I need to really avoid watching the Armenian news as it�s not any help to my nerves by listening to the garbage they are televising over the airwaves.

They were �reporting� to how uneducated Demerchian is and how he is being tutored as to who and what is found in the outside world. The kids in the room looked to me with a smile on their faces and repeated to me what the announcer was saying and then began to comment on how stupid someone like that could be.

It�s clear that Armenian television is Kocharian�s propaganda machine and not a station to report the news or reality. All I can say is that Kocharian is really playing with fire and come March 6th, that fire is unfortunately going to be out of control and the only person that will to blame and have to answer for it is Kocharian and his administration.

And here is a gem to share with you as to show who Kocharian is and how backwards his way of thinking is. All I can say is that this is an article of a man that really has to go if he really believe what he has said and if he does not believe what he said and said it just to cover up a bad situation that he has created, then he should be hung, because a leader who lies to his people for his own survival should not be tolerated and I get the feeling with what we have seen with the protest, wont.

Elections destabilized Armenia, president says

Mediamax news agency
26 Feb 03

Yerevan, 26 February: The opposition candidates have waged a "joint
anti-propaganda campaign against the incumbent president, and some of
them have overstepped all ethical norms" during the election campaign,
Armenian President Robert Kocharyan said today in Yerevan.

The fact that "our society today has a lower potential for stability
than was the case before the elections" is the result of this campaign,
as well as of the opposition's actions following the first round of
the elections, Kocharyan said.

After the second round Armenia will have to spend its resources for
several months in order redress the situation.

I just finished reading a great article titled �In Futile Pursuit of Armenia's Election Vermin� which appeared in the Moscow Times on February 26th, 2003 and was written by Kim Iskyan, a OSCE observer.

The article sums up all the reports I�ve been getting before and after the first round of the election from my friends that are in Yerevan on the ground, keeping an eye on what is going on.

From everything I have heard and understood, March 6th, irregardless of who is �elected�, is going to be a very sad day in our history.

As Christians, I suggest that we all pray that everyone comes to their senses and does the right thing. Unfortunately, as Christians, God will once again make us suffer so we better understand something that we are just not getting, and though in the end I know things will be just fine, these learning moments for most are very difficult.

BTW, if anyone is offended by any comments in the article in reference to the Diaspora, I'm sorry to tell you that you wont find any apologies from me, as I agree 100% with what is written. As the saying goes, sometimes the truth hurts and if it hurt, then just maybe you need to do something so it wont hurt so much next time.

Please forgive me, but I had to share this with you.

The puppies had their first bath today.

They were so messy and so stinky after being together in the same pen, where one got the other very dirty.

Though they say that it�s not a good idea to bathe puppies unitl they are a few months old, I didn�t see any other option (it was that bad).

I got the house nice and hot, took my morning shower and then brought in the puppies.

They were so well behaved, never complained and seemed to love the hot water and puppy shampoo (which was Shakar Avazian�s).

You should have seen the mud on the bathroom floor when we finished.

I then got them dry, bundled up in towels and soon after, they fell asleep.

This whole experience brought back memories of my daily showering ritual with the baby that I took care of, before my cousin came to Artsakh and adopted her a couple of years ago.

Is this good news, or a warning of what Armenia could be facing in the near future over the US wanting to settle to Artsakh conflict?

INTIMIDATION FROM BUSH

Turkish Press: Cumhurriyet (left)
Tuesday February 25, 2003

According to the information that the newspaper got, U.S. President
George W. Bush told Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis and State Minister
Ali Babacan during their meeting in Washington, "gentlemen, there is
nothing for you to do in the United States. Return to your country
and pass this motion from your parliament. Any ally has not caused us
a lot of tiring effort like you." According to information, Bush gave
these messages: "1-We understand Turkey's concerns. And we take this
into consideration while we are taking actions. If we don't receive
the support we expect from Turkey, we totally act together with
groups in Northern Iraq. 2-If we don't cooperate, the IMF, World Bank
and World Trade Organization give you the cold-shoulder. And after
such a stage, it won't be beneficial for you to come to us or try to
correct the situation. 3-You are aware of the place of Armenian bills
in the U.S. states. However, submission of one of them to the House
of Representatives may be in question. Lobbies are waiting eagerly
for this."

