Petition for a Family Member

It’s kind of strange to call someone you’re going to be married to a relative, but that’s what it’s referred to. Any legal resident can petition the government to allow immediate family to join them in the United States. This is the case if you’re an immigrant or a citizen. Upon marrying someone, a citizen can request that the government allow the spouse to enter, live and work within the US. The spouse, if already in the US, can update their visa from, in our case, an F1 student visa, to permanent resident status. The law gets really tricky if you enter the US on a non-immigration visa, in other words not intending to immigrate, after having filed a Petition for Alien Relative. And yes, they call them aliens.

The form, I-130, is just a form stating who I am, how I’m legally in this country (through birth), and what my relation is to the person for whom I’m petitioning. Pretty straight forward.

Changing Visa Status

At the same time, we file an Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, form I-485. This allows Ana to update her F1 visa to a Permanent Resident visa. After having filed this, she can not leave the country and return on her F1 visa. The reason is, upon entering the US under an F1 student visa, she is stating that by entering on a non-immigration visa, she is not intending to stay in the country, which would be false, since she has filed for permanent residency. It makes sense, but is something people need to be aware of. To get around this, there is another form I-131, Application for Travel Document, that we would need to file until she’s approved for a green card so that she can travel to Colombia or somewhere else on our honeymoon.

Additional Forms

There are a few more forms to file, such as an Application for Employment Authorization, form I-765, biographic information, form G-325A and my favorite, form G-1145, E-Notification of Application/Petition Acceptance, which will send me an email and/or text message when my application has changed status.

The process is pretty straight forward, but we consulted with a lawyer first to know what we were getting ourselves into. The tough part is understanding each form that needs to be filed, how to file it, what you need to file it properly and gathering all the other information and supporting documents that are needed. We can hire a lawyer to do all of this for us after we get married, but we don’t have the money right now. But we’re confidant we can properly do all of this. The trick is just taking a bit at a time and a lot of reading. Each government form has accompanying instructions to follow so it makes the process a lot less daunting.

Immigration is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

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1. Major Historic Events You May Not Know About
2. Christmas Eve Morning in Colombia
3. More Condo Delays
4. Corona Game Template in Lua

iPhone Development

We started a company last year to allow independent iPhone app developers to make the transition from “wanna-be” to published developer. The model works similar to a record label, where LTZ provides the leverage, so that developers can concentrate on coding rather than the logistics of getting apps out. We wanted to start small, get a few early successes and then use that momentum to gather a pool of developers. We’re also planning a Code Kitchen, which is a class to teach iPhone and Mac programming to anyone interested for free.

Most of our early time was spent on logistics, even though we had our first app idea right from the start. It was a lot of waiting; we waited for resources (copy, data, images, feedback), we waited for Apple, we waited for the lawyers and we waited for contracts. So in a year’s time, we finally had an application ready to release. But thankfully, most of that work won’t have to be completed again since the contracts, setup and other logistics are taken care of. I’ll post a longer article on the whole process (what it took, what we learned, etc), but as I type this, our app, BarNinja is “In Review,” waiting to go up on the Apple App Store. It still might get rejected (one never knows with these processes), but we’re hopeful that it will appease the Apple review gods. We’re also more hopeful that the app will actually sell well and we can get some money into the business so we can buy “test” devices, like the brand new iPad for all our people.

Scuba Diving in Blacksburg

As many already know, scuba diving is a relatively new thing for me. However, I instantly fell in love with the sport and have tried to progress as quickly as I can. It’s been a lot cheaper than flying.

I got my Open Water (OW) certification in November of ’08 (with dives in Cozumel, Mexico in December), my Advanced Open Water (AOW) in July of ’09 (with dives in the Florida Keys and on the US Coast Guard Cutter my grandfather served on in World War II), my Rescue Diver certification (that required another certification of Emergency First Responder) and now I’m working on my Divemaster certification, which is a professional level diving certification. As you can image, this has been a long journey, with a ton of training, reading, and diving. The diving part was especially difficult due to the location. Blacksburg is not known for it’s amazing scuba diving, but diving in the local river, which has a maximum depth of 41 feet, has made it a bit easier.

