Jump to content

Texanadian

Members
  • Posts

    816
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Posts posted by Texanadian

  1. Dooryards, hahaha. Maine is a strange place. I know what you mean about dropping their R's. The first time I heard somebody from Maine pronounce Portland, it sounded like Potelind. On the other hand, I've heard of at least 2 born in the USA Americans who didn't know that Maine was a state. :lol:

    As a Canadian, I get mixed up over sweet tea. There is no such thing as sweet tea in Canada.

    I've never really used air conditioning in cars before (In Canada, you've got about a 50% chance of having a car with A/C and if you do have one, there's a 90% chance it doesn't work from underuse)....So I was under the idea that the MAX a/c and NORM a/c were somehow different in that the MAX mode would use more gasoline and take more power to run. Turns out they do the exact same thing but MAX recirculates the indoor air and dehumidifies it, while the NORM mode takes the hot humid air from the outside and cools it (but doesn't dehumidify very well).

    This is a problem in Houston as it's one of if not the most humid cities in the country. We were driving along the highway and I silently moved it over from MAX to NORM....About 5 minutes later we're both sweating in the car. She looks at the knobs and then looks over at me. DID YOU DO THAT? hahahaha.

    I had a German boss in Canada that used to tell me all sorts of things about first moving to Canada. Buying a root beer and thinking it was beer. But my favourite was when he kept seeing "gift shops" everywhere. Apparently gift shops are where exterminators buy their poison in Germany. He used to think his neighbours were cheap because if he would go over to visit, they would offer him coffee instead of beer.

  2. Hi All,

    According to the case status online, my I-129F was approved on Feb 16th. The "Last updated" date is 2/17/06. Will there be any more changes to the "case status online" here? Does it change when they send it to the NVC, or ship it off to the embassy?

    Thanks everyone!

    NVC or Embassy, no. My case status online is still 1 day after my NOA2 approved date.

    I'm not sure but I think you get to use the case status during the AOS part.

  3. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...stom&page=times

    Looks to me if you choose the AILA Texas section on the right and scroll down to page 2 & 3 that it works. You do have Adobe Acrobat?

    I would guess that if TSC has started processing cases again, that the February date would be so new because they don't have any old I-129F's to process as they've all been sent to California.

    Does your case status online start with WAC? (California) Or does it have the Texas code (I think it's TSC, not sure)

  4. She does not speak /read english very well so this site is no use to her - yet. It also took us about 4 months before we filed to get all the paperwork ready and correct.

    Now that is something I'd never even thought of. That foreigners couldn't read this website. What a long hard wait that would be without being able to read English. I know how you feel about waiting before filing. I proposed in May 2005, we saw each other again in August and filed the paperwork in October. For awhile I'd wished that I had sent the stuff off earlier. Of course when I got my NOA2 in January there were still lots of people who had filed during the summer but were still waiting for their NOA2.

    I got approved in 100 days from TSC/CSC. No touches, no updates, people in front of me hasn't gotten it days earlier. Just seemed like out of the blue it came. I was surfing the net and my Gmail notifier turned blue with a notice from USCIS. When I opened the case status online, there it was.

    To everybody out there, you've read about the waits others have had. But I've been there. You really don't care that it takes everybody else as long. It's such a personal thing having to wait to be allowed to be with your partner. There were days I was grumpy, frustrated, sad, depressed. But when that NOA2 comes, let me tell ya it's the biggest boost you can get. It's like your fiancee just walked in the door. I was floating on air for days afterwards.

    The day will come.

  5. This is something that is a complete difference for me between Canada and the USA.

    In Canada, I recycle books, magazines, tin cans, bottles, milk jugs, paper (basically all my mail), plastic, all into giant yellow bags. Newpaper goes into blue bags. I put it out with the garbage can and it's done for. Easy peasy. With this system, I put out about 1 or 2 bags of traditional garbage a week (maybe less) and a ton of recyling. There is no limit to the amount of recycling they pick up.

    In Texas, I asked why no recycling. They had it but got rid of it. :wacko: Apparently it was too expensive. So living in an apartment with dumpers out back, we throw out SO MUCH GARBAGE! It seems incredibly wasteful to me. And everything is double wrapped then put in a paper bag and then in a bigger bag still when you order food to be delivered.

    We used to have garbage picked up in Canada 2 cans every 2nd week and then 1 can every week during the summer (to keep it from attracting animals). Some places in the US stop at your home twice per week and pick up 2 cans both times. How can anybody make that much garbage?

    I prefer recycling because it means I have to take the garbage out less often. In Texas, I have to take the garbage out every 2nd day. In British Columbia, it's once a week before the garbage man comes.

    One thing I do like about Houston is that they have oversized pickup ONCE A MONTH! We used to get it once a year and then they changed it to 1 week where you could put your oversized stuff out on the street and everybody in the city can look around and if they like something they pick it up. At the end of the week, you have to bring back in anything that's still there (which is about 95% of the stuff you left out there)

    I'm surprised landfills aren't more of a problem in the US.

