How Amazon Associates Receives Their Checks in Republic of Georgia - Part 2

31 January, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 44 seen

Welcome to the 2 part of my blog series on how Amazon Associates receives checks and gets them redeemed in the Republic of Georgia.

How participants of the Amazon Associates program are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia by a bank check is a blog series I originally made at the end of 2014 / start of 2015 while struggling to redeem my first bank check issued by Amazon,

Although it's still technically possible to withdraw bank checks in Georgia, at the end of 2016, I flew to the US and opened a bank account there, see: How To Open A Bank Account in the U.S., As A Non-resident Non-citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

For complete series of my adventures while living in Georgia with Georgian banks and checks from Amazon, please see:

• How Amazon Affiliates get paid in the Republic of Georgia - Part 1
• How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 2
• How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 3 - Waiting 40 Working Days
• How Amazon Associates Receive Their Checks in the Republic of Georgia - Part 4 - Bank Commission Fees
…

From Fitness Centers to Rafting Adventures: Living in Georgia's Top Activities

30 January, 2015 | Travel guides | 8 seen

As a celebration of my 100th post in the 'Living in Georgia' category, I decided to put together a travel-friendly guide of the best places, activities, and ideas that I have discovered during my time living in this amazing country.

Starting from the day I began this blog on October 11, 2013, I will take you on a journey of different activities to experience in Georgia, from visiting fitness centers to trying out thrilling rafting adventures. You will have the opportunity to explore ancient Georgian sites and discover the diverse regions of this beautiful country. Additionally, I will be sharing some restaurant reviews for your culinary adventures.

So pack your bags, get ready to explore, and join me on a journey to discover the best of Georgia! Don't forget to check out my other 99 posts in the 'Living in Georgia' category for even more inspiration.

'Bank Republic' Georgia Offers Check Redemption

30 January, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 19 seen

Some time ago I made a post about how Amazon Associates are getting paid in the Republic of Georgia, I was wise enough to call that article "Part 1" because I knew there will be a long and probably complicated procedure of  "cashing" a check sent by Amazon Associates here in Georgia.

Again, some time ago I wrote a post about how to open a banking account in the Republic of Georgia for foreigners, in that post I suggested sticking with ProCredit bank.

Update: TBC bank took over the Bank Republic a few years ago. I currently do not hold an account with the Bank Republic or TBC. For the time I was using Bank Republic - one of the best banking experiences here in Georgia.

If you need consultancy or help with opening a bank account in Georgia, visit the Terramatris website: Opening Bank Account in Georgia

Recently I finally received my first Amazon Associates check, so I went straight to my bank - ProCredit bank.

Unfortunately clerks there had no idea what to do with a check, I got really interested, and pardon me strange answers - like the minimum checksum must…

'Hilton Batumi' Hotel Will be Opened in May, 2015

29 January, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 14 seen

Today looking through Georgian news, I found another interesting news about plans of opening Batumi Hilton hotel in this (2015) May.  I lived for a short period of time in Batumi, back in 2012, and I do remember they had a lot of visionary ideas around the city, including the Hilton Batumi hotel. 

Update: Hilton hotel has been opened, and see my review here: Hilton Batumi Hotel Review

Finally, seems there is some progress, so enough preface, according to GHN (You can read original here):

in May in Batumi city will be opened five star hotel "Hilton Batumi". The opening of the hotel was announced at the end of 2014, however the final official opening ceremony will take place at the beginning of tourist season in summer time, reports GHN.

There are no comments about why the opening of the hotel was delayed. For this time there is not known average price of the rooms of the hotel. 

The hotel Hilton Batumi consists two buildings, one building is hotel, another one will be living building. There are totally 23 floors and 248 rooms.

As the management of Hilton Batumi explains the price…

Veterinary Clinic Natia Beridze in Tbilisi

28 January, 2015 | Professional services | 103 seen

In case you are looking for a veterinary clinic for your pet, I can suggest you Natia Beridze on Nutsubidze street in Tbilisi. Natia is a fantastic person, she just loves animals so you shouldn't be worried that of your pet wont be taken care properly.

You (your pet) can get here all possible animal vaccinations, blood tests, surgery and even all paperwork regarding travel documents.

Logo and address details for Natia Beridze veterinary clinic

Pay attention to Town Musicians of Bremen in logo - I really love it!

Inside at Veterinary Clinic

Animal photos

Kote - Sheriff of this veterinary

Kote is a friendly cat, who will like to take a tap in your lap, while Natia and others will take care of your pet. 

