6.01.2007

Mapquest ALMOST gave accurate directions...

We received our 2nd summons for fingerprinting. I had Lee fill out vacation forms for 1/2 day from work to get this done. He beeped me and asked what he should put for a reason for absence. We finally came up with "summoned by Home Land Security." Heee....

We had to go to Waukegan. If it sounds far away, that's because it is. We had to be there at 8 a.m. We left our house at 6 a.m. We took the back roads that Mapquest recommended, and it did look ultimately shorter than taking 90 to 94. More direct. After bad traffic light mojo in various small towns, we pulled in at 7:55. Whew. Mapquest let us down at this point: had us go north on a street, then making a u-turn, and going south on the same street. Um...

I have mentioned before about how hard these Gov't buildings are to find. This one was no exception. It was wedged in between a laundromat and other nondescript businesses in a seedy mini-mall. And it was called "INS Support Center". Now, THAT particular name was not on ANY of our documents.

[Also, maybe I didn't mention this before, but the 1st time we got these forms, I received 2 and Lee received 2. Same times, same dates. The 2nd time we got the forms in the mail, Lee got 1 and I got 3. 2 of mine were for 8 a.m. and one was for 9 a.m. What the?]

So, we line up with the people waiting outside, and are given a form to fill out. I whispered to Lee, "Don't they have all this information? I mean, like our addresses?" He said "yes." oh, ok. Then we got led to the fingerprinting machines and the fingerprinter(?) types in the information from the forms. (Surely, the government agencies could coordinate this information?) The fingerprint machines are cool. There's a little plate of glass that reads your prints, and they show up on the computer screen. Neat.