Incidentally, the dollar hit 44 santimi. And I have a personal reason to be happy for that. No, Roberts, it’s not because I want to see America go down....

Thanks everyone.

Ilze,

From the little I do know about diving in the Baltics it seems to be mostly diving wrecks. The water is too cold to support coral and the marine life which come with the reefs. On the other hand the cold water is great for preserving the wrecks. They also do a lot of diving in lakes and rivers, but that type of diving is mostly done just for the sake of being underwater and gets boring real fast. I think primarily diveshops in the Baltics act as training centers and tour providers. With the Red Sea (which in my opinion has some of the best dive locations in the world) just a few hours away by plane its almost as convenient to go to Dahab as it would be to set up a charter to dive off the coast of Liepaja.

A.B. and Jem,

Thanks. I knew about daivings.lv and bigfish, but the nirejs.lv is new to me. I’ll check out the diveshop on Tallinas when in Riga. Was hoping someone had had some personal experience.

As to the internet, I wish I could get away with an hour here and there. I would need a minimum of 8 hours per day (more like 12 the way my life has been going lately) so I need a dedicated connection for home. Worried a little now that Jem squashed my fallback DSL idea. If I wait a month I might not have a job to come back to. And of course if would have to be reliably stable and fast. There would be alot of data flowing back and forth through that connection. Any other alternatives? How common are wireless providers in Riga and what type of cost would I be looking at (with the dollar plunging faster than dropped weight belt)?

Andrejs

3G http://www.triatel.lv/lv/news/view/43

Check out the regions that are served by Baltcom and Izzy cable. I had Baltcom cable installed in under a week. Also, every stairwell in Riga is covered with ads from various small providers. I don’t know much about them, but they are ubiquitous.

And, I have rarely had a problem finding an unsecured wireless system in Vecrīga. 

Tom

Thank-you for the shout-out, Aleksej.  It is comforting to learn that your glee at a weak dollar is not motivated by disdain for the United States.

Andrej, you need more than an hour here or there of internet access per day during your visit?  A minimum of 8-12 hours?  A need for huge amounts of data transfer?  That must be some serious internet porn addiction!  One might, however, infer from your comments that your visit to Latvija is more than tourism—that you will be conducting BUSINESS while a guest in my country.  I do hope you plan on being a responsible and law-abiding visitor.  I have heard that obtaining work permits and work visas can be pretty tricky.  Best plan on getting those well in advance, these are not details you should leave until the last minute.  If you are going to be using the internets for business purposes, I do have a contact, a former student of mine, who works in the telecommunications industry in Latvia.  He is involved in business development and may be able to help set up a professional internet account in your place of business in Riga.  Let me know, I’ll put you in touch with him.  Anything I can do to help.

always the best,
/R

Wireless service providers are ubiquitous here. I use Baltcom, but it’s with wire. You can choose a plan that meets your needs.

here are the prices. Alternatively, you could drop your money into the state monopoly, Lattelecom ;)

Thanks Tom and Aleks. Will look into this. I am probably looking at a minimum of 1mb (more like 5mb, maybe even 10mb depending on price). Are these providers you guys have some experience with? My primary concern is reliability. I’ll be using VPN and I can’t afford for the connection to go down every fifteen minutes or to have service outages lasting days. My bosses might be flexible, but they ain’t that flexible.

Dear Roberts,

As always I thank you for your concern and dilligence. I for one will rest easier knowing that you are ever vigilant in protecting both Latvia’s and my interests. Since I will be working from Latvia as oppossed to in Latvia I doubt I am in danger of violating any laws, but I do, as always, appreciate the concern. I will not need any work permits nor work visas. I don’t really need a professional account, but I do need a connection which is professionally administered and maintained and is reliable. If you can help in that regard I’d much appreciate it.
Thanks also for your concern about my personal needs. I don’t really need that much bandwidth for those. As long as the connection can handle websites as the below I’ll be just fine.

http://comcastmustdie.com/

Andrejs

Shalom Andrej,

What can I say, I look out for the country I love and the people I like.  Your interpretation of the situation is most interesting—you will be “working from Latvia as oppossed to in Latvia.” It is a novel way of looking at it.  Thanks to you, those Mexican nationals working in the kitchens of the Windy City might be able to avoid deportation by claiming that they are working “working from America as opposed to in America.”

