been totally commercialized of course. It's almost all about holiday shopping and then gathering with family and friends and opening up the presents. It is still kinda nice to see the festivities everywhere. Huge Christmas trees, lights on the houses.
One thing I'd noticed is that people at stores, restaurants, etc. make sure they are politically correct. They never tell you "Merry Christmas", rather "Happy Holidays", and you make out of that what you may :)
I also got the best Christmas present. Helal, Mostafa, and Khalid got me this super nice shelf stereo unit. Plays mp3, audio cds, and FM. Helal knew I liked this unit since we saw it together at Best Buy, so I came back home last night (Christmas Eve) to find it neatly wrapped and placed right in front of the door. It was awesome, and I have no idea how they managed to keep it as a suprise since we're together 99% of the time :) Thanks guys, you made my Christmas, you're the best!
Sunday, December 25, 2005
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Morality And Economics
I just started a new book called freakonomics. I have no recollection of how it came to my attention but it's been sitting in my amazon shopping cart for a few weeks now and then I discovered it was available at the MS library. I have no recollection of how I discovered this either but it just happened.
So I checked out the book, and I'd just laid it down right now after reading the table of contents and introduction.
Of course, I do not mean this as a book review because obviously I hadn't read enough of it yet and secondly I will probably suck at writing a review.
There is however this phrase that really caught my attention:
Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work--whereas economics represents how it actually _does_ work
Now how about that as food for thought....
So I checked out the book, and I'd just laid it down right now after reading the table of contents and introduction.
Of course, I do not mean this as a book review because obviously I hadn't read enough of it yet and secondly I will probably suck at writing a review.
There is however this phrase that really caught my attention:
Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work--whereas economics represents how it actually _does_ work
Now how about that as food for thought....
Saturday, December 03, 2005
The Ultimate Adrenaline Rush
So, I guess now that you know the mystery of slow updates I'm entitled to do them more often :P
So well, home improvement efforts were kinda hard the past few days. It's getting better now, I almost have a decent bedroom. That's for another post though.
Today it's gonna be about the ultimate adrenaline rush. Even though the past few days have been packed with fun (it snowed for the first time in Redmond), including 270 degree spins with my car in the snow (nothing to worry about) today I had the ultimate adrenaline rush. _THE_ ultimate.
I'm in Canada right now with the Microsoft shipping party. Having loads of fun and will post more about that later. For now I'll just leave you with a first for me and the blog.
Below you'll find a link for a video that you can stream to watch what the ultimate adrenaline rush is. I am just hoping it's not too prohibitive bandwidth wise for you guys. Tell me if it is and I'll disclose more information verbally :)
For now, enjoy the vid here :)
P.S.
Mom, I know you might freak out when you see this. It's totally OK, just remember I lived to post it ;). I'm doing great and having loads of fun.
So well, home improvement efforts were kinda hard the past few days. It's getting better now, I almost have a decent bedroom. That's for another post though.
Today it's gonna be about the ultimate adrenaline rush. Even though the past few days have been packed with fun (it snowed for the first time in Redmond), including 270 degree spins with my car in the snow (nothing to worry about) today I had the ultimate adrenaline rush. _THE_ ultimate.
I'm in Canada right now with the Microsoft shipping party. Having loads of fun and will post more about that later. For now I'll just leave you with a first for me and the blog.
Below you'll find a link for a video that you can stream to watch what the ultimate adrenaline rush is. I am just hoping it's not too prohibitive bandwidth wise for you guys. Tell me if it is and I'll disclose more information verbally :)
For now, enjoy the vid here :)
P.S.
Mom, I know you might freak out when you see this. It's totally OK, just remember I lived to post it ;). I'm doing great and having loads of fun.
Thursday, November 17, 2005
The mystery of the slow updates
No, not SQL stuff in case you were wondering. Now you can relax.
I can read your mind though, Chris doesn't update his blog all that much these days. I know I'm not blogging as much as I would like to these days. And it's not about suffering a "blogger's block" either.
It's just that so much is happening and I have so many things to attend to. The main highlight would be the move to the new apartment.
Now unfurnished rental apartments here come a bit more equipped than in Egypt, because in Egypt you get pretty much nothing but a floor and some walls whereas here you get a fridge, dishwasher, washer, dryer, stove, and sometimes even a microwave (not in my case). This should make things easier right? Well a bit easier maybe, but not easy enough.
Since my Microsoft temp housing term will end on November 21st, I thought I should get the basic things first, you know, at least to be able to sleep in the apartment. So I went shopping for a mattress. And I was in for a real surprise.
In theory, shopping for a mattress should be easy enough. At least that's what I thought. I mean, I got my laptop in 10 minutes online so how hard could it be to get a mattress.
Wrong wrong wrong.
My shopping trip began with the only place I'd heard of during my stay, through ads and stuff. Sleep country. I was under the impression that mattresses typically cost a couple hundred dollars and I was willing to pamper myself and maybe spend up to a ridiculous $500 for a mattress, because, you know, I'm a spendthrift and stuff. It's true that I had no real evidence or data to get me "under" this impression. But the fact remains that I was under it.
I enter sleep country and I'm greeted by a nice salesman. I tell him I'm looking for a mattress and that I'm completely clueless about the sizes/types (yes there are many types of mattresses in case you are as mattress-ignorant as I am (or was) ) etc.
He was trying to ask me about my preference of whether I like firm mattresses vs. plush ones, I just kept staring blankly at him. He probably thought I just landed from the moon. Heck, even _I_ felt as if I just landed from the moon.
