Murid's blog

Just for the record, we froze our asses off at the Cinco De Mayo party we went to yesterday. Corona, burritos, and snow flurries -- you can't beat it.

I was taught that work ethic mattered. I remember my father saying that if you work hard and do a good job, you'll be rewarded not just monetarily but with the respect of your employer and peers. Today, about 20 years after I got my first real job, I consider this a quaint idea that is more of a personal principle than accepted truth. I show up for work early, stay late, do more than I'm asked. I don't always get the gratitude I expect, but I keep doing it anyway, because I like what I do, even if I'm more jaded and cynical about the whole career experience.

I was taught that work ethic mattered. I remember my father saying that if you work hard and do a good job, you'll be rewarded not just monetarily but with the respect of your employer and peers. Today, about 20 years after I got my first real job, I consider this a quaint idea that is more of a personal principle than accepted truth. I show up for work early, stay late, do more than I'm asked. I don't always get the gratitude I expect, but I keep doing it anyway, because I like what I do, even if I'm more jaded and cynical about the whole career experience.

It snowed in Moscow today. May 3. May 3. Not much. Only flurries that didn't stick. It is just one more reminder of how Russia can beat you down.

It snowed in Moscow today. May 3. May 3. Not much. Only flurries that didn't stick. It is just one more reminder of how Russia can beat you down.

I have not done much more than work for the past two weeks straight. We had visitors from Washington, which left me one day to attend to the usual week's worth of emergencies and redo most of their schedule after something got cancelled. They were OK guys, but it meant being at my desk by 8 a.m. and then picking them up at the hotel by 8:30 to start a full day of meetings and ending with a working dinner that was over by about 10 p.m. They had meetings on Saturday and then I took them to the airport on Easter Sunday.

I have not done much more than work for the past two weeks straight. We had visitors from Washington, which left me one day to attend to the usual week's worth of emergencies and redo most of their schedule after something got cancelled. They were OK guys, but it meant being at my desk by 8 a.m. and then picking them up at the hotel by 8:30 to start a full day of meetings and ending with a working dinner that was over by about 10 p.m. They had meetings on Saturday and then I took them to the airport on Easter Sunday.

We are pretty careful with what our girls watch on TV, and don't let fly with profanity in the house. I usually save it for work, where it belongs.

 

The other day Emma, our 6-year-old, who has a definite sense of right and wrong, a flair for drama, and who also realizes the value of getting her sister in trouble, walked into the kitchen and said her sister called her the "C word." The two of them are old enough that the most minor thing is good reason to fight, but this was going to an unprecedented extreme of name calling.

We are pretty careful with what our girls watch on TV, and don't let fly with profanity in the house. I usually save it for work, where it belongs.

 

The other day Emma, our 6-year-old, who has a definite sense of right and wrong, a flair for drama, and who also realizes the value of getting her sister in trouble, walked into the kitchen and said her sister called her the "C word." The two of them are old enough that the most minor thing is good reason to fight, but this was going to an unprecedented extreme of name calling.

I went back to Washington for a management course, carrying the usual list of things to buy from the Land of Plenty. Mrs. Murid's birthday was two weeks away so a birthday present was at the top of the list. (Really, it was right under GRAW 2 and Borat, but those were necessities.)