One month after adding Adsense

I added Adsense on my blogs on July 18th, 2007. Its been over a month now and the ads have fetched me $20.92. I believe this is really great as it worked. When I first added AdSense, I was really doubtful if I would reach even $10. But now that I have got around$20 and this is mostly from one single blog of my H1B Stamping it gives me confidence that Adsense really works.

Just adding adsense on the blog doesn't work. It needs traffic. I had around 2200 hits on my blog in one month and it had got only 76 clicks. The page CTR was 1% which is slightly less than average. This took a bit of effort. Many appreciated my blog for providing useful information but the problem was that I had to spam mails groups and repost on every H1B Stamping forums. But without doing this I don't think it would had been possible to generate $20 bucks.

Hopefully my next venture to launch my Siebel website would generate much more traffic and money. I have committed to launch this website on September 2nd, 2007. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

I-140 and I-1-485 applied

I was glad to see an email from my company attorney that my I-140 and I-485 has been applied. Now all I have do is to wait for the approval. Hopefully this happens soon. Also I am anxiously waiting for the October 2007 bulletin. This will give some insight on how the Green Card will be processed in the future. So wait and watch.

The Haka

I have colleague named Simon who is from New Zealand. He had recently been to New Zealand and he got me a small stuffed toy kiwi and that toy is wearing an All Black rugby uniform. That reminded me of a the Haka which is done to piss off the opposite team every time before the rugby game starts. See the haka video. It is very interesting.

Green Card Relief -- August bulletin

August bulletin is late but has some good stuff for Green Card seekers. People can apply for their I-485 all the way till August 17th 2007. I am sure that so many including me got some relief after looking at the August visa bulletin.

I believe Immigration Voice, AILA and Murthy have done a great job in addressing the issues caused by the July 2007 bulletin fiasco. Efforts included flower sending campaign, Rally at San Jose and email petitions. I guess all this has paid off. I specially thank Immigration Voice. I think they played a big role in this.

So now I have sent all my documents to the attorneys. I am waiting to hear back from them. I am so relieved....Cheers..!

Thousands attend Legal Immigrants Rally in San Jose

Thousands attended the Legal Immigrants rally on July 14th in San Jose to protest the July visa bulletin fiasco. Hats off to all those people who attended this. I am glad and this will hopefully will send a right message to the government. See video below.

Some Old Pictures of WSU

While talk to one of my old friend, he shared with me some of the pictures he had taken at Wright State University. I was real happy to see these pictures as it had some old memories of me. Also, I could clearly make out the difference between Dayton, OH and Los Angeles. There in Dayton, OH we had lots of snow and greenery when compared to Los Angeles which pretty much had the same kind of atmosphere through out the year. Below is the link for picasa web album.

Wright State University

Major Disappointment with GC

On June 30, 2007 the DOS (Department of State) came up with a notice that it will be revising the July 2007 bulletin and today they came up with the information that they wont be any more accepting I-485 applications on July and those applications what would be received will be rejected. Also the priority dates for all the categories have been made unavailable.

What a pain. So much hope, money and time is lost. I have been calling my father every other day and bothering him to get the birth certificate and affidavit and all that effort is now gone into the drain. It is very absurd to know that DOS could do such kind of thing which has never happened before.

Officially it was announced that the reason they are reverting back the bulletin is because all the visa numbers for the fiscal year has been allocated. Didn't they expect this before? It implies to me that the DOS doesn't do the math before they publish their visa bulletin. Seems stupid to me. It is sad to look at the plight of people waiting for years for their Green Card. After reading the update there is no clear cut information as to why they would do such a frustrating thing. It implies me that someone inside the DOS is controlling purposely. Lot of other people are guessing different reasons as to why this has been done. One person says that it could be because of the fee hike after July 2007 so that the USCIS can make more money. Other person thinks that it could also be because of Bush is trying to push the immigration bill or it could be they just don't like people coming to United States. Whatever could be the reason, all it seems like they need to revamp the whole system of Green Card.

Overall it is very disappointing. At first they giving hope and taking it back within 15 days of time.

Pain dealing with Indian Govt officials

I need to provide my Birth Certificate along with my I485 application. My father has my original birth certificate but my name is missing in the certificate. So I need my name added to my birth certificate. My father went to the government office and started to deal with the process. Long lines and no straight forward answers from the officers sitting over there.

