Apr 22 2007
Spoke to Alex on the phone, and she has her plane tickets, and is in the process of filling our her Kazakhstan visa application form.
Both Ira and I are really looking forward to her visit, and showing her around Astana. Hopefully the weather will be OK, and not too hot.
If anybody has any tips for first-time visitors to Kazakhstan, please do leave a comment, and I’ll make sure Alex reads them…
Oh, and hopefully ChrisD will be back over again this year, which would be amazing as well.
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Apr 20 2007
It was my 28th birthday today.
We got a TV. Eventually. More details to follow.
Had a great meal with Ira, in-laws & Walton. Went back to the Chelsea ‘pub’. Where we originally met up with Walton last summer.
I had garlic bread as a starter, chips & cheeseburger for main and a chocolate mousse for dessert.
A little vodka and Baileys kept me even happier. Good food, good company.
Hope everyone else is happy with their life right now, or at least on the up.
Thanks to everyone who passed on their congratulations…
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Apr 07 2007
This is the video from our first (and last :< ) visit to Tom‘s flat. We went round with Walton and had a nice meal, and spoke with one of his student’s.
This is a video of a Kazakh drinking game, recorded at Ira’s Dad’s birthday celebration, in 2003, I think.
You have two teams, two bottles of vodka, and have to serve a shot, drink it, tidy up, and repeat, in a relay team.
It will make (a bit) more sense if you just watch it, I promise…
Again from the same party, here we have some Romanys(?) singing for us
From last year, we have Irina and I shooting shotguns at a salt water lake near by
Dubai dune driving is next, from 2005, when Ira, myself and the in-laws all went to UAE
This one is to check whether or not AlexC actually reads the blog properly. It was filmed back in Bourton On The Water, which seems like a long, long, long time ago now
Almost done :-)… This is from a party back in the UK, where someone bought their Dad’s Land Rover to a party. Not too unusual around Cirencester, except this one had a couple of cool hidden extras…
Finally we have a clip from a Russian news channel. There had been an accident in a mine, and there were rumours of an alcohol problem with the miners there. Just as a responsible looking representative came on air (live!) to dispel such scandalous thoughts, someone pops into the background. (This is from a while ago, there were apparently no serious injuries reported)
And yes, I’m well aware all these YouTube videos are making the front page of my blog untidy and excessively long.
Tough, I kept forgetting to sort out and upload some videos, and it was now or never.
Also, astute readers may notice a temporary bug or two since the re-installation of WordPress and the new theme was chosen. I’m not sure whether the problem with advert code not being processed when you click on a category is a problem with the theme, or the plugin I use to display the ads, but I’ll try and find out.
Apr 06 2007
Took a bit longer than expected to put them up, but here are 3 videos from when we went on a snow mobile, click the link after the videos to see the pictures…
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Mar 21 2007
Assuming you have almost any type of media player (WMP, Winamp, Real, JetAudio etc.) tune into www.kindafunkyradio.com tonight (21st March) at 9pm GMT.
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Mar 15 2007
See here for the last occurrence 🙁
They did a more complete job this time, not just replacing the index page, but all articles now redirect to a stupid “you’ve been haX0red” style page, as well as FTP & CPanel access barred, as they’ve changed my passwords.
The hosting company promised they’d removed the loop holes that allowed this exploit to be err… exploited last time, but either a new back door was found, or the company weren’t as vigilant as promised. Anyway, the kind provider of the hosting (MattG – the original catalyst/mentor behind this blog, and my articles sites) is going to contact the hosters for me, so hopefully I’ll have access back soon.
Feb 28 2007
Ira and I went with Walton and his wife to a concert on Saturday night. (See below for a scan of the ticket).
I’m glad we went, and most of it was quite good.
It started off with a group that use a violin, electric guitar and a kazakh instrument whose name escapes me right now. (Bit like a two-stringed guitar). They played music that matched the composition of the band – western classical intertwined with Kazakh melodies and riffs. Unfortunately, the fact they were miming to pre-recorded music was quite obvious, and the majority of the other bands/singers did the same.
Whilst this was going on, they had a ballet troop/troup(?)/troupe(?) performing in from of them (the Exclusive Ballet mentioned on the ticket I think.) Most of the performances went well, although a few looked relatively un-coordinated compared to the high standard of others.
Compared to my normal gigs/clubs in the UK, I felt relatively cultured, and enjoyed pretty much all of it, apart from some bloke in a suit crooning along; no facts to base my opinion on, but he looked and sounded like he was the son of someone important, who decided that a career in music was his calling. Who am I to argue? We also had a KVN like sketch or five, and I understood a couple of jokes, which is an improvement over when I last saw on one on TV.
Anyway, after the concert ended we all headed to a taxi, but got diverted by the prospect of a quick drink, which then turned into a meal at the local Tex/Argentinean/Italian restaurant.
When done, we all went home and I had a nice lie-in the next day. Sadly Ira (who had already worked Saturday at her office) then had to head back to work a while on Sunday. Who knows who reads this blog, so I shan’t complain about the amount of work/attendance her company require. Her boss is great, and who could ever fault Kazakhstan office work?
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Feb 23 2007
Congratulations to men all over the world, as today (23rd February) is Men’s Day. Not sure how far across the world this event is recognised, but hope you are having a good day.
Originally it was dedicated to defenders of the motherland (Army, Navy etc.), but it is now generally accepted for all men. In Kazakhstan, the President has decreed that it should be celebrated later in the year, but old habits die hard.
Con (Seb’s brother) will be playing a set at Detonate this evening, Also on the bill is AndyC.
Check here and here for more details.
Good luck to him, may his tracks not skip, and the crowd feel the groove.
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Feb 23 2007
We went out on Wednesday to an Uzbek restaurant, near KMG (where Ira works).
Unfortunately, Walton was ill, so couldn’t make it :<
Click the link below to see the pictures
Continue reading “Last Night Out With Tom”
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Feb 23 2007
An evening with Tom, a sad moment, and yet a happy time.
For our last Saturday with him, we were honoured with (finally) being invited round to his flat for a meal.
You can read more about it here, but to keep you going, here are some pictures of the evening.
Continue reading “Last Saturday Night With Tom”
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