Random

Oh well, nothing very important. It's just that I don't really have the time or the mindset to post a very serious hmmmm oh well, post.

So here goes, a few random observations that I took notice of during the past couple months. Most if not all of them is about MS or the US. Some might find them amusing, some will find them boring, and in any case if you have something more important to do then go do it. This is just a pastime for a few minutes :).

So here goes:

1.Well it maybe stating the obvious, but many americans (at least in my experience) are indeed unilingual. I can't really blame them, maybe if most of the world spoke arabic as 2nd language we would've been like that. And it usually impresses to tell an American that you can speak 2 languages fluently and a 3rd fairly well so I can't complain. Some even guessed we speak English in Egypt when they find us using it comfortably.

2. This is really useless, I have no idea how it came to my mind but pocket handkerchief packs around here are usually 15 2-ply tissues, instead of the ones in Egypt with 10 3-ply tissues. Ultimately the same number of plies but I think the US version makes better use of the resources :)

3. All conference rooms and offices at Microsoft have motion sensors that would turn off the lights when no motion is detected for a few minutes to save energy. Pretty cool idea. I have yet to find out the exact timeout for those though. Someday I'm gonna perform my own experiment and find out.

4. I just noticed today what seemed to me like tiny braille writings on the restroom signs at MS that seem to identify men's/women's restrooms. Very thoughtful.

5. It does indeed rain a lot in the Seattle area. Again stating the obvious, but what most people who never lived in similar weather probably don't know is that it's always warmer when it rains. On the non rainy days we get -4 degrees celsius weather. It can never go below 6 degrees celsius when it's raining on the other hand.

6. You hardly ever need to carry cash around here if you have an ATM/credit card. You even pay tips at restaurants/cafes by writing the amount on the store's copy of the visa receipt. I find myself usually carrying zero cash, not something you can get away with in Cairo at all. Another side effect is that I have yet to get used to the banknote and coin shapes. I still have to stare and read to know a given US banknote/coin's value.

7. I'd probably wasted enough of your (and my) time by now :) So I'm wraping this up. Merry Christmas for the folks in Egypt, and Kol sana wento tayebeen for everyone celebrating 3eed El Ad7a everywhere!
See ya