Once I got the contact, came to terms with Claire on the divorce, the rest was easy. I had a lot to do between August and late September when I had planned to leave.
I had to find a place to live. I knew no one in Australia. I got on the internet and started looking for places to rent in Perth. I had no idea what neighborhoods were safe, close, or what.
Then I stumbled on a little ad for a place called Holland House. It was a home made web page for a family that was renting a granny unit in their house in Perth. The room was fully furnished and came with meals, laundry, private bath. The house had a pool, and a cat and a dog. The owners looked really nice. They were seeking an English language student from Asia who needed a complete and safe place to live.
So I called them up and asked them if they could take a 38 year old systems programmer. It was not the call they expected. I think they were a little startled by the response.
I was blessed. The husband of the house, Martin Lentz, also worked as a systems programmer, and he used to work at IBM Perth doing exactly what I was being hired for. He no longer worked there, bit still kept in contact. So he called some friends of his there, confirmed that I was legit, and said yes. Awesome!
Claire moved in with her new boyfriend. I helped pack up the house and helped them move everything over, or into storage. I packed up everything that got to keep and put it in the back of my pickup truck.
I then drove to my mom's house in Tucson Arizona and stored my remaining belongings there. I also left my pickup truck in her garage. I did not know if I would be coming back in a year. If so, I would need something to drive. My truck was old, but it still ran fine and was paid for. It made no sense to get rid of it. Besides, mom could use it from time to time to haul things to the house.
After mom's, all I had left in the world was my little laptop and one suitcase with some clothes. I had to borrow $3k from a friend to buy a ticket, then I took off for my new life in the unknown.
I would like to go out of my way to thank my friend John who loaned me the $3k I needed to start my life over again. John. You saved my life. I did pay him back, with interest (I'm not a total deadbeat), once I got settled in Australia and started earning money again. Honestly, I got more out of that $3000 than I have gotten out of any money in my life before. It allowed me to get my life back on track. I can't tell you how difficult it was for me to ask you. I didn't know what else I could do.
I will always be grateful for your trust and faith in me in my time of need. I hope that someday I can help you out the way you did for me.
Saturday, September 01, 2001
Background Part II - The Australia Option
That is when I decided just for the hell of it to see if there was any work in Australia doing what I do. I found a little ad on the Internet and I emailed them my resume. The next day they answered. It was an Australian headhunter looking for IBM mainframe specialist to work for IBM Australia in Perth, Western Australia. Was I interested?
Is the pope Catholic? Do bears poop in the woods? Of course I am interested!
It turned out to be not a good deal financially. They paid in Aussie dollars, and they didn't pay that much compared to what I could make in the US doing the same thing. When I did the math, I would make about half what I had made in 2001. They would sponsor me for a 4 year work visa. I was guaranteed a contract through the end of 2002, and the strong possibility that it would be renewed.
I interviewed with IBM over the phone. They wanted me. I thought about it for a week, negotiated some details. In the end, I took it. It made sense.
Even though the pay sucked, it was good by Australian standards. I did some research on the web on the cost of living in Perth. It is a lot lower than Santa Barbara. After taxes, I estimated that I'd take home only about $6000 AUD a month, which was only $3000 USD a month at that time.
I thought about it. I had been working 80 a week for over 3 years. I had taken perhaps 2 days off in that time. My health was shit. I was working my ass off only see my hard earned money be given to some greedy landlord simply for the privledge of having a place to call home.
IBM Australia told me that I could not work more than 40 hours a week. Plus I had to take 4 weeks of vacation a year (unpaid). Wow. What would I do with all that free time? My mind boggled.
On top of this, I was still fighting with Claire over the terms of the divorce. She had in her head a figure of $2000 a month alimony, plus $100k lump sum settlement. It was crazy. I didn't have anywhere near that kind of money. She got this figures from her spoiled friends that had divorced wealthy doctors and lawyers. She failed to realize that (a) I'm not rich, (b) we had no children. I was tied of being separated.
So I decided to take the job.
I created a budget for me to live on there. I offered Claire $500USD a month for two years, $30k in retirement money, the Mercedes Benz, all the furniture and everything in the house.
This left me with my clothes, my laptop, my old pickup truck, most of my retirement funds, and all the debt. I told her to take it or leave it. I was moving to Australia in two months. Good luck getting money from me once I move.
Her lawyer finally talked her into reality. She accepted the terms. It helped that I documented all my income and assets to her lawyer to prove I was not stashing thousands of dollars away.
I slept good for the first time in recent memory.
Is the pope Catholic? Do bears poop in the woods? Of course I am interested!
It turned out to be not a good deal financially. They paid in Aussie dollars, and they didn't pay that much compared to what I could make in the US doing the same thing. When I did the math, I would make about half what I had made in 2001. They would sponsor me for a 4 year work visa. I was guaranteed a contract through the end of 2002, and the strong possibility that it would be renewed.
I interviewed with IBM over the phone. They wanted me. I thought about it for a week, negotiated some details. In the end, I took it. It made sense.
Even though the pay sucked, it was good by Australian standards. I did some research on the web on the cost of living in Perth. It is a lot lower than Santa Barbara. After taxes, I estimated that I'd take home only about $6000 AUD a month, which was only $3000 USD a month at that time.
I thought about it. I had been working 80 a week for over 3 years. I had taken perhaps 2 days off in that time. My health was shit. I was working my ass off only see my hard earned money be given to some greedy landlord simply for the privledge of having a place to call home.
