June 2006 Archives

Look at these studs!

We woke up at 5:30. I spent some time reading/writing email from the blackberry. It's

nice to stay in touch, but boy is that inefficient. Hopefully in the future we can get

some wireless access from the apartment -- if we intend for our off-hours to be productive.

Otherwise, I want to find some interesting places -- seeing Dave walk around in his

underwear is only amusing the first time. ;)

I called Eriko while Dave showered and then we ate breakfast at Cafe Manya. I had

pordrige, omlet and bacon, and two lattes. I successfully ordered water in Russian

for the first time. That was pretty exciting. We went back to the apartment and I

finished packing. We went downstairs to wait for Vladimir about 9:20 - he was already

there, waiting for us. I said my goodbyes and admired Vladmimir's driving skills

through Moscow.

Arriving at Moscow airport, the arrival ramp was congested, so Vladimir let me

off about a hundred feet from the door. Immediately in the door is security.

Once through, I used the large electronic billboard in the middle of the

terminal to locate Delta flight 47. It indicated gate 1, which was to my left.

I walked through the gates labeled "nothing to declare" and found myself in a

very long line for the Delta ticket agents. I had a plesant conversation with a

woman from Layfette, Louisiana.

Near the gate agent, I went through security again. I then answered a few

questions about packing my luggage and had my bag hand-examined. Through some

"mis-communication" I ended up with one less chocolate bar. The man indicated

that he wanted to look at my plastic bag with 5 chocolate bars, so I opened it

for him. He then took one out and set it on the floor. He immediately ceased

looking through my bag and put things back in. I probably could have retrieved

my chocolate but I decided it wasn't worth the hassle. It sure felt like a

bribe...

I retrieved my boarding pass and checked my luggage. I passed through

emmigration with no issues and found myself in duty free. I walked around a bit

and then purchased some chocolate to replace that which dissappeared. This

chocolate is for Eriko, after all. At the gate, I went through security again.

They examined my carry-on bag by hand.

I waited at the gate for about an hour, next to a very annoying child who kept

asking his mother what time it was, when we were boarding, etc.

Up at 6 and over to Caffee Manya for a hot breakfast. I ordered an omlet (which

is scrambled eggs unless you specific something else), potatoes, sausages, and

a latte. Dave and I talked about the previous days events and enjoyed watching

the people.

We arrived at Isilon about 9:30 -- the first to arrive. We had a 10 AM

interview with Denis, who is a kernel programmer at SWSoft. Andrey considered

him a practical mid-level programmer who didn't have good algorithmic skills.

That last part was an understatement. He did horrible on my question -- his

solution was completely wrong and he believed it could be solved in constant

time (clearly incorrect, given the input was variable and unknown.) I cut that

problem short and didn't actually get to see him write code. He did better on

our other questions and Andrey felt satisified that his analysis had been

correct. I remained quite skeptical; I can understand someone having difficulty

with the problem, but to be so convinced when you're so off -- that trait

scares me.

We interviewed a recent graduate that Dmitry and Artem had recommended. He

didn't speak English so Vladimir led the interview. It was enjoyable to watch

-- I really like the way Vladimir interviews (and some of that is just personal

bias, as I have great respect for academia.) The kid did great on his first

quesiton but not so well on his second. I asked two questions through Dmitry

and Andrey (who showed up later) and he answered them reasonably well for

someone with no experience. In the end, Vladimir said that he expected more.

Dmitry must have also been tired of pizza, because we headed out to Moo Moo for

lunch. It was good and I asked Dmitry lots of questions about Soviet Russia. It

is amazing to think that 15 years ago the country was a completely different

place, with children who had a different mentality and everything was

government owned and controlled. Now I can't find any two people who wear the

same clothes and growth and competition are everywhere.

Dmitry suggested that we take the metro to a different stop so that Dave could

get some Vodka. We did so, I bought some chocolates for Eriko. Seeing a

supermarket was pretty interesting -- it didn't look much different from those

in the U.S. (except it was slightly smaller). Their was plenty of food, meat,

and other goods. Dmitry said that in the Soviet era, goods were scarce and not

nearly as good.

Back at work, I continued working on TreeDelete. The team spent some time

talking about TSM design (in Russian) and I said my goodbyes. I feel much more

comfortable about some aspects of the team and more nervous about others.

