~July 2007 K-1 Filers~

[Ovaltine Jenkins 5]

Agnes How is your baby fever? Are you gonna do something about it or not yet?

[VisaJourneyLady 33]

Awww Marta, what a terrible nonsense all this AOS cr@p is. You guys should get to enter on the same basis as us CR-1 people. And if you don't get married, your status is revoked. It's just plain dumb that you have to go through all this paperwork.

[tucson_chick 0]

Agnes How is your baby fever? Are you gonna do something about it or not yet?

*sigh* not in the near future. there are many reasons, the most important being that eric and i need to grow closer first, there are so many little and big things we should work on first. and - money. and *sigh* ah, i would love to make babies now, but it wouldn't be the right timing. (if there is such a thing.....)

[*julez* 124]

Julez You must be excited to go to UK so soon Well maybe you aren´t excited. But your husband definately is Or not? I would be

Marta, I am COMPLETELY excited to go to the UK!!! I love it there. And yes, Griff is really excited, too! We need some down time so much as we've been working our tails off to get my house ready for sale. I have good news on that front...

drumroll, please...............

My house is officially for sale!!!!! Anyone interested in a 3BR 2 bath home in South Buffalo?

[BabyBlueSusie 1]

Our thread is falling in popularity! What's going on? everyone out enjoying the summer??

I'm sorry, I am partly to blame.

Ever since the move, I don't get to sit online all day at work anymore. A tragedy, I know. For now my job consists of going to the lab 2-3x a week for about 2-3 hours each visit and coding research. It's terribly boring, but the faster I do it, the quicker I can go home. So I am afraid there is no time for VJ in there.

I will however make a conscious effort to keep the thread up in popularity. Afterall, what is more important than popularity???

We still have not filed for AOS even though we have been married for a month now. We just don't have the money right now. I really want to get it over with so Adriano can get his AP and EAD, but unfortunately it's just not an option right now.

A side note - I am really sick of people looking at him all funny whenever he shows his Albanian passport to buy cigarettes, beer or wine. One of the many quirks about living in the middle of the country, I suppose.

Also - He thinks its awesome that we have supermarkets open 24/7 here, and thinks that drive thru windows are ridiculous. I sort of agree, because we didn't really have that stuff in NYC either. We certainly don't have drive thru banks there!! I mean, is it THAT hard to get out of the freakin car and go inside?!

Sorry about the random rants.

[rae_and_scott 1]

Susie, that made me laugh. I guess because it's the opposite of my experience. I grew up in the midwest with things like drive-through banks. But you know, I sure don't miss them. I like walking everywhere in NY and the more personal feel to everything. A lot of places in the suburbs are lacking in that 'neighborhood' feeling, unless you happen to find a cute small town that's retained it.

Although I do miss big grocery stores with tons of availability and room to actually push a cart or two down the aisles. Here you have to go to a more gourmet type place to find the same things, I think. Ah well, I'm not really complaining; I love the city.

How's Adriano's English coming? Is he adapting any better? I hope so!

[Jeraly 4]

*sigh* not in the near future. there are many reasons, the most important being that eric and i need to grow closer first, there are so many little and big things we should work on first. and - money. and *sigh* ah, i would love to make babies now, but it wouldn't be the right timing. (if there is such a thing.....)

Completely understand. Setting up home from scratch is an expensive business so our finances are dire right now and Jeremy refuses to let me know what is going on with it all cause he doesn't want me to freak. Thing is I *know* how expensive it can be so I don't mind that things are dire right now. What really got me though was when he went overdrawn and I went mad - he wouldn't let me be a part of the finances yet he won't tell me when we need to stop spending money. He caved and let me in on it a bit and I talked through a few strategies for paying bills and things when things are on a more even keel... so many little things

Also - He thinks its awesome that we have supermarkets open 24/7 here, and thinks that drive thru windows are ridiculous. I sort of agree, because we didn't really have that stuff in NYC either. We certainly don't have drive thru banks there!! I mean, is it THAT hard to get out of the freakin car and go inside?!

Totally agree with you - although it being so hot here you can kinda understand why people don't want to leave the car!!

