Messaging
Most recent messages are at the top
| Dan H. | |
| "Enjoy your classes and jobs" ...
And let's not for get PDENG, of course! >. | |
| Alex T. | |
| Photos and updates from the weekend and our New Employee Orientation will hopefully be up tomorrow.
We've still got to get our Internet up and running at our place, so sorry about the gaps! Until then, enjoy your classes and jobs! =) | |
| Alex T. | |
| I guess we get what we pay for...? :S
$$ | |
| Richard | |
| Looking at your room makes me sad. :( | |
| Calvin | |
| Haha, I just saw in the box "Wisecrackers". That made me laugh... | |
| Raymond | |
| quite so, just ranting cause i'm a ranting type of person to complain about stuff cause i can =P | |
| Timbo | |
| Yes Raymond, But I think you can get why you can't say "ice tea" in Taiwan from my explanation. | |
| Dan T. | |
| awesome, they obviously take care of you | |
| Raymond | |
| You remember I can't read chinese right tim? lol | |
| Dan H. | |
| your corporate house looks like a resort suite! | |
| Timbo | |
| I love the red couches! They look so comfy. | |
| Alex T. | |
| Day 1 - Flight and Housing
Friday January 4, 2008 Photos Stay tuned for updates and photos from Day 2 - "Exploring Redmond" and Day 3 - "Exploring Seattle Chinatown International District" | |
| Timbo | |
| Raymond, ice tea literally translates to 冰茶 in Chinese -- which is literally iced tea like in the States.
Nestea actually markets themselves as 雀巢檸檬茶 -- where 雀巢 is the brand "Neastea", and 檸檬茶 is the product ice tea, but a literal translation of 檸檬茶 is actually lemonade! This was something I had to get use to when I first arrived in Canada, whenever I asked for "lemonade" at restaurants I'd always get "lemonade", and not the ice tea I actually wanted. | |
| Raymond | |
| ya it's weird you actually have to say nestea down there
same with when i was in taiwan for some reason | |
| Alex T. | |
| OK! Check back later tonight! | |
| Anonymous | |
| pictures pictures pictures! :D | |
| Alex T. | |
| Nestea: Check.
Insert iced tea commercial here Lemonade: Check. Fahrenheit: *pulls out calculator* | |
| Richard | |
| Yeah, someone should've warned you about that iced tea. Ask for Nestea when you're in the States. :) | |
| Timbo | |
| Forgot to tell you about that one, there is no Ice Tea down in the States, only lemonade! Horray for midnight Wendy's run.
Don't worry, you'll get use to the good o'l Fahrenheit system soon enough. | |
| Katie | |
| Sounds like a super exciting adventure already! =P
Maybe add a..."to be continued..." ? lol Will there be a commercial break too? =D | |
| Alex T. | |
| Day 1 - Friday January 4, 2008
4:05 PM CST at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago Gate C23: My first flight from Toronto to Chicago (United 1109) was shorter than expected. We left on time and arrived 20 minutes early. My first plane ride: complete! That went rather smoothly. The experience? Cool... The old Boeing 737-300 was small and cozy. I had an aisle seat at the very back of the plane so I couldn't really see out the window except for little glimpses of blue and white whipping by rather quickly. There was tons of leg room even for my long legs. Taxiing out seemed to last forever (probably due t omy eager anticipation for the take off). The quick take off was exhilarating to say the least. Form there on, it was a smooth ride all the way to Chicago. By the time I finished my Tomato Juice (mmm... sodium... bleh... no more), we were already preparing to land. I had arrived at my first time-zone difference from EST! *fiddles with my watch* Now I'm waiting at Gate C23 for my connecting flight (United 949) to Seattle/Tacoma. Boarding at 4:55 PM CST, departure at 5:25 PM CST. 4:27 PM CST: Oooo... I see/hear our Boeing 757-200 pulling in. Cool. Over the PA system, all I hear is "The Threat Level is now orange. Please keep all your baggage and personal items with you at all times. Any unattended baggage will be picked up by the Chicago Police Department..." Okay... does that mean it's fine to leave your baggage unattended when the Threat Level is Greed? Err... 5:00 PM CST: Oh no! My flight has been delayed by over an hour and a half! "The pilots are expected to arrive by 6:45 PM. Boarding will commence at 6:30 PM and we expect to depart by 7:00 PM." Uh oh... Adrian's going to be in for a long wait... eeks. 7:30 PM CST We're now on the plane bound for Seattle, but the