IBM Australia told me that I could not work more than 40 hours a week. Plus I had to take 4 weeks of vacation a year (unpaid). Wow. What would I do with all that free time? My mind boggled.
On top of this, I was still fighting with Claire over the terms of the divorce. She had in her head a figure of $2000 a month alimony, plus $100k lump sum settlement. It was crazy. I didn't have anywhere near that kind of money. She got this figures from her spoiled friends that had divorced wealthy doctors and lawyers. She failed to realize that (a) I'm not rich, (b) we had no children. I was tied of being separated.
So I decided to take the job.
I created a budget for me to live on there. I offered Claire $500USD a month for two years, $30k in retirement money, the Mercedes Benz, all the furniture and everything in the house.
This left me with my clothes, my laptop, my old pickup truck, most of my retirement funds, and all the debt. I told her to take it or leave it. I was moving to Australia in two months. Good luck getting money from me once I move.
Her lawyer finally talked her into reality. She accepted the terms. It helped that I documented all my income and assets to her lawyer to prove I was not stashing thousands of dollars away.
I slept good for the first time in recent memory.
Background Part 1 - The collapse of the old life
This post is for those who want to understand the context of this blog. This will give you some background on what I am about and why this is here.
I'm a native Californian from Santa Barbara, which is about 100 miles west of Los Angeles on the coast. I work as an IT professional, mostly in the financial industry.
In August 1999 I quit my job I had held at the bank for 12 years. I was tied of the place. It was no longer fun and I could see that it was never going to be fun again. I decided it was time to strike out on my own. So I started contracting.
In November 1999 I was 36 years old and my wife and I separated after 6 years of marriage. The last three years had been difficult, and then it finally collapsed. The financial pressure and uncertainty of my career decision to quit my job was the final straw for Claire. She needed security. I needed to take a chance to succeed.
So I started IT contracting. I spent a lot of time out of town, working up in the SF Bay Area, down in Los Angeles. While doing this I was trying to support my home, reconcile or come to divorce terms with Claire, pay off massive debts that we had acquired during marriage. 2000 and 2001 here very stressfully for me. I didn't have the time, energy, or the motivation to exercise, rest, or eat right. My health suffered.
By July 2001 it had all become too much. The final straw was when I lost my home. Claire and I had rented a beautiful little old house in Montecito outside of Santa Barbara. It was an awesome place and I have never lived in a house that I enjoyed more. It was my little sanctuary.
The owner of the house told me that he sold the land to a B-grade Hollywood movie star who was going to rip it up and put in a McMansion. I had until October 31 to move out. The bulldozers where starting November 1.
I had been paying only $2150 USD a month for the house. It was small, only 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. But it was a steal for that price. Similar houses rent for over $4000 a month. I could afford that smaller rent, albeit it was difficult at times.
Now I was faced with find a new place to live. Small houses were going for $3500 a month. Crappy apartments started at $2500 a month. I had to think about the two cats that still lived with me. No place would let me have cats.
I found that even though I was making ok money, it was slipping through my fingers. Trying to maintain a life on the road, and my life back in Santa Barbara was too much. I knew that if I didn't make a drastic change, I would going to be dead of a heart attack in 12 months.
To top this off, my current contract was ending in August. I had no other significant work lined up for after that. So I started looking for new contracts.
I'm a native Californian from Santa Barbara, which is about 100 miles west of Los Angeles on the coast. I work as an IT professional, mostly in the financial industry.
In August 1999 I quit my job I had held at the bank for 12 years. I was tied of the place. It was no longer fun and I could see that it was never going to be fun again. I decided it was time to strike out on my own. So I started contracting.
In November 1999 I was 36 years old and my wife and I separated after 6 years of marriage. The last three years had been difficult, and then it finally collapsed. The financial pressure and uncertainty of my career decision to quit my job was the final straw for Claire. She needed security. I needed to take a chance to succeed.
So I started IT contracting. I spent a lot of time out of town, working up in the SF Bay Area, down in Los Angeles. While doing this I was trying to support my home, reconcile or come to divorce terms with Claire, pay off massive debts that we had acquired during marriage. 2000 and 2001 here very stressfully for me. I didn't have the time, energy, or the motivation to exercise, rest, or eat right. My health suffered.
By July 2001 it had all become too much. The final straw was when I lost my home. Claire and I had rented a beautiful little old house in Montecito outside of Santa Barbara. It was an awesome place and I have never lived in a house that I enjoyed more. It was my little sanctuary.
The owner of the house told me that he sold the land to a B-grade Hollywood movie star who was going to rip it up and put in a McMansion. I had until October 31 to move out. The bulldozers where starting November 1.
I had been paying only $2150 USD a month for the house. It was small, only 2 bedrooms and 1 bath. But it was a steal for that price. Similar houses rent for over $4000 a month. I could afford that smaller rent, albeit it was difficult at times.
Now I was faced with find a new place to live. Small houses were going for $3500 a month. Crappy apartments started at $2500 a month. I had to think about the two cats that still lived with me. No place would let me have cats.
I found that even though I was making ok money, it was slipping through my fingers. Trying to maintain a life on the road, and my life back in Santa Barbara was too much. I knew that if I didn't make a drastic change, I would going to be dead of a heart attack in 12 months.
To top this off, my current contract was ending in August. I had no other significant work lined up for after that. So I started looking for new contracts.
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