jemmyell

Hi Joanne, Be careful about the HMO / PPO decision. Many factors apply. I don't think that the 80 / 20 plans are that great for catastrophic illness since even paying 20% will be financially devastating given current medical costs. They are better for average treatments, you usually get more time with a better doctor. If you get an HMO, quality matters GREATLY! If it is Kaiser I will not personally consider it. They tried to kill my sister once, me twice and left my broken neck treated with muscle relaxants. They did not even xray my neck after a pretty major fall trauma. If the HMO is just an artifice of the insurance company and the providers are independent offices and clinics, the situation is better. If the HMO is like Kaiser then you will probably get very poor medical treatment. These organizations hire doctors that should not be allowed to practice many times. WE had just switched to an HMO plan for financial reasons when my wife became ill with cancer. This is the only way I avoided bankruptcy. The service from the Primary Care doctor was horrible (she told my wife, oh you're sick you will die!) but I was able to get her oncologist to provide many other services also. If you have a PPO plan and the only provider office you can use treats mostly HMO patients, then you will probably not get any benefit and just pay extra. When I had a PPO with Harriman-Jones here they would not provide ANY different service levels at all but were very happy to get the extra 20% The real key to medical problems these days is to study and know as much as you can. With small children the pediatrician will be the Primary Card Doctor and they are better than most since all the bad pediatric doctors have been sued into oblivion already. Just make sure that the kids get the best care you can. watch them closely for ear infections and fevers. if they do get a fever, you will be the first line of defense so you need to know some basics. NEVER give a young child aspirin, use childrens flavored tylenol for fevers, and if a child runs a VERY high fever and becomes drowsy, then COOL them down asap with a cool / cold sitz bath even before calling 911 if you are alone at home. Read all the first aid / home care books for the kids you can, they are the real concern for a young family IMHO. I give this advice as a parent who watched his daughter go into convulsions because my wife and her sister did everything wrong with a high fever in a very young (2 years old) child. For yourself and your husband I think a HMO with you aggressively following up and questioning all decisions, medicines and protocols is probably best. Just my opinion, but based on real experience... -James

I once won an Energizer Bunny at a raffle. Is that like a nobel prize? 189487[/snapback] Jesse, you just keep on going, and going, and going, and going.... -James

Dave's not here man...

Hi Ken, Hi Jie, Congratulations, and you get to make good on your pre-purchase of those plane tickets! I hope you two will post more, after you come up for air -James

Congratulations! -James

Hi Ron, Yes this appears to be a HIGHLY variable process from the readings I have done here and at VisaJourney. You should read CFL, VisaJourney and the USCIS website at least weekly, daily if you are obsessing like me... I have email folders that I organize 'knowledge' into. When a topic comes up and there are multiple posters that are experienced, I consider this a consensus and I email a topic link to myself with a meaningful subject line. I then file this in the right folder for easy reference. Good luck, and keep reading... -James

That's not really fair Lee, that leaves Trigg the sole responsibility of patronizing Don. Maybe we should all PM to elect both Trigg and Don patronizers on a weekly basis? -James

Hi Ron, I'm sorry if some members have not been nice, that has not been my experience so far, but people react to other people differently. If somebody REALLY sends something nasty you should forward it to one of the moderators. I haven't answered very many of your questions since my I-129F has not gotten to NOA2 yet. When it does, I can be a little more authoritive up to that stage. I don't think it is all that useful for someone to just read the consulate's websites and quote them to you. You can do that yourself! The best part of CFL is tapping the membership's experiences to separate the theory from the practice, as practiced by USCIS and GUZ! Most people here are sincere and really want to help each other. -James

Hi, After dating here for a while (after my first wife's death) I decided that I needed to place some priorities on my life going forward. #1 - My children are NOT negotiable. Anybody I spend the rest of my life with will accept my children as they ARE and help me help us to make the whole family better. #2 - MY bald head is NOT negotiable. If a woman I was dating 'suggested' that I 'do something' about my 'biggest problem' then I decided that SHE was my biggest problem, and did something. Most of the bitter divorced American Women I knew were very shallow. I did not want to risk my career or associations at my job so 'fishing from the company pier' was out. I don't attend church regularly and I am not a 'bar' kinda guy. All the lady guitarbuilders would only want my CNC inlay jobs and not me anyways, so my other professional associations would not work either. Ok, that leaves Internet Dating. I chatted with a number of women, stopping as soon as money 'to buy more chat time' came up. They were chatting before they met me, so why????? Ok, so I want a lady that is mature, but still has energy and looks younger than she is. She should have kids (at least one) close to my kids age so she will not want / need more children since I am NOT going to start over after my two teenagers melted down with my wifes death. So, after painting myself into this corner, along comes Loving Candle, who is all I can ever want or need, and on top of this is a VERY attractive, loving Chinese woman. I personally think Asian women are the most beautiful there are, Chinese are the most beautiful Asians, and Loving Candle the MOST beautiful Chinese woman for me. Why did I decide to marry outside my culture? What is my culture? Am I an Okie, or a Rock Musician currently not gigging? An Engineer or an Artist? A Widower? A Woodworker or Designer? Sigh.... All the roles of my lifetime converge here, and lead me back to my love again. I hope she can join me this year and we can be the family we both need for the rest of our lives. -James