Say, if Mexicans nationals who come to work in America are called “wetbacks,” Andrej, does this mean you could be considered a “Lett-back?” Just wondering.

I’ll give my associate Uģis a call, see what kind of deal might be available for a ummm.... residence with a “home” office.

/R

p.s. One is truly concerned about your psyche of late, Andrej.  Your affinity for the songs of hate-mongers such as Randy Newman is well-known.  Your new-found fondness for websites that preach hate and violence and wish death upon thousands and thousands of individuals is pretty disturbing.  One wonders where you hear these tales told out of school.  Next thing you know you’ll be visiting sites like “Toastmastersmustdie.com”

p.p.s. What do you have planned for July 21-25th?  I might take some time out of my extremely busy schedule and buy you a beer.

Hi, Roberts

Nothing really novel about it. Its called telecommuting. The difference between me and those Mexican nationals is that I violate no laws. I will not be working for a Latvian company. I will not be employing Latvian nationals.I will not in any way be working on anything which can be considered even remotely connected with a Latvian company. I will not be staying longer than three months. I guess being a Lettback would be quite a step forward for a foreigner such as I.
If your associate Ugis is in no way connected with Comcast (I do need a professionally administred and reliable provider) then please do put a good word in for me. I couldn’t find the toastmasters website, but reading through the Comcast site was an eyeopenner. And I didn’t realize people would feel that strongly one way or the other about slightly singed bread. Why does toast need masters anyway? It isn’t that hard to make.
No plan yet for those dates. A beer is always a good idea.

Andrejs

P.S.

Sigmund Freud’s Impersonation Of Albert Einstein In America by Randy Newman

The world of science is my game
And Albert Einstein is my name
I was born in Germany
And I’m happy to be
Here in the land of the brave and the free
Yes, I’m happy to be
Here in the land of the brave and the free

In the year of nineteen five
Merely trying to survive
Took my knapsack in my hand
Caught a train for Switzerland

America, America
God shed his grace on Thee
You have whipped the Filipino
Now you rule the Western Sea

Americans dream of gypsies, I have found
Gypsy knives and gypsy thighs
That pound and pound and pound and pound
And African appendages that almost reach the ground
And little boys playing baseball in the rain

America, America
Step out into the light
You’re the best dream man has ever dreamed
And may all your Christmases be white

Hello, Andrejs

Telecommuting, is it?  Well, certainly sounds like you will need a business account, and not residential service.  My associate will be able to quote prices for you on that.  It wouldn’t be ethical to get you set up for residential service if you will be using the connection to the internets to mostly conduct business, after all.  As for the other legalities—as long as you have convinced yourself that everything is kosher, who am I to burst your bubble?

Why does toast need masters?  You got me.  I figure its just a way for the uptight and diffident to delude themselves into believing they have some redeeming social qualities.  Gotta conclude, though, that they are a parcel of knaves, based on those I have met.

But on to more pleasant subjects—send me your koordināti in Rīga, where you can be reached in July.  We’ll fine tune things.  I’ll show you some fine places in town, it’ll help make your brief visit to my country a memorable one.

visu labu, as always

/R

p.s. some McCartney-Lennon you might enjoy:

Jojo was a man who thought he was a loner
But he knew it wouldn’t last.
Jojo left his home in Tucson, Arizona
For some California grass.

Get back Jo.

Thanks Roberts. Your kindness knows no bounds. And while we are there I’ll show you the hospital I was born in, the grammar school I attended and the house I grew up in. Hope you’ll have the time.

Andrejs

P.S.
Suddenly, i’m not half the man i used to be,
There’s a shadow hanging over me.
Oh, yesterday came suddenly.