Author Archives: rajalary

Bargain-hunting and the Microsoft Company Picnic

04 Saturday Aug 2007

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Several times at the Microsoft new hire orientation, we were told, "signup for the company picnic; the food is great." Mention "food" and I’m ready to go.
 
Not wanting to attend by myself, I invited my pseudo-sister from Portland, Wendy, to join me. She came up Saturday morning. She exhibited great patient and enthusiastic as I drove her around Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland to show her some of my favorite places on the "east side."
 
Our first stop was the Bellevue Goodwill, which is brimming with amazing "stuff" at ridiculous prices. I had initially visited Goodwill the day that Rich flew back to Texas. Depressed and wanting to keep busy, I went there to purchase stuffed animals, which I planned to desecrate and give to my co-worker for her birthday. That evening, I made her a Unimingo out of a unicorn head and flamingo body.
 
I also found an amazing, hand-made bowl, which was half-price. I happily shelled out the $2.50 for the bowl and also purchased a pair of pink Gloria Vanderbuilt jean (new with the tag still on) and a pair of beige pants out of Tencel (cellulose) and cotton.
 
Subsequent visits netted a $4.99 covered white bowl with splashes of cobalt blue and red, a sushi plate with a sea turtle, and a reading lamp so I could do sewing and needlework.
 
With Wendy’s help and persistence, I found a pretty purple Norm Thompson rain coat, red SOHO corduroy shirt/jacket… and the coup de grace, a sake set with aquamarine crackle glaze. The latter cost $3.47 without tax! And of course, I bought another stuffed animal to "reinvent."
 
My Unimingo was so popular that my co-worker pointed me to site of a woman who turns stuffed animals inside out then re-stuffs them. My first inside-out animal, a dopey white reindeer, combines the crudeness of the reversed fur with the finished seams of the "original" antlers, tail and scarf. His name is "Duh Deer."
 
My second inside-animal, a longhorn, turned out scary. So scary that I gave it away to one of my co-worker! Now everyone wants an inside-out animal, which just means more trips to the Bellevue Goodwill. Drats!
 
After Wendy and I exhausted ourselves at Goodwill — she bought some plastic glasses and totes — we visited my new apartment. Rich, having grown frustrated with my indecisiveness about finding an apartment several weeks ago, went on line and filled out the lease information for the Archstone Redmond Lakeview apartments on Lake Sammamish in Redmond.
 
That evening, he got a confirmation that his lease had been approved along with the address of the apartment he rented. The next morning, Saturday, I went to the complex to sign some papers and also check out the apartment, which I had only driven by. I search and searched for Building A until I noticed a small footbridge going up a slight hill. My apartment is on the bottom floor of an apartment building with just eight apartments! One side of my apartment is next to the parking lot. The other is by a large walkway so there’s only an apartment behind mine and one above. Best of all, it’s being completed refurbished with Pergo floors throughout, granite countertops, white cabinets, new lights, and appliances, including a little washer and dryer. The door of the apartment was open so I was able to peek inside!
 
Prior to showing Wendy my new apartment, we walked down to the apartment’s dock on Lake Sammamish. Flying low over the lake was a bald eagle with something in its talons. It landed in a tree by the dock and we watched it chomp on its catch, a wiggly fish!
 
Equally interesting was the vast number of water lilies, most with blooms, in Lake Sammamish. They stretched around the perimeter of the lake.
 
After visiting my new apartment, we went to one of my favorite places, downtown Kirkland. Situated on the east-side of Lake Washington (Seattle is on the other side), Kirkland is funky, trendy town with many new and renovated apartments, condominium and houses. It’s proximity to Microsoft has made it a desirable place to live.
 
The downtown area, situation on the water, features several blocks of restaurants, hair and nail salons, art galleries, clothing stores, and other shops. Also in the area is the Island Sailing Club, which Rich wants to join so he can occasionally go sailing.
 
The next Monday, Sunday, Wendy and I took a shuttle bus from the Bellevue Community College to the annual Microsoft picnic at Mountain Meadows Farm located on 200 acres in Snoqualmie Valley (about half an hour from Seattle). The picnic spans three days. EACH day, 11,000 to 19,000 employees and their significant others and children attend. Happily, rain was expected on the Sunday we went so attendance was light – maybe 8,000 – 9,000 adults and giggling kids!
 
The farm specializes in large events and picnics for companies like Microsoft, Boeing, Nintendo, Honeywell, Alaska Airlines, T-Mobile, and Amazon. It’s a giant meadow that backs up to Mount Si, a dramatic rock-like formation that was named after a local homesteader, Josiah "Uncle Si" Merritt and was featured in the show Twin Peaks.
 
