wpcoe

In general the 64 bit version is faster and more stable. The good thing about Vista is that the DVD comes with both 32 bit and 64 bit versions, so if you want to revert back to 32 bit, this is possible without licensing problems.

Actually the DVD comes with all versions (Home, Home Premium, Business, etc) on it, and the licensing key determines which version's functions will be active.

BUT, are you saying that if I buy and activate a given version (e.g. Home Premium or Business), I will have the option of either 32- or 64-bit and can uninstall one and reinstall the other with the same license and re-activate the newly installed version? If so, that would make my choice a bit easier.

The hotel security officer pointed out that Mr. Zahner had not been a guest at the hotel, but had merely come to sightsee.

Now, he may not have been a guest at the hotel, but do you REALLY think he "merely came to sightsee"?

Of course there are some problems. I use the 64 bit version, this means no wireless network (3com is known to be a pain in the ass when it comes to develop 64 bit drivers), also and that's a major issue, Cisco hasn't developed a 64 bit VPN client. So I might have to go back to Vista Ultimate 32 bits, but I'm hoping Cisco will come with a 64bit VPN client soon.

I'm curious why you opted to go 64-bit?

I know the negatives, like not so many hardware drivers available (like you mentioned), but what are the positives, i.e. benefits of going 64-bit?

I'm asking because I probably will buy Vista reasonably soon, and had been wondering if I should opt for the 64-bit version.

The Rasayana Retreat in Bangkok features a detox program using the Arise & Shine brand of products. If you are in the USA you can get the Arise & Shine products MUCH cheaper via their web site and just do the colonics at Rasayana or even at a local hospital/clinic.

Rasayana is a bit upscale, appealing to yuppies, but their colonics rooms are super clean, decorated in soothing decor (blue sky & clouds painted on the ceiling) with private shower in each colonic room.

Rasayana has a "live foods" cafe, where all is organic and not heated over a certain temperature. Quite tasty.

I have no affiliation with Rasayana nor Arise & Shine, but I am a satisfied user of the Arise & Shine products. They REALLY clean you out. It's interesting to see what's in the toilet bowl sometimes. Seriously.

Just yesterday I wrote my monthly personal check on my U.S. account to the local Siam Commercial Bank branch out here at Klong 10.  Charge?  Baht 203 total, and got baht 38.58 to the US$ for the rate, current for yesterday:

https://www.scbbusiness.com/exchange/bk-pvsexchange.htm

Did you really get more than B38???

Or, was that a typo, maybe B35.58?

On the 6th of February at 4pm...

...The heavy rain at the time caused a short circuit and fire.

There was a heavy rain Tuesday afternoon???

No rain at all in Jomtien that I was aware of. In fact, that was about the time I walked to the fresh market for some take-home grub.

Jomtien 2nd road?????

That's the unofficial name for the road that starts at the "Hanuman statue" and runs behind the Palm Beach hotel, past the View Talay Residences and site of the proposed Ocean 1 Tower, and runs parallel to Jomtien Beach Road until Soi 9. It is to be widened as a part of the Thappraya Road widening and run all the way through to Soi Chayapruek. Subject to change without notice. :-)

If I understand this correctly now, I can have a yellow tabien baan book since I legally own my condo in my name?

If so, what is a reason why I would want (need?) a tabien baan?

Why wasn't the hotel name mentioned? Often news reports will name a condo building and unit number, and another thread here they named Howard's guest house which someone googled and posted their web site. Is there a reason why a luxury hotel has to remain anonymous?

(What luxury hotels ARE there in Jomtien, anyway?)

This is a shot in the dark: Have you run a full system virus scan? Some malware might be manually opening those ports after the firewall stealthed them. Again, just a guess. It is VERY odd that ZoneAlarm is not stealthing those ports.

Although the OP mentions "joint purchase" of the condo, I wonder whether the condo is, in fact, in the Thai friend's name. Why else would he need to sign papers, especially if he's not contributing financially to the deal? The 49% farang-ownable allocation being sold out is one very likely scenario.

If the condo is in his name, the last laugh could be his....

Misery loves company and we're all laughing with you, though as said above, at the time of construction/renovation it is sometimes hard to laugh.