So anyway, he asks me to "test drive" a few mattresses to find out more about my "sleeping preferences". Good enough. I try a few ones (a few as in 5 or 6) and he tells me that I seem to prefer the less firm mattresses.I had no idea I did.
The guy then takes me to try another "type" of mattresses. The ones I've been trying were Sealy, a well known brand of mattresses here. The other type was called BeautyRest, which features different "technology" if you will.
The man then goes on to explain that a BeautyRest mattress uses "individual coil springs" rather than Sealy's "interconnected coil springs" This causes the mattress to have more controlled vibrations and the end result is that each part is more free to move independently which supposedly provides for better back support and the added "feature" that you don't feel it as much when someone else is getting on the bed on the other side.
Now I'm 100% positive you don't really care about mattress technology, but neither do I. I just have to recreate the atmosphere for you to live the experience just as I did.
So anyway, I am kinda impressed with the BeautyRest and proceed to ask about prices. And then my jaw drops to the floor. A queen mattress set would be around the $1300 mark. I probably need to explain a bit before I go on.
Queen is the size of the mattress, mattress sizes have their own names here. Queen is generally bought by couples because it's wide enough to fit two. You probably know I am not a couple and so wonder why I need one.
Problem is that the master mattress architect who invented those sizes here seems ot have been under the impression that couples are usually much taller than single individuals. And hence for some (weird and unknown as Nag would say) reason decided to make sizes grow in both width and height simultaneously. In short, if you get a smaller size you get a narrower as well as shorter mattress. So to sleep alone I need to cut off a significant part of my feet, which I'm really not too excited about doing right now.
The really observant amongst you would have noticed the word "set" in "A queen mattress set" too, you don't usually buy just a mattress. Instead you want to get a mattress set, which is the mattress plus a box spring. A box spring is what you put a mattress on, it comes in normal and low profile versions and serves as support for the mattresses. This is probably the equivalent of "el molla" in Egypt, but beds are designed here just as frames (and an *optional* head board) so you need this to support the mattress and rest on the bed frame.
If you feel you're not entirely confused and/or bored by now I would encourage you to visit this where you could "learn" about the mattress jargon. It should do it.
And you thought computers were complicated.
So anyway, to cut a long story short. I didn't get a mattress. I decided I need to "research" the matter a bit more, seeing that mattresses seem to go anywhere from $700 to $6300, it is now an investment. So I'm taking my time researching brands, types, technologies (there is more than just the two technologies described earlier, msnsearch (not google! ;) ) for memory foam mattress if you're still awake), and prices.
Sleeping on the floor is not off the table either :)
May you never need to buy a mattress ever.
I can read your mind though, Chris doesn't update his blog all that much these days. I know I'm not blogging as much as I would like to these days. And it's not about suffering a "blogger's block" either.
It's just that so much is happening and I have so many things to attend to. The main highlight would be the move to the new apartment.
Now unfurnished rental apartments here come a bit more equipped than in Egypt, because in Egypt you get pretty much nothing but a floor and some walls whereas here you get a fridge, dishwasher, washer, dryer, stove, and sometimes even a microwave (not in my case). This should make things easier right? Well a bit easier maybe, but not easy enough.
Since my Microsoft temp housing term will end on November 21st, I thought I should get the basic things first, you know, at least to be able to sleep in the apartment. So I went shopping for a mattress. And I was in for a real surprise.
In theory, shopping for a mattress should be easy enough. At least that's what I thought. I mean, I got my laptop in 10 minutes online so how hard could it be to get a mattress.
Wrong wrong wrong.
My shopping trip began with the only place I'd heard of during my stay, through ads and stuff. Sleep country. I was under the impression that mattresses typically cost a couple hundred dollars and I was willing to pamper myself and maybe spend up to a ridiculous $500 for a mattress, because, you know, I'm a spendthrift and stuff. It's true that I had no real evidence or data to get me "under" this impression. But the fact remains that I was under it.
I enter sleep country and I'm greeted by a nice salesman. I tell him I'm looking for a mattress and that I'm completely clueless about the sizes/types (yes there are many types of mattresses in case you are as mattress-ignorant as I am (or was) ) etc.
He was trying to ask me about my preference of whether I like firm mattresses vs. plush ones, I just kept staring blankly at him. He probably thought I just landed from the moon. Heck, even _I_ felt as if I just landed from the moon.
So anyway, he asks me to "test drive" a few mattresses to find out more about my "sleeping preferences". Good enough. I try a few ones (a few as in 5 or 6) and he tells me that I seem to prefer the less firm mattresses.I had no idea I did.
The guy then takes me to try another "type" of mattresses. The ones I've been trying were Sealy, a well known brand of mattresses here. The other type was called BeautyRest, which features different "technology" if you will.
The man then goes on to explain that a BeautyRest mattress uses "individual coil springs" rather than Sealy's "interconnected coil springs" This causes the mattress to have more controlled vibrations and the end result is that each part is more free to move independently which supposedly provides for better back support and the added "feature" that you don't feel it as much when someone else is getting on the bed on the other side.
Now I'm 100% positive you don't really care about mattress technology, but neither do I. I just have to recreate the atmosphere for you to live the experience just as I did.
So anyway, I am kinda impressed with the BeautyRest and proceed to ask about prices. And then my jaw drops to the floor. A queen mattress set would be around the $1300 mark. I probably need to explain a bit before I go on.
Queen is the size of the mattress, mattress sizes have their own names here. Queen is generally bought by couples because it's wide enough to fit two. You probably know I am not a couple and so wonder why I need one.
Problem is that the master mattress architect who invented those sizes here seems ot have been under the impression that couples are usually much taller than single individuals. And hence for some (weird and unknown as Nag would say) reason decided to make sizes grow in both width and height simultaneously. In short, if you get a smaller size you get a narrower as well as shorter mattress. So to sleep alone I need to cut off a significant part of my feet, which I'm really not too excited about doing right now.
