Tsalka lake & Dashbashi canyon with waterfalls
This time, our destination was the mesmerizing Tsalka Lake and Dashbashi Canyon, where nature's beauty unfolds in every corner. From hyper-lapses over the tranquil lake to an adrenaline-pumping drone flight over a 240-meter long glass bridge, this weekend was truly one for the books. Fasten your seatbelts, and let's dive into the magic of Tsalka and Dashbashi!Our journey began at Tsalka Lake, a hidden gem surrounded by rolling hills and lush greenery. The calm waters mirrored the clear blue sky, creating a serene atmosphere that instantly transported us away from the hustle and bustle of daily life. A-frame houses dotted the landscape, offering a picturesque backdrop for our weekend…
Notes from Tbilisi - Crypto Club, Learning Spanish, Could Bitcoin crash $25,000
Yesterday I visited the crypto club event at Local Tbilisi. Met a bunch of smart guys, mostly expats, was fun to watch bitcoin love/hate talks, listened to stories about investing in alt-coins. Been there, and seen that.
As you might already know - I'm neutral on crypto, neither bullish nor bearish. Prefer to trade Bitcoin futures.
With a smile, listened to the crypto talks about where should bitcoin go next, some saying bitcoin will have support at $20,000 some said at $18,000. nevertheless, most of the crypto enthusiasts didn't care about the bitcoin price dropping, as seems they are hodlers or not investing in Bitcoin at all but in some altcoins.
Belgian guy made a lot of…
Georgian language classes for Expats in Tbilisi
I've been involved in the Georgias ex-pat community for some good time already, a few years ago I helped to launch the Georgian Expat photographer club, and some years later I launched Expats in Georgia Facebook group, and today I'm happily sharing the latest brainchild - Georgian for expats
A couple of weeks ago I helped to start - the Georgian for an Expats language course. It took us some 72 hours from the idea to realization, as we already had an office in a convenient location, tutors, and even a whiteboard - it was all about marketing texts, and Facebook ads.
After the first 24 hours, we got our first students.
Here is what it all is about
Learn basic Georgian in 8…
Notes from Tbilisi - Gym, BitcoinGeorgia.Ge, Georgian for Expats and Bitcoin dips under $32,000
Wow, what a day it was today - stock futures were opening lower, quite lower, Dow Jones index was failing more than 400 points, extending the stock market bleeding for some sixth or seventh week in a row.
I was holding several long bitcoin positions on Deribit with strike prices above $40,000, and the losses just kept accelerating, to keep my positions above the water I bought more bitcoin and deposited them on Deribit.
Bitcoin is not for all. Bitcoin futures, definitely are for a few select ones.
Went to the Champions academy for some cardio and dumbell workout. Later worked on my latest brainchild - BitcoinGeorgia.ge (more on that in some of the other blog posts.
In the evening…
Weekend trip to Batumi from Tbilisi by Train
In this article, I will share notes and points of interest from our latest trip to Batumi during the Orthodox Easter 2022.
We were traveling from Tbilisi Railway station by train, paying GEL 25 for a seat in second class (The price for the seat in first class was GEL 60, business class GEL 100). Comfortable 2-story Swiss-built Stadler train, the total travel time about 6 hours. Just a few stops - Tbilisi - Ureki, Kobuleti, Batumi.
Batumi railway station is not located in the city center, so we took a Taxi (Bolt app) and paid about 5-6 GEL for a transfer to our hotel near the Boulevard. We chose to stay at Best Western Premium hotel, which is located out of the city center but offered a…
Batumi Loves You
R is For Restaurant - or here is what we got after spending 4 days in Batumi - dealing with a ton of real estate developers, cheesecakes and chocolate fondants, blue skies, and swimming pools. Hyper lapses and long-range drone flights.
Filmed with a DJI Mavic drone and Samsung Galaxy A52 mobile phone. Batumi April 19-April 23, 2022
Best Western Premier Batumi Hotel
Best Western Premier Batumi hotel is one of our best finds in Batumi, the price corresponds to the service. Budget-friendly 4-star hotel with a swimming pool.
