tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71216822011-09-03T09:46:22.661-07:00I stand amidst the roar of a surf-tormented shore. And I hold within my hand grains of the golden sand.Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.comBlogger641100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-22446660013136158122008-10-13T16:15:00.006-07:002008-10-13T18:46:18.110-07:00

I wanted to write a blog entry. To catch up, or something. The trouble is, I don't really know what to say. The muse isn't biting me. So I'll sit here in a dark apartment, listening to the Alan Parsons Project, and try to make sense of the Big Picture. As it stands right now, part of the Big Picture for me is whether or not a brand new bed would be a good investment. There is a mostly

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-30648572041442446682008-10-05T19:00:00.001-07:002008-10-05T20:19:46.232-07:00

The road has had its twists and its turns, but here I am now sitting in Alexandria Virginia. I suppose it's home now, though I'm still trying to convince myself that it's "me". Those who were expecting to hear from me reporting in Azerbaijan, I'm afraid I've proved a disappointment. After a notably protracted and agonizing decision-making process, I opted out of the offer I had in the

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-52002160652169060302008-06-28T20:37:00.002-07:002008-07-04T12:24:43.944-07:00

Well. A lot has gone on. I'm only going to say a few things about my trip to Africa. I don't know why I wasn't in the mood for a travel log while I was gone, but writing all the details seemed a little more tedious, this time. At a later point in my life, perhaps I'll regret not reporting more of the little details. But anyway, a few points come to mind.First of all, Africans are some of the most

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-77378655129266872562008-01-26T02:21:00.001-07:002008-01-26T02:54:07.295-07:00

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695247383,00.htmlhttp://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8083755This was the audit that took the majority of my time while working for the Utah Legislature. My old friends at OLAG asked me to help peer-edit part of this audit. Unfortunately, I had only half a day, and my review was less-than-thorough. Check the whole thing out athttp://www.le.state.ut.us/audit/08_

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-45641329769255174762008-01-25T05:56:00.001-07:002008-01-26T02:35:48.680-07:00

Yeah, when I was back in the US, I heard a lot of complaining about my lack of blog updates. The whining apparently hasn't ceased. I was even told that in order to increase my blog readership, I need to post more personal stuff on my site. A friend blithely informed me that the "blog stalkers" are extremely disappointed in the lack of exhibitionist-hud so typical of young folks' blogs, these

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-3167515007411292292007-11-23T07:10:00.000-07:002007-11-24T00:01:31.755-07:00

So when it rains it pours, I suppose. This makes 3 blog postings, three days in a row. I may have to go radio silent for the next six months just to keep up my reputation. Anyway, I ran across some fascinating articles that depict modern life in Moscow rather accurately.What's Moscow like for foreigners in Russia? This discusses a few things that people generally attribute to life in Russia:

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-20359281881611829322007-11-22T00:51:00.000-07:002007-11-22T12:06:54.612-07:00

One final comment on my lengthy political diatribe: Pointing out inconsistencies is really not hard. It also makes you feel smugly self-satisfied, in your own right. Perhaps I took a self-serving pleasure in penning these responses, as if I'm announcing to the world that I've got it figured out, and the other folks don't. I hope that's not who I am, because then I wouldn't be much different from

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-29400267126840339442007-11-21T11:03:00.000-07:002007-11-24T00:16:32.649-07:00

So I received a forwarded email today that really got me steaming. I realize that I get messages like this because people somehow continue to assume that I'm a kool-aid drinking Republican. Or at least a sympathizer. I realize that to some degree, no one's perspectives are completely objective, including my own. But we're not even trying to be objective when we pass around irrational, vitriolic,

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-11962836373881112542007-11-17T01:13:00.000-07:002007-11-17T01:15:47.149-07:00

So I added some pictures from my trip to Southeast Asia, last summer. Check them out here or in the Pictures link to the right.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-3017588196512716912007-10-13T07:57:00.000-07:002007-12-01T23:19:46.536-07:00

Well, my time in Russia has thus far not disappointed. I've traveled to Yerevan (and back). I've patrolled Red Square. I've reaffirmed my hate-hate relationship with mayonnaise (the Russian national food). I've mangled lots of Russian words, and been corrected innumerable times. Which is actually encouraging, because they only correct you if they figure there's still hope.President Vladimir Putin

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-58521657136459728712007-10-13T07:49:00.000-07:002007-10-13T07:56:32.822-07:00

They can see right through me....

