How To Split Large .TSV files and Import to MS Excel or OpenOffice Using EmEditor

4 November, 2015 | Servers | 84 seen

In this article you will learn how to split large .tsv (and not only) files so you can import them to MS Office, Open Office or whatever you need using a small and neat (paid) program called EmEditor.

Here is the scenario - I have been booking.com affiliate partner for many years already, I remember few years ago I dreamt I wish I would programmatically access to all of their hotels (with metadata) , so I could import those data to some other web app and reuse data I want in manner I want to.

Recently I noticed on my Booking Central there is a new option - Data download, and here it was - All I dreamt for a couple of years ago. Booking.com offered me to download their hotel data in zipped .tsv format. Unarchived my file was about 1GB large.  I tried to import it to both Open Office (Libre Office) and MS Excel, but both programs stopped working and couldn't handle my request. For a moment I felt desperate - I have the data but I can't do much of it.

Booking.com hotel data sets

Now I remembered a few years ago I was building a geospatial web application using data from geonames.org, and back…

First Summer Solstice in Our New (Old) House

3 November, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 16 seen

Last year we celebrated Summer Solstice on our apartments balcony in Tbilisi, this year we did it the right way. After I tried out how it's to move grass with a scythe, then with a trimmer and finally hiring a professional grass mover we started to repair our recent acquisition, after room and kitchen was cleaned out ouf junk and some paint job was applied both to walls and ceilings we did a test with a first garden party in order to prepare for this Summer Solstice night.

Now we were ready to great Sun. Since our property on that time was without electricity we decided to go creative and lightened a lot of candles and put them into jars, hang up them in trees and got a superb Summer Solstice feeling.

During Summer solstice a fire place is a must have, it symbolizes light's victory over dark, and according to some old legends with fireplaces we are helping sun to win this battle. On the other hand we used one of our fireplaces (we had two) to burn all that old junk, while second one just for heating and ... helping sun to fight that battle.

Author of this blog captured in action

Burning junk and old furniture

…

Ēdole Castle and Emila Market with 17 Cheeses and Crayfish

2 November, 2015 | Tourism objects | 15 seen

Ēdole Castle is a Gothic Revival castle situated on the banks of Ēdole Lake, Ēdole parish, in the historical region of Courland, western Latvia.

I had an opportunity to visit Ēdole castle and taste some of the 17 cheeses few days before Summer Solstice Līgo was held (back n 2015). During my visit a fair called Emīla market (Emīla tirgus) took action.

Famous Latvian film Emīla nedarbi was filmed here in 1985. So that's the reason why this fair is named after Emīls.

If you enjoy medieval things and medieval architecture you will find a lot interesting at Ēdole castle.

Ēdole castle complex

It was pretty hard to photograph here that day - because a lot of visitors attended Emīla market to taste those tasty cheeses and crayfishes, or buy at least some beer for coming Līgo festival.

Edole castle park territory

Visitors of Emila market (Edole castle)

Such trade fairs are pretty popular in Latvia where you can buy goods from local craftsmen, artists or small producers.

It's free to enter castle complex territory but you…

Removing Junk And Adding First Layer of Paint (Kitchen Works)

1 November, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 6 seen

In my previous article on home remodeling series you already learned how with the help of just a white paint I decided drastically to improve a room which latter might become our bedroom in our rural house. Haven't red that article yet? Go ahead and see it: Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint

Now it was turn for another room (kitchen) to put some facelift on, but before that we had to clean up the mess, remove all the junk and... paint. 

Kitchen loaded with junk

As you can see from above picture both walls and ceiling are covered with soot, Soot is coming from the Kitchener.

There is a stove actually

So we spent about a day just to getting rid from all that junk, so we can get actually access to walls and ceiling.

Our kitchen

I scrapped soot from ceilings, covered the stove with some old wallpapers I found inside the house.

In the background you can see already white painted walls of first room.

Painting windows

You can achieve tremendous effect by just painting your wooden windows.

Adding first layer of…

How To Prepare Traditional Uzbek Plov (Lamb and Rice Pilaf)

31 October, 2015 | Food blogger | 38 seen

In this post you will learn how to prepare a traditional Uzbek plov (lamb and rice pilaf.  It might sound as a complicated food to prepare, but in fact if you have the right ingredients and right tools (cooking pot) there is nothing complicated in it.

There are three main ingredients to get that tasty plov done - lamb meat, rice and quince. Since I'm living in Republic of Georgia, it's easy to find all the ingredients here, on the other hand, it might be tricky to get the correct ingredients in other parts of World. For a seasoning there is one must have - a cumin, but unfortunately a seasoning lady I usually buy spices from in Tbilisi, sold me the wrong cumin and there are no cumin in this recipe, but cumin still is must have, to get that special flavor.

So I headed to local Turkish store called Ankara on Aghmanashebeli street in Tbilisi to buy that lamb meat. I took about 1.5 kg of lamb meat. For the second main ingredient I used the regular rices (not special ones) you can buy at your local store, got quince at local market and here you go - a traditional Uzbek plow.

