Update: 20080607 Letter from Jim Guthrie received via Dennis Knudtson

About one week ago Rachid Usmanov was taking the train from Usinsk to Pechora and he died of a heart attack in Pechora.  Very sudden and quick. KAO colleagues will all remember what a great and patient and helpful IT professional he was, he got us through some tough times in those early days. He worked for me at KAO and SeverTEK both and I admired him both as a good kind person and a dedicated and very talented employee.

Yesterday Andrei Zhitlukin died from complications in surgery, I believe he had cancer of the liver.  Not all KAO employees would know him as he was a lawyer hired after most of the Canadians were gone.  He worked for me in SeverTEK and he attended both the Canadian and Russia reunions in 2005 and 2007 and as everyone remembers, he was the life of the party.  He played the guitar, sang all the great Russian songs, and dressed like he was born in High River, Alberta.  As you know, I called him Andy Lukin due to this penchant he had for dressing like a cowboy.

I will miss both of these men, they were good friends and great colleagues.

Regards, Jim

«Всем привет!

23 февраля открылся Центр Досуга (за бассейном построили). Финансировали проект несколько человек, включая Антипина и Зусмана. Там у них есть гостиница “Пилигрим” (взяли Лену Ткаченко директором), Стоимость очень доступная, завтрак включен, белье хорошее, в номере душ, туалет, ТВ, телефон, термос, чай, кофе (в холле - диспенсеры с горячей и холодной водой)- 2700 руб. 1-местный стандартный номер; в двухместном - 1800 на человека.

Есть кафе (большой и малый зал), бильярдная, тир, солярий, тренажерный, сауна, аэробика, бильярд, настольный теннис, массаж, маникюр, педикюр. Мы были с Сашей на открытии (также были Титаренко, Люда Иванова). Нам понравилось.

Ольга Изъюрова»

По фотографиям видно, что гостиница эта НАМНОГО лучше легендарной гостиницы «Нефтянник», в которой многие из нас выпили немало водки и сломали мебели. :)

Фотографии внутри поста.

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От себя, и всех, кому уже сообщил эту новость, хочу поздравить их с долгожданным пополнением!

Вы можете поздравить Ирину и Стива, написав коментарий к этой публикации. Фото малышки внутри поста.

I would like to use this opportunity to inform all friends and acquaintances that Steve and Irina Purdy had their first baby girl Maia Diana Purdy born February 12, 2008. I would like congratulate Irina and Steve with this long awaited beautiful addition to their family!

You can congratulate Steve and Irina yourself by leaving your comments to this post. The photo of the baby is inside of this post.

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Survived by his loving wife Fran of Big Valley; sons, Lionel (Lori) Stuber of Red Deer and Roy Stuber of Sicamous, B.C.; daughters, Colleen (Kevin) Grouette of Calgary and Mary (Mark) Doerksen of Winnipeg; grandchildren, Rebecca Stuber, Katherine Stuber, Alisha Grouette, Aimee Grouette, Micah Doerksen, Aby Doerksen and Richard Caruana; brothers, Fred (Joan) Stuber of Medicine Hat and John (Peggy) Stuber of Medicine Hat; many loving nieces, nephews and good friends.

Funeral Services will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, February 5, 2008, in the Heartland Chapel of STETTLER FUNERAL HOME, 4707 - 70 Street, Stettler, AB. Donations to Lutheran World Relief, Canadian Northern Society or Alberta Heart & Stroke Foundation, c/o Stettler Funeral Home, Box 1780, Stettler, AB, T0C 2L0.

Sympathies may be forwarded to the family by signing the guestbook at http://www.stettlerfuneralhome.com/ . STETTLER FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORIUM. Telephone: 1-877-844-3422.

Published in the Calgary Herald on 2/2/2008.

JULIA GOUSSEVA
Published in Tucson Citizen  

Most of my American friends assume I can play chess and ice-skate. After all, haven’t Russian figure skaters won lots of medals? Wasn’t Garry Kasparov the world’s youngest chess champion?

Yes, they have. Yes, he was. Me - that’s another matter.

Growing up in Russia, I always loved watching ice-skating competitions on TV, but my own attempts to ice-skate inevitably resulted in me sliding on the ice on the body part to which no skates could be attached.

The only two-loop maneuver I could perform involved tying my scarf.

By fourth grade, I gave up on trying to learn to ice-skate.

I moved to Tucson in 1993 as an adult, and I felt protected - by my age, Arizona’s heat and the apparent lack of ice - from the humiliation of skating.

When my son Alex reached kindergarten age, I found that one of the main social activities in Tucson elementary schools is roller-skating.

What’s a mother to do? I registered us both for group roller-skating lessons.

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Main event for us is that we have a baby in the family - Andrew Stuart Breese! Wonderful little guy. Olesya became a mom and I became a grandma. Now even more than before I’d like to be closer to them and spend less time working to witness the unique moments of watching him grow and change. Alas both are still dreams to come true.

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Dear friends,

One more year has almost past, and it’s unbelievable! One more good and happy year will remain in our mind as a part of our life.

Whenever people live – Canada or Russia - but their favourite holiday is Christmas or Happy New Year! We all love this magic winter holiday from the time when we were little kids and waited for Santa Claus’ or Father Frost’ gifts, and we still wait for a miracle and gifts!

We did have a wonderful 2007 year and one more of our dream came true – we spent a great time together with our Canadian friends оn a boat Cruise from St. Petersburg to Moscow in July 2007.

We wish you and your families all the best! We wish everybody to have a wonderful dream and may all your dreams come true in 2008!
MERRY CHRISTMAS and a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Olga & Alexander Izyurov