I've survived three renovations now: one was the third floor of a Bangkok townhouse with no bathroom, but a sink it the corner of the back room. My Thai roommate had his three Buriram brothers come out to do the job. Oy vey. Included in the renovationl was ripping down gypsum walls to move them and make a bigger bedroom, install a closet I designed, and install a bathroom. The shower had glass block walls, the sink had a granite top, porcelain sink basin and a water line to an outdoors hot water heater. Reading the OP's opening post makes me feel a LOT better. :-)

My second and third renovations were the current condo I live in, with "professional" labor. Oy vey, again.

But with patient picture drawing, and actual handling of the tools, I was able to teach each of them a few new tricks, even if they just thought I was a ting-tong falang and forget what I showed them. The Buriram brothers were so enamored of my Black and Decker electric (battery) screwdriver that I bought each of them one when the job was finished. I wonder how long they lasted? :-)

Laying ceramic tiles in the condo, I was only able to buy enough with the slightest of surplus for what was needed. The tile store had to call and get delivery from all over the region to amass enough for my job. Naturally, they were from different lots, and some were slightly different color. A few were a LOT different in color, so I lay them down on the floor in the area that would later be covered by kitchen cabinets and the bathroom vanity. I explained to the contractor why I did it, and he relayed it to the workers.

I came back a few days later and the MUCH differently colored tiles (much lighter) were scattered throughout the living room where they stuck out like a sore thumb. Mai pen rai? Not on your @ss. I had them rip them out, eating in to the reserves, and we barely had enough to finish.

Trying to convince the Buriram boys that putting electric wires inside a gypsum wall was safe and a Good Thing was another episode. Hot water to a bathroom sink was a novelty, too.

Naomisri,

We all have our own tastes but that ceiling you've got there is hideous.How have you stuck with it ???

And, she had the nerve to point out my picture was crooked?

Actually, I went and straightened the picture after she wrote that.

Just tell the cashier before handing over the card that you want to be charged in THB. If the slip mentions USD or EUR anywhere, refuse to sign it, and tell them to immediately cancel the USD/EUR transaction. If they refuse to charge you in THB, walk out (if in a shop where you can just leave the goods), or call their bank (if you already received the services/goods, e.g. in a hospital) and explain that they refuse to charge you in THB despite the CC slip stating that you can choose. The bank should set them straight.

Great advice ... in theory.

TiT, however, so good luck when you try to charge your restaurant bill in THB late in the evening in Pattaya, or Khon Kaen, or Yala, or .....

The reports I've read are that the cashier feigned total ignorance how to cancel the original and re-charge in local currency on the new machines. What do you do then? Who do you call at 10pm that will understand and help you?

The evacuation was due to smoke and report of flames from the undercarriage after they turned off onto a taxiway after severe braking action.

The bird strike did not cause the smoke/flames from the undercarriage - I am afraid that sounds like it was due to a badly handled landing / pilot error. The Human factor is always an element in these things but from an engineering point of view the aircraft was safe and no one should have been injured had the pilot correctly handled the situation.

No, but the loss of an engine (due to bird strike) at just below V1 caused tremendous stress on the braking system and tires, which then smoldered from the heat produced. The control tower also reported flames at which point the captain initiated an evacuation over the PA. I'm not sure it was "badly handled/pilot error" ... when you are hurtling down the runway and you lose one of your engines at a point where established procedure is to abort takeoff, just how gently can you apply the brakes of a fully-loaded 747 to avoid overheating. (BTW, this was *takeoff* not landing.)

No, the bird strike did not directly cause the smoke/fire, but I doubt the pilot would have slammed on the brakes had a bird strike had not zeroed-out one of the engine's thrust. Ergo, no bird strike = no report of flames from the smoldering brakes/tires = no evacuation ....

Obviously we both have flown in and out of airports with at least some birds present and as far as I know, I've not been on a plane with a bird strike, at least not a catastrophic one. <g> I suspect our good fortune will continue. My original concern was the LARGE number of birds I observed on my two Suvarnabhumi takeoffs, thinking that the larger the bird population present, the greater the odds of a bird strike. Apparently I have nothing to worry about, and that is quite reassuring.

A Tesco Express will open in about a week here. I wonder why as when you come in the moo ban there's already a Family Mart on on side, as you exit, a Tesco Express on the other, both on each corner. Close enough so that employees will be able to throw each other rolls of coins when they run short.

