Windows to Russia

It just dawned on me that Sveta had expressed to me that our part of Moscow was going through that time of the year that they turn off the hot water and all you get is cold water…

It is a normal part of life in Moscow and is done for maintenance. By the time I am back to Moscow the hot water will be turned back on. Now how is that for good timing?

Now do not get me wrong. I am in no lap of luxury. We get good hot water about two hours a day in this hotel. Then the rest of the time it is slightly warm. Never take hot water for granted in the Ex-Soviet countries

But I have warm water and can take a shower. Poor Sveta has to boil water to try to clean up. Or take a cold shower…

Usually we go to the village at this time of the year but as you know I am in limbo waiting without my passport to get my visa to Russia…

You know! I would rather be in Moscow with Sveta and Boza, taking cold showers and such. Because that is where my heart is and you know what they say? Home is where the heart is…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

After traipsing around Kiev and putting my nose into certain places. I found a acquaintance of of mine that I have mentioned before in an article several years ago. He works in the Embassy system for Ukraine and has lofty contacts. He corrected a few issues and then I was given the word of sorry, but time to shut your mouth…

I said okay after I tell everyone that all is back to normal and Windows to Russia is happy again. I will then shut my mouth and be happy also… 🙂

So now that all is good I think I will have an extra cup of coffee today. It will be decaff of course and then I will get back to business in Kiev…

Got to get to the train terminal, call Sveta and tell her what happened, take some pictures of Kiev, meet with a few new friends and get my work caught back up. Just about a week and I get to go home…

That is all I am going to say about that and Thank you Ukraine for correcting the issue… (cross my fingers)

Kyle

Windows to Russia!

Since I am not in Russia at this moment it would not be right to call them Russian thinking’s. Now would it? So with that morning cup of coffee I am going to place a post the best that I can. This proxy stuff is bull and it makes it hard to do. But it can and will be done…

So my thinking’s this morning are centered around a Skype call that I had with my son this morning. I told him to call me when he got back in from picking his son up. My grandson! That sounds good doesn’t it? The little tyke is going to preschool now and they grow so fast…

I am proud of my boy and he has done well for himself. He now has his own office and is hiring a staff to help run it. His company has opened a branch near where my son lives. Before this he did most of his work for them on line. By the way my son’s name is Lyle and grandson is Jayden…

We talked for one and a half hours and that time seemed like minutes. I miss the kid and it seems like just yesterday that he was the age of his own kid right now. Time screams by and just does not slow down for anyone or anything…

I saw myself in Lyle when I was younger and the work ethics are there that I tried to instill as part of growing up. I realized this morning that I raised a good kid and I should be very proud of him…

I always say what goes around comes around and as he told me about the grand-kid and how independent he is, I had memories of Lyle stirring at that age. I smiled and realized that, like grandfather, like son, like grand-kid…

It is a wonderful day in Ukraine and I think that I will have a second cup of that delicious coffee and do a little more thinking’s…

Cats In The Cradle:
My child arrived just the other day
He came to the world in the usual way
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay
He learned to walk while I was away
And he was talkin’ ‘fore I knew it, and as he grew
He’d say “I’m gonna be like you dad
You know I’m gonna be like you”

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home dad?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son
You know we’ll have a good time then

My son turned ten just the other day
He said, “Thanks for the ball, Dad, come on let’s play
Can you teach me to throw”, I said “Not today
I got a lot to do”, he said, “That’s ok”
And he walked away but his smile never dimmed
And said, “I’m gonna be like him, yeah
You know I’m gonna be like him”

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home son?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son
You know we’ll have a good time then

Well, he came home from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
“Son, I’m proud of you, can you sit for a while?”
He shook his head and said with a smile
“What I’d really like, Dad, is to borrow the car keys
See you later, can I have them please?”

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home son?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then son
You know we’ll have a good time then

I’ve long since retired, my son’s moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said, “I’d like to see you if you don’t mind”
He said, “I’d love to, Dad, if I can find the time
You see my new job’s a hassle and kids have the flu
But it’s sure nice talking to you, Dad
It’s been sure nice talking to you”

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me
He’d grown up just like me
My boy was just like me

And the cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man on the moon
When you comin’ home son?
I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then dad
You know we’ll have a good time then

Kyle Keeton

Windows to Russia!

