The slideshow at right are photos from a going away party for one of Brian's colleagues (on his way to a tour in Paris, poor guy), hosted by one of his Armenian colleagues, Lola.

What we're posing with is a walking stick that once belonged to Alexander Pushkin, who is nothing short of worshipped in the Russian-speaking world. Very exciting for this Russian Literature major. Pushkin gave the walking stick to his surgeon, Dr. Nikolai Arendt, before he died. We're told it was passed down as a family heirloom for generation after generation, and came in to Lola's grandfather's possession from a teacher in medical school, who didn't have children so gave it to his favorite student instead.