GiGii

Did you guys read online reviews for Magic Jack? I'd definitely recommend reading them before buying. Its $20 for 1yr, and $20 for the usb magic jack plug.

The call quality is horrible. There is about a 3 second delay (more if calling a cell phone). You arent sure if the call was dropped or if you are waiting for the person to speak or if their voice just hasnt come through yet. I found myself talking over the other person. Not worth the mess when there are other better quality options.

We tried one of those long distance companies, where you dial an access number and then your destination. It was working well for a while, until we got a bill from AT&T for $300 for 40 minutes. Yes $300! I called AT&T to find out why they'd be billing me, as they are not my long distance carrier. They said that the company I had, had their lines busy, so the call was routed over their network, and hence the "non-customer" rates. I fought them on the charge for about a year, taking the issue to the BBB to get it resolved. Ugh what a mess.

Mama's boys do have a hard time adjusting. Mine pretended to be this big bad guy, all independent, can handle anything the world throws at him. When he got here, he certainly changed. He couldn't be all "big bad" in a new place, with no family and just relying on me. He became homesick very quickly. Its been about 3 yrs and he's still almost as homesick as in the beginning. I sometimes wonder how long can someone be homesick, when does it end, when does he feel "here" is home now. He talks to immigrant friends, some who've been here for 10, 20 yrs, and they say they are still homesick. Money is not everything, and its hard when your heart is in the US and your family far away.

no i hate ice in my soda. i leave them in the fridge and drink them cold. i hate it when i go somewhere and they put half the cup with ice and half with soda, pisses me off.

no problem with ice in water, though, but i prefer to drink water that's in the fridge than use ice.

it's an american thing this icing obsession. in brazil when they bring you soda or water it's cold already

Yes, its an american thing, cause half a glass of ice is way cheaper than filing it up with whatever beverage, that's why they do it.

I personally like ice with my drinks at home, even though they are in the fridge, even when its winter. When I go out, and say I order soda, I dont want ice in there, I'm paying $3 for a small glass of soda, make it soda not watered down #######.

Now Russians in general freak out about ice. They say it causes your throat to hurt, as does ice cream.

I dont do much, because I wonder how much "warming" is actually happening. The scientists cant get their story straight.

What I do not do, is recycle. It's bad. The US takes up all these efforts to recycle, sending out a huge truck guzzling gas like crazy to pick up the items, then another big truck guzzling to take them from a sorting center to a compactor center, and another truck to load up the stuff onto a container ship to CHINA. The Chinese recycle the items and sell them back to the USA for a million percent profit. All the gas guzzling, container ships and other bad carbon footprint items that need to occur to recycle a stupid water bottle are rediculous. Perhaps the part that ticks me off the most, is China selling us back our trash. We have plenty enough of their items in each and every store, let them keep the trash.

Yikes, the OP needs some anger management. So someone made an error, it will get sent to you and you can square it away. Take a chill pill with all the freakings and f--- and #######'s. Is this why your wife filed for divorce?

Hi, I need some help regarding bankruptcyand filing for AOS. My friend came in on a student F1 visa (no 2 year requirement) in 1999. It expiered i believe in 2004. In February of this year he got married to a US citizen. My friend is self employed and with the economy going bad lost his business. Unfortunately now he has to file for bankruptcy. He still has not filed his AOS papers. Will bankruptcy affect his AOS paperwork? Does it matter if he files for bankruptcy before or after he files his AOS paperwork?

Thanks

You and GiGii need to form the "Rose colored glasses USA Fan Club."

f-off Mox. you are the one with rose colored glasses thinking another russian lady will want your sorry pathetic "russian wannabe" self, wake up "dude". just cause visaveteran pointed out the fact that you sit on here lonely and attack those that happen to mention that you have no visa journey, is no reason to bring me into it.

You are so wishy washy, if someone says Russia is good, you point out how bad & evil it can be. Afterall you are the almighty expert. If they say how Russia is bad, you all of the sudden have a hundred arguments why its the best place on earth. Regardless if it covers 1/6th of the earth or not, you aren't there, you dont live it, and you have no one from Russia to share a life with and compare the topics discussed here. So continue on in your fantasy, your doing swell.

I know of no young russian alki's, or woman beaters.

