mosan

All is not as it appears here in Land of Smiles. However, some very good advise has been given. If you still find yourself asking too many questions, then this is something you shouldn't do. Rent until you have it all (researched) figured out. Plus, I know you're not married, but leasing from your wife? What the h_ll is that all about? This is of course Thailand, and lease or not, if someone wants you out of a house, then I couldn't think of a better place to make that happen than here. Besides, many have plunked down their money and then found their surroundings unacceptable after being in place for anywhere from 6 months to whatever. There are no building codes, no noise restrictions, no boundaries on what business may pop up next door or down the street, no pollution control and little, if any, recourse on said aforementioned items. I've said it before and I'll say it again—rent until you have it all (researched) figured out. Cheers...

You'll be much better off by buying a Netbook. It has everything you're trying to build but the work is already done for you. You say you want cheap, but you didn't mention what the MP945-D is going to cost you, and what Thai Customs will bite you for if they discover you're importing (buying) electronic gear you can get right here in Thailand. Do yourself a favor and try to get some pricing on the box plus shipping for your items and potential customs fees...I've been running a HP Mini netbook since 2010 as a Home Theatre PC, and trust me, it can handle most anything you can throw at it, especially the newer ones with the dual core Atom processors and HD 3000/4000 integrated graphics. Not to mention VGA and HDMI video output, etc. The only thing you're really missing is a DVD player. Heck, any self-respecting computer nerd (myself included) will rip your DVD and drop it on a USB Flash drive for you then it's just click and play. Music, Videos, YouTube, whatever...

You can buy welded mesh of almost any thickness in just about all of the home stores. You can buy pre-sized pieces in 1 meter x 1.5 meter rectangles or you can buy rolls of mesh either plastic or metal from 60 to 120 centimeters in heights and from 10 to 50 meters in length. If at all possible, take a picture of what you want along with you and the store workers will take you right to it.

If you would like to keep it simple, try WinBuilder. It creates a Live Windows 7 Ultimate CD or Flash Drive. Nothing like booting into the operating system you're already comfortable with, including all the tools and features you use on a daily basis. The software will create a fully running Windows 7 x86 or x64 with all your drives, Ethernet, WiFi, USB, SD Reader and whatever else you have operating normally. Then you can restore your original backup, reformat and reinstall or whatever you need to do even if this means continuing to just use the CD/DVD or Flash Drive installation!. It will boot on any machine that's capable of running Windows 7 and it uses your original Windows DVD and Product Key to create and activate the Live Windows 7 CD/DVD/Flash so everything is legal and above board. Just type"WinBuilder" into a Google or Bing search window and you'll find all you need if you'd like to try it out. Cheers!

Renewed my 5 year a couple of weeks ago in Ubon at the Ring Road location and needed two things, my passport and yellowbook. They filled out the application and I signed it. The place was packed with people but I was in and out in about 30 minutes.

When I first starting coming to Thailand regularly, there were 44 THB to the $. my friend, that was stationed at the US base in Udon in the early 70s told me there were 2 THB to a nickel so that works out to 40 THB to the $. The lowest point for exchange I remember was about 2005-2006 when there were about 26 or 27 THB to the $. Naturally, that's when my house was under construction.

I was at Udorn Royal Thai Airbase in the early 70's and it was 20 Baht to the Dollar and I've been living here in Ubon since the early 2000's and on Jan 5, 2005, it was 39 to 40 Baht to the Dollar on through 2006.

I'm a Frito-Lays fan from way back...probably the early 1960's, and I can say that the Fresh Mart brand tastes real good to me. Being that I'm in Ubon, I have to travel to Korat (Nakorn Ratchasima) to get them at the Mall. At least now, Danitas brand and a new EL Sabor brand is now being stocked at Tesco. So yes, they are catching on. Now if we could just get some real Fritos, Doritos, and Tostitos, we'll be good to go...high price and all!

Yeah...it just works...riiiiiiiight!

