ForumTitleContentMemberSexCountryDate/Time
Canadaanyone in my situation......???
This was two years ago, but my husband's AOS was transferred to CSC right after his biometrics appointment, which was only about a month after we filed. EAD and AP took 71 days for approval, but a little bit longer for the EAD card to actually come in the mail. On average, AP and EAD take somewhere between 60 to 90 days, usually closer to 90, so you are still in the window for that.

The advantage in being transferred is you will not have an interview and for most people, that means your AOS will be processed faster (however, some local offices are actually faster than CSC, so it is not the case for all). In rare cases, they can look at your file and decide you should have an interview and transfer you back to the local office, but that's not likely.

You might want to call about your biometrics appointment. You really should have gotten that letter by now.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2010-12-14 15:49:00
CanadaI-7501 form?
My husband imported his car when he moved and it was quite easy to do. He dealt with all that, so I will ask him for the specifics later and get back to you then. Meanwhile, you should NOT put the car in your name; instead, let her import it when she moves. She will have to get a certificate of compliance from the manufacturer (easier than it sounds) and turn in the form at the border when she immigrates. She can import a car for her personal use duty free.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2010-12-10 16:46:00
CanadaImmunization Records for Medical...
My husband had the same problem as Krikit. He knew that he was long overdue for his tetnus shot (you need to get that every 10 years), so he got that vaccine. We assume he was vaccinated for measles/mumps/rubella as a child because this would have been required to go to public schools in Alberta, but he actually got two of the three of those as a kid so he went ahead and just got the vaccine again. He told the doctor at his physical that he'd had chicken pox as a child and they just wrote varicella history on the immunization form and that was good enough.

If you can't track down actual immunization records, you can either get a titre test to show whether you are still immune or just go ahead and get the boosters again anyway. One poster here, who is a nurse, recommended everyone get the titre tests because immunity can wear off over time, which is what we assume happened to my husband (since he was vaccinated but still contracted measles and mumps).
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2011-01-04 14:24:00
CanadaWedding Details
Have you all discussed wedding albums in this thread? I was going to start a thread asking about that. And yes, we had our family wedding over eight months ago and I am just now getting around to it. We did not hire a professional photographer and I'm kind of vascilating between doing a photo album through webshots or one where I physically place the prints in the album myself. I was curious what others have done.


SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-28 17:02:00
CanadaWedding Anniversaires and what to do
For our first anniversary, we went to Minneapolis for the weekend. On the actual day of our anniversary, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants there. Our second anniversary fell on a Monday and we could not take extra days off to do a long weekend somewhere, so we just went out to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants locally, which is probably also what we will do for our third anniversary.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2011-02-28 15:27:00
Canada2010 Tax thread - For Canada and the U.S.

I used the information from CRA found on line (Emigrating from Canada, etc.) and was able to get a sizeable return since 90% of my income was Canadian and I left in May so was able to claim a full year's tax credits (I had to write a letter requesting them, though).


That 90% rule is something we are actually STILL dealing with from my husband's 2008 taxes in Canada. He had an issue with someone not sending the tax form they should have sent him until after he filed his taxes and needed to make an adjustment for that reason, plus they did not give him the full deduction, assuming that less than 90% of his income was from Canada since he emigrated in July. So he filed a form for an adjustment, adding the income that he had left out because he got the form late and also stating that all of his 2008 income was from Canadian sources. He just got a form letter today telling him that they calculated his taxes based on the adjustment. However, it appears that they added the income without changing the deduction.

So here is my question: what does he have to do or say to get them to give him the full credit because his income was all from Canadian sources? What did you say?
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2010-02-19 15:40:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Here we had a snow storm on Christmas Eve followed by tornadoes on New Years Eve. Gotta love living in the Midwest. It's a beautiful sunny day now.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2011-01-04 12:18:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
QUOTE (Carlawarla @ Dec 3 2009, 06:41 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Well, they had called for rain changing to snow, and we got a little rain but that was it. Still fairly cool, but not below freezing. Supposed to warm up to the 40's by the weekend. Everytime they call for snow or sleet here, everyone freaks out. Buying milk and bread, and there is a rush on salt from HD. Crazy. laughing.gif


We got some snow! It didn't stick to the ground at all of course, and it only snowed for about half an hour when the whole storm was more or less winding down. It DID get below freezing over here (30 when I woke up), but the ground is still warm from yesterday. I was disappointed when I kept looking out the window and seeing rain, rain, more rain, no snow, rain, and still more rain. Now there is something I never thought I'd say.