Most of the area was utilized for the picnic. The "Food Village" was designed to quickly feed thousands of people. From a distance, all you see is a tall fence made out of plywood with tents spaced every twenty or thirty feet in front of it. Under each tent is a serving area where you could walk up and grab the featured food, ranging from hamburgers to veggie burgers, hot dogs, bratwurst, gyros, bourdon chicken, ribs, corn on the cob, French fries, pot stickers, salmon, pasta, Caesar salad, potato salad, fruit, brownies, shortcake, and assortment of ice cream bars.
 
Under several tents were large flatbed trailers with built-up sides filled with ice and every type of imaginable soda. There were also trailers of water and a beer and wine garden. Supposedly, when the ice melts or the sodas are gone, they simply tow it away and bring in another trailer.
 
Near the food area was one of two stages of entertainment. We listened to several acts, including a memorable quartet called the Baud Boys, which consisted of Microsoft engineers. They sang a combination of songs; the most memorable being one about a man wanting to make love to his wife, but only after his finished his video game. His initial request that he’d be with her in a few minutes stretched into his recommending that she brush her teeth and maybe read a book.
 
At the far end of the site were wagon, pony and train rides, paddle boats and a petting zoo. Along with having a children’s stage, there was an arts and crafts tent and several face painting areas and air brush tattoos. Taking up a large space were 18 of the largest inflatable I’d ever seen. They must have been up to 30 feet in height. My favorite was a huge pirate ship with an enormous octopus climbing up it. There was also Godzilla attacking King Kong, numerous enormous castles and slides. In another area, there were smaller inflatable for toddlers.
 
At the opposite side, were giant chess and checkers, horseshoe pit, giant basketball, putting green, basketball shower stall, golf cage, and another stage. Several volleyball courts were set up for a volleyball tournament. Adults could also visit the casino, bingo, arcade, and massage tents. For those wanting to take out there wallet, there was a tent that sold picnic-themed items like t-shirts, hats, water bottles, chairs, bags, and toys.
 
For the athletic, there was a 24-foot climbing wall and a bungee wall. Throughout the picnic were Dr. Shrinko’s Amazing Shrinking Picnic Puzzles that required nerd (or engineering) ability to solve. I know that Rich is going to relish solving them next year.
 
What did I forget… several small tents with mystics reading palms, table-top cue golf, radio-controlled car races, Frisbee golf, and vendor tent… something for everyone!
 
By the time we walked to the buses, I had consumed an outrageous amount of food, including a lovely dish of macaroni and cheese from a food tent in one of the children’s areas. Wendy must have wondered when I was going to pop!
 
The most extraordinary aspect of the picnic happened within minutes of us getting off the bus. Wendy walked up the picnic entrance and recognized a friend from Lake Oswego (Oregon) High School. Thousands of people at a picnic in Snohomish, Washington and Wendy knew someone! What are the odds?
 

Wal-Mart vs. Neiman Marcus

04 Saturday Aug 2007

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This is my third week at Microsoft. Happily, Dell is rapidly becoming a distant memory. Comparing the two companies is like shopping at Wal-Mart versus Neiman Marcus. There are almost no similarities, aside from both being Fortune 50, multinational organizations in the high-technology industry.
 
Orientation at Microsoft lasted nearly two days. There was over 100 new and returning employees, interns and people from Microsoft vendors in my orientation class. After providing my name, I was given a large plastic envelop filled with information on benefits, Microsoft polices and IT processes, coupons, and other information to help ensure a smooth start. I then visited four stations to have my picture taken for a card key, fill out personal information, confirm my right to work for Microsoft, and verify I’d reviewed and understood my offer letter.
 
The presenters during the orientation were engaging and sometimes very entertaining; their slides matched what was in a large ring-bound orientation book… which I referred to numerous times in my first two weeks at Microsoft. The focus, like Microsoft’s mission, centered on helping people and businesses throughout the world to realize their full potential. We were instructed not to be late to meetings, respond to emails promptly, be respectful of co-workers, take responsibility for our actions, and be willing to stand up for what’s right and what’s best for customers. In addition, the contributions of the individual contributor were highlighted over those of upper management.
 
While it’s easy to present idealistic concepts during an orientation, putting them into practice is another issue. Amazingly, I’ve found people at Microsoft to be very respective, responsive and extremely focused on improving the customer experience. My position is very process-oriented with a large team doing site and content management, editing, web productions, metrics, and strategy (my position). The team supports numerous marketing managers. What’s done by two dozen people at Microsoft is done by three or four at Dell.
 
