thesnowman

Being from the UK I hate the Health system over here, but I must admit I don't like her idea of burdening business with it, plus how is she going to force people into having health insurance. I think a better method would be for the government to take money out of there wages and use there massive purchasing power to buy basic cheap insurance for people in low income jobs. I know there is flaws in this idea as well, but something has to change. I am going to be moving to another job, and I don't get benefits for 3 months when I start my new position. So my whole family is going to be without medical coverage for 3 months. We will probably buy a short term medical insurance policy, but it wont be as good as the one I get from work.

Hi again! I am OP , who initially asked the question. Based on your opinions I already booked a flight with Virgin Atlantic .Found very good deal ( I think... )-$ 771.

I feel less anxious now and again thanks a million to you for helping me to make a decision.

I love you all!!!! ...and continue to read about your experiences

good choice, just make sure not to drink to much of the free alcohol before reaching your POE

Yawn

I would recommend flying virgin atlantic. I have flown with BA, Continental and Virgin. Continental are ok for the price, but I found that they didnt have on demand movies or free drinks and the food was a bit meh. BA are fairly decent, but as they are about the same price as virgin I would always go with virgin.

Virgin have on demand movies, tv shows, music and free drinks. Lots of leg room and I have always found the staff to be really friendly and helpful.

When we made the big move over we flew with virgin because we had myself, my then fiance and my son. We wanted to the extra leg room. The staff allowed us to get a bulkhead seat so that we could get a crib in there and my son wandered all over the plan and after around 2 hours all the staff knew his name and were giving him snacks and drinks whenever he wandered past, it was rather funny.

Never flew with united or AA so I cant comment on them.

When we first arrived we bought a Dodge Interpid for $3000, that car lasted around 3 months before the engine blew. After several months of getting the bus everywhere, I got a job and after my first pay check I went to a dealership and bought a brand new car (Chevy Equinox) with $1000 down. Since my wifes credit wasn't great they done it all on mine (I didnt have any credit history) and got me a good deal on some new buyers scheme. we had to pay slightly over what we wanted for monthly payments, but insurance is fairly cheap, decent interest rate and the car has a 5 year warranty.

We just phoned around the various dealerships and were completely honest with them and most went out of the way to find us credit.

I arrived in the USA 3 days before my 26th Birthday. When I got my welcome to American letter and my green card it only said I had to register if I was under 26, which I wasn't, so I wont be registering.

CITIZENSHIP

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) makes registration with Selective Service a condition for U.S. citizenship if the man first arrived in the U.S. before his 26th birthday

If you attempt to register for the selective service at the website when you are 26 it informs you that you cant do it. I didn't have to register for the selective service until I became a permanent resident, it wasn't a requirement of the K1. They cant penalize me for not registering when first arrived as it wasn't a requirement and once I had completed AOS I was over 25 and I they wont accept my registration.

from the Immigrant Resource Center

Selective Service Registration

* f you are a male at least 18 years old, but not yet 26 years old, and required according to the Military Selective Service Act to register with the Selective Service System, USCIS will help you register.

*

When your signed application is filed and accepted by USCIS, we will transmit to the Selective Service System your name, current address, Social Security number, date of birth and the date you filed the application. This action will enable the Selective Service System to record your registration as of the filing date of your application.

* Visa Waiver requirements.

NOTE: Men 18 through 25 years old who are applying for student financial aid, government employment or job training benefits should register directly with the Selective Service System or such benefits may be denied. Men can register at a local post office or on the internet at http://www.sss.gov.

I arrived in the USA 3 days before my 26th Birthday. When I got my welcome to American letter and my green card it only said I had to register if I was under 26, which I wasn't, so I wont be registering.

I had to wait until I got my EAD through before I could get my driving license, but that was in Missouri and I know it is different from state to state.

We were lucky that my wife was able to live in the UK for two years before we got married. We weren't able to get married in the UK due to some technicality, so we got our finance visa and got married in Vegas. Vegas seemed the ideal choice as that is where we met and was a bit more glamorous than going to a courthouse. We are now planning on having a big wedding sometime next year where we will have all our family over. We both feel a bit peeved that we never had a proper wedding because of this process.

I am so glad that we had those two years in the UK, as we got all the living together issues over with before we moved over here and got married. I would say that if you are happy get married, do it in the UK and then go for a spouse visa so the non USC can work when he gets there.

Anyway do what you feel best for you and don't worry about everyone else.

P.S Our quality of life is so much better over here.

Buffalo Wild Wings -honey barbeque .... I love it!

I love Buffalo Wild Wings. My work has a company lunch once a month where they order food in. one month they got loads of Buffalo Wild Wings in, there were so many that I had to take loads home with me. Where I stay there a few around the city, but they are all in the suburbs and I live downtown, so I dont get a chance to go really.

