FULL DAY MICROSOFT INTERVIEW

Assalamu'alaikum.....

The title of this post says it all... I've finished a full day of interview at Microsoft. Wow. I can't believe I actually got this far, it seems so surreal. I've never been one of those people who just... get things. I never was one those people who gets to go and have interviews with Intel or IBM or Apple or of course, Microsoft. So for me to actually be here and to have had the experience of today really means a lot to me. Somehow it validates the hard work I've been putting in for the past few years, LoL. Hopefully I get the job, but if I don't, then it was still a great experience anyway. I wish I had stayed on the campus a little longer to take pictures and stuff, but I was tired because I was up since 5.30am this morning just to prep myself, have breakfast and generally to not be late. So after the interviews, I just headed home and had myself a half hour nap.

Anyway, I had a nice day. Aside from the interviews themselves (which were fun.. and fast), I met with Pat from the Microsoft videos (click here for the link, Pat is in Part 2 of the vids) . Pat drives one of the shuttles that basically takes us recruits to the different buildings on campus. I was hopingI would see her, but I wasn't sure if I would or not, so I was pleasantly surprised to see her in the last shuttle I had to take for the day. She knew of course where I recognized her from. I had a nice chat with her, as well as a picture of her in her shuttle in front of Building 19, where my interview process began.

I won't go into details about the interview process itself, there's a lot of info about that already on the web. Suffice to say that my technical questions were more user research/usability testing oriented than programming oriented (due to the nature of the internship). I really hope that I get it, it would be so fun to spend the summer in Seattle. But of course, if this doesn't pan out, there's always Knoxville, Tennessee (more on that later).

Just got back from Nizam and Didee's house for dinner, thank you so much for the hospitality :) . The baby is so cute, can't wait till he's older. Bleh main, LoL. I love babies, pro'lly 'cause I'm such a kid myself.

Tomorrow, off to Pike Place and the world's first Starbucks. Woohoo! Then off to go home... awww...

Assalamu'alaikum....

I'm curently in Seattle, trying very hard not to freak out for tomorrow's interview. Also, I'm meeting up with Didee, Nizam and the baby (yes, there's a baby) for dinner. Dinner should be fun, and I hope the interviews would be fun, too. Hopefully I don't psych myself out too much. Tgh-tgh study all the concepts, tetibe jumpe lah gambar nie sejibik, tak sabor nak jugak letak skang jugak! Anyway, Deera, here's a picture especially for you:


Haaa.... tgk betul-betul, gamba pakcik yg pakai baju biru tuh. Guess who? Ni hint: bukan Sheren. Hahahahaha! Now do you still think die ngan *ehem* muke cam same ke? How about gaye main bola? Ade same?

Assalamu'alaikum.....

My friend is absolutely ga-ga over this guy, Ashraf Sinclair. Admittedly, he's pretty cute ... comel lah jugak, though kening sgt bushy, LoL. But I feel weird looking at him sebab muke die cam familiar, as in serupe cam muke someone else. Tapi tak boleh nak pinpoint sape, wth? Aarrgghh... penat lah pikir semalam, mamat nie features die sgt familiar tapi tatau sape.

Anyway, makcik sorang nie (takleh nak sebut name nanti nak kene bantai) tak habis2 bising pasal this guy. Since diri sendiri dah lame tak balik M'sia, dah byk tak tau pasal the local celebrities (local for me sekarang is famous Michigan people, LoL). Tapi apparently he's a model/actor. Can see the model part sebab mmg hensem. Tak tau bleh berlakon ke tak, LoL. Can he?

Anyway, sementare tgh men-research pasal mamat nie sket (kene lah ade topic nak letak kat blog), I came across die punye profile kat Cleo (or something that summarizing a Cleo article, I couldn't tell that well). He was (or is, I dunno) up for the Bachelor 2006 yadda yadda. Anyway, bace lah kan die punye profile (he's younger than I am, baru 21, ngahaha looking at the 21 year olds around me..... hmmm....tak matang LoL). Nothing particularly interesting UNTIL the interview part.....

Cleo: What is a wifebeater?
Ashraf Sinclair: A coward who needs to belittle others to make himself feel bigger.

