Aubrey

Well, my fiancé and I weren't originally planning on going this route, but things aren't working out with his student visa. I've read/heard from other VJ'rs that Frankfurt doesn't require 6 months residency in Germany to do DCF there, just a resident permit. Has anyone done this more recently and can verify this? The last post I saw verifying this is from August 07. I know that getting a resident card in Germany is pretty simple as a spouse and have checked into that already.

A couple more general questions regarding DCF:

Assuming we file in person, do I need to be present in Germany after the original filing? Or could I fly back to the USA?

My fiancé has no criminal record, does he still need to get a police certificate?

When do we file an AOS - the guide for DCF isn't clear to me, but the K3 stuff says it's at the spousal interview. Is that the case? I have to get a joint sponsor, so it'd be good to know I have a little time to get that.

I could really use some good news today. Bad bad day hearing this student visa isn't working. The prospect of even more months apart just sucks so much.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e-LOtKIIKcg

LOL, he totally should have dropped the lightbulb, imo!

Oil is priced on the international market in dollars (except Iran, they don't sell in dollars and are not part of this system). When the US dollar falls in value, the price of oil must raise in order to maintain profit levels. The reaosn gas prices have been raising is because of the falling dollar values. The reason plastics haven't raised yet and other things with petroleum bases (or not raised as much) is that many manufacturers are not yet passing on the cost as well as there is a greater lag time in the process with other things besides oil and fuel. The real question is not why is oil going up, the real question is why is the American dollar falling. Pumping more oil isn't going to make much difference when our economy keeps dropping.

Fuel prices have skyrocketed worldwide, so it really has nothing to do with the weak dollar. Everything I've heard on the news and read says the cause is twofold: excessive demand, particularly new demand from the east such as China and India, and speculation, causing a "bubble" in the price.

During his toddler years, things became more "pronounced" and he even got kicked out of daycare when he was 2 because they were not "equipped" to provide for his needs. Ex: too many kids and it was like mental/sensory overload, transitioning from one activity to another and he could not cope, any change in "routine" and he could not function, (that even includes having a substitute teacher), and abrupt changes just stressed him completely out. He grinds his teeth so hard, it can be heard clear down the hall in another room. That was a strong indicator to his preschool teacher that something was wrong with him or his environment. She taught him to massage his jaws or open and close his mouth when he was old enough to be aware of his reactions to stress. (That worked some of the time, not all.)

That was often the case with many of my autistic students. They specifically placed one of them with me a 2nd year when I changed subjects so that he'd have someone familiar. Days the schedule changed were generally not so productive.

I don't know what did it, but your post also reminded me of another common thing among my autistic students, including the 2 with aspergers -- sensitivity to light, especially fluorescents or blinking. I always draped tissue paper over my classroom fluorescents and it seemed to do the trick (besides, the damn lights give me migraines anyway). You might see if you notice this he seems more upset in large stores with that sort of lighting and adjust accordingly.

It will all be okay with strong involved parenting. Early intervention and whatever therapies you find help calm your child will do wonders.

Nope, instead I'm "special" and getting a 2nd bachelor's since I changed fields (teaching history to graphic design 0o).

Maybe the Master's sometime after I pay off student loans and get some experience... if I decide I want to teach at the university level. Maybe.

The pollution isn't any worse than some other large cities; in fact, it's less than other places, such as L.A. or even some smaller, lesser-known cities. None of that means Houston lacks pollution, but it's not quite as bad as many think. As for crime, it's certainly less than many, many other cities. Baltimore, for instance, has the highest crime rate (the last time I checked) in the U.S. and it's nowhere near the size of Houston. Much of the incredibly high crime figures the media has thrown about (due to the New Orleans refugees sticking around) have been dropping off.

In reference to the urban sprawl, it's not really bad. Houston has tons of freeways, so unless you're adamant about sticking to the side-streets, you can get most places by hopping on a freeway and find your destination pretty quickly. I tend to like the fact that the city is so large. I've been to smaller places before and it's driven me nuts. Then again, that's me.

