Fellow Synthzoners,

Allow me this opportunity to say how much I value Russ. I draw a very distinctive line between acquaintances and friends and Russ is definitely on the latter side. Although he has never met my wife and son, he genuinely cares for them. My wife often asks how he's doing, especially after what's happened to him. While my son's still too young to understand who Russ is, he does refer to him as Uncle Russ (for the moment it's still Uncle Luss...those darn r-sounds). Some day he'll realize what a great person Uncle Russ is. I'll make sure of that.

Lu4 yao2 zhi1 ma3 li4, ri4 jiu3 jian4 ren2 xin1.

Over a long distance, you learn about the strength of your horse; over a long time, you learn about the character of your friend.

(This can be used positively to praise a true friend; or negatively to criticize friends that could not stand a test.) In this case it's only too transparent which meaning refers to Russ.

Taike