Ok, gang, it’s the ninth innings, the bases are loaded and we’re two out. Time to hit this week home.

I still have a touch of the sick, but I’m making a more conscious effort to drink more water. I’ve noticed when I’ve woken up lately that I have been totally dying of thirst, even if drinking 2L of fluid. That might not be enough to Thailand in November. I’ve also noticed I feel sick around dinner time, and again I think it’s not drinking enough water during the day. Man it’s hot.

Yesterday was a massively busy day but I can’t say too much about it at the moment because it is the basis for M&D’s christmas present, so remind me to tell you all of the MBK December trip. It’s a pretty good story.

Not long till I’m home now. I hope the welcome wagons are adequately prepared.

So I wanted to find Glenn’s home phone number, but it turns out I no longer have it. So I rang Australian directory assistance and asked for “Homo Miller” in Tinglapa-area.

The lady was very apologetic, but said the only listing for “Homo Miller” was in Mansfield, although earlier this year there was a listing for “Homo Miller” in Moorooka.

So in summary Glenn, send me your home phone number by email, thanks.

So every year, I go to Brainshare in the USA. This year is no exception, so I’m taking applications now for people who want to be flown to the USA in exchange for keeping me company and helping with the stand for a few days.
March 16-21, 2008 is the official dates of the show.

Presently, I’m there from March 13 to March 25. This is usually flexible, depending on whether the volunteer wants in social touring in western USA afterwards.

Who’s done this so far? My Dad, Godfrey, Callun and Berny have all had successful expeditions. Having done it once does not preclude doing it again.

Some TIMES I feel I’ve got to
BUMP BUMP
run away, I GOT TO
BUMP BUMP
get away

So says the wisdom of Soft Cell with their hit “Tainted Love”. Presumably I’ve been sitting in front of this computer for too long. Sigh.

I’ve been look at stocks and managed funds lately, and I’m pretty impressed with a couple I’ve seen. In a long-ish chat with Godfrey on Tuesday night, he suggested that dumping big money straight into the stock market now wasn’t the greatest plan, but perhaps a better plan was to open an ING account, and slowly apportion the money out of the more-or-less complete security of that, into the riskier environement of the stockmarket. That said, Andrew acknowledges his risk profile. I suppose I’m particularly interested to hear what y’all think about that.

We also agreed that we needed to do the thing we do every holiday: take a blank sheet of paper, and write the word “PLAN” atop it. That’s the basis of most of our good times, so this Christmas should be no exception. My most important pending task is the relocation of my ADSL account to Mum and Dad’s place with little service interruption to the computers that sit behind it. Second most important is the relocating of the furniture I actually want to keep “non-stowed” which is pretty much my HIFI gear and my couches, which I think M&D will have use for. Third most important, is putting everything in storage and repainting and recarpeting. It’s going to be a fun couple of weeks, that’s for sure. Also, Godez and I discussed it, and Ashmore’s is going to see us on at least one occassion, probably coinciding with a GC trip. Blacky emailed me: “on the weekend before christmas the gang are coming down the coast. 21st-23. 24 maybe December, dads Palm beach house is vacant most of the summer, and if we don’t use it ; he will sell it. the house is half furnished. will you be here for that???? ” Yes. I certainly will. Oh, and Monte’s too.

Peace out, brethren.

I have a sore throat - I blame Leyts and Brendo: too much shouting over bad music in smoky bars. We had a pretty good night on Monday, started at the Japanese place I’m so fond of, then to the Singha beer garden, then to Soi Cowboy, then to a pool bar on Nana, then on a misguided mission to Oh My Cod in the hope of sampling some more of their mojitos, but it was closed, so we hit Khao Sanh instead, then back to Cowboy, and then home shortly after.

Have I ever mentioned Mint-isms on the blog? I don’t think so. They’re great - she has the usual difficulties with when to use “me” or when to use “I” in sentences, but some other ones you wouldn’t think of being problems. Like she gets “hate” and “help” confused sometimes. And “just” and “if”. My favourite one is when I’m doing something wrongly or stupidly and she says in exhasperation “me say you ten thousand again!” which isn’t too far off “I’ve told you ten thousand times!” to be understood.

Anyway, that’s about it to report for the moment. Oh, some people have been confused over the apartment situation, so let me clear that up right now: the apartment WILL be available for sale in January. Hope that clears things up.

So “the software business” will live for a little longer, thanks to a big fish landed today. I am well, Mint is well and today Brendo and Leyts arrive back in BKK for one last night. Why not celebrate? I will be.

It’s Friday night in Brisneyland, so there’s every chance nobody will read this until Monday.

I went on a visa run with Quick Thai Visa Run yesterday. I needed to be at Ekkamai before 9am, which was about 3 stops on the BTS from Asok station, which is the stop nearest to my place. I left my place at around 7:30am, and after the walk and a little bit of not knowing where specifically to meet the group, I found everyone at around 8:30am. Filled in the neccessary paperwork, handed over my 2000B, and got on the bus. Bus left at 9:30am sharp, and we were on the road for exactly 2 hours, pulled over for a rest stop at 11:30am. While we were recharging, our food and drink orders arrived magically on our seat: I had the pork omelette and rice, and a pepsi. There were 4 movies en route, I watched a couple - one was The Lonely Hearts club, one was this average Jet Li flick, I forget the rest. At 1:30pm, our passports were handed out by the lady in charge, and at 1:45pm we arrived at the border.

We were hearded out and through, and then hearded back again. We had 15 minutes to shop on the Cambodian side if we wanted … frankly I couldn’t be bothered, and the Cambodian beggars were less intense on the Thai side of the bridge. Some Thai official would shout at the kids who had made their way too close to his side and they would scamper away. I was a particular target: “Mr bpoom-bpuy, 1 baht na?” Bpoom bpuy is a polite way to say “chubby”.

Back on the bus at 2:30pm, back off at 4:30pm. I had an icecream. The final two hours took about 2 and a half hours because of traffic, but I was glad to be home. I met Mint at Robinson’s and we walked home from there.

ok I don’t have a lot of time to talk today because I’m going on a Visa run, but last night I had a wierd dream.

I was a modern day Cardinal Wolsey, in service to a king who wanted to get married, and I was finding the best candidate which the king would accept but would also help my own affairs prosper. It was cool.

So the weekend just gone was great: Leyts and Brendo were in Bangers, and we painted the town red.

Let’s see - they got here crazy early … like before 7am. They dumped their bags and we went for a walk, to Dream hotel for breakfast. It’s also a nice place to sit and chill for an hour or so.

They wanted to change money, and unfortunately did so at a bad time, not at a bad place. I showed them the best place in my research, but later that afternoon rates skyrocketed. Oh well. It’s like shares right? Once you sell them, you can never look back.

Oh, we wandered through a supermarket looking at oddities before the money changer opened. I forgot about that.

So we went to MBK and worshipped at the telephone sales desks, and had lunch at a BBQ place. You know where they serve you a hotplate and tray of raw meat and vegetables? Like that.

Then we hit Panthip for the computer overload, and then back to my place for a quick rest. That’s when we flew my crappy $40 model plane off the roof. It went about as well as could be expected.

Later that afternoon, Leyts and Brendo checked into their hotel .. 1 bed, nice … and we went out for food and drinks at Oh My Cod. It was awesome - I had the Blue Cheeseburger, and several Beer Lao. Then we moved to Mojitos until we’d drunk all their bacardi and paid their bill and checked out Khao Sahn. I caught a cab home after a few more drinks at a beer cafe on Khao Sahn.

Next day, they rang me and we met up at their hotel. They’d both decided they actually wanted to buy phones after seeing such an array at MBK, so we went and secured new telephones, ate Thai food and saw Michael Clayton at the movies. I liked it, Leyton didn’t. I forget what Brendo though? We then played some guitar hero and called it a day - they went back to their hotel for their welcome dinner, and I went home to work and sleep.

Now they’re off Intrepiding. I’ll see them again next week I hope.

The discrepancy in price between “western food” and “Thai food” is amazing.

Yesterday, I was in a terribly desperate state for a burger. The closest burger joint near me is McDonalds. For a burger, drink and sundae I paid about 170B. That’s about $5.75 or thereabouts.

Today for lunch, I had Khao Cook Kapi (fried rice with shrimp paste, beans, chopped omlette, red onion, fresh chili, sweet pork on the side) and a pepsi max for 45B. Add a Thai-style kanomh (desert) for 10B more, and we’re only talking $2. For what’s essentially better tasting (and better for you) food, you pay almost a third of the price.

And yet I still sometimes crave western food. And as happened yesterday, I was disappointed.