Mick West

Our DSL connection here is through DSL Extreme, althought Verizon handles the wiring. We’ve been havin intermittent problems, where it will work perfectly (3Mb/s) all day, and then around 6PM, it starts going really slow and hanging.

So I call DSL Extreme. The first time I’m connected to an idiot who finds nothing wrong, and heck there is nothing wrong at the time. He tells me to call back if I have a problem. Grrr. But a few days later I call back while it’s actually bad, and they tell me they can se something wrong and they have to send in Verizon.

A few days later, a Verizon tech arrives to look at the external wiring. After some poking around, he declares there is no problem up to the connection on the panel (which is in the garage), and since my phone works then that’s the end of his responsibility. More grr!

So they are basically saying that something is wrong between the wiring block at the panel downstairs, and the modem. The panel looks like this:

And the wiring inside the house looks like this:

Yay fun! I had to buckle down, and actually figure out where all the wires went. In the end it turned out to be relativly simple. A phone line is just two wires. We have six wires coming into the house, in three pairs (orange, green and blue). Only the incoming orange wires are actually used here. Since I only use one phone socket in the house (for DSL + wireless phone base station) I simply cut away all the other wires, so all I had were two wires going directly from the panel to the socket that was in use.

In the end though, I’m not sure that was the problem. I think the problem was this:

This is a wiring block. The wire from the phone company comes in on the left. The wires to the condo are on the right. See the orange wires labed 4 & 0 (for 407), that’s my phone line. The bit of metal is a bridge clip, which makes a connection between left and right. Only here, the bottom one (of my set) is not pushed on correctly, and seems to be barely making contact with the right hand side.

So I pulled it off, pushed it on firmly in the right place, and my DSL has worked fine ever since.

What bugs me is that the Verizon guy tested all the way to the left hand side of this wiring block. If he’d tested the right hand side (or just looked at the clip), then he would have found the problem. But his responsibility ended half an inch from the actual problem.

I’m currently living in the US as a “premanent resident”, with what is known as a “green card”. This means I can live here as long as I like, but I’m not a citizen. I can’t vote, I can’t leave the country for more than six months at a time, and there are some tax problems.

On Election day this year, November 4th 2008, I decided to apply for citizenship, and so filled in my form and sent it off. This is what happened so far (I’ll update it as more thing happen).

Nov 4th 2008

- Filled in the N400 form. This can be downloaded from the slightly confusing USCIS web site. It’s a PDF that you can fill in at your computer and then save and print out. I’m sure eventually they will accept it over the internet, but for now you’ve got to mail it in.
- Took some passport photos. These have to be ratther particular, 2″x2″. There’s a nice page explaining all the details, or you can just pay someone to do it for you. You need to send them two, and keep two for later. I did them myself, Holly took a photo of me with a white background, and I cropped it to fit. You write your “A Number” on the back of the photo, in pencil.
- Wrote check for $675. Somewhat expensive.
- Sent it all in (I actually did the above over a few days, but I mailed it on election day).
(There’s a handy checklist for the above).

Nov 13th 2008

An I-797C Notice of Action arrives, telling me my application has arrived, and I should hear from them within 425 days. Yes, it actually said 425 day.

Nov 20th 2008

Rather surpisingly, I hear from them a week later, with a letter telling that I have an appointment to be fingerprinted on december 4th, at 12 PM. Not too bad. But I think the long wait comes after, waiting for the interview.

Dec 4th 2008

Fingerprinting day. I arrive at 11:40 for my 12PM appointment. Not very busy. They are very serious about their “No Cellphone” rule, making me leave mine in the car. I fill in a form, and am called in less than five minutes. The fingerprinting took arount 10 minutes (a grumpy Russian woman, constantly berating the machine). My fingers were too dry, so they were squirted with water several times, but eventually it worked.

They game me a book to study for the Naturalization test, questions like: What is the “rule of law”. Now I just have to wait until an interview is scheduled. No idea how long that will take.

Dec 18th 2008

I’ve got my appointment for the interview. Set for Feb 17th 2009, at 7:45AM.

Feb 17th 2009

Naturalization interview.

March 3rd 2009

I get a letter informing me that the Naturalization Oath Ceremony is on March 25th, 2009, at the Pomana Fairplex, 12:30 PM. I am to bring the letter, my green card, probably my passports (just to be safe). I also have to assert that since the interview I have not practiced polygamy or been a habitual drunkard.

They also note that “Proper attire should be worn”

March 25th 2009

Naturalization oath ceremony, I’m now an American. Applied for passport.

April 15th 2009

Passport arrives, and the Naturalization certificate was returned in a separate envelope. Basically five and a half months from applying to getting the passport and certificate.