ChrisMerriman.com

Oct 15 2009

10 And A Half Weeks

Category: Friends,Personal,Pictures — ChrisM @ 2:12 pm

starring DanD. Not a low budget remake of a classic 80s movie, but instead some photos from his birthday meal that are a little late in being posted. We were still able to eat outside at the time, and so he chose Tiflis, a Georgian restaurant here in Astana. Badger lady hasn’t been seen in a long time (a singer with a badger/Pepé Le Pew style hair colouring), but there was a man singing along to some karaoke. Dan had had enough drinks to decide that we should all hear his dulcet tones, however the singer explained that he charged people to use the microphone!

: Irina, John, Talgat(?), DanD and Larissa at Tiflis, Enjoying DanD’s Birthday Meal

: See Previous Photo And Add Dr Ken To The List 🙂

: DanD Negotiates For Birthday Boy’s Singing Rights

: Sorry John, Couldn’t Leave This Photo Unpublished

Tags: Astana, Badger, Birthday, Dan, Human Interest, Kara, Karaoke, Pepé Le Pew, singer

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Oct 14 2009

Kazakhstan vs. Croatia

Category: Friends,Personal,Sport — ChrisM @ 6:07 pm

I am off to watch the Kazakhstan vs. Croatia match this evening, in Astana’s new football stadium. It will be the first proper match I’ve attended in about, oh, 20-odd years ?!? Thanks to DanD and his friend for invite and sorting the tickets ahead of time. Looking at predictions on the net, most think it will be an easy win for Croatia, though a couple of people thought that Kazakhstan had a slim chance of at least a draw. Will try and grab some photos/tweet if I remember.

Tags: Astana, Croatia, Dan, football, Kazakhstan, Sports

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Oct 13 2009

Vodka And Cat Food?

Category: Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:43 pm

We haven’t yet made another order with Dostavlyika (the home shopping service here in Astana), though if the supermarket they use has some Orange Drive (a soda and vodka drink) in stock, I’m tempted to order a box or two. They also hadn’t (as of the last time I checked) added cat food to their site, or sorted the difficulties involved in locating similar products that are described in different ways. I noticed they were using Drupal, meaning that even if the original designer isn’t able to fine tune the site, it should be easy enough for other people to come along and improve it. Maybe DanD should wait a few months and then offer his services?

Tags: Astana, Dan, food

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Oct 11 2009

Amabassador And Masks

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,Pictures — ChrisM @ 9:20 pm

OK, so here we have the start of catch up photos. First the non-Anna related ones, starting with these taken on the 30th July. We went for a walk in Astana Park, just across the road from us, with DanD and his two daughters. Whilst walking around, we randomly bumped into the (ex? He is leaving for sunnier shores soon, if he hasn’t already) British Ambassador to Kazakhstan, and nice man who works with him. Shame on me, I’ve forgotten his name, but it could well be he wouldn’t want it posted for security reasons anyway. Whilst there, I also spotted some children on go-karts with varying levels of face mask safety in use…

: Mask In Use

: Mask Almost In Use

: (Under) Face Mask

: Anna’s Pushchair, Nice Man I Forgot The Name Of, UK Ambassador To Kazakhstan and DanD

Tags: Astana, Dan, Kazakhstan

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Sep 23 2009

Clean Punctuation

Category: Friends — ChrisM @ 3:09 am

Calling Oleg… Calling Oleg. Are you still intending to be in Astana this October? We would love for you to meet Anna, and it would be great to see you again. What got me thinking about him today was my realization that my understanding of the correct situation to use a semi-colon really was pretty ropey; it isn’t that I haven’t a clue, simply that I often feel it is more like guess work than actual rules that I am following. I’ll probably not end up going on a tidy up of this blog, removing all the incorrect usages, nor is it likely that I’ll be going through old posts and inserting them where needed. Which reminds me, I’ve still got around 1400 posts here that need tagging. Shouldn’t take too long. LMAO.

Tags: Astana

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Aug 24 2009

That Isn’t Anna?

Category: Friends,Personal,Pictures — ChrisM @ 1:35 pm

A quick break from Anna’s photos, here we have a picture taken of Balzhan and Dr Natalya on Balzhan’s xxth birthday. We had a few drinks, ordered in a few pizzas, and their children (Ilda and Sveta) played on the Xbox. I wasn’t too drunk, full or over protective 🙂

Dr Natalya And Balzhan The Birthday Girl

Tags: Birthday, Ilda, Sveta

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Aug 24 2009

Magic Oil

Category: Friends — ChrisM @ 1:17 am

It is ChrisD’s birthday on Wednesday, and I had thought about sending over a bottle of his favourite “Magic Oil”. Now it isn’t marketed as a weight loss aid specifically, more for cuts, grazes, burns etc, however when he visited us a few years back, he had stomach problems. As the oil listed this as one of the ailments it could treat, he decided to give it a try.
Without going into too much detail, he was stuck in the bathroom a whole day, and eventually emerged looking a lot lighter, both in weight and facial colour. Anyway, as sending a glass bottle through international mail might not result in a satisfactory ending, I decided not to risk it. I’ll just have to bring some with me the next time we’re in Britain.

Tags: Birthday, Britain, oil

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Aug 23 2009

Horses And Tightrope Walking

Category: Friends,Kazakhstan,Personal,Pictures,Videos — ChrisM @ 3:16 am

Meeting up on the 5th of July with Walton and his brother, Dave, who was over here in Kazakhstan for a while, we had decided to try and catch the horse show put on at the entrance to Astana Park, as the day before it had been rained off. A year or two ago, Walton, Asel, Ira and I went to see Kokpar and horse acrobatics at an out of town stadium, again for Astana Day celebrations, but this year I hadn’t made it.
Once we’d seen the show, we could understand why the horse riders only wanted the driest of floors to work on.

: Pre Show Preparations With Walton Sporting His Dombra Hero T-Shirt

: Horse Wrestling – A Winner Is A Mere Half Second From Formally Kicking Ass

: Tiring Day For The Horse?

: Melee In The Middle

: The Last ‘Enemy’ Almost Vanquished

: Squeaky Voiced Rider?

: Lone Female Horse Performer – Least Blurred Photo. Hoping Dave Had Some Better Shots

: Bird Of Prey Keeps An Eye On The Car Park

: Same Old Uzbek Dude Walking To Work Again

: Tightrope Walker Attaches His Safety Rope. Camera Runs Out Of Space.

Tags: Astana, Astana Park, Dave, ID, Irina, Kazakhstan, Walton, YouTube

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Aug 20 2009

Happy 45th Birthday Dude

Category: Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 3:53 am

You don’t look a day over 40.
OK, maybe he isn’t quite there yet, but all other subtle attempts to get him to react to posts on this site have failed, so I’m hoping insulting him on this most happy of days will get DaveG to actually respond in one form or another.

Happy Birthday DaveG