JRinPDX

Wow. Thank you.

Won't play.. video marked 'private'. ???

Yes, ban the slightly sexy TV shows and chatrooms and kareoke and fun stuff. Why should kids today have all these fun happy things in their lives, when back in my day we had to shovel coal in blizzards and stare at a dark wall all night after work. You can translate all of these kinds of articles simply ;

"I wish we had all this cool stuff when I was a kid. I wish I was young again! I'm so old and achey! Ban all this fun youth stuff!"

You must have had a easy time of childhood. I had to walk 5 miles to school and 5 miles back every day Uphill both ways.

The kids of today should leave all that stuff for we of the older generation who no longer have the physical abilities to enjoy the great out doors or interaction with friends. Now when we interact with each other it is about are various illnesses and operations.

It was an old Jimmy Steward movie It's a wonderful life where the ever so true lines of youth is wasted on the young ones was uttered.

Hills? You had hills? We DREAMED of having hills! We had to live on an infinitely flat plane with no gradients of any kind. And we had to sweep the whole entire thing too.

Sweep? You had a broom? Luxury! We had to pick up all the lint on our plane with our fingers.. every night before we were given our gruel.

Back to the topic, I do wonder if the real threat is exposure to the outside world of knowledge and opinion.

"Ka" is nice, but I can think of a few other expressions that are much more motivating.

Another option I've just used is http://www.shopandshipus.com/ on recommendation from some Thai friends. (Although I used it to send quite a bit of household goods by boat) I'll let you know if things don't arrive safely.

Mormons keep stopping me in the street and JW's knock on my front door every Saturday. Now I'm also to be subjected to pretty girls saying 'sawasdee kha, that's Thai you know?' whilst gently placing orchids in my hand at the shopping centre?

Hmmm. please don't throw me into the briar patch. (off to the mall)

For what it is worth, I've had things disappear via Thai Post. (even registered with tracking numbers.. the package simply disappears.) Struggling to find a solution to a similar problem myself. I'm shipping household goods and my ocean freight forwarder only goes to Bangkok, then uses Thai Post for onward transit. And I'm not finding a suitable trucking company to get things to Udon Thani. Best of luck.. just don't rely on Thai Post.

Well, I need to recant. We just received a package that was sent as expedited, with tracking number, back in April. Had regarded it lost/stolen, reported to USPS (they referred to Thai Post), reported to Thai Post. and now it has arrived, 2 months later. Certainly slower than the 1-2 weeks promised, but intact nevertheless and apparently w/o any sign of tampering. Faith restored. :-)

Also, if you're in Chiang Mai, Eakachai House Boats can be a nice day trip. (floating restaurants on the huge lake/reservoir.)

Having Taco Bell could be the leading edge of a greater change. As people become familiar with it; it will create an opportunity for people to start restaurants with 'better' alternatives; maybe even a few with 'real' mexican food. My family had a house in mainland Mexico that we visited a few times a year. The food was nothing like border food; it had French influence, thanks to Emperor Maximillian's efforts, and Chinese as well; (they'd imported Chinese labor, then went through a 'yellow peril' phase, like the U.S.). The food was awesome, but I suspect each region has it's own signature styles... all opportunities for niche restaurants. Think of the early Chinese American restaurants in America, in the 50's. Now, there is a plethora of regional choices, Start with Taco Bell now and our kids will reap the benefits. :-)

For what it is worth, I've had things disappear via Thai Post. (even registered with tracking numbers.. the package simply disappears.) Struggling to find a solution to a similar problem myself. I'm shipping household goods and my ocean freight forwarder only goes to Bangkok, then uses Thai Post for onward transit. And I'm not finding a suitable trucking company to get things to Udon Thani. Best of luck.. just don't rely on Thai Post.

