Ноябрь 22, 2007
November-end
11/22 13:56, Pushkin time
The insurance place took their sweet time getting back to me; I didn't actually get out to pick up the money until Friday afternoon. Although, the process was fairly straightforward:
- Drive into the city
- Get a pass into the insurance office
- Meet the payout agent (2nd floor) and sign paperwork
- Receive payout order
- Go to bookkeeping (7th floor)
- surrender payout order along with passport
- get back money and passport; sign receipt
We left it until Saturday to get the parts prepay to the repair shop. But things are moving along and fairly well paid-for, even. A pack of engineers is coming out for our start-of-manufacture at the beginning of December. Most likely, the van won't be fixed by then; but it very well should be done before they (and we) leave for the holiday. And not that thing haven't been particularly slammed this past week; but next week it gets really mad. And sustains until we fly out.
But on the plus side, at my back when I start the upcoming vacation will be a more-or-less functioning manufacturing operation. With at least the first item built and operational. And for the week at the end of December, when people here continue working and I am out, there will be plenty to do just in straightening out and getting ready to kick things right back in come January 9.
Z is doing superbly at school. He absolutely loves the penmanship lessons and has been taking to writing lines of cursive whenever the opportunity presents. He's also gotten pretty into painting.
G this fall has taken to singing. Enough that he's being put into a relatively solo singing spot in the winter event at his preschool -- hopefully he'll be able to make it; we're kind of leaving right around the time it would happen. If he misses this he'll be pretty disappointed.
The insurance place took their sweet time getting back to me; I didn't actually get out to pick up the money until Friday afternoon. Although, the process was fairly straightforward:
- Drive into the city
- Get a pass into the insurance office
- Meet the payout agent (2nd floor) and sign paperwork
- Receive payout order
- Go to bookkeeping (7th floor)
- surrender payout order along with passport
- get back money and passport; sign receipt
We left it until Saturday to get the parts prepay to the repair shop. But things are moving along and fairly well paid-for, even. A pack of engineers is coming out for our start-of-manufacture at the beginning of December. Most likely, the van won't be fixed by then; but it very well should be done before they (and we) leave for the holiday. And not that thing haven't been particularly slammed this past week; but next week it gets really mad. And sustains until we fly out.
But on the plus side, at my back when I start the upcoming vacation will be a more-or-less functioning manufacturing operation. With at least the first item built and operational. And for the week at the end of December, when people here continue working and I am out, there will be plenty to do just in straightening out and getting ready to kick things right back in come January 9.
Z is doing superbly at school. He absolutely loves the penmanship lessons and has been taking to writing lines of cursive whenever the opportunity presents. He's also gotten pretty into painting.
G this fall has taken to singing. Enough that he's being put into a relatively solo singing spot in the winter event at his preschool -- hopefully he'll be able to make it; we're kind of leaving right around the time it would happen. If he misses this he'll be pretty disappointed.
Ноябрь 13, 2007
Goodies
11/13 18:39, Pushkin time
So I got the estimate (94 thousand rubles and change); took it to the other guy's insurance place, and got the process of money-getting started. Supposedly today or tomorrow they will call me with approval; I can stop by and get the cash, and then over to the repair place to make the prepayment on the parts portion of the repair (45 thousand rubles and change) and they can start right off. Maybe we will have the car fixed by the end of November.
Work on the house has officially paused for the winter. Things are wrapped up and we're mapping out how to proceed as soon as the weather permits again.
L is, while not yet crawling, definitely mobile. Z remembers the considerations that need to be made for this time of a younger sibling's life; G is just now learning what 'getting into one's stuff' really means.
The snow fell pretty well through the weekend at least lightly and sporadically, but it has been clear and somewhat colder these past couple days. They're now calling for more to fall starting Friday. But it's staying not-particularly-cold. In fact, though the -1/-4 temperatures are not bad even with wind, even the wind has been mostly absent. In comparison with how we'll be in another two months, it's practically tropical. I've started carrying my hat and gloves with me everywhere, but I'm not actually wearing them for the most part, and I've only a couple of times actually zipped up my coat. But we have had to start using our lock de-icing spray in the mornings (and afternoons).
And of particular significance, today finally arrived from Customs-release the first container of parts for our truck factory. We spent the second half of today unpacking; another container comes tomorrow, then another Thursday, and then in a couple weeks, another four containers from the US (these first three are from Brazil). And then we start building trucks. And then (just as, if not more important) we start selling trucks... And then we all start getting rich. Which was a big part of the point coming out here. As with the house, a bit delayed, but happening nonetheless. Life.