(from http://www.turkishpress.com/turkishpress/news.asp?ID=9238)

Lena, don�t feel bad or alone for being rejected by the OSCE. I was not rejected, but their conditions for being excepted seemed too unreasonable for me.

First of all, I was told that I had to have someone at the American embassy who could vouch for who I am. This in itself was the only problem I had to get in, as it would mean that I would have to go to Yerevan and register at the embassy this week, which means I would have been stuck in Yerevan for a couple of weeks and I don�t have that much time to spare.

So Lena if you or anyone else wants to join me, I�m starting the OSEC, which we will take anyone who wants to be an observer, even the natives to make sure we get good coverage (kind of like the 2002 Diaspora conference where every ministers relative and neighbors were given a suit, tie and name badge and told to wonder around the conference hall to make it look like there were lots of people from the Diaspora in attendance).

I figured that with all the electronic products like JEC (instead of JVC) or Panaphone (instead of Panasonic), the name OSEC would be easily mistaken for OSCE. I�ve also learned that if you walk into anyplace in Armenia and act like you belong there, no one will question your credentials and I�m sure everyone will think that we are with the OSCE.

So I have a plan to run off on my color bubble-jet official OSEC identification badges and since no one will be expecting OSCE observers in the regions, we are going to cover those areas that Kocharian got the most votes.

I was also thinking that we would not just be observers, but in a way police the polling stations and really rattle the cages of those stuffing ballot-boxes by camping out at the same polling station (maybe even bring an old couch, beer and some munchies to help pass the time), this way we are sure that people are not being intimidated and police are keeping their 50 meter distance from the entrance.

A notepad will be issued to each of our observers to jot down notes and they stare and shake their heads in disapproval at everything they see. This in itself should keep everyone on their best behavior.

I think it will also be helpful if everyone takes on American names like Bill Brown and Heather Smith, which are written in English so few will be able to read them. It�s much more intimidating this way and will be just like what went on at the 1999 Diaspora conference when Kocharian�s government stationed guys in dark glasses at the door with such name tags, who were turning the natives away from entering the conference, even though everyone was suppose to be allowed in.

We will only have to worry if someone asks us what we are doing (kind of like how I asked those guy back in 1999) at which time one of us will distract that person with small talk, while the rest of us vanish (which is what happened back then to me). See, I�m learning how things are done around here.

I�m thinking that Kapan and Goris would be the best place for us to patrol, as I heard that Kocharian had a very high percentage of votes there.

So Lena, I mean Heather Smith, if you want to join the OSEC, your application has been pre-approved and you can now make your dream come true and be part of this history making moment.

In light of everything that is going on, I thought that you would like a little diversion from the political arena and share with you part of my future. No I�m not getting married yet, but the next best thing. WE HAVE PUPPIES!!!!


I was thinking that it would be a bad idea to write about this, since it seems this log brings bad luck to me and any small four legged creature that enters my life.

The puppies are purebred German Shepard�s. Their father is serving in the Artsakh army special forces at the Askeran base and their mother I think is serving in what is the equivalent of the USO, where she met their father while he was taking a break from his duty.

They are really cute. Both are female and I�ve hired someone to raise and train them to be real guard/attack dogs. On top of that, they are both female, which means that next month I�ll be adding their future husband to our family, so they can one day multiply and their children will then be shipped of to one of my factories.

Though I should save this news for a later log (so I will have something good to write about later), on March 8th, we will have the grand opening of Tikin Sylva�s Beauty Salon, located smack dab in the center of Martuni.

It will be the first European standard beauty salon to be opened in Martuni ever. It�s a gift for Mama (Sylva) Manoogian for woman�s day, which is observed here on March 8th.

All the women here are looking forward to this place where they will be able to have their hair, nails and make-up done, not to mention to have that unwanted mustache and other body hair removed once and for all.

Once we see how things go and if all is working as we think it will, we will start to build our new building which will feature a full service sauna and workout facility for not just women, but for everyone.

Why all the sad faces? Could we not expect anything less than what we have seen in the last few weeks?

I�m not going to say that Demirchian is better than Kocharian, but it seems to me that there is a majority that does not want Kocharian for sure and some key people that have entered Demirchian�s camp I think are very dangerous and in some ways are worse than Kocharian.

What I desire is that there is really a fair election and who the people vote into office, if in the end turns out to be good or bad, they can no longer complain about.

