Hey Brian,

Just FYI, another good way to practice your Russian is to go into the General Chat in the lower right-hand corner of the screen when you are logged into this site, and write with native Russian speakers in real time.

There is sometimes also a Google Hangout on the weekends where everyone from this site gets together and practices speaking Russian or English out loud.

BTW, which books are you using in particular? It seems that the Penguin book is the most popular.