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Sunday, December 30, 2007

2008 Goals

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: an episode of Law and Order SVU

Steve and I were chatting in bed this morning and we were talking about what kind of goals we'd like to set for ourselves for 2008. He's still deliberating on some of his goals, I decided I'd have 3 kinds of goals for 2008:
I need to make sure I define my goals as measurably as possible, or else it'll be very likely that I'll fail to meet one or all of them--and I'd hate for that to happen :-).

The first goal, the one that benefits myself as a person, I was thinking of improving my proficiency in either sign language or Japanese. Steve pointed out (and rightly so) that I should make sure that my goal is not to be *fluent,* since fluency takes more than a year :-). I just need to figure out what "improved proficiency" mathematically means :-).

The second goal *sounds* easy but it's going to be a challenge for me. I promised Steve I'd stop using the dining room table as a catch-all for all my stuff :-). I know, that doesn't sound like much, but it's gotten to be a habit for me and it's something I have to fix. Case in point:


That's what the dining table looks like at this very moment. Let's see, what do we got--we've got a roll of duct tape, clothes over the back of the chair, my Tinkerbell Disneyland cap, a chew toy for the dogs, a box of cough drops, today's newspaper, a box of tissues... yeah, it's sad :-). I have to fix that this year.

My third goal is something that I'm looking forward to doing. I've been meaning to do some volunteer work for some time but I didn't know what kind of volunteer opportunities were out there.

What I originally wanted to do is find a way that I can assist taking therapy dogs to hospitals, rehabilitation centers, things like that. I even found out that there's even a *reading* program that involves therapy dogs. The objective of the R.E.A.D. (Reading Education Assistance Dogs) program is to mentor children who struggle with reading--and the fact that you have a therapy dog with you helps create a non-judgmental environment for them. Isn't that cool :-)?

Unfortunately it seems that if you want to volunteer in the program, you have to have your own dog, and your dog has to be trained for therapy services. So I started looking for other opportunities.

Thanks to www.1-800-volunteer.org, I was able to find opportunities that matched my schedule. There's a hospital about 10 minutes away from where Steve and I live, and one of the volunteer opportunities they have is for a Coffee Cart Volunteer.

Sounds insignificant, doesn't it? Not when you read what they do. The job description:
Visit with families in surgery and ICU waiting areas and provide free coffee, cookies and TLC! Pairs or group volunteering available. Free uniform and meal provided, including all coffee and cookies you can eat! VIP parking at hospital for volunteers.
They need you for only 2-3 hours a week, and you can volunteer to come by once a month, twice a month, once a week, or as often as you want. The requirements are: "some walking, lots of smiles, and tons of cookies to sample!"

How can you say no to a volunteer opportunity that makes it so easy for you to play a part :-)? I'm not sure if this means we provide our own cookies, though. I called and left a message at the volunteer services department, I'll probably hear from them tomorrow and find out :-). From there I'll decide how often to participate.

I know one thing, though: having experienced being at the hospital during Steve's surgery, I know it would have helped ease the anxiety to have someone from the hospital come by and offer cookies and coffee while I waited for him to get through it.

I know that resolutions are supposed a private matter, but I figure if I posted mine, I would be more likely to stick to it since I'll probably need to report my progress at the end of 2008 :-).

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Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas from USCIS

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: Home for the Holidays--The Carpenters (Christmas Portrait)

Just in time for Christmas--my green card! And it's not an "extension of your conditional residency" green card either. This one expires in 2017. It doesn't look much different from my first green card, just that the picture is updated, the expiration date is 10 years from the issue date, and my immigration category has changed from CF1 to IF1.

That went smoothly, and quickly too--only about 2 months since I submitted the original paperwork.

Next year, citizenship :-).

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Monday, December 24, 2007

There must be something wrong with me

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: The Christmas Song--Tony Bennett (Snowfall 2007)

It's 7:30 in the morning. Christmas music is playing in the background. There's that little chill in the air. I'm drinking a steaming cup of coffee, and it's nice and quiet.

It's nice and quiet because I'm at the office.

And you know what's weird? I like it. The last couple of days have been so stressful for me that over the weekend my body decided to break down and get sick. I'm still recovering from a pretty bad cold, which I have now passed on to Steve (poor thing).

Then again, I really shouldn't be complaining. Thursday-ish I was feeling it and I told my body, "Just let me get through Friday and you can be as sick as you want over the weekend." I was helping my boss with her Christmas party you see, and I've never done parties.

