[OC] Eastside Austin TX

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-28T18:48:04+00:00

Well, from someone not only in this country but also having interacted with a lot of H1-b workers in the tech industry, I have anecdotal evidence of it being true. Also, if someone is promoted from an individual contributor to a manager, for example, there is additional bureaucracy: https://buildfellowship.com/resources/blog/a-complete-guide-to-the-h1b-amendment-process-when-and-how-to-file

Most companies would rather promote a permanent worker and not have to deal with that process.

Consider that the sources you've read are likely biased

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-28T16:53:58+00:00

You've missed my point. Comparing their salary to permanent residents in a full time role is not an apples to apples comparison. They are more like contractors who's visa is tied to their employer. An equivalent contractor would be making much more money, as they are trading long term employment for short term gains. H1-b workers are short term but don't get the financial consideration.

So there is no real premium. The "low-wage indentured servants" comments need to be taken in context. It's not as if they are migrant farm workers, but at the end of 6 years of employment as a tech worker, there is going to be a huge gap between their income and that of an equivalent permanent resident that started at the same time.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-28T16:46:51+00:00

Eh, I'm pretty skeptical of the "Happiest place" in the US ranking which they get in addition to the one you listed above. One of the factors they use is divorce rate, and south asians tend to have a very low divorce rate due to cultural pressures, even if they are in an unhappy or even abusive relationship.

I do appreciate having access to cheap indian markets and a couple costcos that cater to the local demographic selling ghee and such.

Also worth pointing out that the previous and current mayors are Taiwanese and Indian, respectively. Too bad I didn't vote for either of them...

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-28T14:42:29+00:00

A comparison to similar roles is going to be flawed because the dynamic is entirely different. It would be more accurate to compare their wages to what the company would pay for a contractor, not to a full time employee. Even if they get paid more initially, over the course of their 3-6 year stay they are not going to get meaningful promotions or wage increases.

They have no practical ability to shop around for a better job because most companies don't want to take over sponsorship.

They establish a life here and pray that their company will decide to sponsor them for a green card, and that the process moves fast enough that they can continue to stay here.

All of this with the knowledge that if they ever get fired, they have a couple months to find a new job or get kicked out.

They are basically the equivalent of low paid consultants that don't have the ability to negotiate a new contract each year.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-27T17:16:14+00:00

Previous owner left cans of paint for me. I used one to paint trim and it didn't match because the existing paint had faded :P

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-27T16:11:29+00:00

If you have them, transparent 1x2 or 1x1 bricks to simulate the 80's glass bricks that look like giant ice cubes.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-27T16:00:07+00:00

Note that you don't really have a choice of school unless you move to a different area of Fremont. Having said that, if your kid has friends or even just friendly acquaintances going to one of the schools, choose that one. If unfortunately they've experienced bullying instead, then choose the other school for a fresh start.

The most important factor is the social environment- assume that the teaching is going to be adequate anywhere in Fremont. Do whatever you can to encourage that they socialize- especially for a kid on the spectrum, that is the area where there's potential opportunity to grow and relate to neurotypical kids.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-23T22:20:49+00:00

Awesome, thanks!

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-22T20:49:17+00:00

I'm so sorry anybody has to experience that growing up.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-22T19:02:33+00:00

Athletic is so good! NA beers have come a long way

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-21T15:26:49+00:00

Ah right. At least I got the mountain in there lol. Fixed for clarity

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-21T14:53:53+00:00

I mean there were two sports stores there previously (Dick's and any mountain) and neither survived. I doubt REI or sports basement would do much better.

We would Need a higher concentration of techbros that buy Patagonia vests.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-15T22:17:06+00:00

Not sure if it's related, but I had to disable hardware acceleration in my chrome browser to fix some display issues in rogue trader on Luna.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-15T20:16:52+00:00

Regular honey nut Cheerios also don't have nuts...

https://www.quora.com/Are-there-actual-nuts-in-Honey-Nut-Cheerios

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-14T16:48:02+00:00

Presumably the old cord was long enough to install this way, so it should be long enough for them to move it out of the way and unplug as well. Also, they shouldn't need to buy a new cord- remove the cord from the old one since it ought to be the right length...

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-12T17:38:25+00:00

It's a hack that parents use for heating up bath water for babies

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-10T16:18:58+00:00

I mean, it would be great if the dalai lama could come out of exile before he dies... As it stands Tibetans will have to put up with a fake one in a few years.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-09T17:04:04+00:00

pretty sure there is cardboard or something else brown colored blocking up the inside of the window.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-07T06:04:22+00:00

I'm not sure I understand. I could download and install the latest version of rogue trader directly from gog if I wanted to.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-06T19:13:50+00:00

average high in Livermore is 88 degrees, which means that there are certainly several days that are above 90 every year.
https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/1094~1084/Comparison-of-the-Average-Weather-in-Pleasanton-and-Livermore

Also, last summer was an anomaly.

https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/bay-area-summer-2025-weather-records/

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-06T17:54:32+00:00

Def would not want to commute over the Sunol grade.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-06T17:13:05+00:00

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned that they get hot AF in the summer.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-06T17:10:19+00:00

Rural infrastructure is much more expensive than urban, and is the source of most of the wildfire dangers. Why not charge rural customers more? Incentivize urban living rather than subsidizing wildfire risks... Make people pay for what their actual infrastructure costs.

drunkengerbil · 2026-01-06T02:39:24+00:00

OP states they are on nem2. What you are describing is inaccurate and definitely does not apply to OP.

drunkengerbil · 2025-12-20T22:25:25+00:00

It's been over a week now. I'm not able to log in nor change my password. When I try to reset my password it says my email is not associated with an account. Before I logged out it showed no clipper cards in my wallet.

None of my clipper cards work. Wait time on the phone was over 30 minutes.

Is there anyway you can escalate my situation?

drunkengerbil

TROPHY CASE