Well, I loaded Win8 up yesterday and things were rocky at the start. This morning when I booted up, everything is working fine. I did not do a clean install as was suggested, and the system seems to have figured out where everything is with the exception of Synaptics' pointing device software--went to explorer, loaded it up, and it's working great now. The start screen has added a lot of tools that didn't show up yesterday, but this may be because I went into control panel late last night and turned on "Administrative Tools". I had a little trouble switching between Metro and Legacy interfaces, but after clicking on the "Desktop" tile when in the Metro view, the system takes you to the Legacy interface. Clicking the start button in the Legacy view switches you back into Metro view. everything seems to be pretty stable now. All of my Win7 software is working fine, including my CAT Telecom 3G dongle (Nortel Wireless MC760). Incidentally, I'm running a HP mini 210 Netbook with 2 Gigs of RAM and 160 Gig hard drive, Logitech Wireless keyboard and mouse combo with video out to a 26" Samsung LCD TV.

I'll chime back in if I find any showstoppers.

Or...you can do like me and stop buying them...

I'd also like to add that anybody that knows anything about internet usage here should know that video streaming is not a good option. Even streaming audio cannot be considered a good choice. On the other hand, archive files of audio and video available for download is probably the best option. Next, it would be great to place the link to said files somewhere easy to locate. I suggest a news flash and a YouTube for the video.

Ok one more try. In order to give you a good answer, I needed to know the name or model number of the particular items you paid for. At any rate, for a recently upgraded system, I included these items:

Asus Sabertooth P67 (Mainboard...street value is about 4500 Baht)

Nvidia GeForce GT 430 1GB DDR3 (VGA...street value is about 2000 Baht)

Super Black 2 (500 Watt Power Supply...street value 750 Baht)

Kingston ValueRAM (4 GB 1333MHZ DDR3...street value 1000 Baht)

These may be representative of the items you purchased...excluding any labor for troubleshooting, tearing down and rebuilding your system.

So, did you get a fair deal? The only way to be sure is to know exactly what you purchased. That means the details. In the future, always have technicians give you the packaging and documention with anything you purchase. Also ask that replaced parts are returned to you prior to the start of any repairs. Everything comes with documentation and warranty information, even for the professionals who buy items in bulk.

If you really want to know if you got a good deal or not, give us a list of the part numbers/model numbers of the items you bought, the amount of labor involved and your general location in Thailand and I can tell you if you got a decent deal or not.

For those who think they got a good deal just because they paid a certain amount of Baht for an entire system, It depends on whether all of your part are actually "new" and whether what you bought is considered "top quality" or "name brand".

I don't know anything about the person who bought a "7000 Baht" system with a 1 terabyte drive, but I'd be willing to bet one month's pension check that it is not very good system, thought it may be adequate for his/her needs. Chances are such entry level systems will work fine for at least the year that it's under warranty (if there is a warranty), I know, I've built many low level/entry level systems with perhaps one or two quality components and in most cases they'll work just fine for years on end....provided the user doesn't try to get the system to perform feats it was never meant to.

For that matter, a virus or some other form of malware will probably take most systems down prior to any component failure. I'll temper that statement by saying that component failure is extremely high here in Land Of Smiles, and considering the components are pretty much the same throughout the world, I'll attribute the high failure rate to extreme dust and heat, high humidity, power surges/brown-outs/cut-offs, and general rough handling of delicate parts. At any rate, feel free to email or send me a personal message (PM) if you'd like to further discuss any of these points.

My case is a "unique" case.

I have to return back to nearby Malaysia every one or two months.

That is to say, I won't have the oportunity to complete the "90" days reporting.

In other words, one or two months in Malaysia and one or two months in Thailand.

In that whole year I won't have 90 days of complete stay in Thailand.

The question I would like to ask is this.

1. Have I inform Immigration on this scenario ?

2. If not, will I face any problems now and in the near future.

This is my first Retirement Visa.

Please kindly advise.

Thanking you all in advance.

No problem (believe you have retirement extension of stay from immigration rather than a visa) - your stamps/re entry will show what is going on. No need to explain anything.

Just my two cents on this matter...the TM.47 states specifically in the title "Form for Alien to Notify of Staying Longer than 90 Days" the key words here are "stay longer than 90 days". So in effect, every time you leave the country prior to any 90 day period being exhausted you have not stayed for 90 days so no report is required. Whenever you enter Thailand wheither it's the initial time or a subsequent return from a short trip abroad, the 90 day period starts anew.