Andrey, Dave, and I headed out to the metro to have dinner and chat about first

impressions.

Andrey knows a lot about a lot of things. Sometimes it is difficult to

determine how much depth is there, but I enjoy asking him questions just the

same. Andrey walked us home after dinner and we were in bed by midnight.

The alarm rang at 7, but I didn't get out of bed until 8:15. The jet lag, lack

of sleep, and absythne all caught up with me. I spoke with Eriko while Dave

showered. We decided to take a different route to the metro. It wasn't faster

(and possibly was just a tad longer) but it was in the shade - which was nice.

We stopped by a bookstore, but it was closed.

We arrived via metro at work by about 10. I worked on some thoughts for the

2007+ budget as well as the TreeDelete feature requested by Kip. Both were fun.

Andrey brought in some fresh Cherries. We interviewed Alex and again I led the

interview. He was a bright individual but young and inexperienced -- and he

looked identical to the super geek from the movie "Nerds." He had a

mathematical background and produced very good code (albeit very slowly), but

he couldn't think abstractly and had a lot of trouble with our questions. I am

a high degree of confidence in Andrey and Vladmimir's ability to interview

candidates.

Again we ordered pizza - which wasn't very good (and it hadn't been good the

day before, but I thought that would be the only time I would ever have to eat

it.) Dave and I were careful to let Dmitry have the extra third slice as we had both been greedy the day before.

I heard a shout and Dave and Dmitry were at the window... looking at a truck

whose backdoor was open, revealing Isilon nodes. There was some fanfare and

excitement and I went back to work on TreeDelete.

Dave and I headed out about 7. With instructions from Dmitry in-hand, we headed

off to some shopping district to find some chocolate, bookstore, etc. We had

some heated disagreements about the route to take but we eventually reached the

general area we were looking for -- but there were no chocolates to be found.

After more than an hour of walking, we were very hungry. We headed to Old

Arbart and eventually selected a restaraunt that had an English menu. My dinner

arrived as expected but Dave ended up with something other than what he had

specified. Oops.

Tired and weary, we headed back to the apartment -- arriving about 11. Bed by

12.

Dave woke up at 5 and I woke up at 6. In the morning we goofed off and I called

Eriko. She was doing well and Zack visits were very helpful. Dave was superbly

pissed as he ruined his shirts in the laundry - or thought so until washed them

again. We left the apartment 8:15.

We headed towards Aravaskaya which was close to a pedestrian only shopping

street that Alex had told us about. We got a little turned around and had no

success buying Cuban cigars, but stumbled upon the street without too much

delay. We walked a half-mile up the street, passing what appeared to be one

breakfast location. As it turns out, there were no others (which were open) so

we had to settle for McDonald's. Dave did a terrific job ordering our food; the

food itself didn't taste bad but there wasn't much there. We chatted about the

team and issues before heading back out into the hot sun.

A few blocks away was slomesakay which was on our blue line, one stop further

away from work then we normally caught it. We arrived at work about 11. I led a

discussion to talk about the hiring plan for the rest of the year, as Andrey

had asked on Tuesday what we should be looking for. Andrey and Dmitry already

knew but wanted to hear approval for their ideas. We interviewed Michael at 1.

I led the interview and he had quite a bit of trouble with my interview

questions. Dmitry ordered pizza since we were starving.

In the afternoon, I spent some time researching reparse points. I found that

Vista will support per-file reparse points in the form of symlinks and I

created directory-based junction points using some tools, but was not able to

create per-file reparse points. I found enough pointers and information to pass along to Andrey, who will pass it along to Artem.

In the evening, Ilya, Dmitry, Lingle, and I head to ??, a fancy restaraunt

serving Indian, Japanese, and Russian. Apparently this was the same restaraunt

the previous entourage had eaten at. We ate nan, tandori seabass, and other

delicious food items. Alex F. showed up and so did the Cubans, the Absythn, and lots and lots of conversation.

Dmitry took us back to the apartment by 11:30 and bed by 12:30.

I woke up at 4:30. Moscow is quite north, so there is a lot of daylight. It

reminds me of Anchorage as well as that movie 'Insomnia.' Dave and I spent some

time emailing from our blackberries and talking smack about our Seattle-based

co-workers. I ate cereal, yogurt, and a banana for breakfast. We walked to the

store to buy some more breakfast food. This was quite painful as my shoes and

my feet really are getting along. Dave was brave enough to buy some bananas

from a street vendor. We goofed off as we waited for Alex and Natalyia to

arrive.

