Listening to Diana Krall in Nizhnevartovsk
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It\\u2019s surprising what connects you to home.\\n\\n
\\u201cWhy don\\u2019t you just go there and see for yourself?\\u201d my boss asked me, back in the Spring of 1998. I was working for an international petroleum well service company at the time.
\\n\\n\\u201cWhat\\u2026go there?\\u201d I asked, first thinking it sounded like an incredible adventure. Then, I was filled almost instantly with an empty, black dread. \\u201cSure, that sounds great,\\u201d I said bravely, \\u201cI\\u2019ll get right on that.\\u201d The IT guy isn\\u2019t offered that kind of trip very often. The branch office in Orange County to pull network cabling or training courses in Seattle, maybe. Lightweight stuff with predictable food, accommodation and television. Western Siberia to help decode the turbid electronic missives of the company\\u2019s staff over there? Nearly never....
\\n\\nListen to the rest by clicking the play button, above. The text version of this essay can be found on Medium where it was published contemporaneously. (image: Nizhnevartovsk, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Western Siberia in December of 2007. credit: Evgeny Fedorov under CC BY 3.0)
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