William Bartholomew

My blog has been quiet recently because I’ve been preparing for a number of large changes in my life:

1. I resigned from TechnologyOne.
2. I accepted a position at Microsoft (more on this later).
3. I’ve moved from Australia to the USA.
4. My partner Vanessa and I got engaged.

Visa

I’ve come to the USA on an E-3 work visa which is only available to Australians, valid for 2 years, renewable, allows multiple entries, and also allows your spouse (who can enter on an E-3D visa) to work. This is a sponsored visa (that is you must already have US-based employment before you can apply). Grant Holliday who also recently made the same move has a great blog post about the E-3 process.

Accommodation

My temporary accommodation is located in Redmond directly across the road from the Microsoft campus (which will make getting to work easy). The weather was great yesterday (cool but sunny) and today’s looking like it will be good as well. I also woke up to see a number of squirrels running around outside (these little guys are so funny to watch). Probably my only complaint about the accommodation is that because it’s on a main road it is a bit noisy.

Groceries

My first priority was to get some food in the fridge as well as some other necessities. Because I wanted to get a fair few items, and don’t drive, I decided to try out Amazon Fresh which is an online supermarket (run by Amazon). While I’m sure it’s more expensive then going to a traditional bricks and mortar supermarket I was impressed with the pricing and delivery is free on all orders over $75. While Australia does have a number of online supermarkets the range offered by Amazon Fresh is superior, the other major difference is the delivery options. Amazon Fresh delivers on Saturdays and Sundays as well as offers a pre-dawn delivery service so your groceries are there when you wake up. One thing I found in Australia is that it’s almost impossible to get anything on a weekend.

Communication

Before I came to the USA I wanted to get two main communication methods sorted: postal mail and telephone.

For postal mail I decided to get an account with Earth Class Mail to provide me with a USA address even before I arrived. While this is around double the cost of a standard PO Box it does offer some pretty impressive advantages. Whenever any mail arrives at my Earth Class Mail address they will scan the front and the back of the envelope and upload it into a secure web-interface. From this web-interface I can then choose what I’d like them to do with each piece of mail:

1. Forward it to me.
2. Open it, scan the contents, and upload the scan ($).
3. Recycle it.
4. Shred it ($).

The two big advantages for me are: firstly, because I’ll be moving from my temporary accommodation to permanent accommodation in a couple of months this means I can have a static postal address; and secondly, after seeing the amount of paperwork I threw out when I left Australia the idea of having any mail I want to retain scanned automatically is appealing.

For telephone I set up a Skype account with two online numbers, one in Brisbane (Australia) and one in Washington State (USA). This means that people in the USA or Australia can call me at a very low cost regardless of where I am. I then added an Unlimited World subscription to my Skype account which allows me to make calls to any landline in Australia or the USA (as well as a number of other countries) for free. The downside is that I need to be on Skype to answer incoming calls, or do I?

No I don’t… by using Skype’s call forwarding feature I can forward my Skype number to the number of my choice, so if I’m at my temporary accommodation I can forward my calls there, if I’m at work I can forward my calls there, or I can even forward calls to my cell. If I want to get really fancy I can have incoming calls ring on all three! I wish there was a simple one click method to change your Skype call forwarding configuration or to set up call forwarding based on a schedule but there doesn’t appear to be.

What’s on the agenda today?

Today I’m planning to get a cell phone account (probably with Verizon), a digital camera, and generally explore what’s around. So on that note, I’m signing off.