December, 2005

December 30st, 2005 @ 12:02 pm BFWT (Brett Federal Way Time)

Ive been spending the last week at Melanies parents place in Federal Way. Its been great and a lot of fun. Xmas was just like when i was here two years ago (minus having a Melanie around). Lots of friendly people, lots of great food, lots of fun.

I met a few more new faces including Maya, Cecilia, Mels Aunty Olive and Albert (Tims friend). We all went out for Dim Sum as well. Im getting used to Dim Sum, and theres actually a lot of yummy stuff there. The salt and pepper squid is to die for. I still havnt built up the courage to try the chicken feet, but Albert seemed to like them a lot.

We went in to Seattle one of the days and went up the Bank of America building. I think its the tallest building on the Seattle skyline. The observation deck is on floor 74 or something and we managed to get lucky and went on a day when it was free to go up. You can see how tall it is in this photo of me, outside in the distance you might be able to make out the space needle.

Another day we went and introduced Mac and Maya to XXX burgers. It was their first time being there and i think they enjoyed it. Mac got the XXX buger and Maya had a large vege burger.

We have also been hiking as well. Went up to rattlesnake mountain and did the 2 mile up and 2 mile down walk. Im not the fittest person in the world and it got a bit tough at the end but i made it. It was kind of weird cause the weather was cold and windy, yet the walk up was hot so i got to the top and took my coat off to find i was covered in sweat, even though i couldnt feel it from the cold. Needless to say, the cold wind soon blew over it and it got freezing. It was ok though, we all survived and the view from the top was great.

After the 4 mile hike up and down the mountain, we of course had to stop by XXX again to introduce Albert to the experience. He did ok, had to take a bit of a break and have a walk round halfway through but he got through the monster XXX burger. Everyone was stuffed full of food and content. So we headed home. Not much was eaten for tea that night and i think we are all still recovering.

So yeah, thats a brief overview of whats ive been doing. When i get around to it ill post all the pictures ive taken. Ive gotta clear out some space on my site as well to make room.

Friday 23 December 2005, 8:06am BCT

I think ill try to take a squirrel back to Australia.

Every morning when i walk in to work, theres at least one squirrel in each tree. They scurry around with their bushy tails and look so cool

I wonder how they would adapt to Australian life…

Monday 19th December 2005, 11:05pm BCT

Went today to apply for a social security number. Its kind of like a tax file number in Australia and you need one to do any kind of work in the US.

We headed off early into down town San Jose to hopefully get it done quick. 4 hours after we left we got back… yep… 4 hours later. It was kind of nutto which really shouldnt have surprised me really since it was a govt department.
We got to the social security office to find a line up outisde the main foyer. One line was for people that had a meeting at 9:30, the other was for people who didnt have appointments (us). So we stand in the line waiting for our turn, only one person at a time is allowed in the foyer and each person is put through the usual security procedures.

Since we didnt have a meeting or appointment we were low priority, which means that anyone with an appointment or a meeting could rock up at anytime and get in before us. So we stood outside for sometime before finally getting in. Went though the usualy bag scan / body scan then headed to the social security office. Once there, yep, we joined another line and got given a form to fill out and told to take a seat and wait for our names to be called.

One at a time we were called up, handed over our documents and stood there while the lady typed numerous stuff into the keybord. After i dunno how long we each got given the piece of paper telling us to expect the social security in the mail in a few weeks.

After that long wait and time, we made our way back by bus then walked to work. We managed to get there by noon.

People at work were a bit worried, i didnt expect it to take that long so didnt think to email/call anyone to let them know. Its all good now though, i shouldnt have to go and do anymore stuff. Just got to fill in and fax off my 2 week AIPT survey thingo and its all good.

Work is great, lots of fun.

Thats all… for now

Thursday 15 December 2005, 8:49pm BCT

The section i work in had their xmas party today. They used a ‘white elephant’ system where everyone who wants to join in brings a gift and puts it in the pile. Then everyone draws a number to determine the order.

From lowest to highest, each person takes a gift and unwraps it. On your turn, you can either take a gift or swap your gift with someone else. This continues until its declared the end.

They liked the caramello koalas i took, so that was good. I chose to give away my AUC WWDC 2005 shirt. I had two anyway so i figured it would be a good gift. They liked it a lot since it was kind of unique and none of them had seen one before.

Work is going great, really enjoying it. I grab a hot chocolate each morning as i walk past the cafe to help warm me up.

Its getting chilly in the morning, but the ride in is really enjoyable. Its flat ground and you could probably roll 3/4 of the way so its good. Ive thought about buying some gloves, but as yet my hands havnt got that cold. Ill see how i go.

