Dec 16 2006

Finished Packing!

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Friends,Kazakhstan,PersonalChrisM @ 2:28 pm

We’ve been getting ready for our return to the UK, and we’re pretty much done now…

A huge thank you to our family and friends in Britain, who have kept me sane whilst I’m out here, and also to the family and new friends we have made out here in Kazakhstan.

We took Karra (our kitten) over to the in-laws, so she can stay with her mum and sister while we are away. Karra behaved a lot better in her carry bag this time, with only a few mystified miaows in the taxi 🙂

In 30 hours time Ira and I should have arrived in Cheltenham, where I’m staying with Dad & Nick for the first week, and then onto Swansea (well Clydach to be precise) on the Saturday/Sunday (23rd/24th December) with Nick & Ira to see Mum.

Really looking forward to catching up with family and friends; most of our evenings are planned out already in Cheltenham, so hoping we can just kick back and relax during our time in Clydach.

Irina has been allowed some unpaid leave from work, but only received the permission quite recently, by which time, the flights I’m booked on were full, so she is returning to Kz one day earlier, and going via Moscow, whereas I’ll be dropping into Istanbul on the way there and back.

By the time New Year hits us, Nick, Dad, me & Irina should all be in Astana and I’m hoping they’ll enjoy seeing Astana (it will be Nick’s first winter over here, and Dad’s first time ever.)

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Oct 19 2006

Shoulder Holder

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PicturesChrisM @ 4:57 pm

There are other photos to come, but I couldn’t resist quickly posting this one…

Karra may just have been a pirate’s parrot in a previous incarnation…

Karra Comfy On My Shoulder

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Oct 16 2006

Pretty Good Weekend

We took our kitten home, from the in laws, today. Not yet named her, the proposals are Pippa, Socks and a word I’ve forgotten already (Karra?) that means black in Kazakh. Anyone else think of anything? It needs to be easily pronounced by Russian and English tongues, be feminine, and be shortened easily…
The last one was suggested by KZBlog owner’s wife; we met up at the Chelsea (an ‘English’ ‘pub’) again Saturday night. Had a good time, ate a little, drank a little more, and talked a lot, their prices are definitely higher than the average bar, but the selection of food is good for wimpy westerners like me, and I tend to feel a little freer talking about life over here than I would normally…

FINALLY the PC Hardware was all fitted. For the last 5 months, I’ve been waiting (we’ll get the stock next week, next week, next week, oh we had it, but sold it to someone else etc. etc.) for a Graphics Card upgrade (nVidia 7600GT>7900GT) and a replacement 320 Gig Seagate SATA hard drive; for the last week and a half, Ucon (the PC shop in question) has PROMISED to visit our flat and deliver them (to make up for the delays) . Each day, they didn’t turn up, and each day they didn’t bother to call and let us know they couldn’t make it. Sadly, this isn’t exactly unheard of, in respect of customer service levels, here in Kazakhstan. We gave up in the end, and went back to the original plan, so we took the PC to the shop and dropped the printer off to be repaired. They laughed at the amount of programs I have running (what’s the point in a well specced machine if you don’t fully utilize it’s resources), and the lights I had fitted. Had being the operative word, they took it all out, fitted the hardware, then put it all in a bag for me. Also caught the shop assistant trying to copy some of my games. 1) Don’t do it without asking, it is rude 2) Don’t be stupid, simply copying the directory the game is installed into onto their machine will not likely result in a working application, and oh yeah 3) Copyright theft is bad hmmm. Well offered to copy my installation DVDs (only for Public Domain games, obviously…), and they could have it when we came to pick up the repaired printer. Hoping that is enough motivation to see the printer back soon…
I now have just over 850 Gigabytes of storage space, so shan’t be running out anytime soon. Especially not downloading via dial up access to the internet. Irina’s mum had ADSL installed in the last week, so I’m hoping we’ll either get that or WiMax sorted soon….
Continue reading “Pretty Good Weekend”

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Oct 13 2006

Update on the kittens

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PicturesChrisM @ 10:33 am

Hopefully getting a litter tray, some more food and other essentials this weekend, so once the kittens are ready, we’ll be taking ours home…

Smiley Sun

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Oct 12 2006

Few More Recent Kitten Piccies

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PicturesChrisM @ 4:55 pm

First we have the photos I promised a while back, and secondly some photos from last night. They’re still growing really quickly, and are now more adventurous
Continue reading “Few More Recent Kitten Piccies”

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Sep 13 2006

Kittens Again

Category: Dasha&KittensChrisM @ 1:13 am

Just to let you know I’m hoping to grab a bit of video of the kittens later this week. Its a DV camcorder, so after connecting it to PC via a FireWire lead, and dumping it in a video app, Pinnacle Studio, Nero, or maybe even Windows Movie Maker, if I get desperate enough, then trying to find the best format/codec to use to show it on the web – need to be careful of monthly transfer limits with my hosting company….

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Sep 11 2006

Not Much Text, Just Photos This Time

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PicturesChrisM @ 5:16 am

As promised, here are the new photos of the kittens…

Dasha Reclining - Two Kittens Feeding, Two Snoozing One Eye Open Already All Feeding Close Up of The Black Kitten Last One For Now - Kittens Top-To-Tail Kittens Snuggling For Warmth

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Sep 09 2006

Saturday, And All Is Well

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PersonalChrisM @ 12:06 am

The weekend has arrived, and so has Aunty Sveta. We’ve not seen her in a few months, so it is good to meet again. She is coming over to ours tomorrow, for her first viewing of our furnished flat.

We also took a peek at Dasha and the kittens, and weighed them. Photos to follow…

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Sep 06 2006

More Dasha And Kittens Photos

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PicturesChrisM @ 1:16 am

I’ve managed to cut down the amount of photos I wanted to post, from around 40, to the following 7.Once more, click on the images to see a slightly larger version.

Dasha And Kittens relaxing and feeding The Proud Mum Kittens Feeding Close up of the kittens Almost finished now Last one I promise - Too cute and close up to leave out
They’re currently adding about 10% of their weight per day, and although still blind and pretty docile, starting to form their own individual characters.

Going back tomorrow to say good bye to Ira’s mum, who is away on a trip to Russia, and see the kittens again.

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Sep 01 2006

Dasha Is A Mum Again

Category: Dasha&Kittens,PicturesChrisM @ 3:13 am

Dasha is Ira’s cat, who lives at the in-laws. She has been pregnant for what seems like forever, and Wednesday night she finally gave birth…
4 Cute Kittens, see below for some photos – click for larger versions.

The lighting varies, as I originally turned the flash off, not wanting to annoy/worry Dasha, but forgot on one shot. They would have looked even murkier without a little Photoshop-ing
Last shot of the evening Kittens Dasha

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