I've got a mixed bag of news for ya, so I'll start with the lighthearted stuff.

Since we didn't want to waste the leftover buns from the hamburgers, I continued Suka's tour of American sandwiches. Yesterday, I bought some chicken breasts, marinated them in Italian salad dressing then dusted them with lemon pepper and fried them up. Add on some dijon mustard, cheddar cheese, and lettuce with carrot sticks and Doritos on the side and you have a slice of Americana.

Well, the bad news is tentative right now. There was a report in the paper yesterday from CNMI Washington Rep. Tenorio (another long-standing island name) that the clause of the CNMI immigration bill that we're interested in has been removed. The House committee was supposed to mark up the bill Nov 7 (my yesterday, still your today) to send it out to the floor for a vote. I'll believe it when I see the text of the bill, but he's a reasonably credible source for this. As opposed to the newpaper article a couple weeks ago where the entire article was based on "the governor said that his lobbyist said." Since the governor is highly opposed, I didn't see it as credible, and it was questionable reporting, too. I'll keep you posted. Chances are good that the Senate will do whatever the House does. If the clause actually is stricken, it means that she won't get a visa to the States unless we want to try a fiancee visa. We'll worry about it when the bill is law.

On a more up note, my climbing gear finally arrived! I'll never ship anything Parcel Post to here again if I have a choice. They told me a container arrived on Tuesday, but with holiday backlog and the sorting of Priority Mail first, they couldn't tell me anything. However, it's here safely.

I've mentioned DVDs several times. I brought a bunch of them. But the one that has us hooked is Dae Jang Geum. Thanks to Jay and Wanda for pointing these out to me. Most of you don't know or even know of Jay and Wanda. I met a couple in the airport on the way to Boston. He's Korean, she's US. I've had dinner with them and Suka has e-mailed with them, as well. Dae Jang Geum is a Korean historical drama that was produced as a series. The DVDs are in Korean with English and Chinese subtitles. Dae Jang Geum, the woman, was a cook in the king's kitchen and later the first woman physician to the king in old-time Korea. She had an interesting life, and of course they've made it more dramatic. It's well acted and well produced. It has beautiful costumes, and I would call it one of the better food movies I've ever seen. Sometimes the dramatization is a little much, but it keeps you on the edge of your seat wanting more. I bought the first of three sets. We've watched nine of the 18 episodes in that set so far.

The weather the last couple days has been almost perfect. Sunny yet cool, for Saipan, in the morning, a little bit of rain in the early afternoon, then cool and nice through the night with some rain late. It's the kind of weather than makes people come to tropical islands.