Blog Archive: September 2018
Kalvene Railway Station
| Railway / Bus / Ferry | 14 seen
Kalvene Station is a railway station on the Jelgava – Liepāja Railway.
The station is located in the Kalvenes municipality of the Aizpute district in Latvia. I noticed this railway couple of years ago and was amazed by its impressive heights visible from the road.
Kalvene Railway Station September 2018
Kalvene Station was opened on September 25, 1929, along with the opening of the railway line Jelgava-Liepaja . The modern type building was built in 1932. Until 2001, the diesel train Riga-Liepaja stopped here. After the cancellation of this train, there is no passenger turnover at the station. The station operates as an intermediate station, it changes the train.
Diesel passenger trains have not been in service since August 15, 2001
Gutmanis Cave in Sigulda
| Tourism objects | 24 seen
Gutman's Cave (Latvian: Gūtmaņa ala) is the widest and highest cave in the Baltic countries, located on the Gauja River in the National Park of Sigulda, Latvia.
It started forming more than 10 000 years ago when meltwater eroded the sandstone rock after the Ice Age. It is the oldest tourist attraction in Latvia. On the walls of the cave are inscriptions from the 17th century.
It is 18.8 meters deep, 12 meters wide and 10 meters high. The cave was formed from the yellow-brown sandstone rock of the Gauja river bank; its formation is due to a millennium-long interaction between the river and an underground spring.
Gutmanis Cave in Sigulda
Many foreign students and romantic couples are heading here.
The cave is considered the oldest tourist attraction in Latvia because visitors, from even the earliest days, have left “decorations” such as names, initials and the dates of their visits engraved on the walls of the cave. Inside the cave are coats-of-arms and the names of various barons and estate owners. These were made to order for a fee by local craftsmen who would wait for wealthy visitors near the cave armed with tools, stepladders and templates. Writing on the cave walls is no longer permitted as the site is a protected archeological and geological monument.
Panoramic photo from Sigulda
Gutman's Cave is a place of ancient worship. Until the 19th century, people would come to make their offerings to the deities. The place is also renowned for a number of enduring legends.
Cafe Ivetas Ķēķis / Jura Staļļi / Grobiņa
| Restaurant reviews | 20 seen
Cafe Ivetas Ķēķis (Iveta's Kitchen) is located in Grobiņa municipality, some 10km from Liepāja, this cafe/restaurant actually is part of another cool attraction Jura Staļļi (George's Stables). From my understanding, it's a family run business.
It was already past 20:00 and we left Liepāja a little bit hungry and decided to take some quick stop at Caffe Lielā Pietura, but the place was already closed, and we decided to give it a try for Jura Staļļi (as we had heard some good words before about this place)
Now, great was my surprise to find this place was almost booked, there were about 30-40 people on site (we got a lovely table inside the house, next to the kitchen). The next surprise come when the owner of the place recommended us to try their special burgers.
Burgers at Ivetas Ķēķis
Now, this was something great- the very best burgers I have tried in Latvia, and I would even say, the second best after US burgers. The buns are ordered from Poland, this sounded a bit strange to me, as I thought that buns should be made on site, see: How To Make Burger Buns at Home
We also ordered some chicken strips, cheese sticks..ahh almost got that American feeling.
Cafe Ivetas Ķēķis near Grobiņa
Red Sun Buffet Liepāja
| Restaurant reviews | 11 seen
Red Sun Buffet is a stylish cafe/restaurant located in the heart of Liepāja town.
Visited it briefly in the mid-August 2018, just to take some coffee take away.
Interior at Red Sun Buffet
Featuring elements Latvians are proud of - Brainstorm, Kristaps Porzingis (NY Knicks) and Intars Busulis. Heh
Interior at Red Sun Buffet
Somehow I already feel bored from black blackboards and white texts. Though cafe late ordered here was delicious.
How I Made $3,951.86 with Google AdSense in last 9 years
| Blogging | 6 seen
Time flies as it turns out it has been already 9 years since I've been using Google AdSense to monetize online content. It was a late night on September 4th, 2009, when I finally decided to give it a try for Google AdSense. 9 years? That's almost a decade.
As the title says - I have made almost 4K in the last 9 years. You know what's more amazing? Almost half of that amount I made in the last year alone.
See:
- How I Made $2,135.03 with Google AdSense in 8 years
- How I Made $1,000 with Google AdSense in 7 years
Back then, 9 years ago, I had a dozen "web-projects", mostly powered by WordPress, I was exploring different niches and put a lot of time and energy in too many directions. I decided to try to monetize my efforts - and of course, I was thinking - I will make those million dollars overnight. I didn't. Actually, my most valuable asset back at those days generated me just about 6,000 monthly users (monthly, not daily). I made about four dollars in the first month, and maybe $10 four months later.
