heloman - I know it might be a hassle, but I would call the AMA back one more time. I had a copy of the approved application FAXed to me and used that until the card came. I am the VP in our club and deal with them quite a lot on new membership verification and they are only partially automated. I have talked to a couple of persons in the membership area and they have been very helpful in looking things up once the manual process is complete. You might get them to help in this way.

BTW: I spent about what you did, but I knew that going in. It was my choice and I expected it. So if you make the known choices of spending more, that boils down to personal preference. I will admit I had a frustrating stretch of about 2 months after I began my training. I had to send back my radio twice for adjustments (went back for the same thing the second time as well) I was frustrtated to no end, so I bought a second radio. Now I didn't have to, but it was a choice that I made to keep me flying.