My body thought that was a fair deal and I was the picture of health all throughout Friday evening.

Saturday morning you couldn't pry me out of bed with a crowbar. It was like my body said, "Time to collect!" And boy, it felt like it was charging interest :-). Thank God for Vicks vaporub, NyQuil, and DayQuil.

Anyway, most of the people in the building have probably taken the 24th off since it's sandwiched between the weekend and a holiday. The parking lot's empty and I doubt there's going to be more than 10 cars out here today. I can't help smiling at that thought.

On one hand I keep thinking this must make me some sort of Scrooge given the fact that I'm enjoying being at the office the day before Christmas when everyone else has taken it off. Then again, on the other hand, this is the first opportunity I've had in the last few days to just take a deep breath, listen to Christmas songs and let the Christmas spirit wash over the frenzied commercialism of the season. I'll probably be able to do more quality work today than I've been able to the last couple of days.

Bah humbug and God bless us, every one :-).

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I ought to get his book

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: White Christmas--Bing Crosby (The Best of Bing Crosby)

I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) on the way home from work a few days ago and was in stitches after hearing an excerpt of David Sedaris' Santaland Diaries. Part of me wants to buy the book, but the other part of me knows that I won't be able to enjoy it as much if I don't get a version where the author himself is reading it. You'll know what I mean when you get to the part where Santa Santa tells Crumpet, "Oh little elf, little elf--come sing Away in a Manger for us."

I also just found out that this was made into a one-man, one-act play in 1996. I'll have to make sure I keep an eye out for that if it ever comes our way.

It's 7 minutes, 3 seconds long--but by the time you get to the end, you'll wish it was longer :-).

Click here to listen to the excerpt. If that doesn't work, click here to go to the NPR article and click the "Listen Now" link :-).

Sedaris and Crumpet the Elf: A Holiday Tradition
by David Sedaris

Morning Edition, December 23, 2005 ยท The life of David Sedaris took an unexpected, and not entirely unwelcome, turn when his "Santaland Diaries" were first broadcast on Morning Edition in 1992.

Sedaris recounted his experiences playing Crumpet the elf at Macy's in New York during the holidays. Almost overnight, he went from obscurity to sought-after talent.

Now, 13 years later, he is a best-selling author who still appears on public radio from time-to-time.

And in those intervening years, the popularity of his original NPR appearance has only grown. So, here, once again, is Sedaris reading in 1992 from his "Santaland Diaries."

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Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Case Status Update

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: an episode of Law and Order SVU

I just got another email from USCIS today:
The last processing action taken on your case
Receipt Number: WACXXXXXXXXXX
Application Type: CRI89, PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED
Current Status: Approval notice sent.

On December 18, 2007, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this CRI89 PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED. Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Case Status and Processing Dates.

Sincerely,
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
My first reaction was, "Oh my God--this is it! We're actually DONE! "

Then, a minute later, I started to wonder: "Wait, what if it just means that they've approved the receipt of the paperwork, which essentially means the paperwork is deemed acceptable and that processing can resume on the case?"

How confusing :-). I guess I really have no choice but to wait for the green card to arrive and see how long it's good for: an extra year or the full ten years. Patience never was my strongest suit :-).

But I've done some research on the web, and the reassuring thing is that so far, everything I've seen about this letter says that when the recipients get their green card, it's the 10 year one, no longer conditional. I'll keep my fingers crossed :-).

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Saturday, December 15, 2007

Catching up, Christmas pictures, Case status

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: an episode of Mythbusters on my Slingbox (WOO HOO it works beautifully!)

Okay first of all it's so cool that I'm able to use my Christmas gift on this trip. It's 2am in Manila on a Sunday, and I'm watching a commercial about NetZero, an American internet service provider.

Now it just went back to Mythbusters. They're doing airplane myths today. So far they've shown that a civilian CAN land a plane if a flight controller talked them through it, and now they're testing if the scene in Point Break (where Patrick Swayze jumps out of a plane with the only parachute and Keanu Reeves, who jumps out 15 seconds later, is able to catch up by assuming a streamlined bullet position) can happen. It can :-).

Awww, Mythbusters is over....YAY Dirty Jobs!

Sorry, I'm just loving the whole experience :-).

Where was I? Oh yeah. I'll be in Manila for a few more days--I fly back Wednesday. Today I was able to meet up with Pebbles and her husband Carlo at SM Sucat (Pebbles and I are both from Paranaque and SM Sucat is a convenient meeting place for both of us), and I was also able to meet their lovely daughters again (they're SO adorable).