Along with presenting a great work experience, the environment is fabulous. I’m in a three story building that’s "V" shaped with several bumps. Most of the offices either have a window or are only a short walk from a window or the sunlight-lit atrium in the center of the building. My office is quite large and designed for two people. Because I’m new to Microsoft, I don’t qualify for an office with a window. Prime office are assigned to employees based on seniority and not rank.
 
The building backs up to a quad area that’s shared by two other, oddly shaped buildings. Surrounding the building are terraces filled with beautiful plantings and plantings. The cobblestone quad also has several fountains and numerous benches, and tables. Visit this site to see the Microsoft campuses and read some fun comments about the Microsoft environment.
 
Across from this grouping of buildings is a large field, where during the day (and on weekends), you can see soccer and cricket matches between Microsoft employees. There are numerous sports fields on the campus along with quads to relax or work outside. The insides of the buildings are equally commodious with groupings of comfortable chairs and couches for meetings or putting ones feet up as they work. Natural light filters in through the numerous window and atriums.
 
Most parking is below ground or in parking garage, leaving lots of space between the buildings for lush landscaping and interesting architectural features, terraces and covered walkways. It’s like a college campus, only more high-tech with people scurrying by on foot, bicycle, skateboard, scooter, and even Segway. On the streets are shuttle and city buses, hybrid cars that transport recruiters from building-to-building, very expensive sports cars, lots of economy, compact and mid-size cars, and an occasional truck or SUV.
 
I’d been told that Microsoft has free coffee and sodas. I never envisioned that the break areas would have refrigerator cases like you’d find in convenience stores stocked with 36 different types of beverages from fruit juices (apple, cranberry, grape, grapefruit, orange, and V8) to Pepsi and Coke products (Fresca, five varieties of Talking Rain, Cherry Coke, Coke, Zero Coke, Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, root beer, etc.) and milk (low fat, non-fat, chocolate, low-fat chocolate).
 
Across from the refrigerator cases is a Starbuck’s coffee machine. You simply select the cup size and type of coffee or hot chocolate then push "brew." The machine grinds the whole beans and instantly brews your beverage. You can also select from dozens of varieties of teas, cider, and powdered hot chocolate.
 
Being the Pacific Northwest, paper, aluminum and polystyrene recycling bins are everywhere you turn. Everything is recycled. In the cafeteria, signs instruct employees to scrap their styrofoam plates then deposit them along with foam cups, plastic silverware and bottles into the polystyrene bins. While some companies like to label themselves as environmentally astute, others, like Microsoft, truly do whatever is necessary to save or recycle valuable resources.
 
During my first week at Microsoft, the printer stopped working. Within an hour, a technician showed up and fixed it. The technicians are remotely alerted by the printers whenever they break or start to run low on paper or toner!
 
There’s no voice mail. Instead, calls are routed to one’s computer. A message is then sent via email informing you that a message was recorded. You simply click on the email and listen to the message via your computer’s speakers! You can also dial from our computer and receive faxes directly to your computer.
 
Working at Microsoft is like being in a Jetson cartoon. It’s very hip, automated and forward-thinking!
 

SOLD!!

18 Wednesday Jul 2007

Posted by in Texas Life

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Monday, we put on our house on the market. By that afternoon, our realtor received an offer for full price! We were thrilled!
 
We don’t anticipate any problems and expect the house to close by August 17th. Rich will stay an extra week to get everything packed. I’ll then fly back to Texas to accompany him as we drive across the country in his Dodge Dakota with our six cats and five birds in the back. The back of his truck has a canopy so we’ll open the window between the cab and bed of the truck so the cats can walk back-and-forth and "help" Rich drive.
 
Microsoft will be moving our furnishings, which is fabulous!
 
It’s hard, looking at the listing of our house, not to feel a little sadness about leaving it. We had many memorable days in the house from sitting in the hot tub on warm summer evenings, watching the sunset as bats circled above to watching a lightning storm from the balcony, seeing a deer and her fawn eat the acorns from our oak trees, listening to the creek as it rushes after a rain storm, picking herbs from my garden, cooking in the spacious kitchen, sewing in my green-walled hobby room, working side-by-side with Rich in the office, and so much more.
 
With the price of housing in the Seattle area, there’s no way we can afford a comparable house. Nevertheless, it’s a relief that our house and that Rich and I will be together in Washington starting in late August!

Amazing Fourth of July

07 Saturday Jul 2007

Posted by in Seattle

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Using my free MetroPass from Microsoft, I took the bus to downtown Seattle on the Fourth. It was a gratifying trip along tree-lined roads, across Mercer Island and the sailboat-speckled Lake Washington, past Safeco Field (home of the Seattle Mariners), and Qwest Field (72,000 seats to watch the Seattle Seahawks), and through Chinatown. Anxious to see Seattle on foot, I got off at the next stop – in front of the Seattle City Hall. This dramatic, angular building featured a large glass-enclosed piece of art of iridescent disks strung on filament. Below is a picture. The neighboring buildings are reflected in the glass.
 
