My Auslanderausweis

Ok, I have been meaning to write about his for a while now. It is just a quirk. In order to live in Switzerland you need an Auslanderausweis. This is no problem for me to acquire as I am married to a swiss citizen. This of coarse costs money. 65 CHF here for this copy at this government office 35 CHF at another for a different copy. This is to be expected with any government. Later on , when I found a job, it was going to cost another 100 CHF to get my Auslanderausweis amended to also be a work permit. This was also to be expected and not a problem, since my company paid for it. After getting it amended, instead of shipping it directly to me it was shipped to the local town hall and I received a letter that I could pick it up there. When it arrived there ( I had already started my new job) I received a letter from the local government telling me to come pick it up and that it would cost 65.65 franks for my Auslanderausweis. This cost ws not for them to make an official copy of do anything, just hand me MY document. So I was like, well, since I already have a job and am not planning on getting a new one anytime soon, I really don’t need to have this document with me. I’ll just let the town government hold on to it for me and if I ever need it then I would go pay the 65 CHF. This was not acceptable, but what could the town do, They knew I really didn’t need this document anymore now that I was already in Switzerland and had a job. I would only need it if I was to change apartments or change jobs. So they sent me an ultimatum. Pay now or we will increase the charge by 10CHF every week until I pay. So I paid. When I went to go pay, I noticed that the town government closes for lunch every day, for two and a half hours. 11:30-14:00. must be nice to get two and a half hours for lunch and charge people outrageous sums to hand them things.

A survey to cover all four possibilities

My un-named employer has a survey on it's intranet page today asking about the high gasoline prices and if thier employees are having to change thier behavior. As I am very green enviormentaly natured I wished to reply to this poll. Unfortunatley these were the four option to respond I had.

Yes, I am driving less and plan to keep the heat low this winter

Yes, I am planning on buying a more fuel efficient car

No, I have to drive to work/my kids to activities

and ..No, I love my SUV and I'm not worried about prices



They have no option for people that already don't waste thier money on gasoline. Before you start saying that I am in some great minority, as far as I know, everyone in my office takes public transportation to work or walks, even if they own a car. I just see this as anouther example of how people in America cannot comprehend things outside of thier way of life. The person who wrote this poll wouldn't think that there are places in thier company where the majority of people don't drive thier car to work.

Pat is at it again

Pat Robertson, everyone’s favorite right wing radical, suggested that God smote Ariel Sharon for letting Israel leave Gaza. I guess saying god should kill democratically elected leaders is better than saying that someone here down on earth should kill democratically elected leaders. *this is of course in reference to Bob’s suggestion that someone should kill the democratically elected president of Venezuela. Pat Robertson also says that Sharon is dead, which he is not as of this posting.