homesick_american

I think socio-economic background is at least as strongly correlated, if not more so, than race when it comes to criminality. The POOR are more likely to be incarcerated for sure, no matter what color they are.

IT and computer is a job market that is easy for aliens! I just got a well paid job with an internet company. They even love the fact that I am not American since they are looking for diversity as well as for a person who is able to speak German and French since they just expanded to those countries.

Before that, I sent my applications mainly to non-profit organizations, at one I was referred. I never got an answer there, but I know through my referral person that I was the most qualified applicant (all other applicants where just out of college, no experience, just BAs) and that the reason I wasn't contacted was me being not American. They want Americans only. I really don't care anymore know since I got my job... But I generally think computer jobs/ IT/ science is way less biased towards international coworkers.

Btw... All employers knew I was living in the Bay Area. So no "local"-BS. Some people just don't want to work with aliens, no matter where they are from. Concerning Yahoo and Monster: forget it! They only post crappy jobs anyway (in may area though). I contacted companies directly through their website and that's how I made it. The best is that I only have to drive 2 miles to work :)

I'm not an alien though; I'm American. :thumbs:

Thanks H_A for your detailed response! Yes, Magyar is not so common as to necessitate an airport interpreter in Dallas. JFK, or Chicago...perhaps, but not here. If they'd let me interpret, we'd be set, but no such luck.

Unfortunately, he arrives at 3:05 pm, which means by the time he goes through immigration & customs, we're looking at rush hour traffic. I'm assuming the traffic nightmares at rush hour are similar to Houston's....so I want to avoid it, if at all possible. That is why I thought of getting a hotel near the airport...but if the 'hood is not so appealing, what about the south southeast of the city, maybe off 45 as that is the freeway I'd be taking out of town, towards Houston? Any ideas?

-P

There's a motel at Walnut Hill and Beltline in Irving that is a short drive from the airport; I can't imagine it being very expensive. It's fairly close to where I used to live; years and years ago I lived on Country Club Drive in Irving, back before the area declined. It's not really ghetto, it's just much more blue collar than it used to be. It was never a dangerous part of town when I lived there and I don't think it has that rep now, though there have been murders, assaults, etc. from time to time. It's not really the 'hood, though some areas south of 183 ARE hoody.

Check out this motel, see if it's what you're looking for...there's a McDonald's, Burger King, CVS, and Wendy's nearby plus a Tom Thumb (supermarket). It's near 161 and 635, and you can also access 114 from Beltline and that's probably a better route to take to the mixmaster to get on 45.

Southeast Dallas is to be avoided AT ALL COSTS. Don't even consider it. You want to live with your fiance, not be buried with him.

http://www.crosslandstudios.com/hotels/dal...omodations.html

that is just wrong..a throw away society..??

Terry Shivo?

Animals are disposed of daily and people think nothing of that . Throw away society indeed.

Terri Schiavo was in a permanent vegetative state. This woman was perfectly lucid. Not even the same thing.

...which then led to the people being completely desperate, which eventually allowed for them to believe a madman named Hitler when he said that he wanted to help improve things....

Ok, where do the Jews fit in to that?

Silly me, I guess the Holocaust had nothing to do with European anti-Semitism after all

Personally I have never seen why Palestinians lost their land to compensate Europeans for something the Germans did.

At this point I blame both the Palestinians and the Israelis for the situation in Israel, I offer no solutions to fix it, and at this point I do not care if they all kill each other. If they refuse to compromise, that's just what's going to happen.

20 miles over the speed limit is like 40 km over the speed limit

there should be a stiff penalty for that. it's just reckless

Do you drive? 20MPH over the speed limit is commonplace on highways.

So is death.

Ever seen what happens to someone and their family who hits something at 75 mph or over 120 if it is a head on collision.. Not a pretty site.

This is why I usually drive the speed limit on the highways, unless the flow of traffic won't allow it (too slow OR too fast). I don't want to die, but equally I would prefer not to kill anyone.

Gwyneth Paltrow too...since she thinks we're all dumba$$es anyway.

I've always found her little pronouncements a little ironic since she is as dumb as 2 planks (nice girl, but....)

Yeah...she's pretty up her own ### about her own intellectual abilities.

]

It's not like that; the very fresh stuff is much less likely to upset my stomach.

Fair enough. I'm the same with HFCS. I can't drink non-diet soda in the USA because it makes my physically ill within about 20 mins of drinking it. Doesn't happen to me at all in the UK (presumably because of the sugar instead of corn syrup).

