The end of the beginning...

Had someone told me on June 25th, that I wouldn't get my lovely bride to the States for 1 whole year, I don't know what I would have done. Fortunately, I didn't have that information then. It has been a L-O-N-G, hard road, lemme tell ya. This wait and the visa process and the lack of information is something I would wish on my worst enemy!

But as you know, Camila and I are getting real close to the end of our wait. Today, my wife hops on a bus and heads to Salvador to visit her brother for a week, and then she'll go on to Rio de Janeiro from there, where she'll have her interview and I'll meet up with her to bring her home. For us, today is a big deal. It marks the end of the beginning. And we couldn't be happier!

But for Camila, she's spent the last few days packing all her life belongings into a coupla suitcases, and saying goodbye to friends, sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and hardest of all - her two nephews. She's leaving everything familiar behind, without any idea when she might be back for a visit. And she's heading to a place where she knows only me, doesn't speak the language, and has heard that our food leaves a lot to be desired. I give her lots of kudos, because she doesn't seem nervous about any of it.

The counter on the right shows how many days left till we come through the US port of entry and home together. To say we'er both VERY excited for this is like saying God is smart.

Is there hope for our kids?

Hey check it out... My shirt has hangliders on it! I remember my Mom made that shirt and it was my favorite. I loved hanggliding even back when I was 5!

I'll keep swimming

If I ever joke about my involvement in triathlons, it's self-depricating humor. Because let's face it, I only loosely define a 'triathlete'. But last night I totally ROCKED!! My tri group went to Hagg lake to swim. I rented a wet suit made specifically for triathletes. I wanted to see if it would make a difference in my swim. I've never used one before, and I always swim slower than everyone else on my team. In fact I usually move over to the shore and hide in the reeds while I wheeze back to normal breathing levels. I also have a mental hurdle because I start imagining myself sinking like a rock to the bottom of the lake before anyone notices.

Just so you know why this is a big deal, in the Blue Lake tri that I did last year, I ignored all sense of embarrasment or humiliation that others might cave to, and flipped over onto my back to back-stroke it, because I was too freaked out to swim normally. I think the worst was when a couple twelve-year-olds passed me...

... and asked if I wanted them to send someone to get me.


Well last night I turned all that around, BABY!! I don't know why it made such a huge difference, but with that suit on I swam freaking FAST. I was the fastest swimmer in our group. And with the suit on, I was so boyant that I never once worried about becoming a fixture at the bottom of the lake. It was great!

Last night was a defining moment for me. If the suit hadn't helped me swim better, I was planning to drop swimming and only do Duathlons from now on. But seriously, I had the most fun I've had in the water outside of scuba diving. I'm not dropping the swim. In fact,


Bring it!!

A Memorial tribute

I posted last month about my Grandfather passing away. A few days later I went home for his funeral. It was amazing, and I came home with a lot of wonderful memories captured on film. But I didn't have time to do much with it until now. With Memorial Day around the corner, I wanted to put it all together into a tribute to my Grandfather, for my family. My Grandfather served in the military, which I didn't know. And as a result he recieved full military honors. I've never seen that before, it was beautiful. And it was great to be surrounded by my family.

To family and those who loved and knew my Grandpa, I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed making it. Before you start the video, you'll want to stop the music in the playlist at the top of the blog, by clicking the pause button.

[NOTE] Since I posted this video, I've received a lot of feedback about the pic of the little girl at the side of the casket holding Grandpa. It's such a touching picture, and there is an equally touching story behind it. That is my neice Kennadee. She loved my grandfather and would climb up in his lap, or after he became bed-ridden in the days before his death, into his hospital bed with him. She would say, "Grandpa, I'm your little democrat, remember?". He called her that for some reason that I still don't know.

My sister Amy, Kennadee's mom, took this pic with her camera phone. Kennadee wanted to hug Grandpa, and probably would have climbed up into the casket with him if we had let her. She just stood there like that for the longest time, saying goodbye as only a child can. I get a lump in my throat every time I get to that part of the video.

First wakeboarding

Yesterday I got out on the river for the first time this year with my boarding "posse", Kraig and Roger. It was awesome. I LOVE being on the river, it's so beautiful. We stick to the Willamette, I know people have gripes about the cleanliness of the water, but I think it's one of the most beautiful places to spend a weekday evening, cruising up and down the river with all the trees and beautiful properties.


