We wanted to throw a party for quite a long time, and what can be a better chance to do it than a New Year eve? The perfect cause. And what can be better than a fancy dress party? Said & done!

It was also quite a special celebration, since everyone was from our hometown, back in Latvia and it was such a good fun we can’t remember having anything like this in the last decade. No kidding. Our party people really made an effort to make it a memorable night - from the costumes to the home-made, mostly traditional (yammy!), dishes. And we had whole 2 V’s, both Olegs :)
(more…)

A year ago I was buying a domain name for my newly formed Skrinshot LTD. It did not come as a big surprise that skrinshot.com was already taken. So I had no choice, but to register under .co.uk (which wasn’t that bad, since business was registered and operating in UK).

Ac couple of weeks ago I received an email from itdomainnames.net, basically saying ’skrinshot.com is coming available for sale in a few days. If you have interest in acquiring it, please fill up priority notice, and we will contact you when the domain is available.’ Right, that is interesting! So I followed the link in the email.
(more…)

Last weekend we came down to Brighton with a few of our friends to catch some, probably last sunlight, before it all goes grey and gloomy. It’s pretty much the end of August and this is our… first visit to the seaside this summer. A bit late, yes, but hey, the summer wasn’t that brilliant. Well, it’s the British one.

Luckily it was warm and sunny (as a general rule it was raining or at least it was heavy-clouded on any day Veronika had a day off this summer, poor girl, her skin is still marble-white), so it was nice just to chill-out on the beach and read a book.

The water wasn’t warm though. As a matter of fact, it was freezing cold (that’s why you see me on the picture wrapped in the towel, as you could guess), and not so many ventured into going swimming. But I did. In the end, it would have looked to me as a missed opportunity if I hadn’t dare. Painfully to get in, then requiring intensive body and limbs movements once you are there, but then surprisingly nice and fresh (as long as you keep moving :). Yes, I am the man.

One of those lazy days… We walked around the beach to see the sunset before we jumped into the train back to London.

Product packaging. So often remarkably excessive and ‘not smart’. Waste of money, waste of space and non-recyclable most of the time. Some companies are getting it right nowadays, but still there are many more, which don’t seem to care. Just have a look inside your bin.

No wonder I have respect for the companies that do their best trying to minimize the environmental damage with their products. Or at least do something, since it’s not possible to become green and sustainable overnight, after hundreds of years of not caring about these issues at all. And I appreciate it even more when they do it with a style (and a sense of humor). And look what I found on the side of my yoghurt today:

Isn’t it cute? For me it’s a good example of marrying design and functionality. It’s a small thing, but hey, small things do matter.

The way it’s done actually reminds me of packaging of everyone’s favorite Innocent Smoothies with they cute witty comments on the boxes. By the way, here is the latest one, probably not as cute as ever, but still quite enjoyable.

So yeah, that little feature of youghurt packaging definitely wins me if the range of yoghurts is presented (even if it’s just a smart marketing of an evil corporation, which, and I hope it is not). Besides, the yoghurt itself tastes good.

Oh, in case you are wondering what I have I used the yoghurt for, here is a picture. A bit of a food porn for you. Yummy.

And we are continuing our exploration of the world of stereotypes. Absolutely lovely subject :)

The other day I was going to ask Kai, my co-worker and mate about how healthy food at Ping Pong was (it was after the lunch at some American burger place - I am still shocked at the variety of milk-shakes there, man… it’s just sick):

- Hey Kai, I want to ask you about something you are related to… about Ping Pong.

- What? Why??? Is it because I am Chinese? You think we all play table tennis? You, vodka boy!!

- No, actually not… because your uncle works there…

-Oh…

P.S. Should I blame Simon for making me looking so stupid on that picture? Mmm, probably not.