Blog Archive: February 2021
Kobuleti Beach, Georgia
| Tourism objects | 20 seen
Kobuleti is a town in Adjara, western Georgia, situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea
Finally got some free time to edit some unprocessed files.
More to come. Taken with DJI Mavic Mini drone, August 2020
Music by Scott Holmes - Driven to Success
Minimum Wages in European Union 2021
| Macroeconomics | 59 seen
In 2021 there were 21 out of 27 European Union member states with an official minimum wage set by the government.
Turns out this is already the eighth (#8) article about minimum wages in European Union featured on the blog. To keep it up, here is the raw data for minimum wages across European Union in 2021.
Update: Minimum Wages in European Union 2022
Please don't judge too hard, data are taken from this article on Wikipedia, and applied some basic calculations for yearly growth.
The minimum wage in European Union member countries Country Gross 2021 Gross 2020 Growth Change % 1 Luxembourg €2,202.00 €2,142.00 €60.00 2.80% 2 Ireland €1,724.00 €1,616.00 €108.00 6.68% 3 Netherlands €1,680.00 €1,636.00 €44.00 2.69% 4 Germany €1,632.00 €1,584.00 €48.00 3.03% 5 Belgium €1,626.00 €1,594.00 €32.00 2.01% 6 France €1,539.00 €1,539.00 €0.00 0.00% 7 Spain €1,108.00 €1,108.00 €0.00 0.00% 8 Slovenia €1,024.00 €941.…Embūte Nature Park 4K. Ancient Curonian Land. Latvia . DJI MAVIC AIR 2
| Tourism objects | 8 seen
Made a quick drone video from Embūte, quite an awesome ancient land of Curonians. Got a feeling some old Curonian might come out of the woods with a wooden sword and ...
If you happen to be in this area - make sure to visit this place. One of our favorites now
- Music by Scott Holmes: The Edge of Nowhere
- Taken December 13, 2020
Vilgāle Flat: Scrapping Textured Walls / Preparing for Electricity Wiring
| Home Remodeling | 19 seen
It has been already the second week since renovation works are in full swing at our Vilgāle flat.
This week contractors have removed chalk and other texture from the walls and have started preparing walls and ceilings for wiring. Just like in the previous week - I was absent from the works and spent our days in Jūrmala
Master Bedroom Under construction
Looks much happier than I saw this room the first time
Nothing fancy planned here - king-size bed, flat-screen TV, some cabinets, and a closet
Living room
Another flat-screen TV here, a coach, bookshelf, and toddler's bed
Bathroom
A free-standing bath, shower, WC, and a sink, nothing fancy.
for the next week it's planned to finish the wiring and plaster the walls, and hopefully build a frame for drywall ceiling
Cost so far:
- Water plumbing: EUR 60
- Sadales Tīkls: EUR 60
- Electrician: EUR 155
- Architect: EUR 800
- Removing walls and floor: EUR 750
- Chalk removing, / wiring: EUR 500
TOTAL: EUR 2,325
Camping Vērbeļnieki
| Hotel reviews | 15 seen
Guesthouse and camping "Vērbeļnieki" is located on the road Klaipeda - Liepāja, 6 km from the city of Liepāja in Nīca parish (Latvia)
We discovered this place by accident, during a random driving around in the area at the start of February 2021.
As I had equipped with my DJI Mavic AIr 2 drone I decided to capture some nice golden hour photo here
Kids playground at Vērbeļnieki
Our toddler girl was very excited
Golden hour sunset near Vērbeļneki
Place bit reminds me of the Shekhveteli beach near the Black Sea (Georgia)
Vērbeļnieki complex from a drone flight
Top 16 Best Selling Intel Core i9 32 GB RAM Laptops
| Laptop Reviews | 173 seen
Intel Core i9 laptops are not rare in 2021, nor laptops with 32 GB RAM memory
Best suited for business professionals and demanding gamers, here is the list with the top 16 best selling Intel Core i0 32 GB RAM laptops on Amazon
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This article contains affiliate links to Amazon.com, by clicking on links on this page and by making a purchase on the Amazon site, I will earn an affiliate income at no cost to you. Prices for laptops listed on this page are retrieved using Amazon Product Advertising API and is updated daily. For actual prices please refer to the product page on Amazon.
