A new electrician came this morning. He figured out the problem with the phone jack in about 5 minutes (a cut cord during the hardwood floor installation). By the time he left, we had all phone jacks working and a solution to our internet access in the attic (a device using the electrical lines). Now, our big question is whether we have to pay the electrician who spent 2+ hours doing absolutely nothing other than exposing wires throughout the house.
After the electrician left, I ventured out to the grocery store. I hit the smaller, local store as I wanted some cheddar cheese from the cheese counter. Unfortunately, I didn't get to finish my shopping. They kicked me out, as it was time for the store to close for its hour and a half lunch break. And to think I used to complain that Safeway closed it registers for 15 minutes around 11pm.
Then, I came home to find that our police clearance was rejected. I'm still not sure why we get these notices days and weeks apart. Do different departments access our file and send requests separtely? Don't they think it would be easier to identify all issues at the same time? Oh well. So, now we have to send an application into the FBI in the States. Their turnaround time is 3-4 weeks, so it could be 6-8 weeks for us with mailing time, etc. Fortunately, we can mail off authorization to use our credit card (which I hate putting in the mail!), as there is no way to get a certified check here. Checks don't exist in Switzerland. The whole thing is a bit frustrating as I knew that we might need an FBI clearance before we left, but E&Y told us if we couldn't get it done before we left (they gave us a week's notice, so it wasn't possible), then we should wait until we got here as the U.S. Embassy could do it. Guess what? The embassy just refers you back to the FBI website. Of course, of all the people surveyed, everyone else's local police department clearance was sufficient. And, not to name names, but I wanted to start the FBI process 2 weeks ago when our police report was requested, but someone told me that I should just wait and see what happened with our police report as he really thought it would be sufficient.
7 comments:
Marci...
I read your comment about FBI Clearance. It was not that bad but I know it was not easy for you especially you live in Switzerland. I had to do the FBI Clearance AND States Clearances for Canada Immigration. I did do fingerprintings at the police station then mailed it out. I waited and finally got FBI Clearance 7 weeks later. Mass State, I was impressed cuz I got it one week later. New Jersey was worsen!! I waited for a month! Hopes you get everything smooth out. Smile.
Patti
lesswidI would have helped with the phone jacks, but I'm glad someone was able to figure it out.
Nice that he came up with a "solution to our internet access in the attic (a device using the electrical lines)." What an amazing idea! In English, it is called a Powerline Ethernet Bridge. It operates at speeds faster then Wi-Fi and is more reliable and easier to configure -- just more money. I don't know why I didn't think of that and suggest it. Oh wait! I did!
I would have a hard time with the business hours over there.
Good luck with the FBI clearance and multi-visit Visa. It's always nice to have contacts.
Sorry for not giving you the credit, Craig. I probably should have worded it better. We were quite excited that this electrician had the device in his truck and could give it to us right then and there. We hadn't made it to an electronics store and we didn't want to order online from the UK given the different plugs they use. So, he saved us a lot of time running around a foreign country looking for equipment in a different language.
The other electrician had suggested the same thing as well, but he didn't have one. He was going to try to find something for us.
I think I misread the post a bit. Nice that he had the device right there for you. I'd hang onto his contact info. I didn't realize the 1st guy had suggested that solution. I thought he told you to stick with Wi-Fi. Is .ch not a Swiss website? Sounds like you are all taken care of -- at least with internet and wired phone access.
No, the first guy made this suggestion as well, he just wasn't confident on executing the suggestion. I probably didn't even mention it, because I was so focused on the fact that he was really pushing us to just go wireless for everything.
This guy was great. He spoke English, which was a huge plus! He was even able to answer a quick question over the phone after he left. And, he knew exactly what we wanted to accomplish with the dual-line Skype phone that will be able to accept calls via Skype from our 925 number and from the landline phone as well.
The only downside to this electrician is that the rooms needed a bit of an airing after he left. Yes, I literally did open a window. Seems he proved the point that not all Europeans believe in deoderant products. Guess we weren't so crazy for stocking up before we left "home"!
Oh, and our landlord was great! She's the one who sent this electrician who had worked extensively on the house before. She agreed that all the phone jacks were working when she left and she wanted to figure out why they weren't working for us. She called to follow up that everything was fixed and then she called the hardwood floor installer to complain that the arbitrarily just cut a line.
Oh, and .ch is a Swiss extension. We definitely could have ordered from there, but I hadn't looked into it yet. I just remembered the UK website link.
It was very nice of you to offer to help with the phone line, but Brendan is anxious to get his computer hooked up on Skype (as are we for the phone connection via his computer). For what we are paying in rent, we did feel that we should have the ability to have more than one wired phone in the house.
Now I just need to go buy another handset for the phone the first electrician provided us with when he said that all the other phones in the house left by the landlord and the partner we replaced didn't work. I can't say I even like the phone, so I may just go with something else that will be wired in our bedroom and get an additional handset to that.
That is all crazy!!! Things like that drive me mad, glad to hear it's not just the British with weird procedures... sorry to read about miss abbey - i'm sure it will get better! Lucas doesn't always get it either - granted he just turned 5 - but he always talks about, "next week when we go to california..."
Hey Marci! No one ever tells you all the intricacies of moving to another country that you don't speak the language to, do they? Gosh, now that I've read your blog, it makes my move to Japan seem like a piece of cake! Ethan has adapted well and hasn't asked to go back home yet. Japanese Immigration hasn't been too bad, but that's because E&Y is the firm Adobe used to liaise for us :) The Japanese are a bit advanced on the internet/wi-fi arena so we didn't have issues with getting hooked up and we don't even have to pay for fiber optic connection!!! :) Keep the stories coming as I do enjoy reading it. BTW, slingbox is the best! We got hooked up with it too before we left the states. I need my American TV as I don't understand a word of Japanese and the whole Japanese extreme sports/comedy entertainment on TV isn't my cup of tea.
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