Back to the topic of illumination once more, nothing as specific as wondering if Hinkley lighting have any approved retailers here in Astana, but I’ve just remembered that the EL style wire that was supposed to be installed when we moved into our flat is now approximately four years late in turning up. Whether the man in charge of initially decorating the flat was paid for the system or not, I’m not sure, but I do sometimes wonder what it would have looked like. If you’ve not knowingly come across Electro Luminescent wiring before, you may have seen it in some souped up computer cases where a distinct line of yellow, green or other pretty colour follows the contours of the case or creates pretty patterns. We have all the wiring and a switch in place, but the goods never turned up. Not sure if this was a customs problem, or if the foreign supplier just never came through?
Jul 26 2010
Keeping People In The Dark
I knew I had forgotten to do something back in Chubary, whilst we were with the in-laws. I tend to be the nominated lightbulb changer for the house, and although we occasioally have discussion over whether putting 100 watt bulbs in a fitting that states 60W is the maximum, and that bulbs for spotlights will not throw the light where they want, I normally get the various floors re-illuminated when they actually have spare bulbs. However I was supposed to grab a ladder to change some bulbs in the high-ceilinged living, and completely forgot. Hopefully they’ll not mind another few days without maximum illumination? Speaking of illumination, or the lack there of, remind me to post something I found out about satellite dishes and possible plans to leglislate for them here in Kazakhstan!
Jun 21 2010
Are Your Walls Rugged Up?
I was using PockeTwit this afternoon to check for Tweets that mentioned Kazakh or Kazakhstan (which reminds me, I need to refine my saved search to exclude the plethora of Russian bride style tweets that have recently flooded that search), when I came across a request, here. Basically the person is looking for pictures of Kazakh (and Arabic style) interiors. Whether he is involved in a project that needs unusual rustic furniture or perhaps a website that needs a unique background image, I couldn’t immediately tell from his Twitter stream. No idea if this request is of a free or paid for request, but if you have shots that match his/her criteria, maybe you could make contact?
The Rugged Up reference in this post’s title? If you look at the walls of some homes in Kazakhstan or Russia, you will often find large carpets/rugs hung on the walls. I can’t honestly remember if this is purely an aesthetic endeavour, or if perhaps it helps to keep the flat warm during the long winter months.
Apr 23 2010
Snoitcua
No, despite the fact that I have recently used a random Esperanto text generator (I got bored of the normal Ipsum Lorem) to give a client a feel for how their website would look, snoitcua is not a term I have just discovered. It is in fact a slightly laboured way of indicating that this post is about reverse auctions. CityMove have taken the normal method of online auctions and turned it around. There is however one (positive) caveat, in that customers are not obliged to take the lowest bidder (or any).
The principle is refreshingly simply, you register at the site (Northern Continental America residents only for now), and then post the requirements for a New York moving company, or whichever city you are moving to and from, to read through. If a company decides they can fulfil your needs, they respond with a price they are happy to carry out the work for. Once you have a few bids, the idea is that you check the reviews from other (hopefully happy) previous customers. If company A places a bid of $400, and company B bids $450, you may still want to use company B, if their reviews indicate that the extra $50 would bring you piece of mind or less broken pottery 
When checking through the reviews for a company, it might be prudent to note the difference between Verified and Public reviews. Verified means that the reviewer has actually used the company, via CityMove. Public reviews are submitted by the company (normally) and are supposed to be testimonials from customers who have not necessarily used CityMove to instigate the move. Does this mean you should ignore public reviews, in case companies accidentally post incorrect information? No, but I would personally lend more weight to a single verified review than a handful of public ones.
I hope that CityMove will one day open up for global business, as the process of moving items to and from Kazakhstan is one fraught with stress, paperwork and when not dealing with the big companies, concern as to how good a move is. Anyway, if you are moving within America or Canada, and have any questions not answered in the site’s FAQ section, contact CityMove directly, I can confirm they were quick to respond to a couple of queries I had about accessing their system.