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-24857943956865060892007-08-30T00:27:00.000-07:002007-08-30T00:51:23.563-07:00

I've been in Moscow for nearly 3 days, now. Perhaps the jet lag hasn't hit me yet, or maybe I've acclamated to criss-crossing my way across this good green earth, because I've been downright perky ever since I bounced off the airplane. I was immediately installed in my cozy new apartment. It's a 12th floor cell in the "Mezhdunarodnaya (International) Hotel" - the same building that houses the

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-72467005212489984102007-08-16T09:50:00.000-07:002007-08-16T09:57:56.263-07:00

The Moscow-St. Petersburg Express figures to be one of my most traveled routes when I'm in Russia. Hopefully this is just and isolated incident.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-83274058147824979102007-08-15T08:09:00.000-07:002007-08-15T08:37:53.369-07:00

In my entire life, I've been to only one legitimate rock concert (i.e. it wasn't a promotion and I actually paid the full concert price). It was Collective Soul's "Youth" concert tour back in 2004. Collective Soul for me is one of those bands that will always be inextricably connected with high school. They've got an upbeat, medium-rock, progressive sound that paved my break away from my Dad's

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-35282960395993968892007-07-30T07:48:00.000-07:002007-07-30T08:11:04.848-07:00

It's always a little hard to explain my current work assignment without revealing findings that need to remain at least temporarily confidential. Here's an article from the Deseret News explaining some of the issues that the Legislature is concerned about.As a side note, I've grown increasingly disappointed in the media's willingness (or ability) to accurately report all the facts. As a result,

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-9163173354618546212007-07-18T10:32:00.000-07:002007-07-18T10:36:23.561-07:00

With all the stink about the curious state of Russian foreign and domestic affairs, I found the following article from the BBC to be extremely helpful in putting things in to perspective.It goes without saying that this is a particularly interesting time to be returning to Russia. I find myself wondering how much I will involve myself in local issues. My job will obviously preclude me from

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-10468899955813147232007-07-16T21:59:00.001-07:002007-07-16T22:15:31.267-07:00

Click on the pictures to view them in higher resolution in order to read the text.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-89669876891413889142007-07-14T05:34:00.000-07:002007-07-14T06:11:14.876-07:00

We took a rather arduous boat ride from Batambong to the tourist Mecca of Siem Reap. I really don't have much to say in words about Siem Reap. It's much better in pictures. I'll post them on the internet as soon as I get home. Or ask me to see them. That would work, too. I find the Achievements quite fascinating that ancient civilizations attained to with their seemingly limitless peasant

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-84046861803035207202007-07-10T03:28:00.000-07:002007-07-10T04:09:07.559-07:00

So we spent a couple of days in the capitol city of Phnom Penh. I have nothing to report except that we went to two LDS branches on Sunday, including a local one and the international (English-speaking) one. It was great to go to church, and I was quite impressed with how many members there are out here. The local branch was eerily similar to Russia: an elderly woman nattered on for about half an

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-42010623234374204072007-07-08T01:37:00.000-07:002007-07-08T02:34:30.188-07:00

Hmm. Well, it's been a few days, now. Since our little shopping fling in Hoi An, we've traveled the length of Vietnam all the way down to the little Burg of Ho Chi Minh City, formerly and still commonly known as Saigon. I am submitting this posting from a riverside internet cafe in Phnom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia. More on Cambodia later. First things first.The bus ride to Saigon took about 26

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-80592918955042168002007-07-01T01:09:00.000-07:002007-07-01T02:17:02.607-07:00

It appears that Vietnam's electronic infrastructure lags a wee bit behind its western counterparts. I'm therefore experiencing some difficulty in gaining access to the internet. I've also noticed that although I can edit posts, I haven't been able to actually open and view my site for some time, now. I'm suspecting that the internet censors in Vietnam keep local users from freely accessing the

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-75394856373048351512007-06-27T18:03:00.000-07:002007-11-22T02:09:53.982-07:00

What is up, my ninjas?I'm sitting here in a $6/night hostel in Vietnam's great capitol of Hanoi on a beautiful steamy summer morning. So everyone seems to be asking me about my suddenly overwhelming male pattern-baldness. I figured a shaved head would be a lot more comfortable in SE Asia, and I was right. Tonya says she thinks she sweats much more than I do. It's disgusting. Plus, I get to look