The over-salting of the roads really irritates me. I mean, it isn't going to do any good if it rains for 5 hours before it starts turning into ice and washes all the salt away, and it isn't going to help if we get 10 inches of snow in a few hours. All it really does is make it hard to find a good place to walk my dog so she won't get road salt on her paws.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-12-03 11:44:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
It's NICE here today! Lows in the 50s and highs in the 70s. I still like it better in autumn---when the HIGHS are in the upper 50s (yes, I know, I really am a bit sick and twisted)--but for August, this is fantastic!

Was wondering if the people in Florida were affected by Claudette.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-08-21 11:23:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Carla, hubby said it was the 8th coolest on record. I forget where he got that. Channel 4's weather guy, I guess. I'm surprised it isn't 1st or 2nd. We are still cooler than usual for August (or less hot, anyway), but July spoiled me.

Minnew, I'd love it if that were our weather here. Of course I might not actually survive a Saskatchewan winter. 15 to 20 C is ideal. There really is no reason for it ever to get warmer than 20C. Ever.

The humidity this morning was 97%!
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-08-05 11:46:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
I know. I wish we could save it up for the inevitable August heat wave to come. It felt almost sorta-kinda autumnal this morning when I was walking the pup.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-07-17 14:49:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Woohoo! We are having a cool spell! If I wake up early enough the next three mornings, it will be in the upper 50s!!

Figures, though. We are going to Minnesota for our anniversary next week. Usually Minnesota in summer is a nice break from the hellacious heat of the lower midwest. That isn't really why we are going there, but it is a nice advantage.


SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-07-16 16:21:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Yessss!! Finally! Right now it is 82 degrees (27 or 28 C ?) with humidity in the low 30s for NO HEAT INDEX. It is absolutely beautiful out!

SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-28 17:10:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Ooh, I love fog! I'm a little jealous.

It was actually not quite as humid this morning as it's been. The windows weren't steamed up and the back door knob wasn't wet. They had wicked thunderstorms last night out in western Missouri, but they all either fizzled out or turned south before they got here so we didn't get anything. The heat has been worse out there, so they needed the relief more than we did.

My husband is the Canadian, but I grew up in a border town and I remember when they switched to metric. I don't remember exactly when it was though. At that time, the US was considering switching so we learned both in school. I remember learning metric from a 7th grade math teacher who was obsessed with the Muppet Show--Miss Piggy and Kermit featured prominently in a lot of her word problems. I think it's kind of stupid we didn't switch. Converting cups to teaspoons to pints to quarts is too confusing. I lived in Europe for a while and it really wasn't hard to get used to using something different, it did take some getting used to but really not a big deal.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-24 10:15:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
We supposedly have a heat index of 117. That can't possibly be right. It does get that high, but not with the actual temperature being 93. I think someone's brain has melted or something.

SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-23 16:51:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
QUOTE (trailmix @ Jun 23 2009, 12:10 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Interesting about the humidity percentage Sonoran.

Let's use today's weather in Lake Mary and Calgary for example.

Right now in Lake Mary it is 97 degrees and the humidity is at 27% (36 celcius tongue_ss.gif )

In Calgary it is 61 degrees and the humidity is at 42%. (16 celcius)

Now, we all know that it feels very humid in Lake Mary right now - it just is. I also know that in Calgary right now it does not feel humid.


Yeah, I can tell you for sure which one I'd rather visit. Not that I wouldn't want to hang out with you, Trailmix....
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-23 12:41:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
I would die if I had to live in Houston. It's not a bad city, really (love the FOREST in the airport near where you return the rental cars), but they regularly get Arizona-like heat with Florida-like humidity.

91 here with heat index of 101. In Tucson, it is also 91, but the humidity is only 11%. Why did I move again?

