Checkered Lounge Pants

Hope all is well. Had Mother as a guest for a week. Almost been a year since I saw her. I had a good week. Week typically started with the usual greetings of hugs and followed with her motherly observations from long periods apart. I put on weight and my nose had become “jewelry” large. Ooooooh geez!! (I had shaved off my lifelong mustache a month earlier but that had escaped her..LOL). I had long ago blocked out her demeaning waves usually pointed at Pop or her daughter in-laws and would do so once more. I had planned a week of activities so I got things rolling. Church mass and BBQ with the LeBlancs on Saturday, drove 2 Indiana on Sunday for reunion with her family, drove home Tuesday stopping on POI, shared drinks with friends Ondejko on Wednesday and shopping Thursday and voila. I delivered on her airplane yesterday and lived to tell about it . Called this morning and checked on her plane ride home and I got a speech on being "to old" to winter in Asia and shou...

Aieeeeeeee Mothers coming to visit. Housekeepers welcome. Apply within!! I am just kidding. spent the week moving furniture and appliances to get a mop in around and under everything. Not my forte. I am a cleaner in the line of sight. I work hard at the gym and on the bike trails and the links but at home, the couch and the remote are my my domain. I had a lake-shore B&B all ready for her stay but the couple is on hiatus so she will have to tent in the back yard. No no no...I am just kidding. Pleeassssse I make a joke!! I'll get Mother settled in and then load her up in the car and drive to see her sister in the US. Should be fun watching them together. Over the years my Aunt has always had a warm bed and a hot meal for me in my travels andit always marveled me to see the similarities between the sisters. It should be a hoot. I love catching up with my cousins too. In 2005 I blew my gearbox outside Chicago and my cousin trailer my Harley all the way back to his local bike...

Wealth inequality has risen to stratospheric heights. The statistics, the real statistics, sound like fragments spun off from a madman’s dream. Eighty-five people have as much money as three and a half billion other people. Look at it like this: 85 people = 3,500,000,000 people. Forbes Magazine, which used to gleefully refer to itself as a “capitalist tool,” creates an annual list of the richest 400 people in the world. Ten years ago, their combined wealth was $1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion dollars). Now, after a world wide crash and all sort of bailouts, their combined worth is $2,000,000,000,000. They’ve doubled their money. How’ve you done? Did their money come to them because the magic of the market realised how ultra-special talented they were? Or because of power? Manipulating laws, buying politicians, even taking over governments. Has the power of money in the United States grown so great that democracy is just a charade? A large, frenetic, incredibly expensive one, but...

I am just touching base to bring the CLP up to date. May has been quiet and uneventful. I gym it up 3 times a week and have not been enthusiastic about the bike trails. My Ning has been skyping regularly but I have to run out to WiFi the Skype to keep my data down on my mobile. Trying to scrimp on expenses this summer. I have been unable to find economical internet here in cottage country so far. Bell assures me they have fiber-optics installation planned but nothing to date and I’m sure everything will be accompanied with contracts. I don’t plan to maintain the cottage this winter so I’m already plotting to abandon my satellite contract. Shitty times in Thailand. The military has staged a coup to scuttle the political protests. The elite class has sabotaged the democracy model in Thailand at every turn and it appears they have successfully influenced the military generals to join their cause and suspend democracy until reforms are adopted. The only reforms predictable are antide...

Just killing time at Starbucks while I download my favourite FX and NetFlix and Comedy Channel and HBO programs...Most traditional networks have gone for the reality crap to avoid overhead costs like ACTRA and SAG pay scales for the artists and writers. The end result is additional customer viewing fees to watch what used to be regular programming. I don't mind paying fees for sports or movie channels but I reverted back to my digital antennae and free tv. WOW..I am getting all twisted over tv. I must be bored.  Now if viewers want legitimate programming they will get gouged to pay for specialty channels. Oh well, we get gouged by oil companies and don't seem to mind. We get gouged by telephone companies and don't seem to mind. But, all bitching aside....have you seen the Fargo series. Holy Shit!! Fibre optics come to my side of town tomorrow. I will finally get internet and quit wifing all over the cafe, library, lunch bar, world now. Just a thought....a free WiFi laundr...