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-81774432122918963532007-06-25T12:06:00.000-07:002007-06-25T12:19:13.499-07:00

After spending 18 hours on an airplane and 10 hours sitting in airports, I've arrived in Bangkok in the Kingdom of Thailand. Fortunately for me, I get to spend the night here on a metal bench in anticipation of an 11am flight to Hanoi, tomorrow morning. So far, this has been fantastic. I don't have any keen insights to reveal, other than the fact I'm no longer a huge fan of airplane food. Tonya

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-57923070304015691702007-06-21T07:46:00.000-07:002007-06-21T10:39:24.998-07:00

Here's a shout out to all my loyal readers who've been forced to satisfy themselves with re-reading year-old blog postings. Okay, I flatter myself. I have no loyal readers. But since I'm the one looking over my own shoulder, it's good to know that at least someone is checking up on me. Yet again, I digress....So I've been living in Utah (what I like to call the SLC... it makes me sound hip) for

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1153381569674008622006-07-20T00:44:00.000-07:002006-07-20T00:46:09.693-07:00

Unfortunately, I've been too busy on weekdays and weekends to make it out to these places yet, but here's a brief article from the NYTimes describing what I'm missing out on.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1152213061036352332006-07-06T11:14:00.000-07:002006-07-06T12:17:47.213-07:00

Yeah, so I blog when I feel like it. There was a time, a couple of years ago, when to go for a whole week without an entry felt like an offense to all that is sacred and holy in my world of social interactions. I'm just completely letting myself go. Perhaps I should join a support group, or something. A group of consistent bloggers.Anyway, since I spend a good 10 hours a days in a beautiful

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1148015981869727532006-05-18T21:35:00.000-07:002006-05-18T23:12:50.160-07:00

Okay, now that I've been in Tbilisi for almost a week, I figure I should put something in here. The trouble is, I don't have that much to add yet. This is a beautiful city, and I hear that other parts of the country are absolutely breathtaking. I haven't yet had a chance to see much of it, though. Work keeps me tied up for about 12 hours a day, lately. I anticipate that once we finish our current

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1123091412505912012005-08-03T10:48:00.000-07:002005-08-03T10:52:13.923-07:00

This news release on Russian control over politically-minded NGOs seems to support some earlier concerns.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1121802238138496942005-07-19T12:41:00.000-07:002005-07-19T12:43:58.143-07:00

Yes, I've been back in the good old US of A for about 2 months now. It's not that there aren't interesting things to write about here (there are), it's just that my creativity goes through dry spells. I make no excuses. I'll see what I can come up with though...

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1115972343464033612005-05-13T01:17:00.000-07:002005-05-13T01:19:03.466-07:00

More on this later...

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1114977945904740882005-05-01T13:05:00.000-07:002005-05-01T13:51:43.886-07:00

Once upon a midnight dreary while I wandered I posed a query,of many a quaint and curious custom along that urban Finnish shore.While I plodded, often slowing, suddenly I saw a glowing,As if someone, numbers flowing, brushed a pattern on yon smokestack's fore." 'Tis some barcode," I muttered, "brushed on yon smokestack's fore;Only this, and nothing more."Ah, quite staunchly I projected, that

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1114977756886745662005-05-01T13:02:00.000-07:002005-05-03T11:43:11.533-07:00

Then the silken weird uncertain rustling as ignorance's curtainThrilled me---filled me with fantastic terrors visions never felt before;So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating," 'Tis some pattern entreating entrance at my mind's eye door,'Tis the Fibonacci sequence!" I shouted, "---not industrial malfeasance!"Glowing red, ancient mathematical lore.Presently my mind grew

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1114549844691679282005-04-26T13:56:00.000-07:002005-04-26T14:10:44.693-07:00

So I have a date for a return to the US of A. It's kind of interesting for me to think about; I've never looked forward to a return home from a trip abroad with such a sense of relief that I feel this year. I suppose there are quite a few reasons for this, but I find it ironic that I feel so tired when I've done so little in the way of activity. I'm forced to admit that my jaunt to Scandanavia

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1113684339879333912005-04-16T13:29:00.001-07:002005-04-16T14:10:54.766-07:00

