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Below are the 19 most recent journal entries recorded in
ibg's LiveJournal:
| Saturday, December 5th, 2009 | | 4:34 pm |
Дистанционное обучение
Хотите намертво "подвесить" университетского библиотекаря? Тогда спросите у библиотекаря про то, как можно сделать так, чтобы и авторские права были соблюдены, и чтобы студенты-заочники берущие курс по интернету (дистанционное обучение) могли все материалы читать. Типичный ответ: "Ах, это такой интересный вопрос! Мне так хотелось бы побольше знать по этой теме!". Или: "Я ничего про это не знаю. Спросите библиотекаря А." Библиотекарь А.: "По-моему, надо сделать так и вот так, но уточните у библиотекаря Б. Я плохо знакома с этим вопросом". Библиотекарь Б.: "Нет-нет. Нужно делать эдак. Так и вот так нельзя. Но я в этом вопросе почти ничего не понимаю. Спросите у библиотекаря А. Библиотекарь А все знает". Круг замыкается. | | Wednesday, October 14th, 2009 | | 3:36 pm |
Около недели назад начали давать Ане прикорм с ложки: морковное пюрэ. Кормление из рутинного занятие приврартилось в весьма интригующее. Запихиваешь ей ложку в рот, а она язык вперед выкидывает, как при сосании, и вся морковка летит наружу. То есть кушать Аня хочет, а вот как есть не из бутылки понять не может. И совершенно непонятно проглатила она что-то или нет. Наконец, после нескольких дней кормления в Аниных подгузниках появились красноватые морковные вкрапления. Вот такие неаппетитным способом мы узнали, что часть морковки она все же умудряется заглатывать. | | Thursday, September 10th, 2009 | | 11:29 am |
| | Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 | | 10:00 am |
Музыкальный вопрос
У ребенка есть креслице, к которому прикреплены всякие игрушки, по которым можно бить рукой. Если ударить по игрушке, то креслице начинает играть разные веселые мотивчики. Моя мама как-то меня подозвала к младенческому креслицу и говорит: "Слушай". Кресло заиграло очередной мотивчик, а мама говорит: "Это же советская песня, только не помню какая". Кресло американское, мотов советский. Действительно советский. Песня "Молодежная" из фильма "Волга-Волга". Помните Орлова там с музыкальной самодеятельностью плывет на плоту в Москву? Там-то они и поют "Молодежную". Песня Дунаевского. Продемонстрировали мелодию из креслица мужу. Муж сказал, что никаких советских песен он не знает, а что мотив этот - народная американская песня для детей "If you're happy and you know it". Поиграл нам песню по youtube. Вроде тоже самое. Никто не знает в чем тут дело? Или это мы одни такие, заметившие сходство? | | Sunday, April 15th, 2007 | | 11:21 am |
Меня продолжают забавлять местные вывески. Одна недалеко от моего дома рекламирует, что сделают вам самые лучшие "AILS". Вроде как "У вас не хватает проблем? Мы вам их доставим в лучшем виде!" Ну да вы, наверное, догадались в чем дело с этой вывеской. А на этой неделе "Burger King" недалеко от моей работы вдруг стал рекламировать, что "cheesy bacon's back". Вроде как "Мы опять продаем наши дрянные и никуда не годные беконы". Burger King, правда, опомнился быстро. Уже через два дня этот плакат не висел. http://www.guampdn.com/guampublishing/bargains/data/EEZVZFZyVFpjlKdBLS.html | | Friday, December 29th, 2006 | | 9:54 am |
Вчера была на выставке портретов Дориана Грея. Несколько залов с картинами изображающими все грехи человеческие. Отвратительные картины от которых нельзя было глаз оторвать. Смотрела как зачарованная. А выставка была немецких художников времен Веймарской Республики, представляющих течение «новой вещественности» ("Neue Sachlichkeit"). Я по своей необразованности о них раньше не слышала. | | Friday, August 25th, 2006 | | 9:47 am |
Продолжительность жизни
Вчера в новостях прочитала кое-что любопытное: http://www.rambler.ru/db/news/msg.html?mid=8537135Если я правильно поняла, то руководитель Федеральной службы госстатистики Владимир Соколин считает, что повышение пенсионного возраста приведет к увеличению продолжительности жизни. При всем моем уважении к Росстату, не могу согласиться с такой точкой зрения. Это увеличение продолжительности жизни привело в некоторых странах к увеличению пенсионного возраста, а не наобoрот. | | Wednesday, March 29th, 2006 | | 2:40 pm |
Spring
Spring finally came to my part of the world. Water level in Raritan river is about four feet up. Rutgers Rowing team is back on the river in their canoes. I remember always seeing them in the fall. I would walk to my office and there they are, rowing their canoes. I would walk home and there they are, rowing their canoes. Seeing them became such a part of the daily routine, that they felt almost like a family. | | Monday, March 27th, 2006 | | 11:21 am |
