мая 28, 2004
Another step
One more bridge crossed. М Ч's package with my letter of invite finally arrived (long after I had passed from the "excited" phase of waiting into the "impatient-five-year-old" phase. I turned it around almost immediately, sent it to Zierer Visa Service along with my passport, visa picture, application, and certificate of disease-free-blood. Oh yes... and my company card information, so they can bill me the ~$500 it will take to get this done. This is in addition to the $78 to get my blood drawn, and the $35 lab fee. I'm also expecting (since I need the visa back basically by the end of next week, and Monday is a holiday) to have to pay Zierer's "super-rush" fee of $120. Total bill for the visa (not counting what J V had to pay at the Moscow end): $727. This is for a visa which, though for unlimited entry, is only good until January of 2005. I get to do this again in December. And the next December. And so on.
мая 26, 2004
Progress at last!
Message from М Ч this morning. The letter of invite was UPS’d to me around noon Moscow time. I can expect it in a day or so. One hurdle down, a few more to go...
On a side note, I recently finished translating a brochure for a colleague’s book about the nuclear weapons industry in the US (The Website) into russian. I’ll be carrying a couple dozen such brochures on my trip to pass out / post / otherwise shill for him in my spare time while I’m over there. Won’t the airport gestapo be intrigued when they go through my undergarments!
On a side note, I recently finished translating a brochure for a colleague’s book about the nuclear weapons industry in the US (The Website) into russian. I’ll be carrying a couple dozen such brochures on my trip to pass out / post / otherwise shill for him in my spare time while I’m over there. Won’t the airport gestapo be intrigued when they go through my undergarments!
мая 20, 2004
Updates
The folks in the Moscow office decided not to risk sending through my visa app with an incorrect letter of invite. They were assured that the ОВИР (Отдел Виз и Регистраций) would be able to quickly turn around a replacement letter. This was on Monday. It is now Thursday, and apparently the ОВИР lost my paperwork; М Ч got them another copy just before the end of the day there. Tomorrow, they say, the corrected letter will be done.
This is less of a big deal, though, since I found out - via С П, who found out himself scant minutes before calling me - that a bigwig from Berlin is coming to Moscow and С П needs to be in the office the week of 7-June. So, my trip has been pushed back for exactly one week. This is not as bad as it seems, since the necessary reshuffling has freed up enough time at the end that I can make a Saturday (10-July) flight out of Vladivostok instead of having to wait for Monday. I still get to time travel on the way home, it seems.
This is less of a big deal, though, since I found out - via С П, who found out himself scant minutes before calling me - that a bigwig from Berlin is coming to Moscow and С П needs to be in the office the week of 7-June. So, my trip has been pushed back for exactly one week. This is not as bad as it seems, since the necessary reshuffling has freed up enough time at the end that I can make a Saturday (10-July) flight out of Vladivostok instead of having to wait for Monday. I still get to time travel on the way home, it seems.
мая 11, 2004
v
So.
Phone call this morning with J V. Apparently, the ОВИР that issued my official Letter of Invitation finally finished screening me and sent the Letter (really more of a 'form' than a 'letter') back to the Moscow office. Turns out (haha) the ОВИР mis-typed my birthdate on the letter of invite. It's not like they had a copy of my passport or anything... The DMV must be the model for government agencies around the world.
It takes on the order of 45 days to get a letter issued, so I called the Russian Embassy in DC this morning to plead my case. They tell me that I can go ahead and send in the incorrect letter of invite, along with my passport, application, and fee (up to $400 now, since time is getting so short), supplemental application since I'm a 'man between the ages of 18 and 45', and HIV test (!?! same reason as the supplemental app, they say, but !?!). I should send along also a brief letter explaining the ОВИР's mistake, and they would be able to go from there. I'll do it, but I'm somewhat nervous at the prospect of my visa (which will come back to me, permanently affixed to a page in my passport) not matching my passport. Somehow, I bet Russian immigration control might have something to say about that when I got off the plane.
Maybe it'll all work out. We'll see.
Phone call this morning with J V. Apparently, the ОВИР that issued my official Letter of Invitation finally finished screening me and sent the Letter (really more of a 'form' than a 'letter') back to the Moscow office. Turns out (haha) the ОВИР mis-typed my birthdate on the letter of invite. It's not like they had a copy of my passport or anything... The DMV must be the model for government agencies around the world.