I remember walking in BKK and seeing three 7-11 signs from where I stood. Poor city planning if you ask me. Big energy wasters as well, their air-con units are still running full blast even with the cool season we're having, problem fixed with doors being opened.

Tony: "Market Share."

7-11 is reported to open stores close to existing ones to prevent a competitor from doing so. Better to have two 7-11's in the neighborhood competing than one 7-11 and one Family Mart, or so the corporate thinking goes.

I consider sms messages and prerecorded messages from DTAC an invasion of my privacy, or at least annoying. I have been told by the local office that they can't do anything to prevent my phone from recieving them and call barring hasn't been effective as the calls come from a different number every time. Who else has this problem?

I posted this yesterday in another forum section:

"I get annoyed at the DTAC spam mainly because it's in Thai and I can't read it.

I had always been in the habit of deleting it as soon as it arrives, but one time I asked a Thai friend I was with to tell me what it said and it was a two-for-one top-up offer so I went out and for B1,000 (the max permitted) I got B2,000 credit."

So, maybe there is some other "good" DTAC spam amongst the rest? <shrug>

Teh I came back on the9th Jan, And have been here since, my visa expires on the 7th, I.E. WEDNESDAY!! (28days)

Remember to include the date of arrival (09Jan) and the final date allowed (07Feb) and it is a full 30 days, not 28. I had to count it on my fingers twice to make sure.

I get annoyed at the DTAC spam mainly because it's in Thai and I can't read it.

I had always been in the habit of deleting it as soon as it arrives, but one time I asked a Thai friend I was with to tell me what it said and it was a two-for-one top-up offer so I went out and for B1,000 (the max permitted) I got B2,000 credit.

Bet the water pipes are plastic!!!

The are, Scottie, that's why I want to run a wire down the cavity ... hence why I want check if there is any obstruction in the cavity between my 5th floor unit and the ground.

To add to cdnvic's list of recommended software: Zone Lab's free ZoneAlarm is far, far better than Windows firewall. It monitors not only inbound traffic but also outbound traffic to make sure you don't have any malware trying to "phone home."

Have you done any speed tests, and if so, what is the advertised vs more realistic average speed of the modem?

Click here: SCB current exchange rates

When I transferred funds for my condo, I was satisfied with the exchange rate that SCB used. And, these days, there have been some wide variances on off-shore and on-shore exchange rates, with the latter being favorable to the foreigner. At one point a few weeks ago www.xe.com was showing an off-shore B33.5 (to the US$) when SCB was still giving over B35.

I just took a look at www.xe.com and they are showing B34.7 to the US$, and the above SCB page shows them giving B35.7. What is the rate that Smart Company Ltd is giving? Odd that they don't display their exchange rates on their web site.

[edited to add 2nd paragraph]

Thanks for the reassurances.

The two times I took off from Suvarnabhumi were at dawn, so that might be a factor in bird behaviour affecting my observations. There were *dozens* of fair-sized egrets along the taxiways all the way out to the runway. At one culvert alone I counted more than twelve. Out closer to the runway there were large swarms of black-colored medium-sized birds. I was on a 747, so was comforted by the fact that we had four engines and could "afford" to lose one or two. But what about all the twin-engined aircraft? What if they flew right through a flock of birds and lost *both* engines after V1? Not likely, but can you honestly say it CAN not and WILL not ever happen?

My roommate was injured during the evacuation on a flight in BKK (Don Muang) last year that aborted takeoff due to bird ingestion/engine shutdown. The evacuation was due to smoke and report of flames from the undercarriage after they turned off onto a taxiway after severe braking action. A bird strike caused him physical injury.

Sorry to be so pedantic about it, but the most birds I've ever seen at an airport are at Suvarnabhumi.

On this night checkpoints were set up in Soi Potisan in Naklua, Soi Bongkot in Central Pattaya, Soi Gopia in South Pattaya and Soi Watboon in Jomtien. These areas have been identified by Police as crime hotspots. We looked-in at two of the checkpoints and we are pleased to report that no arrests were made.

Checkpoints set up at crime hotspots and they're *pleased* that no arrests were made?

I *hope* the point they were trying to make was that there was no criminal activity the night the checkpoints were in these crimeridden areas, but unless these checkpoints are to be permanent nightly occurrences, what progress has really been made in being able to declassify them as crime hot spots?