Hmmm. No offense, but you really seem like a person who sees the world as she wants to see it. Spend *any* time in Russia, and you can't help but see the effects of alcoholism in Russia. Spend some time in a small village (as I have), and it will stare you in the face almost every second you are out of doors. And the reason you don't know of any "woman beaters" is because it's not usually done publicly, although I've seen it happen in night clubs.

About Russia's 75 cents to a mans dollar, this will never change. We can't get this working in the US, how would we in countries where women are less valued.

Not that it's germane to the feminism discussion, but again, you're seeing things the way you want to see them, but you are wrong. Wages between men and women in the US are closing (the gap widens sometimes, and then closes again, but the overall trend is smaller), and have been closing for decades. And even closer to Russia, if I remember correctly one of the Scandinavian countries actually has a practically nil gap between wages. So it has been working in the US and abroad, so there's no reason to think it couldn't happen in Russia. But there has to be political and social will to push such change, which probably isn't there yet.

1. If you read my posts, you'd notice that what I wrote, I stated that it was more seen in large cities, not small villages. Please read before you attack. I dont have to have your view or opinion. I see the world as I see it and base MY opinions on it. You can see it as you wish, and those are your opinions, but I'm not wrong because mine differ.

2. Let me prove why you are wrong. You get on here with your made up facts and think you are this RU & US expert. The age gap is not closing in, its widening. And my 75 cents was wrong, gov't says it is 75.5 cents for a mans dollar. Women orgs say its 78cents. Still not close to closing in or small, and since 2005 the gap is widening.

"The workplace pay gap between men and women, once thought to be narrowing, has only been getting worse, according to an analysis of recently released census data conducted by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. Women make only 75.5 cents for every dollar that men earn, according to a new release by the U.S. Census Bureau."

They said that they'd be the lowest prices ever for Black friday in 08, and i was not pleased with any of the prices, hardly a "bottom" for me. Also a $400 flat screen that is some crappy rinky dinky brand is worthless to me.

Sorry, but this isn't right at all.

Not a single man I know is afraid to hold a door open for a woman. I don't know where that comes from, but it's a myth. I've never gotten a dirty look for holding a door open for a woman, and I *always* hold the door open for a woman (or man) when the situation presets itself. Feminism is not the problem, and it's sad to see a woman buying into that kind of Rush Limbaugh BS. It's a lot more complicated than that, and while yes there are some very radical feminists who would probably give me a piece of their mind for holding a door open for them, they are in the fringe minority of feminism and do not represent mainstream cultural trends at all. Even Gloria Steinem has said in interviews that she doesn't mind doors being held open for her or other common courtesies. That's not what feminism is about at all. What feminism has given this country is equal pay for equal work (granted, there's still a lot of work to do on that front, but it's much better than even a couple decades ago), equal opportunities for women to hold traditionally male jobs, the right to not have their asses smacked in the workplace and then being told that it's just guys being guys, the right to vote, the right to have control of their own bodies, and the list goes on.

The reason why "chivalry is dead" in the US is simply because society as a whole has relaxed, and quite frankly men (and women) have gotten lazier, and parents are worse than ever about teaching core values to our children. That's why we wear casual clothes instead of suits and ties to the workplace these days, or why we buy and eat a large percentage of our meals from a drive thru window. Men don't hold doors open or help a lady out with a big package anymore because Americans are fuc*ing lazy and can't be bothered. It has nothing at all to do with feminism. It has everything to do with a culture of laziness and general apathy.

And before Russian men are held up as the ideal in chivalry too much, I'll remind you that women make less money in Russia for doing the same job as a man by a pretty wide gap. Russian women, while expected to bring in 1/2 the income (or at least work a full time job), are also expected to maintain the household, cook, clean, do the shopping, and raise the children. The leading cause of death for married Russian women is at the hands of their husband, and the leading cause of death for all men in Russia is alcoholism, followed closely by drug-related causes. Both countries have their social problems, and neither is close to perfect.

Rather strong stuff I don't care what you call it (I think we are really confusing each other with definitions here), there is a huge difference between chivalrous behavior and common courtesy by definition. That is part of the problem I talked about in my earlier post. We are so far from chivalry here that we think holding the door qualifies. I also opine that the blurring of gender roles in America is directly related to the feminist movement (not to be confused with lack of courtesy). Control of career path, control of body, control of career, etc. - see the common thread here? I don't know the answers - but maybe it just comes down to what you are comfortable with, or what you can live with. Anything that puts men and women into competition for control of anything that should be cooperative in nature just confuses things more, at least in my opinion.

