American Agriculture: FAIL

I was feeling a little bit orthorexic the other day, which is BAD! You can't have an eating disorder here in the States cause it's a total faux pas. Orthorexia is a fixation with healthy eating. Although it's not a "medically recognized term". But still, while there probably is a grain of truth to the existence of "orthorexia", it bothers me that it's come to this extreme where wanting to eat healthy is considered by some an eating disorder. My orthorexic problem is I don't even want to think about where most of the meat and eggs we buy comes from. Not to mention all the GMO produce. Ugh! We do buy some organic, but it is so EXPENSIVE and TIME-CONSUMING to try to eat healthy in the United States. All I have to say is: of course the U.S. is full of people with eating disorders and health problems. OF COURSE IT IS!!! Anorexia, bulimia, obesity, and diabetes to name a few. Not to mention yo-yo diets and a HUGE NATIONAL FIXATION ON BODY IMAGE! If you go to the supermarket, 90% of the food isn't even healthy. Actually that number is probably closer to 99%. Corn-fed beef full of antibiotics, GMO produce laced with pesticides, all of the sugar and the processed GMO crap that makes up most of the aisles. Of course Americans have eating disorders! Honestly. I've never heard anyone mention this connection and it's so obvious it should be common sense.

You want to cure bulimia, anorexia, and other food-related health disorders? That will only happen when our food/agricultural system transforms into something ecologically and ETHICALLY superior. Honestly. The present corn-based system that spews pesticides into the earth and favors GMO crops and large corporations is absolutely insane! Who in their right mind really wants to eat that crap? Or even produce it. Honestly corporate decision makers, get a life! Go enjoy all that money you've accumulated and leave us alone. And federal government that supports these guys, your demise will come. Your biggest challengers may be local governments who are sick of your BS, and lots of people connected through social media.

I believe the start of a solution to this is a large grassroots community gardens project, people having their own gardens, CSAs, co-ops, etc. Stuff like crop mob too.

All I can say to my garden is "grow, baby grow." Together, gardens and gardeners ;), we can put Cargill out of business. And Monsanto too. And end this corporate insanity.

Direct Consular Filing, OVER

So if you haven't already started the process, direct consular filing will be a thing of the past starting August 15th, 2011. Which means if you want to petition your alien spouse's visa from Chile, you'll need to do it through United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), in Chicago, I believe.

My love for Chilean soccer

Started in Canada in 2007 with "la rojita". June, I believe. With Sanchez, Medel, Vidal, Toselli, Isla, y varios más headed by Harold Mayne-Nicholls. La prensa chilena le siguió para todos lados al equipo informando a todo Chile de los cortes de pelo, el shopping, y las andanzas de estos jovenes alegres en Toronto. De hecho, la presa chilena fue criticada por lo mismo porque decían que hizo desconcentrar al joven equipo. A lo mejor se destrayó, pero a la vez me hizo a mi más interesada que nunca en el fútbol chileno, ya que conocíamos a los jugadores y a sus familias. Los periodistas incluso iban a las casas de las familias para entrevistarlas, ver los partidos con parientes y amigos de los jugadores y hacer a todo Chile conocerlos.

Los partidos eran emocionantes para todo el país. Por primera vez, in my humble and bastante amateur opinion, Chile tenía un buen EQUIPO, no solo a "SaZa", sino a una manga de buenos jugadores quienes jugaban (y juegan) bien! (Well, most of the time anyway. No one's perfect.) Chile veía a la rojita con tanta o más emoción y fe que a la selección adulta. No sé si soy yo o si Chile por primera vez tenía confianza en sus jugadores nacionales como equipo.

Despues del altercado que tuvieron con los pacos canadienses, lo que mas me acuerdo de la rojita en Toronto es cuando Medel sacó la pelota del arco Chileno (ni me acuerdo contra que equipo) y el protagonismo de Toselli en los triunfos. Bueno, y la mencionada interacción con la prensa chilena fuera de la cancha.

Bueno, y ahora varios de aquellos jovenes que jugaron en Canadá, ahora son parte de la selección. Y me rompe el corazón cuando pierde Chile, como perdió hoy día. Lo único que quería era que avanzaran para poder verles jugar más porque JUEGAN BIEN CTM!

Business Ideas 5 and 6

Business Idea #5:
How about a real "guitar hero" bar?