Walking towards the waterfront, I reached Pioneer Square, one of the oldest parts of Seattle; it’s famous for its underground tour of what was once the main roadways and first-floor storefronts of old downtown Seattle, including houses of ill repute, taverns and opium dens. The area also features 20 blocks of Victorian Romanesque architecture.
 
Seattle wraps around Elliott Bay in the Puget Sound. Its waterfront has piers and facilities for shipping, huge cruise (Norwegian, Celebrity, Holland, Princess) ships, Washington State ferries, site-seeing and sailing boats, and tourism, including the Seattle Aquarium, Odyssey Maritime Discovery Center, and a plethora of restaurants and tourist shops and attractions. It’s a hubbub of people – locals enjoying the day and the spectacular view of the bay, camera-toting tourists, students, joggers, walkers, and little children running up-and-down the wide boardwalk.
 
The weather, like the view, was perfect. Across the sapphire water, I can see snow-capped Olympic Mountains, Mount Rainer, green hills dotted with houses and ships and boats of every ilk. The Emerald City takes my breath away. My trepidations about leaving Texas and starting over have become a distant memory.
 
Walking further, I reached the newly opened Olympic Sculpture Park, developed by the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and the Trust for Public Land. Once a hang-out for transients and highly industrial area owned by Union Oil of California (UNOCAL), the 9-acre park is a unique mixture of large outdoor sculptures, pathways, native plantings, and a pavilion and amphitheater in a Z-shaped configuration that connects three distinct parcels of landscape and goes over a multi-lane highway and railroad tracks.
 
I didn’t spend much time in the park because I wanted to share it with Rich in a few months. Instead, I headed back to Pike Street and the "market." On the way, I passed by the Growing Vine Street project, which captures storm water runoff from the neighboring building and uses biofiltration (exposing polluted water to sunlight, soil and vegetation) to biologically alter and absorb pollutants, thereby improving water quality.
 
There’s lots of science and a huge cistern involved in the project. All I saw was 8-city blocks, planted with amazing flowering bushes, vegetables, small sculptures, and pathways. There were patches of bright lavender, delicate old-fashioned pink and magenta roses, bristly artichokes, multi-colored dahlias, and peonies… everything that I can’t wait to plant in our next house!
 
As expected, Pike’s Market was swarming with people rushing up to tables of just-picked fruits (mostly cherries, blueberries, and apricots), vegetables, and buckets of flowers. Enormous bouquets cost $10-$20. Smaller bouquets, the size you’d buy in Texas for $20 or more, are just $5.
 
The market also features cases of fish, meat, poultry, dairy products, coffees and teas, dried pasta, candies, nuts, honey, baked goods, and locally produced lotions and potions. I bought some Moon Valley calendula soap along with their lotion bar, lip balm, and a salve with sweet almond oil, beeswax, rosehip seed oil, flax oil, aloe, comfrey, calendula, burdock, geranium, and rosemary extract. My skin already feels less itchy!
 
Encompassing many, many blocks and dozen or more buildings, the market is recognized as America’s premier farmers’ market and is home to nearly 200 year-year commercial businesses, 190 craftspeople, 120 farmers who rent table space, 240 street performers and musicians, and 300 apartment units, most of which house mostly low-income, elderly people.
 
Click here to take a tour of the market. It’s fun!
 
After many hours of wandering through downtown Seattle, I was happy to grab a bus back to Bellevue and spend the rest of the day and evening, reading, painting my toenails, watching TV, and worrying about Rich, who was overseeing the Fort Vancouver Fireworks Show in Vancouver (border of Washington and Oregon). I was glad when he called at 11 o’clock to say that his show went off without a hitch.

Heart of Bellevue

04 Wednesday Jul 2007

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The word "posh" derived from the concept of "port out, starboard home," which was the preferred and more expensive way to travel between the Britain and India. When going to India, the left or port side was mostly in the shade. Going back, the opposite was true.
 
My experience with Microsoft, so far, has been equally posh. Along picking up the tab for me to fly to Seattle, they’re paying for a rental car and temporary housing. While I asked for a one bedroom/one bathroom apartment, I received two bedrooms/two bathrooms at the Verona Apartments, an upscale four-story complex in the heart of downtown Bellevue.
 
