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It’s been over a month since my last post and next weekend will mark 2 months since I arrived here, so I think it’s time I do a bit of a brain dump.

The question I seem to be getting a lot lately is “So, how do you like it over here?” and since about my first week here my answer has been “I’m loving it“. Even though Em isn’t over here yet, furniture hasn’t arrived yet, I’m sleeping on an airbed, I don’t have a credit score, I don’t have a driver’s license - it’s still great.

One of the reasons I wanted to move overseas was to get out of my comfort zone and personally “grow” a bit by experiencing a new environment. Well that has certainly worked and I feel very revived, stimulated, refreshed and energised. To pack up everything in two months and move was the right decision.

Highlights

Internet Access Rocks!

Unlimited, cheap, fast & plentiful. Australia really is a backwater in the Internet access story. Even mobile Internet rocks.

Weather

I know that this will look very different 6 months from now, but Seattle’s summer is the best kept secret. The weather for the past week has been absolutely gorgeous!

Events

I have no idea whether it’s a year-round thing or not - but in the last two months I’ve been to numerous picnics, BBQ’s, fireworks, concerts, etc. There seems to be some sort of festival or outdoor event on every weekend day. And even when there’s not - somebody is always having a BBQ at their place.

Microsoft Company Picnic	Microsoft Product Fair	4th of July Celebrations
Kirkland Summer Picnics	Seafair	Developer Division BBQ

Getting Outdoors

One of the things that I had kind of stopped doing back home was getting outdoors and going hiking, camping, etc. I’d become lazy & it was always “too hard”. Since I’m over here and there is so many things to do close by, I’ve started making the most of it. I bought a book of hikes in the area and they all look like great walks. It’s gerat while the weather is sunny but there will always be skiing in the winter.

Fishing with Chuck	Lake Chelan
Rattlesnake Ridge hike	Mountain Biking

People

Everybody knows what the stereotypical American is like - loud, obnoxious, narrow-minded, obese, etc. Well I can honestly say that Seattle (and the “Northwest”) is different. The people I’ve met & the friends I’ve made here - they rock. It seems that everybody is well educated, liberal minded, independent and friendly and/or they’re an Aussie.

Work

I’m really enjoying my job and the people I work with. The work is challenging enough that I have plenty to learn and important enough that I can make a difference. I’m also working with lots of different people and teams. Microsoft really is an amazing place to work - there’s so many resources available to you.

For instance when we had a server problem - we ended up getting the developer from the Windows team who wrote the memory management code to have a look and explain why our application was behaving how it was. I’m working on performance monitoring and a guy from another team who wrote a book on it sought me out and offered to help. Great stuff. It’s also scary at the same time - because if you run into a problem that the product group can’t fix, it’s not like you can call up CSS and get it escalated - the buck stops here.

Food

Food was one of the things that I was most worried about in moving over here. It turns out that it’s not all that bad and my eating habits have stayed much the same. There’s plenty of fruit and vegetables around which makes it easy to stay healthy. There’s also a cafeteria in each building that sells discounted fresh & healthy cooked meals - the menu is different every day and I haven’t been disappointed with a meal yet.

I’ve also become addicted to yogurt over here. I don’t know whether it’s the Phenylalanine or the nifty upside-down-cup containers that they come in - but I’m really enjoying them. What’s even better is that you can buy them in an 18-pack from CostCo

Current Relocation Status

• Moved into a great apartment in Kirkland
• Got some new furniture
• Bought a new car
• Got my SSN
• Emma got her E3-D visa approved
• Passed my practical driving test
• Got cable installed
• Went Riding with the Ducks and saw the houseboat from Sleepless in Seattle
• Saw the Fremont Troll from 10 Things I Hate About You.
• Did the adults-only version of the Seattle Underworld tour

Overall I’m really enjoying it over here - I feel very comfortable and I sometimes forget that I’m in a “foreign country”.