Category Archives: Immigration

Field Trip!

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It’s been about a month since the last writing, and much has happened since.

The trip to Boston went flawlessly, the trip back almost as much. One interstate on-ramp that didn’t look nearly as sharp as it was at the top, and a couple of instructions either from the GPS or the ones I had written down the night before that were interpreted too late and meant we had to detour a little. I was loathe to use the GPS entirely as I had mapped the route from our hotel room and found that the quickest way home had 3 tolls to pay. I changed a couple of things and found that by adding a few minutes (pocket change on our 10 hour journey) we would only pay 1. I feared if we used the GPS too much then it would lead us through the other two as well.

We had initially planned for Kelly and I to share driving, once we got out of New York (she wasn’t excited about driving through New England – I didn’t care), however we left later than we intended to and were into New Jersey right around dinner time when it was getting dark. I did get a 20 minute break right before Harrisburg, PA, before Kelly decided it was too dark and simply unsafe for her to be driving, so I took the wheel again right after Harrisburg. We eventually arrived home at around 1-1:30am.

The next week we headed for Mississippi to a friends wedding in Jackson. Another long drive! We ran into several large storms on the way down. The first happened while Kelly was driving and inspired a panic attack. We, like several others, pulled off to the side of the interstate to let it pass. At the earliest opportunity we switched seats again and I think I drove the remainder of the trip from there. As we were entering the city limits of Chattanooga, TN, the CD I had in started playing a track I had forgotten – Chattanooga Choo Choo. It was too awesome to not mention! The trip to Jackson went well, at least as well as a trip can go when you’re relying entirely on other people to decide when and where you need to be, and usually not providing good directions to get there 😉 I enjoyed myself, at least.

After Jackson we headed south to New Orleans where we spent a Sunday afternoon in the French Quarter. Staci, who had been there before, was more than happy to lead us around and show us things. I discovered trains (having correctly deduced that of the three rail lines, two were right for the trolleys going up and down but the third didn’t look right) and was able to photograph a New Orleans Public Belt maneuver going by. NOPB has to be one of the only shortline railroads to do business with 7 Class I railroads. The only that gets missed is Canadian Pacific (who don’t come nearly that far South). We had a good time walking around the area before eating (at IHOP of all places!), parting ways with Staci who caught a cab back to her hotel and driving back to our hostel for the night.

The trip home was also mostly uneventful. No storms to drive through, and all was well. Until Radford. We had stopped a few miles south in Wytheville, and in hindsight I vaguely recall noticing the vibration at 70mph had increased a little just before that point. Thinking nothing of it, we got back in the car and continued on. Just a few miles later I noticed loud noises and heavy vibration coming from the car. Thinking it was a flat tire I pulled over, put on hazards and walked around the car with a flashlight. All 4 tires were fine. “Weird,” I thought, and we got back in the car and started driving again. Less than a tenth of a mile and the noise was too much, I pulled over to give the wheels a closer look. I pulled in closer to the grass, just a few extra feet from the traffic going by at more than 100 feet per second. Starting with the front left (a lucky guess, apparently) I put my foot on the top, and shoved. You know, the wheels on a car aren’t supposed to have that much horizontal motion, and the first thought that went through my head was “Oh s**t, I hope it isn’t a wheel bearing..”

At this point I decided we were not going anywhere. I had taken a quick look and noticed we were missing two (out of 5) lug nuts. A closer inspection later would reveal that they hadn’t just fallen off, but the studs/bolts had been sheared off. We called the insurance company who kindly informed us that we had reimbursable roadside assistance coverage (great!) and worked with a nearby towing company to get us home. The cost to get us home was $800. And they wouldn’t take a check (Oh, dear). In all of this the lifesaver and the reason to be home that night was in the back seat – our friend Doreen volunteered the use of some of her savings (knowing it would be reimbursed) and worked with the parties concerned to get us to where we needed to be.

