The order is here. Not in my hands yet though.

Today I received an update on my order. It has arrived to Cyprus and is waiting for me in one of the post offices, here in Limassol. Unfortunately I go the news too late to pick it up today. So, the whole day and night and a bit of the morning I’ll have to try NOT to think about a new lens and all the fun I can have with it. As well as all that fun that I can have with a bigger memory card for my phone.

No, I am not thinking about that. No. Not right now. And now. Oh, come on! Send me something to get my mind of this thing…

New hobby on the horizon

It looks like I am about to engage in a new hobby – HAM or Amateur radio.

I’ve been reading up about it for the last few days and the more I read the more I find it fascinating. It also appears that there are a lot of people in Cyprus who are into HAM. Surprisingly, I even know few of them pretty good. I just never new that they were into it.

I talked on the phone to one guy, here in Limassol, and he was very helpful and showing me the way. Basically, I need to ask for an application form from the Ministry of Telecommunications. (I am planning to do just that on coming Monday.) The application will cost about 10 CYP. It’ll take about a month for the Ministry to respond. Usually they say ‘yes’ to everyone.

To get the license, there is an exam. Ministry holds the exam twice a year, so it can be anywhere from 4 to 6 month until the next one. This will give me enough time to study. I was told that if it was 10 years ago, I would have to buy a few books. But these days, all the information is availble on the Web.

Another good thing is that until August of this year, there were two levels of certification. One was for the beginners and was rather limiting in frequencies and actiosn that were allowed. Another one was for advanced hobbiests and professionals and required passing the Morse code exam. In August though, the law was changed and now there is only one exam that, when passed, gives access to everything there is.

The license costs 30 CYP for the first year, and 15 CYP for all consecutive years. Beginner’s equipment costs are somewhere around 100-150 CYP. Sound affordable to me.

Maxim’s citizenship. Attempt No. 1

The time came for Maxim to get his citizenship. I was trying to delay this moment as much as I could. I am waiting for the news from my Cyprus citizenship case that is in processing for more than two years now. And, naturally, I was hoping to get the Cypriot citizenship and pass it on to Maxim.

Unfortunately, it can’t wait no more and we have to arrange for the Russian citizenship for him too.

Continue reading Maxim’s citizenship. Attempt No. 1

The butcher job

Yesterday I’ve got the chance to use my hatchet knife. It was the first time I bought one (a few month ago), and I never had anything to chop into pieces. Why did I buy a hatchet knife you might ask. Well, it’s a long story.

Note: this post is really a long story and it has some creepy details that involve the dead flash and a hatchet. If you are sensitive about this sort of things, maybe you should probably avoid reading this post altogether.

Continue reading The butcher job

That was really fast!

Just a few dyas ago, I’ve mentioned that Ermes now has a Russian corner with a few products. I made so much noise about it that few people decided to go and check it out.

Guess what did they find. Try once again. Ok, for the last one. No? Well, nothing. Everything from those shelves has been removed. I went around all the shelves and haven’t found any traces.

I guess that was a pilot test… Which didn’t went through.