There was one time about two or three years ago when I was asked to supply a translation for my Embassy Income Affidavit and only becaused I asked the question before hand during a visit for a 90 Day check-in. Upon arrival to do my annual extension, the Immigrations officer (Sr Sgt Maj Piyat) told me the translation was not required as everyone was used to seeing this document and understood them quite well. So other than that, I've never had to have anything translated.

Visa Extension of Stay Trip Report

I went to Phibun Mangsahan, Ubon Ratchathani today, 28 July 2011, to accomplish my annual

visa extension based on retirement. This is my ninth trip to Phibun and each trip seems to be

more pleasant than the last. I arrived at 1:35pm to an almost completely empty office. A female

Senior Police Sergeant Major looked up, said "hello", and reached out motioning for my

paperwork.

My paperwork:

- Passport

- TM.47 Notify of 90 Day Stay (and receipt stapled to a page in passport)

- TM.6 Departure Card (stapled to page in passport)

- TM.7 Application for Extension

- One 2 centimeter x 6 centimeter photo

- American Embassy Income Affidavit

- 1900 Baht

Additionally, I included two copies of the following:

- Passport photo page

- Initial Entry VISA Stamp Page

- TM.6 Departure Card Front (and Back side to show initial entry stamp)

- Current Extension of Stay Stamp Page

- American Embassy Income Affidavit

- 1099R (original plus copies for proof of income—explained below)

- Retiree Account Statement (original plus copies for proof of income—explained below)

First, the immigrations officer looked through the stack, promptly wrote out a receipt for the

application fee and handed it to me. Next she updated the computer, and had me sign one copy of

each document in my stack. She explained that only ONE copy was needed and returned the extras

to me. Then she pasted the photo on the application, had me sign the front and back, stamped my

passport and placed the paperwork on a desk.

Shortly thereafter, a female Immigrations Police Lt. Colonel entered the offic, After spotting

my paperwork on the desk she reviewed it, initialed off on everything, and handed it back to her

subordinate. The Senior Sergeant Major quickly handed me my passport, quoted me the date of my

next 90 day check and said "you're done". I was amazed! I thanked both her and the Lt. Colonel

then looked at the clock...it was 1:50pm.

Immigrations did want to see proof of my income but they never got the chance to ask. I read

about the rumors so I put a Form 1099R and a Retiree Account Statement in my documentation

stack. The Form 1099R is an income tax document which shows annual distributions (payments)

from Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans, Individual Retirement Accounts and

Insurance Contracts. The Retiree Account Statement shows monthly income and deductions of US

Military Retiree Pay. The immigrations officer retained a copy of both documents as proof of my

receiving said income.

What the embassy REALLY needs to do is prioritize their efforts and STEP UP their visa agents to satisfy the demand for more application processing.

Currently their system is to let a visa applicant's 90 days paid subscription expire before they begin to consider granting a visa - that's a ridiculously absurd and ludicrous approach to handling what seems to be an overloaded visa department

What a novel idea it would be to add more agents to make the interviews and qualify the applicants - Duhh!! - reducing the load and getting those people qualified to go and spend money in the USA - WOW - how simple minded management can be.

Instead they spend their resources getting addresses of travelers and residents updated online.

I registered before - for what ? - a national crisis control ? - no-one contacted me to advise me to evacuate or instructions for other emergency contingency during the May red-shirt demonstrations with bombs and tanks rampant in the streets - I never heard of anything from the during the Tsunami

So what is their to STEP UP to ?

So you think consular section purposely doesn't want to manage everything as efficiently as possible? Now that's a ridiculous and absurd statement if I ever heard one. Every organization in the world has a budget to stick to regardless of what you think and it's not about processing numbers (individuals) just so they can spend money in the USA—talk about simple minded! Unless you're hiding from someone or some organization, it's a good idea to let the embassy know who and where you are...what? You think you're totally beyond danger here in Land of Smiles? Have you not heard how many foreigners and Thais come up dead, missing or whatever over here? Pull your head out man...I've been here since 2003 and I've registered and everytime any type of trouble rears it ugly head here, I get an email from American Citizens Services with a lot of good information on trouble spots, things to think about to keep yourself safe, etc., etc., etc. Heck if you don't listen to or want any good advise, at least you can cease with the non-nonsensical comments!