Our schedules overlapped only enough for us to have coffee and chat for about 45 minutes, but it was great fun :-). It's only now that I realize I should have taken pictures :-).

What I DO have pictures for are the decorations we have in Memphis. I took them before I left, but didn't really have the time to post until now :-). Our theme this year is purple, gold and silver :-).


The tree. The colors are a lot brighter in real life, it's just that our lights are yellow and it kind of mutes the effect :-).

The tree at night

Closeup of the purple, gold and silver decorations. It's too bad that you can't really see the purple lights that run down the center line of the tree and the white lights that are more towards the outer edges. It's a nice effect :-).

The mantle (sorry, forgot to take the doggie water dish out of the way :-))

Closeup of the mantle. I know, the samurai sword doesn't really add to the Christmas feel, but we haven't found a replacement centerpiece yet :-). We'll probably use Christmas cards :-).

Our bear

The coffee table

Coffee table from the other view

Another view. Probably should have lit the candles for a better effect :-).

Purple and gold poinsettias and silver twigs. The two horses are some of our Christmas-themed Painted Ponies.

My friend Kitch gave us this awesome recipe for Chocolate Crinkles that she got from her friend. Steve LOVES them. We figure they'll make neat Christmas gifts, especially since none of Steve's family have ever had Chocolate Crinkles :-).

You can see where Steve and I had already eaten some of the cookies right out of the tray :-). Steve said, "You better take pictures now--there won't be much left of them later :-)."

Last update for now: I got an email from USCIS, about my removal-of-conditional-green-card-status application:
The last processing action taken on your case:
Receipt Number: WACXXXXXXXXXX
Application Type: CRI89 , PETITION TO REMOVE CONDITIONS OF PERMANENT RESIDENT STATUS RECEIVED
Current Status: Card production ordered.

On December 15, 2007, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

If you have questions or concerns about your application or the case status results listed above, or if you have not received a decision from USCIS within the current processing time listed*, please contact USCIS Customer Service at (800) 375-5283.

*Current processing times can be found on the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov under Case Status and Processing Dates.

Sincerely,
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)
I'm SO majorly crossing my fingers that what they mean to say is, "Hey, we looked through your papers and you're good to go. Here's your new green card that's good for 10 years."

That's not likely, though--chances are what they REALLY mean is, "You know, this thing takes so long that we're giving you another card that extends your conditional resident status for another year while we sort all this out." After all, the processing time on the website *did* say 6 months.

Guess we'll find out when I get the card :-).

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Thursday, December 06, 2007

Christmas Comes Early

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: An episode of Mythbusters

I fly to the Philippines in a couple of days and Christmas came really early. It had to, because my gifts would be better put to use if I was overseas.

What'd Steve get me for Christmas? Just the most awesome device ever--the Slingbox.

Ever heard of it? If not, OHHHHHH I gotta tell you what it does :-).

In a nutshell: you get to watch your TV from anywhere that's got a broadband internet connection.

Not hitting you yet? Imagine this: watching American TV in Manila. Every channel that you watch in the US: Discovery. History. HGTV. FitTV. ABC. NBC. CBS. Fox. E! VH-1. ESPN. All of it. In REAL time.

Starting to hit you now, huh :-)? This means watching sports events--live. Watching American Idol (or whatever your favorite reality show is)--live. Never having to miss an episode of your favorite American TV series even when you're overseas. Watching an episode at the same time the rest of America is watching it. Watching TV shows that aren't supplied by your Manila cable provider.

How does it work? Slingbox connects to your cable port at home, then connects to your router, then uses your broadband internet connection to transmit the signal to an authorized laptop/ select mobile phone. Depending on the Slingbox model, it can transmit up to 4 different devices (e.g. Cable, Satellite, TiVo and the DVD player) over the internet.

"Okay, impressive," you say. "Must cost a fortune."

I love this part.

$130. That's it, just for the device. Nope, no monthly fees.

This is the most ingenious use of broadband internet ever. Think about it. If you've got a broadband internet connection at home in Manila, all you need is a relative in the States that's got DSL whom you can send a Slingbox to...

NOW it's hitting you, huh :-)? You may as well cancel your local cable subscription and watch all the American TV episodes from your computer :-).

www.slingbox.com :-).

Steve also gave me the best accessory for the Slingbox: a pair of Logitech noise-cancelling headphones. I love it :-). Can't wait to use it on the plane :-).

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