Long story short, we got home in one piece. After talking with the tow truck driver at the rest area near Roanoke (both Kelly and Doreen needed to use the facilities) it was determined it was my fault, having borked the tire rotation done 3 days and 2,000 miles earlier. The upside being I now know how to get it right? The repair to the car itself was only $80, including a brief overview of what will be needed for inspection later in a couple of months. The receipt for the towing has been forwarded to the insurance company for review.

And this weekend we traveled again, not nearly as far. Our friend (who was in Boston) was moved to Winchester for intensive rehabilitation and a van full went up to visit (Her husband invited us if we took him, and so me, Kelly, Kelly’s brother Matt and his girlfriend Anna, and their parents Randy and Tammy elected to take the trip). While there is certainly some ways to go, she is doing so much better in just a few weeks. We had been in talking to her, and the nurses came and kicked us out to prepare her for dinner. Stepping outside all I could think was “Wow!” – me, the ever under-estimating, was surprised at how well she is doing. Her vision in her right eye is working (though not perfect, she was able to see things better than before), she seems to have either more energy or more willpower to use it (or both), and she is actually interacting in a way that is much more like a ‘normal’ person. I know when family and friends visit, there is a tendency to sugarcoat the responses fed back to the masses who are watching for news and hoping and praying based on it. One thing that I’ve noticed is that when she has a bad day, it is also fed back to the group. But it’s one thing to read the reports, it’s another to actually see the results for yourself. I can imagine how disturbing it might be if someone is expecting to see their bubbly energetic friend laying down and not seeming quite themselves, but having seen her just a week after her stroke I can only say the improvement over the 4 weeks since is amazing, uplifting and very optimistic.

In other news, I am waiting to hear about two job applications I have in within Rosetta Stone for full time, day shift positions. Expecting announcements early this week, but family and Facebook will likely be the first to know, posted here shortly afterwards. Today I am inspecting, double checking, looking again and triple checking an envelope to be sent to the USCIS processing center in Vermont which will contain my paperwork for becoming an unconditional Permanent Resident of the United States. Initially, when I came I was a non-immigrant (the K-1 fiance visa is considered non-immigrant). After filing the paperwork correctly (we took long enough!) I was issued a work permit pending processing of my residency application. Once that came through I was granted Permanent Residence, conditional on marriage to Kelly. That card expires next month and so the next step is filing to remove the conditional status. No, I’m not going to be a citizen, I’m not even eligible for citizenship yet. I suspect I will take it at some point when it is possible, so long as I can retain my New Zealand citizenship. We’ll need to review our options before that time depending on various factors, but that is still a year or few away.

2010 Self Review

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With the dawn of 2011, many people are making resolutions, as they always do. I believe in looking forward, but not forgetting to check behind occasionally, and having just completed an employment-based self review it seemed fitting to perform one on a more personal level. Am I happy with my life? If not, why not, and either way, how can I make it better – or at least not get worse? What significant things have I achieved in the last 365 days? What do I hope to succeed in doing in the next 52 weeks? Anything? Nothing? I tried (albeit briefly) to find a form to follow, but couldn’t find anything suitable, so I’m making it up. Seems to be something I’m not bad at..

Goals I had for 2010:

  • Find a permanent, full time job.
    • Between February and June I had a full-time temporary position working as a Testing Analyst for Rosetta Stone, in their test lab. Working many hours of overtime had it’s ups and downs, and in August I was offered a permanent, part-time position doing the same thing on the night shift working core hours of 5pm to midnight.
  • Pay off debts.
    • While this was only partially achieved, we are well on track to paying off several debts to zero. The initial goal was to utilize overtime money while working as a temporary employee to pay off debt, however there were several other events that required our attention. The car needed some work done on it, in addition to Crash needing veterinary visits. We were able to pay large amounts on one of Kelly’s student loans, which has brought our monthly outgoing amount down somewhat.
  • Purchase a second vehicle.
    • This was achieved late in the game. In September a second car was procured, which meets it’s requirements and it’s desirements. A ’97 Outback, it is a year older than the car we had, it’s a stick shift (so I’m happy!) and it seems to run well. It does have some work needing to be done, which will hopefully not be major.