I've got about that much sitting in my storage room. Send me a PM with your address and I'll mail it to you for the cost of the mailing.

Cheers

If you have the CD with the driver software that accompanies the mainboard in your computer, you'll find an application by realtek that manages sound. It allows you to set up/manage the type of speakers or headphones you're using and also adjust your listening environment and the ports you're using on your computer. The application is usually located in a folder labled "Audio" and may be listed under WinXP or Vista if you have an older mainboard.

You said that you downloaded the latest Realtek drivers and if so, then the Sound Manager should be included in that package and probably needs to be installed separately.

Once installed, a Sound Manager icon will appear in the lower-right task bar. Open the program and locate the "Enable Front Panel Audio Jack Monitoring" check box and DISABLE (remove the check mark) front jack monitoring. Now plug into your front panel audio jack, play something and you should have sound!

Cheers

Many restaurants and bars have free WiFi such as Wrong Way Cafe. Also you can usually get online in the lobby of most hotels—just go to the front desk and ask for the log-in information (though sometimes not free). Then there are the food courts in Big C, Tesco-Lotus or the City Mall where you can buy minutes at the near-by See Ed book store and get online with their Spider WiFi HotSpots...always plenty of room and good connection speed, but not necessarily quiet.

Cheers

gguy - My company gets paid in Euro and today it dove to 39.59 THB/EUR which is really scary (I actually get 410,000 THB less pr. month than I did in December 2009)

Do you know why the euro is so weak and if/when it will recover?

(a guess would be nice)

You make how much money an month and you don't know why the Euro is dropping...I call B.S on this...stop wasting our time!

I too use a Samsung LCD TV for my monitor, It's only HD ready which means it's 720p, however, that's just for TV viewing, the TV it self is capable of self adjusting to higher rates when connected to my computer. I use the HDMI connector straight off the back of my computer's mainboard. The picture rocks, and no you don't sit inches away from it...more like 1 meter. In most cases, I use a Logitech Wireless mouse and keyboard that I set on the coffee table and sit on a stool or on the floor a couple meters away. Also note that I hook up my HP Mini 210 netbook to an old GoldLine (made in Thailand) 32 inch LCD that's in our TV room and the picture is great not just for viewing YouTube and other video but for read email and perusing news websites. Ask any TV dealer to hook up a netbook or laptop to your prospective LCD and see what I mean. It will help you to make your choice.

We did a fill for a plot of village property for about 1.5 meters of depth. After laying about 0.5 meters deep, had a local tractor come in and smooth it out then had a very large heavy road construction compactor come and roll over and compress the soil. Repeated the process for the next 0.5 meter and then the last 0.5 meter of soil. Sorry I don't know the individual costs of the tractor and the compactor, because my builder just figured it in with the total labor and construction cost for the house. At any rate this is what they do in the west and in most city construction around here. You too can have it done, you only have to ask. By the way, the soil was rock hard after compacting. The workers had a heck of a time digging holes for the footings/foundation and sewage tanks.

How about giving us some insight as to what type of issues you're talking about...a short list of three to five items would suffice.

1)

2)

3)...etc.

I sense some flaws in what you're reporting. I also believe that the complexity of your system is outstripping your knowledge level. You say you've been into IT for 35 years, but it seems you're having trouble with software packages that are well tested and stable in an XP environment only you can't get them to operate in Win7. Obviously you've heard of the K.I.S.S. principle however you seem to ignore the principle itself. You're also using Win7 Enterprise 90 day Trial software which comes in a VHD format—are you sure you understand what you're asking your system to do? This software is aimed at IT professionals to evaluate software designed for use in an "enterprise environment". Are you running a enterprise? Are you asking it to run some legacy 16 bit software? Give us a list of the software you're running, I'd like to see how it stacks up to what I'm running. At least we'll all know if you're a little off base or way out in left field. This is not a personal attack, I would just like to get some of the questions in my head answered. By the way, I think the Release Candidate version would have served better as an evaluation platform, and it will still work until deep into next year—readily available in many IT Malls, that is if you're in Thailand.