Awwwww... how cute... and how wrong. Admittedly, it's a slightly unfair question 'cause you have to be familiar with the American slang as well as Kevin Federline to figure out what a wifebeater is. A lot of the bachelors got that one wrong. Umm... it's actually a sleeveless shirt, guys. Singlet lah, kirenye. Bukan t-shirt Pagoda yg beli kat pasar malam tuh, tapi singlet yg mamat2 hip-hop skarang suke pakai.

To be fair, Cleo also asked "What is an antimacassar?". What the heck is that anyway, it doesn't really ring a bell... until you look it up and see the definition: "a piece of cloth place over a sofa or chair to protect it from hair oil". Whutt??? Then I realized.... omigod!! My nanny has a bunch of those!! She has a bunch of these white crocheted square cloths that she would put at the headrests of her sofa. I always thought they were just decorations. Granted, zaman dulu-dulu jek yg org pakai minyak rambut byk gile yg bleh boleh perah pastu buat masak keropok (ewwww...), so forgive us young-'uns for not knowing what an antimacassar is :). Thank goodness that wasn't in the SATs.

I'm actually stalling to do my take home exam, but I'm starting to hyperventilate a bit, so I better get on with it before I get a nervous breakdown. Ciao babes!

Hey guys....

Okay, found this in my bookmarks while doing some computer clean-up, from MindWare, so I took the quiz and here's the result, it's kinda weird how accurate the last paragraph is. Overall it was pretty good at predicting stuff:

Your Brain Usage Profile:

Auditory : 50%
Visual : 50%
Left : 55%
Right : 44%

Farah, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant with a balanced preference for auditory and visual inputs. Because of your "centrist" tendencies, the distinctions between various types of brain usage are somewhat blurred.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most.

Having given sufficient attention to detail, you can readily perceive the larger aspects and implications of a situation or of learning. You are functional and practical, but can blend abstraction and theory into your framework readily.

The equivalence of your auditory and visual learning orientation gives you two equally effective sensory input systems, each with distinctive features. You can process both unidimensionally and multidimen- sionally with equal facility. When needed, you sequence material while at other times you "intake it all" and store it for processing later.

Your natural ability to use your senses is also synthesized in your way of learning. You can be reflective in your approach, absorbing material in a non-aggressive manner, and at other times voracious in seeking out stimulation and experience.

Overall you tend to be somewhat more critical of yourself than is necessary and avoid enjoying life too much because of a sense of duty. You feel somewhat constrained and tend to sometimes restrict your expressiveness. In any given situation, you will opt for the rational, and learning of almost any type should be easy for you. You might need certain ideas explained to you in order to fit them into your scheme of things, but you're at least open to that!

Assalamu'alaikum....

I read this yesterday when I was waiting at the doctor's office, it's a little snippet from Newsweek:

"In translation to English, it sounds like... the word... you know... sometimes language is not so convenient and sometimes I'm embarrassed."
Fuk King Kwok, a Chinese immigrant, on his decision to change his name to Andy Kwok after people repeatedly mispronounced his name.

The poor guy, of course his name was supposed to be pronounced differently ( see article here ), but as usual the Americans mess up everyone's name. Sorry to those who feel insulted, but you do!! Some of the people I've known for 4 years can't pronounce my name right, and mine isn't that hard to begin with. Other people who have made the same decision to change their names are Monica Pinas and April Showers ( see article here ).

Another person who's name was.. ermm.. made fun of is Jack Abramoff. The perpetrator: George Clooney. Here's what debonair George has to say about Abramoff:

"Who would name their kid Jack with the last words 'off' at the end of your last name? No wonder that guy is screwed up."
Actor George Clooney, thanking lobbyist Jack Abramoff "just because" in an acceptance speech at the Golden Globes. Frank Abramoff, the lobbyist's father, called the speech a "glib and ridiculous attack" and Clooney "an idiot."

