Blog Archive: February 2017

Travel

Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal

There is a super cheap way to travel across the United States using intercity buses. Back in the Summer 2013 I made a long journey from New York to Houston, Texas for about USD 200 per 2 persons using MegaBus. 

Last time I was in the US, we decided to go to Philadelphia from NYC using Greyhound, the ticket price was very cheap some 24 USD, again for two persons. When we traveled back to NYC, we bought even cheaper - USD 10…

Building & Renovation

Night Office 2016

It's in the far future I will build a fancy working space in our rural country house, for now we are still busy of replacing log walls with aerated concrete blocks.

For now to perform digital nomad activities I'm left with what I have a laptop and high speed internet - and I cannot complain.

See: My Outdoor Working Place During Last Summer (2015)  and My Summer Office 2016

It was on the cold September night, I had to…

Blogging

Blog Income: 63% YoY Increase in Google AdSense Revenue

Learn how I increased revenue from Google AdSense by 63% Year over Year and how you could too. 

For a prelude: I have been using Google AdSense for already seven and a half years by now, from whom first four and a half years have generated a really modest sum of EUR 100 from many low traffic and let's be totally honest - thin content websites (I had installed AdSense ad units on dozens of sites).



Earnings…

Restaurant reviews

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Secaucus, NJ

Once in the Burger bar - order burgers. That's how in short I could describe my experience at Red Robin Gourmet Burger in Secaucus, NJ.

Located in the some building were La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands, in which we stayed during my latest US trip Red Robin was an oblivious choice for meal. They indeed have gourmet burgers and super delicious milkshakes. 



Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in Secaucus

No wonder it's called…

Building & Renovation

First Rows of Aerated Concrete Block For Pump Room

Let's keep building walls from aerated concrete blocks - the material I really love - it's easy to install, it's durable and it should be cost effective in combination with proper insulation.

Today I was left alone, no handy hands, completely on my own - at start I was worried, but result turned out really good.



Walls from aerated concrete blocks

Yesterday I did the soil grading, and this part of the house starts looking decent. A couple of…

Drupal & Servers

How To Install GlobalSight Translation Management System on Linode VPS (Ubuntu 14.04)

There are plenty of translation management systems available on the market, some are better, some have features that other's don't have. And some are paid while some are Open Source (free)

In today's servers article series I will share my configuration I used to install Open Source GlobalSight translation management system on Linode VPS running Ubuntu 14.04

It took me about 8 hours to get it finally runing, but using following…

Hotel reviews

La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands

La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands was our first hotel in United States, during our latest trip here. We booked this hotel as a secret deal on hotwire, as we wanted to get a reasonable price for a hotel with easy access to the Manhattan, New York city.

Our booking price was about USD 140 per night here.

Once our reservation was confirmed, it turned out to be located in the New Jersey, we paid for a limo service about $140 to get…

Building & Renovation

Grading Soil Around Foundation

I could probably come up with an article How to grade soil around foundation, but I'm not an expert on this topic.

In today's home remodeling series I will show with images how I leveled soil around foundations using just two tools - a shovel and a rake.

Technically speaking, here is what you should know about grading soil around foundation:


Proper grading around the foundation of your home keeps many potential issues at bay. Without the…

Restaurant reviews

Zen Ramen and Sushi House, New York City

Nestled in the middle of financial district, New York City, we discovered this place by an accident. After wondering around Manhattan, I took the wrong subway ride and once we left subway, we were in a cool neighborhood somewhere in Midtown.

This place promised some 50% discount on some select sushi and we decided to go inside.



Zen Ramen and Sushi house in New York City

if you don't read Japanese you should take a careful look around, as it…

Blogging

Spending $4 Per Day On Facebook Ads - Case Study

When it comes down to the Facebook Ads, I have love it / hate it relations, let me explain - I believe Facebook Ads are one of the simplest ways for small business to spread the word, while, at least, speaking about my experience the results are questionable.