Ok - apologies for the cut and paste post but I poured my sorry little heart and soul into this rant so I'll just quote myself from the UK thread I even pasted it into my blog

Have had an interesting evening. It is Jeremy's first closing shift since I moved and pretty much everything has gone wrong. Things started out nice and chilled playing on the PS3. I come into the living room (if you can call a room filled with clothes, boxes and cases that) to go online and the internet won't work. I try the wireless and wired connections - nothing. Owel - Jeremy can sort it when he gets a chance. I lie down on the floor (tiles - mmm) to cool off and chat to my cat (as you do) and the phone goes. Expecting it to be Jeremy I pick up right away and it is Time Warner. Apparently we have a problem with our phone (we have vonage but got the phone package through TW as well as it didn't cost any extra). The guys can't find the apartment (it's the only one with no number) so can I go out to meet them. Sure. Did I mention that I had already got undressed and was wearing a rather flattering charity shop cotton kaftan, boxers and nothing else? Yeah. So I get dressed too.

I head out to meet them, bring them back to the house and make small talk while they fiddle around with whatever. They were nice enough, "fixed" the phone and manage to get the net back for me. Great. I check the phone when they are gone (they hooked it back to vonage for me) and notice it has an error message. After unplugging and plugging a variety of wires, I get the phone back so Jeremy can call later. The internet had stopped working again. Grr. But nevermind - I was going to just heat up my leftover Thai from the restaurant (Panang - yummy )and chillout with a glass of wine and some ####### tv.

In the bedroom I put the tv on. I haven't ever turned the tv on myself but how hard can it be - it's just a tv, right? The power was on, fine. Now I just needed to find the cable channel. I use the up and down channel buttons on the tv. Nothing. Ok - so let's use the controller. I look down at the trillion buttons and try to decide which one to press first.

Now, I'm not a stupid person and figure there must be some kind of logic as to which button makes the tv come on. I start with the power button. Nope. Maybe the cable button? Tv button? Channel buttons? Nothing - absolutely nothing. I press the setup button and a variety of other tenuously logical choices. Still nothing. I try the help button. It doesn't help. In fact it did - you guessed it - nothing.

I start getting p*ssed (ok - you got me, I was getting that way long before I even pressed the so-called "help" button). I try to call Jeremy. No answer. Ok I was calling his cell and he was at work but still - he normally picks up. I leave a teary message explaining that I can't get anything to work and that I am just going to get an early night because I can't do anything I want to, rant rant rant. I head back into the bedroom and press some more controller buttons to no avail.

Jeremy calls as I am looking through the Yellow Pages to try and find his work phone number (you think I could find it?!) and I burst into tears. He patiently talks me through the internet, asking me what I have done, how I have done it etc. etc. I explain that it is telling me I have a connection but no browser windows will work. I told him that I had tried linux and windows, internet explorer and firefox. I'd tried rebooting, re-wiring, resetting and all manner of other re-s but nothing would work. Eventually he got me connected through the hard wire.

Next stop - tv. He asks me to dc the phone and plug it into the bedroom socket then call him back at work (he gave me the number which is now on the front of the Yellow Pages) so he could talk me through the tv bit. He said if there were any problems, to connect the phone back up to vonage and he would call back. I hook up the phone in the bedroom. You guessed it (or did you?) - it didn't work. So I hook the phone back up to vonage and call him back at work. In tears, obviously, as that seemed like the most sensible and adult thing to do. He makes me get the controller and talks me through what he wants me to try. I follow his instructions. Nothing - the tv still didn't work. Something for him to sort out.

But that's ok! I have the internet. Since we moved the sofa in, the path of the aircon is blocked which makes the living room really hot. But that's ok, he tells me, just dc the ethernet cable and connect to the wireless network - then I can go relax in the bedroom where it is nice and cool. I chill out a bit and hang up.

I dc the ethernet cable so I can relocate to the bedroom. The wireless network says that it is connected yet when I try and open any web pages... Yup - nothing worked. I hold back from screaming (opting for more tears instead) and call Jeremy back at work. At this point I am upset,not only because nothing is working, but because I am disturbing Jeremy at work when he needs to keep on top of things there. He remains calm and patient with me (which in a way made me feel worse), had me check the connection in linux and windows before we established that the wireless connection is buggered and he needs to sort it out.

So I hook all the wires back up and prepare to sit in the sweltering living room, hoping that the setting sun will bring a little bit of cool air with it. I finish my tantrum and decide I don't feel hungry so I stick the Thai in the freezer and figure I will have something snacky instead. We bought some breaded mozzarella sticks yesterday and I figure they will do just the job washed down with a (large) glass of red wine. I open the oven, discover we have a pan (w00t! I wasn't expecting that!) and carefully arrange the sticks on it. I turn the dial for the oven to 350.