Goals for 2011:

  • Find a way to full time, dayshift employment, ideally within Rosetta Stone, and ideally within the IT department.
  • Pay off more loans and other debt.
  • Move out of Kelly’s parents house.
  • Spend more time with friends in various formats. EG continuing/restarting “Thursday Night Office/30 Rock/etc,” game nights (board game and video game), day or (maybe?) weekend trips to nearby places, etc.
  • Find a church that Kelly and I can both agree with and attend regularly. Become involved where possible.

Comments:

This year has been a good year. A vast improvement over 2009 in terms of finance especially, we have been able to take a much-needed trip over 300 miles away (which we have just returned from) and have no fear regarding the ongoing payment of bills. Additionally, we have a basic plan laid out for paying off several loans in the next 3 to 4 months, to be reviewed and updated on a regular basis.

I am also realizing the impact that working in the evenings, combined with living in Broadway, is having on my social life and thus my overall happiness. I had forgotten how much of a social creature I am, and while introversion may be a part of my personality I am finding it difficult surviving without people. An important feature in any house we look at, for me at least, is that it be in or very close to Harrisonburg. The actual rent may be higher (although I doubt it would be by a whole lot), but being closer (or more central) to an increased number of friends would make up for it. That is certainly not to say that friends in Broadway/Timberville are less important, simply that there are less of you and it has to be factored in.

This coming year holds several challenges that are not listed as goals. To name just a few, there is another USCIS related cost coming up, as my green card expires in July and will require some more forms completed and some more money paid 90 days before that happens. Secondly we have a wedding to attend (one of Kelly’s old school friends, Sarah) is getting married in May, around the same time as our anniversary. This will involve a drive to Mississippi, with a side-trip to New Orleans (since we’ll be so close!).

A high priority on my list is a trip to visit New Zealand. This year will mark 3 years since I left, and a third year of wishing I could visit and see the many friends and family members I left behind to miss me. While the inability to return is entirely related to our financial situation and said financial situation is finally improving, I have minimal hope that the situation will be sufficiently rectified any time soon, unless both Kelly and I have significant pay increases. Chances are also good that to receive the pay increases needed will require us both to find new positions – mine may or may not be within RS, Kelly’s most certainly won’t be with the day care.

I have high hopes for 2011. Expectations are lagging slightly behind, but also high. I believe my goals are reasonable and achievable, while still being challenging. I wish everyone else the best with their goals for the coming year, and a happy new year to all.

How People Find Me

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I’m intrigued, when I look at my statistics, as to how people come to my blog, what they see, etc.

There are 3 groups. Naturally there is a miscellaneous group, they tend to just fall in here either by the next-blog function in the wordpress toolbar, or by an automated link being clicked. There are my friends on facebook and twitter who click my links, and I also get a small amount of traffic from a few friends blogs.

But the biggest group, and this actually surprises me, is the group searching for information on USCIS Form I-797C, Notice of Action. In fact, on a test-search for “i 797c notice of action” my post about receiving it is on the first page (about #6). I intended to write a summary of when things happened, and how my immigration to the United States worked out in reality, but obviously that hasn’t happened yet. Maybe next week.. (though I doubt it!)

525,600 Minutes

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Turns out Rent was right. There are 525,600 minutes in a year. I always thought it was too small a number, but I just did the calculation (I was going to use the right one) but 60 x 24 x 365 = 525,600.

Anyway, I’m going off topic before I’ve even started. Today is April 18th 2009. Today marks an important day in history, for me, for my family, for Kelly and her family, and a handful of others. On this day one year ago I stepped onto Qantas flight QF2714 and flew from Wellington to Auckland, waving goodbye to my family and friends at Wellington Airport. In Auckland I walked from the domestic to the international terminal, and boarded flight QF25 bound for LAX. I haven’t seen New Zealand with my own eyes since.

I remember that all three flights that day were late. The first one was late because of mechanical problems earlier in the day that had caused delays and they were trying to get back on schedule. The second was a fault that had apparently been fixed but they were still waiting on a problem with paperwork for it. The third we had to wait at the gate at LAX for mechanics to get to us after their list of other faults to fix.

