Google Streetview Finds - In a mall on the Kamchatka Peninsula

 So this is a bit off the beaten path...  

I'll admit, my only real knowledge of Kamchatka was that is was a zone you could take over in the game of Risk, which I played faithfully when I was 12.  This photo is from a window in a store in a town in Kamchatka--it seems like a fairly nice mall for the extreme east and somewhat north of Russia.

In case you're wondering, no, they don't have English language signs in this mall.  I used the website Yandex.com to translate a screenshot of a photosphere from the mall.  Actually, they've set it up so you can navigate around the mall just as if you were walking through it.  

I didn't realize that China and Russia were so cozy that Russian pensioners could go for trips to get plastic surgery in China.  That seems... weird, on a number of levels.  Apparently treatment in China is available to everyone "from 2000 rubles".  So with the ruble's current value of about 2 cents, that would be about 40 bucks.  

But what does this say about the Russian medical system?  Maybe it's just that there aren't any good plastic surgeons for seniors that many time zones east of Moscow.  With the difficulty in getting a family physician or a basic medical appointment in our area right now, maybe I should look into a trip like this myself...

Google Streetview Finds - What happened, Advanced Counter?

 Am I the only ones who enjoys scrolling across the world on Google Maps to then zoom in on a random town somewhere on the planet, clicking on various restaurants, hotels, or schools and reading the reviews or looking at the photos people post.  From far eastern Siberia to isolated spots in South America, it's interesting, to me at least, to see what I'd be able to order on the menu, or what my room conditions in a hostel might be like.

Today I was street view driving in Miles City, Montana and I noticed this very nicely wrapped work vehicle for Advanced Counters.  Surely this must be the premiere countertop provider in the Miles City area.  

But to my surprise, no such business seems to exist on Google.  A search for countertop providers in Miles City gave 10 possibilities--but not the folks from "Advanced".  I even did a search for the 1-800 number and got only one hit--some weird random phone-directory type text list from Billings, Montana, that bore no connection.

At some point between September, 2013, and today, things went wrong for Advanced Counter.  What happened?  A fight between the business partners?  Bought out by "big counter"?  A horrible liability case after the wrong glue wafted toxic vapours through someone's home?  Or maybe another Covid business casualty?  (Not that likely, since Covid seemed to increase the business for home improvement companies, one area that people kept spending money throughout the pandemic.

Let me know if you happen to find this post after searching to see if your business still has a web presence.  I'd like to know...