Skip to main content

In Moscow

Image
By
The flight was uneventful. Delta took off on time (a little early getting off the ground), and arrived a little ahead of schedule on the other end. I got to watch Lincoln Vampire Hunter on the way over, and that was interesting, having just seen Spielberg's Lincoln. I liked them both. Yes, Sally Fields did a great job telling off those pompous politicians. But Mary Elizabeth Winstead offed a vampire. Spielberg's Lincoln told stories. Bekmamatov's Lincoln wielded a silver-tipped ax. So on the whole, pretty balanced.

The Moscow airport was airy and bright, although the sky was very cloudy, and it was gently snowing. The airport is lined with tall pines. Customs was a breeze. I got picked up by somebody holding up a card with my name, which was fun. He spoke no English, and I speak no Russian, but he was friendly, and let me sit up front so I could see better. The drive into town (I'm right across from Red Square, it seems) was interesting, too. Lots and lots of tall apartment buildings, in various states of repair. But many signs of economic growth: some cool new office buildings, corporate headquarters. Everyone wears jeans.

Despite my very careful pre-notification of my credit card company that I would be in Russia, and when, they blocked it. Infuriating when you're trying to check in after a long flight. My phone doesn't seem to work here (can't find a mobile network) so I don't even have a way to call them. But I have more than one card, the hotel has free wireless, a money changing counter, and English-speaking staff, so life is pretty easy. A quaint and clean room. I'll try to post pictures eventually.

In a bit, I'm going to wander around and try to wear myself out a bit to accommodate to an 11 hour difference between Denver and Moscow.

Comments

Lynne said…
Thanks for the updates. I love traveling and learning about new places. Have fun!
November 25, 2012 at 1:44 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Uncle Bobby's Wedding

By
Recently, a library patron challenged (urged a reconsideration of the ownership or placement of) a book called "Uncle Bobby's Wedding." Honestly, I hadn't even heard of it until that complaint. But I did read the book, and responded to the patron, who challenged the item through email and requested that I respond online (not via snail-mail) about her concerns. I suspect the book will get a lot of challenges in 2008-2009. So I offer my response, purging the patron's name, for other librarians. Uncle Bobby's wedding June 27, 2008 Dear Ms. Patron: Thank you for working with my assistant to allow me to fit your concerns about “Uncle Bobby's Wedding,” by Sarah S. Brannen, into our “reconsideration” process. I have been assured that you have received and viewed our relevant policies: the Library Bill of Rights, the Freedom to Read, Free Access to Libraries for Minors, the Freedom to View, and our Reconsideration Policy. The intent of providing all tha...
456 comments
Read more

Installing Linux on a 2011 Macbook Pro

By
I had two MacBook Pros, both 13" models from late 2011. One had 4 gigs of RAM, and the other 8. Both of them were intolerably slow. In the first case, I wound up installing CleanMyMac , which did arcane things to various files, and put up alerts to warn me about disappearing memory. But it made the machine useable again, albeit not exactly speedy. I changed some habits: Safari as browser rather than Firefox or Chrome. I tried to keep tabs down to four or five. The second Mac had bigger problems. Its charger was shot, but even with that replaced, the battery tapped out at 75%. More importantly, the whole disk had been wiped, which meant that it wouldn't boot. Recently, I had downloaded a couple of Linux distributions ("distros") on USB drives. Elementary OS 5.1 (Hera) was reputed to be a lightweight, beautiful distro that shared some aesthetics with the Mac OS. So I thought I'd give it a try. Ahead of time, I tried to read up on how difficult it might be to...
6 comments
Read more

The First Year: 5 strategies for success

By
[The First Year: 5 Strategies for Success, 1 of 8] Over the past several years, I've had the pleasure of coaching several new public library directors. For a  variety of reasons, many directors are stepping into the role for the first time. Often, particularly in smaller or more rural libraries, they haven't even had a lot of supervisory experience. I tell new directors that the two big advantages of confidential access to someone who has walked in your shoes is that (a) you can ask the questions you might feel embarrassed to ask your board or staff, and (b) you have the advantage of someone else's mistakes. To be clear, everybody makes mistakes. It may be the most powerful learning tool we have. But I've thought about my mistakes, and I can help you identify the old ones, and with luck, make new ones. There's no good reason to make the same ones! I believe that there are five key constituencies the public library director must satisfy:  your boss  (usual...
1 comment
Read more