As for the social and economic problems we are facing today (that everyone seems to be logging about), they were bound to visit us at some point. It�s now a matter of how we face and deal with them. I think it�s going to be all about education and family values that will minimize their effect.

As for what the Diaspora can do to help, let me give you an example of what I�ve recently initiated here in Artsakh.

A couple of weeks ago I visited a village in the Martuni region that was built by the government for refugees from Azerbaijan called Vaskenashen.

The villagers complained to me about the school and lack of educators and also about the school director and his lack of being a good school director.

Following that visit, I went to see the regional minister of education to discuss the problem in Vaskenashen and he told me that he understands that education is one of the most important things today, but there is a lack of people willing to relocate to this remote village and those that do in many cases are not good educators.

We agreed that we would work together to find truly qualified teachers, of which I would provide a bonus for the next 2 years to each of them in the form of doubling their salary.

Included in this deal is my right to monitor the school and be involved in the selection of the educators that I am providing the bonus to.

The cost to me is the equivalent of me taking some friends out for Sushi in the US once a month, meaning that it really does not effect me in a harsh way.

The return I think for this small gesture is immeasurable at this point, and will only be evident in the future when we see what becomes of those children that are attending this school. I think it�s obvious that they will be less susceptible to popping pills to keep warm and getting tattoos to look cool.

In short, this feeling of hopelessness and not feeling in control is only within oneself. If you want to be part of the solution and really get involved, there is no one that will stand in your way, trust me.

I get the feeling that some really bad things are around the corner. I�m still a little bit shook up from what happened this morning and am trying to do my best to deal with it.

When I went to the bathroom this morning, my unwanted houseguest was lying face down, dead in the toilet. I�m not sure if it was an accident or suicide? I mean there was no note left behind, so I�m really not sure.

Please forgive my babbling, but I�m feeling a bit distraught and don�t know if I should feel happy or sad?

I mean I didn�t want it to end this way and never expected the sonic mouse/rat repellent device (that I turned on 3 days ago) and the heavy snow and cold we had last night to have such a potent effect. I just wanted the little mouse to leave my house and go back to the fields or to my neighbor�s house for the rest of the winter. Anyplace but here.

I guess the little mouse was so distraught that it didn�t know what to do and that moment of insanity (that what my friend said the device causes) was just too much stress and made the poor thing take its little life in my toilet.

Don�t tell anyone, but before the authorities showed up and in the panic and confusion that followed my discovery, I accidentally flushed the evidence.

I�ve got to get in touch with my friend to see if he finished making that sonic corrupt government official repellent device and also get in touch with the prop department at Universal to see if they still have that toilet in storage that was used in the movie �The Incredible Shrinking Woman� and have them ship it to Yerevan quick, before the weather warms up. I hope it flushes.

Something good has to come from this tragedy and I want to make sure that the mouse didn�t give its life for nothing. I think that's the only way I will get over what happened.

If you want to see the real results of the election, click here.

I would like to congratulate all the candidates that ran for office. I�m sure you were all qualified for the job, but the people decided who they thought was the who they would like to call President for the next 5 years.

Anyway Mrs. President, if there is anything I can do to help you with the difficult task that awaits you to get our county back on track, please don�t hesitate to ask for help.

A big thank you goes out to one of our readers AC, who earlier this month made a donation for the one year sponsorship of an individual living in Artsakh that was truly in need.

Our latest recipient was an able bodied man who during the war fell victim to an Azeri rocket attack, which he was injured in and lost his sight.

At the time of the incident, Serge was rushed to Stepanagert to be airlifted to Yerevan for emergency surgery to restore his sight. Unfortunately due to the on going war, the flight that was to take him was delayed, which during the wait, the nerve to his eye deteriorate, thus making it impossible for the doctors in Yerevan to restore his sight.

As a disabled war veteran, Serge receives 25,000 dram a month, but with him, his wife and 2 school-aged sons, life has been very difficult to survive on that only source of income they have.

Though the additional $50 a month Serge will now receive will make a big difference in Serge and his families life, what Serge really needs is his sight to be restored, which he has been lead to believe can be done, but not in Armenia. If this happens, I believe that he would no longer need any help from us, as he is physically able to provide for is family.