What???? I thought you were hillbilly 148828[/snapback] Southern Greece! 148861[/snapback] don't you mean Southern Grease???? Vitamin 'G' as it is known below the Mason-Dixon... -James

dstarsboy, I (we) can hardly wait for you to make your first visit to China. Hopefully, it's Nanning or someplace similar. Just know that if you don't go with a very open mind, you will be lost and quickly swallowed up by the seeming chaos. Or, you will learn to embrace and, maybe, love the disorder of your new love's country. Most of us miss it, when we return to our quite, orderly and serene lives. 187398[/snapback] I can't wait as well, I have plans to go in September so I'm browsing these forums quite a bit to ease some culture shock. I was mainly asking because of course, I don't want to be taken advantage of (aka. hail a cab 4 times only to have someone different push me out of the way 4 times to get into it). Especially in front of my lady. Haha. 187455[/snapback] Hi, Let your lady hail the cab.... Yes things are different. I spent many 'thrilling' moments standing in the middle of VERY busy streets (BOTH day and night) with cars passing as close as one foot from me on both side as a group us including my SO and myself were crossing the street. I never thought I would consider just crossing the street MORE hazarous than the tram (rusty and old) going up to the Badaling Great Wall.... -James

Congratulations! -James

Hi, I visited the Badaling Great Wall while there also. Consider getting the 'Great Wall Hero Certificate' for memories and as part of the relationship / visit evidence. It will have a date and a photo of both of you on the Great Wall. BE SURE to take a warm coat, even if it is warm and sunny in Beijing. It won't be in Badaling, which is up in the mountains. Also the tram tickets are worth it. There is a free bus to the tram, then the cable takes you up to the wall itself. Get a lot of photos! Loving Candle's family had a friend with a car. I gave her 100 RMB which was pushed back with many smiles several times. She finally accepted it when we explained it was not fair for her to pay for the gas. I also paid her tram and Great Wall tickets, and lunch for everybody. Even if you don't think you like duck, you should go to one of the better duck restaurants in Beijing. Wonderful!!! -James

Hello, I can very much recommend the Pimsleur tapes and CDs (ESL for Mandarin Speakers). I bought my SO and her daughter the tapes on eBay ($19.95) then the full 16 CDs from Plurality Language (the best price I could find) for $169 (regularly $345). After I sent the CDs my SO told me the first HALF (8 CDs worth) of the comprehensive was on the $19.95 audio tapes!!! I also sent two CD players from Fry's Electronics ($14.95 each) and rechargeable batteries so my SO and her daughter could study independently. CD comprehensive ESL for Mandarin Speakers: http://www.pluralitylanguage.com/languages...se_mandarin.htm Tapes from Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearc...42&fmt=AU&itm=3 I also took her a book 'Speak English like an American' that I bought at Amazon.com before I went to visit them. BTW, sorry for the broken links. On Barnes and Nobel you can just do a search, the Plurality Language website has direct links for ESC Cds, Good luck. -James

Congratulations! Good luck to you both! -James

Hello, I will use EMS (Express Mail) when the time comes. If you are short on time and REALLY paranoid (like me ) you will send two copies by two different carriers. For EMS, BE SURE to declare the contents as 'documents' with no value. There is now a guarantee for EMS to most Chinese cities and the packages are trackable all the way through, including inside China by China Post. It will really help to have the address BOTH in English and Chinese characters. I have standard labels that Loving Candle and I developed (2" x 4") that I put on every side of an EMS box when I send stuff to her. -James

lol, Dennis, I used to work for a Private Investigator, and not even I am this suspicious... I also am enjoying both Bessies and Gipsy's stories. Please remember they are both getting lots of practice writing English and of course they will all learn from each other! -James

Congratulations! -James

Welcome, Read all the topics here and at VisaJourney.com. If your fiancee has a computer at home, do what you can to get Acrobat 7 so you and she can fill the forms out together and email them to each other. PDF Forms that are filled by typing rather than hand-writing are far better in my opinion. There is much to know before filing the I-129F (fiancee visa form), so research this carefully here and at VisaJourney.com. If you decide to do all the forms and the process yourself you will find a wealth of knowledge and support here. Also MANY successful persons! Please add a timeline and keep it updated. It is the 'signature' for your profile. As you can see the I-129F process is fresh in my mind, but I cannot say that we have succeeded to get to NOA2 without an RFE since I only have the I-797C for NOA1 now... And you will understand all these acronyms and forms soon, trust me! -James

Hi, Thanks for that link and the way it is sorted. Yes, it looks like the average CSC time lately is about 110 days, so we are just about halfway there. -James

Hello, Some research at VisaJourney shows there has been a perceived problem (see 'CSC out of gas') but they have started issuing NOA2's from Oct 27 or maybe a little later. I am November 16.... -James

Jim, The dates are a concern because both Richard and I have ZERO touches since NOA1. So, I was just asking for other members to confirm that CSC is REALLY still working on K visas and not all those investigations in Orange County (MY County) here. -James

Hello, Yet another update to the California Service Center processing date for K1 visas shows no change in ther date AGAIN, not even one day! Can my fellow members that are still pre-NOA2 at CSC let us all know if that is true??? Has anyone that filed after September 18, 2004 even gotten a 'touch'? That is the 30 day-out for the current October 18 processing date, which has been in effect for quite a while now! -James

Hello King, Yes you are also on MY resource list for known help in case of any problems at my SO's interview. -James

Yes, congratulations! -James