Removal of Conditions Part 1

It's been awhile since I posted anything here. I guess it is because I get distracted easily. Anyway, I do have something that I want to talk about, hence the title.

Andy and I have been married for two years and half. About two years ago, we went to the field office of United States Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) in Fairfax for an interview for me to get my Conditional Permanent Residency, which was good for two years. To remove the condition, Andy and I have to apply for the "Removal of Conditions" within 90 days of the expiration date of the Conditional Permanent Residency (August 17, 2008).

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, one needs to prove his/her legal status in the US to get an identification card or driver's license. The length of the id/license is only as good as the status, for example, my driver's license would have expired on the day my residency expires. For the longest time, I wonder about how I will renew my license after my residency expires since I cannot renew my green card. I can only apply to remove the conditions.

So the two-year anniversary of my residency came up quickly. Andy and I submitted our application to remove the conditions late July, 2008 and about a week later, I got a receipt notice letting me know that my residency has been extended for a year, but with no dates. I assumed that the new expiration date would be August 17, 2009, since the old expiration date was August 17, 2008.

I took a long lunch break to visit our local DMV with all my documentations hoping the notice with no dates will be enough. After my number was called, the DMV lady examined the documents that I brought, and she had to walk away to talk to her supervisor. She came back telling me that the new license will only be good for a year based on the issue date. I thought, "OK, it's not too bad, August 13, 2009 is only 4 days from August 17, 2009". But when I got the actual card, the expiration date was July 21, 2009. Apparently, they used the receipt notice date as the day the one year extension started. I was not thrilled. I can only hope our application will not take that long to be processed.

The next step is the "Biometrics" - in short, fingerprints. My appointment with the USCIS is August 26, 2008. I will have to take a half day off in order to get to Alexandria in the middle of the day. Maybe Andy and I can take a mini-road trip to Fredericksburg for some Sonic..

Need Sleep

I think I have been getting about 5-6 hours of sleep lately due to my habit of not wanting to go to bed at bed time. The Xbox 360 certainly is not helping the situation. Andy and I only have one game, but it's enough to keep us playing two hours every night right around bedtime. I actually fell asleep while we played last night. I think I want to get some shooting games to get my blood pumping so I won't feel so sleepy...

Summary.......

Andy is more active in his blogging than I am. I simply can't think of much to write about. I guess I can summarize my life with some bullet points because that is pretty much the way I talk to my mother-in-law to keep her up to date on what Andy and I have been doing.

• Andy, I and his parents plus my five other relatives all went to Taiwan for a two-week visit in March. What a production it was.. After the trip, my co-workers called me anti-social because I didn't talke for about two weeks at work. I guess I talked myself out during the two-week Taiwan Trip.



• I bought a used PSP that I found on Craigslist. The story went this way, I talked to the guy who was selling the PSP and set up to meet in a public place. I did not have time to get cash so I had to stop by Safeway trying to get some money. Long story short, I still couldn't get enough money in Safeway and the scary thunderstorm was about to hit us, so I asked the guy to drive me to the bank to get the rest of the money. When Andy found out about my adventure, he wasn't too pleased about it since I took a ride with a stranger. The thing is, this was not the first time I hitched rides with strangers...



• On Memorial Weekend, Andy and I flew down to Texas for Trey and Holly's wedding and our annual "Mid-Christmas" gift exchange. All I can say is, it was really hot and I stopped at Sonic almost every single day....



• Andy and I went to the new Nationals Ball Park for free not just once, but twice. I also got to go again with my office outing and got a Ryan Zimmerman Bobble head. I guess working in my office still does have its perks.



• I won an Xbox 360 Elite system in a Microsoft Live Officespace Sweepstake. That was pretty cool.. Andy and I got the Legos Indiana Jones game for the system and it looks great on our TV.



• My co-worker Ashley went with me yesterday to see a prescreening of the musical-turned-movie, Mamma Mia, at Tyson's. Great movie and great music. It was worth waiting for in the wrapped around line at the theater.

I guess I do have a lot of things to say.... I may have more to say later because our summer seems to become very busy...