And now for the road report part: this morning there was a slow-moving piece of farm equipment on the off-ramp of Route 143. Admittedly, this isn't a freeway, but it's a stretch of road where they've been too dumb to post speed limits so everyone just goes 60 on the divided part.

ETA: Sometimes I just love the quirk factor of the midwest.

Edited by SonoranSongbird, 23 June 2009 - 11:51 AM.

SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-23 11:49:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
96% humidity this morning. Meh.

Our friend in Springfield, Missouri, said it was still 99 degrees when she left work---at 9 pm! That's just so wrong on so many levels.

Storms are great for cooling things off. At least they knock out the humidity, even if it's only for a few hours.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-23 07:23:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Wow--apparently the heat wave is spreading north toward Toronto, and their garbage collectors are still on strike. That's going to be nasty.

Poor Toronto--we send them all our crappiest weather---snow and ice storms, cold snaps, heat waves---but the nice stuff never seems to make it that far.

*Books ticket to Saskatchewan*
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-22 22:20:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Oh, I'm sorry, Krikit. I did misread your posts. I took that as sarcasm because people really don't usually think of the Midwest as being a gigantic outdoor sauna the way Florida is. Plus trailmix is right, it is making me cranky. I want it to go away.

Ick, 101 is ####### if the humidity is anything above 8%.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-22 17:32:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
QUOTE (Krikit @ Jun 22 2009, 12:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (trailmix @ Jun 22 2009, 01:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
QUOTE (Krikit @ Jun 22 2009, 01:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Yeah, I definitely find other States much worse for heat than Florida. good.gif


it's hot here. tongue_ss.gif

laughing.gif

Yep. It's definitely hot here. good.gif


Yes, if it's a weather-related pissing contest, you win hands down, because it's hot almost all the time in Florida. But I'm pretty sure it is not so extreme that it makes sense to consider a heat advisory for a heat index of 105 to be the equivalent of a frost advisory at 54.

In St Louis, we get at least one heat wave where the temperature is between 100 and 105 degrees with a heat index of 110 to 120 for a week or two almost every summer, and it has been as high as 111 not counting the humidity (thankfully not when I lived here). I've actually spent a lot of time in Florida because my grandparents lived there for the last 30 years of their lives. It was always hot and miserable, but I never experienced a triple-digit day there.

Now it's quite possible that I just lucked out in avoiding that level of extreme heat, and it's actually pretty likely it is worse inland than in Ft Lauderdale because of the moderating effect of the ocean (I did not spend much time inland). It would just surprise me to find out that you regularly get anything significantly more extreme than the 118 degree heat indices we get almost every summer. (Do you? Really?)

In any case, it looks like Orlando uses the same cutoff points as St Louis for issuing heat advisories. Orlando is right now under a heat advisory with a temperature of 97, humidity of 37% (probably quite low for you), and heat index of 101. St Louis is under a heat warning with a temperature of 95 degrees, humidity at 55% (that is very low for us, too), and a heat index of 108. Here they usually issue an advisory if it will be above 105 and a warning if it will be at least 110. It's 108, but the forecast was the heat index downtown could reach 110.

Sorry to beat a dead horse over the head, but FFS the humidity has been so high that the door knob is actually WET in the mornings, it's too hot to walk the dog after 7 am, and I know that they issue heat advisories because every summer there are people here who die from this. As I mentioned, one of the Cardinals collapsed with muscle cramps because of the heat a few nights ago, and a few other of our players had difficulty with it too. So I take some exception to the implication that calling this hot is like calling 54F cold.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-22 16:24:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Heh. Out of pure curiosity, I looked up the Orlando forecast. About comparable to ours in terms of both heat and humidity (high of 96 with heat index of 105; here it is high of 97 with heat index of 108, but more or less the same), but you only have a heat advisory and we now have a warning. I guess people here are just too dumb to take appropriate precautions without a more stern warning?

I wish it would storm.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-22 11:55:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
QUOTE (Krikit @ Jun 19 2009, 11:55 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
That's funny that you got a heat advisory. We're like that every day and it's not even summer yet! laughing.gif Here, I laugh when they report a cold advisory. OMG.... It's getting down to 54 degrees! Quick! We'll build a fire and huddle together to stay warm! Somebody.... Pass me that toque.