It takes on the order of 45 days to get a letter issued, so I called the Russian Embassy in DC this morning to plead my case. They tell me that I can go ahead and send in the incorrect letter of invite, along with my passport, application, and fee (up to $400 now, since time is getting so short), supplemental application since I'm a 'man between the ages of 18 and 45', and HIV test (!?! same reason as the supplemental app, they say, but !?!). I should send along also a brief letter explaining the ОВИР's mistake, and they would be able to go from there. I'll do it, but I'm somewhat nervous at the prospect of my visa (which will come back to me, permanently affixed to a page in my passport) not matching my passport. Somehow, I bet Russian immigration control might have something to say about that when I got off the plane.
Maybe it'll all work out. We'll see.
мая 08, 2004
It Begins..
You've found it.
My intent is to use this as a journal of my business travels (primarily as a means of communicating with my wife and kids while I am way far out of contact). I should post in spurts with relatively long intervening dry spells. I anticipate this journal will be in no way interesting to anyone; still...
Introductions, then:
I live in Portland, Oregon. I've been a peon-level cog at my company for just over five years now. I was hired on as an engineer to work a graveyard shift at our factory while I finished my last couple years of college. During those first two years, I also met and married my wife, and had with her our first son. It was a busy time. Upon graduation, I moved to a daytime job with The Company over in corporate drone cube-land. For the next three-and-a-half years, I did odd job engineering and mainly tried to position myself for something more interesting. "Something" came available in January '04; I moved into a position with The Company's export aftermarket (that's service and warranty...) department. Originally, I was put in charge of our operations in Russia and the CIS countries. To this was almost immediately added all of Europe. Then, quite recently, I was also 'given' charge over half of The Company's business in Australia, New Zealand, and Borneo.
Needless to say, I won't be home quite as much as I used to... Thus this blog...
So. My first trans-oceanic trip for The Company is impending. Right now, my plan is to spend four weeks in Russia getting an overview of our dealer operations in Moscow, Saint-Peterburg, Balakovo, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok. My ticket reservations put me in Moscow on June 5. Of course, since the KGB (or whatever they're called these days) has yet to send me my letter-of-invitation-confirmation-form, I've yet to even apply for my visa. There's still plenty of time, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had to modify my schedule to suit the convenience of the Russian government.
See. I told you it wouldn't be interesting.
My intent is to use this as a journal of my business travels (primarily as a means of communicating with my wife and kids while I am way far out of contact). I should post in spurts with relatively long intervening dry spells. I anticipate this journal will be in no way interesting to anyone; still...
Introductions, then:
I live in Portland, Oregon. I've been a peon-level cog at my company for just over five years now. I was hired on as an engineer to work a graveyard shift at our factory while I finished my last couple years of college. During those first two years, I also met and married my wife, and had with her our first son. It was a busy time. Upon graduation, I moved to a daytime job with The Company over in corporate drone cube-land. For the next three-and-a-half years, I did odd job engineering and mainly tried to position myself for something more interesting. "Something" came available in January '04; I moved into a position with The Company's export aftermarket (that's service and warranty...) department. Originally, I was put in charge of our operations in Russia and the CIS countries. To this was almost immediately added all of Europe. Then, quite recently, I was also 'given' charge over half of The Company's business in Australia, New Zealand, and Borneo.
Needless to say, I won't be home quite as much as I used to... Thus this blog...
So. My first trans-oceanic trip for The Company is impending. Right now, my plan is to spend four weeks in Russia getting an overview of our dealer operations in Moscow, Saint-Peterburg, Balakovo, Yekaterinburg, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok. My ticket reservations put me in Moscow on June 5. Of course, since the KGB (or whatever they're called these days) has yet to send me my letter-of-invitation-confirmation-form, I've yet to even apply for my visa. There's still plenty of time, but I wouldn't be surprised if I had to modify my schedule to suit the convenience of the Russian government.
See. I told you it wouldn't be interesting.
Test 2. Configuration check.
...
Test post. Greetings all. Можете видеть? Очень хорошо...