The really observant amongst you would have noticed the word "set" in "A queen mattress set" too, you don't usually buy just a mattress. Instead you want to get a mattress set, which is the mattress plus a box spring. A box spring is what you put a mattress on, it comes in normal and low profile versions and serves as support for the mattresses. This is probably the equivalent of "el molla" in Egypt, but beds are designed here just as frames (and an *optional* head board) so you need this to support the mattress and rest on the bed frame.
If you feel you're not entirely confused and/or bored by now I would encourage you to visit this where you could "learn" about the mattress jargon. It should do it.
And you thought computers were complicated.
So anyway, to cut a long story short. I didn't get a mattress. I decided I need to "research" the matter a bit more, seeing that mattresses seem to go anywhere from $700 to $6300, it is now an investment. So I'm taking my time researching brands, types, technologies (there is more than just the two technologies described earlier, msnsearch (not google! ;) ) for memory foam mattress if you're still awake), and prices.
Sleeping on the floor is not off the table either :)
May you never need to buy a mattress ever.
Friday, November 11, 2005
SQL Server 2005 Launch!
Well, I'm sure most of you in the IT business know that last Monday, November 7th marked the launch of SQL Server 2005.
It was actually a joint launch featuring SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and Biztalk server 2006. The biggest tools launch even in the history of Microsoft at that too.
And while the main worldwide event was in San Fransisco we got a bit of action going on here too. And yours truly was making sure to catch a glimpse of it, as well as the preparations preceding it with my trusty camera.
As for the employees, we had celebrations going on in all campus cafeterias, with some nice freebies. Cups, stress balls, T-shirts, and breakfast were there. And we had a big screen broadcasting the live show from San Fransisco.
As part of the SQL Server team myself we get some more cool stuff. We got a special hilarious T-shirt that almost all of us wore to work on the launch day. You'll see me wearing it in one of the pictures. On the front the writing goes like: Select Joy, Relief & Exhaustion FROM "SQL Server 2005" WHERE Status = 'Complete'. On the back the writing is: Join Me I'm a *. Pretty clever I think, should sound funny if you know SQL. I was told they had an entire email thread picking up the lines to go on the T-shirt :) We're also gonna be going on a skiing trip to Whistler BC, Canada for the shipping party December 2nd to 4th. Excellent timing for me to join the team I guess :)
So well, there goes the pictures, inside MS on SQL Server launch day.
People lining up to receive the freebies.
Helal, Fernando, and I. Fernando is also a new hire at Microsoft. He's spanish and has become a friend of ours. He's also the one taking care of most of the squash teaching for me now :)
After the event all of the sql team were asked to sign a life size SQL Server box. And that they did :)
Helal signing the box.
Can you figure out where my signature is? Come on, click for the large version and look for it ;)
Ok, you probably couldn't find it in there. Now should be obvious :)
Have a nice week everybody!
It was actually a joint launch featuring SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005, and Biztalk server 2006. The biggest tools launch even in the history of Microsoft at that too.
And while the main worldwide event was in San Fransisco we got a bit of action going on here too. And yours truly was making sure to catch a glimpse of it, as well as the preparations preceding it with my trusty camera.
As for the employees, we had celebrations going on in all campus cafeterias, with some nice freebies. Cups, stress balls, T-shirts, and breakfast were there. And we had a big screen broadcasting the live show from San Fransisco.
As part of the SQL Server team myself we get some more cool stuff. We got a special hilarious T-shirt that almost all of us wore to work on the launch day. You'll see me wearing it in one of the pictures. On the front the writing goes like: Select Joy, Relief & Exhaustion FROM "SQL Server 2005" WHERE Status = 'Complete'. On the back the writing is: Join Me I'm a *. Pretty clever I think, should sound funny if you know SQL. I was told they had an entire email thread picking up the lines to go on the T-shirt :) We're also gonna be going on a skiing trip to Whistler BC, Canada for the shipping party December 2nd to 4th. Excellent timing for me to join the team I guess :)
So well, there goes the pictures, inside MS on SQL Server launch day.
People lining up to receive the freebies.
Helal, Fernando, and I. Fernando is also a new hire at Microsoft. He's spanish and has become a friend of ours. He's also the one taking care of most of the squash teaching for me now :)
After the event all of the sql team were asked to sign a life size SQL Server box. And that they did :)
Helal signing the box.
Can you figure out where my signature is? Come on, click for the large version and look for it ;)
Ok, you probably couldn't find it in there. Now should be obvious :)
Have a nice week everybody!
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Helal's Car
Well, I think it's time to let the cat out of the bag.
Actually one could argue it was time sometime ago already. But stuff has been happening faster than I can blog. This of course can be thought of as good for me, but it's definitely not so good for the blog.
So anyway, Helal, my friend and roommate, got his car a couple of weeks ago. And now that he did we finally answered a question we spent countless hours debating before we'd relocated. BMW vs. Mercedes Benz.
So without much further ado, I present to you this magnificent piece of machinery he acquired. A really amazing car.
The photos below are of the car which is a 2006 E90 BMW 325i with sports and premium packages, an auto box, and xenon headlights. Interesting thing to mention is that the E90 325i is actually a 3000cc with 215 bhp, that is just 10bhp less than the previous generation 330i. Of course they also increased the power on the new 330 which now has 255bhp (although still 3000cc)
So anyway, here are the "initial" pics. Planning for a drive on a scenic road with both cars to do some group shots but this will have to wait a bit.