Interesting happenings. I am writing through a proxy. I have spent all day trying to pin point where Windows to Russia is being blocked at. I have tried 5 different IP’s and the same result with all of them…

Ukraine has taken offense to something I have said and have blocked Windows to Russia. Now I can only verify this from Kiev and if anyone outside of Kiev in Ukraine can see my site then please let me know. I would like to know to what extent this is happening in Ukraine…

I am experimenting right now with a proxy service and will attempt to post this through that service. I find life such a wonderful challenge and very interesting. I have made and filed a few complaints, which I know will do no good, but hey what does it hurt to file them?

Looks like my last article about corruption hit the big time and got rocked on the hit department… 🙂

So lets see if this posts. If not I can promise that Sveta will get it posted from Russia because Russia does not censor me…

Check windowstorussia.com in You will see that Ukraine is blocking Windows to Russia! This is real censorship by a country that proclaims democracy…

I am going to try to get Sveta to get a picture of the blockage of the site and post it here…

Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia!

This is a picture.
And here are two links with report (I just don’t know how long host-tracker will keep them):
http://host-tracker.com/check_res_ajx/8492647-0/
http://host-tracker.com/check_res_ajx/8493413-0/

As I was sipping that wonderful cup of coffee this morning. I was thinking about how Ukraine has changed the way they present coffee…

The last three times that I have been to Ukraine. When you order coffee they will ask you American or Eastern style. Eastern style is a very small very strong coffee full of grounds. American is a large medium to weak strength coffee, no grounds and with lots of milk… (Sugar on the side!)

Actually the Americana style coffee is very good and they have done a good job trying to imitate American coffee. It looks like McDonald’s has had an awful lot to do with this changing trend in Ukraine. In Russia you still must be very specific and order large coffee with milk and you get something that resembles the new Ukraine American style coffee. Full of coffee grounds… 🙂

But this morning I sat in my hotel room and made my own coffee. Now that is the best way to do it. There was a cool breeze coming off the river this morning. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, he birds were singing and the cars going beep – beep…

The best coffee is still one that you make yourself. In this part of the world everyone carries a cup heater for boiling water in a cup. It is part of the necessary survival equipment that all good Easterners would never be with out…

I have learned to use the water glass that is supplied in the hotel room and make hot coffee right in the room. When I have to stay a while in Ukraine I just buy a 5 liter bottle of water and I can drink coffee when ever I feel like it. Which is every morning. Instant coffee is very plentiful in this part of the world and boiling water plus a water glass plus instant coffee equals a good start to the day…

But I find it interesting that Ukraine has Americana coffee. Interesting to watch changes in little things like that…

Just another reason that I enjoy Ukraine…

Kyle
Windows to Russia!

This excerpt below is a very good example of a desperate empire called the West (NATO)…

I have written more than a few articles on the American Russian Reset. A few months ago I slammed the processes that were destroying that said reset. Well now those processes are winning out in the world. The reset between Russia and America is all but dead in the water…

Oh they will try to put a couple of band aids on it and for a while those band aids will cover some rot, but as with all band aids they fall off and expose what is underneath. If you put the band aid on a dirty nasty sore and did not clean it. Then you could have issues and just too many issues are slapping that reset in the face…

Dark storm clouds are collecting over the much-heralded “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations, with both sides working to blacklist the others officials, new tensions over U.S. missile defense plans, and a leaked CIA paper supposedly blaming Russia for a bomb blast near the U.S. Embassy in Georgia… Read More >>>

Most people tell me I am full of crap all the time. But I watch and tell it like it is. I have told from the beginning that Russia could not trust America on the reset and it is coming true…

Maybe Medvedev and company are starting to wake up and smell the coffee…

Windows to Russia!