So I got the estimate (94 thousand rubles and change); took it to the other guy's insurance place, and got the process of money-getting started. Supposedly today or tomorrow they will call me with approval; I can stop by and get the cash, and then over to the repair place to make the prepayment on the parts portion of the repair (45 thousand rubles and change) and they can start right off. Maybe we will have the car fixed by the end of November.
Work on the house has officially paused for the winter. Things are wrapped up and we're mapping out how to proceed as soon as the weather permits again.
L is, while not yet crawling, definitely mobile. Z remembers the considerations that need to be made for this time of a younger sibling's life; G is just now learning what 'getting into one's stuff' really means.
The snow fell pretty well through the weekend at least lightly and sporadically, but it has been clear and somewhat colder these past couple days. They're now calling for more to fall starting Friday. But it's staying not-particularly-cold. In fact, though the -1/-4 temperatures are not bad even with wind, even the wind has been mostly absent. In comparison with how we'll be in another two months, it's practically tropical. I've started carrying my hat and gloves with me everywhere, but I'm not actually wearing them for the most part, and I've only a couple of times actually zipped up my coat. But we have had to start using our lock de-icing spray in the mornings (and afternoons).
And of particular significance, today finally arrived from Customs-release the first container of parts for our truck factory. We spent the second half of today unpacking; another container comes tomorrow, then another Thursday, and then in a couple weeks, another four containers from the US (these first three are from Brazil). And then we start building trucks. And then (just as, if not more important) we start selling trucks... And then we all start getting rich. Which was a big part of the point coming out here. As with the house, a bit delayed, but happening nonetheless. Life.Ноябрь 06, 2007
Snow
11/7 11:37, Pushkin time
As promised, it snowed over Friday night. Just a bit of a dusting, really. Maybe two inches of accumulation overall (some more fell during the day Saturday), but it has stayed cold enough that short of a small bit of sublimation and more or less being cleared off the roads, the snow hasn't really gone anywhere. G is still getting his head wrapped around the fact that it's going to be here until April.
Fortunately, it hasn't gotten particularly cold yet; they say we'll be no lower than -5C (23F) for at least a bit longer. So I can still afford to walk around with my coat open and to forget my gloves from time to time. G, on the other hand, at first snow fall practically dove into his hard-core winter getup. His grey russian army hat (which will probably fit him into adulthood), new snow boots, snow-gloves-with-fingers, scarf; all on top of the snow overpants and winter coat he was already wearing. And this morning, dropping him off at his preschool, the teacher expressed concern that he didn't have a sweater to go with it all.
What kind of an upbringing he's getting.. This morning we ran a bit late so I set him up with some cereal in a sandwich bag to munch on the way in. He had a bit left over when we arrived, so on the way into school he told me that he would "save it to eat with morning tea". They are also definitely getting the kids into literacy mode; they've all made clay numbers and letters. And at home, G is making the kind of fast progress with the whole english-literacy that we sort of figured he would.
In other doings, the framing crew has almost finished their part of the house; remains to be done only a beam under one floor and the staircases, then they head off and work pauses for a couple months while the worst of winter goes by. We are, however, in consultation with the folks who will be doing the plumbing, electric, and other internal stuff, and will be spending these months accumulating materials so that once work starts back up, it can proceed to finish without any supply-related pauses. A schedule somewhat later than we had intended at very first, but still work remains on the schedule that we had more or less mapped out a couple months ago. And the next house we build -- whenever that is -- will definitely benefit from our experience.
And the estimate company [finally] called today to let me know that their part is done, and that we can pick up the Official Independent Estimate for repairs to the caravan anytime. I've asked one of our couriers to swing by today, which means potentially we could have all the stuff in order to take to the other guy's insurance company tomorrow and maybe even get the shop started working on fixing the car sometime in the fairly near future. Which would be nice.
As promised, it snowed over Friday night. Just a bit of a dusting, really. Maybe two inches of accumulation overall (some more fell during the day Saturday), but it has stayed cold enough that short of a small bit of sublimation and more or less being cleared off the roads, the snow hasn't really gone anywhere. G is still getting his head wrapped around the fact that it's going to be here until April.
