A Train to Potevka

I just wanted to give a quick review of "A Train to Potevka." This book was very very interesting and I was captivated. The book is about a man who is in the CIA and travels to Russia to take on a very dangerous mission against some high level citizens in the USSR. It took place right near the collapse of the USSR - 1990 to 1991 because he meets the LDS missionaries in Moscow.

I think the reason I liked the book so much was because of how well Mike Ramsdell, the author, was able to describe Russia and the people there. I really wish that I could so well describe Russia. The part of the book that I disliked most about this book was the story of Bonnie, his girlfriend that later became his wife. It seemed a little out of place here.

Here are 3 quotes that could have been taken from my own journal from when I was in Russia:

Historically, and still today, they (women) remain the strength and character of Russia. The women are the powerful bond that holds the family, village, and nation together. Perhaps that is why these people refer to their homeland as Great Mother Russia.

Using antiquated shovels and makeshift brooms of bundled birch branches, hefty female workers with orange safety vests pulled over their coats, busily pushed snow from the walkways...p.275

The greatness of Russia has always been its people. During the seventy years of the USSR, any meaningful accomplishments or achievements were a result of the populace, not the Communist Party. It was the Soviet people that preserved the moral values of truth and goodness, not the mistaken ideological dogma of Marxism. And, today, that is still the hope of Russia's future - its people. p. 325-326

If you haven't read the book, you should check it out. It is a really easy read. See my friend's review as well.

Moving to Russia

We've kept this quiet for some time now, but wanted to let everyone know that we are moving to Russia! That's right. We have talked about this for quite some time and are really excited. We are going to live in a small town just outside of Penza. We found a great little place there (we haven't seen it yet but her Mom promises it to be a great place). We are super stoked and we have no plans to move back to America any time soon. There are so many great reasons to move to Russia:

- Lots more opportunities for us and our kids
- Better hospitals and medical care
- And best of all we can shed this mortgage we just picked up

I hope that all of you are excited for us as well. We are accepting farewell gifts, so please make sure to give us money because we aren't taken much with us. Oh yeah, we don't have jobs lined up yet, but we aren't worried. There are plenty of great jobs on the outskirts of Penza. I'm sure I'll be programming for a company in no time. Maybe some of you want to join us.

Here's a picture of the small древня (town) where we're moving:

We're leaving the end of May!

UPDATE: THIS WAS POSTED ON APRIL 1 - I'LL LET YOU FIGURE OUT THE REST :). LOOK AT THE COMMENTS.

Digsby

Just wanted to put a quick update about the newest program that I have been using and loving. It's called Digsby and it has freed up a ton of my memory on my computer. The basic idea of the program is to combine all of your IMs into one single program. For example, I use to have Skype, MSN, and Gtalk always open on my computer. Now, I only have Skype and Digsby (it's a long story why Skype isn't supported, but let's just say that Skype's API is very very bad). It also supports Yahoo, AIM, ICQ, and yes, Facebook. Maybe some of you have noticed that I am always on Facebook now. Well, not really, but I am always on the chat client.


The coolest thing about it is, is that not only are you logged in to the chat, but you also get your e-mail updates too. So, I know when I get a new Hotmail message, but also when I get a new work e-mail. And you can add multiple accounts with the same provider. So, for example, I have a gmail account and then my work account is also through Gmail so I have them both hooked up to Digsby letting me know when I get new e-mails. And, I can send e-mails directly from Digsby. However, I still have to open my e-mail client to read a full e-mail.



Finally, you can hook up Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn to get all the updates about all of your friends. You can customize the popups and so forth for each of the social networks as well.



There are a couple of negatives - group chats are not allowed. However, that isn't an issue for me as I do all of my group chats in Skype. Also, no sending files to other users unless they are also using Digsby. Kind of bad, but e-mail is better anyways because then I have the file backed up there, so it forces me to use e-mail to send files. In all, the program rocks, and compared to MSN and Gtalk together, the memory footprint is much smaller, and now I am hooked in to about twice as many places knowing what is going on. Check it out.

Long Time, New Home

I know it has been several weeks since I have written, but things have finally settled down. We got into the new home without too many problems and we had a lot of help. We are loving the new place, and I think that the thing I love the most is all of the space! It is so open and there is so much room. I guess the worst part is how much of it gets underused. One of the main reasons I haven't written for so long is because I haven't taken pictures. I finally got to it, and so here they are:

The office:


My timeout room:


The family room:


The dining room and kitchen:


Loving this:


The empty living room:


You can see the full album here.

Also, here are a couple of videos that I did of the house:





Let me know what you think! As soon as we get the couches then I think we are going to start having people over. We are super excited and are super grateful.

New Home

We are buying a new home! Our first one! Most of you already know this, but I haven't written this until now because I was waiting for the loan to go through. We do all the official closing stuff on Wednesday the 25th so hopefully all will go well that way. The home is in North Salt Lake. Here are some pictures (I know they are small, but that is what I have for now. More will come later).

We are both super excited (obviously). I do have to give a big thanks to Tyler. He recommended Margaret Malherbe to us as a realtor, and we could not be more happy. She was absolutely awesome and she made sure we understood all of the contracts and what we were getting into. Her number one motto is honesty in real estate. She wasn't worried at all about making a sale (which in this economy is pretty impressive). She only worried about the fact that we were getting a great home. It was lots of fun with her and I will gladly recommend her to anyone (I recommended BJ to her already) - especially first time homebuyers because she takes you through everything that is going on.

Oh yeah, the home is brand new (no one has ever lived there). We love the idea that we will be the first time people living in the home. There is pool and work out facility just across the street that is part of the club house. We made the offer at the beginning of February so to be in the home by the end of the month has meant a lot of stress, but it looks like everything will work out. More to come later!!!

Specs: 3 bed, 2.5 bath, 1700 sq. ft., 2 car garage


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Who's your hero?

One of my friends, Brad, found the hero website, where you can make your own hero. Here's me (yes the balding nice guy). Make your own hero here and post a link after uploading it.

Awesome Service

I came across a hilarious service the other day. It's called "Let Me Google That For You" and it is just that. So the next time you are on a forum or anywhere, and someone asks one of those questions that they could easily have found out by a quick search, let them know by searching Google for them!