Minister
-
Posts
291 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Calendar
Gallery
Posts posted by Minister
-
-
The real reason it failed is because they already toured the plant, met with the engineers, and got all of the production information that they wanted. Now that they've learned what they need to know about manufacturing and advanced engineering (milk), there's no point in buying the company (cow).
Please see "CCC" for reference on wholesale industrial espionage.
This is why the other countries are beating us.
-
I'm in automotive.
Nothing is ever certain. I would say, get used to it. Save more. Buy American.
As for your girl, well. Love and money are interchangeable. If you have enough of one, you don't need so much of the other. Get more love, worry less about money.
-
The real reason it failed is because they already toured the plant, met with the engineers, and got all of the production information that they wanted. Now that they've learned what they need to know about manufacturing and advanced engineering (milk), there's no point in buying the company (cow).
Please see "CCC" for reference on wholesale industrial espionage.
-
I sure hope this isn't the case. I sure hope we focus on research and healthy competition with China. I sincerely hope that we don't all plan on just rolling over and giving up.
-
5. Who's gonna pay for it? Those who report more than 250,000 a year in income; otherwise known as small business owners.
I'm a small business owner and I definitely don't fit into that category.
-
We took a cruise to Cozumel in 2007. Wonderful time and experience. All she needs is her green card and Chinese passport.
http://i49.tinypic.com/2na3crs.jpg
...by the way, not special shots needed.
My wife bought the same hat.
-
I took my girl to Key West for our honeymoon. We learned the following about her:
1. Gets boat sick. Hates boats.
2. Sinks like a stone. Hates swimming.
3. Turns dark in sunlight. Hates the sun.
4. Wishes we went to Hawaii. No idea why (probably so that we could spend twice as much money to learn 1, 2, and 3).
I hope you don't learn any of these things about your girl on your cruise. I hope you have a wonderful time!
A cruise sounds like so much fun to me.
-
I notice that China says that we're following China, and not Japan, which has a much more in-depth high-speed rail system and has been using it since the 1960s.
Or Germany.
Or France.
Or Italy.
Or Spain.
But as much as I would love to have high-speed rail, I worry that the cost of maintaining it over the distances involved in the USA would still make Airplanes cheaper, I would think. China may find this to be so as the cost of labor increases. Still, as gas prices go up....
Anyway, here's hoping. I can't wait to ride an American bullet train.
-
Ugh... Lent starts tomorrow.
Lord Jesus,
Forgive us our sins,
Save us from the fires of hell,
And lead all souls to Heaven,
Especially those most in need of thy mercy.
Amen.
吾主耶穌，請寬恕我們的罪過，助我們免地獄永火，求你把眾人的靈魂，特別是那些需要你憐憫的靈魂，領到天國裡去。
-
Also, the Chinese people are going to demand a higher and higher quality of life. I mean, eventually people are going to say, "Ok. We have enough money now. I'd like to stop living in a giant cloud of pollution and worrying about whether my milk is made of poison". That costs money and slows growth. But on the bright side, it will welcome the Chinese into a life of, not just wealth, but actual prosperity (which I think everyone deserves).
-
You know, oddly enough, there is no official language in the United States. Theoretically, you could post legal documents in Hindi or Mung.
But, just because we accept any language doesn't mean we're any good at them. When my wife took the written driving test, she asked for the Chinese version. The translation was so bad, she had to ask for the Japanese version. The translation of that was so bad, she had to give up and take the test in English!
-
Last night we went out for dinner at a Hibachi restaurant.
I explained to her that it came with a soup, salad and fried rice.
First thing out of her mouth "is it free"
I burst out laughing.
I remember those days very well. Now that my wife has been here for a few years, she is pretty hip to what is free and what's not. But when her parents come to visit, it's hilarious to hear them also whisper to her in Chinese "Is it free?" at every restaurant.
I even remember a very short phase where someone tried to "fill up" on the free bread at restaurants and then just share my entrée.
I have been on the opposite side of that, though... I've been at restaurants in China and taken the paper cover off of the "special" water glasses or opened the "special" chopsticks or napkin packages, or eaten the "special" h'orderves... The table suddenly will go silent with all eyes on me... The wife elbows me in my side and says, "Don't use that! It costs money!" So I guess there are pitfalls everywhere you go!
-
So we need to get my lil' Sweetie's 10 year green card. We're about to do the "removal of conditions". The government web site suggests filing for removal of conditions about three months before your green card expires. For us, that's April.
Well, she wants to go to China in March and come back in May (I'll go get her). What are the chances, do you think, of her getting called in for an interview in May if I send her paperwork in in April? In the event that this occurred, we would have to pay some huge amount of money to bring her back from her Chinese vacation sooner.
Should we fret it? Should we submit towards the end of April? Does it not matter because it should take several months to process?
What do you think?
-
But you're allowed to get married in a state other than where you live. So if you don't get a SSN in time, just go for a drive.
-
I can't help it if I'm so cool.
-
While attempting to appease a long list of utterly unappeasable foes¡ªIran, North Korea, Hamas, Hezbollah, and even Hugo Ch¨¢vez¡ªtoday the U.S. treats China, perhaps our most crucial economic partner, as an adversary because it defies us on global warming, dollar devaluation, and Internet policy.
Some people would respond to this by asserting that China's refusal to adopt pollution controls to the detriment of themselves and their neighbors, their currency manipulation, and their laissez-faire attitude toward industrial spying and software piracy represent a large reason (but not the only reason) why western economies are struggling to compete.
