Mick

We had our Removal of Conditional Status interview, as well as citizenzship interview, in Memphis. For us, the drive is between four to five hours as well. Our Removal of Conditional Status interview took about twenty minutes and we were both present, along with our daughter, who was only about eight or nine months old at the time as I recall. My memory is a little foggy on this as it was ten years ago. The citizenship interview and test was real quick. If you plan on staying overnight in Memphis, I highly recommend the small Holiday Inn on the campus of Memphis University. The rooms are suites and very nice, plus the campus is a good place to take a walk if you so desire. It is about ten to fifteen minutes away from the USCIS office, depending on traffic. You folks must live down South somewhere if your interview is in Memphis. Are you in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama (I think Alabama goes to Atlanta), Mississippi?

Seein's how I live in one state and am only a six iron from another state, I looked up both. Here's the low down on Tennerbama. Alabama spends most on camping supplies (I suspect it is really is various trinkets and clothing items associated with Crimson Tide football) Tennessee spends most on dental supplies. (I figger it's gotta be false teeth). Or for those who still have teeth, Ora-Jel. Of course, either state could actually spend the most on guns and ammo.

That was a great article about the possibility of a supersonic submarine - or more precise - a torpedo that carries passengers. From what I read, though, there are a lot of minor "kinks" that would need to be addressed. The notion of the bubble was fascinating.

Doug, I always feel obligated to remind any Texan that it was a man from Tennessee that helped forge their independence! Hint: "He killed him a bar', when he was only three."

Yep, the old eyeball rocketship to the Van Allen Belt. Like you, Carl, I recall catching cartoons while under the influence of window pane, Mr. Natural, and various forms of blotter. I remember watching an old Popeye cartoon one time and just had to be literally picked up off the floor from laughing so hard. We also once were kicked out of a little Mom and Pop cafe down in Huntsville about eight o'clock one morning. We played Jerry Reed's "When You're Hot You're Hot" on the juke box and for some reason, went into uncontrollable gales of laughter. Also got booted out of a Woolworth's snack bar in Phoenix once after I attacked a banana split that had mysteriously come to life right there on the counter. What made it worse was the fact that it was not my banana split.

Wow Rawknee! Just this afternoon on the way back from taking the pooch to the vet Salina and I were singing Do Wah Diddy Diddy. Amazing. Now that is one great song to sing with kids. I remember back living in Miami. I drove the church van with a load of kids to a Marlin's game. All the way back the kids were singing Do Wah Diddy Diddy at the top of their lungs. We got more than a few stares sitting in line at toll booths on the Florida Turnpike Extension that skirts the west end of town.

This reminds me of an experience I had living in China. One of my students was from Ningbo and she returned from holiday one year and gifted me with a bag of these special cookies from her hometown. I figured something was amiss when I saw that the cookies were green. Turns out they were made from fish, which I cannot eat under any circumstance, and seaweed, which I also loathe. Yet I didn't want this girl to feel bad, nor did I want her to lose face in front of her classmates, so I choked down a couple of the cookies and remarked on how good they were. I guess that was a mistake, because every holiday break for four years she brought me back a couple of bags of Ningbo cookies.

Now Joecy, Raw Knee is right. There is only two ways to speak English - the southern way and the wrong way. And the rules are fairly simple - if you have a one syllable word you need to add an extra letter, often a "y" or a "w", and make it a two syllable word. For example: "yes" becomes "yayiss" and "door" becomes "dowere", which is pronounced "dough-were". Conversely, if you have a two syllable word you compact it into one syllable. For example: "flower" is pronounced "flare." "Power" is pronounced "pare." I don't know why Yankees talk the way they do - it is a mystery to me. Maybe it's all that cold weather, icy roads, and rusted out buildings they gots up there. "There" by the way, is pronounced "thar." "Up There" is simply "up-air." Got it?

Actually, down in this part of the country, tossing a bucket of ice water over your head is fairly common. In August, it is so hot and humid that doing such a thing is not a bad idea. You did great, Joecy! Hope many others follow your lead.

Like many have already said, this can be done solo with no real difficulty. Lawyers often gum up the works using either personal opinions or out of date info. There are, of course, great immigration lawyers out there, but if you just follow the instructions, it is easy to do on your own. The only reason to use a lawyer is if your case has some major red flag or issue in it, like criminal record, previous visa petitions for other people, etc. Good luck and keep us posted. Candle is a treasure trove of info on the process.

