shopping

On spending money

My Linux Weekly News expires in a couple of days. I’ve been supporting the publication for the last two or three years and I still find it to be a great source of good journalism. But I realized that I haven’t been using it that much in a last year. Sometimes it were weeks between my visits to LWN. It just doesn’t matter that much to me anymore. And I think this is a good reason to stop renewing my account.

With all those extra money I feel like I have to find a new place to spend them. The problem is that I don’t use that many web services anymore.

Most of the stuff I do on the web is connected to my site in this or that way. So I was considering donating to WordPress at first. But they say that time is the best thing I can give to them, not money. And I do promote WordPress as much as I can both on this website and when I talk to people.

Than I thought about Gallery. But I figured that I am not that happy with it yet and I’ve only just started using it. I am not sure yet that I will stay with it for a long time.

By this time, I was practically out of alternatives. And than it hit me – Flickr. I don’t use it much yet, but it bugs me all the time. Flickr is an excellent service and I want to find the way to use it. And maybe I will. Currently, I am just backing up some of the most important images there, but I think it’s that monthly bandwidth limitation that stops me from working with it seriously.

Another point that made me consider Flickr more than anything else is that by paying them money, I won’t be just donating. I will get a FlickrPro account that will increase the monthly bandwidth limit from 20 MBytes to 2 GBytes and provide me with a bunch of other useful functionality.

I haven’t yet made my mind though. I am still thinking about it. If you have any suggestions on which other services or product I might be interested in, let me know.

More gadgets for the kitchen

Olga and I were planning to get few more gadgets for our kitchen for some time now. We need the functionality, but we are a bit tight on space. Today we decided that we won’t find a solution unless we would actually be having a problem. So went out and bought ourselves a blender (27 CYP) and toaster (12 CYP). Blender is needed for Maxim’s food cooking. And toaster is just an old dream of both of us.

So far we haven’t yet unpacked the new items, but we already have two or three solutions on how to rearrange the kitchen order. I guess we will work something out now.

DVD collection update

I bought a few more DVDs using Martin’s special offer (1 DVD for 7 CYP, 5 DVDs for 30 CYP, 10 DVDs for 50 CYP). This time I got the 10 DVDs pack. Here is a list of movies:

Lethal Weapon full collection (Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). This is an all time classic of criminal action with elements of comedy. I don’t know how many times I saw all of these movies, but I’ll sure see them some more. Actually I started with part 1 already.
American History X – one of the best movies about racism and nationalism. Ever.
Requem for a Dream – one of the best movies about drugs. Ever.
Beyond Borders. This one is not as highly ranked as others, but it is very inspirational to me.
Enemy at the Gates – because I just love sniper movies. And because this is a really good movie on its own.
Fight Club. Do I even have to comment about it?
Man on Fire – one of the best action movies that were released recently.

Update: I should sleep more or learn how to count to ten. Missed “Man on Fire”. Fixed.

All About Beer

Ok, guys, you gonna love this! I have totally accidentally found the first BEER SHOP in Cyprus! Not only that – it is in Limassol too! Is there still anyone out there who thinks that Limassol is not totally the best city in Cyprus? I guess not…

Anyway, the shop is totally cool. I am writing this post in hope that they will have enough business to stay alive for years to come. There is a great variety of beers in the shop. And I mean a really great variety. They have cans, bottles, and drafts from Cyprus, Greece, Germany, Belgium, Holland, UK, India, and some other countries. I couldn’t count all the brands and kinds of beer that they have, but I am sure they offer well over 40 products.

Additionally, you can buy anything related to beer – glasses, pints, mugs, and tankarts. Nuts and other finger food. Accessories. Gift packages. I can’teven name everything they have.

While in the shop, you can ask for assistance from the two guys who work there (and look like they own the place). There is also a printed guide into different kinds of beer that they have. Business cards and printed bookmarklet can be taken out too.

The shop has opened about one and a half month ago, so they didn’t manage to create a website just yet. But they booked the domain already (at least it’s printed on the business cards) – www.AllAboutBeer.net.

Here is all the information from the business card (I don’t have a scanner):

All About Beer
Sissifou & Ammochostou Str.
3075 Limassol – Cyprus
Tel. 25732007
Fax. 25732008
e-mail: info (at) allaboutbeer.net
www.allaboutbeer.net

Finding the shop is very easy. It is next to Ermes Appolo (ex-Woolworth). If you will turn towards Ermes from the Makariou III Avenue and look to your left across the Ermes parking, you will see the All About Beer shop on the parallel street (perpendicular to Makariou III avenue, next to Ermes parking space). Give them a call if you get lost, but it is really easy to find.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to enjoy a bottle of Kwak…

One place I shouldn’t go

I have a special relationship with all bookstores. Since I feel an unstopable urge to buy half of the books every time I go in to one, I try to avoid them as much as possible. Actually, I’ve been pretty successful at that. I decided to buy all my books from Amazon, but since I am too greedy to pay for shipping and since I don’t have a credit card of my own, I don’t buy that often. All my book shopping ends with my wishlist.

Today though I made a strategic mistake. I had to visit my bank and instead of driving, I walked. And I totally forgot (or didn’t want to remember) that there is an excellent Kyriakou bookshop on the way. I passed it once on the way to the bank and pushed myself not to enter. It took all my powers, but I passed by. Since I didn’t have any powers left, I couldn’t take another road home. And on the way back, I went in. Ouch.

I spent less than 3 minutes inside, but I managed to buy 3 books, paying over 50 CYP (Now you can understand why I try to avoid these places). Here’s what I got:

“Digital Photography Special Effects” by Michael Freeman. It’s been some time since I wanted to buy some book that would explain few tricks of digital image manipulation. When I saw the book by Michael Freeman I just had to buy it. I’ve read his other book “Complete Guide to Photography“, which is still the best book on the subject that I’ve read. The Special Effects book is in hardcover, with lots of illustrations, and costs about 19 CYP. “That’s value for money” I thought and picked it up.
“Mediterranean Island Dreams” by Jeremy Horner. This is another book that I picked from the Photography section. It has almost 250 color pictures of Mediterranean islands and I want it for some inspiration and ideas. Plus 21 CYP is not that much for that many pictures. Picked that up too.
“Rough guide to Cyprus” by Mark Dubin. This book is very well tested, since my good friend Vladimir has a copy. We used the book to investigate Cyprus and to open way more places here than we could imagine – restaurants and beaches specifically. I wanted to order this book from Amazon anyway, but when I saw it in the local bookshop for a mere 12 CYP I decided to buy it.

Additionally, I’ve discovered that this bookshop has an excellent Photography section with lots and lots of books. I’ll have to revisit it next month for sure. How can I stop this fever now?