-
Yeah. I was just about to say. We did this 30 years ago.
I'll bet the new one is more efficient.
-
I remember my wife's reaction when we opened the second clock that was given to us on our wedding day.
I cringed when I saw it because, not only was in "unlucky" and insulting, it was also the second clock that we received. I was ready for a tantrum or anything...
She sighed and said, "Well. I guess that's one for each of us."
Thankfully we did not receive any knives.
-
Ok, I just checked your profile and you live in Florida. So scratch everything I just said about moisturizer! (There's a big DUH for me!)
BUT! In the Key West area they sell a pure aloe moisturizer that my wife loves. It's not very expensive either. Maybe that would be natural and clear things up? And that would be an excuse to go to Key West!
-
Where is she from? Maybe it's really dry here compared to her home in China. Especially in the winter. South China girls are used to a lot of humidity and when they get dry, little itchy red spots appear. In China, they also don't use central heat. They use hot water pipes in the floor and that only ads to the humidity. Maybe get a separate humidifier for the bedroom and ask her to pile on the moisturizer.
ALSO...
They use different laundry soaps in China and fabric softener and dryer treatments aren't used because most clothing is hung up to dry...
True story... When I first went to my girl's parents house, I saw some ornate bars hanging from the ceiling with dangling decorations. I wondered if they were for a religious purpose... It turns out, they were for hanging laundry.
Anyway, many people have allergies to different kinds of soaps or chemicals in their clothing or sheets. She may have never encountered the chemicals she's using now. You may have to experiment with different brands for a while.
-
Well, the article is certainly food for thought. One thing that was stated in the article was that companies often falsely report earnings and growth. Questions that come to my mind are: Can you believe that China's December exports grew by a whopping 17.7% (as reported on Yahoo News this am) ? Who exactly are they selling their exports to? Has any countries sales increased 17.7%?
I think that while it is quite probable that China puffs the goods on its economic numbers...
My wife tells me this. I guess a lot of people in China know this. The provinces compete with each other. One says they made 6% growth (probably inflated) and then the next province to report can't be outdone, so they announce 8% growth, and so on and so forth until China is announcing 25% annual growth.
Anyway I hear they do this with population too. My wife estimates China's population as more like 900,000,000.
-
Noisy
Painfully frugal
Fascinated with "brand names"
Preoccupied with the perceived health benefits of regularity
Could live on boiled cabbage, tofu, and pork
Dependent (in a good way)
Makes every day an adventure
-
Is there any chance these fees are increasing because the dollar is taking a dump and they need more cash to pay the local staff at the consulates?
-
Hello everyone. I hope someone has some insight about this topic.
This year, my girl and I will file for her "Removal of Conditions". We have plenty of communal assets, including a business that we have started together (Boy! We sure do suck at business! It's been a hell of a ride, though). As it stands now, my name is the only one on our biggest asset, the house, but the house was here before we met.
Anyway, that brings us to the big topic here.
I have been asked to move to our company's Cincinnati office again. If I do that, there will be little or no chance of selling the house for anything near what I owe on it. The Detroit real estate market is brutal. At one time, I had about $70k in equity on this house. Now I am about $60k "upside down" on my mortgage. The house prices have dropped that much.
Anyway, I don't have the money to just "suck it up" and lose $60k on this house. Likewise, I am certainly in no position to quit my job rather than move. So, the result will be that I may have to "short sell" or "return in lieu of foreclosure" at some point on this house. Of course, I think I can get a lawyer and maybe limp away with some of my credit intact...
But, what (if any) impact do you think that would have on the ROC process? I know that, to a certain extent, marriage-based immigration is dependent on the financial ability of the petitioner and the immigrant to support the immigrant. That makes sense and I'm not debating that point at all. But I'm wondering if something damaging to the financial confidence score like a "short sale" would affect the review for ROC, even if the petitioner's income was still well above the "line" for supporting the immigrant?
It may not matter, but I'm not the type who likes to "rock the boat" with matters as important to us as our marriage.
Any ideas, opinions, or experiences would be appreciated.
The Biggest Problem Facing the US
in Stateside
Posted
I've often talked about this kind of thing with my wife whenever she starts complaining about American taxes or rules or whatever. When she started her business, the hurdles she had to jump drove her crazy. "In China, you just have to find a place to work and you can set up business in a day!"
But I remind her that America is the way it is because of the things we all want and get. The truth is, everything costs money. All those things that we think of as "free" actually cost money, but they do so indirectly.
Do you notice that you (almost) never walk down an American street and smell feces stench leaking up from the sewer? That costs money.
Do you like having crosswalks so you don't get hit by a car when you cross the street (like my father-in-law was)? That costs money.
Do you like having toilet paper in the public bathrooms? That costs money.
Do you like having pollution controls on vehicles and standards on gasoline purity that make even large urban areas relatively low-smog locations? That costs money.
Do you like ice in your drink and free refills? That costs money.
Do you like being relatively confident that your milk won't give your baby kidney stones? That costs money.
One time, I was putting "Salad Sprinkles" (a mixture of sunflower seeds, peanut chunks and bacon bits) on my salad. My wife interjected, "Why do you use that stuff? Do you need it? In China we say, 'If you save a little every day, once per year, you can buy a horse!' Why don't you save?"
I replied, "I don't want a horse. I want Salad Sprinkles."
And that's what America and the developed countries are; Places where we want Salad Sprinkles. But you have to buy them. You might not get your horse once per year, but you get a little happiness every day.
It's all about quality of life and what matters to you.