Salut Kermit - wow, no news should be good news but in my case not necessarily. Absolute radio silence, not a beep from the stupid INS or whatever they call themselves now. I talked again to some immigration lawyer in SFO today... more reinforcement for the position that the 180-day grace period begins with filing of the extension, not with expiration of the prior visa. So we're still looking at end of June unless there's a lottery miracle. *** Other news: Did some major x-country flying this past weekend, RHV to OVE with full radar services and a nice lake fly-over to finish things off, OVE to O48 and a sweet afternoon in Mendocino, and finally O48 to RHV with the full Class Bravo works with sight-seeing over the Golden Gate, the City, SFO, and the South Bay.

K... this is it. Eventually gotta break the news to everybody - tentative reservation for tix to DFW/ZRH on June 28. Call it resignation, call it a new beginning, call it a challenge to the lottery - whatever. At T-45 days there's no wiggle room left.

Yo K... just a quick update on the "stuff" that's happening (or not): There were indications today that the grace period of 180 days is now being applied based on the original postmark date of a filed application, not the receipt date or the actual former status expiration date. Clear text: Cut off another month of my stay here - we're looking at end of June to get my ass outta here. T-51 days, baby. I suppose I'll have to begin convincing all folks who are still in denial.

Hola KJ - wow, I *am* getting older... there's virtually no old friends left now that aren't parents yet. Miss R got the gift on my checkride day and JJ finished her job on the 30th. Congrats to all of you! Can't wait to see little D and the proud papa two months from now - finally, a good excuse to hit the beer gardens. Just mama will be getting on my nerves by quizzing me when I'll be joining the ranks. We shall see! Secured my first leg tix now for the one-year goof-off; I'll post a tentative schedule of events and locations soon. Remember to start saving that money to come visit me!

Heya Kermit... back from Arizona this past weekend. Sunny and hot as usual - went hiking to see countless Saguaros in Sabino Canyon and on the way up to Mt. Lemmon. Still no news from the government but I'm beginning to shift gears to look into plane tix and what to do next. It's amazing how quickly time flies when you can count down the days left. Vamos a ver...

Heya Junior... cool weekend! MVille finally re-opened last week and I made sure not to miss the first Saturday afternon in the sun. Many old faces are still around so the quality of the margaritas remained high. They gotta work out some bugs, mess up the place ("age" it a bit), open the bar windows to the outside, throw out some stupid tables and chairs and replace them with benches, and attract the old large crowds again. Let's give it a few weeks and we'll see. Went flying yesterday, too - nice little jump to Zuniga's in WVI, then up the coastline to Pigeon Point, back over the hill, and then transitioned with the full Norcal Approach works through SJC class C. The big E is starting to freak out about the potential departure but what can I do... it's pretty sad but life isn't always fair.

Yo K - looks like it's been sealed now... fucking DHS/BCIS has all processing indefinitely on hold. After hundreds of attempts finally got a line yesterday, was put on hold for over 80 minutes long-distance, and then talked to some bitchy lakeesha-style person with a heavy accent, a disgusting Mexican/Indian combo. Long story short, pending a lottery win in May or June it is T-105 days now. I'll start travel planning and floating resumes again!

Hi KJ... well, too bad the weather was all fucked up this past weekend - I really would have loved to make use of that pilot license to do the proverbial 100-dollar burgers. Still no word from the DHS/BCIS. I think those suckers are watching CNN all day; I can't believe what the challenge might be putting a stamp on a piece of paper for me. After all, they didn't fail to cash the $1,130 check only one day after receiving the documents. It's been well over 4 months now - "30-60 day processing time" my ass. It's decision time right now... I might have to start dissolving my household now if I need to finish by July; just about 100 days left here. I am definitely not going to overstay more than 180 days. Change is scary but I suppose I'll quickly enjoy my new-found freedom to travel for several months. I should send that line to all the Arabs watching Al Jazeera... "new-found freedom by leaving the U.S." - now that is a strange thought.

Hey Kermit - I HAVE MY WINGS !!!!! Woohoo!!! I passed my FAA Private Pilot Checkride today... what a day! The weather was nice and sunny so we started with take-offs and landings at RHV. Next, off to do x-country stuff - diversion 1 over the hills, diversion 2 down the beautiful coastline above Moss Landing to Marina, sweet cross-wind landing, back north for some stalls. Rough air over on the way back over the hills - instrument and unusual attitude recoveries. Back up the valley to UTC - some awesome steep turns and then climbing up over RHV to test the Class B. Some ATC trouble, discontinuing, steep turn back towards RHV and then WHOA... a Pilatus PC-12 didn't have TCAS active and zoomed by at lass than 400 feet - we in 80 degrees of bank, dive, nicely avoided! Back at Nice Air I needed to break some more sweat and ace some follow-up questions on ATC clearance requirements for Class B and some limited visibility Class E/G and SVFR Class D stuff. Passed!!! It will be lots of free beer at Teske's Germania this Friday!!!

Salut KJ - Trying to get my x-country assignments from the examiner today. My last pre-test ride with the instructor went great last Saturday; I executed the diversion perfectly and he didn't even want to see it a second time. I am still concerned about all the theory stuff, though - if I fail I bet it will be because of some stupid FAR that I forgot. Can't believe that we've already been planning to go on trips - no more traffic jams on Memorial Day!