Dec 05 2007

Happy Birthday Mum

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 3:08 am

Yep, it is a popular week for birthdays. Today is Mum’s birthday, and she’ll be… … 31 again (?) LOL.
I’ve just spoken to her, as here in Kazakhstan, it is already the 5th December, so I wanted to get a quick congratulations in.
I hope she has a great day, with nothing too stressful going on. This will certainly be a packed month for her, with her birthday, her two sons, a daughter-in-law and Ira’s parents coming for Xmas, her wedding to John a few days later, and then Ira and I will be around for New Year as well. Really looking forward to catching up, and seeing everyone again.

Happy Birthday Mum Happy Birthday Carol Merriman
Happy Birthday Carol Kavanagh - May As Well Get Used To That Combination Now...
Happy Birthday Carol
Happy Birthday Mrs Merriman
Happy Birthday Mrs Kavanagh

Snomrazh Denya – or something that sounds like that anyway.

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Dec 03 2007

My Main Christmas Present

Category: Personal,WiFi,Windows Mobile — ChrisM @ 3:01 pm

I just wanted to show my readers a demonstration of my next toy 🙂
It is called a HTC TyTn II and will be replacing some of my current equipment…

My current phone (an Orange C550 (a rebadged HTC Hurricane) which crashes and some buttons no longer work all the time.
My current PDA (a HP iPAQ 2210) with a non-functioning directional pad, faulty USB socket, a snapped battery cover and it also crashes.
GPS unit – my current one no longer gets a fix on satellites.
The TyTn II also has a built-in camera, which should be an improvement over my current phone’s. Though without a flash, I don’t think it will be completely replacing our current digital camera.
Anyway, have a play with the demo below, you can spin the model around, slide open the keyboard and tilt the screen.
Continue reading “My Main Christmas Present”

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Dec 03 2007

Barrels Of Fun

Category: Eating Out,Personal — ChrisM @ 10:04 am

To celebrate Dr Natalya’s birthday, we went to the ‘barrel’ restaurant yesterday. I have forgotten the official name of the place, but due to the use of huge barrels outside as dining areas (at least in the summer months), that barrel place is easier to remember 🙂
As well as Dr Natalya, her husband Sasha (when in doubt, if a guy is Russian, Sasha is normally a safe bet 😉 ), their daughter Sveta and Masha, we also had Balzhan and her son Ildar. We finally had a chance to pass on a couple of little presents for the kids (some toys and a British comic each) who seemed to enjoy them. Anyway, we had some salad (OK, I admit I just munched on the bread), a few plates of pork sashliq and I ordered some chips. Topped off with some ice cream, and a good time was had by all. Sadly Balzhan and Ildar can not make it this Christmas to Mum’s wedding, so it was good to see them again before New Year, which is a much bigger holiday/celebration over here, than Xmas.

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Nov 26 2007

7 Months 17 Days!

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 2:18 am

Blog income this year – once I have earned another $1.40, this blog will have paid for the following items this year

    Return plane tickets to Amsterdam and Britain, back in September
    3 way split on the rent for an apartment in Amsterdam
    Spending money for the three week holiday in Amsterdam and Britain
    Irina’s new phone (well most of it 🙂 )
    A few meals out during the last 7 months
    Most of the cost for the plane tickets Ira and I bought for our trip to Britain this Xmas
    Irina’s Xmas pressie (a lovely little laptop. Am I stupid, or just assuming she doesn’t read this blog? Neither, I know she reads the blog, but she helped me to narrow down the selection. This will be a laptop for her to browse the internet whilst I’m hogging the current PC, and to do some office-type work on. Therefore, my normal criteria of how well it plays games and whether it has enough LEDs/transparent casing should not apply to her laptop 🙂 (I’m also hereby giving Ira written consent to whack me around the head (with something soft) should I start treating it as anything other than her PC…))

Anyway, despite Google’s decision to penalize myself and many other bloggers by wiping out their PageRank (I was expecting a rise to 5, from 4, instead of dropping to 0 with 3 drops in a month), I hope that this blog will help assist this household for the next few years, though I am obviously hoping to diversify the income sources as well.

