Blog Archive: February 2017
Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal
| Railway / Bus / Ferry | 15 seen
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 tickets for return way.
Either you are on the budget or you just love to travel by buses, greyhound and megabus are great choice.
The Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal is the primary intercity bus station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at 1001 Filbert Street in Center City Philadelphia, immediately north of The Gallery at Market East shopping mall and the SEPTA Jefferson Station, a few hundred feet east of the Pennsylvania Convention Center and Reading Terminal Market, a few hundred feet south of the Trocadero Theatre and the south edge of Philadelphia's Chinatown district, and within 1/2 mile of …
Night Office 2016
| Home Remodeling | 4 seen
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 finish some works online, and I opted to enjoy one of the last Summer evenings outside.
It was planed to build a nice outdoor summer terrace for evenings like this, but we didn't managed this year, though it's among top priorities for next home remodeling year.
Night Office 2016
For getting warm I made a small fireplace inside grill. For making long exposure night photography had to use a tripod and really enjoyed light coming out from headlight.
Working scene 2016
Isn't just lovely?
Blog Income: 63% YoY Increase in Google AdSense Revenue
| Blogging | 10 seen
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 from Google AdSense 2009-2016
By accessing my Google AdSense reports today (02/26/2017) I noticed that my lifetime revenue from this channel has reached EUR 1305.68 for a time period Sep 4, 2009 - Feb 26, 2017. It is for a seven and a half years. Nothing much, right? About EUR 174 per year, on the other hand the real increase have started from 2014.
How I Made $1,000 with Google AdSense in 7 years
If compared year over year, during the past year, it has been a whooping 63% increase.
There was a time when I took a pause from any attempts to build new or maintain existing low value websites for about two years, as they…
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers, Secaucus, NJ
| Restaurant reviews | 11 seen
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 Red. Everything is so red around you.
Fish & Chips at Red Robin
I wouldn't order them once more. Yes they were eatable, fur far from fish & chips IMHO. Remember - once in a burger place, order burgers and not fish & chips. That's a life lesson I feel I have finally learnt.
Milk shake and shot of Vodka
Yup a strange combination. Let me explain, at that day I felt a bit ill, and a shot of Vodka usually helps :)
First Rows of Aerated Concrete Block For Pump Room
| Home Remodeling | 7 seen
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 days later, we will dig another trenches and for the first time in house's lifetime water will be inside the house. Amazing. But, not so fast, there are still a lot to do, like to finish this wall at first.
View toward house
How To Install GlobalSight Translation Management System on Linode VPS (Ubuntu 14.04)
| Servers | 50 seen
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 tutorial you should be able to manage it under 2 hours (including some testing).
About GlobalSight Translation Management SystemGlobalSight is an open-source Globalization Management System (GMS) that manages and streamlines all of the tasks involved in the translation process - from requesting a new translation to quoting, project management, translating, reviewing, Desktop Publishing (DTP), reporting and so on.
Setting up Linode VPS serverFor this test I will purchase a brand new 10$/mo VPS server from Linode and will deploy Ubuntu 14.04 on it. Read Getting Started with Linode guide.
After you have successfully purchased a VPS from Linode, deploy Ubuntu 14.04 on it and…
La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands
| Hotel reviews | 12 seen
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 here from JFK airport, after a long flight, see: About Tbilisi - Kiev - New York Flight by Ukrainian Airlines
Just off I-95, this Secaucus hotel offers easy access to Manhattan attractions with a bus stop right at the hotel. It features spacious suites with free WiFi and a cable TV.
Our hotel room at La Quinta Inn & Suites Secaucus Meadowlands
We got two king size beds, which in fact is nice. At this hotel we stayed for about 4 nights at te end of 2016 and start of 2017. From this hotel it was easy to access Manhattan (Port authority) using a bus ride for about 6USD per ride. Bus stop is located some 200-300 meters from this facility,
A refrigerator, microwave and coffee…
Grading Soil Around Foundation
| Home Remodeling | 14 seen
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 right grade, water collects at the base, causing erosion, foundation cracks, mold and unhealthy vegetation. To ensure a proper grade, slope any landscape additions away from the base of the structure, so water flows farther out into the yard.