First my father had to submit a request and later finds out that they wont add my name to the birth certificate so easily. They requested for proof. So I sent him a copy of my 10th marks card, passport copy and Drivers License. But that wouldn't make them happy. They need attestation on the documents I have sent. My father cant get attested without the originals which he didn't have. The same thing applies for Swarna's birth certificate.

To look at the broad picture, the officers always don't want to give a straight forward answer and they always want us to come the next day to know what is the next step. They themselves are either not sure or don't want to do it right away. Anything that has to dealing with the government sucks. They don't value the time of others. This is all common in spite of paying them the money they ask.

So much inefficiency with the government. I guess this will never change.

Pasadena Police Classic Car show

"Pasadena Police Clasic Car Show" was hosted at Paseo Colorado Mall in Pasadena along with the "Pasadena Chalk Painting Festival". The cars on the show were all vintage. The oldest I saw was 1923 Ford T.

Check my album for the cool pictures of these cars.

Pasadena Car Show

Pasadena Chalk Festival

Pasadena Chalk Festival is one of the best events I have seen recently. It was held on June 16 &17th, 2007. It is one of the largest street painting with more than 400 artists showing their talent. It was held at Paseo Colorado Mall. Viewers had a chance to elect the best murals. We voted for this baby boy painting as our favorite chalk painting.

Click Here for more pictures uploaded about this event on Picasa.

Green Card - June 14th

USCIS came up with July 2007 visa bulletin yesterday. To everyones surprise the priority dates have become current for all categories. This was a little unbelievable at first when my friend called up to inform me.

I have a feeling that this would not last long and everyone should act fast. I have mailed the attorney to do concurrent filing of I-140 and I-1485 but I haven't got any response yet. I am sure the attorneys are very busy doing their job for having to file I-1485 for lots of other people and attending phone calls at the same time.

Now the biggest hurdle I have is that I don't have my birth certificate. I have to call my dad and ask him get a copy of my birth certificate from the corporation.

Also me and swarna have to go for an medical check up from an USCIS medically approved doctor and the earliest available appointments are at least 10 days away from now. I have to start collecting all the documents fast.

OCA - Certification - Step One

I decided to pursue Oracle Certification and will be going forward to pursue OCA track.

To get certified I have to give two exams. (IZ0-007 or IZ0-001) and IZ0-147.

I have decided to nail down IZ0-007: Introduction to Oracle9i: SQL. I founded a two good resources for this in yahoo groups. OCP_1Z0_007@yahoogroups.com and Oracle_OCP_Study_Materials@yahoogroups.com I have subscribed to these and they have pretty good materials uploaded on the files section.

Now I need to come out with a plan to study and give exams. I know that I don't need more than two months to clear the first exam. So August 15th 2007 will be the dead line.

My Green Card Status as of June 11 2007

I will blog my Hara Patta (Green Card) status.

My Green card processing was initiated on December 2006. It took me a while to collect documents and provide them to the attorney.

After I provide all the documents to the attorneys, I saw a job posting in early February 2007 on Dice. It was typical stuff. There were no response for the job Ad. After much waiting for a response to the Ad, my Labor Certification was applied on April 2007.

My labor was certified in few weeks and on early June 2007 the company attorneys received an Labor approval and told me that my priority date is April 26, 2007. So the PERM approval took around 10 weeks. Now the attorney has started to work on my next stage of Green Card process(I-140). So I have requested to confirm that the I-140 will be applied with premium processing.

===================================================
Two important rules came out on May 2007.

1. No more labor substitution.
2. I-140 should be applied within 180 days after the labor approval.

I am in favor of these rules. I think this will be of significant impact.

===================================================
As per June 2007 bulletin, priority dates moved ahead a big time.

For EB2: 01-Apr-2004
For EB3: 01-Jun-2003

Movie weekend

This weekend was kind of relaxing as well as bit of walking. It was a combination of walking, shopping and movies.

Saturday we had been to Burbank Fine Art Festival and we didn't find anything interesting enough to catch our attention. So we left for shopping and we did a lot of walking. Sunday just went out walking and relaxed.

Also the main attention of this weekend were the movies. We watched two new bollywood movies this weekend.

1. Ta Ra Rum Bum: This was one waste movie. Nothing worth watching. The whole movie was so illogical and a real sense less movie. I will give a poor rating to this movie.

