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Last night, I was shocked and surprised as the following email appeared in my inbox:

Subject: Case Status Information

The last processing action taken on your case

Application Type: I765 , APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION

Current Status: We mailed you a decision.

On September 26, 2007, we mailed you a decision on your I765, APPLICATION FOR EMPLOYMENT AUTHORIZATION. Please follow the instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, please contact 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.
*** Please do not respond to this e-mail message.

Sincerely,

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS)

It's all very - and completely unnecessarily - cryptic and vague... why can't they just tell me what the decision is in the email, instead of making me wait impatiently for the postman each day? Sigh. At least the end of this process is very close now!

And no celebrations yet, please. The decision could still be "go back to your own country and stop stealing our jobs, you convict Aussie". Unlikely, but it could happen.

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on September 27, 2007 at at 9:35:00 AM 0 comments    

Hey there.

I know its been some time since I've done this crazy blog. It's not like we have been super busy, but maybe just getting more and more super comfortable. And with winter coming in, we'd better get used to it.

But I was thinking tonight of all the things that Cam has done since he's arrived to this wacky country. Like tonight in particular. We went to our favorite rock climbing gym, The Portland Gym, and Cam was fabulous. He had just exchanged his new shoes the other day and he was flying up walls. Whereas a month ago, I was practically hauling him up on my end of the rope. He has adapted and is getting better all the time. Since I have a year head start on him, I must be the patient one, but I'll make him catch up with me sooner or later. There is so much trust in rock climbing. And the more confident he gets, the more he trusts me that I won't let him plummet to the floor just for a laugh. It's good. We really need to take pictures, but it's always weird taking pictures in a gym where other people are sweaty... and wary of lenses.

Also, Cam has taken over my projects. I'm not fussed whatsoever, as it keeps him quite the entertained while I slave away the day at work. Colin's new website looks amazing - www.colinlake.com - and also he is not quite satisfied with the Wellington Road Moores site which he is taking into his own hands soon. I keep feeding him missions so he can keep his mind busy. Whether it's laundry or design, it seems rare when he is bored.

Not to mention that we have been suckered into technology more and more. Cam has made our house a network mecca. Everything connects to something else wirelessly. And now with our new iPhones we can connect to the outside world even easier (Cam had the cheapest T-mobile phone and I had the oldest, both of which met their demise) and makes our lives more integrated with the pizza joints nearby in our neighborhood. You know, wherever we are, that will be useful for the winter ;)

Posted in: apple, chaosgurl, general musings, sport on September 24, 2007 at at 10:34:00 PM 0 comments    

Yes, I know it's just a fancy-pants word for "taking your fingerprints", I just wanted a funny title for this entry...

I finally have an appointment to get my biometrics "captured" by the USCIS in relation to my I-485 (residency) application. It's on October 17th, so almost a month away still. At least things are happening with this application, unlike my I-765 (employment authorization document). The way things are going, I'll get my Green Card before my EAD, even though I put that application in two months earlier!

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on September 23, 2007 at at 2:46:00 PM 0 comments    

At last, a glimmer of progress on my I-485. The check (or cheque for those from the Commonwealth) that I sent in with my application on the 27th of July has finally been cashed by the US Department of Homeland Security! That's 53 (yes, count them - fifty-three!) days to basically open my envelope and cash a check. I'm looking forward to my residency being approved – in 2012!

Still, it's nice to know that the application actually got there and is being processed, however slowly. I was starting to think it had got lost in the mail!

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on September 17, 2007 at at 11:43:00 AM 0 comments    

So, football season is upon us here in America, and it's very interesting to observe things at close quarters. As an Australian, it's always been very easy to dismiss American football as slow, tedious and boring compared to our fast flowing, hard hitting football codes (rugby union included when the referee puts his whistle away!), but then again, I've only ever really watched half of about three different Super Bowls, which isn't exactly indicative of the game as a whole.

So last Monday, I sat down with Kevin to watch the season opening-game for his beloved Cincinnati Bengals as they took on the evil Baltimore Ravens. The game was very even and closely fought, with Cincinnati repelling a lot of last ditch attack from the Ravens to prevail 27-20, so I think I probably saw a good game, and at moments it was genuinely thrilling and exciting. But overall, it still leaves me a little cold. The stop/start nature of the game erodes any sense of continuity: once a play is completed, everyone stops, dusts themselves off and trots off to the middle of the field to set up the scrimmage line all over again. There's no advantage to be gained from a play apart from the yardage up the field. The defence always has time to reset itself for the next stanza of play, which always starts from the centre of the field. Compare this to the fluid defence required in the rugby codes or AFL, where you have to rush to be in the right place at the right time throughout the game.

And adding to the stop/start feeling is the ever-present TV advertising. At one point in the game, a Bengals player fielded a kick off in his own in-goal and touched the ball to the ground, signalling a restart from the 20 yard line. The network immediately cut to a three-minute ad break: when they came back, the players were still milling around the goal line, obviously waiting for a signal to resume play. Talk about a game made for TV!

Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate the skill and power of the players involved, and if anyone thinks they're wusses for wearing all that padding, you should definitely think again. Kevin Everett, a player with the Buffalo Bills team received severe spinal injuries from a tackle gone wrong in a game last weekend, and may never walk again. Like in many rugby tackles, he simply got his head on the wrong side of the tackle, but the forces involved with two 300 pound men hitting each other are much more than the (comparatively) smaller guys in our codes.