Joecy, some folks still hitchhike but not nearly as many as in past years. I guess the height of hitching was back in the mid to late 60s, when peace and love was the era's primary ethic. These days it is not safe to be hitching. There are far too many crazies out there. Yes, there were nut jobs back in those days as well (see Charles Manson for example), but not nearly what it is today. Back to Woodstock, this right here was always one of my favorite clips from Woodstock. Santana was just releasing their very first album and was little known outside of the Bay Area. This one concert appearance changed everything. Carlos said in an interview that the band all dropped some mescaline and about an hour later, had to go on earlier than scheduled because The Who or some group was stuck in traffic and trying to get a chopper. You can tell by the glow on their faces they are tripping like crazy, especially the drummer, a twnety year old kid named Mike Shrieve, who had an extended solo that blew everyone away. Carlos said his Gibson SG kept turning into a snake - just incredible:

Carl, I can remember some of the area you are describing. I especially recall Burgdorf as that is the kind of name that sticks in your memory. I recall we turned off the main road and took a dirt road that skirted a huge saw mill, then started climbing on a dirt road that kept going up and up, with the Salmon River running next to it. Some of the most beautiful and wild country I have ever seen. I loved it up there. Twin Falls was also really a hoot, what with bikers driving up and down the aisles at a Safeway grocery store we went into. The canyon jump was also a big party to say the least. I saw some of the roughest looking characters I have ever seen when I was there, folks you didn't want to even glance at the wrong way.

Congrats on a successful interview and best wishes for a great future together. Your time line has been speedy so far. Hang around Candle and keep us posted.

Carl, it is funny that you mentioned window pane and McCall, Idaho. Back in the summer of 74 two friends and I spent three months on the road, camping in a huge 8-man tent and seeing the country. We left home with a half-pound of grass and 100 hits of window pane. We camped in the mountains just north of McCall and I had one of the most fearful experiences of my life there. I always got up first, got the fire going and put on some coffee. I rolled a splif, dropped a hit of window pane, and after a cup of java, decided to take a walk in the woods. It was about six in the morning. I came upon a 50-foot cliff and looked down in time to see a huge grizzley bear standing up on its back feet looking up at me. He must have smelled me long before I arrived. Anyway, he was looking for a way up the incline. I had just come on to the window pane and I absolutely freaked. I must have set a land speed record getting back to the camp site. We went down the mountain, all tripping on the window pane, and had breakfast in some little cafe by the lake in McCall. We hung around that area for about a week before heading down to Twin Falls to watch Evel Knievel try to jump the Snake River Canyon on his rocket cycle. We also took in Expo 74 up in Spokane. I remember doing some window pane and going into the house of mirrors, which was a big mistake.

I didn't make Woodstock either, tsapper, but I did hear about it. I did manage to make the Atlanta Pop Festival, which took place about six weeks before Woodstock over the 4th of July weekend. I don't know how many folks were there, but it was quite a few. That was the first time I ever saw Johnny Winter and out of all the folks that played at the festival, he was the one that blew me away. Dressed in a bright purple shirt with his white hair flying every which way, he was one site to behold, especially with one's senses sharpened by better living through chemistry. Nope, didn't make Woodstock but I did make it to Nam. Now that was a real party.

Glad to have you back, Joecy! Hope you enjoyed the top of Michigan. It has been many years since I have been up to that part of the country. Shortly after we moved back to America from China, we took a long road trip from Tennessee to South Florida. Li spent the time sleeping, doing needlepoint, talking to me, taking pictures, and things of that nature. Since then, we have traveled to Memphis three times from our home. It is about four to five hours and a very boring, tedious drive. Now that Salina is older (turned ten in May), she gets a tad restless if cooped up in the car too long. If we drive for over two hours, we usually try to find a place to stop and stretch for awhile. On one trip, we stopped at several Cracker Barrel locations, not only to eat, but to let Li and Salina look through the Old Country Store, etc. Once again, it is great to have you back.