We should be able to finish up the divemaster certification in May of this year. That’ll allow me to help teach some classes with Scott, who runs Avalon Adventures here in Blacksburg and the New River Valley (NRV). He’s my current instructor and I’ve helped him out with his website. The plan is to serve Blacksburg, Christiansburg, Radford, and the surrounding NRV to provide classes, dive trips, dive refreshers and other adventures. Hopefully, we’ll also make some money in the process.

Music

I’ve picked up my guitars again. Sadly, I don’t think I’ve picked them up in at least six months, but I’m at it again. Luckily it only took me a few minutes to remember what those six months made me forget. I am also helping my old Computer Science instructor with his business at Rocket Music. It helps me get back into music, even though its on a strictly computer programming level. Just talking about guitars, buying guitars, customizing guitars and everything guitars reminds me to go pick up one of my guitars and practice, if for only 15 minutes.

Our Foster Dog

Our foster dog Petunia has really adjusted well with us. When we first got her, she had some problems with other dogs, being generally nervous, crying when we left her home alone, etc. We weren’t surprised, since her previous owners abandoned her and she spent a long time in the shelter. Now all she does it try to cuttle up with us and never leaves us, even if that means following us from room to room.

Ana is getting attached to Petunia and I don’t think we’re going to get her adopted. Being a Pitbull mix, people are afraid of her. However, everyone that’s met her has loved her, which is another reason we don’t think we’ll let her be adopted. She never barks, is great with our cat, loves to play, never complains, and is so adorable. She’s gathered such nicknames as Petu, Petufilese and just Perrita. Dogs are a lot of work, but I think in this case, for her, she’s worth it.

Apartment

My girlfriend of about a year, moved in officially a few months ago. She still has her old apartment, but the rent there is taken care of by a sort of sub-lease. Previously, we were always together anyway, cooking food, studying together, grocery shopping together. The only difference was, she wasn’t paying rent or the massive electricity bill we seemed to rack up with her presence. I have an extra bedroom in my condo, which I gave to her for all her stuff. We moved in her tredmill into that room (producing some of the first small scratches in my new hard wood floors), her desk and a bunch of other things so that she has her own space. It’s worked out extremely well and while we’ve had our fights about stupid apartment and living stuff, you don’t truly know a person until you lived with them. That goes for friends and girlfriends.

Spanish

As a result of living with a native Spanish speaker, I’ve picked up a lot. I never learned Spanish. It was always the language of poor people where I lived. Instead I studied German, the language that’s most understood in Europe. While living in Hungary, I learned Hungarian so picking up Spanish was probably the easiest thing for me. With Spanish, for example, just add an ‘O’ or an ‘A’ after any English word of more than 2 syllables and translate word for word and you have a pretty good, understandable sentence.

Before I met Ana (pronounced Ah-na, not Anne-uh by the way), I probably knew less than 20 words, and that’s after having spent two weeks in Mexico scuba diving. Before that, I probably knew around 5. Now I wish I would have learned it sooner, but I’m glad I learned German since Ana and I are planning a trip back to Europe. Ana has never been, so I’ll take us around Hungary, we’ll visit Italy (which is a language both of us have studied, but she understands a lot better) and she can take us around Spain since they almost speak the same language as she does.

We have a savings account set up that we’ve been putting money in since last summer. It’s not a lot, but it’ll at least pay for the plane tickets out there. Then we plan on staying with friends where we can, and since we both have friends all over Europe, it shouldn’t be an issue.

What I’ve Been Up To is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Related posts:

1. What Are the Five Greatest Things About Where You Live?
2. First Dive in Key Largo, Florida
3. Isla Fuerte, Colombia
4. First Dive 2009 – New River

If you are curious, it takes me 18 kick cycles to travel 50 feet underwater. We stayed under water for 45 minutes and even though we were only 24 feet deep at the max, we used a lot of our air performing the AOW tests, down from 3000 PSI to 850 PSI in the end.

Check out the photos below:

Pleasure Reef

Florida Scuba: Pleasure Reef (06/28/09) is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Related posts:

1. Florida Scuba: Molasses Reef (06/28/09)
2. Pleasure Reef, Key Largo Florida
3. Isla Fuerte – Bushnell Scuba Dive
4. Florida Scuba: Captain Tom’s Ledge (06/28/09)

I brought one of my camera so I got some photos and video of the experience.

A Little Visual History

The United States Coast Guard has a page on the history of the Bibb with a bunch of photos of its early history, so be sure to check that out. Below are some photos my aunt sent me.