I listen and can't hear anything. I turn the dial back off again. Turn it back to 350. Still nothing. So maybe it is like the stove and it has to be cranked to max, left for a couple seconds to ignite or whatever it does, then be adjusted to the correct temperature. I try it. Nothing. I leave it for a bit to see if it heats up. I open the door of the oven. Short of a now obvious smell of gas, nothing has changed.

So I have another hissy fit before deciding that sod it, even though there are no microwave instructions on the packet, anything can be microwaved. I stick the stuff on a paper plate (the plastic ones aren't microwaveable and the other stuff hasn't turned up yet) and nuke them for 2 minutes.

Ands you know what?

It worked.

Ok - so there wasn't a choir of angels singing hallelujah, no golden light appeared from the sky. In fact the cheese oozed out, sticking to the paper plate so I had to eat half of the plate as well. But the wine helped to wash that all down.

And that is the story of my evening. Now I am going to stop ranting and drink the rest of my wine. Bedtime starts when the bottle is empty. It's just been that sort of day.

[*julez* 124]

Damn you all for having lives outside of VJ!!!!! Even Marta has scaled back her random postings!

C'mon, people, contribute!!!

A special note to StP - I miss you!

[mox 298]

Ok...so I'm not even going to attempt to get caught up on the 100+ pages I've missed, but a little bird told me there's been a lotta hitchin' and baby-makin' going on around here, so congrats all around!!!

A short note on me: Unfortunately Nadya and I are no more, although I'm at least content that our breakup was both amicable and civil. We remain friends, and there's no bitterness on either side. That seems to be a rare thing in these situations, so I'm grateful for that. And I'm also grateful to the friends here who offered so much helpful advice and support.

Best of luck to everyone here, and to those of you who for some reason have managed to put up with me, please stay in touch. I'm sure I'll pop in from time to time, if only to maintain the tito watch.

Cheers all!

[English Muffin 59]

Damn you all for having lives outside of VJ!!!!! Even Marta has scaled back her random postings!

C'mon, people, contribute!!!

A special note to StP - I miss you!

I'm here!

I just got back from the supermarket and I'm going to spend the afternoon looking for a job.

[rae_and_scott 1]

Mox, nice to see you, but very sorry to hear about your breakup. You sound like you're doing okay, but it must be tough, after all the extra difficulties of our types of long-distance relationships. My heart goes out to you.

Aly, your evening sounded supremely frustrating. I think I would have reacted in exactly the same way; bursting into tears. When things won't work like that, that's what I do too, and I think it only makes it worse! But you can't help it. I hope today is better.

[English Muffin 59]

A short note on me: Unfortunately Nadya and I are no more, although I'm at least content that our breakup was both amicable and civil.

Sorry to hear this.

You sound like you're doing ok and coping well with everything and I wish you the best for your future.

[Jeraly 4]

Ok...so I'm not even going to attempt to get caught up on the 100+ pages I've missed, but a little bird told me there's been a lotta hitchin' and baby-makin' going on around here, so congrats all around!!!

A short note on me: Unfortunately Nadya and I are no more, although I'm at least content that our breakup was both amicable and civil. We remain friends, and there's no bitterness on either side. That seems to be a rare thing in these situations, so I'm grateful for that. And I'm also grateful to the friends here who offered so much helpful advice and support.

Best of luck to everyone here, and to those of you who for some reason have managed to put up with me, please stay in touch. I'm sure I'll pop in from time to time, if only to maintain the tito watch.

Cheers all!

MOXIE!!!!!!!!!! Now despite all the shenanigans you still have to hang out with us lot cause we made you an honourary July Filer - you can't escape now!!! I guess if you decide that we aren't good enough anymore *sniff* then I will just have to e-mail and facebook-stalk you instead

Ok - back to organising for me - I can't wait til we actually get furniture so we can store things!!

[*julez* 124]

Damn you all for having lives outside of VJ!!!!! Even Marta has scaled back her random postings!

C'mon, people, contribute!!!

A special note to StP - I miss you!

I'm here!

I just got back from the supermarket and I'm going to spend the afternoon looking for a job.

You, young lady, need to be posting more around this place! Mostly lurking after 1 year is just unacceptable!

And another thing! You are going to move away from Mass??? Just after I said to Griff the other day that when we go to Boston (sometime in the future) we just have to meet this cool gal Gillian from VJ. Huh. Well that's a fine how do you do!

[mox 298]

Thanks for the kind words all. And yeah...as a (honorary) fellow July filer, I'll stick around this thread at least. I hear it's a good place to pick up women... B)