forqalso

It’s not a drug store, it’s a fa ma-c.

I had just bought a small carved horse in a shop for a friend back home when I was approached by a young Thai girl. She was a tout for some time share, which I had no interest in. She asked me where I was from, so I said, “the US”. She’d never heard of it. “USA?” Nope. “America?” “Aaah, Ameri-ka, you from America. Are you a cowboy,” she asked. I answered, “sure, why not?” She then asked, “if you cowboy, where is your horse?” And I reached into my bag….

If he won an award for leading the fight to “dismantle fraternity stereotypes,” I wonder how bad the ones that didn’t win were.

The first concert I ever went to had Foreigner as one of the opening acts for the Eagles. Over forty years ago. Good to see they’re still at it.

A little too pricey for me, but I like the concept. I have an Airtag and battery pack in my backpack but I bought them all separately.

I’m driving my 2015 Chevy Cruze. It has a 2 liter Diesel engine, which gives me up to 65 miles per gallon on the highway. It can make it from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon on one tank. This picture was one the way home from Denver, which I’ve done several times in a full days drive. This trip took 3 days, with road closures. I had to learn to put on tire chains on the side of the road. Luckily, the company picked up the extra hotel rooms and kept the per diem coming. It’s been a good car, the only issue I had is when I bought a jug of diesel exhaust fluid from AutoZone and it turned out someone had bought it before and used it before refilling it with water and getting a refund. A scumbag move but not as bad as AutoZone. The cashier was able to look up and see the refund, but they wouldn’t even refund the purchase price, not to mention the $100 in repairs to my emissions system. It’s probably going to be my last US car. I’m thinking of a Fortuner or Camry when I move to Thailand.

I just realized it’s been 25 years since Kerri Strug’s famous vault in the 1996 Olympics.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-four-dead-single-car-accident-chicago-20210718-fj6tg6nh3bbppj64mf44hwkjne-story.html

During my career as a millwright, I would travel all over the States, usually with enough notice but some last minute jobs. I was called one afternoon in Florida to be in Detroit at 7 the next morning. I drove all night and worked a twelve hour shift in a car plant as soon as I got there. It was rough, but it was three months of work. I started going out to California in 2000, driving across country, three or four times a year. My longest drive was from east of Boston to San Francisco. Eventually, I was getting enough work in California, that I moved there. Until I retired, most of my jobs were close to the house, only a few jobs in Denver, Washington or LA. Since I retired, I hardly drive at all, maybe I fill up once a month, probably less than that. The only time I’ve driven a car in Thailand was one night in Bangkok, the wife and I went out drinking with her girlfriend and that girl’s husband. He is a taxi driver, so we had his cab. I don’t drink and the other three were hammered, so I drove the taxi back to the hotel off Ratchada Soi 3.

I’m searching the house and yard helping my wife find the tomato cage I threw away four months ago.

We’ve been married here in California since 2009. After a few months here, she was crying because she was homesick and lonely. This was before all the free video apps and all. She stuck it out, made a few Thai friends and worked in several Thai restaurants under the table. I told her she would regret it when she gets old but she didn’t believe me until I retired. She lost her restaurant job with the Covid shutdown and so did I taking an early retirement at 56. I get my pension plus Social Security and VA disability and she now sees the reason for a legitimate job. She got a job with a temp agency at a wine label factory. The plant liked her work and she ended up getting hired as a regular employee as a machine operator and she will make close to $100,000 this year. She just socks it away, sending around $300 a month to Grandma and another $300 for her car payment. I told her she doesn’t need to work, but she wants her own money and retirement. I took a hit on my retirement (about 50%) but it will pay until we’re both dead. Now, in her free time she is prepping for her citizenship test, I quizzed her this morning and she passed.

What school has been named after George Floyd?

So, whenever any murder victim’s name is mentioned we have to list the things you think someone else did wrong? Or just when it’s George Floyd? What do we do if someone mentions Tamir Rice? Or Breonna Taylor? Or Philando Castile? Or John Crawford III? If you think the outrage and protests are solely in response to George Floyd’s murder, then you really haven’t been paying attention. Also, since you’re complaining irresponsibility, maybe you should be a responsible poster and fact check some of the claims you’ve made.

Remaining in the police vehicle is no guarantee of your safety. Ask Freddie Gray. https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/chi-freddie-gray-death-20150423-story.html

He has an avenue to appeal, which is more than what he gave his victim, who was judged, convicted and executed without a trial or any hope of appeal.

One night, walking back to my room in Soi Lengkee, I saw a couch that had been left on the side of the road. I stupidly thought it would be funny to get a picture sitting on it. Before I could sit down: luckily, a huge rat crawled out of the cushions and skittered off.

Convicted murderer Derek Chauvin receives a sentence of 22.5 years today.

I can tell the price in the San Francisco area for fresh durian is crazy. One section was going for $35 (1085 ฿) yesterday.

It could be worse.. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2087909/Grief-stricken-bridegroom-Chadil-Deffy-marries-DEAD-girlfriend-grim-Thai-ceremony.html

My wife made some duck soup before she left for work tonight. I usually eat anything she cooks, fried crickets, pig uterus, preserved eggs, but I guess I draw the line at having a duck’s head in my soup bowl. IMG_2704.MOV

The only reason his height matters is that the back seats of police cars are limited in size because they put wall floor to ceiling to protect the driver and to contain anything that may have been missed during a body search.

Unfortunately, for every cop like Derek Chauvin there are three other cops willing to stand there while one of their own commits murder. Good for this cop for saving the life of a child. What would she have done at the scene of George Floyd’s murder? Either nothing, like all the other cops on the scene or she would have done something to stop the murder. Then, she probably would have been fired, like what happened in the case. https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/14/us/buffalo-officer-reinstated-trnd/index.html She lost her job, pension and most importantly, her reputation when she stopped another officer that was choking a suspect. After fighting fifteen years, she will receive her pension. It’s not that there aren’t good cops. Maybe 99% of them are good 99% of the time. Until it’s common for a cop outside of whatever conflict is occurring to be able to step in and stop something like this as it is happening, without fear of loss of job, reputation or life, then there will be more “George Floyds,” more protests and more huge settlements that we all end up paying.

You really don’t get it. Chauvin continued to kneel on Floyd’s neck for three and a half minutes after he stopped breathing, while he was handcuffed. No one is saying the cops shouldn’t do their jobs, if they can’t put a 6’7” (182cm) man in the small back seat area of their car, there is another option besides killing him in the streets. Bring in a van. It’s cheaper the the $27,000,000 settlement the city has to pay and the cops don’t end up in prison. It’s really not that difficult of a concept to grasp. The police should do their jobs, but that doesn’t include murdering people in my name. Not applauding a murder doesn’t make me anti-cop.