The picture above actually has my grandfather in it. He’s standing on the deck of the ship looking at the camera, to the left of another sailor in white, just to the left of the deck gun that’s in the center of the photograph. It’s hard to see in the photo of this size, but it’s him.

Artificial Reef

The Bibb was sunk in November 1987 off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. The sinking did not go exactly as planned and the Bibb now lays on her side at 130 ft. Unlike her sister ship, the USCGC Duane was sunk properly and rests upright less than half a mile from the Bibb. As a result, the Duane is a more popular dive since it is upright and its depths can be reached more easily by less skilled divers.

The Bibb was refitted several times throughout her service in the Korean and Vietnam wars and in later peacetime operations. Here’s a photo of the Bibb prior to her sinking. There’s a rear crow’s nest that was installed after World War 2 that we witnessed on our dive as we approached the boat from the stern or back of the boat. If you’re interested in reading more about the history of the Bibb, you can head over to the U.S. Navy’s military history website for more info.

The ship is a popular dive site in the Florida Keys and is easily accessed from dive shops in and around Key Largo. The one we dove with was the Florida Keys Dive Center, which I highly recommend for any dives on the Bibb, Duane or any of the sites in that area. If you’re a GPS nut like me, you might like the GeoHack Bibb location, which has the location in every format, from downloadable GPS coordinates to online maps like Google Maps.

The Dive

After our dive on Davis Ledge (Dive Spots link) and Pleasure Reef on the first day, the next day we headed out in the early morning to dive the Bibb. We hit the water at 9:17 AM. My tank had about 2900 PSI of enriched air nitrox 31 (31% oxygen, as opposed to the normal 21%). The water was a beautifully warm 84 degrees fahrenheit. After entering the water we had to swim on the tag line, which ran from the current line (runs off the back of the boat so divers don’t drift and can stay close to the boat until the rest of the group is in the water) to the front of the boat. The current was so strong that there was no way to stay in position without the tag line. If you turned your head perpendicular to the current, your mask would be pulled off your face if it wasn’t tight enough.

We descended on the trip line, which runs from the surface to the back of the Bibb. We looked like flags on a flag pole as the current pushed us in a horizontal position. The bubbles from the divers already on the wreck looked like a school of jelly fish and the normal sized bubbles grew to about four times their size as the pressure decreased on their way to the surface.

Down on the actual wreck, we only made it to about the middle of the ship before we had to turn back. At that depth, you consume about four times the amount of air that you normally consume near the surface. With nitrox and the increased air content, it allowed us to breath less heavily and increased our bottom time (enriched air nitrox also increases no decompression time limit for nitrogen off gassing in the system). That’s the beauty of nitrox and it’s a great certification to get if you’re interested in longer bottom times while scuba diving.

USCGC Bibb

The Video

The 7 Sisters

The Bibb had 6 other sister ships that were part of the Treasury Class Cutters (or sometimes Secretary Class) during that time. They were named after Secretaries of the Treasury. The USCGC Ingham, is on display at Patriots Pointe Maritime Museum in South Carolina, and the USCGC Taney, on display in the Baltimore, Maryland Maritime Museum, are the only ships still afloat. We visited the Taney once in 2001 for my grandfather’s 80th birthday and again in 2006 with a friend. Seeing the Bibb at the bottom of the ocean, I instantly recognized each part of the structure and it was an incredible experience to know that my grandfather had spent much of his youth on board, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with Kamikazes and Japanese submarines.

Me, my grandfather and my father aboard the Taney

Radio Room on the USCGC Taney

The Next Life Goal

Following the completion of this goal, I have come up with two more to add to the list (it wouldn’t be a real to-do list if it didn’t get bigger as I went!!):

Penetrate and explore the inside the USCGC Bibb – This one will take a lot of additional dive training and experience as wreck penetration dives are similar to cave diving and is one of the most dangerous forms of diving. To penetrate a wreck this deep, several tanks will be needed and additional technical dive training will need to be made since staying down that deep and that long requires decompression intervals, which can not be performed with a regular recreational certification.