Click on any image for a larger version.
Actually one could argue it was time sometime ago already. But stuff has been happening faster than I can blog. This of course can be thought of as good for me, but it's definitely not so good for the blog.
So anyway, Helal, my friend and roommate, got his car a couple of weeks ago. And now that he did we finally answered a question we spent countless hours debating before we'd relocated. BMW vs. Mercedes Benz.
So without much further ado, I present to you this magnificent piece of machinery he acquired. A really amazing car.
The photos below are of the car which is a 2006 E90 BMW 325i with sports and premium packages, an auto box, and xenon headlights. Interesting thing to mention is that the E90 325i is actually a 3000cc with 215 bhp, that is just 10bhp less than the previous generation 330i. Of course they also increased the power on the new 330 which now has 255bhp (although still 3000cc)
So anyway, here are the "initial" pics. Planning for a drive on a scenic road with both cars to do some group shots but this will have to wait a bit.
Click on any image for a larger version.
Friday, November 04, 2005
Eid El Fitr in Redmond
Well, being in the US doesn't mean I can't celebrate Eid El Fitr, right? ;)
And celebrate I did, it was an eventful day and full of "first times" for me. Sushi, learning how to use chop sticks, and karting were some of the main highlights. Read on for the details :)
At first we were not sure if Eid El Fitr is gonna be on November 3rd here in the US or November 4th, because Ramadan started one day later in the US than in Egypt. But I woke up on November 3rd to find Helal telling me he's going to pray because Eid El Fitr turned out to be on the 3rd after all.
We had already planned on taking a floating holiday on the day and spend the day together with the Egyptian group here at MS. So I woke up at around 10am, had a pretty late breakfast and took my shower only to find a call from one of the guys asking me if I'm gonna join them for lunch at this sushi place "Todai" in Redmond town center. I'd already told them I wanted to try sushi before so perhaps I was part of the inspiration for this.
I dressed quickly and caught up with them over there at 12 or something, turns out the place is an open buffet sushi place and all the better for it. No better way to try just about everything at once :) I took a quick tour around, took one of everything they had on offer and returned to my table with my plate full of stuff I have never tasted before. The guys were wondering if I should have tasted a few ones first to see if I like it before I fill my plate, but I just love trying new stuff, I didn't really care if I'm gonna like it, I just like the opportunity to try the new tastes.
And for the first time ever I understand the rationale behind the chopsticks. I've been looking for the chopsticks' raison d'être, something that just can't be handled with a fork. And I found it in Sushi rolls. It was an excellent experience overall.
And continuing the "first time" theme we then decided we should go karting. So we went to the closest indoor track. The track (map here)looked kinda small at first, but I was really blown away with all the technology.
The races are about lap times and not an actual head to head race. So we would go 4 or 5 ppl at a time for 18 laps but it's your best lap that counts, you can go as slow (or as sideways) as you like for 17 laps and get that perfect lap just once and you'd come out first.
This was actually my first time ever karting, and did I enjoy it! It was a blast, we were 8 people and we each bought 3 races so they would mix and match between us for us to go against different competitors every time.
The thing is that I knew beforehand about optimal racing lines, and the whole concept of how to do a fast time around the track so I expected to have an advantage, at least over people who are also doing it for the first time. It seems the theory is very different than practice because even though I knew the basics, I did pretty horrible for the first two races, I was pretty much the last. In my defence I swear the kart I had for the first race was slower than the others because I would be goin at the kart's limit on the straight and still be overtaken by others. The guys of course wouldn't just watch. They kept teasing me with comments like "Maybe you should bring the z4, see if it can go faster around the track" and "There is no z4 to help you here". It was all in good spirit and we laughed for hours though :)
To their disappointment I do my last race and it seems that I'm finally getting the kart and the track. The last race was also special because the guys over there gave us a bit of an adernaline shot by giving us the turbo mode during the last few laps, where they put more power into the karts and we were allowed to go faster. 23 mph I think was the number which feels awfully fast in such a small indoor track.
And the biggest surprise of the day was that not only I won the last race. But I also got the fastest time of all for the whole day, pulling an 18.42 second lap (I was doing 23 seconds on my first race).
Actually the lap turned out to be the 3rd best laptime during this month (November 2005). And you can even check it out for yourselves here Of course I was jumping all over the place with excitement.
We then continued on to having dinner together at chili's and went home afterwards. It was a marvelous day and if any of the Egyptian MS guys are reading, thank you all guys for making that day the amazing day that it was. Special thank you to loay for arranging for the most part of this day and always working on keeping the group together.
And celebrate I did, it was an eventful day and full of "first times" for me. Sushi, learning how to use chop sticks, and karting were some of the main highlights. Read on for the details :)
At first we were not sure if Eid El Fitr is gonna be on November 3rd here in the US or November 4th, because Ramadan started one day later in the US than in Egypt. But I woke up on November 3rd to find Helal telling me he's going to pray because Eid El Fitr turned out to be on the 3rd after all.
We had already planned on taking a floating holiday on the day and spend the day together with the Egyptian group here at MS. So I woke up at around 10am, had a pretty late breakfast and took my shower only to find a call from one of the guys asking me if I'm gonna join them for lunch at this sushi place "Todai" in Redmond town center. I'd already told them I wanted to try sushi before so perhaps I was part of the inspiration for this.
I dressed quickly and caught up with them over there at 12 or something, turns out the place is an open buffet sushi place and all the better for it. No better way to try just about everything at once :) I took a quick tour around, took one of everything they had on offer and returned to my table with my plate full of stuff I have never tasted before. The guys were wondering if I should have tasted a few ones first to see if I like it before I fill my plate, but I just love trying new stuff, I didn't really care if I'm gonna like it, I just like the opportunity to try the new tastes.