American staple food experience
Yesterday I was flying back to New Jersey from a conference. Since my flight was delayed I grew hungry and decided to have something to eat. It was something of a problem to find anything vegan at the airport (I am observing lent). So, I ended up eating peanut butter and grape jelly sandwich. First one I ever ate! After six and a half years in the US! I guess it is something of a record. The sandwich was hot a tasted much better than I expected. Actually, I quite enjoyed it. | | Monday, February 13th, 2006 | | 10:09 am |
| | Wednesday, December 28th, 2005 | | 1:11 pm |
Russian nouveau rich in central Jersey
My friend who lives in Central New Jersey finally sold her house. The house was on the market for quite some time. People would come, take one look at all that space with Jacuzzi hot tub and billiard room and would be out in a minute. Nobody wants that much space with all that luxury in it! The house stayed unsold untill Russian nouveau rich, or new Russians, whatever you want to call them, came to see it. They saw Jacuzzi, billiard room and said that this is THE house they want! These guys had gold rings, golden neck chains, a limousine with a chauffeur, spoke almost no English and paid cash. Now they own the house and they broken most of the walls separating rooms to redesign the interior and are building sauna in the house. Does it sound familiar? In Moscow yes, but in Central Jersey? | | Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 | | 4:52 pm |
Happy Dance
It's official now: my Ph.D. has been conferred! As it happens, the University of Michigan confers degrees only three days a year. I defended in August and had to wait till last Sunday for the degree to be awarded. Makes it special somehow. I am doing a happy dance. | | Friday, December 16th, 2005 | | 2:06 pm |
English as a second language
Talking to my colleague about a research project She: "And the freaking SAS shows.." Me: ???? She: "I mean prog freq in SAS shows..." Several days later. She: "I am feeling down today. I have to go to the store and buy some booze" Me: ???? She: "I mean I want to buy some Christmas bows to cheer me up" | | Sunday, September 25th, 2005 | | 11:07 pm |
Housewives?
I have a suspicion that the community I am living in has housewives in plentiful supply. Otherwise, I have no explanations of how all these little stores manage to stay in business. So many of them work 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed Saturday-Sunday. Even farmers market is open Friday 11-5 only. It is particularly frustrating because some of these stores advertise chocolate, nuts and other similarly attractive kinds of food and I can never get inside these stores! | | Tuesday, September 20th, 2005 | | 2:17 pm |
Names of businesses, continued
Every day on my way to and from the office I pass by a photo studio and a beauty salon, located across the street from one another. The signs above the entrances to these businesses are "LIFETYME" and "ENVY". | | Thursday, September 8th, 2005 | | 5:05 pm |
dirty gloves
I went to a place advertising bagels and deli. The person at the counter had plastic gloves on and was handling money and giving change to a customer when I came in. Then, he started to handle bread and make sandwich to another customer without changing plastic gloves! I was out this place in a second, it was way too unhygenic by my standards. When I was out of this place I noticed that the sign above the entrance read “GOODFORAKING”, all in capital letters, without any stops or spaces between letters. Still under the impression of dirty gloves handling bread, I deciphered it as “GOOD-FOR-AKING”, or “GOOD-FOR-ACHING” in a more correct spelling. After the consideration, I guessed that the café proprietor may have intended it to be deciphered as “GOOD-FOR-A-KING”. However, I still like my version better. | | Wednesday, September 7th, 2005 | | 12:49 pm |
Remote control; learn something every day
“Colombo” series still seems to be inexhaustible source of information about life in US. I watched yesterday “Candidate for Crime”, one of the 1973 episodes. There is a moment when one of the characters watches TV and then switches it off with a REMOTE CONTROL. I was shocked. REMOTE CONTROL? In 1973? Unbelievable! I saw a first remote control for TV in late 1980s. I had no idea they existed in early 70s. | | Tuesday, September 6th, 2005 | | 11:00 am |