I'm spending on Facebook ads regularly, my spending/promotion habits are pretty simple - I can spend actively for one month, then stop for some two months and start again.…

Building & Renovation

Constructing Foundation From Fibo Ceramsite Blocks For Pump Room

The long story short - we are continuing to build a pump room, a room to store inside pumps and other aggregates, earlier this Summer we drill a bore hole and we are looking to draw in water to the house. For that we need a pump room.

Unfortunately the old log walls have been rotten and we started to replace them with aerated concrete blocks, prior to that we had to strengthen foundation. During foundation works we found out that there are…

Doing Business

How To Open A Bank Account in U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank

Long story short - after the long and painful check operations, originally sent from the U.S., and redemption in Georgia (or probably in any country except USA), which takes at least some 40 working days and huge bank fees for check procedures - I decided enough is enough, I'm going to the United States and I will open a bank account there, in order to receive direct payments to my bank account instead of checks.

Yes, there are companies in U.S…

Investing

My Start at Investing on Mintos Peer to Peer Lending Platform: Depositing Funds

I first heard about Mintos.com peer to peer lending platform at the start of 2016, later that year I decided to give it a try, as I was looking for investment opportunities especially in Georgia.

Back at these days Mintos operated already in Georgian lending market. I even made an article later that year, see: Invest in Georgia - Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending - Mintos.com

Both individuals and entities can invest through Mintos.…

Building & Renovation

When Foundations Crumble - Home Remodeling

When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do? Psalm 11:3

Today was meant to be an easy day, we had to continue foundation works, pouring in concrete, nothing complicated in fact, just a manpower to carry gravel with wheelbarrow for some 100 meters from the pile to the concrete mixer. I had two workers helping me out today, what could go wrong?

It was planned some visitors will arrive in the evening and we will grill some…

Travel

Central Park, New York City

Central Park is an urban park in Manhattan, New York City. Central Park is the most visited urban park in the United States, with about 40 million visitors yearly, also it's one of the most filmed locations in the world.

Central Park should be on every travelers, going to the NYC, bucket list, I first visited it in the Spring 2012, and was really amazed of an elegant urban/nature solutions in the middle…

Building & Renovation

First plants for Rock Garden

Last summer we not only concreted a lot and demolished walls, but planted some plants and trees in the surrounding territory. 

See: Planting an Apple Tree (Doch Melbi / Daughter Melbi / Дочь Мелбы)

After we shaped a little bit our rock garden it was time to plant first plants.



First plants at rock garden

For the record - thyme and rosemary

Travel

Short Day Trip To Kiev, Ukraine

Long story short - we had a chance to spend in Kiev couple of hours, during our latest flight Tbilisi - Kiev - New York city, after our flight was delayed for about 10 hours at Kiev's Borispol airport we decided to use these hours by exploring Kiev, instead of waiting at airport's transit area.

Out of the airport terminal at Borispol, there are buses taking passengers either to Kharkivksya or Vokzalnaya. The ticket…

Building & Renovation

Shaping Rock Garden

It was on the same day when guys and I demolished walls and poured in concrete for home foundation, while the better part of me, decided to shape a little bit rock garden we recently formed from stones used at cowshed's foundation, during pond excavation works. See: Building a Rock Garden and Pond Digging - Part 3 - The Result

The idea was simple, we are looking to plant some flowers and plants into rock garden, we…

Travel

Independence Square in Kiev

Maidan Nezalezhnosti (literally:Independence Square) is the central square of Kiev, the capital city of Ukraine.

One of the city's main squares, it is located on Khreshchatyk Street in the Shevchenko Raion. The square has been known under many different names, but often it is called simply Maidan ("square").

I had a brief chance to visit and make one photography of Kiev's Maidan Square at the end of 2016, during unplanned short Kiev city tour…

Hotel reviews

Rooms Hotel Kazbegi

Located at the base of Kazbek Mountain in Stepantsminda Village, 7 km from the 14th-century Gergeti Trinity Church, Hotel Kazbegi features a lobby bar with a library (I even got local Georgian Forbes magazine in English) and free Wi-Fi.

We booked our stay at Rooms hotel Kazbegi in the middle of December 2016, and were accompanied by friends of us, who luckily had a ground transport and were able to take us there, as speaking of public…

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