I booked this hotel directly by calling to the reception instead booking online and got a very nice offer - 800 GEL for 4 nights with breakfast included and additional head for our 3-year old kiddo. I think we saved at least 500-600 GEL. Quite nice. If you prefer online booking, here is my shame affiliate link: Book now
Not centrally located, but taxis are quite affordable in Batumi, literally we spent about 2-3 GEL for getting to the city center and GEL 8-10 to getting to Batumi botanical garden with Bolt taxi. Very affordable.…
Easter 2022
Good times in Georgia or another awesome Easter weekend have been recorded in our tapes. From the windy mountains near Mtskheta, hiking trip near Turtle lake, egg fights in Tbilisi, meeting fellow Latvians at Vake park, and dining near the Bazaleti lake.
Enjoy the video and thumbs up!
Diaries from Tbilisi - Bitcoin's Correlation to S&P 500, Teacher's Parent meeting at QSI
Good evening from Tbilisi!
The day started with a few short positions on Bitcoin, while I was waiting for the stock futures updates from CNBC, visited my hairdresser Katya, got my hair trimmed and straightened. Love it.
The futures market opened and showed kind of a green day ahead, my short positions on Bitcoin got challenged, but I decided to keep them open and see what happens next.
We went to the newly opened Domino DIY shopping mall in the Dighomi area and bought some goodies and tools for Sandra's urban garden in Vake. At 16:00 we had agreed on a teacher-parent meeting at QSI.
Had a lovely conversation with Ms. Nino, and discussed our 3-year olds achievements at school. All is…
Bitcoin, Gym, SP 500 and Tbilisi
Another interesting week has started here in Tbilisi. At the night I woke up I placed a long position on Bitcoin futures at $40,017, later in the morning before going to the gym I noticed Bitcoin in but under $40,000. Once I was at the gym Bitcoin tumbled another 1000 points, and I had a chance to think a lot about liquidity issues.
Post-processed a few photographs and made a short movie about our Easter adventures.
I know Bitcoin correlates with SPX 500, so I was waiting for the futures market to open and quite frequently refreshed CNBC. during the day Bitcoin bit recovered and I placed a few more trades with a long position.
At 15:20 left for the QSI school, with Ramaz, our…
March 2022 Dividend Income Report - $154.58
Welcome to the fifty-ninth (#59) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks in March 2022.Last month we spent both in Georgia and Latvia. We had a Spring break from QSI school in Tbilisi and we decided to visit Latvia, my daughter had a chance to pick up some Latvian, and I had a chance to install floors at our Vilgåle apt. Also, we bought an old Mercedes Benz ML 400 SUV car, so we have transport next time when in Latvia. Rental cars add up in the end.Buying a car in RigaFrom the perspective of dividend income - Last March was nothing to brag about, some humble $154.58 from a few dividend-paying stocks.Dividend income…
Goldigen Room Artisan Pizza In Kuldiga
Welcome to another Kuldīga Restaurant review - today I will write about a lovely pizza place located just in heart of Kuldīga town - Goldingen Room Artisan Pizza.
The family restaurant Goldingen room, located in the heart of the old town of Kuldiga – Town Hall Square, is a story about the taste and mood of Italy. The restaurant offers to discover flavors of Mediterranean cuisine, complete with topping-up local produce and matching wines from Italian, French and local producers, and other soft drinks. You can also enjoy real Italian pizzas here, fried in a wood-burned pizza oven, delicious Italian pasta, and more. The interior of the restaurant is designed in an industrial romantic way.…
Installing laminate flooring, painting walls
During the weekend I did a lot at our Vilgāle apartment, fixed some electric plugs, painted walls, and installed the floor, but first things first - it was agreed to save huge on the floor by choosing laminate instead of parquet.
We paid less than EUR 9/m2 for laminate and saved on installation as I did it myself. Parquet would cost about EUR 40-50/m2.
I chose DEPO store in Riga to buy the floor and tools
In total paid EUR 378 for about 32m2 laminate, figure saw and wooden fiber boards (the green ones)
Before proceeding, I had to remove 9 bags of trash from the room
Looks quite cozy already. Unfortunetly that afternoon there was a very heavy storm and our village was cut off from the…
How to Fix Apache Configuration Error AH00558: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name
Not the biggest Apache fan here, but today working on a server while setting up Apache as a reverse proxy for the JBoss application, after trying to restart the apache service I faced the following issue Apache Configuration Error AH00558: Could not reliably determine the server's fully qualified domain name.
