Training Log Archive: Tundra/Desert

Got up really late and had breakfast at 5 pm local. Then ran two loops (37:04 39:45) well after dark. Cleaned out the pressure gauge intake holes before leaving, and changed the transmitter battery (although the battery was probably OK, seems like there is a lot of interference in the building now and all along the Parkovayas). The HRM behaved fine and gave good data.

The weather was super nice; calm air, not much exhaust (now that most people are still on vacation thanks to PVV's generosity), –10 °C, light snow falling. Lots of light, but I did turn on the Petzl on the lowest setting. Lots of people in the woods this close to midnight, and one guy was running half-naked. I immediately thought of Balter.

The Betassos turned out just great for what I had bought them for: running on packed snow. Just enough support, acceptable traction, and the lack of cushioning and the inflexibility don't matter. I feel so much less beaten up after runs now that I have replaced every single pair of shoes around the holidays.

This article shines some light on the interesting elements of national legislation I'm getting now into while trying to set up R&D in this here place. Most of the stuff we need to set up a lab is best acquired in the States, of course, and since there isn't that much to begin with, it makes sense to bring most of it in carry-on or checked luggage; this fully complies with the current Russian border/customs laws which set a generous allowance for tariff exemption for passenger luggage but set the exemption to under $200 for express shipments, per week. To import a lot of stuff one needs a permit, and to get a permit one needs to make friends in places and spread around some wealth, so equipment that's worth tens of k$ is best handled by distributors, who have all the permits; but for things in the 1 k$ range the suitcase is the most appropriate solution. Saves about half, the distributor's mark-up.

So, the difficulties on this trip came not from the Russian customs people, who in the end actually examinted everything I brought, listened to my truthful descriptions of what the stuff is for, and concurred that it was exempt; but from getting the needed U.S. export paperwork. Stuff like FPGA development kits that sell for around $100 for use by undergraduate students all around the country. Turns out that these are export-controlled for national security reasons. A license was not required to export them, but my best understanding after reading the instructions was that I was still supposed to file a statement with Customs and Border Protection and the Bureau of Census (why?). It took me a couple days to figure out how to file the paperwork, which had the following perfectly appropriate option for "Mode of Transportation: Passenger, Hand_Carried (60)". Glad the nation is now more secure.

The clock generator that I bought from SRS, however, was not on the Commerce Control List. It was clearly restricted from importation into Russia as a "radofrequency device intended to function at frequencies above 9 kHz", but so is every FM radio, wireless mouse and, arguably, Ethernet card (cell phones are explicitly allowed). This regulation is there only to jail the unsuspecting Weterners when they whip out their GPS-enabled iPhones, and the tamozhenniki never bother applying it.