Bellevue is a very ritzy town to the east of Seattle, across Lake Washington with housing prices starting at half-a-million for a 1,200 square foot house. The prestigious, high-rise apartment complex across the street from mine – 989 Elements – offers a 385 square foot "box" for $879 to $895 per month. If you move up to a 1 bedroom/1 bathroom 680 square foot unit, you’ll need to cough up $1,364 to $1,886 per month! A 2 bedroom/2 bathroom penthouse (1,096 square feet) is $3,325 per month. For that price, you can easily purchase a house!
 
Below are some pictures of my apartment. From my small balcony, which is a block from Interstate 405, I can see the top of Mount Rainer along with several attractive office buildings with colorful landscaping.
 
Each of the bedrooms has a large window. The main room (living, dining and kitchen) have six windows so the apartment is very bright and pleasant. I think it’s also one of the largest in the complex. Fully furnished, it must be costing Microsoft lots of money. Posh. Very posh!

Final Thoughts

01 Sunday Jul 2007

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I’m writing this blog entry from the Austin Bergstrom Airport… seemingly moments before I depart for Seattle and the next chapter in my life. It’s hard not to cry thinking back on the past four years. It’s been an adventure that I so desparately wanted to end, but now have second doubts in light of the uncertainty ahead.
 
As I drove out of the driveway of our Round Rock house – for the last time – I looked up to see a full moon. Doubtful that I’d closed the garage, I circled back and double-check, taking one more look. Inside were my six cats, which I probably won’t see again for another three to four months, depending on when our house sells. It’s painfully hard to leave the cats.
 
This was the house that I despised, but now have strong feelings of loss. The first year we moved into the house – which seemed enormous with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, large kitchen, living and dining room, plus a cozy den – we ripped out a large swath of lawn upfront, put in French drains, sculpted a dry creek bed then planted Texas native flowering bushes, grasses, and groundcover. Our efforts rewarded us with months of red, blue, pink magenta, yellow, and orange flowers that daily attracted butterflies, dragon flies and humming birds.
 
Last night, as the sun was setting, I wandered down to the creek to see it one last time. Many inches of torrential rain, days before, had turned the usually lazy creek into a rapidly flowing body of water that overflowed the banks and had whipped up blobs of white foam. Many parts of Texas, including Round Rock, have been under flood watch for weeks. When the water recedes, I’m sure the contours of the creek while be changed.
 
This morning, as I got in the car, I could hear the sound of the creek crashing over our mini dam. Usually, by this time of the year, there is barely enough water to cover the creek bed!
 
Part of my relocation package from Microsoft including real estate assistance. On Tuesday of this week, we signed up a realtor to sell our house. While the plan was for Rich to return from his pyrotechnic activities in Oregon (he’s presently setting up the show) and quickly work to get the house ready to sell, the realtor called on Thursday to say that she not only felt we priced our house too low, but had a potential buyer who wanted to see the house.
 
Thursday evening, therefore, I scurried to make the house look as presentable as possible, including putting a new bedspread on our bed, draping curtains in the living room, sweeping, wiping, and sticking stuff in closets. I also met with the realtor to give her a key to show the house while Rich is away. It would be astonishing if we got a bid before the house was even officially listed, but miracles happen… and may be this is the miracle we need to validate our decision to leave the comfort of our big Texas house for a compact tract house in Washington!
 
Below is a bouquet of amazing orchids that my co-workers at Dell gave me the day I left. It was an amazing gesture and I will greatly miss them.

Moving (Finally) to Washington

18 Monday Jun 2007

Posted by in Texas Life

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I was going to title this article "Greener than the Grinch," but last Friday the seemingly impossible turned into a reality when a Microsoft recruiter called and extended a job offer.
 
In early May, I had a telephone interview with the hiring manager, which was a complete disaster. Needing a private place to talk, I slipped into the only open room I could find – a small team room next to a research lab at "D." The reception was terrible.
 
I had forgotten about the phone interview until late May when I received an email asking me to fly to Redmond. At the time, I was in New York. Nine days later, I was on a plane with a notebook full of stuff about  the position and Microsoft.
 
The morning of the interview, the recruiter told me that I’d be initially meeting with three people. If I did well (no pressure), I’d meet with two other people. The first interviewer had a similar role. The next was with another group. The third was the hiring manager. The fourth was a higher level manager within the group and the fifth was the general manager of the group. He asked the most unusual questions.
 
Giddy from the excitement of the day and starting to feel my internal clock wind down, since it was around 6 p.m. Central Time, I was flippant in my answers. When asked what the warning label on a bottle of medicine would read if I were the medicine, I responded, "Warning, highly explosive."
 
The words were so volatile that they flamed as they came out of my mouth. There was no catching or cooling them down as they escaped. In another response, I had difficulties recalling a time when I left work and felt regret for what I’d said. No matter how sharp-tongued my responses, I rarely ask forgiveness for speaking my mind. Honesty, even if painful, is better than deceit.
 