If there is anyone who know someone who can advise us on who and how we can determine if Serge�s sight can be restored and if there is anyone foundation or individuals that sponsor such operations, please e-mail me.

IT'S SNOWING!!!!

Well it looks like the February weather we have been waiting for has finally arrived.

It came just in time, as it was getting a little bit too warm and the trees were almost going to flower, which would have meant another year with little or no fruit on our trees.

A few days before it snowed, we had light rain, which was kind of a pain as it turns the roads to mud. The snow is more desirable, as you can walk outside and still stay clean.

The down side to this snow is my planned trip to Stepanagert is off, as the work I had there was to be conducted outside. Well I guess that�s going to have to wait.

When the snow stops falling, I have go outside and sweep the stairs while the snow is still power, so later it does not melt a little and then turn to ice, which like Alex Sardar has stated in his logs, is a real danger and no fun.

Thank you Der Hova for providing us with the Robert Kocharian Election Campaign Program, which you can view by clicking here.

I read over part of it and got as far as the social, health and education section of it and had to stop as it was all too unrealistic for me to comprehend. Not just that, but what I�ve seen in the last 5 years in many cases was the exact opposite of what Kocharian is proposing. In fact, recent deals that have taken place in the last year and deals that are pending now, would cause his proposals to be almost impossible to be realized (I�m not talking about deals with Russia, though maybe they too would effect his programs).

Not to influence anyone, but reading the RK Election Campaign Program reads like a fairy tale (maybe in some ways, Demirchyan's does too). Mark my words, if Kocharian gets re-elected, we will not see more than 10% of his campaign program realized, though I would guess that RK could do the same thing he did last time he was elected and announce a few month after he was elected that he has completed 90% of everything he had promised in his election campaign (which up until now, I don�t think he has delivered even 50% of the basic things he promised back then) and then go on the defensive for the balance of his term.

Don�t worry dear readers, only 4 more days of my ranting and raving on this subject (unless there is a second round), and then we can get back to me ranting and raving about other things.

This is your chance to have your voice heard and vote for Armenian president.

Just like in Armenia, you can vote more than once, so feel free to cast your vote(s) until February 19th, 11:59:59 PM.

CLICK HERE TO CAST YOUR VOTE

Since I didn't post anything from Shahan Natalie's "The Turks and Us" two weeks ago, I went ahead to make good on what I said I would do (post a chapter every two weeks) and posted on the Ara Manoogian forum chapter 6 of Shahan Natalie�s �The Turks and Us�. It is titled �DEATH OF A NATION".

For those of you who are new to the logs, I am posting chapters from a book by author Shahan Natalie titled "The Turks and Us".

Natalie was the mastermind behind the terminations of the young Turk leaders and their collaborators who were responsible for the 1915 Armenian Genocide and were in the process of planning a second genocide on the people of Artsakh. In this book, Natalie shares first hand observations as to what happened during and after the genocide.

I�ve posted Stepan Demirchyan�s �Pre-electoral basic provisions� on my forum for those interested in reading it.

I have to say that most of what Demirchyan is proposing, reflects much of what I�ve been writing in my logs and working towards since I've been living here.

I personally don�t know Demirchyan, but if modern science is correct in their findings with regards to genes and their determining who someone is, then the son of Karen Demirchyan just may have what it will take to be a good president. I mean I know what genes I have in me and can say for sure that they have played a huge role in who I am today and the reason I find myself where I am today, so why should anyone doubt the same does not apply to the son of Karen Demirchian?

The only thing that concerns me with Demirchyan�s �Pre-electoral basic provisions� is that there are things in it that Kocharian had promised to deliver before he was elected back in 1998 and to this day has not made good on what he said he would do. So if Kocharian could not do it, then why should we believe that Demirchyan can? Maybe because he's not the son of Robert Kocharian.

If anyone knows were I can find a similar document of Kocharian�s �Pre-electoral basic provisions�, I would be interested in reading and posting it on the forum.

Why do I get the feeling that I�m going to be engulfing myself in this election? I guess since the outcome will effect life in Armenia and Artsakh, it�s the right thing to do.

Oh boy, it looks like I�m going to have to stop watching Armenian television for at least the duration of the presidential elections.

Tonight I was swearing at the television as some guy named Arthur, who I guess is one of the Kocharian dogs was spewing poison out of his mouth.

He was claiming that things are better now and doing it in such a way that was crediting Kocharian for the improvements.

