Thanks! Bora Bora is going to be amazing.
This will be our 25 year anniversary, just like you. Man, that is a long time to be with one person but, I have to say, there have been many more ups than downs.
Hey! I know Lalor Street. That’s about 5 minutes from Clinton where the train station is.
Aloha! Popping in for an update. Please note the new location field. I’ve been in Honolulu for five fruitful days now. The biggie on my list has been checked off, as I have secured a very nice apartment in Waikiki, which I will move into on September 1. Waikiki is a big tourist destination but not necessarily that great an area to live. There are better places in the city. However, this apartment was too good to pass up, and the neighborhood seems nice and quiet, slightly off the tourist trail and abounding with greenery. Just a block or two from the beach too. After I sign the lease agreement next week, I’ll send a copy of it along with my new local banking details to the wife, so she can show them to US Immigration and prove we have a domicile in America again. Maybe we can get her over here sooner than expected.
Now I just need to find some form of gainful employment. (And get a Hawaii driver’s license.) I shall be busy with that for a while and will disappear off the radar again for a bit. But everything is going pretty well.
Just an update. We have signed the lease on the apartment in Waikiki – me here and the wife with an e-signature from Bangkok – so we’re committed to staying here through next February. I’ll move in two weeks from tomorrow.
The wife will now take a copy of the lease and some other documents we were missing last time and schedule another interview with US Immigration at the embassy in Bangkok. Hopefully, they’ll approve her visa at that time.
There’s a real possibility she could be here by the end of September. (Knock on Formica.) That would be especially good, because if she arrives after September, she’ll need to have taken her physical exam all over again. The results are good for only six months, and the end of next month will mark six months.
Sunday August 28th was a year since my thyroidectomy. I’ve had a great recovery but the doctors never call anyone “cancer free.” I’m not on as many pills as I was even 6 months ago. My endocrinologist only wants to see me every 6 months, so I must be doing well. The voice team is happy with my recovery. My voice is about 95% back. It still gets scratchy at the end of a long day. Nobody has stuck a scope up my nose since January. All in all, I’d say I’m doing remarkably well.
I am now registered to vote in Hawaii. Woo hoo! My vote always felt wasted in Texas, a Republican stronghold that will, no one doubts, go for Trump in the upcoming election. Hawaii almost always goes Democratic, and Hillary has this state sewn up already, with my vote helping.
And another milestone update. The wife just called me with the news that her Immigrant Visa has been approved. Yay! She’ll be here on the 27th if not sooner. She has a flight for that day but is on standby for the weekend before.
Many congratulations. I’m not sure that many Americans understand that navigating the immigration process even for a long established spouse can take jumping through so many hoops. Thanks for keeping us in the loop.
It took us 7-1/2 months, and that was on a fast track due to my having been living in a city with an Immigration office.
Congrats on the move and safe travels to your wife!
Chuck 'n Atomic Mama are celebrating their SIXTH wedding anniversary today :eek: 
Do you know about “love tokens”? See here: What Are Love Tokens? | Love Token Society
Chuck has been buying me these (the historic types, 1880’s) for at least a year.
He took a 1964 silver Eisenhower dime, polished off the obverse, and added our initials with a heart in the center. Like this (use your imagination):
CGC
<3
AvS
SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET ! 
A final update on the saga. Mrs. Siam Sam arrived right on time Thursday morning, was admitted to the US and is now officially a Permanent Resident. Our wait is over. 
Congrats!
Yay, Siam Sam (and Mrs. Siam Sam)!! 
This week, F.Pu-du-he-pa-as and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. We started dating in summer 2010, I got her hooked on video games and the SDMB. We moved in together in 2012, got our own place in 2013. In June 2014, I proposed to her by hacking one of her favorite video games. In July 2015, I revived an old thread of mine with an update on our wedding rings. We had a super teeny-tiny wedding in DC, and a great time was had by all.
We dressed up real nice and went out for fancy tapas. Tonight, we shared a bottle of mead. It’s been a good year.
Wishing you many more years, oft wears hats and F.Pu-du-he-pa-as!
Hear, hear!
Congrats!
So, after 9 months we finally moved in into our new home! Far bigger than the one we lived in before and absolutely fabulous!
Well, if there’s nothing else I can celebrate, it’s that I am, as far as I can tell, now the world’s only commercial supplier of life-sized, 3D scanned and printed polished, solid-gold poop.
Also available in other precious metals, or the economical gold plated varieties.
It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.