Pay your damn bills

So I've been without internet for about 2 days since my land lady didn't pay the internet bill. Seriously!? Yeah, well I ended up getting two days of work off since I wasn't able to do much without having access to the web. How did people get work done before the internet anyways?

I made a new friend the other day. I think I've mentioned the elderly couple that seemed to always be at the door when I first moved in. Yesterday I was coming home from somewhere and the old guy was at the door. I let him in and he got in the elevator with me. I don't exactly know how to ask 'what floor are you going to?', so I just said '5', which is my floor. He said something back that sounded like 8 or 9. I went ahead and hit my button first (you can only push one button at a time on this elevator since it's old). I got out, and he got out and followed me to my door. He clearly wanted to come in, started saying something in Russian/Ukrainian, and I had no idea what he said. Using my fairly limited language skills I basically said 'Me' and pointed to my door and then said 'You, No'. He didn't move, so I went ahead and used my key to open my door to go in, but not leave him any room to get in. He ended up standing outside my door for about 2 minutes before giving up and going upstairs. (I was able to see since I have a camera outside my door.) I haven't seen him again since then.

My ear popped the other night while watching a movie, and started to hurt like hell. About an hour later it still hadn't 'unpopped', hurt even more, and was really not helping the whole 'get to sleep' thing. Eventually I fell asleep, and when I woke up - ear still wasn't unpopped. Two days later, it doesn't hurt anymore, but it hasn't unpopped itself. I'm not sure what the problem is, but it sounds like my right ear is underwater. I can hear out of it, but when I talk it sounds like I'm on an airplane. Jabbing a q-tip in there hasn't fixed it either.

I'm poor again! The exchange rate has gone from 9.5 to 8 in the last few days. Fortunately I exchanged $200 when it was at 9.5 - unfortunately I didn't exchange even more.

I woke up this morning planning to make meatballs and sauce. I went out earlier in the week and got everything I needed. What I didn't realize I didn't have - until this morning - was a can opener. Oops. On Saturday most things around here don't open until 10, so I had to sit around and wait for the stores to open to even try to find a can opener. I walked 2.5 miles for a stupid 5 dollar can opener... Eventually I got home and got things going. While making the meatballs I realized after the first batch was in the oven, that I didn't put any cheese in them. Oops again. I've also been cleaning and ironing clothes all day. So to summarize my Saturday so far, I've cooked, cleaned, and ironed. This only further serves as proof that I need to find a mail order wife/domestic house servant. Plus, it would probably be cheaper than shipping a grocery cart here.

I have a cellphone with a signal here now. Took a bit of work but we got it done. Basically I figured out that the SIM cards here come programed to have a security lock on them - that my phone doesn't recognize. Had to find someones phone with the ability to turn that off, and then things worked fine. The 3G network here is crap though. It works great outside, but if you go into a building or underground it disconnects.

As for work - yes I have been doing some. My new and improved statement of work came in and some of the verbiage was changed. So now I'm doing feasibility studies on the 14 centers for as they go forward without the funding they had been receiving. I also found out that I'm responsible for getting my visas. Would have been nice to know that while I was sitting on my ass for the last two weeks. I will go on Monday to drop of my passport to the US embassy to get more pages put in it, and then I need to find the emabssies for Armenia and Azerbaijan. Natually you can't do more than one at a time though. Also, I have a 3 day conference to attend this coming week regarding one of the projects I am working on. From there I should be meeting people that I have to help with business plans, presentations, or who knows what else.

Finally, as for the comments:
Mo: Send money instead of food, it doesn't weigh as much. Although peanutbutter would be okay. Also milk. The milk here is crap and just tastes different. Perhaps the cows just aren't happy - hell hopefully it's just cows they are milking.
Bobby: I think moving the capitol to New Mexico is a great idea. It should make the transition easier for when Mexico invades. As for the new currency - are you telling me that Italy is now the richest country in the world?
Mom: You're old. Hell you're twice my age.
Sara: Let your brother know I found him a girlfriend.