Actually it took me a while to figure this out. Back in 1993 when I worked at Cedar Point for the summer, I would literally be doubled over in pain after every lunch time. I thought I was getting an ulcer or something, then it went away when I returned to the UK. Fast forward to 1999 when I move to the USA, it starts happening again. Suddenly I noticed the correlation between America and painful gut ache!

Luckily they don't put HFCS in beer.

I think I've got a touch of IBS; odd things upset my stomach. Oatmeal makes me sick, for example. I like it but I can't eat it.

I will say this; I do correct Americans all the time about the food in the UK. The UK doesn't have a great culinary reputation but the food in the UK is perfectly fine. It's just different. Some British dishes are wonderful and there are some things I will miss. I'd kill for a beef stew with dumplings ready meal from Sainsbury's right now. Those were delicious.

Oh wow...I just got back to the Big D recently myself. Dallas is AWESOME.

Unfortunately I don't know anything about the hotels around DFW since I never had to stay in any of them but there are TONS of hotels/motels in the DFW area....search for them in Irving, Grapevine, east Fort Worth, north Arlington, and the H.E.B. area (Hurst/Euless/Bedford) if you want something that is only minutes from DFW. Be aware that depending on the time of day he arrives, you may encounter extremely heavy traffic.

In terms of highways...121, 183, 114, and 635 are the major highways that run near the airport. 183 is sometimes called Airport Freeway, 114 is sometimes referred to as John Carpenter, and 635 is also LBJ. Apparently the DFW airport property is larger, square-mileage wise, than the island of Manhattan...so it's a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig place. 121 is a pay road through the airport and 161, aka George Bush Turnpike, is a tollroad. 183, 635, and 114 are freeways.

As for the POE at Dallas...I've been through immigration in Dallas a few times and it's unlikely they'll have anyone there who speaks Magyar (that'd be unusual anywhere) but I'd guess they are used to dealing with immigrants who don't speak the language very well and it's probably nothing they haven't seen before. If they do have to bring in someone it could take a while for them to rouse a Magyar speaker; those are pretty rare!

As for the no-frills aspect....please be aware that some areas around DFW can be pretty rough. Irving south of 183 can be dodgy and the area of Irving where I once lived...near 161 and Beltline...has gone into a gradual decline and some streets/apartment complexes have become pretty dicey. Some of the motels around the airport are actually mainly housing for people who can't rent an apartment due to credit problems or bad rental histories so keep this in mind and BE CAREFUL. It's not exactly 'tha ghetto'...there are much worse areas in DFW...but it is definitely not a well-heeled area directly east or directly south of the airport.

You might want to consider a hotel a little closer to civilization. If you must stay near DFW, try this link:

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll?qscr=...4856711290&

Nauseating. Just nauseating. I used to watch those animal cops shows when I was in the UK and it's depressingly common in some parts of the USA and is often tied to organized crime. The penalties need to be MUCH more harsh than they currently are.

He should pray this does not go to trial. Any jury hears this, they would have to convict him. Unreal. Somehow it almost feels worse when these things happen to animals, simply because they're so helpless, and have no idea why this is happening to them.

Pitbulls are helpless? Huh?

Some killer pit bulls can be friendly and affectionate with people. Some of them still wag their tails/back ends when their cruel owners come near them. It's sick, really. Sick sick sick.

Add another big red APPROVED to the list

Phoned Leigh as soon as I got out, one of the best wake up calls she has ever had.

Got in to the big room at about 1040 and was back out on the street by 1155 really quick. I had the Chinese lady at the first desk and she was very polite, actually making a few jokes about places I had been. The interview was with a young woman who was very business like and asked me a few question from the 'questions to ask interviewees book' She was obviously happy as she said, 'we are going to grant you your visa, it will be delivered to you by the courier within 3 - 5 days'.

The people walking in must have thought I was some sort of goon as I was walking around with this huge big ### grin on my face.

4 more weeks and in to the arms of my babe.

Congrats selly!

Have you done a pro and cons list for each job. One may pay less, but is also might be a better job

IMHO

The other offer hasn't come in yet so I can't do a side by side. I had planned to look at the whole picture...bennies, 401k, vacation, potential for growth, etc. The salary doesn't tell the whole story.

Does anyone know if there are license and insurance points added for a 9 miles over speeding ticket in a 35 mph zone? Where would it be possible to find this out?

The other poster is right; it varies by state and insurance company. I'd call my insurance company and talk to them, and also hit the state's DPS/DMV website and see if you can find out if points are assessed for moving violations. Texas only recently adopted a points system; it didn't have one when I left.