Ingredients: 

How To Carve a Pumpkin and Make Stunning Halloween Photos

31 October, 2015 | Digital Photography School | 10 seen

In this post you will learn how to carve a pumpkin and prepare it for a good photography. Let's call this digital photography school tutorial -  a pumpkin photo session.

Tools you will need: a pumpkin, sharp knife, a marker, candles a DSLR camera and a tripod (for photography)

For a pumpkin I visited local Tbilisi market and bought one for 2 GEL (~0.6$)

Let's start with carving that pumpkin:

Use a marker to draw up lines on the pumpkin

You can use some trafaret or you can just draw by hand. I prefer doing it by hand (although have never tried using a trafaret yet)

Cutting of the top

Start with cutting of the top of your pumpkin, so you can scoop out the flesh

Use a regular table spoon for removing the flesh

Use a sharp knife for cutting out the lines

Since I love to cook I have plenty of knives available, if you don't have a super sharp kitchen knife you can use any regular cutting knife, but be extra cautious

Shape up the lines

Carving Halloween pumpkin

Use flesh…

Georgian Parliament Building (Kutaisi)

29 October, 2015 | Tourism objects | 77 seen

That day finally come and I have finally photographed the legendary Georgian Parliament building in Kutaisi. After picking up my mom at Kutaisi International Airport and before heading towards to Tbilisi, we made a short excursions around Kutaisi and villages near Kutaisi.

It took me just a few seconds to capture this amazing landscape of futuristic parliament building.

The Georgian Parliament Building in Kutaisi has been the home of the Parliament of Georgia since its inauguration on May 26, 2012, replacing the Parliament building at 8 Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.

Georgian Parliament building in Kutaisi

I have been dreaming of picture like this for some years already, since 2012 at least. Now, I feel very proud of myself and my photography skills.

The government, during the building's construction, promoted it as a symbol of Georgia's bright, democratic future. Its location in Kutaisi was touted as a boost for the regional economy there as well as a way to knit the country closer together. Critics state that the building is a waste of money, and that having Parliament…

Sorrel Soup With Hard-Boiled Eggs (Photo Recipe)

28 October, 2015 | Food blogger | 11 seen

Today we will prepare one of mine all times favorite soup - Sorrel soup.

The idea for this blog post come out of my 365 days photo project, when everyday I'm taking some picture in Manual mode and publish it to my Flickr account. Since the strong jury didn't enjoyed my entry photo with sliced onion for day 13 I was literally taken to the kitchen and all I has to do  - just to photograph. One image speaks thousands words! Enjoy!

Ingredients: Sorrels, carrots, smoked meat, potatoes, dills, parsley, some onion and some seasoning.

Start with grated carrots:

Grated carrot

Chop that meat

Dills and parley

Sliced potatoes

Now bring all the above ingredients to some pot (before you should boil some water in it)

Boiling sorrel soup

Scissors and sorrels

Now, you should add sorrel to your soup at the end. Take scissors and nicely slice your sorrels. You can of course use knife, but I prefer scissors

chopped sorrels

Hard boiled egg

Your sorrel soup…

Room One - Wall and Ceiling Painting with Water Based Paint

27 October, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 10 seen

It took us some time to figure out what do next with our recently inherited rural house which was not in her best shape. After I started my fight with grass, (Lawn moving with scythe and Lawn moving with trimmer)  I decided it's time to free up some space inside the house, so we actually have some room to stay for night, for example. Since our major tasks for this summer was actually to change that leaky roof, we were not ready to invest any serious money in building a perfect room, so I bought the cheapest water based paint, some brushes and started to paint.

We decided we will go for a white color, we will make one room completely white (except floor), so at least we have some space which looks decent enough to put in some mattress and probably stay overnight sometime.

It took us some few days actually clean up that room from junk

Room waiting to be painted

The walls was covered with some wallpapers and ceilings was blow out with a chalk. The last time those wallpapers were covered and chalk blown up was some 40 years ago.. Both under wallpapers and under chalk were cardboard plates. So all I had to do was prepare…

Café 'Staburadze' Review in Kuldīga (Latvia)

25 October, 2015 | Restaurant reviews | 22 seen

Cafe Staburadze is located on Liepajas street in Kuldiga. Here serves a traditional Latvian cuisine (pork chops and other stuff) and ... I just love this place.

 After I had tried almost all of the Kuldīga cafe's and restaurants I have concluded that exactly cafe Staburadze is among my favorite dining places in lovely Kuldīga town. 

And here are just a few reasons you will love Staburadze as well - it's centrally located in Kuldīga (on central Liepajas street) - it has a budget friendly prices, they serve traditional Latvian cuisine here (pork chops), staff is friendly but what's important - food is just excelent.

Cafe Staburadze building in Kuldiga

Menu at Cafe Staburadze

• Salads, snacks, pork, chicken, beef, fish and desserts. 

Seems they have covered all spectrum of food here. 

Meat balls with boiled potatoes as side dish and cabbage salads

Guess what? I will prepare some of this in one of my next food blog posts.

