A half-open travel bag on a bed, data printouts and a small notebook visible inside, morning light, practical and quiet

Monday.

Twelve days.

The Schedule Problem

The train from Almaty to Novosibirsk takes approximately 36 hours. I know this because I have made this journey twice: once in 1997, and once in 2003.

This morning I looked up the current schedule. The primary departure is in the evening. Thirty-six hours later puts arrival at Novosibirsk in the early morning of the second day.

The archive visit is March 14. The alumni meeting is March 15.

If I depart on the evening of March 13, I arrive on March 15.

I will need to depart on the evening of March 12.

This is a straightforward calculation. I should have made it earlier. I have now adjusted the plan: departure March 12, arrival March 14, archive visit March 14, alumni meeting March 15. The sequence is tight but not impossible. The archive access is arranged for March 14. Sokolov will be there. Mikhail will be there.

I have twelve days. Ten days, corrected, before I need to be at the station.

What Mikhail Said

His message, in its entirety: “Good. I will meet you at the station. Bring data.”

I have been thinking about this instruction since February 27.

The data currently exists in the following locations:

  • Three laptops. One of them has a battery that holds a charge for approximately 40 minutes. I have been meaning to replace it since November.
  • One external hard drive. Contains all digitized Morozov material: 1,102 pages, fully indexed.
  • Ruslan’s spreadsheet. 20 tabs. I do not have a current working copy; Ruslan sends me updated versions by email and the most recent is from yesterday at 23:47.
  • My own measurement logs: 32 sessions, 337 data points, plus Mikhail’s February 24 measurement filed separately because I have not decided where it belongs in the sequence.

This is not a reasonable amount of data to carry on a train. I need a subset. The question of which subset has occupied approximately two hours of this morning and has not yet produced a resolution.

Ruslan’s Table

At 09:14 this morning, Ruslan sent me a measurement protocol for the journey. It is seven pages long.

It includes: recommended measurement intervals by terrain type (steppe, every 45 minutes; elevation change, every 15 minutes; tunnels if applicable, continuous), a note about barometric pressure drift in train carriages versus fixed outdoor locations, a suggested calibration sequence for the Nokia Method under vibration conditions, and a list of six waypoints along the route where he considers a simultaneous comparison measurement from Almaty would be scientifically interesting if I can coordinate the timing.

Page four contains a chart.

I have replied: “I will consider it.”

This is the same response I gave in February when he first proposed the measurement table. He has now produced the table anyway. I respect the consistency.

What I Am Actually Thinking About

In 1997, I traveled to Novosibirsk for a conference on electromagnetic anomalies in industrial environments. I presented for twenty minutes. Four people attended. One of them was Mikhail, who had come primarily for a different session but stayed out of, I think, some combination of curiosity and proximity.

In 2003, I traveled to Novosibirsk because I was offered a position at the university there, which I declined. I do not remember much about that trip except that it rained, and that I ate dinner alone in a restaurant near the station, and that declining the position felt correct at the time.

I have not been to Novosibirsk since 2003.

When I arrive on March 14, Mikhail will be at the station. He will have been measuring the anomaly every Tuesday since February 10. He will have seen the result on February 24. He lives in the same city as the archive that holds the documentation we need.

He is going to meet me at the station.

I am trying to determine what data to bring on a 36-hour train journey. I am also, separately, thinking about something that does not have a practical component and is therefore more difficult to organize.

Current Preparation Status

I made a list this afternoon. Lists help.

  • Train schedule: confirmed. Departure March 12, evening. Arrival March 14, morning.
  • Archive: confirmed. March 14, Novosibirsk Branch, Russian Energy Archive, Ulitsa Deputatskaya 44. Sokolov will arrange access.
  • Data subset for travel: under consideration. Current candidates: my 32 measurement logs, Morozov’s digitized notebooks, Mikhail’s February 24 data, the Nokia calibration results. Not Ruslan’s spreadsheet — I will ask him to prepare a one-page summary.
  • Ruslan’s measurement table: under consideration. Likely yes, if I can find a power outlet in the carriage.
  • Presentation: version 7, 14.5 minutes. One more read-through before departure.
  • Laptop battery: I should replace it. I have ten days.

Misha is on the windowsill. She has been watching the street with the same attention she gave my presentation rehearsal, which lasted twelve minutes before she left. The street has now held her attention for forty. I do not know what to conclude from this.

Current status:

  • Departure: March 12, evening. Corrected from earlier estimate.
  • Travel duration: 36 hours. Ruslan’s measurement table: under consideration.
  • Data to bring: unresolved. Requesting one-page summary from Ruslan.
  • Archive: March 14. Alumni meeting: March 15.
  • Battery replacement: pending.
  • Misha: present, focused, opinion on travel unknown.
  • Emotional state: I have ten days.

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