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Tuesday, Apr. 17, 2007 - 5:37 p.m. Virginia Tech, a reminder
The tragic events that transpired
yesterday at Virginia Tech, and what we later learned today about the shooter
and his apparent macabre and violent writings, reminded me of something that
happened, or rather more importantly DIDN'T happen in Houston several years
ago. Back in 1992 I worked a contract position at Marathon Oil on the
Sakhalin Island Feasibility Study project. It was the perfect opportunity
for me being just out of college with a Russian degree, and wanting exposure and
work relating to that area of the world. I did work with several Russians,
many of whom were expats over here for the project, and many were residents of
the US who had emigrated from the Soviet Union. There was one man who
worked as a translator and interpreter who I will (unfortunately) never
forget. I am only going to write his first name here as I would hate for
him to do a search of himself and and find his name mentioned here, because to
put it frankly, he scares me. His first name is Fabian and his last name
starts with a V. You can see his full name in the links I will provide in
this entry. I will say one positive thing about him in
that he provided me an excellent opportunity to practice my spoken Russian
skills and was actually very complimentary of the progress I made during my
tenure at Marathon. But all niceties will end there. He was, for all
intents and purposes a wacko. He emigrated to the US in the 80's from Moscow,
and had been a university student here for a while. I had once asked
him about himself and he replied that he was a doctoral candidate in History at
the University of Houston and when I replied with a genuinely interested query
as to the topic of his thesis, he very rudely, snidely, and condescendingly
retorted that it was too complicated and complex for me to understand.
Well, turns out he was having a bit of a problem completing his dissertation,
but was instead writing an epic poem. Since I don't want to include his
full name, just scroll down in the article link I have enclosed to this
headline: "DEATH
POEM HITS HOME IN HISTORY DEPT." I worked with this man.
Yes, yes I did. Fortunately he never acted on his lunatic rantings.
I saw him several years later and recognized him. Fortunately, he didn't
recognize me. |
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- - Wednesday, May. 21, 2008
More updates on another blog home. - Wednesday, Feb. 06, 2008 Where are my zzzzzz's? - Thursday, Nov. 08, 2007 Halloween '07 - Friday, Nov. 02, 2007 Hallween is All Good! - Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007 |
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