I remember walking through customs at LAX having filled out my little I-94 card, and being unsure what to write for “Country of Residence.” The customs lady walking the line checking things before we reached the officers processing us was angry at me that I didn’t know, but I truly didn’t. At that moment I didn’t live anywhere. On April 17th I resided in New Zealand. As of April 19th I would be residing in the United States. April 18th? I was homeless, as it were.

Despite all the mechanical problems and delays, I arrived in one piece at Dulles, although I was about 45 minutes late as I recall, landing at 12:30am on the 19th, walking into the arms of Kelly (followed by everyone else that was there).

People keep asking me if I miss home, and to a degree I do. It’s not so much home though, as aspects of home. I miss walking to the end of the street and getting Fish and Chips for a snack because I was bored and hungry. I miss driving to McDonalds and getting a large coke and a large chocolate thick shake for the same reason. I miss catching the bus and train to work and back every day. I miss Sunday night drives to the beach or around the bays, or somewhere else random that we wanted to go, with Sue and Amber. I miss having a cell phone, and understanding how the billing for cell and landline phones worked (I still think it’s really messed up that you have to pay to receive calls/messages etc..).

I miss driving to Paraparaumu via Paekakariki Hill one way and SH1/SH2 back for the fun of it. I miss knowing where everything in the supermarket is, and what most things are even if I haven’t had them before.

I miss the surprise of seeing Dad’s face in the window when my train pulls in to take me to work, I miss the sound of my brothers mock screams when I play a trick on him, and I miss the sound of my mother trying in vain to make me stop when she finds out what I did/was doing.

I miss having the opportunity to drive almost anywhere if I had time or money to pay for gas (and for whatever I wanted to do when I got there), ranging anywhere from watching a movie to eating dinner to going to Parachute. I miss having the contacts to do sound and lighting gigs with semi-professional companies and organizations when they needed the help.

Most of all I think I miss seeing people I know and love that I haven’t seen for a year or more, it’s nice seeing the young kids grow up through photos on Facebook etc, but it really isn’t the same.

So, what have I accomplished in my year of USA-ness? Not a lot, I fear to say. Having arrived in April 08, I was married in May 08, and filed immigration paperwork before the cut off date in July 08. In February 09 I received my Employment Authorization Card, and started applying for jobs. Of all my applications (around 30-50) I’ve had one solid lead (Summer Camp Counselor), and one official rejection (“Position has been filled”). The biggest problems I run into are experience (or lack thereof), lack of College education, and lack of US Citizenship or security clearances. I have no problem relocating 2 hours away (or commuting that far until relocation can occur), since there are practically no IT jobs in this area at the moment.

I have a drivers license (Learners permit, will sit the full test some time soon). I have fixed several computers, some for money. I helped with the church’s VBS program last year, and probably will again if I don’t get the camp job. I traveled to North Carolina for gas money to visit a long time friend and work on his church’s network. I created several new websites, including DailySerene.com, and several personal sites. I also rebuilt the websites for UCCN and C-IRC (C-IRC with the help of Ed), and developed an IRC-based trouble management system in PHP.

We bought a puppy, rented an apartment, gave up an apartment, took out a $2000 loan, moved twice, started a modern worship music section in a traditional church service, bought a guitar, taught Sunday School to High Schoolers, took several thousand photos, and had a few bad times, with lot of good times.

All in all I’m having a great time. I’m glad I moved, and while if I had to live my life again I’d probably do that part differently, I’m not at all unhappy with the way things worked out. In fact, I look forward to what the next 525 thousand-odd minutes have in store.

A New Theme

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Yesterday I applied for a summer job at a Christian camp a few miles away, I’m hoping to be a counselor (leader) for the summer, should be about 10-12 weeks of having fun with kids. I’ll be staying there overnight the whole time, though Kelly will be able to come and visit when she gets off babysitting and we can have Saturdays together too. Initially she didn’t like the idea, but just kinda realized that it’ll probably be good for us and we’ll appreciate the time we do get together rather than spending every other minute in the same house.