Kraig is zen-master of wakeboarding. The guy wasn't in the water 30 seconds and was turning out tricks like he never took a break, yet it was his first time out this season. I wish I could say that his skill rubs off on me. It's nice boarding with guys better than me cause, in theory, I learn faster.

In theory.




Roger here rides goofy. That doesn't mean he sucks at it, he doesn't. Means he leads with his right foot.












From left to right: me.

Plans for bringing Camila home

Camila's interview, as I went nuts about in my previous post, is scheduled for June 20th. That a Friday. She won't have her actual visa + passport in hand until the next Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday the 25th is our one-year anniversary. So I'm going to fly to Rio and meet her on that day. We'll spend Thursday in Rio and fly home Friday, a week after her interview. I'm baking in a week in case it takes longer to get the visa from immigration then expected (like everything else with them so far). Then we'll hop on a plane on Friday and head to Portland.

I'm starting a new job in a coupla weeks so I won't be able to take off enough time to attend the interview. But it's not mandatory for me to be there anyway. The part I don't want Camila going through alone is that first pass through immigration. I've heard horror stories about people who enter the US for the first time on a new visa, and get put in a room at the airport and grilled for hours. Ultimately, the immigration officer at the airport actually has the power to revoke her visa I found out. Since Camila's english isn't very good, it would be stupid to send her through that alone. Since I'm an american, if we go through the line together, it will go much better for her.

So, if all goes according to Hoyle, We'll fly into Portland late Saturday, the 28th.

Woot!

INTERVIEW SCHEDULED!!!!!!!!!!

WOOT!!

2 days ago I posted about how bummed I got because the U.S. Consulate in Rio told me my wife's interview couldn't be scheduled until her papers were received, and that they were booked out until July. And by the time our papers arrived, it might even be out to August. My wife just frantically IMed me because she called them today and they told her that her papers arrived, and her interview has been scheduled for....

Drum-roll please.......


June 20th!!!


Woot!!!!



From what I understand, the Brazil consulate releases the passport, and visa, on the same day. Once she has them in hand, she'll be able to enter the US. Woot!!

Have I WOOTED enough??! Cuz I'll WOOT some more. Serious.


WOOT!

Visa update

Our application is on its way to the Consulate in Rio de Janeiro. Once it's there, they send a packet to Camila with forms she has to fill out, medical exams she has to get, and police reports she has to request. And the most important thing, her interview date. The interview is the most important step in this process. Once it is over, the consulate glues an invaluable piece of paper (her visa) about 3x4 inches in size, into her passport, stamps it, and she is allowed to enter the US. Trust me, the SECOND that thing is stamped, Camila and I will hop in a freaking taxi and B-LINE it for the airport, where we'll hop on the next flight to Miami!!

Sheez!


So I called the consulate yesterday in my typical wanna-get-a-head-start way, to ask what Camila and I can do to ensure that this part of our journey goes as quickly as possible. I was hoping they would schedule her interview in late May or early June if we had all our ducks in a row.

Nope. Not even close.


Our interview, at the earliest, won't be until the middle of July. As I listened to the brazilian girl who was attending my call drop these words on me as casually as one might tell me the price of Minute-rice on isle 5, several colorful and distasteful words floated up my throat and into my mouth cavity. Fortunately I kept my mouth cavity shut.



At first this really bummed me out. I'm talkin', R-E-A-L-L-Y bummed. But then I realized that at least now, we have a target date. That's 10 weeks away. We can survive another 10 weeks. And we can start planning our life together now that we know a sort-of-date.


I'll post more about this when our sort-of-date becomes less squishy.

Paula Abdul exposes American Idol

Well, I WAS an American Idol fan. I got hooked last season. I've enjoyed this season until last night when a yet-again-drunk-or-something Abdul proved, in my mind anyway, that the show is rigged. I had wondered. And I know some of you are prolly like, "Well duh!". But last night Paula removed all doubt.

The producers did the show in a slightly different format. The contestants each did two songs and the judges were asked to hold their critiques until the second song was sung. But after the first round of songs was finished, Randy Seacrest asked the judges for a quick critique. Simon went first, then Randy, then Paula spoke of Jason's first song, and then went into a very negative critique (uncharacteristic for her) of his SECOND song. Yeah, the one he HADN'T SUNG YET.

Randy had to cut her off, and Ryan tried to play it off with humor. But the bottom line is that the show is rigged. I'm less of a fan....