I usually include only my own commentary in blog postings. Widtsoe is so much more eloquent than me, however, and his discussion of intellectual inquiry has become an essential component of my own (still imperfect) quest for spiritual and secular truth. I ran in to this essay in the book Evidences and Reconcilliations when I was a missionary, and these principles helped me to more effectively

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1113409109971596332005-04-13T06:41:00.000-07:002005-04-14T05:59:43.016-07:00

Anyone who is even superficially acquainted with me knows that I am more than mildly interested in all things Russian. This includes Russian literature, language, history, politics, and economy. I had a great opportunity today to attend a guest speaker who spoke about Russia's place in transatlantic relations. This woman is a professor from St. Petersburg State University, so she was whole orders

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1112954675626935712005-04-08T02:51:00.000-07:002005-04-08T05:26:03.866-07:00

I was so excited to discover that there are online language tools that translate any webpage into almost any major language! So I says to myself: "Self, great day! Now your Russian friends can read your mindless banter!"I therefore promptly translated this here blogsite into Russian. Now I realize that I employ a somewhat unctuous, wordy, and yet folksy method of communication in my writing, but

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1112879514293280252005-04-07T06:09:00.000-07:002005-04-07T06:11:54.293-07:00

Whenever I've been in Azerbaijan, I've played frisbee with some local expats. It turns out that in my absence they've gone and formed a real live team, and competed in a real live tournament. Thing is, the tournament was in Veliky Novgorod, where I spent 9 of my happiest months as a missionary. I hope to become a regular if and when I go back to Baku.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1112867748041623792005-04-07T02:41:00.000-07:002005-04-07T04:15:45.386-07:00

I sincerely apologize for the length of that last entry. As I read through it now, I feel overwhelmed by poor punctuation, grammar, and really weird wordiness. Perhaps I should hire an editor. Volunteers, anyone?I wanted to update a few things. The meeting with the J-dubs was great. They were very considerate, and will return at some indeterminate time in the future. For the Stephen Covey fans

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1112812827638833342005-04-06T07:10:00.000-07:002005-04-07T04:15:20.903-07:00

The Canadian ambassador to Finland made a guest appearance in my class on transatlantic relations today. I was quite disappointed that she didn't wear a flannel shirt or bring a box of apple fritters to share with everyone. But she talked about important things. Not about the cancelled NHL season or the delights of moose-watching, but rather on Canada's essential role as a bridge between the

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1112703483811341702005-04-05T04:56:00.000-07:002005-04-05T05:18:03.813-07:00

So what does that make me?That is a rhetorical question that I'll permit other people to contemplate. I blog sometimes. When I feel like it. Unfortunately, I don't usually post drivel when I have nothing to post. But lately I've posted nothing in general, even when there are interesting things to discuss. Perhaps that makes me a non-blogger. Who can know?But I digress, because I really do need to

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1106489294963845092005-01-23T05:38:00.000-07:002005-01-23T07:08:14.963-07:00

Since I've been in Turku, I've had lots of important stuff to get done, including (among other things) opening a new bank account for the moderate fee of my left arm, purchasing a cell phone (because land-based telephones no longer exist in Scandanavia) for the reasonable price of my other arm, registering for membership in the local Student Union (a federal law in Finland, so that I have an '

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1105796071283082282005-01-15T06:24:00.000-07:002005-01-15T06:34:31.283-07:00

After about a 6-month hiatus, I've decided to continue my online updates. It's not that I had nothing to report, the past little while, but when I'm away from friends and family, circumstances demand that I use the old blogsite as a means to stay generally in touch. I have been in Finland for about a week and a half, now. For a brief background, I received a grant from the US Department of

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1091777055308832912004-08-05T23:46:00.000-07:002004-08-06T00:24:15.306-07:00

Here are two of the promised jokes about good ol' Heydar Aliyev. 1) Heydar is hanging out with his young son, Ilham, and is showing him a scrapbook of his glorious political career. He says 'Son, here's a picture of me with the head of the KGB. Here's another picture with me and the whole Politburo hanging out on the Black Sea. Yeah, Brezhnev and I were real chums, back in the day.' Heydar then

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1091675976705691552004-08-04T05:22:00.000-07:002004-08-04T20:19:36.706-07:00