Could somebody please do this one? hahaha, in Spokane please. (Or wherever I may be living at present.)
Perhaps it even exists, if I were to take the time to google it well enough...I might find it.

What I mean by this is not the game, but the real thing. The bar could have a cheap Squire guitar and an amp, a microphone, a beat-up drum set, and a keyboard that people could take turns rocking out on. With the popularity of bar karaoke-which seemed to hit hard the end of the 90´s and just never go away-I think I'm on to something.

I think a band setup, where people of varying abilities could come rock out, or at least try to, haha, could be a lot of fun. Plus, how many musicians (of varying abilities) live in apartments or neighborhoods where they can't crank it up without passive-aggressive neighbors and noise violations screwing things up?

**Note to any Expert Guitar Heros out there...I don't mean to be put down guitar hero the game. Mentioning it just helped me explain what I mean.

Business idea 6: porn streaming/rental for women. Most of that stuff's for guys. Honestly, women's reason for not watching as much porn doesn't come from the fact that we "aren't visually stimulated". What a f$%#ing joke! No pun intended, hahaha. The fact is that most pornos (read 99.9%) are made with guys in mind. What we're really turned off by is watching the guy jizz all over the girl. Gross. And just the whole way the movie's laid out. If you want to consult with an expert about this, check this out.

So this probably does exist, but it could be marketed much more. Like at tuppersex parties...

Standard of Living

I took a consumer survey today that asked me if I would be willing to experience a decrease in standard of living in favor of my environmental concerns, (for me this means to use less energy, buy less stuff, pay more for organic local food, grow your own food, etc.) I didn't like how the question was posited, because it assumes that having less pollution (cleaner water, air, land) isn't an increase in standard of living. Honestly, some people are annoyingly clueless. (In this case survey writers. What's worse, there was no place on the survey to express this.)

Proving domicile in the USA on the I-864 (the affadavit of support)

How to show domicile on the I-864 when you're living abroad. I totally had an "immigration zombie" moment with this one.

I believe the reason showing domicile is important is because U.S. Immigration wants to be sure that you will be arriving in the United States with or before your spouse. If you're not living in the States, but your alien spouse is, I imagine that makes the I-864 pretty worthless to the government.

The domicile part of the I-864 is sort of confusing because if you are applying DCF, it's because the U.S. citizen applying is a "resident" in another country. However, you have to prove your "country of domicile" is the United States. You can be a resident somewhere outside the U.S. and have you country of domicile be the United States. If you go to Part 4, question 15 on the I-864 instructions, it gives you options A, B, and C. For most people trying to prove B and/or C is the way to go.

Possible proof of domicile:
On the I-864 instructions they list the following as proof of U.S. domicile:

• your voting record in the United States,
  
• paying U.S. State or local taxes,
  
• having property in the United States,
  
• maintaining bank or investment accounts in the United States,
  
• having a permanent mailing address in the United States.
  
• evidence that you are a student studying abroad or that a foreign government has authorized a temporary stay.

Or if you don't have these, you can show the following:

• accepting a job in the United States,
  
• signing a lease or purchasing a residence in the United States,
  
• registering children in U.S. schools.

On the visa forums, users make even more suggestions of what to submit as proof of domicile:

• a letter from parents/siblings/etc. saying that you are welcome to live with them while you get set up in the United States
  
• a bill from a U.S.-based health insurance in your name or that you're included on
• that you are giving up your lease or selling your house abroad
• if you will be studying in US, send them documentation that you are enrolled in a college or university
  

Also there's a wiki at British Expats which is super helpful. It gives suggestions on how to prove domicile in the USA.

For more info on this, i.e., other people's experiences, it's very helpful to do a search for "I-864 and domicile" or something to the effect at british expats forum on the "USA, Marriage-based visas" branch.

Here's a link to the USCIS forms. As of April 14, 2011, anyway.

Business Ideas 3 & 4

# 3 A food cart on the way to the airport, in a SUPER convenient location, that sells packed lunches for reasonable prices.

#4 A waxing franchise, like that offers the services of leg/bikini/etc wax, but with prices more along the lines of "Great Clips Salons" than "Aveda Salons". So rather than paying boutique-y prices for this service you would pay a more reasonable price. Market: urban areas with lots of yuppies and hipsters.