gonna keep this all brief-like, on account of I'm still sick and plenty jet lagged.
russia was absolutely wonderful, and I can't wait to go back. the trip over was grueling, ended up with a six hour layover in denver and a 10 hour (!) layover in frankfurt, and on the flight from denver to frankfurt I was stuck next to a very beautiful and very sick grad student from turkey, who proceeded to cough and sneeze in my immediate vicinity for about nine-and-a-half hours. which didn't seem so bad until about my third day in russia, when I got really, really sick.
I ended up spending way too much of my vacation in bed as a result. the temps averaged between about 0F and -15F, which made going out and doing stuff while I was sick pretty difficult. but it was really beautiful, and everyone was really nice.
got to visit a lot of friends, and make some good new ones. they had a bunch of neat looking hunting and fishing shops, but I didn't get a chance to make it into any of them during store hours. the friends I was staying with bought me a really great coffe-table book about knives, but I was a little sad to see that there weren't any busse family knives in it. some cool looking russian blades, and when I go back I'm gonna make sure to track some down.
the volga river was frozen with ice thick enough to drive across, so people just took their cars to the city across the river instead of using the bridge. it's really surreal to see. imagine someone freezing the mississippi and then a bunch of cars and busses using it as a giant road. something like that.
loads of good food that was really cheap, and the old buildings were gorgeous. I want to go to st. petersburg next trip if I can, but samara is great. and the new year's celebration is insane. people light off huge amounts of fireworks every night for an entire week, all over the place, for hours at a time. I still haven't dumped my SD card onto my HD, so I don't know if any of my pics really turned out, but when I do I'll put some up.
missed you guys a ton, didn't have net access there, and it was weird being away from the yard, and weird not having my EDC. new pants from jeff came while I was away, and I'll put up some new pics in the next couple of days. now it's back to nyquil and work. hope everyone had a good new year.

Welcome back and Happy New Year!!! Sorry to hear about you being sick, but glad that your trip was great!!!

What Dan said, and Welcome Home ! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

sweet stuff din glad your back, now don't kill the messanger, but you missed a new knife from Dan. sorry.

Welcome back Din. That not good being sick, but it sounds like you made the best of it.

yeah, I know. but it's all good, I'm too broke now for anything. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
besides, I prefer the muttly to the keeper, so I'm covered.

Welcome back!!!

Welcome back Din! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

I'm glad your back, sorry to hear your sick though. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

I can't wait to see the pics.

I"m glad to hear you got the new pants too, I tried to time it so you'd get them as soon as you got back. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

And feel better. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Get some Emergen-C (immune defense formula) to help with your cold, it's great stuff!

welcome back din. can't wait to see the pics.

awww.
sorry you were sick, but I'm glad you enjoyed yourself anyway.
can't wait for the pics, and take some pics when the rainwalker pants get here.
=]

Welcome back! Glad you enjoyed the trip - sorry to hear you were sick, though!

I hope to visit the Western 1/2 of Russia at some point.

Can't wait to see your pics when you get them uploaded!

That sucks about your cold. I think it is very rude for people to go to work sick much less get on a plane where the air is recycled so much. I would be everyone susceptible to that illness on the flight got it.

Congrats on going to Russia ,Din. We drive over the river all the time and in fact a lot of the communities in northern sask are only accessible by road in the winter and most of it is over frozen lakes. I may go for my Class A1(truckers license) just so I can get a job doing that. The pay is excellent and the risk is not as bad as it is psychologically terrifying.

If you get a chance to see the show "Ice road truckers" it has the skinny.