It’s been so long since I posted a blog that I’ve almost forgotten how to do it. I apologize for this. There are lots of things to talk about every day. After two weeks, I’m pretty swamped. I’m just going to list a few brief things that I’ll maybe get a chance to discuss later. 1. Collecting data has taken some twists and turns. At the time of my last posting, I was leaving for the outer regions

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1090241159927608652004-07-19T05:33:00.000-07:002004-07-19T05:45:59.926-07:00

I'm stuck in the Baku office, waiting to cruise on out to the border town of Imishli. It's great to have the new hobby of writing meandering blog postings during my limited free time. I'd recommend it to anyone. Part of the fun part is coming up with various names for postings, or the website, in general. I could rename this blogsite to 'why I do the funky things I do.' Perhaps I could call it '

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1089894127935642492004-07-15T05:00:00.000-07:002004-07-16T00:10:03.260-07:00

So Azeris, Armenians, and Russians like to tell jokes, which they call 'funny anecdotes.' I head a couple good ones, today, which I'm going to tell for your reading pleasure. Then you can tell all your friends. 1) So a guy is sitting in the marketplace, selling an egg. His buddy walks up to him, steps on the egg, and says "hey, pal, what are you selling?" The disappointed entreprenuer says "

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1089734883398747042004-07-13T07:53:00.000-07:002004-07-13T09:26:03.353-07:00

So I arrived early this morning in the beautiful city of Baku. I hopped a mini-bus from Yerevan to Tbilisi. The ride was a perfect reminder to me of what not to do, if you can possibly avoid it. It's rather amazing to me that little isolated Armenia, surrounded by hostile neighbors, with one open border to a friendly country would not think to completely pave the road that leads to the capital of

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1089394274413667732004-07-09T08:34:00.000-07:002004-07-09T10:31:14.413-07:00

Well, I've spent about two and a half weeks here, now, and feel that I'm ready to go. I was almost resigned to the fact that the Armenia project would turn out to be somewhat of a failure. Far be it from me to have a defeatest attitude, but after almost two weeks' work, we had well under half of our target sample met. Well, we had an emergency damage-control meeting on Wednesday with the local

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1089006927139088102004-07-04T21:57:00.000-07:002004-07-04T22:59:12.933-07:00

Yeah, I know it's been a week since I submitted a post, but I've kind of felt a dearth of inspiration, lately, and I have't wanted to get boring. I mean wordy. I mean... well, I'm sure there are lows that even I wouldn't want to sink to. So anyway, yesterday was Independence Day, and coincidentally, today is Constitution Day in Armenia, so I get a 3-day weekend. I feel almost like a traitor in

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1088492825229236252004-06-28T22:42:00.000-07:002004-06-29T01:16:17.306-07:00

It's Tuesday morning and the rain is falling in Yerevan. This country gets a lot of precipitation for being as treeless as it is. People tell me that there are few trees because most of them were chopped down and used for firewood during the winters of the early 90s when the city had no electricity. I can't imagine what kind of misery that brought. There's so much to write about that it's hard

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1088268706666926622004-06-26T09:32:00.000-07:002004-06-26T09:58:00.050-07:00

Today's post is going to be a short one. I'll have more to say on Monday. I just ran across a FANTASTIC speech given by Elder Russell M. Nelson, an apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, last month in Ukraine about religious freedom. Those of you who know me well might be aware that I spent the last two summers working with the Ukrainian Association of Researchers of Religion

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1088160376293158112004-06-25T03:12:00.000-07:002004-06-25T03:46:16.293-07:00

Well, my dear friends, I made it safely in to Armenia, and have spent the last two days surveying clients, again. I hope that I will be forgiven for only talking about my work, and nothing of the culture or countryside, because frankly, I haven't seen anything of Armenia except for the inside of builidngs, yet. I did travel to a little village, today, to survey some clients, and saw some

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1087980013917484432004-06-23T01:29:00.000-07:002004-06-23T01:40:13.916-07:00

As I write this post, I'm sitting in the Moscow Domoyedovo airport. I've got a little bit of extra time, because the flight to Yerevan from Moscow that we booked turned out to be full. The little travel agent in Dushanbe was only able to reserve our seats, which lasted for 24 hours. I was not informed of this, and the reservations were made last Thursday. Hopefully I won't be in Moscow for very

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1087826298608342042004-06-21T05:56:00.000-07:002004-06-21T06:58:18.610-07:00

