20-X-2003.

From mom and dad:

Since Carp wasn't coming, we don't have serbian keyboard. I often poke where te leter used to be and have to fix it. Seems I'l get used to latin again once we get it tan now to tis english. But tat later.

We mis te solitaires most. He promised to instal one tat he has. Last time one was gone you sent us tese two whic we had until recently, whic worked once Nina unpacked tem so we could use tem. Could you send one wit instructions so Carp can put tem in place when he comes, or could we do it by your instruction. When mom had breating problems lying down (tis sumer), she would sit al nigt wraped in a blanket and play solitaire on te computer.

I went to vineyard yesterday to see my quinces. As te weater is geting cold, te fermentation is slower I hope tat in 3 to 4 days I'l be able to do tis last batc and put a period on tis year.

We have problems wit telepone. Every now and ten it's of for 11 or 12 hours, like last nigt, when we were of from evening to 11 today. We can only report it to te post ofice and curse tat sily Mihalj Kertes, ex customs director, who diverted te new switcboard, asigned to replace our old one at Lesnina, as a gift to his SPSers in Sečanj plus nine milion dinars, when one mark was 6 dinars. Tere you go. He took it to his ilk, and you of „Zmaj“ local comunity and of Čurda, blow into your fists. At curent PT it's never our turn. Sumica and Bagljas already have new centrals, no dopelgangers anymore, and we're stil waiting for a decent switcboard.

I see te Milwaukee meeting was fruitful and you already use new knowledge.

You said Berix was almost witout work and now tere's even Syracuse on te horizon again. Is tat te same firm she clausuled you for back ten? May she not pas like tat time.

To Škrba, in a message titled "long tajm nou hiar":

- few weeks before the last writeup the Izabela hurricane blew through here. Nothing much, compared to what's on TV, but we still sat 11 days without power. Had water, just cold. The Virginia Power's morons keep planting poles everywhere, and nobody prunes the trees, so if any falls, it fell. I think they have more engineers for forestry than electricity. Our poles were pitched in the water, near the bank, and a tree fell on the cable and toppled the pole. The trees have a very shallow root here, whether it's because of the soil, no food deeper down, or it's too wet down there and it would rot... dad's [dick] would know, I know I saw lots of toppled trees, and listened to chainsaws for two weeks.

- I went to Milwaukee to whilfest, had a good time, learned a lot (not dot nyet though, but rather linux, and how to run fox under it).

- This weekend I erased the third partition (i.e. half the disk) and installed redhat 9 there

- Under windowses again, for two reasons

- haven't installed wine yet

- still can't convince it to recognize ntfs partitions on its own disk. Samba kind of sees them, but no thing can open what Samba sees. Once I managed to hook up some folders on the laptop even write into them, but now it again won't. Still looks easier than assembling a network under W98 :).

- Before the flight I got to a little bookstore (the guy, imagine, writes the bills by hand, even while having a computer, so cute), took a Checquered Dick (John le Carré) to read on the way, she found two books - chinese and mexican cookbooks. Few days ago I burst of... no clue whatsitsname, but steak, rice, and on top some sauce with tomatoes, corn starch, five spice mix (aniseed among), some peppers and ananas*. Phenomenal. All the more it seems that our cuisine is limited - for we have so many taboos, like this won't go with that, that with this and vice versa. Before that she made taco (with ready made tortillas, who'd bother) and into the filling there goes ground meat, this and that and raisins.

Nina passed a story from her Danilo: a Pizza hut opened in Belgrade, he went to see how is it, and while he sat there one guest died. Just like that. I hear it's not the only case - Sloba's years are gone, the interest is due, and a guy dies so on the street.

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* that's the proper name of the fruit, called so in any other language I know but english, where it's pineapple, though it's completely unrelated to both pines and apples


Mentions: Cecilia Roxbury (Berix), Čurda, Danilo, fox, Gradivoj Škrbić (Škrba), Lesnina, Nevena Sredljević (Nina), Tasa Radenkov (Carp), whilfest, Zmaj, in serbian