In spite of my less than practiced responses, the general manager seemed amused and when interrupted by his secretary for running overtime explained that he enjoyed our conversation.
 
After walking back to my car, I called Rich and told him that I thought I’d "nailed" the interview. My confidence faded with each passing day.
Finally, a week later, the recruiter called and said that the hiring manager wanted to interview more candidates. Rich felt it was best, for my mental health, that I write-off the job and move forward with my job search.
 
After ranting-and-raving for a few days about being unemployable, I heeded his advice and revised and reposted my resume to the Microsoft career site. I also applied for a handful of interesting positions.
 
On Friday, June 15th, I went to Lake Travis for a group off-site. Having gorged myself on queso (melted cheese with salsa) and chips, fajitas, swam three times, swatted at countless bugs, and joined my co-workers in lamenting the lay-offs at "D," I decided to stop at a gourmet shop to buy some Blackthorn, a sparkling apple cider from England that Rich and I had served at our wedding. If I had to spend my summer in Texas, I might as well slurp one of my favorite beverages.
 
I then headed to Garden Ridge, the world’s greatest hobby and home decorating store to lose myself in silk flowers, cheap dishes, pretty baskets, linens, and wonderful knick-knacks. After loading up the back of the car with my many finds, I heard my cell phone ring.
 
Figuring it was Rich, I headed home without bothering to answer. As I drove into the garage, I saw a giant hand-lettered sign, "You Got the Job!"
It took about two hours to reach the recruiter and discover that they intended to pay me more than "D," give an additional week of vacation… stock that vests over five years… benefits up the ying-yang… relocation package that includes 60-days of temporary housing, moving expenses, and much more.
 
I didn’t have to think about the offer over the weekend. My immediate response was "yes," and "when can I start."
 
Today, I gave "D" my two-week notice. On Saturday, June 30th, I leave Texas to start my adventure. With the help of Microsoft real estate services, I’m hoping Rich can join me in September after our Texas house sells.
 
Be sure to watch "Rajalary" for updates of my adventures…

New York at $369 per Night

27 Sunday May 2007

Posted by in Travel

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In the coming months, "D" will be introducing several new systems and to create awareness they’re having several press events. After complaining to my manager that the person who created all the messaging and core content for the services being launched with the systems, should be allowed to go to at least one of the events, he concurred. I’m now sitting in a $369 room ($1,250 regular rate) composing this blog.
 
The day started early in the morning with my flying JetBlue to J.F.K Airport and sharing a cab with others to the Hotel Mela. Just driving to the hotel was exciting, passing Queens and driving through a tunnel onto Manhattan… seeing all the sight (and places I wanted to visit) then smack dab in the middle of Time Square with screaming billboards, flashing lights, chic restaurants and lounges next to everyday fast food emporiums, towering theaters, ABC studios with streaming banners, cars, taxis, scooters, tour buses, street corners swarming with camera-welding tourists, and New Yorkers just trying to get to their destinations.
 
Just a block away was the Hotel Mela, which didn’t have our rooms ready. No problem. Four of us headed to Bryant Park Grill for a leisurely lunch under large, deep green umbrellas and tall shade trees. The park reminded me of a Seurat painting with people in small groupings, eating, laying on blankets on the grass, playing games, and enjoying the 70-degree weather on a Sunday afternoon.
 
After lunch, Pooja, a hip engineer from Dubai and I took the subway to Chinatown. I’m glad she came along because I was in awe of New York and not paying attention to which subway I needed to take. Chinatown was loony. Throngs of people spilled into the streets because the sidewalks were cluttered with tables of knock-off purses and luggage, cheap jewelry, knick-knacks, electronics, DVDs, clothing, and souvenirs.
 
Several streets featured open air markets for fruits, vegetables, fish, and other perishables. The vendors took pride in their produce, ensuring everything was in rows and putting the bright-colored produce by those with less color. The prices were very cheap, probably owing to having numerous farms in New York, New Jersey (the Garden State) and the surrounding states.
 
The display of fish was equally impressive with fishmongers standing on the sidewalks offering seasonal soft shell crabs, shrimp of varying sizes, tilapia and carp (some scarcely alive, crammed into plastic bins with barely enough water to cover them), halibut, scallops, clams, and so much more. The fishy smell was very intense. You could smell it half a block away.
 
Also "scenting" the area was the smell of Chinese food, rancid oil, incenses, flowers, and the odor of hundreds of bodies packed into a small space. Rising up from the cacophony on the street were canyons of tenements. Old and sometimes very ornate buildings with high windows and little balconies, barely large enough to accommodate a chair or two or maybe string up a clothes line. In these buildings lived immigrants from across Europe, including my ancestors from Russia and Austria.
 