Top 10 most polluted US cities

(By ozone)

1) Los Angeles, California

2) Bakersfield, California

3) Visalia/Porterville, California

4) Houston, Texas

5) Fresno/Madera, California

6) Sacramento, California

7) Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas

8) New York City/Newark, New Jersey

9) Baltimore, Maryland./Washington, DC

10) Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Most dangerous metropolitan areas (2007):

01 Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn, MI M.D.

02 Memphis, TN-MS-AR

03 Pine Bluff, AR

04 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV

05 Florence, SC

06 Myrtle Beach, SC

07 Flint, MI

08 Stockton, CA

09 Jackson, TN

10 Shreveport-Bossier City, LA

11 Miami-Dade County, FL M.D.

12 Charlotte-Gastonia, NC-SC

13 Hot Springs, AR

14 Saginaw, MI

15 Albuquerque, NM

16 Little Rock, AR

17 Yakima, WA

18 Tucson, AZ

19 Oakland-Fremont, CA M.D.

20 Macon, GA

21 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

22 Houston, TX

23 Modesto, CA

24 Sumter, SC

25 Alexandria, LA

And from UH's own magazine (2006):

Sprawl, he says, is a city “spreading out without a plan or design—like water—into the path of least resistance.” Ranked by amount of sprawl, Houston is second in the nation, just behind Atlanta. ...

Houston’s 4 million residents are spread across 2,000 square miles—all that travel to work, school, and shopping takes a toll. Besides air quality problems, sprawl causes traffic congestion, long commutes, and more wear-and-tear on infrastructure, especially roads. It makes evacuation in the event of an emergency an ordeal—remember Hurricane Rita?

Bad enough, imo. It's nothing personal, I just have a thing against miles and miles of concrete. So I moved to paradise.

P.S. what are you planning for your B-day? I thought Ishwar could call you since his B-day is in 2 days and you're both celebrating alone cause Moscow is cleared out during the summer.

Sadly, nothing. It's deadsville in town, can't afford to go anywhere, and with Andy still stuck in Germany that leaves me with another crappy birthday. I guess it's slightly better than the one 2 years ago when I slept in my car at the Montana border during the move up here.

Paid $3.99 for regular here in Moscow, Idaho yesterday.

Good thing it's been 2 months since I last filled up! 5 minute drives to get everywhere!

1. Houston

2. Raleigh

3. Omaha

4. Boise

5. Colorado Springs

6. Austin

7. Fayettville

8. Sacramento

9. Des Moines

10. Provo

http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/artic...,-Work-and-Play

Houston... okay, completely ignore the traffic, the UGLY sprawl, the pollution, and the crime rate... My family (parents and sister's family) moved there and I dread visiting that hell hole...

Austin... lived there myself and the housing is ridiculously expensive unless you live 40+ minutes outside of the city, and you'll sit in traffic at all times of day and never find a place to park downtown. It's a great city if you like crowds and can afford a multi-million dollar home on the west side of the city. And well, my personal experience with AISD (the city school district) really didn't give me a good impression of the educational quality to say the least.

Boise... ok, haven't lived there but holy smokes that desert town is ugly and hot.

Actually I think it's funny that this list includes only cities with huge population growth. Slower growth areas IMO are nicer to live in because you don't have the pressures on increasing competition for all the city resources (road space, space in schools, jobs, etc).

Well, this is the list of the top 10 cities I will avoid.

I used to be a teacher, and I had quite a bit of experience with children with autism. I had two specifically with Aspergers, one of them over a two year period of time.

I'm no expert on autism, however my experience with my students definitely taught me not to lump aspergers and classic autism cases into the same boat. Children with Aspergers syndrome tend to be much higher functioning as they grow older and often have average to high iQs. Their lack of social functioning and often poor ability to write can lead to serious frustration, but I've also seen those same kids score brilliantly with little effort.

