More tales from the past.
1999. The year I graduated from university. My thesis was on testing programmable logic devices. I worked at a publishing house “Evening Ryazan” — the most popular and politically controversial newspaper in the city. I handled the layout for the newspaper “Absolutely Free” — which contained classified ads. I also had orders for book layout from private clients, which I worked on at home. I used Pagemaker, and printed “films” on a printer at home (more on this later). “At home” meant in the fifth dorm of RGRTU, where I lived with Roman Gorlo and Svyat Kulikov.
After university, I was invited to Moscow. The “Leia” real estate agency was opening a branch here: they decided to publish a newspaper with classified ads. I had worked for the Ryazan newspaper under “Leia” for a couple of years before, they remembered me, and thus, our editor, Islam Yanbekov, and I were assigned to Moscow. Denis Sobolev, with whom I shared an apartment in Maryino, joined us. Islam Kasimovich once had throat surgery, so instead of talking, he whistled through a hole, and only close colleagues could understand him, though with difficulty. But the guy was impressive. Despite being 22 years older, he was interesting to be around. We not only produced the newspaper but also sold advertising in it (seemingly, 50 dollars a piece) and distributed it (negotiated with Soyuzpechat and delivered to some unofficial points of distribution). I remember one time a stack of newspapers tore apart on an escalator in the metro, and we barely gathered them by the time we reached the bottom. Back then, I lived in Maryino and dined in original fashion: buying herring and black bread. Also, we were kicked out by our hosts in Maryino, for being messy.
By the way, in case someone doesn’t know how newspapers are made. I don’t think much has changed. Here’s how I do it: I layout a page, and print a master template. Specifically, we printed it on film, on a regular printer. If the page was A3, we used either an A3 printer or two A4 films (but that was quirky). The editor checked the films, and then they were sent to the press. There, these films were attached to another one, and underneath, a light-sensitive aluminum plate was placed. For each printing color (usually the colors CMYK – cyan, magenta, yellow, and black), a separate plate and a separate master film were required. There are more advanced technologies, where printing from a computer goes directly onto the plate (Direct-to-Plate, DTP). These plates are then dried, and mounted on a drum, or, in the case of color, drums. It spins, gets inked, and the areas on the plate that should show an image get inked, while the areas that shouldn’t don’t (hydrophilic/hydrophobic properties). At the input — huge rolls of paper. At the output – cut printed strips. There’s a separate section that folds them. And it seems, assembling a newspaper from these strips required people.
So, at that time, I bought my first mobile phone, a Philips Aeon. It wasn’t GSM yet, but AMPS. I remember getting a salary of 1200 rubles, and 600 went to communication costs each month. Often, we spent the night in the office at Krasnye Vorota because our accommodation (before Maryino) was a room in a communal apartment in the north of Moscow, where I shared a bed with three constantly drinking ex-convicts (who were calm). Honestly, I don’t remember spending more than one night there.
When we got hungry at night (in the office), we went hunting for food in a store. Money was tight, and at that time I fed on soft cottage cheese – a white “sausage,” bread, and tea, we also bought various “Doshiraks” instant noodles. During one of these “hunts”, Denis and I were stopped by the police on the street at night. They checked our tickets! Because to be in Moscow, one needed either a registration or train tickets. Denis, surprisingly, was all in order and they let him go, but I was found with an “unregistered mobile phone.” Yes, for those who didn’t know, at that time, it was necessary to register a phone after purchasing it, like a walkie-talkie. This was done at the State Communications Supervision Department according to the place of residence, and since mine was not nearby, I ignored it. Eventually, the police waited until I agreed to pay at least 100 rubles, I had to pay, then they let me go.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 