I've had outstanding luck with my job search. I wrote my resume 13 days ago and I already have a job offer for $80k and probably another on the way. I applied to 7 positions and had 3 interviews. I'm having to beat off recruiters with a stick. I posted my resume on www.computerjobs.com and www.dice.com. I didn't even look at monster.com or hotjobs.com. There's a lot of duplication on those sites and since I'm in IT I felt computerjobs.com and dice.com were better bets since they're focused on my industry.

This is pretty much my shortest job search ever. I had heard that the job market in Dallas was really good, but I wasn't expecting this; this is like dot.com days. Not complaining at all!

I decided to only apply for SQL developer jobs since that's what I really want to do; I only have 1.5 years of professional experience doing it but from what I understand those skills are in extremely short supply. I was shocked; I didn't think what I did was all that difficult or unusual. I thought I'd widen my job search to SQL and SQA (I did SQA for 7 years prior to switching to SQL) if I was still looking in 2-3 months but as it turns out that most likely won't be necessary.

Woo, I'm liking this!

I've thought for years that aid to some of these countries only serves to prop up the corrupt regimes who helped to screw things up in the first place.

maybe they figured he'd just get on his kangaroo and leave if he really wanted to.

It doesn't?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??! That's it, I'm NEVER going to Australia now.

It's kind of insulting that they think that WE think that.

While we're on the subject of irritating stereotypes...

This man doesn't exist...he is a fictional character.

This is not what happy hour in Dallas looks like.

This is not what my daily commute looks like.

When you come to Dallas, don't prowl the knoll; there is no new evidence to find. Some tourists actually root around with metal detectors trying to find shell casings.

I've never seen one of these in Dallas in my life (doesn't mean we didn't have any, but they sure weren't common) and you pretty much never see them in this part of Texas these days.

An Australian private security operator was left for dead by American forces after he was seriously wounded during an ambush in southern Iraq.

His title says it all. He chose to go there. He is also a civilian and not a military officer.

PS All is good and well as long as the hundreds of thousand of dollars rolls in as a private security operator; well until they are hurt.

I agree. It's harsh, but that's just the way it works. A lot of private citizens go to Iraq expecting riches and this is just the risk they take. I don't see why our soldiers should endanger themselves to rescue someone who is there just to make money.

One of the other good things about getting away from the Uk was that I thought I would not have to watch her preen and pout for the camera's and trying---yet again ---to make a record. why she just does not give up I do not know. Yes they have tons of money but it has mostly been gained on the back of DB's sponsors ect and his fantastic salary.

Why she cannot just "go" gracefully is beyond me. I have yet to see her smile or act naturally.

All I need now is to hear that the "Blair's" are heading this way too---God help us!!!!!

At least the UK kept Madonna...for the time being. I hope she stays over there forever. Gwyneth Paltrow too...since she thinks we're all dumba$$es anyway.

I never changed my name on my passport after I got married and I never had any trouble traveling everywhere.

all i say is most of the teachers that taught at my school have no left due to bullying by the pupils who cant even spell swear words right and from what I hea the Teachers have to learn basic POLISH #######,

Learn polish?

There has been a large influx of Polish people moving to the UK in the last three years. The reaction to them in York was demonstrative of the north of England's reputation for xenophobia.

Good luck selly!

I don't eat much bread and what bread I do eat tends to be the chichi expensive gourmet stuff so I haven't noticed a difference in flavor. I'm not one of those no-carbs freaks but things like bread, pasta, etc. upset my stomach so I tend to avoid them. I also mostly avoid food out of jars and cans so I suppose comparisons between processed foods in the US and the UK are lost on me. We cook from fresh in this house but I find restaurant food in the US to be so salty that I sometimes can't finish it.

Well La Di Da!

It's not like that; the very fresh stuff is much less likely to upset my stomach.

Congrats HA!!

EDIT: When you taking me out for dinner?? Hehehe!

I dunno; if I take this job I may end up living in Lewisville since it's on Valley View north of 635 and just west of 35E. Not exactly a great 'hood, and Lewisville is a straight shot up 35E. Valley Ranch is closer but it's so up its own a$$.

what kind of job is? what do you do for a living?

I'm a database programmer.

Awww, George is lovely. Is he at least going to a good home where his new owner will groom and feed him every day?

I sure hope so! He is being driven away on Wednesday evening and boy, will I have a George-shaped hole in my life. Even when his clutch died on the North Circular, 5 miles from home, and I had a life-passing-before-my-eyes moment, I still loved him. George even has a fan club of sorts amongst the small boys in our neighbourhood, who think he is very cool. Well, he's not that cool, a bit dorky really, just like his owner!

He looks so shiny, like a new penny, in those pics.

He is beautiful. I love the way those old cars look.