Quick Takes 10
Okay so last week I was so on the ball and this week I’m back to not being so on the ball.. but on the bright side, I’m now 9 hours ahead of Jen… which makes me 9 hours less late! Aha! Please do go drop by Conversion Diary for the Quick Takes hub- the graphic to the right is a link.
1.
So I got a question last week about this logo, and while I did answer it there I don’t get tons of traffic so I thought I’d recap in a quick take this week. When Jen first mentioned she was thinking of a graphic, I made this one for fun. It doesn’t really match her site however and she’s got that post-it note one that’s adorable (I consider anything even vaguely related to a post-it note good as a post-it note addict myself)… but since I made this one obviously it’s in my tastes.
It’s not meant to be an “alternative logo” as if there were any competition, but we’re all fellow quick-takers and if anyone would like to use it s/he’s welcome to it– I just ask that you save it and upload it to your own webspace. If anyone asks where it’s from, a link to Hobbit-Sense would be nice. :)
2.
I discovered why I was extra suspicious to the grocery store people! I hadn’t noticed that I was marching in with a backpack on right past the counter before the entrance where you’re supposed to take your big bag to be sealed– amazing what a bit of observation will do. They actually put large bags in a plastic bag and seal the plastic with heat. That it some serious theft prevention measure…..
I think I prefer the locker method I mentioned last week. On the bright side, this time I was able to buy a couple random objects without alerting the scary men- whoo-hoo.
3.
Can you guess what Russia’s going to have soon? I cleaned the picture up….
Yes, an election. I’ve seen this painted on sidewalks a number of places. I can’t just stand around gawking at it, and honestly, I’ve been trying to surreptitiously photograph it all week when I got lucky on the way home from work- no one else was around and I just whipped out my camera and did it sideways and fast.. which may explain a few things. I haven’t translated the long, cut-off, penultimate word at the bottom, but it’s something about the Moscow City Duma (city council I guess)– Yes to #5!
4.
This also explains why I was handed a newspaper coming out of the metro last Friday… I figured it’d be good language practice so I took it without thinking. Upon further examination, I discovered it is titled “Sovyetskaya Rossiya” – yes, that’s “Soviet Russia” – the “Informational Bulletin of the Moscow City Bureau of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.”
The headlines are really grabbing- “OneRussia (Putin’s political party) didn’t come to debates with communists– WHY DOES THE POWER (THE AUTHORITIES) GAMBLE ON VOTES WITHOUT VOTERS?” – and yes, they really did put that in red. The really interesting thing though is a Communist party worried about votes… given this joke from Soviet times especially:
On the day of elections a voter received a ballot, but instead of lowering the ballot into the voting box, he began to read the surname of the single candidate.
‘What are you doing?’ his observer asked
‘I want to find out who I voted for.’
‘Yes but don’t you know that elections are secret?!’
I doubt I can trust the CPRF (KPRF) for accurate reporting, but it’s quite a historical twist…
5.
Of course, it was explained to me that I shouldn’t walk around with the paper.. I don’t think it would get me into too much trouble, and the picture of a party member demonstrating against the current government by having a display of a bear burying his head in the sand is hilarious.. I just can’t decide if it’s meant to represent Russia as a whole (the bear being a rather traditional symbol of it) or Medvedev, whose name means “bear.”
6.
The sign above this door does in fact say “Emergency Exit” (okay, more like, “Dangerous Exit” but it’s the Russian equivalent…)
Run Out This Door In Case of Emergency! .... Or if you need a smoke...
Or the stairwell can double as a smoking lounge..
Or MAYBE the need for a cigarette IS the emergency! It all becomes clear suddenly…
7.
I finally have an idea of food that might make sense…. hallelujah. I have been a most sporadic eater, and it’s not been so smart… so I’m going to go back to Plan A (Soup) and supplement with Plan B: Freezing stuff. So, a pot of soup Sundays and I got chicken wings so I can have an okay stock (I know you need more than that but limited space, budget and time) plus some veggies and then freeze the remaining chicken wings till next Sunday when I use some more for a new pot of soup.. and I got ground beef so I can make cevapcici … well kind of, ideally it’d include some lamb and pork… although actually I don’t know the exact meat words for anything but chicken so it could be, lol. Freeze and cook individually… add in some frozen veg and we’re good.. not the best, but cheaper, cost-effective, and doable for someone who works 4ish-9ish…
And even if it doesn’t– hey, atleast there was a plan!
Thanks and have a great week, hope to be back more regularly soon.
-Rosy