Linguistic
Two expressions: “on seventh heaven” and “on cloud nine” seem to mean exactly the same thing, namely, a state of extreme happiness. Where does the numeric difference come from? | | Sunday, September 4th, 2005 | | 12:51 pm |
First impressions
As I moved from Ann Arbor, MI, to Highland Park, NJ, I realized that I have many new impressions that I would like to share with my friends. I thought that starting this journal may prove to be a good way of sharing and staying in touch. My first impression of New Jersey is that there are much more people and many more cars around here than in Ann Arbor area. I shudder to think of the day when I buy a car and would drive on a highway. The cars are always on the road in great numbers, even at midnight. It seems that there is no time of day or night when the highway is not busy. I am sure I will get used to it in a little while, but it might be a little difficult to begin with. While my office is at New Brunswick, my home is at Highland Park, town located just across Raritan River from New Brunswick. It is quieter, greener and nicer than New Brunswick. Highland Park has large American Jewish and Russian Jewish community. There is a Russian food store, Kosher bakery, Jerusalem Pizza place, Kosher Chinese place, small Kosher grocery, Jerusalem gift store offering gifts and religious articles from Israel and a small diner offering Israeli shwarma and Israeli falafel. It all looks surprisingly similar to the neighborhood I lived in Pittsburg. Only somehow, Highland Park has five(!) bridal stores. Considering the size of the population, this number seems to be a little too high. Before I found the apartment I am living in now, I looked at quite a few other places. A curious detail about all apartments I looked at is a cooking stove. All stoves that I’ve seen so far here are gas stoves and they all have oven and the cooking top in two separate locations. For instance, in my own apartment there is an oven, to the right of the oven there is a fridge, and to the right of the fridge there is stove top. I never seen such arrangement before I came here and I wonder what is the reason for it: Safety? Fashion? Local government regulation? Yet something else? Another notable feature is the New Jersey train system. Local train system is quick, comfortable, convenient and very popular. Many use it every day to get to their jobs. I would probably compare it to the Russian local train system, with the difference, that New Jersey train system is cleaner, much less crowded and follows the schedule. The conductors wear handsome caps with old-fashion looking metal tags attached to them. My homework with regard to train riding is to learn to pronounce “New York” and “Newark” in a way that ticket office personnel would understand where I want to go. I am trying, but I am afraid I haven’t mastered it yet. As you might have guessed from my train description I haven’t buy a car yet. I have managed, however, to change my Michigan driver’s license to New Jersey driver’s license. New Jersey seems to be stricter in issuing drivers licenses than Michigan. For instance, New Jersey requires all those who haven’t had a license before to go to the driving school. New Jersey issues licenses for a shorter period of time too. It also seems to have has stricter requirements on what document should be presented at the Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC). I had to bring seven different documents. The system is a little complicated. Depending on one’s immigration/citizenship status there are different documents one has to bring. Also, different documents have different number of point attached to them. There are two kinds of identification documents one has to bring. There is a minimum number of points one has to bring in both kinds of identification documents as well as minimum number of total points. As I said before, the system seems to be a little complicated. I saw a lot of people who were turned away, because they have not brought all required documents, or because they brought too few document of a certain kind. I think that complexity of the system is recognized by the MVC. It has a special brochure describing all document requirements. The advertising slogan on the brochure is “Get it right the first time!” I couldn’t have thought of a more appropriate slogan myself. |
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