And back to courtesy. Speaking as a guy who has experienced "I can open my own door, thanks", and had a coat taken from my hands while I held it up for a female colleague to put on, I am happy that with my Viktoriya there is NO doubt at about it being a good idea to take her hand and help her out of the car, even if she doesn't really need it. Lifting and carrying is a given too. The refusal of courtesy didn't happen to me often over the years, and I don't recall it ever being nasty, but that isn't really the point. The point is inconsistent acceptance of same.

Thank you Brad. It seems according to Mox that no one has been turned down when they do an act of chivalry. Chicks do it to show that they are unreliable of a man. Is this the true definition of how feminism started, no. But this is what it has led to.

And the helping of a lady put her coat on... if I saw this in the workplace, I would almost think they have a thing going, instead of "oh what a polite man", simply because it is not seen.

Does laziness and lack of parents teaching have its effect also, sure it does. But its a mixture of both feministic ideas (even if the ladies dont define feminism this way) and lack of men knowing what a true mans role is.

Eekee you mentioned about the Russian man waiting till his lady got home to cook for him. It is traditional Russians that do this, however I pointed that perhaps times are changing. I have a young Russian guy and he cooks (ok not gourmet food, but cooks!), he cleans, we split chores, he doesnt drink and is not a woman beater. Is this one in a million? I think its the way you are brought up at home. If the mom sat there and took ####### from the dad each day, let her beat him, served like a slave then its no wonder the son would do the same thing. Like I said, I think times are slowly changing. I know of no young russian alki's, or woman beaters.

As for laws protecting women, all of Eastern Europe lacks these. If a woman dials 911 for help, they'd think its just a "quarrel" and ignore it. My MIL told me about some girl that had 3 kids, he beat her almost weekly, she kept calling for help, and if/when police arrived the a$$hole would lie and say that she's cheating on him, cops would leave. He did this for 6 months, then one night she locked herself in the bathroom so he would stop beating her, he beat the kids and told them to run to their grandparents cause he was going to kill their daughter. By the time the grandparents arrived, she was dead. Police do not act on it, cause that's all they would do, attend housecalls.

About Russia's 75 cents to a mans dollar, this will never change. We can't get this working in the US, how would we in countries where women are less valued.

I'm sorry for you & your wife's loss. I'd say drive down and get in line to get the emergency AP, they can stamp it in same day. She should bring evidence of the death (like letter, email, just something) with her, as well as NOA1 like Krikit mentioned.

I read that Tania doesn't want to go last minute and that she'll be too emotional. I have a family member that didn't go for a very similar reason, and to this day, over 20yrs later regrets not going and saying a final farewell. Hope you can discuss this with her.

^I'm not sure what you're laughing at, cause it's true. They don't want a man who kind of needs to be taken care of. They don't want to answer the statement "I'm hungry" with "What do you want? We have kotlety, pelmeni, eggs, and hot dogs." They answer with "OK, go look in the kitchen and make yourself something." And that can be as offensive as not carrying your woman's bags. I mean, if I'm not doing anything and they're very busy playing video games or being hungover, I'm fine with doing that kind of thing. But a lot of my American female friends just can't deal.

Are you talking about older men? More younger urbanites aren't like that. They like the independence from women (but enjoy when their mom does stuff for them). I know several that have never asked for a cooked meal. If the wife/girlfriend makes it cool, if she doesn't he'll make a sandwich. No fuss. I suppose the further you are from a big city the less this is true, but I think times are slowly changing.

The carrying bags, heavy things, opening doors still applies everywhere.

The reason chivalry is dead in the US is because of feminists. Its not just them wanting equality, its the chicks getting their feathers ruffled if some guy does something nice for them, like hold the door open. A guy will open a door once and get a dirty look or something said to, maybe he'll try once more, but if he gets a can of whoop a$$ again for doing it, then that was the last time he did it. How hard is a simple "thank you."

Being an independent woman (and NOT a feminist or anything of that nature), I was used to doing all the things in life myself. When my husband arrived I thought that the chivalry would end a couple months later... or at least decline. But to this day, every door is opened, every bag carried. I guess it's that stuff that makes woman feel like princesses... and appreciate our men more.

Slims post rocks!

