Tag: passport

Documentation Crunch Time

Remember back in the ’80s when all of those cold war movies showed the bad guys, the commies, stopping their poor oppressed citizens on the street and asking to see their papers? Remember how evil that felt? The poor saps having to cough up their legal documentation to the secret police at a moment’s notice?

I wonder why I have been thinking of that lately.

So a couple of weeks ago my US passport expired. My state drivers license is going to expire soon as well, and when I renew it I have to get the new federal “Real ID” because we live in a police state now. Unfortunately you need to have an appointment to setup the Real ID and a month ago when I booked one the best date I could get was after my license expires.

The good news is, my passport renewal went off without a hitch and I got it done WAY faster than I expected so I can use my new passport in the Real ID process. That’s cool. I wonder if I can renew my state drivers license first and then replace it a short time later with the federal document. I am guessing I would have to pay twice if I did that and I’ll be damned if I am going to give that tariffing fucker a penny more than I have to. Not that I am cynical about the collapse of my former country or anything. You know how it is.

Papers, please. Fucking authoritarian dictatorship fascist fucking fuckers.

On Hold

I am trying to renew my passport before I have to fly to Florida this summer. I’ve been on hold with their help line for 10 minutes. I have a meeting 70 minutes from now. Do you think I will still be on hold when the meeting starts?

Something tells me I will be. Government efficiency and all that crap, right?

I was just about to publish this when my call was forwarded to a voicemail and hung up. Oh good. I guess I can start that on-hold clock again.

Yippee.

Duel Citizenship

I have had three people recently tell me that they might qualify for citizenship to a country in Europe. Given the direction the USA is heading, I am seriously jealous. In 2017 there was talk of Ireland offering levels of citizenship to people whose family originated there. My paternal great-grandparents were from Ireland, but that was too far removed for me to qualify for anything.

Today, purely out of jealousy, I looked to a couple of other options. My maternal grandparents were born in Newfoundland. At the time it was still a British Dominion, not a Canadian province. What the hell, I checked on both options. Canada was a no. It said there might be possibilities if my grandparents served in the armed forces or worked for the government. My grandfather was a fisherman. He planned to enlist in the navy during World War I but the war ended just before his 18th birthday so he did not sign up. My grandmother was a house keeper. No government service at all.

I looked at the UK too, though after Brexit why would anyone want to sign up for UK citizenship? Since Newfoundland was British when my grandparents were born, the Google reported to me that there was a 13% chance I would qualify. How it came up with 13% I don’t know, but when I dug even a tiny bit deeper it was clear the answer was no.

Maybe I could hire a lawyer to dig a little and pull some legal strings. You know… just in case the USA continues it’s trend of flushing itself down the crapper. Just to have options, you know? Not that I would ever leave… it would be nice to know I had somewhere to go if I needed to… not that I would.

The Weekend is Close

Just under four hours left in the work week. The weekend is almost here.

I’m not sure what the plan is. I want to get an eye exam. I haven’t had a chance to try and book anything yet so it probably isn’t going to happen. Our passports are going to expire soon and we need to get new pictures done so we can send them in with the renewal application. Good thing I got my hair cut, huh?

Guitar, guitar center, trade in the strat, all that stuff. I’m Nana Sitting again on Sunday night but we can get a lot of stuff done between the time I get home tonight and the time I come back on Sunday. Granted, we could also get a lot of flaking and resting and relaxing in too.

So many options, you know?

Passport

The next time I have to fill out a form that requires identification, in the section that says I can either produce two picture IDs or a valid US Passport, I won’t have to fork over two picture IDs.

I just received a package from the US Department of State.

Hey Jen and the kids, wanna leave the country?

Welcome to February

January is over.  It’s February.  That means two things.

First, February is crazy music month for me.  I haven’t started yet, so you are safe from the I-wrote-a-drum-part-on-my-iPad idiocy for now.  Expect those posts to begin either later tonight or tomorrow morning.  I can see by your faces how thrilled you are to be subjected to more of that crap.

Second, the bonus is in so it’s time to start planning vacations!  Plural!  Again!  We’re kinda crazy like that.  Nothing is set in stone, of course.  It’s way to early for anything like that.  The rough draft of a plan is to take the kids some where during their school vacation.  They are going on a trip with their dad during their first week off, so we want to take them on a trip during the second week off.

More recently there have been discussions between my wife and the kids’ father about swapping weeks for grown up get aways.  We will watch the kids for a week while they go away, and they’ll watch the kids for a week while we go away.  I have not been privy to these discussions, but I do know that on Wednesday night my beautiful bride became all consumed with coming up with ideas for what the two of us should do on a week long vacation in the early Autumn.  Far be it from me to disagree, right?  I may be dumb, but I ain’t stupid!

I need to confirm the dates for the Spring trip with the kids.  Once I have that I will book the vacation time at work.  I have started collecting the various documentation I need in order to get a passport.  Hopefully I will be able to submit the passport request paperwork soon.

It’s February.  It’s cold outside.  We’re expecting more snow this weekend.  What better time to start planning a trip or two?