Well today that cup of coffee I drank was alone in a hotel room. My sweetie is back in Moscow, Russia and I am stuck in Kiev, Ukraine for two weeks. Those visa rules are definitely changing at a fast pace. It is still confusing at the consulate and I can not blame them. They apologized profusely and explained in detail what is happening with the visa situation. I am not upset, just disappointed…

After checking out various Internet situations available to me to be able to do my work that I need to do and to post on the blogs. I came up with the same situation that we now use in the village that we have a home in. The little Sim card modem. That is what I am using right now as I type this article…

For less than 20 American dollars I get unlimited Internet anywhere that I can get cell phone reception. That money includes modem and two months of unlimited internet. It cost me 150 HRV or 18.5 dollars! HRV convert at about 8 HRV to 1 dollar. The hotel wants 45 HRV a day for Internet WIFI or 45 HRV an hour for Ethernet connection. As you see the route I took is by far cheaper…

So while I am here I will take the time to update the visa process for Americans. Well with at least what I have experienced. Many things are the same but it is the changes that cause the issues…

As always the Russian consulate in Kiev was very nice and they tried hard to take care of me. That is always the case and they really are a great consulate to work with. It is always good to see old faces and talk with the people about what is happening around the world…

The train trip to Kiev was a very good trip except we did not have air conditioning. It happened to be broke. So we all felt like we were in a sauna and believe you me lots of fluids were drank during the trip. I have learned to take lots of bottled water and I know of an 80 year old babushka that had a better trip because I gave her a liter of water to drink on the train trip. It was deadly hot on that train car…

I will be posting these next two weeks from my hotel room and they gave me a fan to help keep me cool. I also brought all kinds of movies to watch. Last night I watched the latest Transformer Movie and it was a blast. A movie like that you do not have to think because there is so much action that you do not have time to think…

That is all for now and stay tuned as I get settled in and keep the ball rolling on Windows to Russia…

Kyle
Windows to Russia!

I was thinking this morning about the train that I will be traveling on to Kiev. I am a creature of habit and like the same place to sit in the train when I go. I like and prefer the last car on the train. I like to go to the back door and look at the world speed away at a furious pace. I have never used the dinning car and I dislike sitting with other people…

If you look at the diagram above you will see numbers from 1 to 54 in red boxes. Those are seat numbers. Odd numbers are lower seats. I try to get 53 as my first choice of seat then second choice of seat is 51. If the train I pick does not have those choices then I chose another train. Sveta does not understand why I want those seats because they are on the side of the train and are almost always empty when going to and from Kiev…

But since I have traveled for years now to Kiev every few months. I have acquired what suits me and those seats suit me… 🙂

I do not like to fly to Kiev and even though I would prefer to drive to Kiev, it takes too long to get there. So the train is a balanced travel arrangement that just works for my situation. It also is by far the cheapest way to travel. It costs about $30 American dollars to go to Kiev and $20 American dollars to come back. Besides you never know who you will meet on the train…

As I leave today on my excursion to Kiev. Sveta and Boza will stay behind. It is sad to leave them and they always look so forlorn as I leave. But hopefully I will have a short visa run and will be home by Monday at the latest. I will have the EeePC and will post articles while I am gone. (hopefully)…

This will also be the last visa run for awhile because I am getting a year visa with multiple entries this time. Sveta an I plan on leaving several times on some interesting trips this next year and I have to be able to come and go from Russia more than once or twice…

Stay tuned and in the next few days I will have updates on what is happening in Kiev, Ukraine…

Kyle
Windows to Russia!

Coming Down to EarthBy
Tai Adelaja
Russia Profile07/25/2011Despite what sometimes seems like a passionate pride in their cramped and crowded tower blocks, most Russians quietly dream of life in a low-rise, single-family home. And they may be getting closer to realizing that dream as politicians here ramp up their pre-election rhetoric with more promises of social spending ahead of crucial parliamentary elections set to take place in December this year. “People are fed up with high-rise condominium buildings springing up everywhere,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin told a televised meeting on low-rise housing construction on Friday. “Most Russians would like to live in low-rise homes,” Putin said, citing public opinion polls. “Overall, low-rise housing is one of the government’s priorities and it will receive considerable backing, first of all, [through] funding.” Read More

Windows to Russia!