My grandfather told stories of jumping across the roofs of the buildings, peaking in the windows of the neighborhood prostitute and swimming in the Hudson River. His father, a widow, hired housekeepers to watch over his seven daughters and one son. My grandmother, his wife, recalled living in a 5th floor, cold water flat with her five sisters and two brothers. These historical building, musty with the lives of so many people who came to America with hope and determination is now filled with people from China, Korea and other Asian nations.
 
According to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum, between 1863 and 1935, 7,000 tenants lived in the tenement at 97 Orchard Street. At the street-level were shops. Each tenement building in New York, like the one on Orchard Street, was witness to thousands of families and shopkeepers. Multiple these thousands of lives by thousands of tenements buildings through Manhattan – millions of people, most who arrived by boat through Ellis Island with the hoping of living the American dream. And what they got were three, dank rooms in a tenement building with maybe two windows in the back and two in the front. Or perhaps, windows that opened onto an airshaft, where the sounds and smells of your neighbors drifted in on hot summer night.
 
A few blocks east of Chinatown, is Little Italy. The street was closed for a festival and filled with small café tables and crowds of people enjoying the ambiance. East of Chinatown are the streets of the "Gangs of New York," Bowery and Five Points (Worth, Baxter, Mulberry, Mosco/Park, and Little Water (no longer exists). We walked past this area to see a large monument by the Manhattan Bridge.
 
We then headed west to Delancy, Canal, Hester, and Houston Streets, in search of authentic bagels and a taste of Jewish heritage. Before leaving for New York, I had looked up information about historical synagogues in the area. However, what we found were streets lined with every imaginable piece of "schlock" that could be sold. One street was sidewalk-to-sidewalk of tables offering leather goods.
 
It was very disappointing. I hoping to meander into delicatessen and inhale the smells – salty kosher pickles, tangy cheese and succulent meats, fragrant bagels and breads, and pungent soups. One of my goals was to buy a mezuzah to protect our Washington, but there were none to be found.
 
Tired from traipsing from street-to-street, Pooja recommended we stop for a drink on a shady street. I had a refreshing glass of lemonade with fresh grated ginger. It was a perfect few minutes… I couldn’t believe that I was really in New York, watching the people walk by, seeing the streets where my grandparents once walked, and experiencing the many culture aspects of the city. I also learned about Pooja’s life in Dubai, which was fascinating.
 
It gets deathly hot in Dubai so everyone stops working and takes a nap between 1 and 4 every afternoon. She told of people dying on the streets from the heat. Because of the three hour break in the middle of the day, she observed that Dubaian seem more relaxed and live longer.
 
After sitting for a while, we found a subway station and rode the many blocks to our hotel. After getting back, I rested for a while then set out to find theater tickets. Unfortunately, there are few plays to see on Sunday evening; we’d missed the matinees and the early Sunday evening shows were just starting.
 
Determined to do "something" in the theater district, I bought two tickets for $20 to a comedy show. I was thrilled to learn that Pooja had never been to a comedy show, which featured an improvisational team. While not the best comedy I’ve seen, it was a slice of New York and an opportunity to have a tasty bowl of French onion soup.
 
Tired and anxious to tell Rich about my day, I returned to my $369 room with two windows that opened onto an airshaft, a king-size bed with six pillows and 600-count Egyptian linens, large tubes of spa shampoo, conditioner and soap, a comfy terry robe, mahogany furniture (including a comfortable desk with Internet connection), a mini refrigerator stocked with every imaginable drink, and a basket full of goodies.
 
In the basket, was a small sachet, which I thought contained tea bags. After reading the list of contents and associated prices, I discovered it was a "personal packet," two condoms, two breath mints, and tube of lubricate. Okay. How about some cashews or Cheetos!

My Second Life Interview

18 Friday May 2007

Posted by in Computers and Internet

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As readers have probably surmised, I’m flunking out at Microsoft. I’ve applied for around 50 positions on Monster, LinkedIn and the Microsoft site; located several people within Microsoft who were willing to route my resume to various marketing professionals; written to several recruiters on LinkedIn; submitted lengthy answers to questions that recruiters have posed;, and even had a three phone interviews. Strike two.
 
Knowing I had nothing to lose and perhaps something to gain, I signed up for virtual interview with Microsoft on Second Life. A week before, I created my avatar and started to do the tutorials in preparation for the interview. The evening of the interview, I felt somewhat ready; although, I felt my attire, especially my hair, could have been better along with my navigation skills.
 
