Dear all,

In order to pay back your good faith and at the same time replying most of your mails. You are entitled to receive one and the only one limited free issue of this uncensored and unauthorized ‘US in my eyes, I write what I see’ report J .

Feb 27, 28:

With all your blest, I safely arrived at Sacramento after 18 hours of long flight, no jam, no haze.

Malaysia time is 16 hours ahead of here at the moment. The weather is cold at least for my standard is concern. We were first brought to corporate house, 4 bed rooms 2 bath rooms, quite a nice and cozy place, come with full utilities plus cable TV and 24 hours access to internet (ISDN line, this is the most appealing thing for me, that’s why I can still chat with some of u guys on the ICQ even at odd hours). Even though I was so tired that night, but still got to go out for dinner with our boss, realized that haven’t been sleeping for 28 hours, jumping to the bed was the only thing on my mind when reached home, and I was knocked off for 15 hours straight, only woke up at 3pm the next day, .. huh … sleeping beauty in the making, come to the theatre near you, way to go man. J

Mar 1

Because of too much sleep, I woke up at 4am in the morning and couldn’t get to sleep again.

First day start working, felt quite nervous. As usual being introduced to the people in the company, filling forms and going through some orientations.

US working culture is difference from home, medical insurance is crucial, without one u r digging your own grave, for example one of my new colleague going for a doctor due to sore throat, just prescription alone ‘cos him USD100+, not included consultation fee yet!! One thing that I like about the working culture here is we can wear casual, Collar T-shirt and Jeans plus free supply of soft drink. Working time is also quite flexible, no people really check on you; normally we come in at 9am and go out at 6pm, but our boss is basically here working everyday. They also allowed us to work from home if we want. Basically they trust you that u r professional enough to carry your responsibility.

Mar 2, 3, 4, 5

These few days, we were brought around to open bank account, apply this, apply that and taking driving test, it took me quite a while to get use to left hand drive after leaving this country for some time, so far so good, no casualty, no pets flatted by me yet ^_^ (however, I haven’t checked underneath my car, probably can find something interesting or tangling J ). The test was much more less hustle than in Malaysia, in addition, with real-life notorious practical training back home in KL, Malaysian no doubt will pass the test in breeze.

Today we were given a corporate car, a Toyota Corolla LE and also an IBM ThinkPad 390(sorry to my shoulder from now on) and to conform to company’s procedure we need to learn how to use Lotus notes. The distance from where I stay and the office is about 10 miles (16km), take me about 15 minutes to commute to work.

Ok, let’s talk about the company I’m in now, it is not very big, currently got about 50 consultants and I’ve not seen all of them yet, ‘cos most of them are at customers’ project site. There is a lot of Malaysian Staff in this company, easily 50%, so sometime u won’t feel u r at foreign land when a group of Malaysian r together, American normally working very quiet, but our Malaysian r a bunch of noisy lots (and proud of it ..hee). The company plans to move to new office building in July, because current office can really accommodate newcomer no more.

Mar 7

On Sunday, we went for movie, movie ticket here each cost USD4.75, I think it is not so bad, considering non-American always stay inside the theatre watching more than 1 movie, since nobody will check on you, so non-local always abuse/utilize the system. so far the highest record achieved by one of my colleague here is 7 movies in a roll!! Crazy-lah, if u watch too many movies at the same time, u will forget what is your father last name and what u r watching already, may be come out subconsciously or E=mc square (Mom Cha-cha).

This time I only watch 1 movie, ‘Analyze This’, how’s it? It is a different type of comedy plus vulgar sense of humor, only way of enjoy it is to listen to what they really said. Since this is not an action pack movie, I think there won’t be much different watching from VCD. "One toes up" – from cinema, cinema, cinema.

Talking about VCD, here u can hardly find one, not popular at all. Start to miss Ipoh! Surprisingly ‘The Corruptor’ starring Chow Yuen Fatt is still not showing yet, only will start showing March 15. Looking forward for the new Star Wars.

Mar 8,9,10,11

For the past few days, KK try to look around for car and apartment. The car is cheap here, i.e. for a Toyota Camry and Honda Accord it is around USD21K, not bad huh…but I’m not planning to get a car, since I’m just a cheap Filipino maid and will be deported after 6 months J , so they have to provide me with accommodation and transportation. By just living on daily allowance, leave not much money for me to boost US economy(spend) ^_^ … they do try to encourage me to convert to US permanent staff which I can actually earn more, but so far my brain still clogged and blood cannot circulate to my mind, so not agree yet, who know I might change my mind … Actually in my company many people that come over here intended to stay here for long term even apply for green card, so they can’t understand why they have such a stupid colleague around J .

Ha, One thing worth mentioning here is the serving at the restaurant in US. It is big, no kidding, I consider my stomach’s capacity is quite big already but most of the time still can’t finish the food, I’m sure I will gain some weight here, just hope for the best it is not horizontal expansion. Btw, whoever think that they r fat in Malaysia, should come here and witness those walking barrel, then u’ll be damn proud of your body. So far during our stay here, our boss brought us out for dinner almost everyday(sometime have to find excuse not to attend, "no good meaning" lah), always a lot of food left over, actually here have quite a few oriental restaurants around, and of course u can’t expect to get the same taste as in Malaysia. Thing that you take for granted at home, u might not find them other places. In general, goods here relatively are inexpensive compare with other town, but u can’t convert to RM, else u will starve to dead or live like a caveman.

The banking system here is also quite different from Malaysia, a lot of charges here and there, for example u got to pay for each transaction you make at the counter!! Probably they want to encourage people to use the ATM or Home banking(using internet) at the same time reduce their overhead cost. On the other hand, the interest paid for the saving account is very low, only about 1.5 %, how pitiful.

Because the weather here is cold and dry, u’ll feel the skin is very dry and itchy, plus the lip will crack. Leave with no choice but to apply skin lotion (else your crocodile skin will be hunting target for wallet, handbag and belt manufacturers) and wear ‘lipstick’ to ease uncomfortable, hey girls make up now is not your privilege anymore, hopefully this habit won’t stick with me when I go back, else got to shop at Revlon, Avon, Shiseido, Lancome … oh my god …

In conclusion, life here typically is not boring but lonely I must admit. Luckily, I did bring over some MP3 CDs, so it can accompany me wherever I bring my laptop, especially my current job nature require me to do a lot of travelling. Reading, watching TV and Internet had become my favorite pastime. Shopping and grocery become routine activities (sounds like a housewife). Believe me, once you experience shopping during sales here, u will feel like being cheated buying branded stuff in Malaysia, ‘cos it is much cheaper here.

That’s all for the preview of the report, folks. Hopefully manage to waste enough of your time and make u look like busy :-) . Keep in touch and take care.

Foo

Office correspondence address:

11290 Point East Drive

Suite 128

Rancho Cordova

California 95742

Office Tel#: (916)853-0800

Something for us to ponder....

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family.

He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.

The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work.

He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort.

Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized, we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."

Who could say it more clearly?

Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past.

Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.