It didn't find it to be an issue and I have Scottish Standard grades and Highers, and a HND. Since you are British they will probably assume that you are smart anyway. Seems to be a positive stereotype

The NHS isnt perfect, but at least I was ALWAYS seen by a GP on the day if I called before 10am.

Wow -- you mustn't have been living in North London then! I had to see my GP earlier this year about what turned out to be a torn ligament in my wrist. At first I had ignored the pain for a day, but it swelled up alarmingly and I called the surgery to seek help. I was told it would be one week until any doctor, not just my GP, could see me. I told them my wrist was popping all the time, I was in terrible pain unless I doped myself to high heaven with Solpadeine and my wrist was almost triple its normal size. No dice, but maybe I could go to casualty? (No way, Jose!) One week later, my wrist was in a splint and the doctor actually asked me why I had waited so long to seek help! I'm still having problems with the wrist, and I was told it could take up to a year to heal. I have no way of knowing whether the delay in getting treatment made the healing process slow down.

I have had awesome care on the NHS on occasion, adequate to good care most of the time, and on a few occasions truly terrible care that endangered my life. I have no idea what to expect in the US -- I'm hoping my interview tomorrow will result in an employment contract (as opposed to a consultancy agreement) that will allow me to take advantage of the great care available at the university's health clinic. Otherwise, I'm praying nothing goes wrong in the next few months!

Lived in Bristol.

This whole topic has made he sick to the stomach. My wife is black and my son mixed. The other day I was with my brother in law in a predominantly rich white neighborhood getting gas. This older white man drove up, nearly hit the car and then got out and preceded to get out and start calling my brother in law a "f**king Nig**r, get your gas in the black neighborhood", he then lashed out at me for being white and a traitor, and then threatened to get his gun out. We then left quickly as this happened without provocation and for no apparent reason. The reason Al Sharpton and the like have a voice is because s**t like this happens. These older white people listen to Rush and Imus and think it is acceptable to talk like that, it really isn't. Michael Moore might make crazy statements against the president, but he is the president and he has to take the criticism as part of the job. Imus in particular attacked some black girls that hadn't done anything to him and had no voice to protest, that is where these civil right leader come in.

We should go into Dafur because there is genocide going on, it is the right thing to, and I have to believe that at least some politicians want to the right thing. When genocide was happening in Kosovo we were in there fast enough, then again that is a white country in the heart of Europe.

I do, too. But if we're talking about who an AG appeals to when they talk tough on crime, it's the upper classes. When they talk about community policing and building networks within the community, that's aimed towards people who aren't sure they can trust the cops.

I wasn't commenting on whether politicians are aiming their policies at certain demographics, I was merely pointing out that middle class white people have genuine reasons to feel strongly about illegal immigrants in their own country.

As for your point on whether politicians tell people what they want to hear...... I would think that is intrinsic in any representative democracy. Agreed.

I agree that anyone who pays there taxes has the right complain and feel strongly about illegal immigration. However I feel that middle white America would be more scared of those nasty immigrants that some white business man doing some financial fiddling and ruining thousands of peoples lives (ie Enron).

Illegal immigration is a problem, and having spent a significant amount of time and money getting over here and feel that just as much as other people on this boards. I also agree with Gary that if you are arrested and they have any suspicion of being in the country illegally they should notify INS. In fact most of the information is out there, its just in different databases, its just needs to be linked up.

However in saying that I think this immigration problem is smaller than people make it out to be. The media pounce on it and then only show news stories about it. There are more pressing concerns for this country than try to demonize immigrants (legal and illegal). We have genocide happening in Africa, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, collapsing housing market, failing health care system and increasing poverty in this country. Its all smoke and mirrors, fixate on a problem in one area so that no one realizes there is something more important going on elsewhere.

As Bill Hicks use to say "we are the puppet people, we see it on our tv its true"

I have never had a problem with the NHS, my US wife loved the midwife service when having a baby, so much so she wants to have a midwife again much to the fustration of our insurance company. I have been more fustrated by the system over here than anywhere else. When we came back here we came back as a family, therefore no medical insurance. My wife and son got on Medicaid until I got full time employment, but I only recently got insurance, thank god I didnt get sick before. I am now having to worry about the cost of having another baby as my deductible will come into play.

The NHS isnt perfect, but at least I was ALWAYS seen by a GP on the day if I called before 10am. Over here if my son is sick we have to wait 3-4 days, unless he has an ear infection then its 48 hours.