Scuba dive in the Pacific Ocean – This one will be much easier to accomplish but still something I want to make sure I do. I have plenty of opportunity to dive out in California, but I think I’m going to shoot for a place that’s a little more exotic to me and dive with manta rays, hammerhead sharks, and whale sharks in the Pacific side of Colombia. Ana and I already have a trip planned in December when we go to Colombia for Christmas, so this will be a quickly met goal.

Life Goal Complete – US Coast Guard Bibb: Wreck Dive is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Related posts:

1. Florida Scuba: Molasses Reef (06/28/09)
2. Isla Fuerte, Colombia
3. Isla Fuerte – El Planchon
4. First Dive in Key Largo, Florida

It’s a very basic certification that opens the doors to other certifications. It’s similar to pilot ratings where you can get trained on twin engine, single engine sea, performance/variable pitch prop and instrument only flying (IFR). With diving, it’s advanced open water, which will let you dive in heavier currents and down to a depth of 40 meters/130 feet. There’s also wreck diving, cave diving and nitrox diving (higher concentration of oxygen). Unfortunately we won’t be able to do the wreck diving since we’re not certified but how cool would it be to fly around a ship like the Felipe Xicotencatl?

Like Flying, but Slower

Scuba diving is the closest to flying like Superman that you can get. We did our check dive at Lake Rawlings which has a sunken bus, car, plane, a paddy wagon and other random things. When you’re swimming around the bus you can swim over the top of it, down the side of it or however else you want to. The coolest thing was swimming inside the bus and just hovering between the bus’s floor and the ceiling. I rotated around on my back and watched my bubbles float up towards the top of the bus and then explode as they impacted with the roof and attempted to escape.

This YouTube video does a good job showing off some parts of Lake Rawlings (and the exploding bubbles on the roof of the bus). The fish really are that plentiful and friendly. When we were there, there were about 6 large groups of scuba diving classes, just like ours, that were there diving all day Saturday and Sunday. Being early November I can’t imagine how many more divers there would be in the summer! So the fish are very use to people. We even brought some popcorn balls down with us and fed the fish. Being in a school of fish is amazing as they dart past your head trying to get at the food. They’ll even come within arm’s reach of you and just stare at you as if asking, “Who do you think you are?” They really do look at you funny. It’s like being in an aquarium, without the glass.

We visited a plane that was sunk in 60 feet of water. Swimming along, the bottom was only about 15 feet deep and then there was a ledge that dropped straight off down to 60 feet. Swimming over the edge was a bit intimidating, as if you were going to fall off. But being in water, we just hovered over the darkness below and just like a flying super hero, slowly floated down to the depths below. As we got down to the bottom, it wasn’t as dark as it looked from above. Check out this YouTube video of some other divers exploring the plane. My smile was so big my regulator almost fell out of my mouth several times!

The most fun thing we did was play underwater basketball. They had two hoops set up under water and small basketballs filled with a little concrete to give them some mass. It was impossible to shoot a jump shot since no matter how hard I tried to throw it, it would only go a few feet into the “air.” So instead, from the free throw line, I launched myself toward the net and in Michael Jordan fashion made a slam dunk. The only difference was, I was in super slow motion and it took me about 20 seconds to actually reach the net, but it was freaking cool! We also did some ally-ops as the ball slowly floated toward the net from another diver floating five feet above the net.

I Need Dive Buddies!

I don’t say this about many things, but scuba diving is something everyone has to do in their lifetime. And for those lucky enough to live in Blacksburg, Virginia Tech has a scuba diving club that will certify you. It’s relatively inexpensive, extremely fun and very easy. Classes are closed for the semester but they’ll start up again for spring semester. I’ll try to remind people if anyone is interested.

Always Looking Forward

As for me, the next adventure is scuba diving in Cozumel! We’re staying there for 3 nights, which includes two two-tank dives (two trips, two dives each trip) and unlimited beach diving. Three meals a day are included and renting equipment is only around $30/day. The other 7 days will be spent in Cancún soaking up rays, drinking margaritas and hitting on the local girls. It’ll expensive still, but I’ve been saving up so I’m not going into debt, which is the most important thing.

Scuba Diving Certified – Another Life Goal Crossed Off is a post from: Ziray Studio Labs

Related posts:

1. Isla Fuerte – Bushnell Laberinto Scuba Dive
2. Florida Scuba: Pleasure Reef (06/28/09)
3. SCUBA Diving in Cancun
4. First Dive 2009 – New River