Useless Conversation

[Merusk]

Meh, just buy a battery and try it out. If it still doesn't work you can return the new battery.

[MuffinMan]

Has anyone applied for a passport recently? They say it takes 4-6 weeks to process but 6 weeks will be cutting it too close for comfort I think. Also, I wonder if a passport card is processed quicker than the full passport book.

[Viin]

What's a passport card?

You can pay a lot of money to have it expedited, since apparently you procrastinated too long. 

[Salamok]

Meh, just buy a battery and try it out. If it still doesn't work you can return the new battery.

Yeah that is what I resolved to do, took the battery back (again!) and said I want a new one, they tested it again and in addition to saying it was still good they said it had a low charge (WTF didn't they say that last night?) so they hooked it up to the charger for an hour and at the end said it was a bad battery  , they then gave me a new battery at no charge since this one was only 15 months old.  Then I go put in the new battery - same problem, call in the tow truck, driver gives the clamps a twist and it fires right up.  So paid $65 for a guy to drive out and tell me to clean my clamps and terminals.  At least I didn't have it towed to the dealer for an additional $110 diagnostic fee.

[Johny Cee]

Has anyone applied for a passport recently? They say it takes 4-6 weeks to process but 6 weeks will be cutting it too close for comfort I think. Also, I wonder if a passport card is processed quicker than the full passport book.

http://travel.state.gov/passport/processing/processing_1740.html


I take it you are staying in NA?  Some states are also using "enhanced" driver's licenses/IDs for use at customs with Canada.  I don't know if their times are better, or if they work with Mexico/Carribean.

[MuffinMan]

I guess I'm just used to getting back and forth between Michigan and Canada and never thought about it. It seems they finally changed things to where you can get into Canada with a license and birth certificate but to get back to the states that doesn't work anymore.

As for the passport card, it's less than half the cost and I highly doubt I'm flying overseas anytime in the near future.

The U.S. Passport Card can be used to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry and is more convenient and less expensive than a passport book. The passport card cannot be used for international travel by air.

[Salamok]

What's a passport card?

You can pay a lot of money to have it expedited, since apparently you procrastinated too long. 

I think you can shave some of that expense by doing some expediting on your own, I had a friend drive down and do this but I am not sure they still do it with the newer passports.  I also found it odd that although Austin is the state capital all the offices for this type of shit are not here, I think he had to drive to Dallas and when my wife had to expedite her resident alien card she had to drive to San Antonio.

[Johny Cee]

I guess I'm just used to getting back and forth between Michigan and Canada and never thought about it. It seems they finally changed things to where you can get into Canada with a license and birth certificate but to get back to the states that doesn't work anymore.

As for the passport card, it's less than half the cost and I highly doubt I'm flying overseas anytime in the near future.

The U.S. Passport Card can be used to enter the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Bermuda at land border crossings or sea ports-of-entry and is more convenient and less expensive than a passport book. The passport card cannot be used for international travel by air.

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1627_8669_53333---,00.html

[MuffinMan]

http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127-1627_8669_53333---,00.html

I haven't been a Michigan resident for a few years so I don't think that would do me any good. Unless Texas offers an enhanced license for Canada crossings.

[Chimpy]

If you live in or near a city with a passport office you can get a passport/card by walking in but you still pay the expediting fee and you have to be traveling within two weeks.

Just get a passport, it is not that expensive considering it lasts ten years. Then you don't have to go through the whole thing again if you decide to fly to Cabo with your buddies (cannot use a passport card to fly into Mexico )

[MuffinMan]

I think I'll just apply and watch the status progress. If it gets close enough it looks like I can call within a week of the trip and expedite it at that time. I just hope I don't have to drive to Dallas, ugh.

[Teleku]

If you have a passport office nearby, you can get it within days.  I made an appointment with the one in San Francisco the day before going in.  Walked in, did the paperwork, gave them the required photos, paid the fee (was $100 something I believe).  Walked back in and got my completed passport the very next day.  I did that literally 2 days before flying to France because I realized at the last moment my passport had just expired (when the expiration date on something lasts a decade, you tend to stop thinking about it after some years, heh).

SF is a very international city, however, so maybe the passport office here is more responsive than elsewhere.

[MuffinMan]

Yea I looked up the nearest regional office, like Salamok said it is in Dallas. I guess I could take a day trip to the Houston office, haven't been there yet at least.

[Merusk]

What's a passport card?

You can pay a lot of money to have it expedited, since apparently you procrastinated too long. 

