is someone at the NYT reading my blog?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/10/world/europe/10sitcom.html?em&ex=1189656000&en=53663b3615f7d656&ei=5087%0A

I scooped the grey lady. Not bad for a public health person.

It is soooo good to be back in Almaty. Sunday I went to the green bazaar and saw my sweet Turkish lady who sells me homemad bread, cheese, and yogurt. When I got there, her bread was still hot. Hubba hubba. It's nice to be back where you know how to get around, where things are, etc. My colleagues were a bit amused that an American was showing them around Almaty while they were here.

Fall is slowly setting in and now it's lovely to sit around with open windows. Daytime is warm, and nighttime is cool. Perfect walking weather. And perfect weather for wandering about Almaty at night. My Turkmen colleague kept commenting about how alive and young and energetic Almaty is. Any time we were walking about, there were tons of people about, especially youth. Ashghabat was kindof a dead city---not a lot of people walking around. So I can see why she said what she said. Here even neighborhood supermarkets are open 24 hours a day. Whereas my 7-11 in Mt. Vernon closed at midnight!

My landlord changed cable companies again. Every time I come back from a trip all of the channels are different. So I have to learn them all over again, which is a PITA. I have about 5 US channels now, including CNN, a channel that shows American football, and I even stumbled upon a Seinfeld episode last night. So Steve will have more selection while he's here. Unfortunately, last night I couldn't find the channel the Bukhin family was on. I am hoping I didn't lose them for good...