Video Coming Soon, I Have the Cable

I was able to get the cable for the computer!! I am almost positive I previously wrote about accepting the answer of “no” or rather not accepting that answer. If I am wrong then someone point it out to me and I will correct the mistake and tell you all about my feelings on accepting the answer of NO.

I have noticed in my travels a general theme of, if the person does not understand me or the question is outside of their reality the answer comes all too quickly and it seems to be mostly, no. Here are some examples:
I am going to a blues bar; No, it does not exist.
Do you have the—NO—cable I need (We were interrupted before we finished the question)
Can I buy a ticket to Copenhagen; There are no tickets to Copenhagen, it is impossible
Is there internet here; You cannot be on the internet.
We are going out for some fun would you like to join us; No
Do you mind if I sit here; NO (ok this was a good one to hear)

When searching for the cable for the camera I ran into a similar problem. Macktie had agreed to join us for a little excursion into Arbat Street. It was previously a street filled with outside vendors selling their wares for discount prices. It is now a pedestrian street lined with upscale tourist stores. Either way it is a nice place to visit. We had been there last year but did not know the name or the significance of the location. This year was more enjoyable because we knew what we were getting into.

It seems that each time I explained about the cable I needed to buy I was assured it probably cannot be done. For you tech people out there the cable is a 1394 (firewire, ilink, etc) I needed the mini plug version of this cable. This is a fairly common cable and seeing as computer hardware is pretty much standardized internationally I was confident, that if I could find a computer store, then I could find the cable I needed. After taking a slight detour from the metro we arrived at Arbat Street and met up with Macktie.

Macktie was skeptical as to the availability of the cable but true to our friendship he trusted that I might know what I was talking about and went along with me to the stores to ask. You may or may not have guessed at this point, but I am fairly goal oriented. If it is something I am set on doing and I believe it is possible to succeed then I WILL do it. This being said I could have gone in alone and inquired about the cable, but it was so much easier with Macktie there asking for me. The first store was a cell phone store and I did not have high hopes but it was right next to where we were standing so I did not want to pass up the opportunity to look. Of course it was a total bust. The guys behind the counter seemed to at least consider the question before rejecting our request. Even though they had told us no, I still looked around just to make sure.

We hit up a Starbuck’s for some coffee, it was great for me, but not so great for my friends around me. I have not had much caffeine since I have been here, and any small amount is an enormous boost to my already high energy levels. I was literally bouncing in place for the next two hours or so. I recommend everyone try it at least twice.

We slowly meandered our way down the street popping into soap shops and souvenir shops along the way. Macktie knew of a Sony shop down near the end of Arbat street. We made it to the shop and I had a cable with me that was correct on one end but not correct on the other end. As Macktie opened his mouth and started asking the lady behind the county he was interrupted by her saying, in a very pleasant matter of fact manner, no we do not have it. I do not understand much Russian but I was pretty sure he was not even able to complete the description before being rejected. This store looked like the right kind of store to me, there were Sony laptops (actually my laptop was there), Sony DV cams (the newest version of mine was there) and general computer stuff all around. The women was insisting that the cable end I was showing her must be old outdated technology and that I would not be able to find it in any stores with new equipment. I am fairly sure that 1394 and USB cables are the most common and newest means of transferring mass amounts of data quickly. That is of course excluding optical cables which are not as common in DV cams or computers yet. By this ladys statement I was reassured that this was just another case of denying the existence of something to mask ignorance. I stayed in the store for another 5 minutes looking around. I found a section with cables behind the counter and peered at each one as the woman twittered on about how my cable was old technology or something like that. Ignoring her I spotted what I was looking for, about half a meter away from her head. I pointed it out and she told me it was the wrong cable and it would not work. She said it only looked a little similar but it was totally different. She told me that the cable I was pointing to was for newer technology and was not compatible with my camera. Keep in mind this woman has never seen my camera and has no idea what brand or model I own, she has only seen the cable I brought with me as an example. I insisted on purchasing the cable.

We left the store on good terms and headed to McDonalds to warm up and get a cherry ice cream shake. That is a total logical contradiction and I am fully aware of the irony. We spent the evening at Vitya’s house and had some soup and bread and other stuff to eat. Eventually Maria joined us there for the sole purpose of annoying Vitya, very commendable I must say. Mitch is pretty sick now and has been for the last three days. He has a 101-102 fever. He has been to the doctor and is on antibiotics now, while under the very attentive care of Sasha, Vitya’s mom. Last night he asked if I could find some Tylenol PM or NyQuil for him. So Vitya and I went on a scavenger hunt at 9 PM to many different pharmacies. I found out that Tylenol is not available in the 6 different pharmacies we went to. I even asked for it by the generic name of acetaminophen. I was able to find some stuff by coldex that seemed to be the same thing as NyQuil. I was a bit surprised to have such a hard time finding such a common medication. I guess this is a lesson to me to bring a healthy supply with me when I travel just in case something happens to me.

Now back to the cable story. As I write this post I am loading the video from my camera to my laptop without any difficulties. I watched all the raw footage and there are some really funny clips coming along with some great examples of Russian Sign Language. Turns out I did know what I was talking about. Also it turns out that accepting the answer of NO is not always the best course of action.

As my friend Michelle would say “toodles”

Dana