Now dont get me wrong, my son had an operation whilst on Medicaid and the level of service and the standard of the hospital were superb, better than what I have seen in the UK. However I just don't understand in a country as rich and wealthy as America that it doesn't have a unified health care system. My wife is also works as an insurance biller for a doctors surgery and the way these insurance companies get the payments wrong just in the hope that you don't notice.

Neither system is perfect, but I would rather not have to worry about insurance and coverage and just know that I will be taken care off.

C.F. Neubert is furious with businesses that hire immigrant workers. He doesn't even care if they are legal or illegal. What he cares about is that they are making his business less competitive. Neubert, a former manager in the satellite-systems business at Boeing (BA), runs a small machine shop in Los Angeles that does aerospace work. He says the prevailing wage in his business should be about $25 an hour, instead of the $13 an hour that his competitors pay. So he runs the shop himself and refuses to hire anyone else. "I just won't because it's against my principles," he says. "I would like to hire somebody at the wage that the job deserves."

If he thinks the job deserves $25 an hour, why doesn't he hire someone and pay them $25 an hour?

Thats what I was wondering. If I was getting more than I expected for that type of job I would work my as$ off to make sure I didnt get fired.

I am scared but I know I have to do it.

Good for you, just make sure you do it. There is absolutely no excuse for the way he treated you, you deserve better.

Maybe Gary will get some new found respect for her ......

so if she prolongs the war or even expands it, gary is supposed to agree with that and everyone who hates bush will think her doing so is great?

O hush it was a joke. Gary is on here all the time posting items that the strategy in Iraq is working and now his most hated politician is agreeing with him. Just thought it was funny, wasn't meant to be that deep.

You know how those Bush lovers can't take a joke!

I can take a joke, take Hillary for example.......

lol

Maybe Gary will get some new found respect for her ......

so if she prolongs the war or even expands it, gary is supposed to agree with that and everyone who hates bush will think her doing so is great?

O hush it was a joke. Gary is on here all the time posting items that the strategy in Iraq is working and now his most hated politician is agreeing with him. Just thought it was funny, wasn't meant to be that deep.

Maybe Gary will get some new found respect for her ......

so anybody have any other ideas??

Marilyn, I'm using Vista at work here...actually the only one here with it. Whenever I open video, it takes forever, but eventually it opens. I'd suggest opening video with Quicktime...that's my work around. It stills takes awhile to open, but it does work.

(I think it has something to do with authentication/authorization. MS wants to eventually restrict media that doesn't have a license to run on Windows Vista...Nice, huh?)

i do have quicktime but that still doesn't solve my Netflix player problem...

My only suggestion now is really to uninstall it, and then reinstall it. Or install quicktime, realplayer or itunes. Also, if you can get it to run as administrator then do so, go into help and then about, and see if there is a detect and repair option. If so try this.

I can't uninstall it....

You should be able to uninstall it. I cant remember the exact path, but I think it is in control panel. Then programs then in the windows component section. Let me boot into vista and I will have a look.

My only suggestion now is really to uninstall it, and then reinstall it. Or install quicktime, realplayer or itunes. Also, if you can get it to run as administrator then do so, go into help and then about, and see if there is a detect and repair option. If so try this.

My wife has been desperate for them so we made a deal that after the next baby she can get them once we save up for them. Personally I think they are quite a handful already

i have been having a problem with my windows Media Player for the last couple of days..... the problem is that it doesn't work.... When I click on it basically nothing happens....

the only way it works is if you right click on it and then run it as administrator...

I tried uninstalling all the recent updates and all the programs I have installed in the last little while but it still doesn't work...

I tired asking the question on a tech site but they don't seem to know what is wrong and according to that site it looks like a lot of people are having the same problem...

yeah, I know I could use a different media player and I have downloaded the VLC player ...but I can't even use my Netflix Movie player now either because the windows media player and the Netflix player are somehow connected ..

does anybody know what the problem could be??

I had a similar problem, here is the solution I found

1. Click Start - All Programs - Accesories

2. Right Click Command Prompt and select "Run as administrator"

3. Type the following command and press Enter.

regsvr32 wmp.dll

Popup Regsvr32 will come up with the following:

DLLRegisterServer in wmp.dll succeeded.

Start Media Player.....it worked for me. I have Vista Home Premium.

the thing worked that you said to do but the media player still doesn't work..

The only thing I can think of is that Windows Vista has got all the crazy asking for permissions all the time. I wonder if when you installed it, u installed it as administrator, but then didn't select the option to be used as all users who log into this computer.

As I said I got it to work this way, but it does sound like a permission issue.

Got my green card and the welcome to America letter on Saturday. The back of the green card is cool. Anyway glad I don't have to deal the USCIS ### again for 20 months.