In the locale where I lived in China, there were similar hukou laws in effect because it was a special economic zone. Although there was a movement for hukou reform, it never got much past the talking stage because these restrictive regulations provide a lucrative breeding ground for bribes and corruption. Many local officials supplemented their salaries with under the table payments, bribes, and "gifts." Chances are this happens all over China and that is one reason hukou reform is "stagnating."

Now that was most interesting. Only place U.S. showed up was under "Major Power Relations," which is another way of China saying they are a major player on the international stage (which they are of course). Most friendly relations with North Korea.

How's the weather out there in Maricopa County? Any hint of autumn in the air?

Randy is right. Maybe she should either have the check written in a way acceptable to the bank or even better, switch to a new bank. For example, my screen name here is Mick, a nickname I have had since I was five years old. My real name is Dwight. My initials are L.D. I deposit checks written to L.D., Dwight, and Mick. The bank accepts all three without question. I am not sure why the bank is creating such an issue here.

How would you suggest they do this, Randy? Check with the Chinese embassy? Contact their local PSB where their Hukou is registered? My guess is that you might get different answers in different places - PSB in one locale may say yes, it is required, while PSB in another locale might say just the opposite. At least that was our experience when we had questions about things when living in China.

Does she pack heat when she goes on these walks, Cuzin' Chawles? What sort of varmits does she tote back fer the table? In relation to the topic of the thread, one of the things that confused my wife when we first arrived in America was the various names that menu items had in fast food joints, especially hamburger places like Wendy's, Burger King, McDonald's, etc. A quarter-pounder, for example was a source of consternation as she felt the burger was nowhere near four ounces. She was at least familiar with the Whopper, because I had a pair of jockey shorts that advertised that this was the Home of the Whopper. (Just kidding). Wendy's was pretty simple as they had single, double, triple - but a place like Hardee's (Carl's out west I think) was a source of great confusion with their various kinds of "Thickburgers." Then of course there was the plethora of fast food joints to begin with - Taco Bell, Arby's, Pizza This and Pizza That, Chik-fil-a, and on and on.

If you are stung and mildly allergic, like swelling of the hand or area where you are stung, apply ice and a topical antihistamine like benadryl cream. However, if you are highly allergic and start feeling your airway swell shut, go immediately to the emergency room. Injections of steroids and/or antihistamines will fix you right up. But you have to get medical help right away. I never will forget an episode when I was in college. There was a girl I always wanted to go out with and after months of rejections, she finally said yes. We had a great dinner, then went for a romantic moonlight walk in the park. Just as things were starting to get interesting, she was stung by a wasp and went into anaphylactic shock. I ended up spending the rest of the evening with her in the emergency room. And needless to say, she never went out with me again as she saw me as "bad luck." Oh well. . . .

Now now, I have a different opinion of this. I DO believe it is a University Grad, and probably with an advanced degree. Ol Pres Kennedy started all this Univ degree biz and now it is in Gov/t contracts. We may have chosen the first 7 astronauts with a requirement of being a college grad, but I tell ya. Many an engineer who got them up there and to the moon were self educated with no degree. I know of engineers, with no degree, that still do the backbone of some aerospace companies. Their employer hires a degreed engineer to sign their engineering as if they did it, yes still to this day, to satisfy the contract. Got a lot of educated idiots out there.... yes just my ol humble opinion. And yeah I wish I had one of them there degreesee. Doug, I know exactly what you mean. I have a very good friend who is a much sought after engineering consultant who has no degree, but is just an awesome mind that he is miles ahead of most everyone else. He has worked on numerous large projects over the years and here in the Huntsville area, which is loaded with aerospace companies, defense contractors, and home to the Marshall Space Flight Center, he is never without multiple offers. I remember I knew he was going to be something special when, at age 12, he performed a successful heart transplant on a rabbit. The ASPCA got in a real huff about it as I recall, but the rabbit lived a long life post-surgery.

Wasps are a way of life down here in the South. They will nest just about anywhere. Just last week, I discovered a nest underneath the gas cap door on my Jeep. That was a nasty surprise to say the least. I usually deal with wasps by purchasing a can of the wasp killer that can be sprayed from a distance. It usually works pretty well. The use of mosquito nets in America is not common, but I am sure they can be purchased in a number of places. As for snakes, I won't go near one under any circumstance as I am very fearful when it comes to Mr. No Shoulders. Oh, and I don't much care for weasels, either.