The search has finally started; I sent my first five applications to any interesting jobs that didn't say they weren't interested in sponsoring a visa last night. Of course, it'll take until Tuesday local time to get any results.

I'm left wondering how difficult this was before the net made finding contacts and openings trivial.

Why on Earth do people buy anti-DVDCCA shirts with the DeCSS code on the back, only to turn around and spend hundreds of dollars on DVD players and DVDs? It makes no sense.

I mean, helping out folks with their legal costs by purchasing shirts is all well and good, but the profits on any given DVD must be pretty amazing. Why help your supposed opponent? Why bother helping the opponents of someone you're supporting by purchasing their product?

I said goodbye to Ann at Brisbane Airport's International Terminal yesterday; even though I only have to wait about 42 days before flying out to New York and meeting her again, I'm left a little sad and empty.

On the upside, I think I managed to introduce her to just enough of Emacs, Gnus, nethack and screen that she may be interested in learning more. Yea!

Hacking update

Nothing to report.

Work update

I'm seeking a US employer that will sponsor a H1-B visa; dice.com is a decent enough place to start looking, I think, but falls down for folks like me: I get plenty of results explicitly saying `No H1-B or third parties'.

There must be something better.

sad, you need to take a look at what not to do to your new apartment.

ajv,

Sadly, your comments about Brisbane are pretty much on the mark. There are some nice places to go to eat (a couple of stores in the Valley, and some others in West End) and the relatively low cost of living (as compared against, say, Sydney) helps, but on the whole, yeah, it sucks.

The other thing you're right about is the racism that's so prevalent; it takes years and years to overcome the wowsers and actually get anything done, and the reputation Queensland cops have for low tolerance and a tendency to beat people is, in my opinon, still deserved.

I plan to never live further north than Brisbane until I move away from here.

When it comes to politics, at least the last time we had total right-wing loonies running the place was over ten years ago, as compared against Victoria's two years or so. Kennet never impressed me much. I can't say the tendency to blame Canberra for the world's troubles is an exclusively Queenslandish trait, either.