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choripan

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Everything posted by choripan

  1. Yes, a very special friendship with the Pole and the Ukrainian. Only special (making out, light petting) with the Colombian and Bulgarian. 1-3-2-4, although the Bulgarian had just a knockout personality. I would party with her at any time.
  2. I'm back in the States alive. Made it home for Mother's Day with my mom and ex and then crashed. Yesterday was that first day back to work with shit piled up. I want to make a "put a bow on it" post when I have time, though. Work shit and finalizing divorce shit have me busy most of this week tho. Thanks for thinking of me. And interestingly enough, my special friendships over my trip were Ukrainian, Colombian, Polish, and Bulgarian. Only two of which were very special.
  3. I haven't seen anything about rare earths. That's potentially more important to a lot of supply chains than tariffs, since the former can utterly shut down production, while prices can be raised to account for tariffs, though not ideal. Anyone that is following this more closely than me see anything on rare earths? What a stupid own goal.
  4. Okay, you fuggin degenerate...
  5. Lol nevermind, these videos should work now.
  6. You know, that sounds an awful lot like my ex-wife. She was down to pick up the extra custody days as a favor until Kiev got hit hard on 24 April and then she tried to welch. But, to her credit, she stuck to her word and here I am. Here's a few pics/vids of the demolition/prep work we've done to convert an old hospital into an inpatient mental health center for veterans, under a spoiler alert: Finally, it turns out that the attacks of the night of 3-4 May caused some damage in my neighborhood. I'd like to act like I'm a hoss about it all but, honestly, after the air sirens wake me up, it often takes me a while to get back to sleep. Last night, I finally just moved my mattress to the foyer in my Airbnb, which is the only place I have that follows the "two walls rule" (<--context) and put my earbuds in playing white noise and said "fuck it, I ain't seeking shelter no matter what Putin sends." It worked, and I'm doing it for the remainder of my time here.
  7. Update: - This volunteering experience has really been a good one. People are really grateful and the volunteer teams have been about 60-70% locals with the remainder foreigners like me. It is really inspiring to see how the Ukranians are like "Fuck it and fuck you, Putin. We rebuild." Being a little part of that feels really fucking good, given my family history fleeing Ruzzn oppression, my feelings on this war and what i know about it through this thread, and, now, actually meeting the people. - I am so sick of air alerts every night. Can't imagine what it'd be like in the Kharkiv direction for example. Sounds like a tornado siren. Usually they just throw some Shaheds at us, which is no big deal, but a couple nights ago and tonight it was ballistic missiles like Iskander/S300, which can make it through the Patriots. Regardless, those hoes always attack at night which ducks up my sleep schedule because i start work at 8 or 9. Fuck you, Putin. I imagine my 7 and 5 year old living through this and how to explain it to them so the understand the gravity of it and take cover, but it doesn't taint their childhood. - Tinder date was great but was no more than some passionate kissing bc we were in public places all night and she needed to get home before martial law curfew kicked in. My understanding is that Ukrainians are not big on PDA so I'll take a conditional W there. We have plans to meet up again tomorrow night, her kiddo will be with her ex, and we've talked about a sleepover. She was comparable to her pics, too, which is nice. More substantive update to come with observations and whatnot. But fuck Putin and Slava Ukraini!
  8. IMG_2034.MOV Not sure if the above works. It's from my same balcony. Putin's bitchass sent some stuff that set off the air alert sirens at 4:30 and now I've been awake for an hour. Figured I'd throw my pistons on with a few mins left in the game and they blew it. Fuck you, Putin, I could have just woken up and checked the score!
  9. I've trained well on tóxicas, my man. And I've seen the destruction my grandmas (one Ukrainian, one Polish) and mom (Ukrainian) can do. Ask me whether I have both kidneys in a couple weeks, though. Off to bed now, though, y'all. We meet early tomorrow and have a long day of work in Demydiv
  10. Brief update: I have arrived in Kyiv on the overnight train. Tomorrow, I will be going with the group Dobrobat (https://www.dobrobat.in.ua/en/) to do construction for a veteran's home in the village of Demydiv. And over the weekend, with another group called Brave to Rebuild (https://bravetorebuild.in.ua/en), I will be doing demo and prep work on a site that will become a veteran's mental health center. Today I've been ambling around the city getting my bearings, went to a grocery store and stocked up a bit, and, tonight, I am doing an Airbnb experiences food/drink/history walking tour. This is the first time in a few years I have traveled to a non-English or Spanish speaking country, both of which I'm fluent in, or French, which I can muddle through. I have no context for communication beyond the basics like "hi," "please," and "thank you" type stuff and I can only barely read a lot of the Cyrillic-style alphabet on signs. It reminds me of previous travels to China or Japan, where I don't know shit for the language and can't read the signs except for in those not-common instances where there's an English equivalent. I think this kind of travel is really good for personal growth. And for you horndogs, I have my first date tomorrow night with Tatyana. I have focused on matches that have "short-term" as one of their options, and she's one of them. Tomorrow night it's a stroll so she can show me some of Kyiv and a dinner/drinks afterwards.