2. Shootout at Lokhandwala: This is a nice movie and can be watched once. First half of the movie is good and intresting. Second half is typical bollywood drama. This is an average movie and was interesting to see. Worth renting a DVD.

Tijuana Trip for H1B Stamping

Me and my wife been to Tijuana - Mexico for my H1B stamping on June 07, 2007. It was fairly easy experience. Drove down to the US border on San Ysidro, CA and parked the car. Crossed the border by walk and took a taxi to the Banamex Bank to pay the fees. Then we walked to the US consulate and we were let inside the consulate right away. The overall process went very smooth and it was interesting to realize that the we were done with the whole process in 20 minutes and were asked to come back to collect our passport at 3PM. Everything went normal. More info about the trip over here.

Scardinos Review - Good Place

Had been to an Italian restaurant Scardino's in Torrance, CA on June 1st 2o07 on the occasion of my wife's Birthday. The place has both take out and dine in. We started with wine and ordered Chicken Parmesan and Egg plant Parmesan (ya we are Parmesan lovers). They also provided freshly made garlic bread. The food was real good. Price was okay, ambiance not great for big occasion as it is small and cozy. We felt very comfortable sitting at this place. The service was good and best among all was the food. I will recommend anyone asking me about this place. I will definitely visit this place again.

The Beautiful Huntington Library

Visited the Huntington Library on May 26th, 2007. Awesome place to visit for people who appreciate nature.

Have uploaded some pictures and more info about this place in the blog here.

Long Weekend - May 26, 27, 28

Long weekend starts tomorrow and I have not yet decided on the plans for the weekend. But there are definitely some thoughts on places to visit.

I presume its going to be more like a crazy weekend stuck in traffic but will make sure to have a nice time.

Probable places to visit or things to do.

1. San Diego Zoo
2. Huntington Library, Botanical Garden
3. Bay Area
4. Hollywood
5. BBQ Party
6. Movies -- Pirates, Shootout at Lokhandwala, Ta Ra Rum Pum
7. Write Blogs..Blogs..Blogs
8. Beach
9. Don't know...lol

Green Card Sucks -- June 2007 News

Getting a Green Card in United States is not easy. With Immigration being a hot issue, I think people who really deserve are not given a fair justice despite being legal residents. There are people still waiting for their Green Card since 1999. I really don't see long term fix happening anytime soon.

The Department of Labor (DOL) have come up with the June 2007 Bulletin and few other highlights. The information provided there is a good news but still not sure what good would it do for people needing the GC which only time would tell.

1. Cutoff Date for EB3 India move forward by two years: Murthy.com analyzed that these movement of dates are only temporary so that all the available visa numbers could be utilized for this fiscal year. It sounds very true and I wont be surprised if the dates retrogress later after June 2007. But this would give a little relief for people waiting to apply for I-485 and hopefully the dates move forward.

2. No more Labor Certifications Substitutions after July 15th: This is one good news that I can really think about. This will avoid some junk employers applying for fake LC and then later when the Cutoff date gets closer they would lure employees for labor substitution. This will choke the people who really deserve as per the first come first server basis. Also one more major change on processing is that once the labor is approved, the next stage of GC process (I-140) should be applied within six months of time otherwise the Labor Certification would be canceled. I think this is really a fair decision.

The Road to Success

The road to Success is not Straight,
There is Curve called Failure,
A Loop called Confusion,
Speed Bumps called Friends,
Red Lights called Enemies,
Caution lights called Family,
You will have Flats called Jobs...
But....
If you have a Spare called Determination,
An Engine called Faith,
A Driver called God,
You will make it a place called Success..!

Learn to Write Articles

I always had a mindset that writing is tough. I felt that there wouldn't be enough to write about and always procrastinate about writing blogs. I also felt tough to describe about my self. But I knew this was normal. Nobody is a born writer. They learn by practice. So here are few thoughts.

I always wanted to write blogs but it was tough to get started. So today, I just googled about writing and I came across this wonderful link. http://www.utexas.edu/student/utlc/lrnres/handouts/1318.html It really made sense to me and would encourage anyone who want to get started on blogging to read this article.

So after reading this today, I suddenly thought of diving into writing about blogs. I guess it is a good start. So now on I have will devote some of my time blogging. This will be fun...!