Let's start with what we got:
Newly poured foundation
After intensive couple of last weeks, major foundation works are done, with even one wall been constructed (in the background)
See: Constructing Foundation From Fibo Ceramsite Blocks For Pump Room and The Last Row of Aerated Concrete Blocks Masonry
Grading soil around foundation
After couple of hours work was done. It was originally planed to build a…
Zen Ramen and Sushi House, New York City
| Restaurant reviews | 11 seen
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 was bright banners that attracted our attention, and just then we notices this might be a sushi place.
Sushi set at Zen Ramen and Sushi house
Wow, that was something really great. I would say the best sushi I have tried (though I haven't tried them too much). But sushi here, was defiantly 200% better than I have tried before.
More sushi
Spending $4 Per Day On Facebook Ads - Case Study
| Blogging | 63 seen
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.
Generally I'm promoting blog articles related to tourism activities in Georgia. For the better (cheaper) results I'm targeting local Georgian audience as well. Though, during my latest Facebook ads campaign I experimented with targeting other countries as well, and got some decent results.
Facebook Ads reach
For the record, population of Georgia is about 3.72 million. Making my reach of Georgian audience to stand at about 2.6% in January 2016. Awesome.
That's in fact I'm trying to achieve here - build some brand recognition about myself and mine services offered to the people of Georgia.
Now, about two years ago I did come up with and idea: …
Constructing Foundation From Fibo Ceramsite Blocks For Pump Room
| Home Remodeling | 7 seen
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 parts were there are no foundation at all for house, it has been sitting just on few stones for more than hundred years. We had to change that.
The task is neither complicated nor hard, it involves a lot of dealing with different things, planing, leveling, organizing materials and so on.
Constructing foundation from fibo blocks
Fibo blocks are sitting on foundation footing. See: Pouring Concrete Footing
Few days ago we finished pouring footing for this part of house and some week earlier we demolished wall.
Pouring concrete
Concrete is poured over and metal rods are added to strengthen foundation
Support for roof
Yup,we actually…
How To Open A Bank Account in U.S., As A Non-resident Non - citizen, Wells Fargo Bank
| Doing Business | 149 seen
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. which sends checks instead of direct payments for international partners, Amazon Associates, for example
If you are looking for a way how to open a bank account in the USA without actually visiting USA, this guide is not for you, as to make it work, I actually visited a Wells Fargo branch in Manhattan, New York City.
Now, the U.S. has been on my radar since 2012, when I first headed there to scout my options on how to incorporate a LLC there. I didn't incorporate after all, though made another trip in 2013. As it might happen when you explore the World around you, and if you look around and listen, you will start notice some things. And so, during last 4 or 5 years I have heard many times that non U.S.…
My Start at Investing on Mintos Peer to Peer Lending Platform: Depositing Funds
| Peer to Peer Lending | 43 seen
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. Individual investors must be at least 18 years old, have a bank account in the European Union or third countries currently considered to have AML/CFT systems equivalent to the EU, and have their identity successfully verified by Mintos. At the moment, US citizens or taxpayers cannot register as investors at Mintos.
Affiliate link here: Signup to Mintos.com here. By using this affiliate link for registration both you and I will receive — 1% of our average daily balance which should be paid in 3 installments for the first 90 days.
Unfortunately, or for good, it took me some 8 more months before actually starting investing in peer to peer using their platform. The…
When Foundations Crumble - Home Remodeling
| Home Remodeling | 9 seen
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 meat and look on overall progress of home remodeling.
See: Home Remodeling - How It All Starts
Work in progress
Author of this blog standing next to the concrete mixer.
And then it happened:
Rock fall on the foundation
A minor landslide and rock from the old foundation felt in the free flow. Concrete was still fresh it was just a matter of removing that rock and making sure there is no more landslides around foundation
Somebody had to remove that rock
Visitors arrived but I was still busy managing rocks out of the foundation.
Central Park, New York City
| Tourism objects | 17 seen
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 of... New York. At the end of 2016 I had a chance to visit New York again - this time I was prepared with a tripod and camera.
Central park in New York city
Originally park was established in 1857 on 778 acres (315 ha) of city-owned land.
Central Park was designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 1962. The Park, managed for decades by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, is currently managed by the Central Park Conservancy under contract with the municipal government in a public-private partnership. The Conservancy is a non-profit organization that contributes 75 percent of Central Park's…