Nataylia (who is a doctor) arrived and begin to tend to my feet. She rigged up

a system using some spare socks so that I could walk more easily and we headed

out to the metro. Walking was quite slow for me and Nataylia was a very

observant and concerned doctor. At the electroskaya stop, Natalyia decide to

stop off at a pharmacy and buy some band-aids, ointments, etc. Arriving at

Mirantis at noon, the first order of business was to take care of my feet; a

request was made to Mirantis to get me a pair of sandals instead.

We started off with an interview. Andrey and Dmitry wanted me to lead, so I

asked him my typical closed polygon question. He had quite a bit of trouble. He

English was passable but difficult to understand. In addition, he wasn't a

strong candidate and couldn't see the solution clearly. It was very interesting

to watch the interaction from Andrey, Dmitry, and Vladimir -- I felt much more

confident about the idea of them interviewing on their own.

Dave and I were starving and decided to get some lunch. Dmitry felt obligated

to join us and decided to drive his car. Off we went to an Italian restaraunt.

The service was poor, the food was average, but the conversation was excellent.

On the way back to the office there was some congestion and Dmitry was unable

to stop in time. We rear-ended another vehicle on the left-side at about 5 MPH.

We didn't have our passports, so Dave and I quickly departed the vehicle and

hung out in a nearby park. We waited for Alex to pick us up and tried to

act inconspicuous to avoid Moscow police. Luckily, the police took 2 hours to

show up and Alex only took 1. He didn't know how to get back to the office so

we ended up picking up some stranger who happened to be going to the same area.

It was a very interesting experience.

Once Dmitry returned, I proposed a schedule for reaching TSM planning review

and got by off from Andrey, Alex, and Dmitry. We left work at 8:30 PM for our

first solo metro ride. We met Alex and Natasha at Cafe Mania for delicious

dinner and conversation. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and crossed the

street to the apartment. Dave fell asleep with the light and TV on (about 11:30)

and I hit the sack at 12:30.

The morning started about 4:30 AM with Dave wandering around in his underwear.

Desperate to return back to dreamland, I dozed off until about 7:30. I spent

the next 30 minutes or so surfing for free wireless and ran across 'City-Net'

which offered free wireless in 30 minute increments. Dave was unable to receive

a signal on his laptop and my signal was very poor. Maybe our next apartment

will have better access to what could be a very nice service. We ate breakfast

and drank some instant coffee. I chatted with Eriko and gave her a quick phone

call. She was doing well.

We headed over to 'Kofe Maniya' for some espresso. They must have recognized we

were foreigners due to Dave's haircut because we were given English menus. We

didn't have any trouble ordering 'latte' and 'croissant'. After coffee we both

spent some time on our laptops before Alex arrived. The three of us waited

outside for Vladmimir; when he arrived we purchased flowers for Luda (the lady

at Mirantis who set us up with our apartment.)

The drive took about 30 minutes and the streets were more crowded than before.

I did find myself a tad woozy by the driving. Mirantis' office is located near

the outer portion of Moscow (but still in the city proper). There was extensive

construction in the area and the street was down to one lane, with dust and

exhaust heavy in the air.

We arrived at the complex which houses Mirantis; an electronic gate let the

vehicle in. Upon entering the Mirantis office, we were greeted by Alex and

Dmitry. Into the office I went, coming face to face with Andrey, Alex, the

kids, and Vladimir. Things were a bit awkward but it was good to be there.

Dmitry took us on a tour (with Andrey in tow) of the floor and Luda showed up

and taught us how to use the coffee machine. Back in the office, we hooked up

our computers and were ready for work.

Dave soon dozed off and I spent time talking to Dmitry about setting up a

regular 1 on 1, performance reviews, corporate goals for Isilon, and a few

other topics. Andrey and I began to speak about TSM and before long we were

proceeding through the MRD on a point-by-point basis. At the end he felt much

more comfortable and thought the current set of requirements was quite doable,

with two notable exceptions. I setup the wiki status for Dmitry and showed him

how to use it. Alex and I also had a few discussions which I cannot remember.

Then it was time for lunch. Dmitry, Alex, Andrey, Dave, and I headed out.