Ouch. Looks like not everyone is a fan of Clooney. To be fair, while Abramoff is an embezzling scumbag who pretty much stole money from native Americans and helped raise a lot of money for the Bush campaign ....... y'know what, I don't feel like being fair. Yes, it was a low blow by George , but considering the hatred a lot of people must be feeling for Mr. Jack-Off, whatever that is thrown to him is pretty much well deserved. here's the bit that I read from Wikipedia that I was really shocked about:

Government of Malaysia

Abramoff's team also represented the government of Malaysia, and worked toward improving Malaysian relations with the United States, particularly with trade relations. Because Grover Norquist worked with a lobbying firm that represented Anwar Ibrahim, some have alleged a connection between the two, and theorized that Abramoff and Norquist were running a scam in which Norquist's firm would create issues that Abramoff's firm would then take care of. Abramoff also reportedly wanted to spread his influence deep into the Muslim world through a front group called the Lexington Group.

What a low life. What an asshole. Five years and 10 months in jail isn't long enough for Abramoff. I wish the US doesn't have the plea bargain policy so that he would get what he deserves. I'm just mad right now because for the past few days, I've been reading articles that just tugs on my heart strings. Some things in life are just not fair. Take for example, the marine shooting incident in Haditha. Here's an excerpt from the artical in Time magazine (see the rest of the article here):

Eman says she "heard a lot of shooting, so none of us went outside. Besides, it was very early, and we were all wearing our nightclothes." When the Marines entered the house, they were shouting in English. "First, they went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran," she claims, "and we heard shots." According to Eman, the Marines then entered the living room. "I couldn't see their faces very well—only their guns sticking into the doorway. I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head. Then they killed my granny." She claims the troops started firing toward the corner of the room where she and her younger brother Abdul Rahman, 8, were hiding; the other adults shielded the children from the bullets but died in the process.

Eman says her leg was hit by a piece of metal and Abdul Rahman was shot near his shoulder. "We were lying there, bleeding, and it hurt so much. Afterward, some Iraqi soldiers came. They carried us in their arms. I was crying, shouting 'Why did you do this to our family?' And one Iraqi soldier tells me, 'We didn't do it. The Americans did.'" Time was unable to speak with the only other survivor of the raid, Eman's younger brother, who relatives say is traumatized by the experience. U.S. military officials familiar with the investigation say that after entering the house, the Marines walked into a corridor with closed doors on either side. They thought they heard the clack-clack sound of an AK-47 being racked and readied for fire. (Eman and relatives who were not in the house insist that no guns were there.) Believing they were about to be ambushed, the Marines broke down the two doors simultaneously and fired their weapons. The officials say the military has confirmed that seven people were killed inside the house--including two women and a child. The Marines also reported seeing a man and a woman run out of the house; they gave chase and shot and killed the man. Relatives say the woman, Hiba Abdullah, escaped with her baby.

It hurts to even think about grown military men shooting towards a 9-year-old girl and her younger brother. while the whole artcile is heart wrenching, here's the portion that shocked me:

The U.S. has paid relatives of the victims $2,500 for each of the 15 dead civilians, plus smaller payments for the injured. But nothing can bring back all that was taken from 9-year-old Eman Waleed on that fateful day last November. She still does not comprehend how, when her father went in to pray with the Koran for the family's safety, his prayers were not answered, as they had been so many times in the past. "He always prayed before, and the Americans left us alone," she says. Leaving, she grabs a handful of candy. "It's for my little brother," she says. "I have to take care of my brother. Nobody else is left."

You can barely live 6 months on $2,500 dollars. Some would argue that due to the exchange rate, it might be more to the Iraqis. Really? Unless USD$2,500 translates to, oh say 20 million in Iraqi currency, I still think it's an unfair trade. A US Court awarded 2.7 million to a woman for simply spilling McDonald's coffee on her lap. When did the chilhood trauma of seeing your family killed weigh less than the trauma of being burned by coffee?

Life isn't supposed to be fair, yes, but it's not suppose to suck like this either.

Assalamu'alaikum...

I have my first exam this Friday.... I should be freaking out more but I'm not, and that's kinda worrying because I know the exam is gonna be hard... plus I have a homework due on the same day too. So I really should be bucking down and studying, but unfortunately, I'm not. Uh oh....

I can't wait until the my exams are done. My last exam is on April 25th, and I'm flying out to Seattle on a 9.35 am flight. I'll be there by 11.30am Pacific time (I think), so that leaves me quite a few hours to explore the 'burb a lil bit and also prepare for next day's interview. On the 27th is a full day of interview (I still can't find Nizam's email to ask for tips :( ) , then the next day I leave for Detroit at 10.25pm. I purposely asked for a late ticket so that I can see Seattle a bit more, but traffic is congested there between 3pm and 7pm (or so I've been told) so I dunno how the see-Seattle plan is gonna go, but I'll pull something, I'm sure :) .

