The Latest...

I feel like I haven't written anything here in ages - probably because I haven't.

Lots of things have been going on. Jessica has been having fun at her new job, which includes lots of travelling. I've been doing a lot of riding, especially while she's been away. Unfortunately for her, she's not gotten to ride her new bike much, due to all the travelling and her long commute (she travels around 1hr 45min each way).

Last weekend was the Lancaster Covered Bridges ride, a ride we've been doing since last year. It's a fun ride, and we get to see riding buddies from all over the country, whom we know via the Internet. Organized rides are fun, but I probably won't be doing many more charity rides. This years MS-150 was a complete shemozzle, featuring torrential rain, last-minute donations, and expensive hotel reservations. I'd rather give all the money to MS, rather than $200 to MS and $400 to local hotels, etc.

This morning was Jessica's green card interview. This was our second try at the interview, and since the last one went so disasterous (we got hung up in a massive traffic jam that saw us take 2 hours to cover 4 miles) we decided to play it safe and book a hotel room in Baltimore, which is where our interviews was to be held. We picked the Radisson, mainly because of its close proximity to the federal building (it was across the street). It was a $150/night hotel, which wasn't cheap, but wasn't too horribly expensive.

We got to the hotel at around 9:30 last night, which is apparently late by hotel standards. "You're in luck" the desk clerk said. "We're all out of standard rooms, so you get an upgrade". No biggie, I thought. We'll get a nicer room, whatever.

The clerk then gives us our keys. "Room 2300. There's only one elevator that'll take you that high. Second to last". It sounded odd, but we made our way to the elevators. Sure enough, only one went that high. So we hit the button, and hopped on.

The Baltimore Radisson is an old, old hotel, built around 1925, and this elevator looked the part. Fairly small, with a lot of wood, and it didn't move very fast. When we finally got to the 23rd floor, the door opened, and there was our door. Just our door. It was the only room on the floor. You take 2 steps forward, and you're there.

So I stuck the key in and we walked in. The room wasn't just huge. It was HUEUEUEUGE! It was basically the whole top floor of the hotel, which is octagonal, and from the outiside has this green copper roof with dormers on each of the sides. There was a huge living/dining area, a powder room, a full kitchen, and a long hallway leading back to the master bedroom. The master bath had his & hers sinks, a tub/shower, and a seperate whirlpool. It was amazing. We could have had a party with 30 people in there, or more.

We both slept really well too, because it was a king-size bed, with one of those sleep number mattresses. We decided to go the whole nine yards and order breakfast in our room, which was also very nice. Needless to say, we made it to the interview on time and well rested. Our only regret is that we did not get to enjoy the room for longer, as we'll probably never see it again in our lives - it's usually $800 per night.

So the interview went well, and the agent interviewing us was actually fairly laid back. We had all of our papers in perfect order, so that helped a lot. Good thing we went the finacee visa route rather than just getting married and taking our chances.