And for the first time ever I understand the rationale behind the chopsticks. I've been looking for the chopsticks' raison d'être, something that just can't be handled with a fork. And I found it in Sushi rolls. It was an excellent experience overall.
And continuing the "first time" theme we then decided we should go karting. So we went to the closest indoor track. The track (map here)looked kinda small at first, but I was really blown away with all the technology.
The races are about lap times and not an actual head to head race. So we would go 4 or 5 ppl at a time for 18 laps but it's your best lap that counts, you can go as slow (or as sideways) as you like for 17 laps and get that perfect lap just once and you'd come out first.
This was actually my first time ever karting, and did I enjoy it! It was a blast, we were 8 people and we each bought 3 races so they would mix and match between us for us to go against different competitors every time.
The thing is that I knew beforehand about optimal racing lines, and the whole concept of how to do a fast time around the track so I expected to have an advantage, at least over people who are also doing it for the first time. It seems the theory is very different than practice because even though I knew the basics, I did pretty horrible for the first two races, I was pretty much the last. In my defence I swear the kart I had for the first race was slower than the others because I would be goin at the kart's limit on the straight and still be overtaken by others. The guys of course wouldn't just watch. They kept teasing me with comments like "Maybe you should bring the z4, see if it can go faster around the track" and "There is no z4 to help you here". It was all in good spirit and we laughed for hours though :)
To their disappointment I do my last race and it seems that I'm finally getting the kart and the track. The last race was also special because the guys over there gave us a bit of an adernaline shot by giving us the turbo mode during the last few laps, where they put more power into the karts and we were allowed to go faster. 23 mph I think was the number which feels awfully fast in such a small indoor track.
And the biggest surprise of the day was that not only I won the last race. But I also got the fastest time of all for the whole day, pulling an 18.42 second lap (I was doing 23 seconds on my first race).
Actually the lap turned out to be the 3rd best laptime during this month (November 2005). And you can even check it out for yourselves here Of course I was jumping all over the place with excitement.
We then continued on to having dinner together at chili's and went home afterwards. It was a marvelous day and if any of the Egyptian MS guys are reading, thank you all guys for making that day the amazing day that it was. Special thank you to loay for arranging for the most part of this day and always working on keeping the group together.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Happy Eid!
To all the people in Egypt, Happy Eid!!
Kol sana wento tayebeen
I really wish I could've been with you guys on a day like this but I can't. So you have the most fun and go easy on the food :)
We hato bomb we far2a3ohooly la7san mesh la2y bomb hena :)
Kol sana wento bel se7a wel salama, enjoy :)
Kol sana wento tayebeen
I really wish I could've been with you guys on a day like this but I can't. So you have the most fun and go easy on the food :)
We hato bomb we far2a3ohooly la7san mesh la2y bomb hena :)
Kol sana wento bel se7a wel salama, enjoy :)
Monday, October 31, 2005
Halloween At Microsoft
Well, one of the best things here at Microsoft is that (maybe contrary to common belief) it's never all work and no play.
Want proof? Let me introduce you to my manager:
No kidding, this is a photo of my manager, Vasili Zolotov, in his office working on Halloween day. I just took this a few minutes ago actually, you're getting this coverage in almost real-time :)
To those outside the US, October 31st marks halloween here. You surely have an idea about halloween seeing the movies and stuff. Today was my very first halloween in the US.
Microsoft had made preparations for employees to bring in their kids starting 3pm for some trick-or-treating here on campus. Our administrative assistant already had prepared signs for people who will be providing candies in their offices to hang on their doors while Microsoft catering provided guests with food and more candy stands on each floor.
All in all it was a very interesting experience. Definitely a very memorable Halloween.
Of course I had to forget the camera and keep on regretting it all day while I watch colleagues and cafeteria staff at lunch wearing all kinds of funny costumes, but by 3pm when the children started flowing and more costumes were on display I just had to get back home and bring my camera which I did.
So here you go some photos of what's happening right now as I write here at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond.
Happy Halloween!
Candies in front of offices waiting for little trick-or-treaters
The signs on the offices and the candy bowl. The funniest thing is that this hand in the middle of the candy bowl detects motion and slaps you on the hand when you're taking candy :D
Yet another sign for candy seekers
Little trick-or-treaters helping themselves to some candy.
Cute kids dressed in all kinds of costumes
Baby: Where is all the candy?
The ghastly candy stand on our floor
No, Bob Marley is still resting in peace, this is Roger Fleig, my manager's manager in the wig over there
Candy and food everywhere
P.S.
I apologize for the poor quality of some (or all) of the photos, the lighting was very faint and I had to do without a tripod.
Want proof? Let me introduce you to my manager:
No kidding, this is a photo of my manager, Vasili Zolotov, in his office working on Halloween day. I just took this a few minutes ago actually, you're getting this coverage in almost real-time :)
To those outside the US, October 31st marks halloween here. You surely have an idea about halloween seeing the movies and stuff. Today was my very first halloween in the US.
Microsoft had made preparations for employees to bring in their kids starting 3pm for some trick-or-treating here on campus. Our administrative assistant already had prepared signs for people who will be providing candies in their offices to hang on their doors while Microsoft catering provided guests with food and more candy stands on each floor.
All in all it was a very interesting experience. Definitely a very memorable Halloween.
Of course I had to forget the camera and keep on regretting it all day while I watch colleagues and cafeteria staff at lunch wearing all kinds of funny costumes, but by 3pm when the children started flowing and more costumes were on display I just had to get back home and bring my camera which I did.
