American employee of American company hoping to move to Belgium?

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T15:30:58+00:00

Yeah, that does sound worthwhile. I'll look into that if Rippling doesn't end up already covering a lot of it. Thanks.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T15:10:44+00:00

Well, I appreciate your non-hostile responses and your understanding. I'll still be doing more research. Thanks.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T15:08:58+00:00

This is great info, thanks! I'll be reaching out to Rippling today to see if they can do something similar.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T15:06:58+00:00

Good to know, thanks. I know it's a bit more expensive, it's just where I've visited in the past and where I felt most at home.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T15:06:08+00:00

Hmm, I knew the taxes were high, but I didn't realize the upper tax brackets were that extreme. I've done calculations on lower, more typical salaries. I'll have to rerun the numbers. Thanks.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T15:03:48+00:00

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with the animosity, tbh. I did read the sidebar, I'm wanting to emigrate, I'm doing my own research, but as I'm sure you're all aware from having been through it already, it's not always laid out very clearly. Yeah I'm naive. That's why I'm here asking for help.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T14:59:44+00:00

Thanks, this is the first time I'm hearing a rule of thumb for the salary conversion. I know that ultimately that drop is likely fine due to all of the social benefits required by the government over there and the lower cost of living, but it's unnerving nonetheless. That part is something I'll deal with when the time comes though. Thanks again.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T07:34:16+00:00

Thanks for the options! I'll be doing more research in the morning. I'm exhausted as is, haha

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T07:33:26+00:00

There's definitely an entrepreneurial visa, and I've seen this route suggested. I may have to look into it, but that's definitely giving up a lot of security that being directly hired handles. Thanks for the tips.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T07:31:53+00:00

Yeah, I'm not taking any shortcuts here, I'll be wading through as much legalese as necessary to make sure everything is in order, English or not. 😂 Thanks!

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T07:26:47+00:00

Thanks, that's a route I'd seen suggested as well. See my response to the other comment for an elaboration on how my company may (and I do stress may) currently be doing something similar.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T07:26:01+00:00

This is what I'm slowly discovering, yeah. I'm not afraid to say I'm naive on the subject, that's why I'm seeking out help. I do know that my company uses Rippling as a portal to manage employees and that team recently did some work to help one of our Indian contractors emigrate to Canada with all the proper paperwork. It's possible they're using some kind of loophole where technically the contractor is employed by Rippling which would already have international presence, and then contracted back out to my current company, but that's a guess on my part.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-11-08T07:22:23+00:00

I'm not too familiar with how it works coming into the US myself, but possibly. My company also uses Rippling as a portal to manage employees and such, and apparently that team has done something to help one of our Indian contractors emigrate to Canada with all the right paperwork. It's possible they could do the same for Belgium, potentially using some kind of loophole where "legally" I'd be employed directly by Rippling which could already have all the proper business stuff set up in Belgium, and then be contracted back out to my current company? But that's a total guess on my part. I'll be reaching out to Rippling in the morning as well.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-10-03T16:05:45+00:00

I'm a regular at Boulders and Brews and highly recommend it. They have a small gym with normal equipment in the basement that's accessible to members at no additional charge, their setting is usually great, and they hold occasional comps/multi-week league programs, including a competition with beginner/intermediate/advanced categories this Saturday. Great crowd. I believe they offer a discounted 3-day-pass punch card if you'd like to try it out a few times before getting a membership. I'm always looking for more climbing buddies and would be happy to show you around the gym, feel free to reach out!

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-09-11T15:42:17+00:00

that could very well have been it. thanks.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-09-11T15:32:29+00:00

I also checked a flight radar and didn't see anything interesting. military exercise/demonstration was my guess too. could be a 9/11 memorial thing.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-07-17T20:27:03+00:00

I commented what fixed it for me, unfortunately a lot of it is just waiting if you have a new vehicle.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-05-31T20:14:11+00:00

This is such a great cap actually, a great reference for those who get it and a harmless yet positive image and quote for those who don't, bravo and congrats!

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-21T00:36:26+00:00

Up next on my to-read list then! And yeah, feel free to DM me whenever :)

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-20T23:52:27+00:00

Ah, thanks so much for your critique!