MSI GE66 Raider Dragonshield 10SFS-426 Limited Edition 15.6" Full HD 300Hz VR-Ready Gaming Notebook Computer, Intel Core i9-10980HK 2.4GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 Super 8GB- 15.6" FHD, Anti-Glare Wide View Angle 300Hz 3ms | NVIDIA GeForce RTX2070 Super 8G GDDR6
- Core i9-10980HK 2.4 - 5.3GHz Killer Wi-Fi6 AX1650 (2*2 ax)
- 1TB NVMe SSD 32GB (16G*2) DDR4 3200MHz 2 Sockets; Max Memory 64GB …
Pāvilosta / Jūrkalne 4K HDR / DJI Mavic Air 2
| Tourism objects | 16 seen
Good day at Pāvilosta and Jūrkalne seashore bluffs. Did some 4K HDR filming with DJI Mavic AIR 2
- Filmed November 15, 2020
- Music by Scott Holmes - Sunset moments
Vilgāle flat Renovation - tearing down walls, removing floors
| Home Remodeling | 11 seen
Welcome, to yet another exciting photo series to our latest renovation project - Vilgāle flat.
I bought this flat at an online auction back in September 2020, it took me a few months before all the legal procedures were done and we could actually start renovation works.
For actual renovation works, I hired local contractors at Kuldīga town. Not to speak more here are photos from our first "operation" - tearing down the walls and removing the floor. During these renovation works, I was absent and enjoyed our time in Jūrmala.
Inner walls removed at Vilgāle flat
Here itš planned to install a modern kitchen
Inner walls removed
by removing this wall we are making a spacious united living room with kitchen
Walls removed at bathroom
WC and bathroom were separated
Bathroom
It's planned to install a free standing bath, shower, wc and a sink here
Vilgāle flat renovation
Master bedroom
It total cost me EUR 775 to remove walls and floors (including taking care of transporting and storing debris)
As a next…
Dubulti Beach Winter 2021
| | 7 seen
At the end of January 2021, we temporarily relocated back to Dubulti (Jūrmala). We are looking to stay here for the next two months and hopefully get back to Tbilisi by April 2021
In today's Piece of Life series - Dubulti beach in Winter
Make sure to check out our previous article back from 2018 - Winter near The Baltic Sea (Dubulti beach, Jūrmala)
Dubulti beach in Winter
After a long time, I took again my old Canon DSLR and made a few handheld HDR's
Jūrmala in Winter
Laidi / Laidu muiža / DJI Mavic Mini Latvija
| Tourism objects | 13 seen
A quick drone flight around Laidi village in Kuldīga municipality / Laidi manor and former kolkhoz Spartak.
I'm starting to enjoy these long-range flights without any signal interference as seen in big cities.
DJI Mavic Mini / music by Scott Holmes - Storybook. October 26, 2020
Property prices for Real Estate in Tosmāre, Liepāja
| Real Estate | 32 seen
Tosmāre is a neighborhood of Liepāja, located between Lake Tosmare, the Karosta, and Zaļā Birze. Not as chic as the city center of Liepāja, we still find this a very luring neighborhood and most important - undervalued
In one of our previous articles, we shared an idea of possible investments in the Karosta / Tosmāre neighborhoods of Liepāja. See: Invest in Liepāja Real Estate / Tosmāre / Karosta
Today we decided to visit Tosmāre, and take some cool drone photography while exploring the area
As we have applied for 2 online auctions in the Tosmare neighborhood, and while we are still waiting for the final bidding day (November 23) , today we visited properties to gain an overall idea - we left amazed by what we saw.
Tosmāre from a drone flight
Currently, we have applied for two online auctions in Tosmāre on Nākotnes street. The dwelling houses are very cool and it looks they are from the times of Tsarist Russia.
Current starting bids for 30m2 apartments in these houses are EUR 1,800 and EUR 1,600. That's about 60 EUR per square meter. Taking into…
January 2021 Dividend Income Report - $50.95
| Stock Portfolio | 49 seen
Welcome to the forty-fifth (#45) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks and peer to peer lending in January 2021.
The last January we spent in Latvia, did a lot of planning with our flat in Vilgāle, order new windows, got a construction permit, and started the first renovation works (hired local contractors). At the end of January, we relocated to Jūrmala, where we plan to spend the next two months.
Cēsis Castle in Latvia
On January 2, we paid a shot visit to Cēsis and Valmiera in Latvia
From the perspective of dividend income - Last January was one of the lowest in the already 4-year-old dividend income portfolio. My dividend income keeps falling because I'm shifting away from junk stock. In total, we took just shy $50.95 in dividend income last month. I would wish more for a 4 years old dividend portfolio, but things are as they are.
Compared to the previous January in 2020, when we took $164.99 in dividend income, our monthly dividend has decreased by -65.27% (-$114.04). A year ago we did…