haha

if you can live on about 20k baht a month, check out this website for individual bonds.

www.jbh.com

100k usa dollars at 6% will get you 6k dollars a year in interest.

in every society whether it be in europe, the usa, china, or thailand, there are people who are criminal. you just need to be aware of them. and stay away.

to say "stay away from thai males" is just too much of a generalization.

I know of many thai guys who are stand up guys. many of them were educated overseas. and they think just like me - logically.

I wouldn't mind working for 30k to 40k baht per month. as long as I'm not treated like a slave.

anybody out there want to hire a middle-aged, asian american who likes to laugh a lot?

what will we be charged for the food? and beer? like anybody in the world, I like to have fun too. but I would like to know what I will be paying before I participate. thank you.

you might want to consider doing a buffet style type of arrangement. pay at the door, and eat to your hearts content. no need for anybody at the concessions to have to deal with money.

..and I'm sure you will get more people knocking at your door than you expected.

,,did somebody say budweiser?

just curious.... is the food and beer free?

I never met thaksin, but from his actions, I think he is trying to do the right things.

I think in the future, people in thailand will look at thaksin as one of the best leaders that this country has ever had.

wishing you the best, man. keep on trucking.

suggestion: solar technology, and superconductors. the wave of the future.

with all the news about trying to save energy, I thought it would be nice to provide some information regarding alternative energy sources (solar) that are in use in other places in the world.

thailand with so much sunlight every year would be a perfect place to go solar. they could save even more money if they make the solar panels themselves or buy in bulk.

imagine the benefits...

taksin's goal of saving 10% would be easily reached if these following testimonials are true. (always good policy to do your own research to confirm other peoples results.)

anyway, here are the websites with the testimonials.

http://www.solardepot.com/c_system_examples.htm

http://www.acmesolar.com/testimonials.phtml

http://www.ca-foreclosures.com/resources/r...ry.asp?ID=46558

http://www.gensets.com/solarpower/

http://www.lipower.org/cei/solar.testimonials2.html

http://www.solarsense.com/Testimonials/Testimonials.html

http://www.solarairportlights.com/content/...ls/Default.aspx

http://www.windsun.com/testmonials.htm

the internet is full of information on solar panels. check it out.

I used to do 3rd level tech support. but it's been a long time, so, I don't know what the latest software utilities are for doing the following... you will need to find this out.

anyway, after speaking with a client about their problem, one of the first things I would do in troubleshooting a computer problem was to make a backup of all important files.

...maybe even do a ghost of the whole harddrive.

then, I would run a scan disk, and then, a defrag.

would you believe it? about 40% of the problems that I encountered were resolved by just following this simple procedure. mind you, sometimes it would take hours to complete this simple procedure. but it worked.

different software utilities are available for maintaining NTFS, FAT, etc. since I don't have access to all the software available to test which ones are the best, you will need to find this out yourself.

WARNING: make sure you get the right stuff for the operating system and filing system you are using. otherwise, you may just ruin your harddrive.

currently, I am using norton systemworks, and it seems to do well for me. I have a 40 gig harddrive, windows XP, and both NTFS, and FAT32 partitions on my harddrive.

SUGGESTION: do maintenance at least once a month - a scandisk, and a defrag. you won't regret it.

hope this info helps you out.... good luck.

man, thats scary.

I feel for these folks, and worry that it could happen to any of us.

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Well, not really. Take a closer look at the fact stated in that article and you'll see some tell-tale signs of trouble brewing in this guy's life.

No, I'm not suggesting he is remotely "at fault" for the situation he is in. From the sound of it, it seems as if he is truly a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. However, there are things he could have done to avoid that situation and we should all take a lesson from his experience.

First off, his choice of "friends" is really what got him into big trouble. We all have had friends in our lives that are "up to no good", and quite often, we accept or deny the evidence of their misdeeds because, "hey, they're 'good people'". Well, the lesson here is that: no, they are not good people. Many of us tolerate nefarious friends because they are fun to hang out with or because they share similar interests (music, football, drugs, whatever...). The problem with having nefarious friends, though, is that they are never content to simply destroy their own lives. They almost have a complusion to take as many people down with them as they can.

So the real lesson here is that if you have nefarious friends, the best thing you can do for yourself is move on with your life and leave them behind. Otherwise, you may find out that they aren't such good friends to have after all (for example, if they offer you accomodation, that might seem mighty nice of them, or they could just be using you to front for their drug operation, in which case, they are pretty crappy "friends").

Secondly, he obviously didn't have enough cash to support himself in Thailand while awaiting the visa process. I keep warning people about this, but it seems that there are always people willing to fling themselves halfway across the world with only a few coins in their pockets to spare.

