Russell Beattie

Okay, so we got that Immigrant Visa package from INS today and it's pretty much what we expected, except for form I-864. This is where I prove to the U.S. government that I'm going to be able to earn at least 15% more than the poverty level in the U.S. and that I will have continued financial viability so that Ana (who I am sponsering) does not become a "government charge". Okay great, except that in order to file the paperwork I need to include either my employer info, or proof of my financial independence. Hmm. Right now I don't have either.

So... Change of plans. I'm going to start applying for jobs ASAP and and see if I can get some leads in the San Francisco (preferred) or San Diego areas so that I can fly out, have some interviews and get a job then an apartment, etc. This isn't much different than what we were going to do before. The difference is that we were going to submit papers *before* I went out. But now it seems that I *need* to go and get everything set up rather than doing it once we got the paperwork straightened out.

Preferrably I'd like a nice stable job for a while so Ana doesn't have a complete breakdown thinking that I'm going to be working off and on (as has been the case here in Spain), but I also like contracting so we'll see. So we're off to the races, as soon as I get my first interview lined up, I'll get on a plane and see what happens.

Of course in my cover letters I'm mentioning my technical blog (this) so I'll probably keep the rhetoric down for a while to appear more professional and not piss any prospective employers off. Everything's in the archives of this blog and Google anyways, so it's not like I can hide, might as well use this blog's massive ranking to my advantage. We'll see if it backfires or not, :-)

If you've got any connections or know of any openings for Java heads, please check out my resume and drop me a note.

Thanks!

-Russ