    My dad lives on an island where there is no garbage pickup. They have a free store (recycling center) where you can get old magazines, clothes, toys, furniture, lots of neat stuff. Everything else is recycled, composted (everybody composts) or burned. There is no litter there either.

  6. I don't think Alberta would want to join the US. They would have to pay higher US income taxes as well as FICA taxes that way. With AB looking at eliminating their income tax, that would leave them with a max rate of 29%. And the new map of the USA would look weird. Flat along the top except for Alberta jutting out there.

  7. As somebody who grew up listening to Bryan Adams' rock stuff from the 1980's and early 90's, I thought his mid 90's and on stuff has been terrible. Clichehed sappy love ballads with no oomph.

    I agreed with the local rock radio station guys when they were moaning to Bryan's manager that that Don De Marco soundtrack song was terrible.

  8. I'm going to Houston. Probably the biggest urban sprawl city of any of them. The sidewalks have a lot of unevenness. So if you don't watch where you're going you'll bump into a raised part of the sidewalk and trip. Supposedly from subsidence. But I think the people who built the sidewalks just cheaped out. I tend to walk in parking lots next to the sidewalk instead.

    One nice thing about the city is it has HUGE parking lots everywhere you go. Parking is not an issue and generally free.

    I actually quite enjoy walking in Houston. There are no zoning bylaws, so people can build anything anywhere. This makes for an interesting mix of businesses in any general area. You never know what to expect when you're out sight seeing.

  9. It was a hot day in Texas. This was before I'd gone down to meet her for the 1st time. I was in British Columbia. I said to her Wow it's hot there today. You must have all the doors and windows wide open.

    No. Why would I do that?

    Well isn't it hot?

    I have the air conditioning on (she lives in an apartment).

    You have a window unit in the living room?

    No silly. I have central air conditioning.

    That absolutely floored me. Even $500,000 houses here don't have air conditioning let alone apartments. I couldn't figure out why the builders would shell out that much money so that each apartment had central air conditioning.

    Houston has U-turns absolutely everywhere. Where I'm from, U-turns are either illegal or frowned upon. In Houston they are big enough that two cars can turn at the same time. I couldn't figure out why they would pass each other so the other car was next to your driver door. Wouldn't it be easier to cut the corner tight and not go around the other person?......No, because if you did that you wouldn't be able to see the oncoming traffic.

    She couldn't believe it when I told her you can turn left on a red light here.

    Lots of differences in food.

    She's explained the whole sophmore, freshman thing a million times but I still don't get it.

    I couldn't figure out what the "HC" signs on the highways meant. (Hazardous Cargo)

    Had never heard of a co-pay before until she told me how her health care worked.

    Tipping is a whole new ballgame in the US.

    Her son told me about the 13 stripes representing the 13 colonies. I had never even considered that they might have any background significance. I just knew of the 50 stars = 50 states bit.

  10. I'm not too pleased with USPS right now. Carly sent me our I-129F package Express Mail on Feb 4th....It's still not here (Feb 12th)

    I've gotten stuff from her regular USPS that's gotten here faster than that. She dropped it off on Saturday afternoon at the post office. It was entered into their system on Monday at 5PM.

    Then again, I would never use UPS. Their brokerage/disbursement/COD fees for Canadians are beyond unethical. Downright theft.

  11. I guess everybody's mileage varies. But I've mailed lots of stuff from BC to TX. It usually gets there in 6 days if I use the full zip code and 7 days if I just use the first 5 digits.

  12. Hmm, I orderd a CD from the UK and it got to my home in British Columbia in 4 days. That was regular shipping. I think it was $4 or pounds for shipping.

    I've always found Canada Post to be nice to deal with.

  13. You people crack me up. This thread is about age differences and some of you are 22 and 24. :lol:

    Carly and I are 24 years apart. When we first started talking, she thought I was older and I thought she was younger. I was never really into going to clubs and getting super drunk. To me a good night is a movie or a quiet walk together. Maybe have a few friends over. I like classic rock, she likes new rock. Heck, she even went to Lollapallooza. She was drag racing when we met and I've always been a car guy.

    Despite the age difference, we seem to have a surprising amount in common. Same tastes in things. Same views on the world. When we met I asked her why not somebody her own age. She said guys are boring at that age. And I was tired of the silly games that women my age play.

    Most people think she's younger than she really is and for me they think I'm older.....this is fine for now, but someday I'll probably pass her in the looks department. :help: Would you think she's.....50?

    I think the thing that gets me the most is that she constantly makes me laugh. More than anybody else has in my life. And it makes for a great time together. And the nights spent sitting or laying next to each other just talking are probably what I miss the most about being away from her.

  14. Updated my timeline and signature lines.

    Craig, when you call the NVC, if you press 1 for the automated service, it will say your file doesn't exist (doesn't matter if you use your Case Status number from the Service Center level (WAC.....) or your new NVC Case number (probably ORL...... mine is VAC..... (Vancouver).

    You have to press 2 to talk to a real person to get details.

    As you can see from my timeline, it doesn't take very long to get from CSC to NVC and spends very little time there too. My advice is to wait a full week from the time you get your NOA2. Should give them enough time for them to tell you when it came and went all in 1 call.

×
×
  • Create New...