The last summer was marked with a serious desolation of the Internet. A whole bunch of sites with self-educational aims visited from time to time by an average Russian-speaking surfer like me stood still without updates. For example, the latest Masyanya movie was released quite a while ago, Danya didn't put out his immortal scripts and Karaul was into looking for a job, since in the prosperous America programmers aren't favoured with big salaries and work places that much.

Though, it's really nice that now with the end summer vacations, sun-light, topless beaches and careless time-spending, there is quite an increase in the activity of various mass-media. So, guys, be calm, we don't have to die in ignorance. Let me give you an example. The September issue of the "PC Magazine Romania" published an interview with yours truely. The good thing is that the article appeared pretty soon after publication on the magazine's web-site, so news-stores aren't the only place where the log of our conversation can be found. A link to the interview, as usual, had been put in the publications section. We were speaking Romanian, primarily about the GNU programming and the prospectives of development of programs and protocols for instant messaging. The guys were extremely interested in me because I am an unusual case... a programmer from the former USSR who came to a country which was once part of the Soviet bloc. Despite the fact that by local standards I earn quite a nice salary, I was asked why I did not choose to settle in the US or in a Western European country. My answer continued along the lines of the "Our people in.. Romania" article which was published in the previous issue of the "argc & argv" magazine. The idea I wanted to give readers there was that it's enough to be a good IT specialist and to have a great opportunity to see the world, and it wasn't really necessary to go to a country considered "good" and "rich". I'm sure it's quite interesting there too, but having come, you'll found it takes time to get a residence permit, citizenship and other things, and that can make a traveller stick in the same place for a long time. Also, the hordes of emigrees from the former-USSR mean your particular case does not stand out wherever you go. Frankly speaking, a year ago even I did not expect to find life here in Romania that interesting.

By the way, about the interview... there is one person whose name isn't mentioned anywhere, though he played quite a role in preparing the publication. His name is Lyubomir Senyuk (his nickname is Semen), he's from the city of Lviv and currently just like me he's working in the Romanian office of WebSci Technologies. Aside from the Java programming he does at work, Lyubomir is an amateur photographer, and my portrait in the magazine is thanks to him. The point is that when the interview text was ready, the editors of the magazine requested a high resolution photo, which I didn't have. The pictures from the photo section of my site weren't good enough, so we had to make another one. For a half a day I was playing the part of a photo-model and Semen was choosing the setting and other details of the shoot.

It may sound strange ;), but aside from the portrait of yours truely there are other masterpieces in Lyubomir's port-folio. Great frames. So far it's only possible to see them at the author's place with a glass of half-dry Romanian wine, but I hope that very soon we'll also be able to enjoy his works online. This is a hint for you, Semen, something to inspire you to scan the photos and make a site for them.

Let's finish the photography topic with the announcement of an update in the respective section with some more shots from mysterious Canada where Mikhail, a great buddy of mine, went a couple of months ago.

Just in the aim of exploration, and in order to gather more impressions about Romania and its authorities I have enrolled in driving school here. First of all, it's always useful to have a license, especially since a Romanian one that can be used to frighten Ukrainian road policemen :) Also there will be something to write about here as soon as I'm finished. I have already started a journal dedicated to getting the document. I am going to describe everything needed - obtaining the necessary papers, prices, official procedures, etc... I also think it would be extremely interesting to make comparisons between the Ukrainian and Romanian beaurocracy. I heard a lot about the latter, but I haven't dealt with it so far, since all my documents were provided by the company I work for. I promise to publish the journal here after the exam at politia rutiera (the road police).

Finally, I kindly ask you not to worry if I don't answer your e-mails during this week-end. Tonight we're planning a quick trip to the city of Brasov (pronounced Brashov) which is 300 kms from Iasi. Among other places of interest in the area there is the legendary Dracula's castle. A few words about it. The castle is called Dracula's for tourists. Actually, the prototype of the count lived there - quite a cruel, though effective ruler Vlad Tepes (pronounced Tsepesh). Also, tomorrow is the last day of the international "Cerbul de Aur" music festival. Along with the expected "Scorpions" oldies our own lesbian girls "Tatu" will sing there.

I wish you all a fun week-end. See you on Monday.