I strongly recommend you find support in your local community - other parents with children that have autism. You can learn so much from parents that have already been where you are. More importantly, you'll want to, if you are able, get treatment with professionals to improve your child's social/verbal functioning as much as possible. Otherwise entering school will be more difficult than it needs be.

And I know this is down the road a bit, but when your child does enter school, be sure that you know all of your child's rights under the IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). It was amazing how little the parents of my students with disabilities knew about their child's rights or needs, and it all starts with knowing the law and your protections.

Best of luck to you and your family, and if you've got any education-related questions I'd be happy to help you.

Uhm, perhaps picking a day other than Juneteenth might be more favorable for this fight (which is good and all, but Emancipation Day ranks higher...)...

June 20th?

Imo, this quiz seems a bit more accurate...

Msn's Can you pass the U.S. citizenship test?

We met in person, but our relationship didn't really *bloom* until he went back to Toronto. He apparently exported them all to a txt file being the super geek he is. I do have one that exemplified the super geekified boy he is though! It said something like:

<insert many lines of cute programming/scripting here that I cannot remember> and the funniest line I have ever read in coding:

You have hacked my systems and installed yourself!

/end

Pure geek and I love it! Soooo sweet.

I don't have a first e-mail or text message, as my fiancé and I met on a video game and were friends for a long time first. But now we both save every text conversation and email since we realized what we felt. Some great sweet e-mails from mein Schatz. He reminds me all the time that I'm the only pink sharky for him.

Seems this thread might be in the wrong area... sorry, I'm not a CR-1/IR-1 person, but the topic interested me.

My fiancé and I definitely disagree more since the whole process with immigration began. It's stressful enough being apart without worrying about how and when paperwork and appointments are getting finished without me. I'm a stressed out nut watching him go through so much alone. I just hate it and it makes me far less pleasant to deal with. I'm lucky he's such an amazing man to put up with this!

I remember reading somewhere on the uscis website that pictures with the hair covered is okay to submit if it's required by one's cultural practice. I'd recommend you do a search on their site for the picture guidelines just to double check, though.

The shame will soon end...

Clueless idiot...

It's also reeeeeeeally expensive. Most dental insurances don't even cover the cost of a resin filling (and I have yet to find a dentist in the last 5 years that still does amalgam - what the insurance will pay for).

I really hate our health insurance system in this country...

The Department of Energy, nevertheless, is encouraging citizens to take a pledge to replace at least one incandescent bulb with a CFL.

I'd consider myself environmentally conscious, but I absolutely will not use fluorescent light bulbs. They give me migraine headaches. Others, too. Even the FDA acknowledges this link in some people... I hope they get to working on making more LEDs available or I guess I'll be using candles to light up my room at night

Thx everyone for the advice. I'll be looking into this titanium with tension setting ring.

Hey chickadee, just take it to a jeweler a couple times a year to have it cleaned and have the prongs checked. It's inexpensive and is good preventive maintenance.

Also, don't ever clean with your rings on, it's the easiest way to snag a prong.

Well, if you read up on reviews about Zunes (which I did before I bought my iPod), they seem to have more trouble with defects and people didn't seem to like their music download service.

If you really just want to play mp3's, you might consider an off brand player. The only reason to choose an iPod over those (btw they are about twice as much) is for the graphic interface and the iTunes service. I don't download any videos from it, but I like the iTunes store for the games (saved me major boredom on my 4 hour layovers flying to Germany) and downloading individual songs. I think you can do that on Amazon, but it's all there together. Plus I can carry photos of my sweetheart with me on it.

Oh, also consider if you want any accessories there's tons of choices for iPod and little to none for other players, including Zune.

BUT My fiancé has an off brand player which does the job fine for him.

Tbh, Zune sales are so pitiful that I wouldn't be surprised if they quit trying and drop support for it in the near future.

Yes to all.