Thats about it. Work is good, internships is good, project is good… all is good and hopefully i get paid tomorrow woohoo!

Went to Target today and found that they sell bread. To make it even better, its actually pretty cheap Its kind of strange though.. tastes strange… but thats ok.. im sure ill get used to it.

Busy busy busy at work. Presented my proposal today and it was accepted. Which basically means i can start full on coding it. Im really looking forward to it. Ive got a timeline worked out and hopefully all goes to plan.

Hard to believe its so close to xmas already. Ill be heading up to Mel’s parents place which should be fun.

Lunch lately has been curly fries and burgers, i just cant go past it cause its actually pretty good and the burrito line is always sooo long. Ill have to go early one day just to get a burrito, no doubt the people are lining up for a reason.

I got my ‘official’ name plate today at work which is somewhat cool. My little ‘intern cube’ has my name outside it.

oh! Also got my Bank of America debit card Ive got my fingers crossed that there will be a miracle and ill get paid this friday. Ive got a few xmas things i need to buy which ive been holding out for.

So yeah, thats about it. Last two days have been fast but im really enjoying it. Thursday im off to an xmas party which should be interesting. It uses some gift exchange system that sounds pretty neat, ill have to wait and see how it goes. Ive got a pretty good idea about what to take so all is good.

Friday 9th December 2005 BCT

Time has flown… Its the end of the week already. My first week has been great,met a lot of people, read a lot of stuff, learnt a lot of things. The next few weeks will be great too, my project is getting underway and should really get started next week.

Lunch today was great I got invited to go with Ashley and a few of the people he works with to experience a cheese steak sandwich Apparently its a very philadelphia type meal.

So what it is? Im glad you asked. Its basically steak thats cut up fine, thrown on a sandwich with cheese put on top. You can also get salads and sauces put on. I ordered a pepper steak one with cheese and it was really good

The website of the place is http://amatoscheesesteaks.com/

Not sure what ill get up to on the weekend, im pretty keen to go for a bike ride either to find some shops or just for a general look around and take some photos. Id also like to work on some work stuff even though they tell me not to do mroe then 8 hours Its fun, i cant see a problem with playing around with it.

So yeah, thats about it. More to come

08 December 2005 11:10pm BCT

Apple shouted the interns (about 20 max) a free ticket to the San Jose ice hockey. The San Jose Sharks were playing the Canadian team. We managed to get a lift with a girl Ashley works with, she was nice enough to let us 3 pack into her mini cooper and drive us to San Jose for the game.

We met the other interns out the front and got our free ticket and 2 x $5 food/drink vouchers.

Inside, we hit up the food store before we went to our seats. I rocked up and saw Jumbo Hotdog on the list for $4.75 and Large Soda for $4.50 or somthing. Jumbo hotdog sounded awesome so i handed over my food vouchers. What came back shocked me. The Jumbo hotdog was smaller in length then my hand It was so tiny Not much i could do about it though, but decided to grab a pretzel as well. With arms full we went and found our seats.

I ate the hotdog in about 2 bites, and started on the pretzel. Only got 1/4 of the way through the pretzel though before i had to put it down. Damn it was salty, lucky i bought a pepsi as well.

I was seated next to some other dude, who i started chatting to. He was canadian and came to a few games so he said. Once he heard i was from Australia the questions started. Every few minutes he would ask me something about Australia, it went something as follows:

“So you got hockey in Australia”
–insert my reply–
–pause for 2 min–
“So you got ford or chevy in Australia”
–insert my reply–
–pause for 2 mins–
“So you got budweiser in Australia”
–insert my reply–
–pause for 2 mins–

This went on for most of the game, he was a pretty funny guy. At one stage he asked me how many lesbians are in Australia, my reply was “LOL How would i know”, he got a bit of a kick out of that.

He also told me he was an inventor, he has a few patents in the works, one for a toy UFO which floats above your house permanently. :O Keep an eye out for that in stores.

But yeah, it was a lot of fun… the game was ok as well.

With about 10mins to go, my new friend said he had to head off. He stood up and handed me a cd and said “These are some of my tracks, im trying to get a record deal, can you take it back to Australia for me?”. I looked at him blankly and manage to say “oh ok”, he extended his hand and i shook it and he left.

All in all it was a fun night, and i met a new friend who is apparently called Jeff according to his cd cover.

Works going great, everyone is cools. I finally got my apple email today and was flooded with questions on the internal mailing list for the team im on. Mostly about Australian stuff. It was funny and cool.