I just got an OBDLink tool from scantool.net It can USB to a laptop or Bluetooth to a smartphone (I use their Torque software for Android). It plugs into the connector under the dash and I was amazed at the data. it can also reset faulty error codes. I'm sure there are more sophisticated tools but for $125 USD, I'm happy. Plus it is an oppty for friends to drop by, plug in their vehicle and discuss over beer. :-) I'm using the lite (free) software but plan to spend the $5 to upgrade to pro for HP, Torque, etc. Check it out on Google Play.. you get an amazing amount of data (GPS tracking, too.)

-snip-

You are the prize, never ever lose the control battle. Ever.

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In a happy relationship, I'd venture that each thinks *the other* is the prize. If either one thinks *themselves* to be the prize, that right there is the seed of a failed relationship.

I read somewhere that "to be trusted is a greater compliment than to be loved." If there is mistrust in a relationship, then the more urgent matter to attend to is to stay home and build that trust before worrying about the third beer. Why does a marriage have to be a constant battle of who's on top?

T

Thakkar, I think I always agree with your posts and this one makes good sense, but MY experience with Thai people, is that (I have decided ...but I may be wrong) that Thais don't deal well with equality. It may be totally an unknown experience for them, and we Western people, just assume they will enjoy it, live it, and deal with it well ...I think many Thai people cannot deal with it at all! They seem to always be measuring who has the power, and when they feel they have it, they don't usually treat others "equally".

I THINK they thrive on being unequal, and when they have the power, or THINK they have the power, they usually don't treat the inferior person well or equally, or how that person treated them before (if that was well when they had the upper hand.) That is maybe why some people see this power shift, which seems like a joke (if you bought her a house in her name already) but really isn't a joke in many cases. Once they get the house, the car, the visa, the whatever, and they don't see the future "stuff" coming as still valuable, there is often a power shift in relationships here. This works this way, not only for love relationships, but all relationships, employees, too ...according to me, but that is just my experience. But looking at life this way, here in Thailand, has helped me in so many ways, to deal with life here, in a better way for me! I'm sure everyone isn't this way, but I think mostly, this is true.

Agree. It is a very hierarchical society. I recall reading that long ago, the king determined a numerical ranking system based upon land ownership, wealth, etc. It is even reflected in the language.. different nuances when talking to someone up the ladder vs. down. Inequality is baked in.

This topic is far different than what I expected from the title.

Exactly. I figured it was an easy answer, being a graduate of Morningwood Academy.

Love these amatuer Sherlocks!

Speaking of Sherlock, we are first introduced to that great detective at St. Bart's, where he is beating bodies to determine whether bruising can happen blows delivered, post-mortem. The answer is 'no'. So, might we conclude that the black eyes were inflicted before death and therefore not as a result of landing on the road? Thus laying to rest the songtaew and the 'run-over' scenarios.

It's okay to make more than you will eat. Put it in the fridge overnight. To make fried rice, you have to start with cold rice from the day before.

Why the long face?

I consistently have problems with their 'system'. It times out at least once per booking. And I've had them take the money but not make the booking; have had to get the bank on the phone with them to sort it out. To boot, when you need to make changes to a flight (still in booking process) you have to start all over. Frustrating.

Can't book Thai Air via Expedia.. believe me, I wish I could.

I only book domestic.. and Nok is cheaper but Thai has better baggage allowances and the wife always checks bags.

I don't know about EVA, but with Thai Airways, they have a form for the non-traveling card-holder to fill out, authorizing the purchase. They can email the scanned, completed form, along with scans of credit card front/back and govt. issued ID. You have to call the airline to get email address. Hoping this is useful, that EVA will do the same.

I had an odd experience with St. Mary's in Udon Thani; I am posting to see if this is common practice.

I'm currently in the U.S. so unable to visit in person right now. So, I've emailed and called to inquire about admissions, discuss how to handle when prospective student is in the US, and about tuition & fees. I've had zero response. MIL went over and reports back that they make a practice of not responding to emails, nor do they answer the phone. (email address and phone number are posted on the website.)

