1 Day Processing
As expected, bureaucracy is alive and well at the US consulate. Since we were told that processing would take 1 day, we thought that flying 9 days later would be safe. Unfortunately, this was not the case.

The original plan had the movers packing for us tomorrow, moving us out on Thursday, and us flying on Friday. However, I've been putting off canceling utilities, paying for the flight, and confirming the movers until the visas arrived. We expected the paperwork yesterday (Monday), and accepted that they might get delayed a day (Today), but still nothing is forthcoming. So once 5pm rolled around we called everyone up and postponed until next week.

Other than the annoyance of waiting longer before we travel, the postponement did reduce some of the pressure initially (especially for Anne). However, it has caused a whole new set of problems. For instance, our mail starts being redirected this Friday, and requires 5 days notice to change (along with a fee). If the visas haven't arrived before the redirection, then they won't get here at all! This is because they are being sent via the Australia Post overnight courier service, which shows up with the mail.

I don't think Express Post items get redirected like normal mail does. Instead, they will be returned to the sender - in this case, the consulate. I think I'd have more luck getting the documents if they followed the redirection to Chicago.

The movers are booked solid next week, so they're coming tomorrow anyway. I'm not sure how we'll get by with everything packed up: plates, cutlery (or flatware), summer clothing, etc. But we'll have to make do.

In the meantime I'm trying to work, but my productivity is steadily declining this week (it wasn't too bad yesterday, wasn't too good today, and I expect it to be non-existent by tomorrow). As such, I don't think I'll be writing much on technical topics for a few days.