Parking lot near Veterinary Clinic

Natia and her personnel speaks English, I can strongly recommend this veterinary clinic in Tbilisi for all pet lovers.

Drupal 8 Configuration for Nginx Server Blocks, Ubuntu 14.04

28 January, 2015 | Drupal Development | 17 seen

After a long period of doubts should I start testing and developing with Drupal 8, which stable version is not yet released, yesterday I decided to give a try for a Drupal 8 beta release.

I bought a new Linode VPS, quickly deployed there Ubuntu 14.04, and installed Nginx as a web server. I did it because my current server is PHP 5.2, and Drupal 8 is asking for at least PHP 5.3. So  - not to mess up with my existing server configuration, a new Linode seemed the best option. 

All went pretty smoothly, I had some problems configuring Nginx virtual server blocks, but after a couple of hours of investigation all went right (I forget to do the server restart a few times, to apply new changes).

Anyway, when the virtual server was configured, and DNS pointed, I quickly installed Drupal 8 on one of the sub-domains (I'm looking to do a Drupal 7 upgrade to Drupal 8, for my existing blog - the one you are reading right now)

Unfortunately, my Drupal 8 website didn't loaded, because of incorrect Virtual Server block settings (what works for Drupal 7, seems doesn't works for Drupal 8). Luckily I found a working…

Tutorial on Drupal User Roles and Permissions

27 January, 2015 | Drupal Development | 5 seen

High Speed Rail will Boost Kenya's economy

27 January, 2015 | Railway / Bus / Ferry | 6 seen

Il tredicesimo apostolo (The Thirteenth Apostle) TV series

26 January, 2015 | Worth to Watch | 83 seen

A long time has passed since I wrote about the TV series I watch - it could mean just one - I watch them less. Well, that doesn't mean I'm not watching any more TV series at all. I'm!

So - here comes one interesting TV series from Italy - Il tredicesimo apostolo (The Thirteenth Apostle) is an Italian television series produced in 2012. Directed by Alexis Sweet.

In short, the plot revolves around a young priest named Gabriel, who is a professor of theology. In collaboration with the psychologist Claudia, he has been researching the mystical phenomena.

I wouldn't call this a super masterpiece, taking into account that in every tense episode there is thunder and rain behind the window, but in overall, this is pretty the same, something from Dan Brown archives :)

Episode from TV series

Starring: Con Claudio Gioe’, Claudia Pandolfi, Luigi Diberti, Chiara Nicola, Glenn Blackhall, Yorgo Voyagis, Stefano Pesce, Tony Bertorelli e Tommaso Ragno

Official Facebook Page

Affordable Rental Prices in Catalonia, Spain - Starting EUR 400.00/month

25 January, 2015 | Travel guides | 15 seen

Today I was looking for long term apartment rentals in Spain and I was surprised of how cheap some of them are. Honestly, looking through some of the photos I was surprsied.

I have been in Spain just once, and I have seen just a small part of it, last autumn we headed to Catalonia, we visited places like Barcelona, Girona, Figueras, Roses, Cadacues, Sitges and other. You can read a full review of my Spain + Andorra travel guide here.

I found a rental site of http://www.kyero.com/ where according to Kyero are listed more than 175,000 real estate rental and sale offers from more than 2,000 agents in Spain.

I decided to higlight just some of the offers in Catalonia (in places I have visited during my latest Spain trip)

Apartment for Rent In Barcelona EUR 550/month

0 bedrooms 1 bath 35 m2 built

heating - air conditioning, heating

utilities - city gas, water, telephone

outside - terrace

other - lift

View rental offer here

Town house for rent in Girona EUR 1,300/…

Restaurant 'Деловой ...' Review in Tskneti

24 January, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 17 seen

Welcome to another Tbilisi Restaurant review - today I will speak of a restaurant located in Tbilisi Suburbs in Tskenti.

The problem is that I don't know name of this restaurant, today I asked a locals and they told it's called a 'Biz... of something', in Russian they used a word 'Деловой'... well sorry I cannot give you a more details of this restaurants name. But I must admit I like 'Деловой...' very much.

We arrived here after a bowling match at Kopala bowling centre.

Before I will dig into food photography - let me mention one more thing, here they speak Georgian only, so either have a interpreter with yourself, or learn some basic Georgian.

We managed to order mcvadi, kava, kitris i pomidori, imeruli khachapuri, ghvino, lemonadi, tkemali, sacabeli and some other goods. for counting thing all you need to know - erti, ori, sami... and finally asking for a check - angarashi ashelaba!