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Nov 21 2007

UK Trip Details

Category: Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 5:10 am

THIS POST IS TEMPORARILY ‘STUCK’ TO THE FRONT PAGE.
PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO SEE MORE RECENT POSTS, THANKS…

Once again, this post is primarily for family and friends back in Britain. A few have asked when and where we will be this Christmas time, and rather than repeating ourselves umpteen times, I thought I would post it up here, and refer people to the blog instead. More visitors never hurt the Alexa rank either 😉

Leave Astana 22nd December : 07:25
Arrive Moscow : 08:00
Leave Moscow : 10:05
Arrive Heathrow : 11:15

At this point John is hopefully picking us up in the motor-home, and driving us back to Clydach
23rd December : Flying visit to, and tour of, Cheltenham, as Ira’s parents will be returning to Kazakhstan before New Year
25th December : Something major happened this day in history, anyone recall?
27th December : Mum and John get married. 🙂 🙂 🙂 (note to myself, remember to update Outlook Contacts to Carol Kavanagh!)
29th December : The in-laws return to Kazakhstan, so following flight times are just for them…

Leave Heathrow : TBC
Arrive Moscow : TBC
Leave Moscow : TBC
Arrive Astana : TBC

New Years : At Mum & John’s place
Post-New Year : Spend some time in Clydach, Cheltenham (catching up with friends sober enough to move), Evesham (to see Dad), and hopefully London (to finally catch a glimpse of EmmaF’s new home, as well as other friends living there)
12th January : We leave Britain to return to Kazakhstan, with the following flight times

Leave Heathrow 12th January : 12:25
Arrive Moscow : 19:30
Leave Moscow 13th January : 00:10
Arrive Astana : 06:25

All flights are quoted with local times

Oh, and once again, a random two word phrase to make searching for this post, once it has slipped off the front page, a little easier. Hmm we had pink badger last time I think, so today’s phrase will be red dove.

[edit] Well, turns out there is a film called Red Dove. Involving amnesia, communism and water polo. I’m half tempted to try and source a torrent for that, it seems like an interesting mix of plot devices!

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Nov 19 2007

Not Long Until Return To The UK…

Category: Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:29 am

Just under 5 weeks now until Ira, myself, and both in-laws will be travelling to Britain for Christmas and Mum & John’s wedding. This will be the first time Ira’s mum has been there, and now they have their visas sorted, it is just the matter of Xmas pressies to sort that is left out standing. Although the in-laws are returning to Kazakhstan for the New Year, Ira and I are spending that with Mum, and then 10 or so days more in Britain, so we can see my Dad, and our friends in Cheltenham etc. So for the few (‘real’ world) friends that do bother to read these posts, let me know when you’ll be around via e-mail or IM, or pretend you will be away if you want to avoid us 😛

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Oct 26 2007

Started A New Job This Week…

Category: Personal — ChrisM @ 3:57 pm

Thanks to our friend Walton, I started a new job this week, teaching English to Russians and Kazakhs that want to improve their language skills.
Before people start spitting coke/tea/coffee all over their monitors, I should point out that I am really just there to provide conversational practice, rather than drill the intricacies of grammar rules into the victims pupils. So far I have one student four times a week, and another just once. As they don’t know this blog exists I am obviously not about to post their names, but the first is a retired man who used to work in the airline industry, and wants to improve his English for speaking to foreigners when he travels, and the other is still at school. The first person will have their lessons at 11.30am, which is good for me, as I don’t need to worry about getting to bed before 3am the preceding night, however as the 2nd pupil is still at school, I will need to be at the office by 9am once a week! Don’t go expecting too many blog posts on a Monday night for a while 🙂
Although this blog earns me more money per hour of work than this ‘real’ job, any extra certainly helps, as Ira and I will be travelling to Britain this Christmas for Mum & John’s wedding. Hopefully either Ira’s Mum or both parents will be coming as well, with Balzhan and Ildar another possibility. Anyway, I hope to make a proper post on the planned happy events this Yule tide a little later.