Well here they issue a heat advisory if the heat index is 105 or above and a warning if it is 110 or higher. Unless the part of Florida you live in is much more humid than where my grandparents lived on the coast, it is surprising that it has to get even worse than that for them to issue any kind of advisory. It is always hot and humid there, to be sure, but I don't really remember it being quite as bad as it gets here. Right now we are getting highs in the 95 to 98 range---which, with the humidity hovering just below 100%, means heat indices in the 105 to 110 range---but in July and August we can get temperatures of 105 with heat indeces of about 118.

I suppose it makes sense that it would be hotter inland, though. I used to live in Arizona, and in the summer it was usually between 105 and 110, although the humidity is so low that the heat index is lower than the temperature, but still probably above 105 a lot of days, and I don't recall there ever being a warning or advisory. In Seattle, on the other hand, they issued a heat advisory when we flew out for my Dad's 70th birthday. The predicted high was 88, and the humidity was low enough to make the heat index actually only 86.

In any case, regardless of how it compares to the heat where anyone else lives (yeah, yeah, I know, some people live in tropical rainforests below sea level on the flippin Equator), it's pretty miserable right now. One of the Cardinals' pitchers collapsed on the mound a few nights ago due to heat-induced dehydration a few nights ago.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-22 11:40:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
Here is what the weather is like where I live today:

QUOTE
Issued by The National Weather Service
St. Louis, MO
9:51 am CDT, Fri., Jun. 19, 2009

... HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING...

A HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING.

HOT AND HUMID CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING ACROSS SOUTHEAST MISSOURI AND SOUTHWEST ILLINOIS. HIGHS IN THE MID 90S COMBINED WITH VERY HUMID AIR WILL PRODUCE AFTERNOON HEAT INDEX VALUES AROUND 105 DEGREES.


It was already hot when I walked my dog at 7 this morning. I think it is literally hotter than Hell. Well, at least I'm fairly certain it's hotter than Hell, Michigan, or Hell, Norway. Not quite sure about that other, more famous one.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-06-19 11:40:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
8 inches of snow yesterday. It is deep enough in the back yard that my husband shoveled a path for the dog....who is an Alaskan malamute!

My sister lives in Kentucky, where they were predicting up to 2 inches of ice from the same storm. Considering they underestimated the snowfall we would get (usually it is the opposite), I'm really kind of worried about her.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-01-29 10:55:00
CanadaWeather & Road Report
It is a Federal holiday, but most private employers do not treat it as one, with the exception of banks (and private schools, I suppose). I work for the State of Illinois, so I have it off.

Carla, it's colder over here, at least it was when I woke up. I don't know what I did with the outdoor thermometer I used to have on my deck at the farm house, so I have what's meant to be an indoor thermometer on the porch. The farenheit side only goes down to zero, but the celcius side goes down to -20. This morning the mercury was below the -20 line, so it was at least as cold as -21C or -5 or -6F. Couldn't have been much worse than that, though. Saskatchewan is having a brutal winter. My friend in Saskatoon has been facing temperatures in the -30s for weeks on end with very few warm ups (into the -20s!), and that does not include the wind chill. Luckily, he's in Thailand right now.

I really hope the pipes to the rest rooms did not freeze today. It's now three cups of coffee plus 90 minutes, so it's getting to be time to find out! (Hope that wasn't TMI!)
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-01-16 10:03:00
CanadaNow what????
Great news! And it's about time you and Sharon had some of that. Congratulations.

I don't really know how either getting a waiver or Canadian immigration works so it's hard for me to offer much of an opinion on the "what's next." Two things you might want to consider, though: Will the waiver itself remain valid if you decide to move to the US with Sharon years down the road? And, immigration processes aside, where would the two of you prefer to live?

I'm so happy for both of you!!!!!!
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-02-18 11:38:00
CanadaWhy does it have to hurt so much?
I'm so sorry for your loss, Laura.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-02-18 12:53:00
CanadaScrapbooking thread
This thread makes me feel better about how long it is taking me to get my wedding album together.....
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-03-03 11:25:00
CanadaMy Visa Journey has officially begun!
Congratulations and welcome to the madhouse to you too, then.


SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-03-03 13:16:00
CanadaMy Visa Journey has officially begun!
Danu--

Congratulations!

It seems like less time waiting when you look back at it, but I don't know how much help that is now. In any case, I hope it is speedy.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm curious about the comment about Spirit having negative energy directed at her also. What happened?
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2009-03-03 11:11:00
CanadaThe Vent
I want my...
I want my...
I want my... NOA2!

I'm feeling a little less discouraged about it today, though, in large part because an October CSC filer has gotten an NOA2.

It is going to be -4F when my plane lands at MSP. Just FYI, Larry Craig, if you happen to lurk here, baggage claim is a much better place to be propositioned. True, it also helps if you are propositioning or being propositioned by someone you actually already know, rather than some innocent person in the next stall who is probably just trying to relieve him or herself after an 11-hour flight, but still.

And yes, it is a little sad that I still get this much amusement out of Senator Craig's self-inflicted predicament.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-02-14 13:16:00
CanadaThe Vent
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

I broke my earmuffs. And I am going to Minnesota on Friday. And it's going to be very cold there.

The worst part about this is I have no one to blame but myself for being a dumb idiot. Poo balls!

I'm also still frustrated waiting for my NOA2, but that is not exactly earth-shattering news, is it?
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-02-13 16:54:00
CanadaThe Vent
QUOTE (IR5FORMUMSIE @ Feb 8 2008, 12:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Mommy, mommy, SS just said a bad word. innocent.gif


Oops. I'm sorry I said "haven't". I didn't mean to offend. devil.gif

Len, I don't look like Selma Hayak either, dammit. My fiance hasn't seemed to notice that, though.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-02-08 16:24:00
CanadaThe Vent
I will be at MSP the next time I see my fiance. And we haven't had sex since Christmas.

That said, Larry Craig's problem (you know, aside from his rampant hypocrisy) is he picked one of the worst possible spots for a tryst in that entire airport. Out of service departure gates in the D concourse make so much more sense. Just saying.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-02-08 13:08:00
CanadaThe Vent
QUOTE (Len_and_Bren @ Feb 3 2008, 03:23 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Peepz- this Por-a-something made me realize I had not shared with you all a valuable piece of information about lovely Seattle. Do you know how they call the port-a-potties for public usage??????

HONEY BUCKET. blink.gif

Is it just me or that's just gross? OR maybe my brother IR5 owns the darn company and decided to put in a bit of his really sick sense of humour???? wacko.gif


The best name I ever saw for a porto-potty was somewhere in the Nevada desert---it was called the Pee-Pee Teepee!

There is an Australian movie about a guy who runs a porto-potty rental company. The description of it in the Qantas in-flight magazine made it sound a lot more entertaining than it was. I'd love to use the 13-hour flight as an excuse, but I think I was just gullible.
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-02-04 12:07:00
CanadaThe Vent
QUOTE (Sprailenes @ Jan 23 2008, 11:24 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Just saying that I refuse to work, and that I am using my visa as an excuse to not work.

I am really flipping pissed.


OMG, not only mean as a banshee, but dumb as a fence post! Where is that hitting itself on the head emoticon, anyway?
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-01-23 15:37:00
CanadaThe Vent
You guys are making coffee come out of my nose!

Yeah, "artificial flavoring" is an ingredient you really truly hope to see on the box of vomit-flavored jelly bellys....
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-01-23 10:59:00
CanadaThe Vent
I wonder how they advertise it? I mean, what euphamism for "vomit" did they use to name the flavor? Recycled gummi bear?
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-01-22 14:17:00
CanadaThe Vent
QUOTE (Krikit @ Jan 22 2008, 11:14 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I just ate a jelly belly that tasted exactly like throw-up.



Well, look on the bright side, Krikit. You've just eaten something that breaks one of the fundamental laws of nature---the one that says everything tastes better on the way down than it does on the way back up.

Bets the question, though, who thought a puke-flavored candy would be a good idea????
SonoranSongbirdFemaleCanada2008-01-22 12:37:00