jas007

Don't we all spend our days thinking about things? Even when we're asleep, we dream. I suppose at some point a person may have a mental disorder, but to assume that's the case just because a person't mind is always working is a bit much.

I guess this sort of qualifies as a "scam": The very first time I traveled to Thailand, 24 years ago, I stayed in Bangkok two nights and then headed to Phuket. I didn't have any hotel reservations, just some names of some places I wanted to look at in Patong Beach. At the Phuket airport, I decided to get a ride from some taxi driver that was standing around, waiting for a customer. I forget what the fare was, but it seemed reasonable at the time, Anyway, on the trip to Patong Beach, he asked me where I was staying and so on, and I made the mistake of telling him where I wanted to go and that I didn't have a reservation. A little bit later, on the way, he pulled into some little travel office, went inside, and then came out and told me that the hotels I wanted to go to were all "full." That sounded fishy, because it was April. But he had an alternative and refused to continue the trip unless I booked a room at the hotel he was recommending. I'm sure he was getting a cut. I finally bought a few nights, just to get out of there. As it turned out, the place was OK, and I ended up staying there almost a month. Back then, I didn't have a phone in Thailand, so I was trapped into the deal. Today, they have official taxis at the airport, or mini buses, so things are probably better.

Where I'm at, there are definitely more Russians around beginning in November or so and continuing through April, but they all seem very polite and civilized. No noise, no loud parties, no slamming doors. Just more people around. The pool is more crowded than usual, but nothing objectionable. The condo has a guard at the beachside access, a guardhouse at the entrance, and CCTV cameras everywhere that are monitored 24/7. To get in the door of the buildings, there's facial recognition software, and you can't go anywhere in the elevator without an access card, and even then, you can you go to your floor or to the floors with the gym, sauna, and tennis courts. People don't get in here unless they belong, and in order to register for facial recognition, they need to bring a lease to the Juristic office and provide a picture. In short, it''s fairly quiet around here, notwithstanding the high season.

If Dr. Jamnadas is trying to hard sell anyone by way of his videos, I don't remember that. Anyway, you can surely watch his channel and all his YouTube videos for free. And he does know what he's talking about. Absolutely. Some of his advice may be hard to follow for some people, but if people pay attention, listen to what he says, and make an honest effort to control what they put into their mouth and when, they might just fix whatever problem they have. And one thing I found interesting is that the process of insulin resistance can start years before any problem shows up on an A1C blood test. There are other tests that are more accurate in detecting insulin resistance early, before it becomes a real problem.

For anyone interested in diabetes, pre-diabetes, and cardiac health, this cardiologist from Florida has some excellent podcasts and videos covering a wide range of subjects. I watched a lot of them one time when I thought I had the problem. Anyway, he really does know what he's talking about.

I'm currently at Wongamat Beach, but every once in a white I think about moving to Bangkok, just for a change. On the other hand, every time I go up there and spend a week, it's really nice to finally get back here. Much less hectic and I can always go up there any time I want. That was my original plan when I came to Thailand this time. Find a small condo as a base of operations, and then travel around wherever. That' still best for me, I think..

Just a guess, but if China is slowing down, doesn't that affect the Australian mining industry? Less demand for Australian dollars, perhaps?

Supposedly, the food in Italy and much of the rest of the Europe does not contain all the toxic ingredients found in US food. That's why there aren't so many fat people in Italy, even though they eat pasta and bread. Their pasta is made from just a couple of ingredients. Natural food, not the US type processed food ingredients and chemicals. Here in Thailand, I usually never keep bread around for just that reason. I do have a package of Italian pasta I bought at Toops in Central Festival, and yesterday I bought a little loaf of Italian bread labeled "Product of Italy." So I'm going to have some of that once in a while. Look at the ingredient list the next time you buy a food product.

I have a few subscriptions, but I try to keep it to a minimum and, if possible, I subscribe through the Apple App Store. When you subscribe that way, Apple makes it very easy to cancel. You can do it right in the "settings" app. I pay for some music subscriptions: -Apple One which includes Apple Musi and some cloud space. -Tidal -Qobuz -Roon I also subscribe to a couple of health apps. -Welltory -Athlytic Anyway, I feel the subscriptions are worth it to me. I have had my fair share of problems, though, One time, I was finding it almost impossible to fully cancel Hulu. I supposedly canceled through their website, but they kept charging my card every month. I finally gave up and cancelled the credit card that they were charging every month. Success! No more Hulu. I just changed to another Capital One card with a different account number. And I once had a problem with a Microsoft subscription. One time, I got a free Office subscription with something I bought at Best Buy. I tried to get it installed and working, but I never succeeded, so I forgot about it. Until one year later when they tried to charge me $119.00 for another year of something I never used. I finally managed to get refunded on that, after much aggravation. I forgot, I also sometimes pay for a subscription to Tradingview, when I'm actively trading stocks. Lately, I'm not doing much of that. Mostly just buy and hold. I can use the free version if I just want to look at some basic charts.

From what I can remember, I've been hearing similar stories just about every year since I've been coming to Thailand, which is now about 24 years. I haven't been here all that time, but there's always a "crackdown" in the works.

If you eat the skin of the Kiwi fruit along with the rest of it, that gives you the most fiber. Maybe a small blender would work.

Well, they got it done. The Senate passed a continuing resolution that would keep the government open. At the same time, the Senate voted to approve the legislation about the WEP and GFPO as it was approved in the house. Schumer invoked cloture and limited debate on amendments which were proposed by some Republicans trying to kill the bill. They had separate votes on the original bill and on the amendments. All the amendments failed but the bill as passed in the house was approved. Biden has probably already signed the legislation by now.

They say that orange juice is even worse for you than sitting there and simply eating a bunch of sugar. Something about the glycemic index. Anyway, some fruits are better than others because they contain fiber in addition to glucose, which can temper insulin spikes. For example, Kiwi fruits aren't too bad, in moderation.

Different people have different ideas about wealth. If you're healthy and have good friends and family and the free time to do anything you want, to some people, that's wealth. I'm sure there are sick billionaires in this world who would give every penny they have to be 22 years old again and healthy,

Until recently, it never occurred to me that the local ATM machines dispensed anything other than 1000 baht notes, so I always just withdrew those. To get the smaller bills, I'd pay at the local convenience store with a 1000 baht bill. Anyway, it does seem sort of sad that I probably spend more in a day on stuff from the Tops Daily than the people who work there make in a day. I'm not trying to impress anyone, though, even if it may seem so to some people. Otherwise, in Thailand, I don't make any effort to flaunt my wealth. There's nobody I'm trying to impress. Ditto for life in America. Other than the place I'm living, which is for me, I make no effort to impress anyone. When I buy things, I buy them because I get a kick out of whatever, Stereo systems, cars, vacations. If I buy things, it's for kicks. What's the point of trying to impress people you don't even know? Of course, in some situations, you almost have to conform to a certain dress code or whatever. So a guy might have a closet full of expensive suits. But at the end of the day, he's back home in T-shirts and shorts.