grin

Yes, termites can certainly eat the paper backing off of the sheetrock (drywall or gypsum to those not familiar with this term). We had this problem once but only on one bathroom ceiling. Our exterminators at the time checked all of the ceilings by removing light fixtures and feeling around the openings by hand. They took pictures and pretty much all of the paper backing had been eaten on this ceiling. We have to ask our current exterminators to check the ceilings and they charge extra. We have them check once a year.

I currently take one 7 mg tablet per day. It seems like the most I can get at one time is a 90 day prescription in the US. Has anyone seen it in Thailand?

It's fairly expensive at around $2500 per 90 day supply. When in Medicare Part D gap I pay 25% or about $625.

Has anyone tried filling this prescription by mail?

Thanks

21 minutes ago, just_Elaine said:

I have not been there for awhile, but Krua Phet Doi Ngam on Mahidol Road 053-204517 is the best Northern Thai food that we have had other than a place in Chiang Rai. It is not a new restaurant though and the decor is the regular wooden tables. I think we ordered stuff recommended on the eatingasia blog. 
 

 

It's close to our house and we've walked by it dozens of times. It never stood out but based on this recommendation I guess we'll have to check it out now. Google search shows you get a 10% discount with a Citi Credit Card.

I've only seen one on the list:

https://www.bpchiangmaicityhotel.com

3 hours ago, elektrified said:

Residency Certificates are no longer available from C.M. Immigration. You have to get one from your Embassy (no Consulates). Effective about 2 days ago. There have been several reports of this on other forums in the last two days.

Hopefully one can still use a yellow book in lieu of a residency certificate.

One thing people may not be aware of is that in the West (at least the US) the vent stacks also vent the municipal sewer system in addition to the houses. Also collectively it prevents build up of gas pressure in the sewer system.

When our house was built here I not only added vents to the stacks but added an extra trap in each bathroom after all of the floor drains. That way it does not matter if the floor drain traps dry up.

I had to visit our building site at least twice a day to prevent surprises. We bought really nice Kohler toilets with the neoprene rings that in my opinion work better than wax rings. One day I showed up and found that all of the neoprene rings had been discarded. Upon asking why I found out that they were planning to set the toilets on 2 inch concrete bases. It's a good thing I found that out beforehand and got the toilets installed with the neoprene rings instead of concrete. Many toilets here are installed on concrete bases and it seems to me like this could easily be a source of leaking sewer gas especially if there is no vent to relieve pressure.

Opened and updated TurboTax today to do some what-ifs on my capital gains. This section is disabled and has a message "the IRS is still working on finishing up the investment sales area (Schedule D) for 2020. Check back soon and we'll help you finish up". No help at all.

Bee's nests can provide a great service. Our nest is in a tree by our back fence where the neighbor has a small dog that used to be out yipping and yapping nonstop. Now they are afraid to let their dog out due to the bees and keep bugging my wife to get rid of the nest. She just replies that it would be bad luck to kill the bees.

The first washing machine we bought was from a vendor mentioned in this thread. When they left I discovered that the ground prong had been ripped out of the power cord even though we have grounded outlets. Upon calling they claimed that they did not rip out the prong even though you could see the remains of the prong. I suspect we got a model returned by someone that did not have grounded outlets. They refused to replace the power cord so I did it myself as the last thing we needed was a fried mother board. We do not trust that vendor for service nor have we bought anything from them again.

I have the same problem with leaks when I don't return to the US for a number of months. Several brands of flavored sparkling water cans start to leak if left too long. After dealing with some messed up cabinets I just bought a plastic kitty litter tray that holds four six-packs and the problem is now solved.

4 hours ago, owl sees all said:

Thanks for that grin. Was this the venue where that the Thai lady got a 147?

Had not heard of a lady getting the max there.

On 12/4/2020 at 6:45 PM, owl sees all said:

Just a note on Stuart Pettman.

 

As I thought, he does live in Thailand. He packed in snooker about 7 years ago, but started playing again last year. He manages Hustlers* in Bangkok.

 

Cuemaster Jimmy White, no stranger to Thailand himself, played an exhibition pool game at the club in 2014, against Praa.

 

If I get a chance, I'll visit the club and try to get a chat with Stuart. A fascinating character, who has experienced the snooker life, with its highs and lows, and has came through smiling. 

 

Can even get a game of chess at the club.

 

 

* Hustlers Bangkok is located in the basement of Times Square:

https://www.hustlersbangkok.com

Not quite inside the Super Highway but this has been my favorite Khao Soi place for years. It serves small or large bowls of Khao Soi and my favorite is the Khao Soi Bpla.