Vladmir came along for a bit and then turned back. We decided to use the metro

and right as we were buying our tickets Vladimir reappeared. The six of us took

the escalator down 20 meters to the subway train and rode it for one stop. We

walked a block to Moo Moo, a chain restaraunt which had a line of about 25

people. The line moved surprisingly fast and soon we were staring at a buffet

of Russian foods, which Alex, Dmitry, and Andrey did their best to describe and

recommend. I selected "cold soup" (made from rye), a beet salad, fried

chicken, and potatoes with berry juice.

Lunch was pretty good (the soup and salad took a bit getting used to) and the

conversation was light. Soon we were back on the subway, with Andrey providing

me with lots of historical data. Back at Mirantis, Dave and I spent some time

with Dmitry and Alex explaining our (new) parallel development/QA process and

answering lots of questions. I can tell that they are excited and nervous and

slowly becoming more comfortable with making known their concerns. I spent the

rest of the afternoon trying to work over the VPN (which was extremely slow). I

did manage to add values to a bunch of bugs. I made the mistake of asking

Andrey about bridge and now I have a bridge brain-teaser to solve.

Dmitry popped over and announced that it was time to leave to go to dinner.

Dave, Alex, Dmitry, and I piled into Alex's car (a brand-new Russian Lada) and

headed back on the same streets as we had flown early that morning. Once again,

I felt a bit carsick. Alex K. and her friend Natasha showed up soon after we

arrived and next came Andrey and the kids. We enjoyed a nice meal of dumplings

(they call them ravioli but also claim Chinese origin), similar to what we had

the night before but this time their contents varied - beef, pork, lamb,

cherries, cheese, seafood, and mushrooms. Very delicious. Dave and Dmitry each

made toasts and we spent some time talking about what to do in Seattle while

Dmitry and Andrey were there -- most of the conversation was in Russian,

however.

Afterwards, we decided to walk from the restaraunt to red square. It was a

about an hour walk, most of which I spent with Dmitry. We talked about our home

lives, social lives, changes in Moscow & Russia, work experience, and politics.

Andrey joined in here and there with some interesting historical perspectives

and details about Moscow.

Red square was very impressive. I was shocked to hear about Lenin's tomb. I'd

heard about the tomb but did not know that Lenin's body was actually on

display, in good condition, inside the tomb. Unfortunately it was closed. Alex

K. and Natasha walked Dave and me back to our apartment. We were exhausted and

sore. We went to bed about midnight.

Arrived at SeaTac at 5:30 AM. The international line had only 3 clerks, which

handled various needs (ticket purchase, changes, etc.) so movement was slow.

Security was quick and we arrived at the gate about 6. Dave and I rested,

boarding the flight at approximately 7:30. The flight, as Dave says, "was not

the best in the world" -- there were reports of turbulence, so we were confined

to our seats for much of the flight and they didn't serve any meals.

We landed in JFK with an hour before our next flight, starving. We hurried

across the catwalk and found ourselves in a Burger King line for about 30

minutes. We boarded our plane with 20 minutes to spare. The flight to Moscow

was pretty smooth. They served us one hot meal and some snacks. I was able to

use my laptop, read, and nap. Overall, the flight was good sans a little

kid kicking my seat.

Arriving in Moscow, we were surprised to find no one at the VIP area waiting

for us. Dave was pretty worried but having no other option, we got in line for

immigration. We checked several times for the VIP person while waiting but

eventually made it through without a single word. We picked up our bags and

headed for the 'nothing to declare' section, which allowed us to proceed

without a single inspection. Immediately outside baggage claim was an unfamliar

gentlemen with an Isilon sign. Dave called Alex K. and she spoke with our

driver for a few minutes. The ride into Moscow was neat -- Russian motorists

drive like they are teenagers; they accelerate and stop quickly, change and

straddle lanes aggressively, and seem as if they fear nothing. Traffic was

extremely light -- Moscow's 10 lane roads were virtually empty -- so the

experience was a bit surreal.

We arrived. Our driver appeared a little confused, but after calling someone,

we were led to the back of the building. We met Alex, who appears to be an

apartment manager or landlord. He was very explicit in showing us how to work

the buildings two exterior locks (one from the 1800s and one electronic) as

well as our apartment door. The stairway is very drab and we think we share it

with one other tenant. The apartment is very nice, with vaneer floors,

furnishings, high ceilings, air conditioning, gas heat, dish washer, washing

machine, etc. Alex teaches us how to light the pilot light, operate the AC,

stove, refrigerator, etc. He does so in Russian (of course), so while Dave and

I were both grunting 'da' we likely missed any subtle points of instruction.

