Where is Darran?

New Zealand Residence:

There was a selection from the Expression of Interest Pool on the 28th. I got passed over, but am not surprised. A couple of days is not enough time to perform verification of my application details and I have read some people have had to wait months. I am attempting to get invited to apply for residence by being selected for having an EOI claiming work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage. Below are some details of the last selection. They were taken from this page. The right column indicates the number of EOI applications that were excepted from each category.

Race:

Last month, I registered for the Six Foot Track marathon and for some reason I just started researching the course today. My initial confidence was based on the fact that I had run Austin three times and the assumption that the hilliness of the Austin course would suffice as experience to run Six Foot. I was wrong. The courses aren’t even comparable. Six Foot makes Austin look like a cakewalk. Initial optimism is going to result in future pain.

For those interested, elevation changes in both courses can be seen here (you must check “Display Elevation”):

Austin:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/tx/austin/13055932

Six Foot:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/australia/katoomba/227680287

Six Foot has a total climb of 1,528m and drops a total 1,788m. That is almost a mile of climbing over a course that is approximately 28 miles. I am scared and going to see and run some of the course for myself on Monday. It is also fortunate that a local running group is also having a 41 km preparation day out on the course two weekends from now. It is the entire weekend and includes accommodation in a backpackers, pool entry for a recovery swim, drinks, entertainment, and an evening dinner.  We will see if my 20+ mile training runs around Sydney will hold up against the brutality of Six Foot (unlikely). Ironman Australia (April 5th) is only three weeks after Six Foot (March 14th). Go hard or go home.

Sobriety:

Midnight will be 1 month without drinking.

As with everything, there is a process to becoming a permanent resident in New Zealand. Fortunately, the process appears to be less complex than the process for Australia. This simplicity has been one of the contributing factors towards my decision to apply for residency in New Zealand.

There are a variety of channels to gain Permanent Residency and I am attempting to obtain residency status via the Skilled Migrant channel. This channel is comprised of two stages. The first stage is completing an Expression of Interest. This involves completing a form detailing your demographics, education, work experience, criminal and health history, and family members. Some of these details are worth points that contribute to your likelihood of getting accepted to apply for permanent residence. This Expression of Interest(EOI) application is then put into a pool and EOI applications are then reviewed.

After review, some applicants are invited to complete a full application. Currently, my application has been selected for review and the first round of invitations to complete a full application is on January 31, 2009. Selections are performed every 2 weeks. EOI applications exist in the pool for a period of 6 months.

Below is a diagram of the Permanent Residency process for Skilled Migrants and the current stage I am in is circled.

Today is Australia day and the park outside the pool is having a celebration. I’m working, but think I’ll be able to go outside and check out some of the festivities. I have started bringing a whistle to work. Using a whistle to cut down on misbehavior adds about 33% more satisfaction to being a lifeguard.

Training is increasing as Ironman Australia nears. I’m looking at my current progress and I might be even slower than 2008 and 2007. I was going in with the mindset that I don’t care about time and that I only want to finish, however, looking at race times always makes me want to do better than before.

It looks like it will be another year before applying to graduate business school. School application tasks have been neglected while focusing on how to get permanent residence visas for Australia and New Zealand. After researching both options, I am going forward with applying for permanent residence in New Zealand. I chose New Zealand over Australia because the visa application process is shorter and I have not been to New Zealand yet. This is a lengthy process which may outlast my Australian visa. This leaves me with three options: 1. Return home. 2. Apply for a New Zealand Working Holiday Visa or 3. Try to get a temporary visa in Australia that has work rights. Time will show which one is most appropriate. I am planning on using residence in New Zealand as a position to explore New Zealand, more of Australia, and Asia. I would also like to continue a professional career in NZ, perhaps pursue a postgraduate degree, and learn Mandarin.

HBS has a new article that links to some food for thought.