I think you can shave some of that expense by doing some expediting on your own, I had a friend drive down and do this but I am not sure they still do it with the newer passports.  I also found it odd that although Austin is the state capital all the offices for this type of shit are not here, I think he had to drive to Dallas and when my wife had to expedite her resident alien card she had to drive to San Antonio.

The expediting offices up north are in border towns like Detroit and - I think - Buffalo.  San Antonio being the closest big city to the Texas-Mexico border this makes sense.

[Strazos]

Sad that the question was mostly answered before I got here.  However, to be fair...I'm no expect in domestic passport operations - all my overseas stuff is auto-expedited, so I have about a 7 day turn-around.

So, where are you going? Do you already have a currently-valid passport? If so, depending on where you are going, you may still be ok - you normally need 6 months validity, but we have agreements with some countries to allow entry even if you have less validity.

[schild]

I got my new passport (book) 3 weeks after submitting with no expediting. They did, however, forget to send back my fucking birth certificate and name change documents. Getting those will be a nightmare, I'm sure.

[Hammond]

I got my new passport in about 2 weeks without expediting it.  I ordered the passport card along with it just because...


And Schild I also had to get a new birth certificate.  For me I went to the county seat where I was born and gave them a couple copies of different identifications which was in my case my passport and drivers license. Birth certificates are a state thing not a federal one.    For me it  took a couple weeks all said and done to get a new one. Every state is different though. 

Looks like Texas is easier (although I am not sure if you are actually from there or not)

http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/reqproc/certified_copy.shtm

[Chimpy]

As schild said, it doesn't always take the 8 weeks (my renewal was done in less than three weeks last month) they say but as we get closer to summer their workload increases. I would apply tomorrow to get it in the pipe. Also, the extra 12 bucks for express mailing it back to you is worth it if you are in a time crunch.

[ghost]

I got my new passport (book) 3 weeks after submitting with no expediting. They did, however, forget to send back my fucking birth certificate and name change documents. Getting those will be a nightmare, I'm sure.

Name change documents?

[Strazos]

One would presume that it's because his name was changed subsequent to his birth. 

And yeah, that sucks. I never got my docs back when I was applying to the USAF. Oh well.

[Furiously]

I got my new passport (book) 3 weeks after submitting with no expediting. They did, however, forget to send back my fucking birth certificate and name change documents. Getting those will be a nightmare, I'm sure.

Name change documents?

Zap Rowsdower?

[Chimpy]

It takes them longer to send back supporting docs. I got my cancelled passport back almost a month after receivIng my new jingoistic artwork one.

[Ingmar]

I got my new passport (book) 3 weeks after submitting with no expediting. They did, however, forget to send back my fucking birth certificate and name change documents. Getting those will be a nightmare, I'm sure.

Name change documents?

Zap Rowsdower?

[ghost]

I was  hoping for something more interesting, like Metta Worldpeace or Ochocinco.   

[ezrast]

So my friends are watching Nobuo Uematsu in concert right now and I absolutely cannot remember why I decided not to go with them. Fuck me.

[Yegolev]

How you say... wonk wooonk!

[Minvaren]

So the place where I work finally hired someone I can train to replace part of what I do.  They started Thursday around 10am, and I'm to begin training them on Monday at 8am.

I was out of the office on Friday, so I swung by there to grab the last of my personal stuff and to move an ethernet cable (on a production system) today.  Walked into my office to find it full of the new guy's floor lamps, table lamps, art, sports memorabilia, and military patches and stuff.   Guess we have to figure out where I sit for the next two months on Monday - which should be fun, as there are no open desks or computers in secured areas...

 

[ezrast]

Happy 2012, everybody.

(really, what happened there?)

[Rasix]

Hacked.  They have all of your cc numbers now.

[Merusk]

Wow, so glad I used a fake number then!

[Rasix]

You know what's not fun? Listening to management from development and test bitch at each other at 9am on Sunday.  Apparently this is a critical issue, but no one's saying anything productive.  Just a lot of bitching and blaming.  

[Rasix]

It looks like the newest posts are always going to be the last ones before the time change back. Great.

[Samwise]

It looks like the newest posts are always going to be the last ones before the time change back. Great.

 

Luckily we have about two years before that becomes difficult to fix via a simple find-and-replace in the forum database.  I have faith.

[Furiously]

I have seen the future... It's a lot like today.

[Ironwood]

I was forced to watch Breaking Dawn.

It's like having a terminal condition for over an hour.