I am sorry for all of this, and as I am still under close medical care because of the infection in my leg, I am not willing to predict any quick answers to the aforementioned emails.

In lieu of my counsel, you may want to join our open forum at www.SociedadSouthron.net, where you can gain a lot of information and answers to many questions–often from people far more qualified and experienced than I.

When I can, I will respond to my pending emails, and also reappear at the twice monthly open meetings…

For months I have not been getting emails at my southron@UruguayLÑiving.com account.  I just figured that everyone was bored with me and no longer bothered to write,  I admit that I was a little surprised that no one evn bother to spam me as well, but being incredibly busy, in between being sick, hospitalized, having body parts removed, etc., I really didn’t spend much time on it…

Until yesterday when i realized that my UruguayLiving.com email was not getting through because one kind person sent me a private message on www.SociedadSouthron.net asking if I had gotten their email.

I think my computer needs to be exorcised–for no conceivable reason, I have not been getting my email since 11 April 2008.

In the words of Gomer Pyle:  “surprise, surprise, surprise”.  I just downloaded 16.531 emails totalling 21.MB of space.  The Spam catcher is still sorting through them and the number to which I must respond is dropping steadily.

So, to all those who have written me, I humbly apologize for not responding–sometimes it takes me a while, but I try to respond to every legitimate email I get…

After Epiphany (Tres Reyes) I am going to bring a priest here to bless the house and office AND exorcise the computer and exchange server–I wonder if metal can blister?

Maybe snail mail is faster?

Thank you kindly.

Nevertheless, we have an opportunity to do it now. We don’t need to make a choice between going to the

• Southeastron Coastal Uruguay Living in Piriapolis Party (SCULPP) OR
• Noche de las Luces in Montevideo.

I know what a Southron is, but what the heck is a Southeastron? Sounds like someone from Miami (and real Southrons know it is pronounce My-am-ma, not the Yankee version, my-am-mee).

Anyway, the Piriaoplis gathering is starting in the afternoon, and the Noche e las Luces, by definition doesn’t start until the night.

So why not do both? I am… Details on the SCULPP are at: http://www.sociedadsouthron.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=1198.

See you there!

UruguayConnection.com is a combination of Free English Classified Ads for Uruguay AND a Directory of Services where English is spoken.

Like Craig’s List or Angie’s list, you can also comment on the classified ads AND the directory listings.

Debbie Scott has graciously volunteered to be the Editor and Primary Moderator of the new website. She can be reached at Deb@UruguayLiving.com.

With the opening of UruguayConnection.com, our .INFO site at UruguayLiving will be retired. All of the info from that site has already migrated to the UruguayConnection.

We hope you like this newest service of UruguayLiving.com. But please don’t forget our other websites at:

www.UruguayDailyNews.com for Uruguay News in English and our Open Forum, www.SociedadSouthron.net

and coming soon… www.Urupedia.com…

I made so much money from these websites that I am retiring.

After a year-and-a-half of hard labor, they have become so profitable that International Living is buying the entire group from me.  They simply made me an offer I cannot refuse and I took it and I am history.

The trick was to get everyone to pay me for everything we did.  A peso from every taxi driver, a ten spot from every hotel or restaurant listing, a kickback from every realtor or consultant, and of course, huge revenue from Google Ads.  (Not to mention selling mailing lists made from people attending the Thursday night Open House—we had to pay for that food and booze somehow!)  Costa Rica even hired me when I agreed not to trash them as much as I wanted to.  Pure capitalism, and you’ve gotta love it.That was the story I was told by two people yesterday.

At first, I thought they were talking about someone else—then, I realized they were talking about me.

The truth is slightly different.  These websites were started almost by accident—and then they simply grew.  As people asked for more, we tried to give it to them.  Several times we did indeed consider ways to try to make these websites into a business—at least so that they might break even.

But we decided against that.  We decided that the only way to keep what we are doing pure and clean is to continue our practice of foregoing any income from these websites.  To this end, we have even decide to pull the Google Ads and forego the US$57 we have averaged each month in income from them. (I gave the order yesterday.)