Khao Soi Restaurant

I've used the ophthalmology department at Rajavej for years to get my eye checkups for diabetes and prescriptions for my glasses. They speak excellent English and are good at answering questions. Never had a long wait as well.

Las Vegas is the home of my rental properties, all houses or condos. Two of my tenants work part time for me. One works full time as head custodian at a casino and handles most handy-work including HVAC and plumbing. The other works at a construction company and shows my properties when they are empty. She also farms out any repairs that my handyman can't do and she also paints. Between the two of them they can turn any rental around in a week. I supply both of them with my Home Depot commercial revolving credit card to buy supplies.

I handle all money matters and paperwork directly with my tenants. I communicate with them using Skype and email. I advertise using cozy.co, zillow.com, and craigslist.com. I get rental applications, tenant screening, credit reports, and collect all rent online using cozy.co. My two part timers only handle showing the properties and doing repairs. My tenants know to call them directly. All contractor payments are made by credit card or Zelle Pay.

We always do some upgrades on turnarounds. Continually improving the properties makes it easy to get tenants. I never raise the rent on a tenant but always raise it between tenants. I am almost charging double my original rent on all of my properties and the one thing that I have noticed is that I get much more reliable tenants with nicer houses and higher rents. I've only had one tenant fall behind due to COVID-19 and they are getting assistance.

On 11/29/2020 at 6:14 PM, owl sees all said:

It's great to see a post from someone that appreciates football and maths.

 

Yes, the area of a circle. My dad, before we covered it in school, would tell me pi is 22 divided by 7. Of course, that is an approximation, but near enough for most general uses.

 

As you say, the area of a six inch diameter circle would be pi x R2 = 28.278 sq inches. The method I refer to would be D2 x 0.786 (rounded from 0.7855) would give 28.296. Using a further decimal place; 0.7855, would give 28.278.

 

Great stuff! And there is more. If this thread is a bit quiet one day, we could indulge further into math's mysteries.

If you would like a closer approximation to pi on a calculator just remember the sequence 113355 and divide 355 by 113.

I always have to clear off the rear deck or parcel shelf or whatever you call it if someone else in the family has driven the car since I last drove it. Not only that but I have to remove stuff that is dangling from the rear view mirror and sometimes even from the sun visors. I can't convince anyone in the family to maintain clear vision when they are driving. I get similar results when I try to get them to turn on the headlamps during the daytime in order to make the car more visible.

Yet another Apple story here. Apple acquired my company in 1988. My options were set at $14.25 and I cashed them out in 1992 for $70.00. Ha ha, thought I was rolling in it. At least I still have the NSX I bought.

You would think I would have learned my lesson at this point but this was nothing compared to the bath I took at a dot.com bomb in 2000.

I didn't see ceviche on the menu but it wasn't that easy to read for me either. Does anyone know of a Thai dish similar to ceviche? All of the ingredients seem like they are easily found in Thailand. I have seen online recipes for Thai ceviche but they all seem like fusion dishes and not original Thai dishes. I have had laab neua made with raw beef and once had an Issan dish made with raw duck but I'm not sure if the duck was actually raw. Also the ceviche process of cooking using the acid in the lime juice may only work on seafood.

I linked my Schwab Bank account to TransferWise for ACH transfers over two years ago. I was not given the option to do this with trial deposits back then. It's possible that this has changed now. I had to give them my Schwab username and password for TransferWise to set up the link. So, not liking giving up this kind of information I changed my Schwab password temporarily, gave TransferWise my new password to set up the link and afterwards reset my Schwab password. I was concerned that I would have to give them my new password but never had a problem since then. So it seems that permission for TransferWise to do ACH pulls was set up permanently on their initial login to Schwab. The interesting thing is that my transfer to BBL goes through in less than a day but the ACH withdrawal doesn't show up on Schwab for several days. However, I always get an email in about an hour that TransferWise has received the money from my Schwab account.

On 10/1/2020 at 7:37 AM, EricTh said:

Have you used Instarem before? If yes, how does it compare with Transferwise?

I set up an account with InstaReM to have a backup in case of problems with TransferWise and/or OFX.

First, it is a pain to set up an account. You need to send them a number of documents. They were fairly responsive via email but it took multiple exchanges to get my account set up.

Not only that but if you don't make transfers for around six months your account becomes dormant and you have to set it up again.

Their rates are better than TransferWise but they take much longer to do the transfer. With TransferWise I can do a transfer from Schwab in the morning in the US and by late evening it is in my BBL account. Two of my InstaReM transfers took over a week and the fastest was 4 days.

My wife just sent a Fedex envelope from Bangkok to me in the US on October 1 - standard delivery - non priority - 1290 Baht. Original estimated delivery date was October 7 but it showed up on October 5.