April showers bring May flowers but not this year. April was as cold as a witches tit. Landlord  changed insurance coverage when he save $1k by consolidating coverages. He had to replace the furnace and seal up fireplace by order of insurance inspectors. It took a couple weeks before he got around to the changeout and it was cold as hell here. The weather warmed the day before the replacement was installed. Turns out skype is not free on a smartphone. It took me $300 in overages to find that out. That dark cloud fouled my mood for several days this week. The cherry on this cake of the month was losing my credit card while hobnobbing in my old neighborhood with a bottle of crown royal last weekend. Cinco de mayo will be a welcome festival while waving good riddance to April. I'll be in touch.

Back home from Boston and here for the summer. I had coffee with CN buddy today and he joined a golf league for retired golfers and I offered to spare when needed. I still want to get back into my bike rhythm but its so darn cold yet. I am homesteading at Starbucks to do some wifi and I think I will stop in the gym on the way home and price out a membership. Hopefully the weather will warm up and I can get the mountain bike out of the gardenshed and ride the trails. I have logged a lot of miles travelling this winter and its time to kick back and enjoy summer. Ill be in touch.

Hi there....Hmmm I should do a counter on here to see if I have anybody still following but this is so therapeutic who cares if I'm flying solo. I just read the last post...Yikes. My spell check and auto-spell and grammar check should be activated on my mobile. Those posts are taxing to read. I spent 10 days at my cottage and then drove to Boston to stay with the grand-kids while my son and his wife work. Audra had to do a week in Ireland for her employer so I volunteered to get the kids school ready while shes gone. Kevin and Audra got Skype active while they were apart so I have a few more contacts on my Skype list. That Skype is such a big secret in my local circles. The only subscribers are my friends abroad and my brother Doug and now, my son. Nobody pays long distance fees except my friends who are travel shy. Why insist on paying for phone charges....up to them, as they say in Thailand. Speaking of Thailand, my Thai girlfriend Ning spent 5 days in a Bangkok retreat at te...

My Frank Zappa tribute. Watch out where the Huskies go, don't eat that yellow snow… Or melted Yellowsnow… Or shovel that Yellowsnow… Arrived home to below freezing, vapor breathing, window frosting, snow-covered, furnace bellowing, Parker wearing, to Touque bearing and garbo warming weather. Sigh!!! To think I had grown somewhat wary of a four months winter exile of 30+ searching beaches and wondering in sandals and shorts accompanying a three shirt-change day However it's nice to be home in my cottage but I'm  yearning for aspects of my winter home. Budinot presides on my mantle and warm hearts trump cold hearts. cold. It's a Thai thing. If you have to ask I cannot explain. It took me three which is to wade through the farange prejudices and that bridge is crossed. I made friends there that are so much more travelled but so much less aware. They should read the book (inside joke). Skype is now the prevalent timeshare with my roommate Ning  I do so want to see her again...

Counting down my last week in my winter home. It never felt like having a winter home until this trip. Life is so easy here and I find its sad that com-padres back home never get the experience but... its not for everyone. I don't consider riding a couch at home any different than couching it abroad. What a waste of airfare. LOLL. You do not sit languishing here. This is not for the faint of heart. Three years here brings me so much closer to the culture but no where nearer understanding the traditions. I spent many many hours talking with my roommate and exploring her thoughts and her values and I cherish every moment but I have so much to learn. Some days the differences are unfathomable but for the few gains of understanding I have garnered. I am grateful...when others here condemn religion and culture and traditions but are still failing to manage the spicey salads.. Kind heart Thais are tempered with feisty passionate politics, dominant monarchies, soulful religion and over ...