So here you go some photos of what's happening right now as I write here at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond.
Happy Halloween!
Candies in front of offices waiting for little trick-or-treaters
The signs on the offices and the candy bowl. The funniest thing is that this hand in the middle of the candy bowl detects motion and slaps you on the hand when you're taking candy :D
Yet another sign for candy seekers
Little trick-or-treaters helping themselves to some candy.
Cute kids dressed in all kinds of costumes
Baby: Where is all the candy?
The ghastly candy stand on our floor
No, Bob Marley is still resting in peace, this is Roger Fleig, my manager's manager in the wig over there
Candy and food everywhere
P.S.
I apologize for the poor quality of some (or all) of the photos, the lighting was very faint and I had to do without a tripod.
Monday, October 24, 2005
The week in review
I've been getting lots of spam comments on the blog here from ad bots. And while the bots were courteous enough to tell me that my blog is great and that they will definitely bookmark me, I still prefer human commentators.
So unfortunately I will have to turn on word verification for comments on the blog. This will cause blogspot to ask you to write some word you see generated in an image just to make sure you're human. I have been trying to do without this for some time but it went up to 8 to 10 spam comments a day on various posts from spam bots and this seems like the only way to go. I'm sorry for any inconvenience and I hope it doesn't deter anyone from commenting whenever they feel like it:)
With that announcement done we could go on with the news. Last week has been eventful to say the least. One of the main highlights was a team lunch arranged by my lead. It turns out it's kinda MS tradition for the team to all go on a lunch or something similar (yes, paid by MS ;)) whenever a new member joins, or sometimes when there is an event to celebrate, like someone on the team having a baby or getting married. So this one was called for not only because of me joining the team but it also coincided with one of our team member having a baby.
We all went to a restaurant called Thai Ginger and it was maybe my first time to meet all of the team. It turned out we are a dozen or so (The Query Execution team) and everyone was just so cool. It also seems that there are many car enthusiasts in the team. One guy drives a corvette and I think the dev lead drives an Rx-8, I am definitely on the right team here :).
Other memorable events were us (Helal and I) getting our new and kinda permenant rental apartment. We should be moving there first week of november (we are currently in temp housing provided by Microsoft), and while I'm not particularily excited about the moving hassles, the apartment is just super cool. We were so very lucky to find a vacant apartment exactly to our spec, 2 bedroom 2 baths, 1100 square feet, perfect floorplan, but the best thing about it by far is the lake view. Out patio/deck would have direct view over lake Sammamish. The complex also has docks where you can park your boat/jet ski and is an excellent place to hang out a bit.
Of course this now means we should start looking for furniture/appliances for the apartment. We will try to pass by the nearest IKEA. Feel free to remind us of any things we might need with a comment down here :)
One big highlight of the week is having being able to secure tickets for Bon Jovi's have a nice day tour when it comes to Seattle next march. We got the presale password through Microsoft and got a couple of excellent seats. 1 day later and I found the tickets going on auction with bids starting at $110, I got ours for around $50 a piece :D
I'm gonna go and try to start being productive now :)
Ciao Ciao
So unfortunately I will have to turn on word verification for comments on the blog. This will cause blogspot to ask you to write some word you see generated in an image just to make sure you're human. I have been trying to do without this for some time but it went up to 8 to 10 spam comments a day on various posts from spam bots and this seems like the only way to go. I'm sorry for any inconvenience and I hope it doesn't deter anyone from commenting whenever they feel like it:)
With that announcement done we could go on with the news. Last week has been eventful to say the least. One of the main highlights was a team lunch arranged by my lead. It turns out it's kinda MS tradition for the team to all go on a lunch or something similar (yes, paid by MS ;)) whenever a new member joins, or sometimes when there is an event to celebrate, like someone on the team having a baby or getting married. So this one was called for not only because of me joining the team but it also coincided with one of our team member having a baby.
We all went to a restaurant called Thai Ginger and it was maybe my first time to meet all of the team. It turned out we are a dozen or so (The Query Execution team) and everyone was just so cool. It also seems that there are many car enthusiasts in the team. One guy drives a corvette and I think the dev lead drives an Rx-8, I am definitely on the right team here :).
Other memorable events were us (Helal and I) getting our new and kinda permenant rental apartment. We should be moving there first week of november (we are currently in temp housing provided by Microsoft), and while I'm not particularily excited about the moving hassles, the apartment is just super cool. We were so very lucky to find a vacant apartment exactly to our spec, 2 bedroom 2 baths, 1100 square feet, perfect floorplan, but the best thing about it by far is the lake view. Out patio/deck would have direct view over lake Sammamish. The complex also has docks where you can park your boat/jet ski and is an excellent place to hang out a bit.
Of course this now means we should start looking for furniture/appliances for the apartment. We will try to pass by the nearest IKEA. Feel free to remind us of any things we might need with a comment down here :)
One big highlight of the week is having being able to secure tickets for Bon Jovi's have a nice day tour when it comes to Seattle next march. We got the presale password through Microsoft and got a couple of excellent seats. 1 day later and I found the tickets going on auction with bids starting at $110, I got ours for around $50 a piece :D
I'm gonna go and try to start being productive now :)
Ciao Ciao
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Last weekend
Well, thought I'd give you (and maybe myself) a break from daily blog posts. That's why I hadn't posted the past few days.
But anyway, the break is over so here we go :)
I briefly mentioned how the last weekend was kinda busy and fun. I'm gonna elaborate on the subject a bit, and then maybe post a few lousy pics as usual :)
So last weekend we had a visitor actually, Helal's friend happened to be in Texas so he flew over for the weekend before he went back to Egypt.
