About Tee and Troy
Posted: Mon, 7 Apr 2007, 14:48:00, GMT | 2131 views | Commented on: Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Quick info - about Us
We are both from the US - Troy from Florida and Tee from Massachusettes. We met in Boston in 1998 where we both were living and working. In 1999, we moved to Seattle - and in the span of the next several years, moved back to Boston, back to Seattle (Redmond, technically), into Seattle proper (Fremont), and in June 2006, to London. Within London we've rented two different flats, and in November 2007, bought a small terraced house. Never to move again. Although, if our previous track record would indicate anything, this might be a far-flung fantasy. We married in Boston on October 25, 2008. The name "King Friday" is from a character in a children's TV show in the US, Mr. Roger's Neighborhood; it's also the name of one of our two cats. "Kitty" is the name of the other.
Work stuff
Both of us have interesting work lives.. certainly not what we probably each expected, though. In college, Troy graduated with a religion degree from Florida State University; Tee graduated with a Business degree concentrated in Operations and Information Technology. Both of us had strong personal interests in computers and technology and gadgets seemed always to be a hobby for each of us. It's still strange sometimes to step back and realize we're both getting paid to do things we love. How lucky is that?
Tee graduated college and starting working for Price Waterhouse in the IT/Management Consulting group. Very quickly he specialized (completely randomly) in SAP implementations. After about 2.5 years at PW, he left and went independent to provide SAP development expertise to companies who were implementing SAP. In 1999, Troy's work looked like it would move him to Seattle from Boston, so Tee starting looking for contract work in Seattle and found a full-time position at Microsoft instead, working on Microsoft's internal SAP implementation. Jumping forward to today, Tee is still at Microsoft, although in a completely different position - working in MSN's international product development group in London. During 2001, Tee had left Microsoft to join a start-up company in Seattle, but after the Sept 11 attacks and resulting market downturn, we decided that a more stable job made sense - especially since Troy was also at the startup! You can see more professional details on the Terry Earls LinkedIn page.
Troy worked for a document management company, PC Docs, during and after university. When Tee and Troy met in Boston, Troy had just started a new job at a four person startup company, focused on mobile internet applications. The startup was based in Seattle (where the two founders were), although Troy and the fourth person were located in Boston. The company was thinking about growing, so had asked the two guys in Boston to move to Seattle. This corresponded with the time Tee was ready to start a new contract, so they jointly decided to move to Seattle. Quite randomly, Microsoft acquired the start-up company after only a few months of being in Seattle. It happened so quickly that the other person in Boston hadn't moved yet. When Microsoft acquired the company, the other guy stayed in Boston and didn't move. In any case, Troy's job was much less exciting after the acquision, and we decided to move back to Boston, where Troy joined an online billing company and Tee stayed with Microsoft but switched to the consulting division, based out of Boston. After about a year, the two original founders of the mobile company left Microsoft and started a new start-up in Seattle - and we both quit our respective jobs to move back to Seattle and join the startup. (Tired yet?) After a couple of years there, Troy eventually left and joined Expedia. After seven years, he recently left to join a startup company in London called Autoquake.com. You can see more professional details on the Troy Kaser LinkedIn page.
rebecca donohue (66.65.95.178) from new york says: Hello Tee, Excuse me for posting a comment again, but i don't know your email so i'm not sure where to email you directly. i've looked around on the blog and can't seem to find it. anyway, i have applied for my student dependent visa. my wife (yippee! i can say that now that we're married.) was already a student with a student visa when we met, so we could not apply for them together. i was painstakingly fastidious about my application, so hopefully it goes through. i did not hire a firm, which maybe i should have after reading your comment! however, it's now with the british consulate and i'm hoping that i'll have an answer this week. thank you for all your thoughtful posts. has you not put this blog together, we would not even have known that it was possible. so, THANK YOU. all the best, becky - beckydonohue@mac.com (posted Tuesday, October 20, 2009)
Tee (213.199.128.149) from London says: Hi- the UK (which includes Scotland) is quite more advanced than the US at the moment. A Massachusetts same-sex marriage is fully recognized by the UK government as proof of interdependency and is recognized for immigration purposes. (I think the term on the application was co-dependency and I took great amusement in that). To enter the UK, I would imagine your partner/wife would apply and be issued a student visa, and you would include your application as a dependant along with her application. So the easiest is to apply both at the same time, tied together on the same applications. A dependant visa will allow you to work for any company in the UK, as well as just sit at home and watch trashy UK television all day! The applications need to be made from OUTSIDE the UK, so definitely do that from the US. You should read through the http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/ website - which isn't completely straight forward, but will give you the current rules around student visa and dependent visas. But I would also strongly recommend hiring an immigration firm in the US that specializes in applying and getting UK visas. It will cost you a bit, but give you some hand-holding on making sure you do the process right. Feel free to drop me an email if you want any more thoughts particular to you! Good luck! -Tee (posted Thursday, September 03, 2009)
Rebecca Donohue (66.65.95.178) from New York City says: Hello Troy or Tee, My name is Rebecca. I am a comedian living and working in NYC. However, my girlfriend is going to vet school in Edinburgh, UK. We're contemplating marriage in Boston and then a move for me so that we can live together. My question is - would we apply for a UK visa for me here or there? And would they recognize the Mass marriage and would that allow me to get a visa? Thanks for your help. I truly appreciate it. Your thoughts are the most informative out there on the subject. I'm including my website, so that you don't feel like you've been emailed by a weirdo! www.beckydonohue.com All the best, Rebecca (posted Wednesday, September 02, 2009)