When he started to talk about Lincy money, I was really wishing that I was in the studio with him to tell him that Krikorian would have given that money irregardless of who was president and if the Kocharian government was not as corrupt as it is, then I believe that Krikorian would have helped out even more or maybe not even have to have helped out as much as he did, since the economy would have probably been healthier and the tax revenue would have covered much of what Krikorian is paying for.

He talked about all kinds of social and economic issues, which most of them were exggerations of the truth.

Then tonight when I was visiting someone house, they had the local Artsakh news on and who was being interviewed, none other than our regional minister and former bank director Michig Hovanessian. He was no better than that Arthur guy as the lies were spewing out of his mouth too. He talked about our wheat harvest and claimed that the wheat sold for something like 85 dram a kilo. What he neglected to say was that when the initial harvest was done, those that had to sell their wheat to pay back loans and so on were only being offered 60 dram a kilo and only when all the poor people were done making their desperation sales, did the price go up, at which time Hovanessian and his buddies who he himself had a couple hundred tons of wheat to sell did so at the higher price.

I made a promise to Hovanessian last year that I was going to do to him what I did the last regional minister and demand to the prime minter that he be removed from him post, but he is not going to only be removed, but I want to make sure that he is publicly humiliated to the point that he leave Artsakh all together and moves to his house that he has in St. Petersburg, Russia, that he purchased with the money he got from all the bribes and �commissions� he received when he was the bank director.

Anyway, I guess I just have to back off a bit and just concentrate on focusing my energy to do things that will really improve the lives of people here and then if one day I have the resources to make the changes that will eradicate our real problems, then I�ll do that too, and trust me, that day will come sooner rather than later.

I think for my own well being, I�m going to suspend my reading of www.groong.com or continue to read it on an hourly basis so I don�t get information overload.

Being off-line for a week, especially during the presidential elections and then getting back on-line to have to read all that I have, made me decide to cancel my Yerevan trip I was going to take so I could be present for the presidential elections.

From what I�ve read in the press and in e-mails I received from neutral people on the ground in Armenia who are closely monitoring what is going on with the campaigning, it�s clear to me that Kocharian has a 99% chance to be re-elected. As much as they are claiming that he is not playing games, it has become clear to me that not only is he playing games, but he and is clan are going to do everything they can on an intellectual, moral, immoral, unethical and by all means possible level, to guarantee they are not defeated.

I guess with me having that state of mind, my going to Yerevan to be among my fellow Armenians, who are not blind to what is going on, will only add to my personal level of frustration.

I guess if I really believed that by Kocharian not being re-elected, war would break out and some great economic recovery plan would stall, I would be more supportive of his efforts to be re-elected. Unfortunately, I am convinced that regardless of who is elected, war will not break out and our economy will have an equal chance at getting better.

The problem I see is that Kocharian has generally left a bad taste in so many people mouths and by him being re-elected the way I think he will be re-elected, it will add to more bitterness, frustration and may cause people to do things in a not so nice way that they would otherwise not do.

I guess the name Robert Kocharian for me personally has a bad sound to it. In the last 5+ years, Kocharian means to me, corruption, bribery, death of fellow Armenians, increase in prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases, poverty, illiteracy, migration, treason, assimilation, human trafficking, decreased life expectancy, decreased birthrate, tension within the homes of the greater population, increase of alcoholism and substance abuse, suiside, orphan children with disabilities being exploited, Diaspora money being misappropriated, human rights violation of every imaginable kind, misrepresenting or misreporting statistics, manipulation, making promises that one knows are so far fetched that making them in the first place is worse than lying. Mind you, this is the very short list. The log list has over 1,000 items with details, of which one day Kocharian will be having to answer to.

I guess in for me, if Kocharian is ever going to be someone that I can even have 1 gram of respect for (not that this would even matter to him), he is going to have to make some really fantastic changes in the next 5 years.

Don�t get me wrong, I don�t only blame Kocharian or our other leader for what they have done in the past. I think we all have our share of blame and credit for what our nation has become and what it will evolve into in the future.

