Isn't research fun?!

A quick vent about my day that will give the reader a glimpse of the life of a researcher...

I woke up at 6:45 this morning in order to make it to an 8am appointment at the NY Passport Agency (more on this later). I quickly checked my email as I was expecting an important message regarding my re-entry permit into Indonesia. Basically, I'm waiting for my Indonesian counterpart to fax a letter to the Indonesian consulate in NY so that I can apply for this permit. There was, indeed, an email regarding this matter, relayed to me by a third party, that basically suggested that the delay was my fault, that my counterpart was waiting for me to contact the consulate. I emailed my request more than a month ago, and again 3 weeks ago, and again 2 weeks ago, etc., and never did this person mention he was waiting for me! So, here I have been waiting for this letter to arrive before I book my flight to Indonesia, as one does not want to be in the situation of having a ticket that can't be used because someone on the other side of the world is not attending to a pressing timeline (case in point). I only hope this situation has now been resolved and that this magical letter will arrive tomorrow, but only time will tell.

Now back to this morning's appointment. First of all, have you ever tried to take care of passport issues? The US government takes 10-12 weeks to do anything with a passport, and if you need expedited service, this takes 2-3 weeks and $60! Well, since I just got back from a trip to Germany, and had planned (and still hope) to leave next week, even this 2-3 weeks is not a fast enough. So, our generous government offers a third option if you are traveling within 2 weeks. You can call to make an appointment at a regional passport office. Would you believe that it took 3 days before I could even be connected to the automated appointment system?? And when I finally connected at 1:00 one morning, it took 3 separate calls before I had succeeded in finding an available date and making such an appointment, for this morning. Well, that was more than a week ago, and at that time I was confident that I would have purchased my ticket by today, since it is required to bring proof of travel (i.e., a ticket) in order to prove your need for this emergency expedited service. Although I could not provide this very important piece of evidence (see above), I was sure that I could explain the situation and exploit some loophole that must exist for others just like me, so I decided to go to my "appointment" anyway. I arrived at 8am to a line out the door, down the street, around the corner and half way down the block! After waiting on this line for 15 minutes, someone in line cleverly realized that those with 8am appointments didn't have to wait on this line, and were being allowed inside at that time. (I guess these pertinent announcements don't reach those waiting 1/4 mile away from the door!) I then waited on another line for about 30 more minutes before I made it to a woman sitting behind bullet-proof glass, who would be giving me a number. She asked for my confirmation number, which I happily provided, and then asked me for my ticket. She wasn't hearing anything I was saying and refused to give me a number or do anything at all with my passport until I could come back with a ticket. This means I will have to go through the entire appointment-making process and wait on a minimum of 2 horrible lines before I can get...ADDITIONAL PASSPORT PAGES! Yep, that's it. That's all I need. My passport is only 5 years old and I have just 2 little squares, a half of a page left unused, which is surely not enough, considering the consulate takes up an entire page for visas.

To summarize: I can't return to Indonesia without a re-entry permit. I can't get the permit until I have more pages added to my passport. I can't get more pages added to my passport until I buy a ticket. I can't buy a ticket until a letter is faxed from Indonesia to the consulate. And who knows when that's going to happen!

Other fun things that happened today: I got a letter yesterday stating that I was being subpoenaed as a juror, and that I must appear in court in the next 10 days or risk a $1000 fine and/or jail time. Why? Because they mailed me juror questionnaires while I was in Indonesia and I failed to respond! I learned that my current grant termed last month, meaning that the remaining funds cannot be spent. Too bad, since I was planning to use this money to purchase the aforementioned flight to Indonesia. Hopefully, this will be resolved, but when? Did I mention that I was hoping/planning to leave next week? And now I don't even have money! I do have another grant, which I requested as a cash advance a month ago. Still no sign of it.

Well, that's enough of that. Time to get back to the 3 grant proposals I have to finish before I leave for the field! Don't even ask about packing...