Soon I stopped my huge efforts on building the next big thing, and AdSense dollars stopped rolling in at all. From 2011 until the end of 2013 I was not using Google AdSense actively (from reports I can see, I have made a dollar, or two, maybe four dollars per month in some of the months during that period).
In October 2013 (that's about 5 years ago), I decided to stop spreading my efforts on many smaller projects and launched simple, personal blog, the one you are currently reading. See: It's official now - domain name ReinisFischer.com is on
Most of the money I have made with Google AdSense I have made with this blog in a period 2015 - 2018. With the last year being the top performing (about half or $1,816.83). My blog currently receives about 100,000 monthly users. That has been a huge leap over the years.
I have no clue where the next year will take me, but it would be awesome to double earnings from Google AdSense, and at the end of the 10th year to report -~$8,000 or about $333/mo hard, but doable.
Documentary "Khrushchev Does America"
| Documentaries | 7 seen
Documentary "Khrushchev Does America" is a 2013 film by Tim Toidze.
The story of the unconditional, no-holds-barred tour of America by Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, leader of World Communism and America's arch nemesis, during 13 sun-filled days in the fall of 1959.
Watch it on Youtube
August 2018 Dividend Income Report - $158.41
| Investments | 14 seen
Welcome to the sixteenth (#16) dividend income report, covering earnings I've made from dividend-paying stocks, peer to peer lending (both fiat and cryptocurrencies) in August 2018.
In case you are wondering why I'm sharing online my earnings - the answer is pretty simple - I like transparency and these reports help me to observe my progress or bounces. Hopefully, my reports can give some inspiration to you as well. Also, I have a goal to reach one million dollars in my bank account by the time I will turn 60 (27 years still to go).
Last August, I turned 33. This year we didn't go to any fancy trip, instead, we spent it at home with our newborn baby. As I've reached the age of 33 and as I have become a father, for the future I will put aside at least 53% of my yearly income. Here is the formula = years + 20 = 53%. I'm raising this number with every year.
Speaking of the baby - actually, last month I also started to invest in her name. And this August we got our first dividend payment. Continue reading to learn more how much.
Now, the last August was full of surprises and at the end of the month it said - $158.41 - August turned out much better (or about $70 better than expected), because of many late loans were paid back on Mintos.com platform, and for the first time in history, Mintos.com peer to peer lending generated more than EUR 100 in a month.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links to mintos.com peer to peer lending website, by clicking on links on this page and by making an investment on mintos.com, I might earn affiliate income at no cost to you. Also, I'm not a financial advisor and I don't give you any advice, I'm just sharing my own experience. Investments in stocks, funds, bonds or cryptos are risk investments and you could lose some or all of your money. Do your due diligence before investing in any kind of asset.
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.
Sign up for Mintos.com here. By using my 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.
Interest income in August 2018
From the stocks, Mintos.com peer to peer lending and from cryptocurrency lending on Poloniex.com I got following income last month:
Ticker/ Name
2018
2017
Mintos.com
€101.61
€34.35
BGLF
€11.00
€0.00
FGB
€10.50
€0.00
EDF
€6.60
€0.00
CLM
€6.05
€0.00
Poloniex.com
€1.20
€0.79
Total: €136.96 / $158.41
In total there were 6 great companies paying me us dividends in August, that's 4 more if compared to the previous August.
Our baby earned her first dividends of $7.02 this month.
The YoY growth rate for my dividend income in August is 291.81%. Awesome that's exactly USD 117.98 more than a year ago.
Monthly income to the date
The cumulative earnings for 2018 are $961.23 which is about 80.10% of my goal for 2018 ($1200)
2017 in Review and Financial Goals for 2018
Monthly Income chart as of August 2018
On the average, I should pull about $59.69 each month for the next 4 months to reach my $1200 goal for 2018. I got this feeling that I will reach and pass this goal easily.
Dividend Income Meter August 2018
Goals for August 2019
This is my favorite part of the reports - trying to forecast/set goals for the next year. But before setting goals for August 2019 dividend income, let's see what I forecasted for this August:
A year from now I'm looking for a minimum of $100 dividend income in August 2018.
Wow, I just did it and cracked it by additional $58. Awesome. Oh, a year ago I didn't felt so enthusiastic after reaching just $40 in the month of August.
Now, when speaking about August 2019 - I will set a humble goal to crack $160. Shouldn't be problematic with adding more US monthly and quarterly dividend paying stocks.