I spent my second weekend hanging out with the Office Manager from the FINCA staff. His name is Mumin, a pretty cool guy who just finished his degree in computer science at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He says that he feels really out of place, here, because he's become Americanized, so he wants to hang out with an American. That's cool for me, but he found out that I'm not quite like

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1087479548115918552004-06-17T05:48:00.000-07:002004-06-17T06:39:08.116-07:00

One of the reasons I really enjoy the kind of internship that I'm doing is because I get to interact with and try to understand cultures that are very foreign to me. It almost seems, at times, that the more foreign a culture is, the more curious I am about it. People who have grown up in different parts of the world just seem to do things that make absolutely no sense to me. A wise man once said

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1087447016031976402004-06-16T21:19:00.000-07:002004-06-17T05:46:43.980-07:00

One of today's thoughts is going to be an excerpt from The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. I've taken to spending my free time reading, lately, because the city of Dushanbe is very small, and I've pretty much seen the whole thing. Aside from processing my data set, I have nothing much else to do at night but to snuggle down with a good book. So here's a little snippet about a wonderful place. (If you

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1087230575760693332004-06-14T09:06:00.000-07:002004-06-14T09:29:35.760-07:00

Assessing clients started, today. It's interesting how my brain only seems to remember the really enjoyable things that I've done, and I somehow always manage to filter out the not-so-fun stuff. I remember how much I learned, last summer, when I worked for FINCA, and how much I wanted to develop our data set and improve the tool. I conveniently forgot, however, how exceedingly obnoxious it can be

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1086955930447100642004-06-11T04:57:00.000-07:002004-06-11T05:12:10.446-07:00

Well, the title of this post is in honor of my younger sister Anna's recent mission call. I apologize to those out there who are not members of my religion, but this one is just too good to pass up. It occurs to me that if our Heavenly Father cares about the welfare and beauty of the flowers growing throughout the world, then He definitely worries about a wonderful young aspiring sister

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1086866451810706852004-06-10T04:03:00.000-07:002004-06-10T04:20:51.810-07:00

I hopped off a plane at 4:30, this morning, but my brain had absolutely no idea what time it really was. I feel like the last few days have been quite a blur. I came to Dushanbe via Paris, London, Munich, and Istanbul. The layover was quite nice, in London. I was able to spend a day with my old friend, Jeanette Lyman, who's now a student at Oxford. She showed me around that ancient little town,

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1086366645973600792004-06-04T08:28:00.000-07:002004-06-04T09:30:45.973-07:00

I'm in Washington DC, now, and things are looking up. I've got four out of six visas squared away, and I've been pleasantly surprised with the accommodations afforded me by the officials, there. I spent no more than 5 minutes at the Armenian embassy. I regret my sarcastic remarks from my previous posting. I leave for Tajikistan, on Monday, now. I'll have about a day layover in Heathrow, London.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1085769750072071162004-05-28T11:26:00.000-07:002004-05-28T16:28:10.550-07:00

So it's taken me about five years of travel through approximately 20 different countries to realize a multinational truth: Short of actually hijacking your airplane, bureaucrats at foreign embassies will do everything they possible can to prevent your travel to their country. My suspicions began two summers ago, when I was applying for a visa at the Russian embassy in Ukraine. The official at

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1085672548234631102004-05-27T08:06:00.000-07:002004-05-27T09:25:58.633-07:00

In order to understand what I'm doing, this summer, let me explain my adventures, a year ago. I had a wonderful opportunity to spend last June and July in Kyrgyzstan and Azerbaijan, respectively, working for the Foundation for International Community Asistance (FINCA). This NGO provides micro-loans to people in poorer countries. To see FINCA's website, go to www.villagebaking.org. Anyway, my job

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1085608755197464472004-05-26T14:56:00.000-07:002004-05-26T14:59:15.196-07:00

Well, my friends, I found this neat way to create an easy personal website. It's kind of tacky, right now, but I'll definitely try to improve it, over time. For now, I'll just use it to update people about what I'm doing. It will kind of serve as a public journal. It's better than sending out mass emails, because nobody really likes to get spam, anyway. So you can visit it whenever (or never) if

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7121682.post-1085608417981936412004-05-26T14:53:00.000-07:002004-05-26T14:53:37.980-07:00

Me near the old wall in Baku.

Jeremy Littlehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10556218307754982379noreply@blogger.com1