Apr 06 2010
Mid Atlantic S and Z
I finally remembered to change the dictionary Firefox uses to check my spelling. I am not sure at which point Mozilla decided I wanted the US-English version installed, but I am hoping I will start to look like I know when to use an S or a Z in certain words. Harmonise and harmonize. Arrrgh, no, neither of them has some red underlining. However less debatable words and spellings are highlighted nicely. If I type in kitchen faucets, Firefox refuses to offer any alternatives at all, meaning I have to remember to use the word tap all on my own! Sidewalk triggers the same spell check alert, so I’m guessing that S and Z have become more interchangeable than I realised?
Feb 03 2010
Taps And Bulbs
We need to replace two of the big light fittings in our flat. For some reason, both of the LED powered ones we had installed when the apartment was built have failed on us. Not just with the LEDs not lighting up any more, but one of them actually creates a funny smell when turned on for a few minutes. Which reminds me, I need to make sure our friend knows which switches are safe to use whilst she is living here. We also need to look into getting a replacement tap (faucet for any American-English speaking readers) for the kitchen, as it no longer rotates without dragging the whole under sink fixtures with it. Whether we’ll go the whole hog and see if Kohler faucets are imported into Kazakhstan or not, I’m not certain, but I do remember that decent taps are quite pricey over here, so this may end up getting added to a “really must do soon-ish” list.
Search Terms That Led To This Post- kitchen taps (1)
Oct 28 2009
Presidential Ablutions
Just finished reading the BBC’s article on President Sarkozy’s incredibly expensive shower that he never used whilst his country held the EU presidency. Now OK, our own bath doesn’t have walk in tubs or anything, but it does tick all the other boxes the article mentions (massage and surround sound radio), and didn’t cost anywhere near as much, I can assure you, which begs the question, were the controls platinum plated? Did the shower have cleaners on call 24/7, and just why was it actually dismantled once the presidency ended?
Shower
Just realised, our shower doesn’t feature surround sound on the audio system, just mono, but TBH, would you really notice the difference when you’re washing?
Oct 24 2009
Warm Flat, Cold Floors Below Us?
As I mentioned in the previous tweet/post here on the blog, a cold snap (by Western standards) has hit Astana, with temperatures dipping into the minus numbers, and Anna now needing her sleeping bag attachment on the pushchair. Will try and find the photos later. Anyway, despite the cold, and even with radiators turned down to minimum in some rooms, we are needing to occasionally open the windows! With all the people below us in this block of apartments seemingly having their heating on full whack (perhaps they love their floor tiles so much, they don’t use carpets/rugs?), the heat can get a bit too much at times. Seems strange when there is so little warmth outside, and wish we could find some way of cooling down without wasting the excess heat, but there you go.
Oct 03 2009
Homeward Bound – Almost
In a little over 24 hours, Irina’s parents (& Igor and Natalya who went with them) will return from their vacation holiday in Turkey. This means that Irina has been working non-stop around the house, trying to get it looking all neat and clean for their return. I hoovered the kitchen, helped with Anna and stayed out of the way. Tomorrow, I need to fiddle with some lighting fixtures to replace blown light bulbs, try and finish sorting Sasha’s PC (so Irina’s Mum has her computer desk back as it was when she left), and probably a few other things I’ve forgotten already. Oh, and Anna pictures, mustn’t forget to re-start the post publishing process there either. Think I’ll give up on the idea of pre-dating them to give the correct date the photos were taken, and just stick to including the date somewhere within the post itself.
Aug 24 2009
Pain In The Neck
We might need to look for a new tv stand sometime. Why? I think the occasional crick in my neck that I have recently started to get (suffer was my first choice of words, but this sounded a little too melodramatic) occur when concentrating on the TV for too long. It looks as the screen may be a little too low to make eye level contact without looking slightly down when sat on our sofa. However, as the stands cost a fair amount over here in Kazakhstan, I should probably just try taking breaks more often, and use the time gained to carry on catching up with the photo post backlog here.
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