It’ll also be nice to actually do some real work and earn some real money. Against my will, though there was nothing I could do about it, I’ve spent nearly a year in the US and not been able to work, so while it has been nice to do nothing at all, I also feel as though I’m letting down the team and taking advantage of people and their generosity. While that is the case, and to a large degree I have been, it’s not by choice, and given the chance I would have been doing a lot more to earn my keep. Also, while it is hardly IT related, I’m glad to have another stateside work reference with a real organization with standards etc. While I try to work to high standards when working with friends and family doing computer repair etc, there is hardly a gauge to measure by how well I did something.

I was also getting bored with the old theme on my blog, and felt it was time for a change here too. The photo in the header may change some until I find something I like that fits and works, but for now it is a crop of this image:

dscf06801

I took this during the Assemblies of God New Zealand National Conference in October 2007, the week I had my interview with Gen-i. A couple of the guys in the music team are jamming, in the immediate foreground are the power, video signal and communication cables for the stage roaming camera, resting on the base for one of the front speaker towers. I think Mike was programming lights, or he may have just been playing. I know I was the photographer and only touched the lighting board if it was absolutely necessary (mostly “TURN OFF NUMBER 11, TURN ON NUMBER 12” while he was wandering the stage checking things).

In other news I have successfully installed Xen on Debian, so I have a Debian Dom0. I also have a Debian DomU that I’m playing with LDAP with, in an attempt to setup a prototype for web/shell hosting. I’m trying to figure out how to create DomU’s from ISO’s under the Debian Dom0, I have some FreeBSD CD’s that I’d like to build a VM from if possible. Otherwise I can install QEMU back on the Mac and create QEMU images for Xen that way.

Also trying to debug a regex in my logcheck system on Telly. Ever since I installed IPv6 I’m getting annoying messages in the logs every hour that I’m trying to make logcheck ignore (they’re not important, thus I don’t want to see them – unlike people trying to bruteforce my SSH or Mail servers). I have one more thing to try before I go looking for help, as soon as my apt-get dist-upgrade is done (because opening a new tab and SSH’ing a new session is *so* difficult!)

{Last Minute Update!} Just had a phone call from the camp director, he’s put out all my references and is waiting to hear back, then will set up an interview next week perhaps.

Screw You, Nature

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Saturday was the day of arrival for my work permit, and today we had planned to go and get social security numbers sorted etc. That would allow Kelly to file her taxes and I start working on a driving permit, as well as getting the bank out of trouble (they were told last month that they had 12 months to get a SSN from me, which was difficult since I don’t have one!)

We probably would have also stopped in at some of the thrift stores and looked at what cameras they had available. But no! It snowed last night. Great news for school kids because it takes less than an inch to get them out for the day, but not so great since most government buildings are closed! Oh well, try again tomorrow I guess 😉

Cause to Celebrate

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One: I fixed a computer tonight. Probably still some work to do, left it installing SP3 on XP, but still needs verification that sound works (not hopeful), that the virus is actually gone (BEWARE, ANTI-VIRUS-1 IS A VIRUS. Found removal instructions online through google and following them in safe mode seemed to work a charm.)

Two: I’ve put up a photoblog at photoblog.i-al.net, and theres nearly 2 months of photos stacked back waiting to appear. Some of these are up at DailySerene, but others are photos that weren’t appropriate for DS for whatever reason.

Three: The chances increased over the last three weeks that my work authorization card would arrive this week, as it did not arrive in any of those.

Fourth: (this one needs a quote)

Application Type: I485, APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: This case is now pending at the office to which it was transferred.

The I485 APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS was transferred and is now pending standard processing at a USCIS office. You will be notified by mail when a decision is made, or if the office needs something from you. If you move while this case is pending, please use our Change of Address online tool to update your case with your new address. We process cases in the order we receive them. You can use our processing dates to estimate when this case will be done, counting from when USCIS received it.

