GALFROMDOWNUNDER UPOVER

UPDATE:  Kudos! Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts shared this video on his blog MOVIE: Can't get enough of that Kiwi accent? Project Enabler  Sarah Smith explains  the serious ballplay behind this event. I confess I'm not a big into ballsports. I was the 5-foot nothing (on a tall day) runt at school and was never picked for anything except extreme cat's cradling (that's the thing you do with a loop of string). And I think I'm going to embarrass myself even further because I've used the word "footie" in a caption in the above clip, a word I suspect is  reserved for Aussie Rules football only. Right? Wrong? So what on Mars was I doing at this rugby function? My galpal Irene Fong emailed me with a November 12 invitation to a fundraiser entitled "New Zealand Rugby Stars in New York." I skimmed it politely until I saw the host and venue - Kevin Roberts, and my former employer Saatchi & Saatchi! More about that in a New York minute

Well here it is - some 8 years after landing in the USA on a temporary H1B work permit. In truth, I only started applying for it properly about 18 months ago, under the category National Interest Waiver, which I talked about here . The people I must thank include the referees I had to muster to build my case. Either that or get married, and we can't have me doing that, now can we? Thank you to the following people for providing glowing references: Fred Matheny, RoadBikeRider.com Alan Scholz, Co-founder, Bike Friday Dan Okenfuss, VP Public Relations, Little People of America Douglas Card, Adjunct Professor, U of O Eileen Lafer, Professor, U of Texas Health Sciences Center at San Antonio Fred Iannotti, Life Member, Appalachian Mountain Club Gihon Jordan, Transportation Expert Jackie Huba, Principal, CustomerEvangelists.com Jeff Bernards, Bicycle Advocate Jerry Norquist, CEO, Cycle Oregon Jerry Segal, CFO, Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, Inc. Jim Clash, "The Adventure