So yeah, thats about it. Once again its time for bed… sleep then back to Apple i go.

oh! Lunch today i gave in to my temptations and had a mac burger and curly fries again. The funny thing is ive actually lost weight, when i first come over here my watch band didnt fit on my wrist, now it does

Ok, im going to sleep!

EDIT FOR JASON:

There was no information about the game cause it wasnt all that exciting… no fights at all. The guy i sat next to said youll see probably 1 fight every 5 or so games.

The game itself was alright i spose, keeping up with where the puck was is kinda hard. A few of them hit each other into the walls and stuff but nothing that great.

So yeah, The game was good, talking to the guy next to me was better though

Wednesday 7th Dec 12:40pm BCT

Just back from lunch, waiting on the dev tools to download and install.

The cafe here is pretty good, yesterday i had a Mac Plus burger (cheese burger) and curly fries, today i had Pasta with Basil Sauce – very nice indeed. Theres a wide selection of foods available and im not sure if ill manage to get through them all in the short time im here, ill sure give it a shot though.

XCode is done… back to work!

Well today was my first day at Apple, started off at 9:30 with a visit to one of the recruiters to fill in some more forms and get run through some basic newbie stuff. From there i biked it up to the ‘Infiite Loop’ (main Apple campus building) and had my picture taken for my bright shiny new Apple ID.

Near the end of the process my manger came down and met me and took mew up to the area ill be working in. He introduced me to all the other guys and gals in the team which was pretty cool. I recognised a lot of them from previous WWDC’s id been to.

So we walked around a bit and i met most people, then got shown to my desk / space more commonly known as the ‘intern cube’. Got my machine setup and installed and was shown through the various Apple stuff online i should read.

I got given a run down on the type of project ill be involved with and it sounds pretty cool. Should keep me busy for the short time in over here as an intern.

Before i knew it, it was lunchtime. My manager took me down and shouted me lunch which was cool. I got a Mac Plus Buger (cheeseburger) with curly fries. I was really amazed at the selection of food, i think ill be flat out trying everything in the 2 and a bit months i have left

After lunch, i spent some time reading over work related stuff and numerous online Apple stuff that new employees should read. Before i knew it the clock read 4:30 and it was getting dark. I decided to leave a bit early to go to the bank and get an account created.

The bank was weird, i got the account created but the guy gave me nothing, no pamphlets no info, nothing, just 3 free checcks. He did tell me my account number was on the bottom of the check though Anyway, i find out that Ashley actually got a folder with lots of new customer information. Its got me buggered why i didnt get any of it, but i guess it means ive just gotta go back there tomorrow on the way home.

All in all it was an awesome day, its everything and more that i thought working at Apple would be. I cant wait to get in and start doing stuff. Its the type of job id really like, something that doesnt feel like work at all

BTW: this may sound a bit vague, but im just trying to cover my butt. I dont want to name any names or mention any specifics cause its all secret stuffs

Monday 5th December 2005 – 2:54pm Brett Cupertino Time (BCT)

After weeks of traveling, im finally in Cupertino CA. The flight over was pretty good, cramped as usual but ok. The plane was completely full, so full that they were asking every person as they checked in whether they wanted a free $800 USD credit to stay one more night in Sydney. I said no of course, no way i was going to miss my flight considering i start at Apple tomorrow.

Missed out on getting an isle seat as well, even though i checked in early. So i got stuck with a window seat and was cramped in the corner. I tried to sleep a bit, but couldnty really get settled. Tonight i should sleep well.

Arrived in San Francisco pretty much on time. Melanies Aunty Doris and Uncle Tim picked me up at the airport. I was planning on taking a taxi to the unit, but got a call at the last minute before leaving Sydney from Melanie telling me to look out for her Aunty and Uncle. They are really nice, took time off of work to drive the 40mins or so to the airport to pick me up, then drove me back to the unit im staying then even took me out to lunch!

I managed to work out how the international calls work, seems i just dial the number and its free. Called Melanie and it worked fine. Ill try ringing Mum or one of my sisters later to see how it goes.

So yeah, Ive got to write a few posts and back date them about the whole trip to Newcastle / Sydney and the visa process. Stay tuned for that, might do them later this arvo.

The time has come, tomorrow i start at Apple at 9:30am. I was given some instructions to find my way to the orientation and intern people, and apparently its just across the road from the unit which is good. Ashley and Wade can probably tell me where to go anyway.

Ill post more Cupertino updates over the coming months. Probably wont be able to mention anything specific about Apple but theres plenty else here to blog about. Stay tuned for pictures too

Thats it for now.