Equal protection under the law is what the Constitution requires. Whether you believe in it religiously or otherwise, that is what U.S. citizen are due. Everyone gets to choose a partner to share their life, finances, inheritance rights, medical oversight in emergencies, etc. I see no legal justification for denying a homosexual their rights.

And on a personal note, I have had a couple gay male friends in my life. They definitely did not "choose" homosexuality; it is just who they are. And that is okay with me.

If we instead start developing our cities for higher density. You will hardly ever have to go far to get what you need. Making buses much more of an economical option.

Yep, and there are many cities attempting urban renewal plans to bring people back to the city. Sprawl is responsible for road congestion -> air pollution, lower city taxes -> urban decay, higher city crime rates, low-income resident density (these are the people you WANT to spread out to improve their rates of success out of poverty), and a plethora of other problems. Unfortunately, it's also usually still cheaper to live in those suburbs and commute your 40 hours a year (80 if you're in the LA area). Until more is done to reverse that trend, people will continue to abandon the cities and idle on highways. Or, they will do like I did.. abandon city life for small town life (Austin, TX to little bitty Moscow, Idaho!). Oh, and a few cities are imposing strict building limits to the outskirts in their own attempt to force higher density housing.

And as for the the complaints about light rail mentioned in this thread, it's not the end-all solution to road congestion. It's merely a start, but you have to start somewhere to build infrastructure. You start small and expand to add more stations, additional routes, and soon you have availability. Personally I would love to sit on the train instead of in hours of traffic like I often did back in Austin.

</end urban geography rant>

And I'm not a city person in general, but I have to say that it CAN be done well and be quite pleasant. If our cities were more like those in Europe -- with flowers everywhere, people walking and riding bikes, accessible train routes to most places, pleasant downtown housing -- I would happily convert to downtown city life.

It's socialism on parade. Rail transportation is popular in places dominated by socialists.

I figured that much.

it's like they read from a script!

Hooray for socialists!

Yeah, just think if we were a socialist country... we might actually cover all of our citizens with health insurance! *gasp* (1/2 of all personal bankruptcies are from medical bills, after all)

Some things do need government support in order to move the public in the right direction.

Ich bin zwar nicht Deutsche wollte aber trotzdem antworten... Wir haben die DCF Route gewaehlt und ich weiss, dass das auch in Deutschland moeglich ist und das geht relativ schnell. Bei uns ging das ganze 1 Monat. Nach der Hochzeit bewirbst du dich direkt beim Amerikanischen Konsulat in Deutschland (dein Ehemann muss dabei allerdings anwesend sein soviel ich weiss - im DCF Forum hats einige Deutsche, die dir sicher gut Auskunft geben koennnen). Wenn die Petition genehmigt wird erhaeltst du ein CR1 Visum mit dem du in die USA einreist und am POE (Port of Entry) den "Green Card"-Stempel in den Pass bekommst. Die "richtige" Green Card folgt dann wenige Wochen in der Post.

I am not German but still wanted to answer ... We have the DCF route gewaehlt and I know that in Germany is possible and this is relatively fast. We went the whole 1 month. After the wedding you have to apply directly at the U.S. consulate in Germany (your husband must however be present as far as I know - in the DCF Forum hats some Germans who you certainly well as information. If the petition is approved, you receive a CR1 visa with which you entry into the United States and POE (Port of Entry) the "Green Card" stamp in the passport can get. The "right" Green Card then follows a few weeks in the post.

I'm not currently living in Germany, so from what I read I thought we aren't eligible to use the DCF process. Is there away around the 6 month residency requirement that I'm not aware of? I couldn't find anything about it reading through the DCF forums except a blip in the guides: "Note: There may be a few rare cases where a non-resident US Citizen overseas may be able use the DCF procedure. For more information please visit the DCF Forums Section."

My condolences. It's hard losing a pet - they're like a member of your family and yet so few people understand the depth of that love and companionship. They love and give without asking much in return -- far less than any human expects. My thoughts are with you and your fiancé.