Biometric Excursion

After navigating the unbelievable construction on Lubbock's loop, getting off on the wrong exit, and convincing Doug to stop and ask for directions since he said, "I have no idea where I am. I can't see the sun," we found the place. Borrowing from the police's decades old idea of unmarked police cars, the USCIS office in Lubbock has its own unmarked office building. Honestly, if it hadn't been for the address on our receipt, we would have never found it. Nothing on the office front says USCIS, fingerprints, or US government anything. While Washington, DC doesn't seem to be experiencing cutbacks, the same isn't true for the Lubbock division as the sign to the left of the door is the Homeland Security Advisory Alert handwritten on faded posterboard and uses velcro to attach the changing color code cards--we are in "yellow" today by the way, and it's the only potential clue that you are where you are suppose to be. No phones, cameras, recording devices, guns, kids, Grandmas, or anyone else who is not getting fingerprinted are allowed in the building.

For lack of a better name, we are met within 2 feet of entering the door by Security Guard Willie. Nobody is getting past the door mat without showing him your "letter of invitation" to be there. Willie checks our IDs and quickly glances at our fingertips. Doug's is a bit dry--he hasn't been using the Corn Huskers Lotion like I have. He gives each of us a plastic card with a number and an application to fill out. We sit down in one of the 30 or so chairs.

The place is busy. We arrived ON TIME--amazing I know--but there are already 10 or so people waiting. People keep coming in behind us. I'm thinking that they must move rather quickly to have so many people come in at the same time. Hmmm....now why was I thinking that???? Doug and I are the only English speaking people there except for the fingerprint officials who were clearly bilingual. We finish filling out our apps, and Willie invites us to his desk, which is in the center of this big room. We explain the misspelling of our names, he graciously corrects it by crossing out the "g" on our reciept, fills out the "for office use only" part of the app, takes our IDs, and now really studies our fingerprints for any potential problems. We're good to go, told to go wash our hands, and then wait for our number to be called. I notice not only on Willie's desk, but also on several desks in the room, the Corn Huskers Lotion of all things. I told Doug I knew what I was talking about!

So we wash, sit, and watch a AAA infomercial and a Murad acne infomercial on the apparent government issued video player. So I sat there with Doug, we sat there we two. And I said, "How I wish we had something to do!" Doug is really enjoying the AAA information--me, not so much. (Maybe it's because he's closer to 50 than I am.) I notice that there are only 2 fingerprint machines for all these people. At 11:50, we are finally called. They correct our names on the computer, and it takes about 10 minutes for each of us to give our biometrics. On fingers they have trouble getting a clear print, they wet the fingertip with water. Doug got squirted a lot. They had to use the water on me for only one finger. I tell you--this Corn Husker Lotion works!! Doug's fingerprint guy is very amicable--they talk and laugh throughout the whole process--they were obviously bonding. My guy was the strong silent type. He answered my questions politely with as few words as possible but did not volunteer any additional information. He does tell me he sees a lot of fingerprints and no fingerprints are the same, but even that little tidbit failed to form a bond between him and me. And that was it. One hour after arriving, we're walking out the door. Now we wait for our I-171H form.

On a side note, Annsley had an announcement when I got home. She has tooth that is loose! She's been asking and asking for months when her teeth are going to fall out. It is now happening. I teared up. Doug teared up. When I told Annsley that it was making me sad that she was getting big, she said in all her wisdom, "But Momma, that is how God made me. I'm supposed to grow up and lose my teeth."