As for the rest of the summer.... we'll see how everything goes. I think I screwed up my ESPN interview really, really bad when I told my interviewer that I won't be able to make any decision this week. Hey, I was only being truthful, I have exams coming up and will barely be in my right mind to make any work-related decisions. Plus I need to discuss stuff with my parents, because that's just what good daughters do when they're a continent away from their parents, LoL. Seriously, there's some serious stuff to discuss, and I just need more time. Considering that the guy needs to make his decision quickly..... I guess that kinda jeapordized my position. Also the fact that I was horrible at answering all the database technical questions ("You have a baseball team roster. Describe the columns you would need in a table" ... "Umm..." --> that's basically how most of my answers started, it's been 2 years! And I was in the middle of cooking! LoL)

Actually, I don't think I would be too dissapointed if I spend my summer in AA.. more time to dance, to recuperate, maybe even go home at the end of summer. That would be nice :) . I did tell my mom that if I'm not home for the summer, then come rain or shine, I WILL go home for winter.... my visa would have expired by then so I need to renew it anyway, I wonder how long it takes to renew it? Hopefully not that long....

I better go and do some work.... ciao babes!

Assalamu'alaikum.....

Omigosh, I can't believe I'm having my first final this Friday! Crap! I can't believe it's already been 2 semesters of me in SI.... it felt like yesterday I was still negotiating with the admissions office regarding my scholarship and now I'm almost halfway done. It feels a bit surreal sometimes.... it should feel like time is moving slower since I'm bored all the time but it's not... of course the fact that I tend to sleep in half the time might have something to do with this. Oh well....

I got nominated as VP Operations and External Affairs/Social Chair for the SIGN (SI Global Network) organization. Woah! Hahaha.. it's kinda funny when you think about it. I mean, I was Rush Chair for Phi Rho, yeah, but that was the last time that I was ever active in something. Wait a sec, come to think about it, Phi Rho, UMIMSA and the SI organizations are the only ones that I participated in .... so being an officer in 2 out of 3 things isn't that bad now, is it. UMIMSA never nominated me for anything, boo hoo (yeah right... with all the "drama" that I keep seeing or even getting involved in... I think I can safely say I'm not too dissapointed now), hahahah, main jek. Of course there were more qualified people than me. But I'm excited to get nominated, even if I'm no picked. It shows some vote of confidence in me :) . And I'll get to plan fun social stuff again! Yay! That would be awesome :) , I hope I get it.

On a not so fun side.... I'm hating my SI 503 class. Everything goes so fast, it's like a blur. I would be lucky enough to even be able to do half of the stuff in the take-home midterm, let alone all of 'em. My classmates keep saying "Oh, you computer science people should know the portion that D is teaching right now".... ermm... so not! People have different methods and interpretations in teaching things, even in technical, quatitative areas like CS. The new stuff that I'm learning is clashing so badly with the "old" stuff that has been hammered in my head for 4 years. It's insane! And with finals coming up! Aiyoh!

If I'm still in AA for the summer, I am definitely gonna plan on going out of town for Memorial Day. Miami maybe? I dunno, I'm trying to convince Afzan to stay longer for the summer and not go home that quickly, since once you're back home and "stuck" in Malaysia, it's hard to get "unstuck" again. We'll see how that effort goes, LoL. Afzan, balik lah lambat2 sket! Waaahhh! The rest of the people are going to the Midwest Games, which is held this year in Wisconsin. Honestly, I really don't know anyone in Wisconsin, so there isn't any point really in me going now, is there?

Just wanna tell my lil' ol' buddy who's gettin' screwed by his sponsor to hold on to his sanity and pray that everything goes okay :) . Hopefully they'll be reasonable.

Now, off to work!

Asssalamu'alaikum....

Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh.... I feel so blessed right now, you have no idea. I got through to the second of interviews! Oh yay! I have to call back Menlo Innovations (in good ol' Ann Arbor), ESPN (in Baltimore), I have an interview with Jewelry TV this Friday (dunno where this is gonna be yet, but I like TV and bling bling is always good), and Microsoft wants me to come down to Redmond, WA (sometime at the end of April, hopefully, after the exams are done and over with). I'm overwhelmed and excited and very, very scared. I usually botch up my interviews so bad that I never get through to the second round, so this is an improvement, definitely. Now I have to hope and pray and work really hard so that I don't mess up my finals... or pass out during interviews.

My friends ask me if I wanted to intern locally or go out of state. As much as Ann Arbor can be a boring town at times, I've been here long enough to figure out ways to entertain myself during the summer. Plus I get to live in my new apartment for the summer, which would be nice. On the other hand, I haven;t been able to see a lot of the rest of the US, so a change of scenery would be nice. Plus ESPN and Microsoft are HUGE corporations, and I've always wanted to see how large corporations work, see if my skills can really thrive in an MNC. Most of all, I'm just excited to dip my toes in the working pool, so to speak. See if all these years in school paid off or if the workplace really is the place where you develop most of your skills.

Here's a little tip for phone interviews.... for God's sakes calm down, just because he can't see you doesn't mean you can't seem nervous. However, BECAUSE he can't see you, you can splay your portfolio and cheat sheets and past projects all over the floor so that you have easy reference. Here's something I learned from the ESPN interview (the hard way... I sounded like a moron on the phone)... brush up on past projects, especially if it's been a while (like 2 years), and when I say brush up, focus on what YOU did on the project as well as the overall goal (like which part did you do, how much you contributed, how did the codes mesh together.. stuff like that). Trust me on this one.

I'm so sleepy, and someone just said something kinda mean to me.. I know he probably didn't mean it the way it came out, but it still sucks all the same. What the hell ?

Nik, did you call me? The voice mail was pretty bad, I had no idea what you said.

Assalamu'alaikum....

Today is April Fool's Day ... Heppy April Fool's Day to those who celebrates it. Much ado were made a while back about Muslim's celebrating the holiday, though there are so many conflicting stories about the origin of the celebration, who really knows what's right . What I do know, however, is that everyone in the media, regardless of race, religion, culture ... too the oppurtunity to play pranks on the rest of us poor souls.

Take, for example, Google Romance. Okay, so I guess if you're not really in the information science field, or don't know much about anything "contextual", then the joke wouldn't make quite that much sense to you. But some of the stuff everyone can relate to, so I would suggect exploring the site a bit more. Here's another bit of Google news that got me laughing, China to buy Google. I think this lil' bit of prank has something to do with the fact that Google is working with the Chinese goverment in making the Chinese version of the popular search engine to be "goverment compliant", meaning that it is restrictive information (certain sensitive material will not be returned by the search result). Here is a take by a Google insider on the plan. Personally I think it's selling out, no matter how you spin it, but of course, I don't own Google.

Aside from pranks, people are taking the oppurtunity of having April 1st on a weekend to do other cool stuff. Take me, for example :) . Yes, I am working at the front desk right now, but at about 9pm, I'll be off to the Heidelberg for the SI Prom (it's a dance held by my department to raise funds for student activities.. or something like that). This morning, I went to Aveda eXchange to get my hair cut by a tattooed hairstylist named Scott. Have to admit, I like the cut, well worth the $40 I spent on it. All I have to figure out later is what to wear.... I'm excited to go out, I haven't been able to just go and have fun in ages.

Last Thursday, I had an interview with Microsoft. I though it was gonna be at 9am. Turns out it was 9 am Pacific Time.... which is about 12pm here in good ol' Michigan. Woke up early and freaked out for nothing :( . Anyway, while waiting for Microsoft to call me, I got a phone call from ESPN. They're looking for interns to work on some web development stuff. He asked me if I like sports or not. Yes, I do like sports (watching sports is more my style though, hehehe). And the has asked if I know a lot about fantasy games. Okay, I've seen friends who are crazy about fantasy football or basketball or whatever, but I've never been into those. So we'll see how far the whole ESPN interview thing goes for me. As for the Microsoft interview... as usual, it went horrible. Dunno why I even tried.

Anyway, I'm working on posting some of my recent pictures up soon :) . That would be fun :) .