Simply put, you NEED a back-up reserve of cash of at least $5,000 to $10,000 before you should even think of transplanting yourself in a foreign land. Yes, yes, yes, yes, I KNOW that not everyone can do this and that many people manage just fine on a lot less, but that's not the point!! The point is that if you travel far from home and something bad happens, you've got no one to blame but yourself for leaving home so ill-prepared for the twisted fates of life.

Pick better friends and prepare for life's little misfortunes, that's the real lessons to be learned here.

For example, back about 15 years ago, I was living in Florida and working in a Bennigan's restaurant with a bunch of other scruffy no-gooders like myself (like I said before, the crowd I hung out with included the likes of pre-famous Marilyn Mansion, so you can imagine what our house parties were like). Anyway, I knew many of my friends were up to no-good, but I let it slide because, "hey, they're 'good people'". I've never done drugs in my whole life, but at that time in my life, I tolerated it in my friends because I was young and stupid. That is until one night when I was crashing on my friend's couch after a night out at the clubs. About 5AM, I woke up with a pistol pressed against my skull. Turns out, my friend's idiot roommate had bought some pot from an undercover agent and the cops decided to stage a full-blown raid. A bit of an over-reaction on their part (given that this was in a COLLEGE DORM ROOM), but the cops in Fort Lauderdale are a bit "extreme" and so they apparently felt the need to ninja themselves into the dorm room and scare the crap out of everyone sleeping there.

Fortunately, this happened in America where due-process is still given lip-service, and so after a brief talk with the cops (and a phone call to my parents, ugh), they let me go without muc of a hassle (they even gave me a ride home). I consider myself lucky that I'm not the type of person who smacks people who try to wake him up. Otherwise I might have gotten a bullet in my head. Anyway, the point of my story is that I never would have been in that situation if I hadn't been hanging out with that particular group of people. Like this Jody guy, I hadn't done anything wrong myself, and I was simple in the wrong place at the wrong time, but my point is that I DID choose to be in that place, with those people.

I feel for this guy and hope he wins his appeal and gets back to the UK to be with his family soon. But hopefully his example can be a lesson to those who are currently making poor decisions when it comes to picking friends.

No, it's not possible to know everything that your friend are up to, and in this case, who knows, this guy may have been completely blinkered. But the more common scenario for many people who read these forums is that they tolerate "naughty" friends because they are fun or decent (at least, to them). The lesson here is that if you have those kinds of "friends", you should back out of those friendships or you may regret it later.

In large part, who you are is determined by who you are with. So don't let other people pull your life down. Find positive, uplifting friends who are truly decent people, and in the long run, you won't miss the nefarious "pseudo-friends" from your wilder days.

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on the topic of "picking your friends"... I am with you in full agreement. be careful with whom you pick to be your friends.

I have met literally hundreds, if not thousands, of people in my stay here in thailand. and frankly, I've learned to stay away from the "questionable types".

once, I hung out with this guy for a whole year before finding out that he was a pedaphile. once he told me this side of his life, I stopped hanging out with him.

another time, I met a guy who used to be a biker. he told me once that he did

"everything in the book" except kill someone. I thought nothing of it until one day he threaten me if I didn't lend him some money. suffix to say, I don't see him anymore.

yet another time, I met a guy who bluntly told me he was going to chiang mai to visit with some friends and smoke pot. I couldn't believe this guy. he didn't even really know me. talk about brains.

I wonder where these people come from????

I have many other similar stories. life can be scary at times.

on the other hand, I have met some of my best friends during my stay here. so, I guess there is a balance.

..happy memories.

most of the places I go to in the city (bangkok) are within a 3 mile radius, it sure would be nice if there were bike paths on the road so that I can ride a bicycle to my destinations.

I know that there are some parts of the city with bike paths, but there isn't enough of them for the average person to use in order to get from point a to point b.

maybe start a bike day in the city just for trial purposes to see if it would be beneficial. close the city off to passenger cars and taxis for a day. of course, you got to allow delivery trucks and buses to function. reserve one lane for delivery and buses. another for bikes.

provide advance notice to the public so that they can buy bicycles or schedule accordingly.

I don't know how feasible this suggestion is. but I thought it could be something to consider since people are trying to save energy.

bicycles don't use gasoline, and they don't pollute the air.

no point.

with all the pushing and shoving going on, I thought maybe it would be nice if somehow I could get people to sit back and reflect on their actions.

thinking does that. that is, make people reflect on things.

