Posts Tagged ‘family’

Congratulations, A and Pond!

By Chief Oddball on February 20th, 2008 at 7:19 pm

Filed under News ··· 1 Comment

I want to offer my heartfelt congratulations to my brother-in-law A and his wife Pond on their new baby girl! She was delivered during the wee hours last night in Thailand, and the pictures I saw this afternoon show how cute she is. Congrats to the lucky parents!

She doesn’t have a name yet, which is common practice in Thailand — sometimes, a baby’s name isn’t chosen for days or even weeks after birth. Because of the weight and significance a name carries, it must be chosen with great care. Here in the United States, it’s a little bit different — the instant your child is born, the government is asking for a name they can put on the birth certificate and assign a Social Security number to, so your new baby can have everything she needs to start paying taxes to Uncle Sam! :D

Take care and we’ll be seeing you all soon.

Comments (1)

Another Black Muscle Car

By Chief Oddball on June 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

Filed under Journal ··· 5 Comments

There’s another metallic black muscle car in the family. Yesterday, my dad replaced his 2004 GMC Envoy with this:

Charger R/T - Front

Charger R/T - Back

It’s a 2007 Dodge Charger R/T with the Road/Track Performance Package, which adds more aggressive suspension components, specific exhaust, rear deck wing, front chin spoiler, SRT-8 bucket seats and 20″ chrome wheels (as well as the extra-large, red R/T badges). Power is rated at 350 hp, with 390 lb-ft of torque. It’s a big car, and seriously sinister looking.

This October, it’ll be the reunion of the black V8 pavement pounders in Detroit!

Comments (5)

My Fellow American

By Chief Oddball on June 14th, 2007 at 7:04 pm

Filed under Journal ··· 6 Comments

Apple with her certificate of naturalization

On June 14th, Flag Day, my wife Apple became an officially naturalized American citizen at the Miami Beach Convention Center in Miami Beach, Florida!

The ceremony was nicely done — including a keynote speech by the director of the USCIS; a music video for “God Bless the U.S.A.,” and of course, the administration of the Oath of Allegiance. This morning’s event at 8:00 a.m. ushered at least 3,000 new citizens into our nation, and I heard from another attendee that it was possible a second ceremony would follow that afternoon — and, if enough applicants had been assigned, even a third.

I thought the coolest part was when the USCIS official read off a list of all the countries from which immigrants in today’s ceremony had come. As they announced each country, applicants who hailed from there were asked to stand, and the audience applauded and cheered them on. There were mostly just a few people from each of the world’s various nations, with the exception of the Big Five, which were saved for last: Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Colombia and Nicaragua.

Each new citizen also received a little American flag, as you can see from the picture. :) Most of them were waving quite enthusiastically throughout the festivities!

In retrospect, I’m also glad I researched parking options in Miami Beach, and secured the car at a parking deck a few blocks away. This morning, the mad rush of people (and their vehicles) that we witnessed around the convention center surely would have been enough to make me crazy.

Congratulations to Apple on becoming a fellow American citizen — now you can vote, travel abroad with ease, and help make this country a better place!

ขอแสดงความยินดีครับ คุณทำได้แล้ว !!

Comments (6)

Good News From The Government

By Chief Oddball on May 24th, 2007 at 11:42 pm

Filed under Journal ··· 1 Comment

The United States government (or certain arms of it, at least) came bearing good news for Apple and me today.

First, Apple received her official “invitation” to her Oath of Allegiance ceremony, where she will be sworn in as an official U.S. citizen. The ceremony will be held, as expected, on June 14. Exciting! Interestingly, just last night, Apple was reading some posts on an immigration message board, and someone else who had their naturalization interview around the same time as her just got their letter. So Apple got up today expecting her letter to arrive, and lo and behold, it did.

Second, when I checked in with the U.S. District Court this evening, I was informed that “my services as a juror are no longer necessary. Confirm.” (Okay, they didn’t say that last word. I channeled SV7 there for a minute after my previous post.) Woohoo! Free and clear for vacation next week, without having to worry about being called up for jury service. I love it! Next week is gonna be awesome!

Comments (1)

The One Where Apple Becomes an American Citizen

By Chief Oddball on April 13th, 2007 at 5:48 pm

Filed under Journal ··· 4 Comments

Well, long time no post. I see I’ve been neglectful in my site maintenance again. Which is really idiotic, because a lot of things happened this past week. Perhaps the most monumental occurrence of all took place on Monday, when Apple and I once again made one of our ceremonial pilgrimages to a strange and foreign land, otherwise known as Miami.