Luckily, a quick Google helped to find the solution:
Long story short (For Debian / Ubuntu)
sudo nano /etc/apache2/apache2.conf
Add a line containing ServerName 127.0.0.1 to the end of the file
Polishing, Painting and some cable works
I spent another day at our Vilgāle apt, today's plan was to polish the ceiling and wall (I yesterday plastered) and add the base layer of paint for the living room and hallway.
In the morning we went to Majai un darzam store in Kuldīga, where I bought a bucket of paint, some plugs, and switches, special screws for drywall, so I can properly install the lamp from IKEA, and the day started.
Yesterday I decided to apply more plaster on kitchen wall (under the window) today Ibpolished it and applied freh layer of paint
More paint will be applied here later
Looks quite light
Now, looks really nice already - like a qualitative rental location
Living area, kitchen and hallway. I hope to…
Wall Plastering, Ceiling Paint, Some Electricity works
It has been a while since the latest update from the Vilgale apartment, in fact, it has been 3 months since I last visited it. Now, having a Spring break from QSI school in Tbilisi, we decided to visit Latvia for some 2 weeks and do some things - like continuing with the renovation works at the Vilgāle apt.
I bought some materials back in Riga at the Depo store and was the very happy and enthusiastic starting day today at Vilgāle.
This is where we were left before the New Year of 2022. Today I decided to plaster walls in the hallway.
After couple of hours I was done. Saved a few hundred euros I guess.
Most of the plasteting works should be done now
After plastering works, I decided to…
Svan Tower in Tbilisi (Turtle Lake)
Svan Tower near Turtle lake is a well seen, but less visited tourist attraction in Tbilisi. Best reached while hiking near Turtle lake.
Hiking Trails in Tbilisi - Turtle Lake (Kus Tba) - Tskneti
Hiking trails near Turtle lake, Tbilisi in Winter
We visited the Svan Tower again in Tbilisi at the end of February 2022 and had a lovely picnic in the footsteps of the tower. See this short video I made: Hiking trip near Turtle Lake
The hiking route towards Swan tower from the Turtle lake, shouldn't take more than 20 minutes
To visit the real Svan towers, you should consider a trip to Svaneti and especially the town of Mestia.
Buying a car in Riga
A few years ago I wrote an article on how to buy a used car in Georgia, now it is time to write about our experience buying a used car in Riga Latvia.For the past couple of years, we were using mostly car rentals and enjoyed it a lot - I mean no headaches about servicing the car, someone brings your car to the airport, you drop it at the airport. Quite nice, also quite expensive. It was agreed we could buy some used car and use it for some two years to come and then let's see what happens. A few years ago we had a reliable Honda CRV car here in Latvia, we used it a lot during the Summer months and the car suited well during winter months too, unfortunately, the investment the car asked…
Diaries from Tbilisi or Fun Friday with school, office, options trading and flying
The day started with a lot of snow here in Tbilisi, yesterday we parked our VW Touareg at Archi Tower paid underground parking (paying about GEL 200 / month), and decided to rely on taxi service until Friday's flight to Riga.
A few days ago my personal Driver David refused to make a trip to the QSI international school and back to our apartment for GEL 20 (roundtrip). Well what to do, now we need to rely on BOLT or drive ourselves. Sad our area is not served by school bus.
We dropped kiddo at school and drive to the office in Vake. I installed one PC with Windows and MS products, had a nice chat with office personnel, and at the end of the day talked to Shorena, a smart Georgian…
Buying Amazon stock on margin (NASDAQ:AMZN) before stock split to sell covered calls
On March 17, 2022, I assisted in buying 1 share of AMZN stock for my fiancee. She paid USD 3,101.99 for 1 share.Our goal is to have 5 shares by June 6, 2022. My fiancee is having her birthday on June 10 and by that time I hope I will be able to assist her in selling the first covered call on AMZN stock as well.Book my Covered Calls Course | How to Generate Income from OptionsNow, long story short AMZN stock is doing a 1:20 stock split on June 6, 2022:On March 9, 2022, the Board of Directors of Amazon.com, Inc. (the “Company”) approved a 20-for-1 split of the Company’s common stock to be effected through an amendment to the Company’s Restated Certificate of Incorporation (the “Amendment”).…