I think the dream I had last night sums up what we are feeling here. In short, it was a dream about some government official who was suppose to by law be elected, but the government decided that they would quietly appoint the official instead and let one man decided who that official would be. My friends here were outraged, didn�t think they could do anything to correct the wrong and I was really mad, telling them that I would write about this on the logs and make a huge stick about it. The dream was so real and believable, that I woke up and was ready to go to the Mayor�s office to get a copy of the law that had been violated, so I could quote from it for the log I was going to write.

I just posted on the Ara Manoogian forum chapter 5 of Shahan Natalie�s �The Turks and Us�. It is titled �FAILURES OF NATION-BUILDING�.

For those of you who are new to the logs, I am posting chapters from a book by author Shahan Natalie titled "The Turks and Us".

Natalie was the mastermind behind the terminations of the young Turk leaders and their collaborators who were responsible for the 1915 Armenian Genocide and were in the process of planning a second genocide on the people of Artsakh. In this book, Natalie shares first hand observations as to what happened during and after the genocide.

It�s been almost a week since I�ve had no internet connection and I have to say that not being connected to the outside world is a somewhat strange feeling. I really have no idea what is going on in Iraq, if Los Angeles is in the middle of a civil war, or if President Bush is done reading �The Cat in the Hat�?

Life here in Martuni has not changed much and the only thing new would have to be the renovation of our water system is moving forward at lightning speed.

If I have not mentioned this before, USAID with the coordination of Catholic Relief Services, is renovating the entire water system in the city of Maruni and also other areas in Artsakh.

They have dug up my street to install a new water main. When completed, we are to have water 24 hours a day. This also means that the days of the big water tanks and reserve pools will just be a memory.

Winter has been kind to us so far and we have been fortunate to have very mild weather. Though it rained yesterday, today, the sun came out and the muddy streets will dry up in the next few of hours.

As for the theft and crime in Yerevan, I don�t want to press my luck, but we really don�t have that problem at all here in Artsakh and never once have I even given a second thought about leaving my car unlocked and even the keys in it.

Well I have so much to catch up on with the internet, so I better get going.

It looks that my logging is going to be hold for a week as my connection from Martuni to Stepanagert was cut due to I don't know what and when they restored it, it was so bad (from extra sounds) that my computer can't connect to the server.

Anyway, there is so much to write about and when things are back to normal, I'll tell you all about what has been going on here.

This is going to be a short log.

I just have a couple of things to say.

The rooster was great!!!!

And

I drank as much wine as the whole rooster was marinated in.

Oh, let me say one more thing.

I�m going to sleep in tomorrow and pretend that it is Sunday (my workers were pre-warned that I�m not coming to work tomorrow as I knew tonight was going to be a night that I was going to marinate myself in red wine). Could I have done this in America? Life is great here!!!

Tonight a friend of mine who is visiting from France came home with a live rooster, which he plans to cook for dinner tomorrow.



So here we were at 11 PM with a rooster that is screaming its head off and my friend who I so bravely had told a couple of days ago that I could kill and clean a chicken and he telling me how great it is that I can clean this screaming rooster, as he has no idea how it is done.

Well off came the rooster�s screaming head and in no time, I had the rooster in boiling hot water and feathers all over the place.

I really surprised myself as I guess by watching, I learned how to clean a rooster and take out its inner organs, knowing which ones were to be kept and which ones were to be tossed out. The whole thing brought back memories of junior high school and dissecting frogs in biology class.

So tomorrow night we will be having rooster in wine sauce.

I wish I could log more, but I�ve been so busy with work and entertaining my friend, who is seriously considering moving to Martuni within the next few months.

I hope his moving here works out, as it will be great to have a second Diaspora Armenian living here to help with work that we agree needs be done.

Today I went to the village of Jardar to look for a woman who is 106 or 107 years old. She was widowed 30 years ago and had no children. Her only support that she gets other than her pension comes from a grand-nephew who lives in Yerevan. Her neighbors report to me that she is very independent, but could defiantly use any kind of help that we can give her (they too all help her in anyway they can). So I found her house and learned that her grand-nephew came when the weather got very cold and convinced her to go to Yerevan for the winter so he would not have to worry about her. They say she will return in a couple of months. She will replace Vartush Myrig as far as the aid we receive for her.

I hope this picture didn�t frighten you as it initially did me. This is the old woman�s neighbor�s dog and he is not showing his teeth to attack or bite, but he is smiling. Once I figured that out, the dog, whose name is Sharig (which in Russian means �Marble�) and I played a little bit.