  11. Currently on the train from Krakow to Przemyśl, where I'll switch to an overnight Ukrainian sleeper train at the border. FWIW y'all, i don't want to spam up this thread if you're not down, so LMK if i should start a thread in food and travel or something. Also, I have a couple days in Krakow on the way back. Heard it gets cold there, too. (BTW- Tinder vacation mode is set to Kyiv, Bumble is set to Krakow. I always do this when I have two stops on a trip. Last time it was Buenos/Lima 😂)
  12. Just finished my layover in AMS. One leg down! And, yes, I'll be volunteering during the daytime, but I've heard that Kyiv nights can get cold and I'll need to keep warm. 😂
  13. They can probably sell enough. I still see a shitload of single cab Rangers holding on. Oddly enough, almost never an S10, though.
  14. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/world/europe/ukraine-kyiv-russia-attack.html?unlocked_article_code=1.CE8.mifw.weWDaYFjHTtY&smid=url-share Assholes.
  15. Physical train tix arrived from Poland. Lined up with a couple groups (Dobrobat and Brave to Rebuild) to help rebuild and clear rubble in the Kyiv area. LFG!
  16. Is your argument here that MB should be criticized for working with regulators rather than putting death traps (sorry, "beta" cars) more widely on public roads, regulations be damned?
  17. @InkaUtexas I've emailed them a CV and some of my history and training as a soldier but, shit, I ETS'd in 2005, so it doesn't mean much IMO. Thank you again for the rec. Worst case, I'll just swing a hammer and move rubble with one of the other orgs. World Central kitchen ain't takin' volunteers, so that's out, too. For those that are interested in doing something similar, keep in mind that travel time really eats away at how much time you can spend there. Unfortunately, I have a hard stop on Friday 9 May because I have to pick my kids up from school that afternoon. Anyway, here's my itinerary. I picked a central Kyiv Airbnb so I can get to any volunteer muster point easily via Metro or bus. And it's cancellable until the day before in case I ended up HQ'ed somewhere out east for the 1st thru the 6th. Only need to book the train from Kyiv to Lviv once Ukrzaliznytsia starts selling them.
  18. Thanks, I'll be in contact with them.
  19. Let's fuckin'go! You talkin' these folks? https://charity.org/success-story/moas-mission-in-ukraine/ Thanks for the suggestion.
  20. This may not be the place for this, but I know that there are a bunch of people here with connections to Ukraine and activities over there. Any help or guidance from here would be appreciated since I think it'd just get washed on the "Can Uou Help Me with This?" board. For background, I've wanted to go volunteer over there for awhile. I had an opportunity to drive refugees when this started, but my (then) wife nixed it because we had a 2 year old and a 3 year old, and I accepted to keep the peace. Now, the kids are older and I'd have coverage to go for about a week and a half between arranging my work schedule, my non-custodial time with my kids, and extra coverage from Grandma (my mom) and my ex. For background, while I am a veteran (Army), I have committed not to do anything combat or combat-adjacent in return for getting the babysitting coverage. I'm thinking my best bet is helping rebuild and clear rubble, but am all ears. Plan would be to fly into Krakow Take the train that goes Krakow --> Przemysl (switch trains) --> Kyiv Volunteer while in and around Kyiv. Here are the best two options I've found so far: https://www.volunteeringukraine.com/en/volunteer-opportunities/dobrobat-rebuilding https://www.volunteeringukraine.com/en/volunteer-opportunities/brave-to-rebuild Reverse train ride, but stop for a day in Lviv because a Ukranian buddy says I *must* visit. I can afford my own transportation, lodging, food, etc. In any case, any guidance or tips anyone has here would be greatly appreciated. I've booked flights from April 29 - May 8 as placeholder dates, but can still change those pretty easliy.
  21. This is incorrect. Waymo operates on freeways in at least California and Arizona. Google it so I don't have to do it for you. Waymo has a far more comprehensive set of sensors and is WAY ahead of Tesla, which is not even #2 in the AV game. The difference is that Waymo generally works with regulators to establish agreed-to geofences and parameters that allow safe(r) deployment and development of the AV solution, rather than putting erratic "beta" machines on public roads and selling them as "full" self driving, with untrained drivers at the wheel. Source: Regulatory lawyer who has spent hundreds of hours on this very issue (not for Waymo, btw. No dog in the fight.).
  22. I absolutely feel this. I bought a Mustang Mach E GT (used) about a year ago because we had a PHEV for road trips, or when I had to work off-site away from my main office, etc. Well, my ex and I got divorced and I don't have that backup available. Now, I *love* the Mach E, but don't have time to do a stop-and-fill each way when I'm working off-site without waking up stupidly early or getting home stupidly late. It makes a long day longer, and it's a few times a month. PHEV solves that. Leader in the pack is the Grand Cherokee for me right now.
  23. Holy fuck. I hate that I'm cracking up.
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