Our first snow was on Wednesday. It was predicted the day before, and I was expecting a light sprinkling. You know, October, the very first snow. I didn’t even think it would stay on the ground, just melt upon impact. Was I ever wrong! We essentially went directly into the depths of winter with a blizzard. It was -9C (15F) and the wind was so strong I had to walk with my eyes closed half the time. I almost slipped three times in the first 30 yards. Then I got my ice-kegs back. It hasn’t really snowed since, but the ground is still covered with ice. Dangerous, slippery ice.
Home Sweet Home:
The main street near my house, where I catch the marshrutka to school:
Today marks the one-week anniversary of my having heating. The two weeks leading up to that precious event were atrocious. It was constantly below 10 Celsius in my apartment, and often times, it was warmer outside. All heating is centrally controlled by the city government, and they won’t turn it on until the temperature is below a certain point for three days in a row. Well, last week was beyond that point, and they said that we could expect the heating any day.
On Tuesday, I was doing administrative tasks at the main campus and was walking in a hallway when I suddenly heard the sound of running water. I was a little taken aback at first, thinking that perhaps a water pipe had broken somewhere, and the hall I was in would soon be flooded. After a few seconds of trepidation, I located the source of the water. The sound was coming from the pipes along the wall that led to the radiators. This will certainly date me, but I’ve never really experienced radiators before. I was a child the last time I was in a place that had them. I’ve only known central heating. Up till this point, I actually thought that radiators were electrically powered. Imagine that, they’re just filled with hot water.
Sitting in class the next day, all wrapped up in my coat and still freezing, I again heard that most wonderful sound of metal being filled with water. Unfortunately, upon my return home that day, my radiators were still ice cold, as was the rest of my apartment. I was literally wearing multiple sweaters and still wasn’t at an optimal temperature. Finally, on Thursday of last week, I came home to that now cherished sound of running water. When I opened the door to my stairwell, I found that it was accompanied by a steam cloud rushing up from below the stairs. It sounded like a waterfall, and I was convinced that our pipes had blown up and it would take weeks to repair, leaving me without heating. Fortunately, I got up to my apartment and was welcomed by warmth. If the heating had come any later, I would have really been displeased. Wednesday of this week saw the first snow, an event that deserves its own post.
My health insurance ran out last month, and in seeking to renew it, I had a question about the two main options. I listed the two plans I was considering, and specifically asked about the differences between them in prescription coverage and their limitations on previously existing conditions.
This is the response:
Thank you for contacting HTH Worldwide. You can access the plans by
going online to www.hthstudents.com -
Health Insurance and you can view both plans and decide which one you
would like to choose.
Uh . . . thanks for your help. Did you even read my letter???
It finally dipped below Zero Celsius long enough for ice to form in all the puddles on the ground. Moscow had its first snow, but it was dry up here today. The sun was shining, making it was deceptively cold. It’s been a good five months since I last saw ice, this is bringing back bad memories. The snow should start any day now, and I’ll be switching to my boots and winter coat.
From Wednesday to Friday, the high is 3C (37F), and the low is -9C (16F).
Two nights ago, the power would intermittently turn off and back on again. There was nothing that I noticed that might be the cause, there was only a very light rain, certainly not enough to qualify as a storm. I was annoyed, but since the lights kept coming on in a couple of minutes, I could cope. I went to bed soon enough, and figured all would be fine in the morning.
Yesterday I wake up and the electricity is working as normal. Happy with my baseless optimism the evening before, I jumped into the shower ready to face the day. About halfway through the shower everything went black. My eyes were closed when it happened, but I still felt the sudden decrease in light. “Shoot,” I thought to myself, “the lightbulb must have burned out.” I open my eyes, reach out of the shower, and push the door open so that some light can come through.
Upon finishing, I wander out into the hallway to find that it’s not the lightbulb, all the power is out. I passed a mirror and remembered that I had been planning to shave. It was Monday, I had been a hermit all weekend, and my beard was far beyond acceptable. I thought about pushing it one more day, but I just couldn’t bear it. I found my flashlight, which can be set up to act as a candle, and started to shave in the darkness. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, and I did a pretty good job. I checked my face in a mirror in the bedroom, and was very pleased with the result. I left, assuming that the power would be back on when I got home.
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This really is sickening. What makes it even more disgusting is that the money was taken by a member of my party, the Republicans. We’re supposed to be the fiscally responsible ones, but once in power, we seem to be just as fond of spending as the Democrats. This is unacceptable, it’s high time the government stopped robbing people of their money to spend on inane projects:
Alaska has used a $500,000 federal grant to paint an airliner to look like a fish It’s part of $29 million Sen Ted Stevens (R-AK) has gotten for the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board since 2003. The money goes toward advertising Alaskan seafood. The Senator’s son, state Senator Ben Stevens (R) is chairman of the agency’s board. It took 30 painters 24 days and 140 gallons of paint to decorate the Alaska Airlines 737 like a giant king salmon. The airline refers to the plane as the “Salmon-Thirty-Salmon.” That’d be funny — if you hadn’t paid $500,000 for the paint job. The joke’s on taxpayers.
The airplane is a shocking example, but it’s worse when you think that in two and a half years, the Alaska Fisheries Marketing Board has received $29 million. Why, exactly, should the federal government pay to market Alaskan - or any other type of fish? And Tom Delay said with a straight face that there’s nothing left to trim in the budget.
Hat tip to Stephen Frank
We’re only shooting ourselves in the foot here:
The exhaustion of the annual green-card quota is the latest headache facing US companies trying to recruit scarce talent from abroad.
In 2003 Congress allowed the annual quota of temporary H-1B visas for skilled workers to drop from 195,000 to 65,000.
Compete America, a business coalition that includes large US technology companies such as Intel and Hewlett-Packard, warned members of Congress in a letter last week that the new restrictions will make it nearly impossible for these highly educated and skilled workers to gain permanent residence in the US in the foreseeable future.
A study released last month by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that legal immigration to the US has fallen 24 per cent since hitting a peak in 2000.
I’m a proponent of immigration for many reasons - ideological, practical, and personal. We complain about outsourcing of skilled jobs to countries like India, but when we give these intelligent people no option of coming to America to work, can we blame them when they instead set up shop in their native country?
I’m back from my three week vacation. My little brother graduated from Marine Corps Basic Training, and I wanted to be there for that. Luckily, his training took place in San Diego, which is only a three hour drive from my hometown. I had a great time, and upon arriving back in Russia I found it pretty much the same as when I left, only a lot colder and less green.
Here’s a picture of my brother taken by a Marine photographer. My parents are very proud. I think they always knew that I wouldn’t make a very good soldier.
Here’s his barracks. Oh, how awful the conditions are:
This is the local Marine Corps mascot. Isn’t she precious:
