maipenrai

Yes, good chance of that - I'll be over thereabouts until May, hopefully.

Well, I am almost ready to go - I've been going all morning and part of the afternoon getting things packed for me and arranged for the house sitter; I must have been up and down my stairs twenty times today and am heartily sick of it, and I did plenty of things before today as well. At times like these I think how nice it would be to have a condo where I could just walk out the door and forget about it - if they didn't cost so damned much to buy and operate here I would probably go that route. The house sitter will be here in an hour or so and all I have to do now is pack my laptop away and change my clothes.

We had the occasional bad apple for teachers when I was young, I can recall hearing that one Grade 1 teacher had been let go for throwing a book at a student and injuring him or her; but the worst problem I had with my high school teachers was drunkenness - my first Grade 11 math teacher would show up in the morning looking much the worse for wear, scribble an assignment on the blackboard and then disappear to the washroom for a while and come back looking somewhat more presentable; and the second Grade 11 math teacher (yes, I flunked the first year) was a Swiss-educated African black man who was brilliant but a total piss tank - he played jazz piano so well that every bar in town was after him to entertain, and he got busted for impaired driving with a .32 reading. I think the only reason I passed the second year was that I found this man's mannerisms so amusing that I paid attention in class for a change. Mind you, our town in those days was very much a frontier town and our many bars were doing a roaring business - lots of people were out every night back in those days and nobody really cared much about it.

No, I'd rather it be "sit in the nice warm pub and drink beer" weather, lol.....

As a Canadian, we were raised to always take off our shoes in our own and others' homes; mind you, this comes from a time when most people had their homes carpeted and it was comfy to walk around in socked feet; nowadays the trend is to have laminate flooring installed instead and I had this done in my own home a few years back and just put slippers on after I take off my outside shoes. Sometimes in summer I'll run in and out of the house without taking off my outside shoes, particularly if I have not cleaned the floor for a while but I don't do this in winter because of the snow I would track in. When I visited my English cousins a few years back, their country home was all done in hard flooring and they wouldn't take off their outside shoes until bedtime - they'd sit around and watch TV with their shoes on. Same with American friends I stayed with in LA - shoes on until bedtime - seemed weird to me as I am much more comfortable with slippers on.

Yes, he was born in Oklahoma and went to high school in Tulsa, where he was involved in bands with David Gates and J. J. Cale before moving to LA and spending some years as a session musician before becoming a star in his own right.

Yeah, my little MacAir is getting on in years but the last time I tried to upgrade the operating system it got halfway through and then aborted, scrambling all of my bookmarks in the process - maybe I'll take it into a shop when I get to Pattaya and have them try it instead. Perhaps I can just upgrade the Safari, as you suggest - I'll check that out. Meanwhile, it's the eve of my departure and I am getting my packing done; I had hoped to get out of here before winter really hit, as we have had a very mild one so far, but the mercury went down to -36C this morning and will stay around there until the weekend, apparently - it'll sure be great to get on that plane tomorrow.

I dunno - I have every respect for Russell for being a very accomplished musician, but his voice is like listening to someone dragging their fingernails across a blackboard...

I'm afraid I can't see the shopping.webp picture you posted here - this "webp" stuff is always hidden to my Mac for some reason. I used to walk up to 25km a day around Pattaya and sandals just don't measure up to good quality runners when you are spending that much time on your feet. I do have a pair of open sandals that I wear for beach days or Songkhran but never wear them here at home; and I have plenty of other types of footwear here as well, something to deal with every season or activity.

And just what constitutes "very cold weather" over there in Blighty? Be thankful you haven't had the pleasure of staring reluctant vehicles and other machinery in -40 or colder, lol...I could write a book about it.

Because I was lucky to find one pair in the whole store that fit me; maybe if they stand up well I'll order them instead of trying to find them on the shelves.

Be thankful if your feet are a common size and you live in a place where you have plenty of product to choose from - I have big and wide feet and have a hard time finding my size in my small community; I always buy a new pair of quality runners/trainers - whatever they are called in your home place - before an extended trip overseas and last year I had a hard time finding a pair to fit me here; this year I got lucky and found a pair right away, wish it was always this easy. I'll keep wearing them when I get home and by the time the next trip comes around they'll be worn enough that I will be ready for another new pair.

That green bike is a tidy looking little unit - any idea what make it is?

Ever wonder why your cars are so expensive to repair these days? I was in my buddy's auto body shop the other day and he showed me these items that he had just purchased for a couple of jobs he is doing; the contents of the red box and the half gallon of paint additive beside it came to a whopping $582 CDN (341 GBP) - and get this, the small cans of paint are only half full: One reason for the ridiculous price is the move a few years ago to "environmentally friendly" water-based paints - to paint a full-sized pickup today, for instance, you'll be paying thousands just for the paint, never mind the labour. My friend is one of the only auto-body guys left in town who will actually repair damage rather than just replace parts for big Insurance $ - he wants to quit and move south and he will be sorely missed by many when he does - the bigger shops just want the insurance jobs for the above reason.

Had my house sitter over yesterday giving me a hand to fill up the house with firewood before i leave - we've got much colder weather in the forecast so it's good timing - sure goes easier with two guys working at it; we probably dumped about ten loads like this into my basement:

I just use a separate phone for my Thai service with AIS - I keep it working through wifi while I am home and top it up occasionally from my Kasikorn account, have had the same number for years now.

This is one of my favourite Joni Mitchell songs and I think it is a masterpiece - the songwriting with its message, the voice control, the accompaniment - everything fits perfectly. It's kind of sad to think that talents like Mitchell and Young had to move to the US to get ahead in their respective careers back in the day.

Happy New Year, everyone. The only resolution I have right now is to get on that damned plane in eleven days and leave deep winter's gloom and cold behind; physically I am not off to a good start as my arthritic left knee has flared up but hopefully I'll be able to deal with this as I have much to do before I leave.

I was a regular visitor on my trips, spent my fair share of time and money there and always enjoyed my visits; didn't really do a lot of barfines from there but bought lots of lady drinks.

You'd think that YouTube would keep an eye on crap like this - they give other contributors flak over stuff much less serious or offensive than phony death videos.

Two weeks from yesterday - can't wait to say goodbye to the snow and cold...

We all knew it was coming but that doesn't make it any easier to hear about it - may your sister RIP - she was fortunate to have someone as caring as you to be with her, and do so much for her, near the end. It's good to know that you are getting counselling and I hope this helps you - in some ways you may never get over this, but you WILL get through it - stay strong.

Yeah, I remember these Sundays too - especially for the fellows who would show up for the food on this day but you'd never see them in there on any other day...

Enjoying some free time after working four long night shifts over the Xmas weekend - this was supposed to be the end of my employment for this year but this morning my boss asked me if I wanted to work three extra nights over the NYE weekend as well because we're short-staffed so I agreed - it's easy money and I have nothing planned anyway. Yesterday it was -5C when I went to work at 1930, and this morning it had dropped to -18C, a much more seasonal value; I don't mind, I was tired of the sloppy warm weather with water and ice everywhere. I just fired up my woodstove again and once the temperature upstairs has equalized and the damper closes, I will be off to the pub to catch up with my mates.