All relationships have their ups & downs sure, but that's blah blah to the OP looking for a real reason that things aren't the way they once were. People do change, they get used to relationships and sometimes treat them as "maintenance free" when they aren't.

I'll tell you a little about our situation. My husband came here, dropped everything, even school to be with me. Was i thrilled, sure. But I dont think I appreciated it enough, soon it was just like "this is my husband, this is what he does, this is what I do, tada marriage!" The problem was I was still so wrapped up in my life and my activities that I kinda lost track of his happiness. He was super homesick, he missed his very tight nit family and most of all doing guy things with guys. Here he just seemed like my accomplice, not a true partner, cause he jumped right in the middle of my life. So he grew a little distant, to the point I got off my high horse to notice. Then the odd stuff grew kinda worse and I started seeing sadness.

What broke the silence? A fight We let each other hear all the negativity that we were holding deep inside get out. He felt a little better, but I realized that he was depressed and I kinda fed that depression. It came down to the fact that life here was not as he imagined, "our" life was not as he imagined. And its realizing it so blantly that led to changes.

Even though I'm very independent, I take him along more places, just so he feels loved & important. Is this what I would normally do for anyone else? No, but he dropped the world for me, i think I can do a little something for him too.

I know my story is not like yours Kotenochek, however maybe you can gain something through it. Maybe he just got used to you being around and forgot to make you feel more appreciated, tell him your thoughts and insecurities, if he has a heart, he'll act on the talk.

Slim - none of my business, but i just had to ask. You let your wife go alone with a "buddy" to FL? I guess I'm too jealous to let something like that fly.

Do any of you know whether it is easy or hard to adopt a baby/toddler in Russia?

You got an email from CRIS that said "DENIAL"??

Usually they say "notice sent", what about calling the info line?

Seems odd to deny without interview. I can see them denying if, after a long time, there is no response to an RFE they sent. But if you sent the info, and they acknowledged receipt of it, something's not jiving.

If you haven't had an interview, then perhaps its not a denial notice. How would you know what's in the mail anyway.

Usually after being forwarded to CSC, without interview, all you get is an approval notice.

Why were you denied? Normally they say they require more evidence, or a 2nd interview.

didnt you know before you married her and got to the US that she couldnt have kids and you wanted your own??

Exactly. Given the 20yr age difference, this almost automatically puts the lady out of the boundaries for having a baby. If this was your goal, why didn't you discuss this PRIOR to marriage.

I'll be honest in what I see happened, and probably why your I130 hasn't been approved. You found a lady older & desperate for love. You thought marriage was a sure way for a GC. 2yrs into the process you are tired of waiting for a GC and being tied to this lady, all the while wasting time on finding a new lady to have a family with. But you are still fairly young, and think you can have another stab at the GC marriage deal, hoping it will be quicker than the first.

USCIS also sees this, and hence the delay on the I-130. And contrary to what the attorneys told you, you can have only 1 I-130 in the system, if it got lost, you re-submit the same one, you dont file a new set. They must approve/deny the first one, before you can file any others. Just because it was taking them a long time doesn't mean to go filing new ones. You only clutter an already slow system even more.

I'm going to be psychic and guess your a MENA man.

i want to know if she takes a lawyer there to pursue and support our case is that will be useful and guaranted or no,coz i dnt wnat her to loose her money on nothing guaranted with the lawyer.

Is she going to pay for the lawyer herself, why not you hire a lawyer or at least the money for one. I am old school where men pay and women don't but that is just my two cents. Will you be buying her plane tickets?

I second that. In a culture where the man is all powerful, this is the least the OP should do.

Also, how do you plan a wedding, and even get to talking about marriage without ever seeing someone. I think it definitely puts doubt into the COs head.

Sam,

I don't have any immigration advice for you, just support. I think its better that you found out he was a cheating ####### now, and not down the line. Sorry you have to go through this.

You may want to call around immigration/divorce attorneys, find one that does a free consultation, so you can find out the details.

Best of luck to you

A naturalized citizen is deportable. Just this week Ivan Demjanjuk (Ukrainian Nazi) was going to be deported. He only got a temp stay based on his health issues. I dont get how he's given a temp stay, claiming traveling while sick is torture, yet he's forgotten what he did in the camps. I'd personally take on the responsibility for deporting his a$$ at age 89 and let him figure out what to do in a foreign land. Recently in the news, there was some huge local drug bust, the guy had been a naturalized citizen and they are working on getting him deported too (dont know the super specifics of this case).