plane is still on the ground because we don't have pilots. Nice. Stardust is playing on the sad excuse for a TV screen, but everything else is a-ok here in Economy Plus. I got another aisle seat this time. This time, I get an Emergency Exit row too! Great! Assisting the crew in the case of an emergency! Great! More leg room... 9:00 PM CST Our pilots finally arrived and we were on our way. Turbulence was expected on the way as a system was moving north from California towards Seattle. Nice. Again, the take-off was exhilarating, but even more so than the smaller 737 from the first flight. By this time, the dark night sky has replaced the sun-lit afternoon. The city lights are glowing like Christmas lights - especially the runways. 10:30 PM PST at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport Baggage Claim 16 After many delays and crossing two more time-zones through turbulent conditions, I have arrived in Seattle at SeaTac! Baggage claim was relatively quick and painless, but I was so tired, I don't have much energy left to pull my suitcases along. My arms feel like they are going to drop off the sides of my body. *fiddles with my watch again* 2:30 AM PST at the Trails of Redmond Corporate Housing Adrian and I have arrived in our corporate housing! But there's a semi-small, semi-big mess-up. He got keys to some other unit north of the Microsoft campus, so we're split apart until we submit a request and figure things out on Monday when the offices open. =/ But, I'm skipping ahead, so let's turn the story back to the airport first... After meeting up with Adrian at the car rental lobby, we drove off into the night in our rental red Chevy Impala. Nice. It's no Japanese car and Adrian seems to be in need of some time to get acquainted with an American car. Adrian's GPS unit didn't seem to acquire the satellites while we were in the covered parking garage, so we had to exit the freeway just outside the airport to play with the unit to get it to work. Lesson of the day: When it's not working, reboot it. With our GPS unit humming along nicely barking directions to us while we sped through unknown territory in the dark, we successfully navigated our way to pick up the keys to our unit and then finally to our unit just west of the Microsoft Campus. It's so warm outside even in the middle of the night. Sweet. When we walked into our unit at the Trails of Redmond, it was just: "Wow..." Pictures are worth a thousand words: to be uploaded... By this time, it was about 12:30 AM and we haven't eaten dinner yet. A quick consultation of the trusty GPS unit told us that the closest food-ery was Wendy's. My, oh my, our first meal in America was going to be American... Into the Impala we jumped and off we went in search of stomach-filling... stuff. "Open till 1 AM!" Great! We were there at 12:53 AM. We ordered a simple combo and an "Iced Tea" for the drink. Oh boy. They really took it literally and we received giant cups of tea... that was... iced. No sugar, no sweetness, just tea, with ice. So after calling the info line for our housing, Adrian headed back to his unit north of campus and I called it a night. Zzzz... so tired. Day 2 - Saturday January 5th, 2008 8:30 AM Good morning, America! And I see rain... it's so grey outside right now, but at least it's warm. How warm? I have no idea... I've really got to get used to this funky Fahrenheit/miles/gallons measurement system. So what's the plan for today? Breakfast (consisting of my leftover over-priced bagel from Chicago) is first. Then Adrian and I plan to head out in search of groceries and exploring the area. 9:55 AM The weather is slowly clearing up and it's getting brighter. I see blue skies peaking through! Oooo... | |
| Anonymous | |
| i love how alex's trip is like some celebrity adventure. All these tidbits pouring in from various sources! oh my! xD
(hopefully it won't reflect anything like a certain post-height-pop-star.... haha) | |
| Timbo | |
| At least the checked baggages arrived safely? A bit of a mishap adventure is always fun -- builds character, not to mention stories to tell later.
*sends good vibe and pixie dusts* | |
| Dan T. | |
| wtf?? Awesome... | |
| Dan H. | |
| According to Adrian, their housing was messed up too. Right now they aren't living together, but hope to resolve it when the offices open on monday.
hang in there, guys! | |
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