On a lighter note, one last thing that amused me was when a contentious refereeing decision is made, a coach can challenge it. When this happens, the head referee disappears into a little viewing booth on the sidelines to review the video. The booth even has little curtains to hide the referee and screen from view! So cute!

So, my verdict: The jury's still out on this one, I think. We'll see how I go as the season unfolds!

Posted in: chaosboy, sport, united states on September 14, 2007 at at 10:10:00 AM 0 comments    

Last Saturday evening was Widmer Brother's big Oktoberfest party and Christine and I - along with around 3,000 other Portlanders - went along for fun, food and music. We turned up a little late to see our good friend Colin Lake (Widmer's own!) strut his stuff, but the other bands were a lot of fun. We had lots of free food and beer coupons thanks to Kim and Kevin (who both work at Widmer's), so it was a very inexpensive night out for us impoverished types. In the photo above, Christine is holding our commemorative glasses (only 500mL, half the size of a German Maßkrug) as Curtis Salgado gets the crowd dancing. And yes, the band is performing on the brewery delivery dock!

Posted in: chaosboy, party time, portland on at at 9:51:00 AM 0 comments    

So I rang the USCIS again today to enquire about my I-485 (application for permanent residency) as it's been over 30 days since I mailed it off and I still haven't received even a receipt for it. The woman at the call center was very courteous, but told me that due to high demand for USCIS services in July, it is taking them up to 90 days to send out receipts. That's just an acknowledgement that they have received my forms, nothing more! It also means that I have an uncleared cheque for $395 looming over my bank account until they finally get around to my application, which I find more than a little annoying. Still, that's just the way it is, and there's not a lot I can do about it. I really am starting to think that one man and his monkey are processing applications at the Nebraska USCIS office, though...

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on August 31, 2007 at at 5:14:00 PM 0 comments    

Christine and I have just taken up rock climbing. It's something she got into while in Sydney and she really wanted me to try it out to see if I liked it. So we signed up for the introductory course down at Portland Rock Gym, although it was really just a refresher course for Christine (Something the instructors quickly worked out when she tied up and scaled a 40' wall in about 10 seconds flat!).

I really learned a lot during the introductory lesson and quickly appreciated the cerebral side to rock climbing: it's not just mindless exercise or a boring workout, every ascent up the wall is a puzzle or a challenge that needs to be solved with a combination of co-ordination, brain power and (occasionally) brute strength!

I initially had problems with trusting that the belay rope was going to catch me if I fell (something that is hard to come to terms with when you're clinging to a wall 30' above the ground), but I've overcome that in the couple of times that we've been back and am really beginning to enjoy it now. And it is one heck of a workout, as you use muscles all over your body, including some I never knew existed!

Posted in: chaosboy, portland, sport on at at 5:02:00 PM 0 comments    

Have a look at this ad that I found in the latest issue of Portland's Willamette Week newspaper and boggle along with me:

Leaving aside the terrible clip art design, here's an ad that tries to do the impossible - make chewing tobacco sexy. Something I thought was the preserve of aging Major League baseballers and old Western movie stars is still alive and well, and what's more, is being marketed as the "cool" and "in" thing for the young and hip. Yes boys, find a girl you like and give her a kiss while your mouth is full of stinky black 'baccy. Sure to impress even the most choosy lass! I wonder if she'll be as impressed when your gums are diseased and your teeth have fallen out, as the big "Warning arrow" disclaimer so helpfully points out.

Big, big thumbs down here, both to the whole concept of chewing tobacco and this bizarre marketing of it. Yuk!

Posted in: chaosboy, united states, weirdness on at at 4:48:00 PM 1 comments    

I just passed 90 days since I sent in my I-765 (Employment Authorization Document form) the other day, and since I hadn't heard anything from the USCIS since early June, I thought I'd give them a call. Especially as it says this on their website:

If you filed a Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization, and it has been longer than 90 days since you filed and you haven't gotten an update from us within the last 60 days, and have not seen any public notice that addresses your case type, please don't wait the extra 30 days. Call customer service immediately.

Well, that sounds like 60 days without hearing something is cause for some sort of alarm, doesn't it? Out of the ordinary, maybe? Surely I should have that piece of paper in my hands by now, right? So I give them a call on their National Service Center line. After going through a billion automated options and recorded announcements, I finally get to speak to a human and explain my situation.

To my horror, he proceeded to tell me that I am still within normal processing time and my EAD may still take up to 90 more days to be approved. 90 more days!?!!! Another three whole months! How can anyone be expected to emigrate to a new country and have to remain unemployed for up to six months? The guy could sympathise with my frustration, but there wasn't anything he could do about it... he can only report on what his computer is telling him. He did let me know that I'm meant to have a biometrics scan done as part of this application and has set that in motion, so at least something is being done.

What's really worrying me is that it's almost a month since I sent in my I-485 (Application for Residency) and I haven't even got a receipt notice for that yet... I am dreading that phone call...

Posted in: chaosboy, immigration, united states on August 28, 2007 at at 4:11:00 PM 0 comments