Bryan Coe

It seems that everyday there is a case of someone breaking into a bank database or some other organization, and identity theft seems to be running rampant. The goverment has been discussing different ways to stop identity theft, but the credit card companies have a strong lobby which makes it possible for them to be very sloppy when issuing credit. So even you grandmother that has been dead for 20 years still getts credit card offers.
Today I found a good article with some tips on how to protect yourself from identity theft. Check out the link below:

How to Foil Identity Thieves

The moment we have all been waiting for has finally come!!! Mel’s Green Card was approved!!!!

From USCIS-CSSO

Application Type: I130 , IMMIGRANT PETITION FOR RELATIVE,
FIANCE(E), OR ORPHAN

Current Status:  

This case has been approved. On June 14, 2006, an approval
notice was mailed.  If 30 days have passed and you have
not received this notice, you may wish to verify or update
your address. To update your address, please speak to an
Immigration Information Officer during business hours.

Finally!!!

Everyone has been waiting for an update. No, the Germans haven’t put me in some high security prison where I can’t communicate with the outside world. I haven’t run off to be a groupie with the US Soccer team. (Although that is a good idea 😉 )…

I am living in a small town in north west Germany called Geilenkirchen (http://www.geilenkirchen.de/). It has been a bit of a hassle with getting on line because the company is ultra paranoid about viruses and doesn’t allow everyone to have an internet login. I don’t quite understand how they can justify not allowing the international people to have a login, but it seems there is not a lot I can do about it. They have two old PCs set up as kiosks to use but the filters are so high that I’m not able to get to most sites. There is however a neighbor with a WLAN that we.. uh borrow. So, I will be able to be online more often this way in the evening or on Saturday.

So, what have I been doing all this time? I have been training with the software for which I will later be consulting. It is a lot to learn. Even people that have been with the company for years don’t know everything about the software. So the company sees it as the longer I stay the more I will learn and the better I will be for consulting when I return. I was originally supposed to return at the end of June. I had expected that it would be extended until the end of July, but they have now asked me to stay until the end of August because the big boss of the US is going to be in Germany in August and if I go back to the US I won’t get a chance to meet him until much later. So, it could be that I will stay until the end of September as I wanted to come back for that little event called the Oktoberfest anyway, and why not let the company pay for the flight. 😉 Right now my boss is looking into how that would work, because as far as I understand unless I get an official work visa, I can only stay for 3 months. So, I would have to leave the EU at some point since if I stay till the end of September it would be 5 months. I’d prefer to go back to the US for a week or something and spend some time there. We’ll see though…

It has been pretty exciting around here though with the world cup and everything. The opener with Germany was exciting, and Australia won for the first time in the World Cup. Unfortunately the USA lost though. I’m pretty sure we can play better then we did though. No one here believes that we will get anywhere, but I still have hope. After all we aren’t ranked number 5 in the world for nothing. 😉 All I can say to the people here is wait and see…

From April 29th

So, I made to Geilenkirchen. It was a long trip since I had to wait in Heathrow, London for 4 hours. I managed get online for a little while with a T-Mobile hotspot, unfortunately after I tried some other cheaper service. They had thier filters so high that all I could do is go to there site. At first I could get into Yahoo mail, but then I could access any mail, but that only lasted for a little while and then wouldn’t work either.

While sitting in Heathrow, I realized that I still travel like a backpacker. You know what though, I don’t think I would like to travel any other way. What I mean is that I was looking around at all the business men, with their uncomfortable clothes, shoulder bags(quick way to end up at a chiropractor). Then there’s me, comfortable pants that I can make into shorts, t-shirt, and backpack. Hmmmm.. maybe this is why never get upgraded?? This was the first time I flew British Airways in a long time and they’ve changed their first class, or atleast I’ve never seen it before. The seats were amazing. On one side you have 2 seats. But they are facing opposite directions, sort of like this –> dP Each seat has it’s own screen you can pull out with movies as well as games. The best though is that you can really lay down. not just lean your seat back a little bit. Hmm.. maybe I should start dressing better? 😉

The trip from the airport wasn’t too bad. The driver was driving one of the new VW Jetta’s so we had something to talk about to break the ice. Later he was nice enough to stop at a supermarket so I could get some food for the evening and breakfast.

My apartment is nice, it is only an efficiency but everything is pretty new. Microwave, stove (no oven though), coffee machine, a water cooker, sofa bed and TV. The bad thing is, no internet connection. I am trying to atleast get it in the office because 2-3 months without internet? That’s like dropping off the face of the earth! I’m going to have to fight for it, but I mean the most important thing is that I have it for online banking.

My first couple of days were pretty quite. I did a bit of playing with the software but other than that I had lots of coffee breaks and smoke breaks(even though I don’t smoke).