Of course we'd only been here for less than a month, but we had to act like pros and show him around. That was quite a challenge actually seeing that we still get lost very easily around here and had only been to a handful of places.
So anyway, with the help of friends here we were able to come up with something.
We picked Murad up from Sea-Tac airport (his name is Murad and I'm gonna start using it now) and first went back home. It was already past 9 so any hopes of going somewhere in Redmond were long gone (except maybe the nearest safeway supermarket as it opens 24/7) We decided we'd hit a pub in Seattle. We looked around on the Internet (yeah, what's a geek to do) and found this place called delrey. Looked good so we took the 15 minute way to Seattle, spent 30 minutes looking for parking and we were there. The reality was just a teeny tiny bit different than what we had in our minds. I mean the site said "crowded: yes", instead it should have said "crowded: extremely beyond imagination" maybe.
Seriously, the place was full of people, everyone standing (no places to sit) and just having drinks and talking. It was extremely noisy too. And you'd stand in line for the bar tender to wait on you for like 15 minutes. Anyway it was still fun, very different, would have been even more fun with a bit "softer" group, if you know what I mean, but anyway. We stayed for like 2 hours and then went back.
Next day was shopping day, Murad needed to go shop for stuff for himself and people back in Egypt and of course I am always up for shopping. We went to this huge place called Seattle Premium outlets. I'd seen some outlets here before but this is like a horizontal mall of outlets, they had virtually everything, I mean cloths-wise you could find Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Levi's, Dockers, Aeropostale, Quiksilver, Nike, Adidas, Banana Republic, and that's just off the top of my head.
So we spent from noon to 7 pm shopping, came back home, had some dinner/late lunch. We were then too tired to go elsewhere so we just stayed in, invited a couple of friends and had an intense Xbox gaming session. Dead Or Alive and Burnout are always so much fun in multiplayer modes.
Next day we were planning a hike, we'd originally planned on going to Mount Rainier national park, but we woke up late and we'd made reservations at Skycity in Seattle's space needle for dinner. So we had to be back at home at 5 to change (business casual dress code is in effect at skycity).
So we decided on Marymoor park instead, as it's very close to where we live. Marymoor park turned out to be a very good park indeed. They have one of the very few off-leash dog areas in the states. And it's not too small either. I also found out that Microsoft covers every acre of Marymoor park with free wifi internet access. Really dunno how or why they did that but it's just the facts.
So we played with the dogs, walked along the well treaded path for the best part of 3 hours and then went back home.
We made it at Skycity just in time for our reservations. We were 5 people. Skycity is probably the American version of the revolving restaurant in Grand Hayat in Egypt for the Egyptians amongst you. Actually the revolving restaurant might be the Egyptian version of Skycity, but anyway, you get the idea.
Food was good enough, the appetizers were exceptionally good though. We had a fun dinner looking at an extremely nice view of Seattle city. We went back home and I wrote the blog post that appears just below this one :)
So this turned out to be kinda prequel post.
Anyway, I'll leave you with some photos of Marymoor park and will "see" you soon in a later post.
Helal, Mustafa, and I (left to right) at marymoor park
Mustafa, Helal, and Murad walking down the trail.
The four of us at the end of the trail, behind us is lake Sammamish
More nature at marymoor park, you probably noticed I'm always behind. That's because of all the pics I take, they'd just stopped waiting for me, arghhhhh.
And of course, the post wouldn't be complete without a photo of my new girlfriend :)
See? I'm a good sportsman and I let my friends photograph with her :)
See you guys.
But anyway, the break is over so here we go :)
I briefly mentioned how the last weekend was kinda busy and fun. I'm gonna elaborate on the subject a bit, and then maybe post a few lousy pics as usual :)
So last weekend we had a visitor actually, Helal's friend happened to be in Texas so he flew over for the weekend before he went back to Egypt.
Of course we'd only been here for less than a month, but we had to act like pros and show him around. That was quite a challenge actually seeing that we still get lost very easily around here and had only been to a handful of places.
So anyway, with the help of friends here we were able to come up with something.
We picked Murad up from Sea-Tac airport (his name is Murad and I'm gonna start using it now) and first went back home. It was already past 9 so any hopes of going somewhere in Redmond were long gone (except maybe the nearest safeway supermarket as it opens 24/7) We decided we'd hit a pub in Seattle. We looked around on the Internet (yeah, what's a geek to do) and found this place called delrey. Looked good so we took the 15 minute way to Seattle, spent 30 minutes looking for parking and we were there. The reality was just a teeny tiny bit different than what we had in our minds. I mean the site said "crowded: yes", instead it should have said "crowded: extremely beyond imagination" maybe.
Seriously, the place was full of people, everyone standing (no places to sit) and just having drinks and talking. It was extremely noisy too. And you'd stand in line for the bar tender to wait on you for like 15 minutes. Anyway it was still fun, very different, would have been even more fun with a bit "softer" group, if you know what I mean, but anyway. We stayed for like 2 hours and then went back.
Next day was shopping day, Murad needed to go shop for stuff for himself and people back in Egypt and of course I am always up for shopping. We went to this huge place called Seattle Premium outlets. I'd seen some outlets here before but this is like a horizontal mall of outlets, they had virtually everything, I mean cloths-wise you could find Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Levi's, Dockers, Aeropostale, Quiksilver, Nike, Adidas, Banana Republic, and that's just off the top of my head.
So we spent from noon to 7 pm shopping, came back home, had some dinner/late lunch. We were then too tired to go elsewhere so we just stayed in, invited a couple of friends and had an intense Xbox gaming session. Dead Or Alive and Burnout are always so much fun in multiplayer modes.