As usual for taking photographs I'm using my Samsung phone and usingInstagram(link is external) (then taking them from Instagram and adding to posts - you can read a…

Kopala Bowling Review in Tskneti

24 January, 2015 | Entertainment | 55 seen

Kopala Bowling is a bowling center located in the suburbs of Tbilisi, the mountainous village of Tskneti.

This is one of the few places in Tbilisi and the neighborhood to play bowling. 

We have been familiar with this place for ages, as in the past we came here quite often.

Kopola is not only a place where to play bowling, actually Kopola is a hotel with bowling and other entertainment facilities inside. 

We actually booked one night stay at the start of Septemebr 2022, and enjoyed both playing bowling + having indoor swimming pool.

Prices:

• For bowling 1 hour working days: 20GEL*
• For bowling 1 hour weekends: 40GEL*
• Turkish coffee at cafeteria: 3 GEL*

*Prices are as of 2015; in 2022 there have been high inflation and the cost have risen. We paid GEL 30 for 1 hour blowling, but we got a 20 GEL discount because we were staying at the hotel.

The entertainment and Bowling center “Kopala” is situated in downtown of Tskneti resort area, which is fifteen minutes drive from Tbilisi center. It is comparable to European highest-level…

Mobile Devices in Digital Economy: My Case Study with Black Friday and Cyber Monday

22 January, 2015 | Blogging | 16 seen

Today I red an interesting article on Forbes The Digital Economy Is The New "App Economy"  By Ross Mauri, IBM. 

According to the annual IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark results, overall online sales rose 13.9 percent for the 2014 holiday season. Cyber shopping during November and December set another record high, while mobile traffic accounted for 45 percent of all online traffic. On Black Friday, for example, mobile devices accounted for one-in-four online purchases. In essence, with this increasing reliance on mobile devices, the digital economy is rapidly become the app economy.

Since I'm a proud Amazon's Associate since August 2014, I too have some data to report. In short, yes last Black Friday and Cyber Monday helped me to earn pretty decent income, it started with $704.00 in November and grown to best so far $2029.00 in December.

I'm using Google Analytics to track my blog's progress over time, and I have set there event based goals to track clicks on outgoing links (Links to Amazon, for example)

Clicks to Amazon (Black Friday)

As you can see from…

Second Traffic Spike Happened - more than 3,500 Unique Visitors on January 19

21 January, 2015 | Blogging | 4 seen

Another major traffic spike to my blog happened on January 19, 2015, when total unique visitor count reached 3,584.

Update: Read how I got 10,000 page views in day a year later.

Previous or first major traffic spike happened about a year ago on January 24, 2014, when unique's totalled in more than 1,000.

I believe there will be some who are going to smile about such results, I mean those of you who are receiving traffic more than 5,000 unique visitors per day, but for me - well, it's a great achievement. Best so far!

Traffic Spike more than 3,500 unique visitors per day 

As you can see in above image my traffic went up on January 19, 2015 and totalled in 3,584 unique visitors. 

First thing I was concerned when I noticed a traffic surge - will my VPS will handle this spike, there was no need to be worried, my Linode VPS handled it with ease:

Linode VPS CPU Usage

Nothing unusual here, got around 32% of CPU on January 19, 2015

Linode VPS Network Usage

The only thing I noticed on my Linode VPS - …

The Dezerter Bazaar (Market) in Tbilisi - Day Before New Year's Eve

20 January, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 32 seen

In this article, I have listed a few photos from the visit to the Tbilisi Dezerteer market on December 30, 2014 (

Warning - Some of the images may be inappropriate for some users, on few of them are pictured slaughtered animals.

I'm not a vegetarian but I must admit, there are times when walking through this market I have considered becoming one.

Georgian version of Christmas trees

Well, to explain this version of a Christmas tree I would need to wrap up another blog post, but in short - I have no idea why Georgians make such Christmas trees.

Pumpkins for sale at Tbilisi Dezerter market

Mandarins at Tbilisi Dezerter market

Tbilisi Dezerter Bazaar

Piglets for sale at Tbilisi Market

Well, this is another interesting trend in Georgia. As New Years comes closer, more piglets are eaten. 

Chicken for sale at Tbilisi market

I don't know why they are yellow, personally I would avoid to buy any of meat products at Bazaar, probably they are just fine, but my inner feeling just keeps me avoiding of such…