10/31/04-Happy Halloween, have a nice fall...

First, let me start by wishing everyone a Happy Halloween. I have now spent an entire month in Kazakhstan -- quite an ominous anniversary.

At Alcoa, as many of you know, we are insane about safety. We go to training four times a year. We talk about it at meetings. We even have a drawing in the Pittsburgh office every month of all the people who have reported a “near miss”, something that could have been an accident, but caught before it happened. Well, let me tell you. If I was counted in the drawing now, the odds are I would never lose. Kazakhstan is just one big tripping hazard. Every doorway has a threshold that is at least 3 inches high. On every stairway, indoor and outdoor, none of the steps are the same height. All the restaurants seem to have that one drop-off step placed for no other reason than to wrench someone’s back. And the sidewalks – oh, my God. Gma has been trying to get a picture of the sidewalks. It is almost impossible to push a stroller. They have more potholes than Pennsylvania roads. About 10% of the crosswalks have a ramp on and off the street. (I think I’ve mentioned the ramps they do have. Most are at a 45 degree angle.) When Gma was in Almaty she asked Almaz if anything was handicapped accessible. His response was, “What is handicapped accessible?” After Gma explained it, he responded, “Oh, they just stay inside.” Lucky for them, they have no concept of lawsuits here or Edgar Snyder would be setting up an office in Karaganda. How do you say, “You pay nothing until we collect for you” in Russian?

Today was a pretty joyous day. The kids were good. Jack was himself, though what appeared to be a minor tummy ache hit him at the end of the day. Grace was in a real chipper mood. She had one melt down in the afternoon. I thought she looked tired and put her to bed. She lost it and stayed that way for a few minutes. We soon realized it was not a sleepy meltdown, but a hunger meltdown. We fed her and she was fine. She really does try to tell you when something is wrong.

The big event today was that Grace went to Gma all on her own. She crawled over to her when she was reading to Jack and wanted to participate. Below is a nice picture of it. Right after that, Jack got down and came to me. It lasted about ten minutes, but it was first time Jack was with me and Grace with Gma since she got here.


Check out the video of the kids “playing “ together.