My wife Apple (who, as you know, immigrated to the United States from Thailand some seven years ago) has been required to report to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services routinely ever since. She’s affirmed her status as a permanent resident, applied to remove conditions from her residency, applied for a 10-year green card, verified that we’re still happily married, had her fingerprints and photos taken, and so on. This lengthy ongoing process has, in fact, seen the name of that government agency change three times — from INS, to BCIS, to USCIS. (I guess they figure more letters = better service?)

But it all came down to this. On Monday, Apple was scheduled to have her fabled naturalization interview. Last fall, she applied to become a United States citizen, and — after another round of fingerprinting — was called to attend the big showdown on April 9th. (We lucked out, in fact, that her interview was not scheduled for a date on which we were still in Thailand.) The interview consists of a written exam, wherein you’re asked 10 questions about American history and government; an English speaking test; and an English writing test. So, after a weekend of last-minute studying, on Monday we headed east.

Continue Reading…

Comments (4)

Heading Home Tomorrow

By Chief Oddball on March 27th, 2007 at 4:26 am

Filed under Journal ··· 2 Comments

Today is our final day in Thailand! Tomorrow morning we head for the airport and begin our lengthy, multi-faceted journey home. As much as Apple and I both want to get home, neither one of us wants to spend much time thinking about what we’ll have to endure to get there. At least the most taxing elements of the trip will be over with upfront — namely, the ridiculous airport-jockeying in Bangkok that will eat up almost the entirety of our Wednesday. We’ll finally fly out of Bangkok on our trans-Pacific leg tomorrow evening, and I’ve got two books and a computer loaded with Battlestar, Sopranos and Star Trek to keep me busy. With luck, though, I’ll be able to spend as much time sleeping as I did on the way here.

Once we get to Los Angeles, our remaining two flights back home are of the typical mundane variety, and our layovers are thankfully short. Our L.A. to Atlanta flight is a redeye that leaves at 12:30 a.m. Pacific Time, and then the short Atlanta to Fort Myers flight will put us home mid-morning on Thursday. Thanks to crossing the International Dateline, this near-two day affair will end up costing us only one day of actual time. Surreal.

Yesterday was the big event — my brother-in-law’s wedding. It was a very classy event, and reminded me very much of our own wedding back in ‘99. The same Thai/Chinese traditions were observed, including the opening tea ceremony in the morning, and the reception/dinner was held in the same hotel where ours was. (Except in a bigger room — as there were two large families in attendance this time!)

The part I liked best about the day’s events was the really nice “wedding video” that was shown on a big screen right before dinner. Set to music, it displayed a series of photos from the early years of both the bride and groom, pictures from the engagement ceremony earlier this month, and professional photos taken especially for the occasion. As a memento of the occasion, we got our own copy of the VCD to take home with us.

Overall, it was a very nice event, one that did the bride and groom proud, and I think everyone had a good time. Congratulations and much happiness to A and Pond!

Continue Reading…

Comments (2)

Maseratisti

By Chief Oddball on March 18th, 2007 at 9:44 am

Filed under Journal ··· 2 Comments

I’ve mentioned Apple’s uncle Preecha before. He’s the man who made a very good living in polymers and has used some of his funds to create a car collection for himself; his most recent addition, the Mercedes R171 roadster, was featured on this site back in February. Today, we finally got to see the rest of his local car collection — he swung by in a black Mercedes AMG sedan this afternoon, and after a brief stop at a coffee house for drinks and cakes, we headed for the main event.

Preecha owns a warehouse here in town which looks like it could be outfitted as a full-fledged mechanic’s shop. It has a large shop floor with bay doors, a glass-enclosed floor office and an upper level with still more rooms. For his purposes, it’s a glorified garage that holds all seven of his locally-stored sports cars. The definite pinnacles of the collection are the four Maseratis, each a rare model from the 1990s, the likes of which I’ve never seen before, and all of which are original, authentic biturbo machines.

He also owns an Audi S6 which he’s had specially modified by SMS, adding about 60 horsepower; his new Mercedes R171 roadster with its sweet red interior, and the aforementioned AMG E-class with a supercharged V6. Five of the seven cars are black. More pictures of the cars after the jump.

Continue Reading…

Comments (2)