Sure enough, I awkwardly navigated to the island where the interviews were being held and raced up the stairs and took a seat in the conference room before the recruiter. Because you have to type your responses – quickly – it’s easy to make mistakes and what would take seconds to speak, takes minutes to type. Within a few minutes, I set myself up for failure by typing that I’d started my MBA, many years ago. Even though I was able to transition to another subject, the recruiter kept coming back to my MBA.
 
Nervous and unable to come up with a quick response, I typed a bunch of gibberish. I could hear the recruiter noting, "Next candidate."
 
Near tears, I ended the interview as gracefully as I could. That evening, I sent a note to the recruiter, elaborating on my answers and providing additional information about my expertise. The next day, she sent what appeared to be a form email asking me to comment on my Second Life interview experience in her blog. I wrote a few humorous paragraphs about it being an enjoyable experience and how I neglected to shake her hand at the end… don’t even know if that’s possible in Second Life. Strike three.
 
Even worse, I mentioned to a friend the name of my avatar – Puttanesca Capalini. He said the puttanesca means "whore’s pasta." A quick peak at Wikipedia confirmed that my being clever choosing the name of my favorite pasta sauce to meld with the given last name "Capalini" was a dumb idea.

Riverboats, Koi and the Colorado River

18 Friday May 2007

Posted by in Travel

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Last weekend, we visited Rich’s parents in Bullhead City, which is on the Arizona side of the Colorado River. On the other shore is Laughlin, Nevada, where we stayed at the fabulous Colorado Belle casino. Built in the early 1980’s, in the shape of a huge riverboat, it features perky red and white decorations, flocked wallpaper, crystal and brass chandeliers, and wall-sized paintings of river scenes with women in long dressed holding parasols and men in straw hats in seersucker suits.
 
On the first floor was the casino with a grand staircase, leading to the themed restaurants on the second floor, each decorated according to its name – Captain Buffet was nautical, Mississippi Lounge was elegant French Quarter, Mark Twain’s was rustic, Orleans Room reminded me of an old-fashioned ice cream shop, and I don’t remember how the Paddlewheel was decorated.
 
Downstairs was the Broiler Room, which Rich and I walked through on our last day at the casino. Promoted as Laughlin’s only brewery, it was memorably decorated with huge pipes, charts, instrumentation, riveted walls, and funky equipment as if you were below deck on a ship built by Jules Verne. Woven into the décor was the copper brewing and serving tanks.
 
Surrounding most of the Colorado Belle was a moat filled with koi fish, varying in size and color. The largest fish must have been two feet in length and according to a sign, weigh fifteen pounds or more. Strategic placed around the moat were fish food dispensers. For a quarter, you could get a handful of food to toss into the moat. The fish would instantly swim to the food, the larger fish pushing the smaller ones out of the water in a swirling mass of shiny orange, yellow, white and black.
 
On several occasions, we watched a throng of koi swim under a duck and push it out of the water in pursue of fish pellets. The duck would walk across the koi until it found a patch of water then nonchalantly swim away. It was a humorous symbiotic relationship.
 
In the Colorado River, which abuts the Colorado Belle, you could see large, black carp (koi are also carp) swimming in the clear aquamarine water. Intermittently, a rainbow trout would swim by. It was very enjoyable spending the morning, before the temperature rose above 100-degrees, walking along the river and when necessary, darting into a casino to cool off.
 
To answer the obvious question, the only slot machines we played were the fish food dispensers. Every quarter you put in paid off… at least for the koi and ducks.
 
It was a very pleasant few days visiting with Rich’s parents, wandering through the Colorado Belle, seeing the sites around Laughlin and Bullhead City where Rich spent many summer days, and eating way too much at the casino buffets.
 
On the way to the Las Vegas Airport, we made a quick stop at the Hoover Dam and Boulder City. The latter was constructed during the Great Depression as a "model" city where American people could look for hope for a better future. It was designed to house the workers who built the Hoover Dam and had many strict rules for behavior, including no alcohol. Happily, the fabulous stucco and tile-roofed buildings and house that were built in the city in the early 1930’s have been lovingly maintained and were a delight to see. I love 30’s architecture.
 
The Hoover Dam… the only way to describe the dam is to string together a handful of adjectives because it’s truly breathtaking, incomprehensible, a testament to man’s determination, and as mighty as a skyscraper. Built between 1931 and 1935, it is 726.4 feet high from foundation rock to the roadway, weighs 6,600,000 tons, and can withstand 45,000 pounds per square foot of water pressure.
 
Numbers seem abstract until you consider the amount of concrete used to build the dam could be used to create a monument 100 feet square and 2.5 miles high (taller than the Empire State Building) or the concrete could be used to pave a 16-feet wide highway that stretched from San Francisco to New York City!