Instead, and as you may have noticed, these websites are now being publicly sponsored by our Private Banking company—our real business—which has privately sponsored them all along, and is footing the US$2000 per month we spend promoting Uruguay though them.

Some companies support the Olympics, we choose to support Uruguay—it is as simple as that.

To the best of my knowledge, no one has made any money from these websites or any UruguayLiving sponsored activity or website, except for the Google Ads money and the income from the sale of my book—all of which has been used to support this blog on Living in Uruguay, our Uruguay Information website, our Uruguay News service, and our Uruguay Forum.  This is not, and will not be a commercial operation.  This is a labor of love for my new home, totally supported by the Capital Conservator Group.

If there is anything about our policy that remains unclear, or about which anyone has any question, I urge them to ask me, or the Copperhead or Santiago.  This will undoubtedly be more helpful than asking someone on the bar stool next to you…

With great sadness, I must announce that Miguel and Fatma Silva have been permanently removed from our list of recommended professionals. This removal is based on clear and indisputable facts, of which I want you to be aware you so you can make your own decision regarding them.

As you will recall, the Copperhead and I hired the Silvas as our immigration consultants in order to secure our residency. You will further recall that we reported to you about their work in the most glowing of terms. We also reported on their success with others. In fact, to date, I have received no complaints about their work as immigration consultants; though I have in one other matter.

The problem is simply this: someone from my office, usually Santiago or the Copperhead, spoke with the Silvas, or sent e-mail to them at least every other week asking about the FBI clearance letters for which the Copperhead and I have been waiting since last August. The response has always been, “we check at least every other week, and they are not in yet”.

After 10 months, I decided to have someone else verify the status of our application. I authorized our law firm to get that information, and to my great dismay was told that the FBI clearance letters for both Copperhead and I had been at immigration since February 23, more than four months ago. Obviously, the Silvas had NOT been checking ” at least every other week”!

I was stunned, and the Copperhead was very angry: I had my cedula “in tramite”, while all the Copperhead had was his visa.

Several days after our attorneys discovered the truth, I got an e-mail from the Silvas saying that our FBI letter had just come in. Obviously, one of their contacts at immigration had warned them that someone else had been poking around in our file.

We asked Santiago to meet with the Silvas in order to hear their side of the story before we reacted. He called many times on both of their phones without a single response. Finally, at my direction, he sent them an e-mail explaining what we had found out. As of this writing we have still had no reply…and that lack of response is deafening.
.

If the FBI reports had come in only a month or even six weeks before, I would have given them the benefit of the doubt. But, four months is simply too much. If they had told me the truth, I would’ve forgiven them. But they did not. They lied about checking every other week. They lied about the FBI reports having just come in. And because of those lies, I have lost all trust in them and consequently can no longer endorse them.

I have given much thought to an appropriate public response, and I have decided to ban the Silvas from the blog, the forum, and our other websites, but I have decided against placing them on a blacklist. I wish them well, but will personally not trust them again. My preference is to deal with this matter once and then move on.

• If you have hired the Silvas as your immigration consultants, I am NOT suggesting you fire them–I am suggesting you learn from my disappointing experience!

• If you are considering hiring the Silvas as your immigration consultants, I am NOT telling you not to do so–I am suggesting that you take my experience with them into account.

The bottom line is this: as of now the ONLY immigration consultants recommended by UruguayLiving.com is the law firm LVM, which is listed on UruguayLiving.INFO under both attorneys and immigration consultants.

http://www.uruguayliving.info/ul-i/immigrationconsultants.htm

However, I seem to be growing stronger and hope to have a flurry of energy sufficient to carry me through long enough to get caught up on all of my correspondence.

To date, MY POLICY HAS BEEN TO ANSWER EVERY E-MAIL SENT TO ME THAT IS NOT ABUSIVE.  I will continue to do so for so long as I am able; although I admit sometimes the answers are short, but I hope to the point.

For those questions that are general interest; I have decided to start answering them publicly in my posts.  I will, of course, carefully redact any information in the original e-mail that would identify its sender.  In this way I can both fulfill my goal of responding to e-mails and also answer questions and others may have.  I hope this meets with your approbation.

My other hope, is to train Harry, my Westie, as my amanuensis…