Feathers268

That's your job. When I was waiting for Jen, I worried about the paperwork getting lost, in Guangzhou, I worried about the medical exam, I worried about her at the interview, after passing, I worried that we would not get the visa, on the way home, I worried that someone was going to stop us saying it was all a mistake. It's all part of the game. Good luck.

Unfortunately, ACME was out of stock. Something about a cyote convention in town.

I agree with this, and I have seen this. The American learns Chinese, and gets the Chinese program package, and moves to a Chinese community, and then laments the fact that she doesn't seem motivated to learn English. Ladies, when you get together and only speak Chinese, you are hurting the ones less fluent in English by not giving them the chance to learn. As a non-English speaker in the US, you will never get past being a second class citizen. With the current state of the economy, employers have the luxury of being able to pick who they hire and not speaking well will keep you out of a lot of work.

Soooo, if she were to just keep her bags, and walk out of customs and meet someone in LA? Another thought I had, was just picking her up in LA. Labor Day weekend, the Bay Bridge will be closed. For those not familiar of the Bay Area, that makes driving to SFO interesting at best, and LAX is a hassle free 6 hours from Sacratomato. Hell, it might take that long in traffic in the bay area. If you smell smoke, it's just me trying to noodle this through. Having done this several times - for different reasons...DRIVE TO LA pick her up, eliminate the stress on the LAX portion, be there for her, and if it takes 3 hours at LAX -- it's OK, you are there to take care of her -- and then you can go to a hotel have a great dinner and "rest" - drive home the next day - she will get to see Hwy 5 - what's not to like. Best of Luck..... It's more like 6 hours to LAX, but the result still looks the same. I can get her and head for the hills. She can sleep in the car, which she does very well, and me driving home is not a big deal.

Fortunatley, her flight stops in Shanghai but she stays on the plane.

With all of the smoke, maybe not a good weekend for LA, besides, I couldn't do that to Jen after a long flight.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Jen didn't learn English in China, hell, it's hard enough trying to get her into school here, she just doesn't like to learn it. Once she is here, it will be easier when she starts to see the need for English. As for the inerview? She will do fine. Jen did the interview in Chinese as have many people here without any problem.

I'm really thinking that's the way to go. Jen wasn't crazy for the idea of having a connecting flight to begin with. If she has trouble, Panda fur really will be flying.

Given all flights are on time, me picking her up in LA would add about 90 minutes to the time we would arive home with me picking her up an SF. Now adding in the potential for traffic as I take a round about way to get there, the margin narrows a bit more. Now, the next part of my fear, going to China, her connection in LA was 7 1/2 hours late. If that happens with her homeward flight or customs causes her to miss that connection, I can see all sorts of problems that will be harder to deal with without her phone working.

Soooo, if she were to just keep her bags, and walk out of customs and meet someone in LA? Another thought I had, was just picking her up in LA. Labor Day weekend, the Bay Bridge will be closed. For those not familiar of the Bay Area, that makes driving to SFO interesting at best, and LAX is a hassle free 6 hours from Sacratomato. Hell, it might take that long in traffic in the bay area. If you smell smoke, it's just me trying to noodle this through.

This Saturday Jen comes home! She is due in LAX around 1pm with a connecting flight at 2:30. Checking with the airlines, they insist she will not have to deal wit luggage as it will be checked through to SFO. I thought she had to take it through customs in LA. Is this not true? She also mentioned that she did not have her charger for her phone, so she will not be able to call me if she has trouble. Would anyone down south be able to wrangle her where she needs to go? Or does anyone know if LAX has any means of making sure she gets to her connection?

I was in a concert band in high school that played at the World's Expo in Vancouver in 1986. It was an interesting experience.

The problem is, getting money to repair roads or power lines is not very glamourous. Congress people can't have some fancy ribbon cutting cerimony for road repair of improvements.

Amanda, From one Chinese woman to the other! My feeling? 1. I miss my family and REAL Chinese food.(I felt the same! The food you can get from Chinese market and cook your self) (don't worry about husband?) 2.I am eager to have a job to feel myself useful to sociaty. I am not sure what visa you are in U.S. from but i understand how you feel. I was in U.S. for one month and had no job, Relax! you will fine something soon. ( Your husband will take care of you) Just enjoy your new life. I came to the U.S with CR1 visa. Husband likes Chinese food. Everyday I cook Chinese food twice for lunch and dinner. That may be true now, but a few years from now it might be different. Don't get me wrong, you shouldn't give up what you know and finding a Chinese supermarket and having some of the food you like from China is very important, but don't be afraid to try many of the different things now available here. One advantage of the United States is you can find foods from all around the world here somewhere. Jen has found she likes steak or shrimp fajitas (Mexican), Seafood linguini (Italian), and a grilled NY cut steak, medium rare with a salad and potato (American), just to name a few. Each time I want to China, I promised myself that what ever was offered to me, I would try, as I am sure many of us did when we went to China. My experience allowed me to grow outside my comfort zone and I have discovered things like jellyfish, chicken feet, and yes, even durian fruit. Sure there are things you won't like, but many you will. Just don't be afraid to try new things, you might be surprised what you find.

