Green card woes

[begin rant]
So, luckily I checked my passport last week to figure out when I needed to renew my green card stamp, since I found it expires Aug 6. In a panic, I booked an extremely last-minute trip to Boston. It's amazing that one can decide at 7:30pm to be on a 5:55am flight the next morning across the Atlantic.

First, some background.
I had a temporary green card for the first 2 years. After they approved the renewal of the card last June (don't get me started on how painful that was!), I got a stamp in my passport which served as my 'green card' while they took away my old one and started the process to send me a new one. That was Aug 7 last year. It seemed to be taking a long time to get my new card, so I would call every few months to find out what was going on (tip: a good way to reach a human being when you call the 1-800 number is to choose the "change address" option in the automated menu). Typically, I'd get the response that they could not look up my case in the computer; the system they were looking at wasn't really linked to the system in Boston (which seems ridiculous to me). So, I was told to just wait for the new card. So, when last week rolled around and it popped in my head that the stamp must be expiring soon, I booked the flight, had 2 hrs of sleep, arrived in Boston at 10am, rented a car, parked at the exorbitantly-priced Government Center garage ($32 for about 4 hrs!), walked around Faneuil Hall a bit while enjoying the heat (I miss that in DK), and went into the JFK building for my scheduled InfoPass appointment at 13:30. Once inside, they told me that since my case was already 1 year old, I needed new photos and a new I89 form. $12 later, with an absolutely horrible photo to boot (keep in mind lack of sleep and 10 hours of air travel), I waited 40 mins before they called my number. At the desk, they could finally look up my case in the computer. They informed me that last year, my file was sent to the service center in Vermont, but my I89 form and photos did not accompany the file, so they never even started the process to issue me a new green card... !@#$!!! Why could they not tell me this any of the many times that I called? They then said they have to have the file sent back from Vermont to Boston, and I need to come back in and fill in a new I89 form with photos, in person, and that they could not issue me a renewed stamp. This is where I get annoyed. Sparing details, we agreed that they give me a stamp valid until September 12, that they will order my file from Vermont, and hold it until I come in again before September 12 to re-file the darn thing. I ask, "how can I be sure that when I come back in September that my file is actually here? Can I call and check?" to which the officer replies "oh, it WILL be here". I'm about as confident in that statement as I am in Bush winning the war in Iraq. But that's another story. The good news, I got a stamp, and I get another trip to Boston/Montreal (which was planned anyway, for Rosh Hashana). The bad news, confidence in and patience with US immigration authorities continue to erode...
[end rant]
...funny anecdote: it was the first time that my name was called over a PA system in an airport: "Passengers Reich (and 2 others), you are delaying the flight; please proceed to the gate immediately or your luggage will be removed from the aircraft" ! I will think twice next time before booking a 50 min connection in Amsterdam. Thank goodness I only had check-in luggage.