knloregon

"I'm ready to get moving in earnest on guitar 2 which will be a gift for my best friend. " Well, Carl, since you now have all the specialized tools and jigs set up --- Hope you now start several instruments at once. You are not a young man to be entering this craft, and after all, even Stradivarious was a multigenerational, somewhat massed produced workshop. If you are producing exceptional guitars, makes sense to me put them into as many skilled musician's hands as possible.

It really is beautiful, but to borrow an expression from the distiller's trade; the 'Maker's Mark' is in the sound. Hopefully that will win a wide audience, so Carl can make good use of all that he has developed in the last two years.

Thanks, Mick ~! (and special thanks..) Well, I like 'cos-play' every bit as much as the Communist top leadership at Xinhua (who call the shots on what's published) ;... and hey, comin' fro' a Communist family we's all amused ! -- even at the patriarchal top! Personally, I'd be in-clined to stray wide of lill' black & orange.. (I'll be joining the patriarch -- Fei and the little lad Luke is already there --- in YueYang -- Hunan, in August. Weather is currently.... horrible. YueYang's low temperatures in the last several days (87f) are about 10 degrees above our HIGH temps.

What most CLers don't know is that we in Portland are at the tail end of very stable warm, dry weather, and I have to speculate, that must be pretty good for Carl's guitar. Certainly any residual moisture or resin glue etc. off gassing was facilitated in the last several weeks in Portland. Pretty exciting to anticipate the results, hope Carl can get it in the hands of an accomplished musician for a test run..

No wonnar' them US papers losin' reeders. Kant splor a rell-I-vant topic like Xinhua! Lill'' worried bout that lill' black & orange gal --- she ain't hidn' an adam's apple in that lil' outfit .... is 'she'? (not to mention wha else she might be a' hidn')

"Great stuff guys.." So true Tsap ~ ! And while Carl is about 2 miles south of us, in the past, it might as well have been the difference of two climate zones -- Bing, has historically produced great food gardens, to our mediocre attempts, but this year, we have something special: Our hardy banana, which I bought as a novelty at WalMart for 5$ -- 6 or 7 years ago, is actually producing bananas ~ ! In Portland Oregon!

Hague Convention is an important distinction, as you well know. I have two Chinese daughters adopted under the Hague convention, and I'm aware that the wait under the CCAA for foreigners to adopt is now in excess of 4 years (non special needs). Sorry I can't help in your case, since the process you are going through is most likely provincial, rather than national. But I suspect your child would obtain US citizenship (as my daughter #2 did) simply by stepping on American soil. --- If I recall correctly, Congress passed a broad exemption in that regard. --- Good Luck! (and if you are successful, expect to have your greatest parenting wishes fulfilled!)

" in the event of my death " : ) Mike, may you and yours stay: forever young! -- but seriously, you really are one of the best posters here, when the 'devil is in the details!' ~

"Yessir, like I always say, "they just ain't nothin' like walkin' the streets in Chinertucky gazin' upon the worlds most beautiful wimmins.....as they sahsha those sumptious tiny hineys in a fog of the overpowerin' perfume of.........sewer gas. " Tsap, you (continue) to crack me up.

And one thing I can't understand (that Mike and several others mentioned) --- the still continued reluctance to trap drains to prevent the incursion of sewer gas --- but for most of us who visited China last century --- even in the major cities -- concrete tiles covering surface sewer lines, and that constant sickly sweet smell.

" This gave me the ability to burn things outside the WOK. (A different take on "wok the dog" ... Mike's (cautionary) accounts seem the best, and most consistent with my experience over the years working in renovation and running herd on contractors --- but without the culture and language barriers.... Personally (tongue in cheek) , I'm not into "woking the dog" --- but did, in one case, eat dog that wasn't identified in advance.

"...Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as wild and untamed horses......" OOOOHHHHHH Yes ~ ! Onion got it right! (As did the People's Daily) --- which reported the Onion's story as straight news...

I'm very much a' Rule of Law' kind of a guy, but for me, the big question is: Why shouldn't LEGAL aliens be able to vote? At least, in local and state elections. ---- we all know, that even if they apply for citizenship, it will be at least several years (minim) before they attain it --- meanwhile, they are building families, and mentioned in a earlier post --- voting --- in the PTA, the neighborhood association, and other less formal venues of their every day lives. They are LEGALLY here in the US --- shouldn't they be able to vote on the policies that affect them directly, and their families?? Sure, true to form, even though I'm and old Kennedy Democrat, (which is to say, a political centrist, at this point) my wife Fei (from the old Communist family) is far to the right, on most issues we discuss...

.. I guess the approval of the illegal under-18 immigrant children of illegals has taken the time away from processing of legal immigrants. .. " SZ, its going to get worse before it gets better --- I'm a life-long Democrat, but its pretty clear after the election, , that illegal immigrants are going to go to the head of the line on immigration matters.. Maybe one of the few things I agreed with Romney on was his commitment to a fair (legal) immigration policy. Thats now out the window for many Candle members here.

Randy is %100 right on this, as is b.c --- Don't expect to enter the US --- or any other country on an expired Green card --- Regardless of letters of extension. In our case, it was US > Mexico, (wife had the wrong document -- her two year green card, not her current 10 year--) Didn't matter --- We were sent back to the US on the next flight. Airlines are on the hook for the trip back, so they are less than tolerant at the POE --- they obviously, are not in our corner.