Basically what this means is that we finally have all the paperwork needed and it’s been forwarded to a USCIS office for processing rather than at the National Benefits Service Center where we were posting everything.

For those interested in tracking it further, the application was received on either July 2nd, 2008 or February 25th 2009 (depending whether they are counting from initial receipt of our application, or the acknowledgement of receipt of everything they asked for), and it is at the CALIFORNIA SERVICE CENTER. I’ll try and keep you up to date with any changes and events that occur.

Triumph and Tragedy

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Triumph: Mostly installed qmail on Mack’s newly reinstalled server, rhapsody. A few things to finish off today.

Triumph: Installed and configured a second private hub for UCCN, hub02. Will install backup services at a later date.

Triumph: Kelly put in a job application yesterday, and another will go in tomorrow.

Triumph: The package of stuff from New Zealand arrived today, albeit slightly beaten up from its travels.

Triumph: Shaved.

Triumph: Received most of the outstanding eBay items purchased up until last week.

Triumph: Got the new router installed and running smoothly. Could use a RAM upgrade, but that will come in time.

Tragedy: A bump while drinking water last night resulted in a spill occuring directly above the macbook. It was quickly shut down, but after being left 24 hours or so, it won’t turn on. Leaving it beside the heater for another 48 or so to see if this changes anything, but my hopes are not high.

Productive

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Today was fairly productive. Kelly, for the last 3 nights, hasn’t slept much at all. Thursday night she had Nyquil, and Friday night was Tylenol PM, partly for her sick, partly to help her sleep. These were an epic fail, resulting in not sleeping longer than 10 minutes at a time, and being paranoid about all kinds of things (mostly my alive-ness). Wednesday night she had Nyquil and was fine, except for a short patch where she rolled onto me, looked up towards me and said “WHAT?” before rolling back over and being quiet again. I prefer this to being constantly asked “Are you OK?” and giving the same answer “YES” — in her defence she thought I was dying.

Anyway, last night she didn’t sleep either, though this time she didn’t have the paranoia either. She instead slept all day, and it worked out as I had planned for Sunday School too. We’re working our way through Romans, last week reading chapter 1, today looking at it a little closer and reviewing the importance of Romans to the bible and to Christianity as a whole.

This afternoon Matt and I went and picked up about 15 boards of cherry wood that a family friend is giving away to anyone with a good use for it, I’m planning on building a special coffee table – more on that later. I also played Command and Conquer (Yuri’s revenge), and beat 3 brutal enemies having lost my construction yard (the first one was eliminated by the other two computers, and I was able to commandeer an MCV from one of the two remaining – my good income had allowed me to create enough troops to overpower the enemy base.)

I also did some more rough plans in church regarding how I want to set up I-aL/Infinitech, particularly server utilisation and what-goes-where type stuff. Small web stuff will go on Rizzo, the VPS. Also probably 10 paid eggdrop accounts, and the administration server for the entire thing. Rizzo will also likely be the master DNS server, and secondary MX. Rhapsody, Mack’s server, I’ll be able to utilise for web, secondary DNS (he’ll be using it as primary), and secondary MX. Telly will be secondary DNS, master MX, and also house backups. I plan to write a basic secured administration site to run from Rizzo providing dynamically updated DNS zone files, Apache Virtual-hosts files etc, and potentially controlling who can and can’t log in and how.

Also, I’m trying to decide between postfix, exim4 and qmail for each server – I’m guessing that the secondary MX’s should be configured the same as the primary rather than mixing MTA’s, the question is which.. All 3 servers are running debian, and all three have a different MTA. Fortunately Rhapsody is likely to be reinstalled this week, and Telly may be going the same way soon too, that just leaves Rizzo with a reimage if required..

Finally, today also marked the completion of the immigration package. We put together all the paperwork that has been requested to date and a folder will be purchased tomorrow to permit the sending of the paperwork to USCIS on Tuesday. We continue to hope and pray that this time we have everything together, and that everything will be approved quickly (or we’ll be told what we need to do and we can do it quickly).