grin

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.

Maybe I missed an earlier post about Thai Airways flying to the USA. They have not even been allowed to fly to the USA for some years now. At some point they suffered a poor safety rating audit and the FAA downgraded Thai Airways to Category II. Thus they were no longer allowed to operate flights to the USA.

Being somewhat anal about monitoring my blood pressure I asked my doctor exactly where is heart level. His answer was if in a sitting position it is mid sternal or mid chest or generally at nipple level. The point is that the cuff should be centered at this level whether it's on the upper arm or the wrist. Usually if you are sitting and your elbow is resting on a table then your upper arm will naturally be at heart level. If using a wrist monitor while sitting then your wrist should be supported at mid upper arm level.

As far as taking multiple readings he said that it was important to rest in the same position that you will be doing the readings for 10 minutes before starting. Waiting less time will mean you have to take more readings before the readings settle down. He suggested waiting 2 minutes between readings and that the same arm and same position be used each time. His answer on which reading to use was to use the last one. So, the longer you rest the more likely your first two readings will be nearly identical.

I asked if this assumed that the readings were going down and not more or less random. I.e. what if the monitor itself is not consistent or some body factor is fluctuating. He said that in this case he would average the readings.

This simple advice was given to me about 10 years ago and it works for me.

Storks more active 9 months after poeple quarantined with significant other? Sorry, couldn't resist.

I like the card size plastic covers they charge you 10 Baht for. They nicely fit some paper/cardboard and other cards that I like to keep protected. Nice and thin and unobtrusive for carrying in my wallet. Last time I renewed my license the lady agreed to sell me 10 extra covers for 100 Baht. I still have a few I haven't used. If I run out before my next renewal I may have to accidentally lose my license.

Nevada has allowed me to send in ballots by email for some time now. 

8 hours ago, beau thai said:

french garden at mahidol rd end of chiang mai land. very good food and ambience

Are they still open? The last few times I walked by they seemed closed.

We use Lanna Lab at 129/255 Mahidol Road. They are very reasonable priced and usually very responsive.

It is on a small soi on the opposite side of the road from Chiang Mai Land. Heading towards the airport it is the small soi on the left before the 7/11. Less than 100 meters down on the right side.

The last number I had for them is 53 275 131.

My understanding is that in the worst case it can take people six to eight weeks to recover from Covid-19. Since testing is not that prevalent in Thailand who knows how many current cases there are. As long as there are current cases it is possible for the virus to be transmitted. It seems to me that we would have to wait two weeks after everyone in the country has recovered to be sure that there are no carriers. But without sufficient testing how can we know that?

Is this the end of digital nomads and the beginning of digital hermits?

I have been stuck in Las Vegas since January. I came here to fix up a rental property. Now I am considering never renting it out again and spending the Chiang Mai burning season here every year.

I really like getting out into the desert here in southern Nevada and northern Arizona. I think the desert scenery and hiking around here are quite wonderful. You do have to be aware of your surroundings as you can run into rattlesnakes and scorpions. However, I have only seen one rattler here in 20 years.

Which scenes were filmed at the Pun Pun?

I never hear any of my Brit friends refer to the UK other than the few in the US wondering if UK basketball will be number 1 in preseason rankings.

Here's a link: Yanyon Nakorn

I like the small footprint of these tanks but how would you stop the public water flow into them without a float setup? Can you use some kind of electronic valve?

Is there just one inlet on the top and one outlet on the bottom?

What I did to get my wife's ITIN was just a three step process:

1) get a certified copy of her passport from the US consulate

2) fill out the W7 form (ITIN application)

3) attach both to a paper filing of our tax return

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw7.pdf

Currently the consulate is closed and does not consider certifying a passport to be an emergency service so you will have to wait for them to open up for appointments again. The alternative is to attach the original passport to the return and hope you get it back before you need it.

There was a thread in the DIY housing forum a while back where someone mentioned buying one of these IBC containers and had a picture of the top middle one.

Chiang Mai Solar did great work for us - sent details by PM

The consulate is responding to email albeit a bit more slowly than usual due to volume.

ACS Chiang Mai -  [email protected]

If your wife does not become a US citizen or resident she can still collect SS benefits if she meets the five year rule. This only requires you to live together in the US for a total of five years and it is cumulative time and does not have to be continuous. I'm not sure what kind of visa would be required.

I'm stuck in Las Vegas for a while and one of the first things to run out of stock in the supermarkets after toilet paper and water was hotdogs.