Solyanka soup

Don't miss solyanka soup once in Latvia. I will definetly add a…

Diana Krall Concert Review in Tbilisi (Georgia)

24 October, 2015 | Living in Georgia | 11 seen

Diana Krall performed in Tbilisi in frames of Tbilisi Jazz Festival and her own Wallflower World Tour on October 23, 2015. 

We visited this show at Tbilisi Philharmonic hall (Previous time I was here was a concert of a Russian band Aquarium and Boris Grebenshchikov 2014).

During this show some older songs from Diana Krall repertoire, like Fly me to the moon were performed and  of course some new ones. But speaking of me, I most probably enjoyed the most song California Dreamin'. Amazing show, great animated visuals on screen.

The show was set to start at 20:00

Stage is ready for Diana Krall at Tbilisi Jazz Festival 2015

As it happens in such events, show didn't started at 20:00 but at 21:00, so the visitors had plenty time to take selfies and I had plenty time to master my DSLR photography (I took my camera with telephoto lens attached)

Girl with a Polaroid camera

I captured this lovely girl with her Polaroid camera (instant photos)

Tbilisi Philharmonic hall

Our seats were at the balcony and telephoto lens test for my…

Boiled Potatoes With Ground Meat Sauce Recipe

24 October, 2015 | Food blogger | 14 seen

Welcome everyone to just another food blogger post series - today we will prepare a very simple recipe - Boiled potatoes with ground meat sauce. 

It's just that time of the year when I found myself more in kitchen just eager to cook something, and after a visit to the local market I decided I want to prepare something simple, tasty and something I could photograph for my digital photography school project. As I believe a successful food blogger should take sharable and pinable pictures (share them now!)

This is one of the simplest foods I can actually name - I was like a 5 or something when my grandmother taught me how to prepare sauces, and I really love sauces. It took me more time to learn how to actually boil potatoes.

Potatoes, just obliviously, ground (minced) meat, carrots, onions, salt&pepper, a little bit milk (I prefer sour cream, but milk is just fine)

About 25 minutes

Peel the potatoes and place in a saucepan

Now add water and potatoes until they are soft

First Barbecue Festival in Our Newly Inherited House

22 October, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 7 seen

While there is a good reason to visit a barbecue festival in Armenia, in this post I will provide some details on the first barbecue festival (OK, it's actually a party) we held in our recently inherited country house, where some serious home remodeling tasks are performed.

Throwing up a barbecue party is a must have to fully enjoy all the good works and intentions you are doing while performing such a routine tasks, like fighting a grass (and I had fight with it all Summer along), figuring out how to change that leaky roof, or doing some paint job. This was a special party, there were not many people invited (just 3 and a dog) but it got us amazing feeling of happiness. Hey, we are on the right track.

Preparing table for a barbecue set

We did find some old table inside the house and covered it with a linen tablecloth and got a really lovely place to serve barbecue

Simplified grill 

Overgrown territory starts to look alike a lawn

I have used both a scythe and a trimmer, but latter I hired a trimmer guy who did all the hard work for us (expensive, but worth of cost). 

…

Hiking in Borjomi (Georgia)

21 October, 2015 | Outdoor Activities | 11 seen

A group of four Georgia Expat Photographer club members visited Borjomi on September 20, and we did a lovely hike here. I took my camera, Map My Ride app (great for recording trekking routes) and here is the result.

During this route which took us some 3 hours we visited 2 lovely monastery sites, discovered an open air sulphur pools, spent some time in Borjomi mineral water park and of course took that lovely Borjomi cable car

About route: In total this route was 8.25 km long, took about 3 hours to finish (we did have stops, and I paused app there) and burned 2707 Kcal.

We started our route by taking Borjomi cable car to get uphill. 

Borjomi Spring water Dome house (taken from cable car)

Our hike started here (well actually few meters bellow we entered that Borjomi cable car). 

• Ticket price per ride - 3GEL

View to Borjomi

So the cable car got us up, and we took our chances to shot lovely photos like above

Acorns in Borjomi

Mountainous road in Borjomi

…

Lawn Mowing with a Trimmer

20 October, 2015 | Home Remodeling | 6 seen

Right, this post is like and extended version for my previous post in home remodeling series on lawn mowing with a scythe. After a tough fight with grass using old school tools like scythe it was enough for me. And I mean it - no more scythe for me.

Having a house in rural Latvia teaches a very important lesson, you have to own a trimmer, or it will be a very costly for you to fight the grass. Since some serious trimmers cost a lot and we hadn't actually planed to spend a money on it, we found an owner who could rent us out his trimmer for a six pack of beer.

Author of this blog captured in action fighting grass with a trimmer

Gosh, what an experience - during my first trimmering  I learnt I know nothing about trimmering grass - first of all - I was very afraid of this machine, second I had no idea how it is actually working - well I learnt that latter (I have a whole grass fighting story during our first year of home remodeling) 

Our fish pond completely overgrown in grass

I actually did something wrong with this trimmer, so I had to buy new details for it. So…