Efficiency...and Macs

So, as I said in a recent post, the H and I had gone on October 19th to the U.S. Consulate to start the process for an immigrant visa.

I distinctly remember, as we were winding up our mini-interview, that the woman said, "Your I-130 has been approved. You should be receiving a packet with the second part of the process, which will contain a list of documents you need (the documents are not very complicated) and instructions on how to set up the official interview. You should be receiving it in about 3 months."

So this Saturday, as I was struggling to put the garbage bag and the recycling bag outside the front door of our apartment (as we were leaving to go to the FNAC and this way we would remember to take it all downstairs) I was surprised and ecstatic to see an envelope on our door mat with "The United States of America" marked on the return address.

I picked up the envelope (which is great: the return address part says, "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" and then, right below: "Official Business". To the right it says "AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER" - it's like "Don't mess with U.S. Official Business, oh, and by the way, we do not discriminate."), gave it to the H and watched with excitement as he tore open the envelope.

Inside, we found a letter with his case number and the date our application was filed, along with another letter with a list of documents we needed, plus the DS-2001, which is a "Notification of Applicant Readiness". So, basically, it was the second packet - but the letter was dated "October 23" which means that instead of the 3 month wait, it took all of 3 days! The H and I mulled over it for awhile - maybe it was just one part of the second packet? I read the letters very carefully, and it seems to me that it is indeed the second packet. Plus, the U.S. Consulate was very considerate - one of the documents that we need is the H's police record, and they even included a form from the Préfecture that tells us how to apply for one, along with the actual application form. The H was astounded that the U.S. Consulate would even bother with that, saying, "Well, in France, they would not do that at all! They would say, "this is what you need, and you figure out how to get it all yourself. And don't call us because we are too busy to help you!"

Anyway the whole mystery of why the second part arrived after 3 days instead of 3 months is one that we still haven't been able to solve. I even called my mom to tell her, and all she said was, "Well, I wouldn't worry about it. So it arrived really early. All the better!"

In other news, my lovely Mac G4 Powerbook is so about to die. The screen part is totally breaking away from the rest of the computer; every time I open or close my computer, the screws in the back go awry and a little bit more of the casing starts to break. Granted, my computer is pretty much outdated (I'm on OS 10.3.9 and the computer was purchased in 2003 or 2004, I can't remember) but I really like my computer. I was all panicked, telling the H "we MUST go and get this fixed RIGHT AWAY" and he said, "What's the point? I know you are going to want to get a new computer in a few months anyway, and 10.5 has come out, so why don't you just not close the computer for now, and when we go to New York for Christmas, maybe you could get a MacBook?" This sounds like a great plan though I originally wanted the MacBook Pro because it is 15 inches and is more or less just like my Powerbook, but then I realized that computers pretty much last about 3-4 years maximum anyway so I might as well just get the MacBook which is way cheaper. Though, the annoying part is that this weekend I bought a new computer case (a 15 inch one!) and this cool iSkin keyboard protector thingy that only fits on a Powerbook G4 or a MacBookPro. Not to mention that the iSkin thingy was like, 30 euros. I guess it's not too big a deal if my new computer case is bigger than my new MacBook will be, but it's still all very irritating.

Oh, well. The nice part is that I can buy my computer in December (MUST have a QWERTY keyboard! I hate how you have to press shift to put in a period on the French AZERTY keyboards), and it will be totally cheap compared to here in France - my SIL bought the cheapest MacBook at 1000 euros, but I really want the black one, customized with a larger hard drive for $100, which means that I can get a top of the line MacBook for only 1000 euros instead of 1600. This is the only good thing about the USD-Euro exchange rate. When I last checked the price of my plane tickets, $900 was approximately 620 euros.