Next day we were planning a hike, we'd originally planned on going to Mount Rainier national park, but we woke up late and we'd made reservations at Skycity in Seattle's space needle for dinner. So we had to be back at home at 5 to change (business casual dress code is in effect at skycity).
So we decided on Marymoor park instead, as it's very close to where we live. Marymoor park turned out to be a very good park indeed. They have one of the very few off-leash dog areas in the states. And it's not too small either. I also found out that Microsoft covers every acre of Marymoor park with free wifi internet access. Really dunno how or why they did that but it's just the facts.
So we played with the dogs, walked along the well treaded path for the best part of 3 hours and then went back home.
We made it at Skycity just in time for our reservations. We were 5 people. Skycity is probably the American version of the revolving restaurant in Grand Hayat in Egypt for the Egyptians amongst you. Actually the revolving restaurant might be the Egyptian version of Skycity, but anyway, you get the idea.
Food was good enough, the appetizers were exceptionally good though. We had a fun dinner looking at an extremely nice view of Seattle city. We went back home and I wrote the blog post that appears just below this one :)
So this turned out to be kinda prequel post.
Anyway, I'll leave you with some photos of Marymoor park and will "see" you soon in a later post.
Helal, Mustafa, and I (left to right) at marymoor park
Mustafa, Helal, and Murad walking down the trail.
The four of us at the end of the trail, behind us is lake Sammamish
More nature at marymoor park, you probably noticed I'm always behind. That's because of all the pics I take, they'd just stopped waiting for me, arghhhhh.
And of course, the post wouldn't be complete without a photo of my new girlfriend :)
See? I'm a good sportsman and I let my friends photograph with her :)
See you guys.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Inside Microsoft Photos
It's been an exhausting but really nice weekend. It's coming to an end now that it's Monday 1 am. I'm dead tired and sleepy right now and will have to wake up again in 3 hours to drive a friend to the airport for his flight to Egypt, so I'll most probably skip on the narration this time and maybe tell you all about it sometime later.
For now I thought I'd give you some photos that I'd promised long ago and didn't deliver (till now that is). Photos of how Microsoft looks like. Of course not all of Microsoft, most of these photos were taken in building 35 (which is where my office happens to be, along with the rest of people working on SQL Server), and the building 34 cafeteria which is the closest cafeteria to my office.
So there goes the photos, I'll try to throw in some explanation too.
The building has many glass wall, and this is how it looks like outside one of them
One of the many many alleys inside any given building at Microsoft, this specific one is in my building, building 35.
Now you know why I still get lost inside my building
One side of the kitchen, there is one of these on every floor in every building, yes all drinks are free, and there is even popcorn too :)
A sort of a lounge area, you can just relax here or use your laptop and the corporate wifi inside all buildings to work.
That's what is on the table in the previous photo, a glass chess.
Foosball tables, lots of those lying around in every building, and they're pretty popular too, I'd seen some very intense games and I must admit, I never thought there could be that much skill involved in that game.
And of course, how could I work for a company that doesn't have a ping pong table ;) (an ITWorx joke if you will)
And that's the building on the outside, well a part of it.
Lots of parts around the campus are just like this one, thankfully :)
A section of the nearest cafeteria, yes a section, to get an idea of how big it is I have to tell you that the maximum occupancy for this one is 900 people. It's one of many cafeterias scattered around the campus. Lovely food too.
And never say that MS people are not fun. Those 2 photos are just samples of what people hang on the doors and windows of their offices :)
For now I thought I'd give you some photos that I'd promised long ago and didn't deliver (till now that is). Photos of how Microsoft looks like. Of course not all of Microsoft, most of these photos were taken in building 35 (which is where my office happens to be, along with the rest of people working on SQL Server), and the building 34 cafeteria which is the closest cafeteria to my office.
So there goes the photos, I'll try to throw in some explanation too.
The building has many glass wall, and this is how it looks like outside one of them
One of the many many alleys inside any given building at Microsoft, this specific one is in my building, building 35.
Now you know why I still get lost inside my building
One side of the kitchen, there is one of these on every floor in every building, yes all drinks are free, and there is even popcorn too :)
A sort of a lounge area, you can just relax here or use your laptop and the corporate wifi inside all buildings to work.
That's what is on the table in the previous photo, a glass chess.
Foosball tables, lots of those lying around in every building, and they're pretty popular too, I'd seen some very intense games and I must admit, I never thought there could be that much skill involved in that game.
And of course, how could I work for a company that doesn't have a ping pong table ;) (an ITWorx joke if you will)
And that's the building on the outside, well a part of it.
Lots of parts around the campus are just like this one, thankfully :)
A section of the nearest cafeteria, yes a section, to get an idea of how big it is I have to tell you that the maximum occupancy for this one is 900 people. It's one of many cafeterias scattered around the campus. Lovely food too.
And never say that MS people are not fun. Those 2 photos are just samples of what people hang on the doors and windows of their offices :)
Thursday, October 13, 2005
(Slightly) Better Photos Of My Car
First of all I must thank you all for the warm congrats and responses I got on the last thread. It really felt amazing. I can probably never thank you enough guys.
So both you and I know the previous photos were not that good, I tried to rectify that and took some photos (again in a real hurry) that I think might be better if only for the daylight. She's probably gonna be the subject of many photos to come but I promise from now on I'll spare you the bad ones at least :)
So there they go
So both you and I know the previous photos were not that good, I tried to rectify that and took some photos (again in a real hurry) that I think might be better if only for the daylight. She's probably gonna be the subject of many photos to come but I promise from now on I'll spare you the bad ones at least :)
So there they go
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