There's always been partisian politics in this country... sometimes more so than others. But on the relationship above ... when Reagan was shot who was at his bedside, eyes filled with tears, holding Reagan's hand and prayer with him? Tip O'Neal. LBJ and minority Senate leader Everett Dirksen had cocktails in the White House almost every weekday around 6PM. They'd laugh (usually) at each others rhetorical jabs made during the day and often get down to horse trading. To paraphrase from "The Dark Night", with Reagan, we got the President we needed at the time we needed him most. But then, I'm sure he would say he was just doing his job, and it was the strenghth and overt good nature of the American people that brought us through. The good ones always seem to know that they are not there to lead us to prosperity but rather, to open the door and step out of the way. A free people will always rise to the challenge in front of them and find a way to prosper. That was not believing in Repulicans or Democrats, but believing in America and as a whole what we can be.

Obama wasn't the first Black citizen to run for the office, but he was the first to be taken more seriously. In the 80's Jessie Jackson ran and actually had a bit of success with his Rainbow Coalition and in 2004 Al Sharpton ran but never made it past the primaries. The big difference was the prediminate attitude that they were running for their own people and not for America as a whole. True or not, that was how they were percieved. Obama was able to bridge across the cultural gap and have something for every one. Plus, he had some of the abilities of say Reagan or Keddedy in being able to speak well publicly. Obama captured that spark of hope that the great speakers can harness. There was just no way Mcain could have competed on that level.

I actually had to go look though a bunch of speeches to find that. I was only in 7th grade back then. It was worth the research. Too bad there isn't more honest debate and less sniping in DC these days. Thank knloregon

OK, there you go. This was pulled from Ronald Reagan's speech delivered on the eve of the election in 1980. Seems to me like proper credit was given. Every President takes words and phrases out of context and makes them thier own when talking to the citizens. It's making trivial aguements that bog down our government and waists time on meaningless things.

You know the amazing thing, As you look back at the accomplishments during the administrations, then think about the way they were portrayed during their term.

I can see your point about the fact that the President now has handlers and speech writers and,.....But times now are different. When Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, mow many heard it? Compared to today where a speech will be delivered live on TV, then talked about, sound bit, laughed at and so on by millions. Besides, as long as the President is being effective in executing the powers of the office, where the actual words spoken come from really does't matter. If he does not like any part of it, He will just rewrite it himself of omit it. As for RR, he was well aware of the refrence of the shining city, he remembered that from scripture and had always thought of the US. He also has writen and delivered many speeches from before he was Governor of California that are stunning in their own right. Of course, I could go on about his record as Governor here, but that's a whole different story.

If I were to limit my choice to Presidents during my life, hands down would be the Great Communicator, Ronald Wilson Reagan. He was the first President I truly eas aware of as a kid. I loved his ability to speak past the and strait to the people. Although he had an opposing Congress most of the time, he was still able to get through much of his ajenda. Also his shear respect for the office and his belief in America being that "shining city on the hill" was truly inspiring and again, after the turmoil of the Nixon era and malaize of Carter's administration, Reagan helpped us believe in ourselves again. The otherthing I loved about him is that he understood that politics stopped at the end of the day. He could fight with the Speaker of the House, Tip O'Neal all day, and sit down and have a drink with him that night as if they were the best of friends. He also had a special way of speaking that could stir emotions, like his speach at the 40th aniversary of D-day, or hiss address to the nation after the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded in 1986. One of the most memorable moments for me was in 2004 upon his death and the full cerimony of a State funeral. Something I will never forget.

Just because you don't know about all of the presidents, doesn't mean you can't have a favorite, hell, I don't think I could name all of them.

An interesting idea, the problem is, spending as well a taxation is controls by the Congress. The President can only propose what he would like to see and he will sign off on the final version, but if Congress refuses to honor his requests, as they almost always do, he will be cornered into sign thing he really does't want. It's though ignorance and a lazy media that the President usually gets the ultimate responsibilty. Like the quarterback getting the blame for his team loosing the game, or the credit for winning.

I think that's right on. Really all that is happening is enough noise is made and the politicians start running because the know they won't survive the next election. But then, that is probably what the founding fathers had in mind. Having to answer to the people keeps them honest, so to speak, and the more we realize it, the better.

I couldn't think of a better honor than to meet the President. The closest I ever got was seeing Presitent Clinton from about 400 yard when he visited Pack Bell Park in 2000.