Dan R

Congratulations!!!!!! What a week this is for CFLers. Any idea how others did on your day? Ping said almost everyone she saw coming out on Wednesday had to return with additional evidence. She was getting a little worried because she only saw a few come out having passed and she was one of the last to go in.

Don't worry trigg I have permission to look but not to touch. This billy goat is "guai guai".

Congratulations Melvin! While many things we talk about having for proof are going beyond the minimum requirements, the general rule has been to over do on anything you can. Now get ready for her arrival!

I think it is a good title. Jim the world as you have known it is ended. Welcome to your wonderful new world! See you both at the CFL SLOB meetup!

I did! I dd! I did!

The thing to do is to relax sit back in your seat and enjoy the Official Waiting Room of GUZ. Read some of the material, join the great debates, vote goat and study the way of the Blue Thingie. As you post you can accumulate the blue thingies that will appear under your avatar. When you have ten of them GUZ may exchange your sweatheart for the blue thingies. I chose to duel GUZ for my sweathearts admittance to the U.S. and keep my blue thingies. You can see them displayed to the left. Yes at midnight PDST yesterday I beat them at their game. So since you can't make DHL, Customs or GUZ move faster join us. Welcome to CFL

Just a simple example from the midwest, say gas costs $2.03 in Kansas City you travel south 100-150 miles to the middle of no where and you will usually find it for $1.70-1.80 on the same day, now this gas is delivered from the same depot in Kansas City and costs more, must be cheaper to truck it the extra miles. They got the supply and demand what they desire for it... Sorta reminds me of an aggie joke. But Dan said prices are higher in poor areas for the same goods. I would think KC is richer than middle of nowhere. But that gasoline may have been refined in Los Angeles where it usually runs 10 to 15 cents over the national average. Produce in the better areas of L.A. is usually highest in the so called ghettos. As you point out the further a product is shipped the cheaper it gets. This is called discounting to get excess out of the area to keep up prices locally. Internationally it is called dumping. Chicken from Georgia sells much cheaper in L.A. than in Georgia. Another factor in the midwest is subsidizing of gas in rural areas as farm relief.

They have many choices. Commonly tourist, student and business are used. As for going after illegals, I think you will find that every level of government prefers to spend time and money on the easy cases. The easiest violator to catch, prove fine or convict is someone who is in the system and crossing the line of legitimacy. The completely illegal operator or operation is hard to find and prove. In my own area of food production we have many unlicensed competitors operating from homes or warehouses. With no refrigeration, tax or insurance they are way cheaperand many small restaurants want that savings. When we report these they are rarely investigated. However the fine for us mislabeling a product even by employee error is much more appealing. Immigration is similar I believe. People completely undocumented are costly to find, prove and prosecute. Those in the system are locatable and have a declared reason to be here. It is much easier with minimal leg work and paper work to find they violated their status. Our current program for workers is limited to special skills and agricultural workers. We need to expand this to allow people to come and fill unskilled jobs where there is need on perhaps a three year temporary status.

If you are near a Chinese community they should have a Chinese Express service. They are much quicker and cheaper than the other services. In Los Angeles I use Guaranteed China Express located in Monterey Park on Garvey Blvd. They also will fill out the recipient information in Chinese for you.

Looks like everyone has filled you in on the fine functing of the process you have entered into. Definitely don't cancel tthe check yet. This will cause return of the packet when they get to it. I received the return receipt card back in 5 days from mailing. However my check was not cashed for a month. There has been some that suggest they don't do signature receipt on a daily basis. It has only been 7 working days. I'd give it a week before calling the center. You don't have a postal tracking number?

But Duck also varies dramatically in price... much higher in Beijing... I'd say 3x than Baoding... Everything varies a lot in price by area in China. Poorer and rural areas are much cheaper for all food goods, housing and more than the big business center cities. Quite the opposite compared to the U.S. where prices are higher in poor areas for the same goods and in the place of production. Do you think they will learn this from us too?

You mean Squab. That is the term they use at restaurants. I love squabs. http://www.squab.com/frame1.htm We use the term squab for food service also. It is served in many fine restaurants and usually is very pricey along with things like quail, pheasant cornish hen and poussin. Duck is much more expensive than the cheap chicken and turkey that are the lower priced fare in the U.S. but is not as status associated as the others.

Exactly U.S. and New York are regional Chinese cooking both distinct styles.

Personally if I were to need a surgeon, I'd like them to be civil. Just makes the surgery less stressful with a good bedsude manner

Whoopeeeeeeeeeee!!! Congratulations. How clean is your place?

I noticed that too David but I was never sure afterwards if they were speaking English or I suddenly learned Chinese.

Do you use valium, prozac or vicodin? Try not to let it get to you. keep calling DOS and emailing GZ Consulate. If nothing else it builds up a record of concern in your file. It is in process and all they will answer boils down to chill and wait. Good luck.

OK you've filed so take it easy. Relax here in the Official Waiting Room of the Great GUZ while you pile up evidence such as emails, phone call records, letters if you still use snail mail. Did you keep tickets and hotel vouchers? How about pictures with friends and family or just the two of you? You have some time for that. In the mean time join in you're among friends and a few sheep, goats, yaks and assorted fruit cakes. Who said look who's talking? I heard that.

Congratulations. Be quiet Jim!

Near L.A. there is a restaurant that serves pigeon. That is so good. Chicken feet are easily food here. Yummy.

Very interesting. Compared to our timeline the overall is about the same although we are K-1. The difference is ours was quicker at NVC and yours at GZ.

My SO goes tomorrow and went by to check it out today. Still there.

Must be one of those new American style places. Actually while American Chinese is a unique style in itself it is closest to Guangdong style (Cantonese) from which it was introduced. Mandarin restaurants were taboo as being "the Communists until Nixon visited China and made it OK. THey spread fast from that time but most were a mix of styles. By that time the American Chinese and its off shoot "New York Chinese cooking were well established. Both are taught in cooking schools as regional types.

Good luck! In the meantime relax, pull up a chair and browse the reading material. Feel free to contribute anytime you feel like. You have now joined the Official Waiting Room of the Great GUZ.

I had a teacher who had chocolates on his desk. A boy who was always misbehaving went up and asked for one. You should have seen his face when he bit into the chocolate covered grasshopper. The teacher nearly fell out of his chair laughing.