I hear that the california fitness gym is now offering classes in meditation. personally, I haven't attended any of the classes yet. but I thought you might be interested in this info.

some interesting reading...

http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/sym/foot_pain.htm

http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/footp

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/musclesjoints/201796.html

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/neuro/messages/30517.html

http://neuro-www.mgh.harvard.edu/forum/Mul...omesymptomsofMS

if I had a numb foot, I would ask myself if I have been doing something differently that might be the cause of the numb foot.

for examples,

1) did I buy new shoes?

2) are my shoes getting worn out?

3) did I gain weight big time?

4) did I just start a new exercise regiment?

for all we know, maybe all you need is a new pair of shoes with arch support.

hope this info helps. take care.

I had this discussion with a doctor friend once...

I asked him why there are so many people out there who are always putting others down?

his reply.. they are either neurotic or psycho.

a neurotic person is someone who goes out of his way to put down others because they enjoy it. neurotic people know that they are hurting other people when they do this.

a psycho is someone who is neurotic but doesn't know it. in other words, they hurt other people without knowing that they are doing this.

..both need to go see mental doctors. they are mentally sick.

god. wouldn't it be great if everyone wished everyone else the best?

guess what a neurotic or a psycho would say in answer to this question?

I met this tibetan monk in the lobby of hotel once. we shot the breeze for a while. before he left, he gave me an amulet. told me to mumble a mantra that I have since forgotten.

should I be wearing the amulet for the good luck to materialize?

didn't think much about it. so, I just hang it over my bed.

here in thailand, I live on about 500 dollars a month, and I'm pretty happy with my life. ..with 1000 dollars, I would really be living it up.

have you considered an online (internet) bank account? do a google search for more info.

some banks like citibank are international. I would look into that option by researching the various international bank websites.

a story...

I knew this one guy. an tibetan american who fell in love with a gogo girl. I don't know how much he was giving her every month. but I do remember her bragging in thai that he was number 5 of 5 guys who were sending her money every month.

true story.

this guy was one of the nicest guys I ever met. I debated telling him what I heard. the taxi driver told me not to. his reasoning was.. if you tell him, you will become his worst enemy.

guys in love don't want to hear anything bad about their girlfriends.

this guy eventually found out. and as a result, he never came back to thailand. it's been about 7 years now.

get this. the guy told me he had a twin brother who was a rinpoche - a reincarnated monk.

tenzin, where are you?

..FOOD? did I hear FOOD? ..the second most important thing in life.

buffets...

my favorite are...

270 baht - emerald hotel dinner

111 baht - sizzler salad bar

100 baht - bbq buffet on rachada (opposite sony blg.)

400 baht - oishii seafood, midday sushi buffet - sathorn branch.

450 baht - emerald hotel sushi buffet - second floor.

350 baht - radisson hotel dinner buffet with piano music.

95 baht - apex hotel breakfast buffet in pattaya.

350 baht - novatel siam lunch buffet.

there used to be a kozo sushi place on thaniya plaza that had a sushi lunch buffet for 220 baht. anyone know if it is still there?

I saw some at the power buy at the Emporium mall.

so, where do I sign up? I don't know if I would be a good teacher. but I would try my best.

about 5 years ago, I had a heartscan done at the ramathibodi hospital. it is connected with the mahidol university.

http://www.ra.mahidol.ac.th/radiology/eng/...ment/about.html

I don't know if the hospital currently has the latest equipment. but I remember the price was right. 5k baht for the heartscan here in bangkok versus 500 dollars in the states.

the prices might be different now since I did it back about 5 years ago. but doesn't hurt to find out. it should be cheaper because they cater mainly with thai people.

you might want to communicate with the guys in the states to see if they would still recommend the facilities in mahidol university.

www.heartscan.com

hope this info helps.

I have 4 friends who had their Lasik done at TRSC in the last 2 years. all are happy with the results.

I had Lasik done back in 1997 in san francisco, and still consider it one of the best things I've done for myself in all my life.

Has anyone tried to get work done in  their house lately by tradesmen, last year a couple of 'electricians' came around to price some extra sockets for a fitted kitchen, called around, looked at the job and declared 5000 baht which i could have completed in 2 hours tops if i had tools, anyway i cleared them

Point is thailand is not as backward as used to be, here in Pataya, tradesmen like tilers, sparkies, plasters etc can charge pretty good as as it's so hard to get someone.

I think 10 g a month is reasanble, after all you don't want to compared to the average working class thai or else she would go for that 

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I knew somebody who had a 3 story house built in pattaya near lotus. he told me his thai wife got a crew of construction folks to build his house for 172 baht per day per person. these guys were working at least 8 hours a day for the 172 baht.

..and they weren't just common laborers.

investment strategies can be a very sensitive subject.

if someone recommends something, and then you lose on it. well, you get the picture, I think.

with that said and done, let me just give you some urls as food for thought.

www.bankrate.com

www.jbhanauer.com