Opting out of Facebook

This blog (and my previous one) is the way I prefer to interact with the intertubes. I prefer my online interaction with family and friends to be via email, their blogs, or my blog. A colleague convinced me to sign up with Facebook a few years ago, well before I understood what it was all about. I now have a professional FB profile, that I only use with work colleagues, and a personal profile, that I only use with friends and family. I keep the lines as distinct as possible and don’t let people friend me on both accounts.

I also frequently bitch about FB. I don’t like it, I absolutely hate getting mail via FB instead of my email account. I absolutely hate constantly trying to keep on top of whatever new privacy setting I have to dig out from the FB setting morass and change. I hate that photos friends post of me can appear in weird and unwanted settings. And now I hate this: arstechnica.com/web/news/2011/01/no-opting-out-from-facebook-turning-your-check-ins-likes-into-ads.ars

Better go check your Facebook profile pic to make sure it’s suitable for advertising—the company has begun using real users’ postings in ads being shown to their friends. The effort is eerily similar to parts of the now-defunct Facebook Beacon, but Facebook is now calling them “sponsored stories,” and users won’t be able to opt out of their posts being used to advertise to friends.

I get little pleasure and a lot of irritation from FB. So, it’s time for me to opt out. This blog will still be here, and people who want to stay in touch with me can via the blog or my email.

Militsia in Boryspil

More soldiers patrolling the Kyiv airport than I’ve seen. Presumably in reaction to the horrifying bombing in one of Moscow’s airports earlier this week. I know it should make me feel safer, but it always freaks me out to see heavily armed soldiers in public spaces.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Bye-bye Budapest!

Great week in Pest. Squeezed a quick visit today across the river to Buda. Beautiful, fabulous city. Amazing food- every single meal was awesome, not kidding. And they have ginger ale! Only place in Kyiv that I can get ginger ale is the commissary at the US Embassy, so that was an extra treat. Budapest is only the second city where I’ve found myself plotting how I could get to live there (the other is Vilnius). The fantasizing was more intense in Budapest, especially after a bottle of lovely wine, another fabulous meal, and inticing stories of the broader Hungarian countryside from friends and colleagues. I caught myself thinking, “Pity we won’t get to live much in our Kyiv apartment after all that time and money to renovate it.”

Very much looking forward to a trip to Hungary with Igor! And highly recommend this gem of Central Europe to everyone.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Home Sweet Home

We spent our first night in our apartment! Yeah!

Still a lot of boxes, still not a lot of furniture, and still a lot of work to do, but it’s so fantastic to be here! Friday is 6 months from the day we bought the apartment, and we both really wanted to be moved in by then. Plus, I’m leaving Friday for a week-long business trip, and desperately wanted to spend at least one night in our new home before leaving for Budapest!

As much as I hate packing and moving, I have to admit, I enjoy the unpacking. I like to “discover” little treasures in the boxes, and I love finding homes for all those treasures. The kitchen is mostly set, and we’re full of anticipation to use our awesome 5-burner stove and the fancy-schmancy oven. Hopefully Igor will figure out off it’s bells and whistles before I’m back from my trip, and can teach me how to use it.

I was wide awake at 4 am, finally got up at 5 and continued the unpacking. I want to get as much out of the way before I leave so we’re ready for the remaining deliveries, and so Igor and Andriy can work on the remaining projects while I’m gone.

King Ziggy is taking well to his new home. The poor guy was so confused this past week as we packed up and bit and bit things “disappeared” from the old apartment. Yesterday, when finally even his litter box and food bowls disappeared, he looked at me with such bewilderment and let out such a pathetic little “mew”. But he’s settling in well, already has a favorite spot on the back of the couch in the office. One special feature we wanted to add to this apartment was a pet door into the WC, where his box is kept. The hallway is small, and we knew it would be difficult (and inconvenient) to leave the WC door open for him all the time, and a pet door seemed like a perfect solution. (Thanks Scott and Angela for sending it from the US!) We weren’t sure how he’d take to it, though, but knock on wood, so far so good! We have the door flap taped up so it’s always open right now, basically leaving an open hole for him to pass through, which he’s done several times already with no fuss. Igor will have the challenge of adapting him to the flap, which we hope he’ll take to with equal ease.

Well, back to work for a bit before I head to the office. Gosh, it’s going to be hard to leave tomorrow! But sooooo exciting to know that I’ll get to come home to our home.

Uh-oh

My tooth just chipped as I was walking down the street. Which reminds me, it’s been awhile since I saw the dentist. And there’s something seriously weird about how I walk if it makes teeth break. Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone

Move in progress

We’re about 80% moved, and I’m about 95% dead. To be continued tomorrow…

Scotch

“Degustatsiya” means gustation, or tasting, as in wine tasting. For our anniversary, I got tickets for a scotch tasting at a really cool store in Kyiv, Good Wine. My dad turned Igor onto scotch, including dad’s favorite mixed drink, Rob Roy. Perfect gift for my darling hubby!

There were about 25 people at the tasting, and clearly several were “regulars” at these events, on a first-name and bantering basis with the sommelier, Ivan. The evening started with, much to our surprise and delight – a Rob Roy!

“Not bad, but Bill’s are better.”

The sommelier (not sure if there’s a special term for a “scotch steward”, but Ivan is the store’s wine-steward as well) had some interesting and funny stories, and lots and lots of commentary. It started out a bit too fancy for us – the long examination and analysis of all the complicated aromas and tastes (what the hell, it tastes like scotch to me!), but the commentary became less and less serious as we moved through the 8 single malts on the menu. Overall, not a bad way to spend a Thursday evening – and to celebrate Old New Year!

Remont, remont, remont

“Remont” means repair, renovate, fix, restore, mend, rebuild. I am afraid to say it again, I sound like an overly optimistic broken record, but I really think the end is in sight. The last major hurdle are the custom built wardrobes/cupboards, which have been on hold since the entire freakin’ country closed down for the past 2 weeks for the holidays. Some factories are still closed this week, but the furniture guys called yesterday and said they’ll deliver the material Friday, and will install the wardrobes over the weekend. There’s still a million minor (and some not-so-minor) work to be done, but the major hurdle to moving in has been the lack of places to put stuff away into. Fingers crossed, we might actually be able to do it next week! I promise not to complain about the work that will continue around us – as long as we are actually living in our own apartment!

Dad arrived yesterday and was impressed to see the progress of the work. Of course, the last time he saw the place it still looked like a cave. Now it really looks like a domicile, with some amenities even! Fridge (with icemaker! woohoo!), running (hot!) water, washing machine, functioning toilet and sinks, lights, even a bedframe! Cable TV and internet are actually already hooked up – more optimistic thinking on our part- we scheduled that at the end of December, thinking we’d be able to move in by the end of the year and afraid the cable company wouldn’t work much over the holidays. *Sigh*

Igor’s over there every day now, managing the work and the workers. The poor guys are exhausted, I know, they’ve been working for almost six months straight without much down time at all. Homestretch boys! Hang in there!

What is money?

Stone money, virtual money, magic money, and the day the Federal Reserve went to Crazytown. Another brilliant episode from This American Life.