Category: USA

Alien Encounter and Parking Woes: A Bizarre Day | December 07 2025, 01:21

Such a “facehugger” jumped out of an egg nearby and attached itself to the windshield of my RAV4, just like that to implant its embryo, but the little car held its ground.

It all started when I went outside with my keys and realized that the car was not in the yard. Damn! I had used it to get to the metro, and Nadia brought me back from the concert in Washington in her Tesla. Well, okay, I’ll call an Uber.

The Uber took me to the metro parking lot, where the local parking attendants had found my car overnight and slapped a yellow card on it. Removing this thing takes five minutes; you just need to pay the fine by scanning the QR code. Luckily, the fine was divine, just 75 dollars accumulated. If I had remembered later, it would have been more.

Exploring Miami: Tips and Must-Visits for a 3-Day Trip | November 25 2025, 20:03

Miami — what to do there? We’re flying out tomorrow for 3 days — Nadya, Lisa, and me. Throw out some suggestions on what’s worth visiting. And if by chance we have mutual friends from Miami, tag them, please, they might recommend something interesting. To be honest, I only have one museum on my “definitely must-visit” list (Perez), and everything else is kind of iffy.

Hidden Costs in Restaurant Menus: The Reality of Operational Charges | November 23 2025, 23:33

The restaurant is very tasty, but I increasingly notice that establishments include a certain percentage on top of the menu prices in the bill. In this menu, the cost of a dish is listed as $30 per plate, plus a note like this. In this case, it’s a 4% operational charge. Then there are taxes on top of that, plus another 20% for tips. As a result, $30 from the menu turns into at least $40.

Navigating Comcast Deals: My Experience with Overpaying for Internet | November 23 2025, 16:02

Yesterday, we stopped by Comcast/XFinity to get Lisa set up in her new apartment. At the end, I asked, “guys, can you check something because it feels like I’ve been paying too much for internet for two years now. $131 a month for gigabit service.” The dude quickly pulled up my profile, said, “let’s reduce it by $25.” I said, “let’s do it.” Done, goodbye.

Service.

Cultural Expectations of Driving for Work: USA vs Russia | November 22 2025, 16:21

Here’s what I’ve noticed. In the USA, there’s an expectation that an employee drives themselves if their job involves traveling. Companies often issue a company car or provide compensation for using a personal vehicle. This is commonly considered a regular part of job responsibilities, and having a driver’s license is often implicitly assumed. For example, Nadia, a volleyball coach, occasionally drives a small bus for us.

As I recall, the tradition in Russia is different: in organizations, especially in government, large corporations, or among managerial staff, it is more logical to expect a designated driver.

Am I mistaken?

Name Games in Politics: The Curious Case of Ommair Butt’s Campaign Sign | October 30 2025, 12:26

I wonder why this Republican running for Congress from our little district didn’t at least use a pseudonym? Or does the context switch on for normal people and they just don’t see that the word butt means buttocks?

Chicago Airport’s Cannabis Amnesty Boxes: A Pre-Flight Solution | October 18 2025, 22:07

At Chicago Airport, there are these boxes for voluntary donations of marijuana to the police. And they are located AFTER the TSA screening line.

“These boxes belong to the Department of Aviation, but are serviced by the Chicago Police,” said police representative Maggie Huynh.

In general, they give passengers flying from Chicago the opportunity to dispose of marijuana before boarding the plane, as transporting it across state borders is illegal. Although marijuana remains illegal at the federal level, authorities claim they do not intend to arrest people found with it at Chicago airports. The TSA stated that if marijuana is found, they will refer the matter to the police. Chicago Police, while not recommending traveling with drugs (nicely said), states that they will not arrest a person if the amount they possess does not exceed the legal limit. They simply direct them to this box to voluntarily surrender what was found (what else to do with it, as carrying it on the plane is illegal by law)

So why use these specific boxes instead of, say, a regular trash bin? Because, as Huynh explained, only police have access to these boxes and can empty them — this helps prevent the marijuana or related products from falling into the “wrong hands.” And evidently, they must incinerate the waste somewhere…