My first of two days off after two fairly hellish days at "the pen". Imagine being surrounded by 1200+ very needy persons of the female persuasion, the median age being around 26-32 and the median weight being around 150-190. Not a pretty picture. Oh yeah, and we all know from biology class that men are "xy" chromosome and women are "xx" chromosome... well let me tell you that there are many, MANY variations between these two "poles". Whew! But, enough of that.

The main images in my USSR gallery are in place (at long last); now to the more civilian items and the more obscure things. I'm putting up several images now, some of which are rarely seen such as the Volunteer Police badge from Georgia SSR (with doc). Have a look. By the way, does anyone but me know there are 3 Americans buried at the Kremlin? Yep, they are: John Reed (journalist and early American Communist), Charles Ruthenberg (a founder and leader of the American Communist Party) and Bill Haywood (well, part of his ashes are at the Kremlin; the rest are in Chicago), who formed the Industrial Workers of the World. Just thought I'd throw that in.

Got a chance to take some initial images for the Bulgarian gallery I hope to start. Most of my Bulgarian medals are "new/old stock"; probably never issued, bought from warehouses after 1991 and sold- this is not the case with the badges. However, everything is the genuine article.

Well, let me get to it...