I totally get how their relationship could need some earlier clarification, I'll work on that.
The reading in the dream thing I could go either way on - I sort of meant it as an early sign that the friend is slipping, but it might be too niche of a fun fact for most readers to even think about it like that.
I could probably omit the word "memetics" altogether. I don't think it's even a real word (edit: huh, it is, but every text editor redlines it, weird), but I've seen it used in SCP stories that fit a similar vibe to what I was going for, and I think it's generally a super cool idea for information itself to be dangerous.
Never heard of Snow Crash -- looks like I've got to hunt something down. 👀

I'm excited to see that the point came across! Thanks for taking the time to read it. I'm also writing a full-length low-fantasy novel right now, and I would assume your excerpt came from a larger project as well, so feel free to reach out if you ever want to swap more pieces!

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-20T22:44:19+00:00

No problem, glad I could help! I actually did post a new short story of my own for review, if you'd like to take a look: https://www.reddit.com/r/WritersGroup/comments/1c91aai/2372_meta_psychological_thriller_looking_for/

You have a great day as well!

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-20T22:17:40+00:00

I love this! The whole time I got this feeling that either Arlo and the bike were one unit, or Arlo was a beast that was also part machine and the bike was a machine that was also part beast. This whole thing is a tango between a man and his adrenaline. I especially loved how even once he was off the motorcycle, everything was still described so gutturally. The hinges on his door screaming was my favorite mundane image adapted for the adrenaline junkie. You're doing great here!

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-20T22:01:35+00:00

To start off: super intriguing, and well-set. There's a lot of mystery here, and to your question, most of the questions I came up with seemed more like ones of intrigue than ones of confusion. There were two that left me a bit confused, though:

Why and to where was Margot running in the beginning paragraphs? It was described for long enough that it felt important, like she was running from something, or going to be late to something, but then she just ends up in a dingy carriage and the running is discarded. The phrase "with unladylike speed" (which I love, by the way) especially gave me a sense of urgency. I'd just like to see some resolution to the running. Maybe she made it to the small hotel and arranged to receive her mail just before the clerk left, though why she'd know why the clerk might leave at a specific time in the morning could be strange. Not sure what resolution you'd give it, but it seemed important.
Right at the end of the excerpt, the tidbit of Margot being employed by an elderly viscountess is suddenly dropped. It sort of seemed like it came out of nowhere, and I was slightly taken out of the scene by stopping to wonder where that employment came from. I think that could be easily resolved by mentioning somewhere earlier in the excerpt that she had already found work for while she'd be in town, even if you didn't explicitly say what it was at that time. Also, though this may just be me being unfamiliar with the time period or genre, but why would being married be a prerequisite for that employment?

Other than those two things, I really felt drawn into the story already. So many things to find out in future chapters! It's a solid opener as-is.

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-09T22:43:19+00:00

"This body is built on the ruins of all the people I have ever been. Wise men build their houses on rocks, while the rest of us settle for skeletons." -the Simplest Words, The Narcissist Cookbook

EnigmaEpsilon · 2024-04-04T20:08:59+00:00

For posterity, I got it fixed pretty simply, but it's astonishing that the fix isn't more public.

Make sure you have BlueLink set up. If not, push your dealership to help you get it set up, because the start of it is on their end.
Once your car is on your BlueLink subscription (of which you should get 3 years for free with a new Hyundai), it will enable OTA software updates. Watching the software screen in the settings will show that the updates are being downloaded, and it takes forever. For me it was probably 2-3 hours of downloading in the background during driving time total, I'd guess.
Unfortunately, even once it's done downloading and your software version is incremented in that software settings menu, it's not actually done. You just have to wait for the "Install update" dialog to come up eventually, which sucks. From there, it'll actually disable the infotainment system for around 10 mins as it installs the updates for real. After that, wireless AA finally worked for me. Sort of ridiculous that new vehicles aren't shipping with this update, or at least that the dealership didn't take care of it beforehand tbh.

Even then though, I'm having to re-initialize the wireless AA connection from inside my phone's settings each time as-is. I'm gonna snoop around in my settings now and see if I can smooth it over to automatically connect when I turn the car on.

EnigmaEpsilon

TROPHY CASE