You can't deport a citizen, naturalized or otherwise. In the case of Demjanjuk, they had to revoke his citizenship first. That has been a legal case stretching for years. I'm not familiar with the other case you mentioned, but they'll have to strip him of his citizenship too if they want to deport him.

They did strip him of his citizenship and he is now deportable. If I remember correctly, he renounced his former citizenship, so the problem was where to ship him back, since he had no technical "home country" now. So naturalized citizens are deportable... they just get stripped of citizenship first, then get booted.

There is an upside to the USC for their LPR spouse to gain citizenship, it is the end of the affidavit of support. You guys are understimating its powers. Even though Julianna explained more about the other possibilities, there lie more. If your spouse ever collected any type of support; welfare, stamps, went to a hospital didnt pay (didnt have insurance, etc), racks up debt, buys a car & doesnt want to pay it off, they come after the USC. Sure its not immediate, and by the time they get to you with what you owe there's probably 50% interest already added in, but as the USC its your debt, cause you promised to support your spouse.

As for illegals collecting Social Security, yes those that have been here ages. But past years illegals/tourist overstayers cant get a SS #, hence shortening this problem. SS has enough problems of their own, I was told I'm paying into a system I wont see a dime of I guess its no use to fix the system when its broken down, falling fast. Thank God for my 401K... wait that's broken down & falling fast too. I guess thank God for my house's value, wait that's falling fast too. Yay USA!

A naturalized citizen is deportable. Just this week Ivan Demjanjuk (Ukrainian Nazi) was going to be deported. He only got a temp stay based on his health issues. I dont get how he's given a temp stay, claiming traveling while sick is torture, yet he's forgotten what he did in the camps. I'd personally take on the responsibility for deporting his a$$ at age 89 and let him figure out what to do in a foreign land. Recently in the news, there was some huge local drug bust, the guy had been a naturalized citizen and they are working on getting him deported too (dont know the super specifics of this case).

There is another upside to dual citizenship. Lets say the RU spouse travels home to Russia, of course on a Russian passport. In case some crazy conflict would happen between US & Russia, the US will not go protecting the spouse, or finding them to bring them home. That is only for US citizens, however while you are on Russian land under a Russian passport, the US has no authority over you. I understand this is a far fetch, but possible given the US & RU relations. The upside of traveling on a US passport is hoping someone's got your back. However, I can understand how hassling it is to get all the mumbo jumbo of permits, etc.

It's not discriminating against obese people. The seats are designed to accomodate an average person. If your girth requires you to occupy 2 seats, then you should be required to pay for that extra seat.

The seats are designed to accomodate the average person in 1960 when most airline planes were designed. They have never changed the wideness of seats.

Its like parking spaces used to be 2 feet narrower in 1960, but now due to all the SUVs and pick up trucks, they made the spaces bigger. They should do the same for airline seats.

Even an average person is not sitting very comfortable in an airline seat, its small & cramped. Make them bigger and raise the price $20 per ticket, problem solved.

Congrats! Perserverence paid off!

To Steven's point, I see a lot more construction today than I did a year ago. Unlike a year ago, though, none of it is residential.

They've even done some resurfacing on 22

Imagine that.

I also see a bunch of new strip malls which have resumed construction after sitting dormant for over a year. And a giant data center is coming up near me as well. Client unknown.

Also, the site that was previously supposed to be affordable housing down the street from me... is under construction. And the guys working there say it isn't affordable housing anymore. It's mixed use, retail and residential rentals with a shuttle to the train station (think nyc commuters).

ANDDD they've begun work on the huge mixed use project by New Brunswick train station too.

East Peoria has started construction on a new downtown. They have taken over a large area that used to have Cat factories on them and are building a really nice downtown. The lots have been empty for many years.

http://www.eastpeoria2010.com/new.asp

On the other side of the river they are building a new museum and a Caterpillar welcome center. We may even get our own IMAX theater!

http://www.buildtheblock.org

Its funny Gary how you think the whole economy is centered on what happens in little ol' Peoria. Caterpillar is having tremendous financial difficulty, its defaulting on payments to clients, so not sure why they are building a welcome center. Maybe to welcome a bailout plan.

I think the US recovery is still a while away. Another crash in credit will break later this year, when people all stop paying their credit cards and auto payments.