Thursday, June 15, 2006

"At least it's a DRY heat..."

As if this wait for TA isn't stressful enough, what with expiring fingerprints and a CIS office that has a double top secret phone number, my AC went out day before yesterday on the hottest day of the year so far...triple digits. Ok, SURELY it was SOMEBODY's responsibility to tell me you're supposed to hose down the AC unit regularly or the dirt and grass clippings will clog it up. Where's a husband when you need one to blame. :)

Ever see on TV where they make mud huts out of dried mud and straw?? Well, the inside of the big AC unit kinda looked like that! I say with some degree of pride that the AC repairman said he'd never seen one choked up that badly before. I suppose that's sorta like First Worst Place and I do like being the best at something.

So my AC ended up getting an acid wash (twice) and I ended up with a $280 lesson in AC preventative maintenance.

But I was blissfully cool while sleeping last night, in stark contrast to the 80+ degrees that it still was in my house at 5 AM yesterday morning.

List update:

My homestudy update was done Monday, so I should be receiving the notarized copies in the next few days. CHECK!

Got passport photos for the visa application. CHECK!

Ordered Baby Sherpa Backpack diaper bag. CHECK!

Ordered Baby B'Air vest. CHECK!

On the re-fingerprinting front, they mailed me a receipt over 2 weeks ago for the the payment, but I had not yet received an appointment letter and was starting to panic. There is no phone number to the San Antonio office. None. Anywhere. I called the 800 national number and they had no phone number or fax number either and said I would have to go in person to ask about the letter. I actually had to take off from work this morning to drive from Austin to San Antonio (80 or so miles) to ask a question. (Does anyone else find it as amusing as I do that the SA USCIS office has a Community Liaison Officer but there's no phone number or email address to contact her???)

I had an Infopass appointment for 9:40 AM and was there 15 minutes early. My number was called at 10:55 AM. People in the "No Appointment" line next to me got numbers smaller than me and were being helped ahead of me, so I suppose it was actually first come-first served. I'm not at all clear what good making an appointment actually does, but my advice would be to get the earliest appointment and then still get there to be in line before everyone else! Cover all bases!

Once I was called, they were very nice and gave me a letter for today, but I would have had to wait for hours again and I needed to get back to work for at least part of the day. I had them change it to Saturday and I'll have to drive back down there Saturday morning. But at least that part is underway. SEMI-CHECK?

Now, on to visa applications. :)

2 comments:

Kristin said...

Hi- I am new to your blog and excited for you to start your journey to your lovely daughter. I just checked through your archives and what an absolute darling your Emerson it... that hair and those cheeks... so sweet!

Look forward to following your China trip... it will be better than you can imagine!

Lisa and Tate said...

Sorry about the AC problem and the even bigger amount of money.... it was great info for me though. This whole expired stuff is so unnecessarily stressful by the US gov!!! I am hoping by the time I go for Tate they will have extended to 24 months!!! You seem to take it in stride!!! I am so looking forward to when you get Emerson!!! Thanks for letting me be part of your journey!!!

Lisa