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Aug 28 2007

Kittens Progress

Category: Dasha&Kittens,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:03 am

In a couple of days time, our Karra and Muska will be one year old. They already have a younger brother (Tima), who they will probably meet at Christmas time, when Ira and I will be coming back to Britain for a couple of weeks or so. During the last year, Karra has grown from a little bundle of fluff that was naughty but cute, to a large kitten who is… naughty but cute. Our wall paper is testament to the fact that she can not be trained not to do something, and although often mentioned at the beginning, we never had the heart to go and buy a water sprayer to try and dissuade her from such activities. My slippers’ lifespan has also drastically shortened, as both Karra and Muska seem to enjoy ripping the lining out, and in Karras case, wearing them as a sort of balaclava. Although frustrating to see the slippers deteriorate so quickly, seeing my slipper slide about with just two hind legs and a tail hanging out the back is quite funny.
Muska has been a success story on the whole. Originally she was to stay with the in-laws, however as they both work in normal jobs over here, she did not get a lot of human interaction, and so was VERY wary of anyone trying to stroke her, or even be within a metre or so of her. We originally took her to our flat as a sort of training camp, so when she was comfortable with humans, she could go back home, and not hide whenever the in laws had company. I think it took about 18 hours for that plan to go out the window. Although she is still a little more cautious, especially compared to Karra, Muska will now often demand a stroke, and is not afraid of Karra as she was when she first arrived.
Anyway, I’ll stop boring you with details for now, though I should mention I hope to upload our video of the new kitten (Tima) soon; I’ve already transferred it from the camcorder to the PC, but at its’ current full resolution, uncompressed status, 1 minute of DV video requires approximately 200 Mb, so I need to trim out the unnecessary sections and start working on it a little later.

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Jul 27 2007

Trip Planned

Category: Amsterdam,Friends,Personal — ChrisM @ 3:22 am

Unfortunately, ChrisD is not able to make it over to Kazakhstan this year. On the plus side, I am meeting him in Amsterdam for a few days of relaxation, and then travelling onto Britain to see family and friends. (My brother’s birthday is something I was hoping to get back to the UK for, and now it is sorted 🙂 .) Unfortunately Irina does not have enough holiday left to come as well, but we will all be back in Britain around Christmas time.

Anyway, my travel details are as follows :-

Leaving Astana 21st September 08:50
Arrive Kaliningrad 21st September 11:00
Leave Kaliningrad 21st September 12:50
Arrive Amsterdam 21st September 13:55

Spend 3 nights in Amsterdam, at an apartment with a view of the canal, that belongs to the Hotel Amstelzicht.
Then on to Britain…

Leave Amsterdam 24th September 18:20
Arrive Birmingham 24th September 18:40

3 and a bit weeks in Britain to say hello to family and friends. Hopefully fit in Evesham and Cheltenham, then Swansea (well Clydach actually), then down to Falmouth for my bro’s birthday.
Then…

Leave Birmingham 16th October 06:25
Arrive Schipol 16th October 08:50
Leave Schipol 16th October 16:15
Arrive Kaliningrad 16th October 19:15
Leave Kaliningrad 16th October 21:35
Arrive Astana 17th October 05:15

(All times are local)

I am going to miss Ira like crazy, but I am looking forward to the break immensely, and it will be really good to see Nick, Mum, John, Dad, Jan and some Cheltenham friends as well.

Pink Badger

Why that random phrase? One of the main reasons I am posting this flight information is so that if family want to know the details, or I am not at home, I or they can just search for a unique (I’m pretty sure I did not include it anywhere else 😉 ) phrase on this blog, and know they have the right post immediately.
You never know, perhaps pink badger is also a popular search engine search term, and I will increase this site’s traffic…. Not too likely though.

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Jul 08 2007

Alex Safe & Sound

Category: Friends,In The Media,Personal — ChrisM @ 8:04 pm

We have just received a text from Alex, of Dryad Musings fame, and she is back in Britain, on the coach back to Cheltenham. So no unexpected 24 hour delays in Kaliningrad this time, which is a huge relief. Early this morning, we saw her off at the airport (they did not seem to mind her 28 kilo suitcase, luckily), and it would appear that the cigarettes and vodka did not receive undue attention at the UK airport 😉

It was really good to see her again, as we last met at Christmas. Although it was sad to see her go, we will hopefully be meeting up once more this coming December, if all goes well. We may even be able to persuade Ira’s parents to come and visit England with us!

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