gargamon

49 minutes ago, BMW Overlander said:

Back in Phuket, an Italian neighbor has been operating an illegal bike rental biz without problems. In the nearby vicinity, there are Russians operating car rentals, the Russian employee sitting behind the counter and taking bookings while authorities don't give a sh$t.

Report them, or have a Thai you know report them. There's probably a reward of some sort available. 

20 minutes ago, 2baht said:

Take one Diazepam and sleep on it, you may change your mind!

Diazepam (aka Valium) is too weak. I use bromazepam. 

21 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Head East a bit further... 

Been there, done that. Injectable morphine over the counter. Rohypnal(sp?) aka roofies OTC. Etc. 

49 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Most people are not POTUS. A POTUS should be held to a higher standard than most people.

Then how did Trump ever get the job? Or be allowed to try and get it again? 

46 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Agree that Sherbert Queen is good, Fat Banana is now back in stock.

I wouldn't think that the later stock of fat banana is necessarily the same as the earlier one. Likely a different grow and maybe even from a different source. 

1 hour ago, mikebell said:

If you are doing 60 kph in the outside lane to overtake a motorbike going at 40 and she inexplicably veers into your lane inside your braking distance you will hit her squarely in the rear.  I passed my driving test by being aware of physics and the laws of momentum.

Too bad that physics and the laws of momentum have little to do with traffic laws, especially in Thailand. 

29 minutes ago, Digitalbanana said:

So why were you asking about an international account to start with? If you have a US address?

 

P. O. Box. And I'm Canadian. The new rules that seem to be coming into effect may be detrimental to the handling my Vanguard accounts, so I'll go legal and get the international acct.

And yes. I have a social security number as I worked legally in the US for a significant amount of time. 

50 minutes ago, mikebell said:

If the bike veered suddenly into his lane, the car is not at fault.

Depends if he hit the rear or the side of the bike. If it's the rear then the Chinese driver is at fault. Veering is irrelevant.

How did you pass your driver's test? 

15 minutes ago, Yumthai said:

Is having a US address mandatory in order to get the ATM card?

Dunno. It's much more convenient though for me on many levels. Say I change condos and forget to inform Schwab. Or I'm traveling and not here to pick up the mail. Or the Thai postal system loses it. Etc. 

From the linked Pattaya news article:

According to the police report, Mr. Peng Zhimin, a 36-year-old Chinese driver, told the police that while he was driving normally in the right-side lane, suddenly, ts theshe victim allegedly cut into his lane. His car then crashed into the victim’s motorbike at full force.

So the Chinese driver struck the moto from the rear. Chinese driver at fault by traffic laws everywhere. Hopefully there's video to assess the car driver's story. 

47 minutes ago, retarius said:

Bit silly telling everyone about it. If others start using your idea this quick route will be shut down very quickly.

I thought we were supposed to be helpful.

 My idea is hardly inappropriate. The appointment queue controls the amount of traffic in section 8. Walk-ins with no appointment will still need to queue up.

Besides, if they shut it down, I will, as always, find the best/quickest way to get in. I was planning on changing my renewal date to low season but decided to see how well the appointment went. I had paperwork for both a 6 month and 12 month extension when I went for the appt. If it didn't go well I was going to do the 6 month one. 

38 minutes ago, bamnutsak said:

Bleach might kill viruses, in vitro. No one would ever suggest consuming bleach.

Trump did. To kill covid. 

Made a 11:00 am appointment for retirement renewal in Jomtien about a month ago, not 8:30 like most. Gave me time to get the bank letter with a transaction that day.

Showed up at 10:45. Got the same nonsense as the OP about still  needing to fall in line to get number. Screw this I thought. Went to the door to the old building, showed my appointment printout and was allowed entery. Then went to the two girls at the far end of section 8 (there's a joke there but I won't pursue it) where you normally pick up your passport after it has been stamped. They got me to one of the processing staff as soon as one freed up.

So lesson learned: ignore the queue and go directly to section 8. No problem at all. 

On 3/9/2024 at 6:06 AM, MonteD said:

I'm curious, what exactly is a super Maga in your opinion? When did patriotism become a bad idea? 

That's funny. You're trying to imply that to be a patriot you need to be MAGA. Just go ahead and drink the Koolade and get it over with. MAGA is a cult and it has nothing to do with patriotism. 

Update: My Schwab International account is now open. The only documents required were a copy of my Canadian passport and a copy of my last k-bank statement. I screwed up initially and sent the locked pdf statement from k-bank which Schwab was obviously unable to open. After they received the unlocked statement it was only a day or two until it was open.

A mutual fund from Vanguard is currently being transferred to fund the account. 3-4 days they say.

I've added a US address as the mailing address. As soon as they've updated this on the account, I'll add a cash account which will get the Schwab ATM card. 

9 hours ago, pub2022 said:

Most of the time, diet + exercise alone won't be enough. You'll need drugs as well.

But I'm not a doctor.

Diet and exercise will provide up to a 5% decrease in the numbers. A statin will reduce the numbers around 50%. Don't forget you need to take a co-q-10 supplement if you take a statin.