The apartment is one bedroom with a "pull-out" couch. (Note, the couch is

bearable but not necessarily comfortable.)

Dave and I headed up the street and around the corner to the Courtyard Marriot,

where we exchanged some money. The rate was approximately 26 rubles per dollar.

Our next stop was a grocery store Dave had visited before; we bought milk,

cereal, bananas, and yogurt. Back in the apartment, we snacked on some of the

meat and cheese in the refrigerator (which was a gift from the apartment) and

watched some of the world cup (US vs Italy). I decided to take a walk and Dave

decided to take a nap.

In Moscow, there is cottonwood flowers everywhere. It has the appearance of

dirty snow, and is constantly floating in the air. The streets are lined with

it, it covers cars, flower pots, signs, etc. We've found breathing to be a

little difficult -- not sure if it is pollen/cottonwood, pollution, or both.

I walked around aimlessly for about an hour and a half. I was approached by a

Russian soldier who began asking for help. I told him, in Russian, I don't

understand Russian and off he went. Moscow is a circular city, so if you can

remember how to get from the center to your home, you can always return.

Luckily we are only a few blocks from the Kremlin, so it will be difficult to

get lost. Nontheless, I got turned around while trying to a different way home

and managed to find lots of neat sculptures and parks before arriving our

street.

Back at home, there was a strange see-sawing noise emanating from Dave's room,

so I decided to rest my eyes for a bit. 30 minutes later, Dave and Alex K. were

arranging our dinner rendezvous. Dave and I walked across the street and while

we were trying to figure out whether (or how) to purchase coffee Alex arrived.

She was there with her friend and cousin, neither of whom spoke English. After

a brief introduction, they decided to entertain themselves and the three of us

went inside to eat.

We had two Russian dumpling dishes (one with meat, one with potatoes) and a

cheese plate. The service was a little slow initially but once the food and

beer arrived we ate easily. Dinner was pleasant; I think Dave and I would have

had trouble without her presence. The cafe was very crowded when we arrived,

emptied out (as the soccer match ended) and was dead while we ate, and became

crowded again before we left (as the next match began).

After dinner, Alex toured our apartment and taught us how to use the washing

machine. She then parted ways to spend time with her cousin and friend. Dave

and I walked around looking for a villa he had been accosted at (his first

trip). We found the villa, but he couldn't find a restaraunt he was looking

for. Back at the apartment about 9, things were winding down. Dave hit the sack

about 10 and I was asleep before midnight.

While uploading photos today, I noticed there was a new comment. Excited, I
listed all the new comments and began to read... but much to my dismay, I
found that 5 out of 6 of them were very lewd and written by people who both
didn't know nor respect my family. That's a very bad feeling, to realize there
are strangers who are thinking such inappropriate thoughts about things which
have only beautiful meanings (pictures of Jerry and Eriko). I restricted
comments to just family members. Hopefully I can continue to allow the album
to be seen by all, but at this point, I'm not sure.

I am currently going through an exercise of building out a comprehensive todo
list with items lasting through the end of the year (most are study related).
Examples include reading three books, learning 500 kanji, making measured
progress on my UW colloquia, exercising, etc. Assuming I am able to complete some items on schedule, the big questions I have are: how many things can I complete, which things do I focus on, and at what rate do I accomplish them? For example, I can read one chapter every two weeks from two books, or one chapter every week from one book. I don't want to overload myself (as I tend to do) as I will then become dissapointed by failure.

This is an interesting excercise in time management and discipline.

If it isn't obvious by the fact that I haven't made many diary entries, haven't
updated my weight or exercise (not to mention lack of) charts, and haven't
made much progress with my reading list... I've been busy! The problem is, as
I see it, that I'm not always busy doing something that I deem important. For
example, today I was to work on my term paper for my CS class. Naturally, I
procrastined in a variety of different ways, including leaving the TV on for
The Matrix and Matrix Reloaded movies (which, of course, resulted in me being less than efficient.)

I definitely have many things on my plate, but I can't get ahead unless I can
practice some good ole-fashioned discipline.