The Tree Story

So last month I decided to take Vladimir home to Fresno to meet the family. All went well. My family treated him as if he was their own. And this was very special for Vladimir as his family is thousands of miles away and he misses them very much. So my family has sort of filled that gap for now.

We also spent a couple of days in Los Angeles visiting Makoto and Sydney, hanging out at Universal Studios and shopping in downtown LA. And that's where things got very interesting.

You see, one of Vlad's coworkers asked him to buy a plastic tree in LA and bring it back to Portland. Okay, are you thinking what I was thinking? Why not buy a plastic tree in Portland? Why LA?

"You can't buy them in Portland," he tried to convince me.

I argued: "Bullshit. You can buy them at Home Depot or Wal-Mart or Lowe's or..."

"No. They're too expensive and cheap looking..."

"Vladimir, you can't bring a tree on the plane. That's ridiculous They're gonna charge you a grip of money."

Confused face.

"A lot of money."

Well, there was no convincing him. He was set to buy the damn tree in LA and bring the sucker to Portland. So we bought it for like 80 bucks. (And, seriously, it was the same damn tree you can find at any home supply store in Portland, but...well...he's a determined Kazahk, so I gave in...

And, just as I expected, they wanted to charge him 100 dollars to take it on the plane. I gave Vlad that "I told you so" look and then sat back and watched the magic unfold. After ten minutes of arguing with the people at the United desk, Vladimir got to put the silly tree on the airplane for free.

He always gets his way. Damn Kazahk.