Is this normal? I've had a few years' exposure to Thai thinking but this one just baffles me. What kind of business turns away a motivated (paying) customer?

Lack of any financial info on the website makes me think it's all negotiable.. that they want to get you in a small room and shuffle a mass of file folders ("so many applications, so few openings; how do we choose?"), with one eye out for an envelope. So I worry a bit about integrity.

Is it normal for schools to ignore queries? Normal to hide their costs? (It would certainly help those who can't afford to self-select out and reduce calls/emails) Can anyone share rough financials for this place? Or is this a school to avoid?

I fly PDX to UTH and back a few times a year and have found:

1) It is sometimes cheaper to break out the US domestic separately when searching for fares. e.g. PDX to SEA and then SEA-TPE-BKK (EVA) is sometimes about $200 USD cheaper than booking PDX-SEA-TPE-BKK as one routing. But not always. It can vary. You can still end up with them on the same itinerary, so bags can be checked all the way through, it's just a matter of how you search.

2) There is significant variation based on day of the week as well as how far in advance you book.

It's never a simple task; I usually end up spending hours working out the right combinations.

A complicating factor is that many airlines arrive BKK close to midnight, whereas EVA can arrive late morning, in time for a flight to UTH. (I use Thai Airways. I don't have to go across town and Thai Airways never hassles over bags and fees, so it's worth the fees vs. Air Asia and Nok.

Other carriers can be quite a bit cheaper but add another day of flying and another stopover, which I avoid.

There have been times when I've used award travel for one or more passengers, but those seats aren't always available for the whole itinerary; so piecing together paid seats adds complication. On a couple of occasions, I've found it much cheaper to buy round trip and discard the return. And once, I found tickets on CNX to be cheaper if I bought via their Singapore website than their US one. (but that was years ago)

Bottom line, you can save significant money, but it will take hours of research, trial and error.

I'm interested in the consolidator remark above.. have never used one. Do you have the same flexibility? (I use Expedia, except for Thai Air, where I use their website.. which tends to time-out mid-transaction, half the time.)

A couple of points:

1) Offsite storage can be a lifesaver. I read a couple years ago that Francis Ford Coppola (living in Argentina) had backed everything up to external hard drives. Someone robbed his house and took the PC and other items...also the external drives. 20+ years of pics, documents, scripts, etc. gone forever. The same could happen if you had a fire that destroyed the drives.

2) Beware online backups. I used Mozy for over a year, then swapped my C: (hard) drive for an SSD (vast speed improvement). The Mozy system noted the hardware change and refused to acknowledge that it was the same PC, declared it a new PC and would not associate it with the 3 Terabytes of photos and videos that I'd already backed up (over several months at their 'trickle' upload speed). I have about 3 months of saved correspondence with everyone from first line tech-support to the VP of marketing in Seattle, trying to get them to connect the backup to the PC, (vs. re-backing up for 5-6 months), all to no avail. In the end, they simply flipped the switch that said 'new PC' and my backups were gone forever. I do think they did this simply to bring the matter to closure. The good news: I switched to CrashPlan and am happy.. they have a clear, working method of 'adopting' a PC and dealing with hardware changes. And their Family Plan Plus allows for no limits on storage for all the devices in your household. Much better pricing!

I agree. It is a matter of giving them respect, within their social structure. And if there are children present, a bag of inexpensive chocolates will be appreciated and hopefully shared. I would ensure each gift is nicely wrapped. Finally, do not expect them to unwrap gifts in front of you, or even immediately. In my experience, it is okay to leave price tags on. Check all of this w/gf.

Perfume for mum, a real SWISS army knife for papa, chocolates for the rest of the family to share. DO book a room at a local hotel, you will not be allowed to sleep in the same bed as your GF. Yes, eat any food served you, or you insult the cook (MAMA), ask your GF to send some pictures of the family, house, neighborhood, might give you a better idea what to expect when you arrive, also ask her if there's anything she thinks would be appropriate to bring, good luck !!