Fortunately, it hasn't gotten particularly cold yet; they say we'll be no lower than -5C (23F) for at least a bit longer. So I can still afford to walk around with my coat open and to forget my gloves from time to time. G, on the other hand, at first snow fall practically dove into his hard-core winter getup. His grey russian army hat (which will probably fit him into adulthood), new snow boots, snow-gloves-with-fingers, scarf; all on top of the snow overpants and winter coat he was already wearing. And this morning, dropping him off at his preschool, the teacher expressed concern that he didn't have a sweater to go with it all.
What kind of an upbringing he's getting.. This morning we ran a bit late so I set him up with some cereal in a sandwich bag to munch on the way in. He had a bit left over when we arrived, so on the way into school he told me that he would "save it to eat with morning tea". They are also definitely getting the kids into literacy mode; they've all made clay numbers and letters. And at home, G is making the kind of fast progress with the whole english-literacy that we sort of figured he would.
In other doings, the framing crew has almost finished their part of the house; remains to be done only a beam under one floor and the staircases, then they head off and work pauses for a couple months while the worst of winter goes by. We are, however, in consultation with the folks who will be doing the plumbing, electric, and other internal stuff, and will be spending these months accumulating materials so that once work starts back up, it can proceed to finish without any supply-related pauses. A schedule somewhat later than we had intended at very first, but still work remains on the schedule that we had more or less mapped out a couple months ago. And the next house we build -- whenever that is -- will definitely benefit from our experience.
And the estimate company [finally] called today to let me know that their part is done, and that we can pick up the Official Independent Estimate for repairs to the caravan anytime. I've asked one of our couriers to swing by today, which means potentially we could have all the stuff in order to take to the other guy's insurance company tomorrow and maybe even get the shop started working on fixing the car sometime in the fairly near future. Which would be nice.
Ноябрь 02, 2007
Three-Day
11/2 17:18, Pushkin time
So Monday is a holiday of some sort here (and today was a holiday in Brazil, so we're four days out of contact with the folks down there...). And next week Z has off school, too. The estimate company has promised that that piece of stuff will be done today/tomorrow.
For now, things have been placed on a comfortable keel; looking forward to a relaxing weekend and some fun in the snow.
Interestingly about that -- back in Portland, I had a sort of informal gauge of temperature. It wasn't actually cold out until you could see the smoke even when you were breathing through your nose. I though of that the other day when I realized that I was still pretty comfortable in t-shirt and jeans, and had been seeing my nose-smoke for the better part of a month. Really, only the one morning where it snow/rained and the morning I spent waiting for the cops to show up at the car wreck were the only two that I found more than perhaps a tiny bit chilly. And we haven't popped over 4C (40F) for quite some time.
A and I swung by the house this morning; the sides are all up -- this morning the crew was getting windows cut-in. It remains for now only to tyvek-wrap the house, put in an additional beam under the middle of the first floor joists, and get the stairs put in. Then that crew is going to head off. I'm bringing the head guy of the Moldavian crew that does interiors out this weekend to get started mapping out electrical, plumbing, heating, and the so forth. His crew will be occupied until January, spending most of that month back in Moldavia, and ready to start tricking out the interior of our house in early February.
And, happily, A will soon be taking over the driving as far as what will be getting done and what it will look like; I handled the structure, she does the filling-in.
So Monday is a holiday of some sort here (and today was a holiday in Brazil, so we're four days out of contact with the folks down there...). And next week Z has off school, too. The estimate company has promised that that piece of stuff will be done today/tomorrow.
For now, things have been placed on a comfortable keel; looking forward to a relaxing weekend and some fun in the snow.
Interestingly about that -- back in Portland, I had a sort of informal gauge of temperature. It wasn't actually cold out until you could see the smoke even when you were breathing through your nose. I though of that the other day when I realized that I was still pretty comfortable in t-shirt and jeans, and had been seeing my nose-smoke for the better part of a month. Really, only the one morning where it snow/rained and the morning I spent waiting for the cops to show up at the car wreck were the only two that I found more than perhaps a tiny bit chilly. And we haven't popped over 4C (40F) for quite some time.
A and I swung by the house this morning; the sides are all up -- this morning the crew was getting windows cut-in. It remains for now only to tyvek-wrap the house, put in an additional beam under the middle of the first floor joists, and get the stairs put in. Then that crew is going to head off. I'm bringing the head guy of the Moldavian crew that does interiors out this weekend to get started mapping out electrical, plumbing, heating, and the so forth. His crew will be occupied until January, spending most of that month back in Moldavia, and ready to start tricking out the interior of our house in early February.
And, happily, A will soon be taking over the driving as far as what will be getting done and what it will look like; I handled the structure, she does the filling-in.