When I am in Thailand I try having a "Thai" massage two or three times weekly. There are many different types of massages. A "Thai" massage is akin todeep pressure  therapeutic  massages in the western world. It involves a form of acupressure application combined with stretching. Here in the Land of Smiles it is commonly called "nuad phaen (thai)" and refers to the traditional - almost ancient - method of massage. One remains fully clothed - no "Happy Endings" here! Normally it lasts for about two hours, and for a "potpooey farange" like me it sometimes hurts like hell. Because my regular masseuse understands my weakness as well as the areas of ache in my body that require the most work, she is able to practice her profession with what the Thais call "loving kindness". It hurts, but not  too  much. My first masseuse  when I came to Thailand was about five and a half feet tall and built like a fireplug. She, like most Thais,...

A low budget satirical Internet show called 'News in Depth' that takes a look at politics in Thailand is helping to lighten the mood in the country. It has attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers in a country not known for satire. Meanwhile, anti-government protesters are still camped out in the capital Bangkok, trying to force the government to step down. Al Jazeera's Wayne Hay reports from Bangkok. New show pokes fun at Thai politics - Asia-pacific - Al Jazeera English

Thailand's opposition has lost a legal bid to nullify a controversial election, in a boost to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's crisis-hit administration. The kingdom's Constitutional Court on Wednesday declined to consider the Democrat Party's petition to annul the February 2 vote and disband Shinawatra's party, citing insufficient grounds. "This case is over," the head of the opposition's legal team, Wiratana Kalayasiri, told the Agence France-Presse news agency. "But if the government does anything wrong again, we will make another complaint." Shinawatra had called the election in an attempt to assuage opposition demonstrators, who have staged more than three months of mass street protests seeking her resignation. The Democrats boycotted the vote, saying it would not end a political crisis stretching back to a military coup in 2006 that ousted Shinawatra's elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, as premier. Voting was also cancelled in s...

Situated to the west of Pattaya, Larn island offers the tourists with beautiful sandy beaches, clear water, breathtaking landscape and stunning sunset. It is only 7.5 km and 45 minute ferry or 15 minutes by speedboat. The island is 4 km in length and 2 km in width or 3,500 rai. 90% of the area is mountain with a variety of trees. There are approximately a thousand of residents living in the main village. There are also school and small medical facility on the island. There is also a profusion of marine life under the water. There is glass bottom boat service where ones can view the scenic underwater life without getting wet. Big boats are not allowed to anchor near the beach as the corals are protected. One of the popular beaches is Ta Waen Beach in the northern part of the island has a 750 m stretch of the white sand. There are also shops and food stalls along the beach. In the south western side of the island, Thian Beach stretches 700 m long and Samae Beach is 100 m long. Thian Beac...

Nearly 35 years after it went missing, an 18th-century Qing Dynasty jade vessel will once again be on exhibit at the Fogg Museum after popping up at a Hong Kong auction site. On Tuesday, Jan. 21, representatives from Harvard Art Museums held a ceremony welcoming back the missing artifact, which is now worth an estimated $1.5 million. The censer, an approximately half-foot tall jade vessel for burning incense, was donated by Ernest B. Dane, Class of 1892, and his wife Helen P. Dane to the Fogg Museum in 1942. Harvard first realized that it was missing Nov. 26, 1979. Harvard Art Museums officials contacted law enforcement soon after the piece went missing and posted notices in several newsletters and databases dedicated to reporting stolen artworks, according to a statement released by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Massachusetts District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Monday. In 2009, a branch of Sotheby’s auction house in Hong Kong realized that a censer it had ...

I was having a coffee at the cafe the other day and I was thinking about the culture gap with my Thai girlfriend and I recalled the link I was sent by a friend.. There is a little cultural phenomenon called Kreng Jai. I have spent the last 10 weeks methodically and patiently listening to my girlfriend explain the cultural mysteries I do not understand when we have differences. It is surprisingly simple when she answers my questions but I cannot seem to relay the clarity to acquaintances that determinedly pursue the frustratingly futile efforts to impose foreign values in a Thai culture. "Kreng Jai , which literally means “awe of heart” but can best be translated into “consideration”, is a cause of much  frustration for foreigners who live in Thailand or foreigners with Thai partners . The concept of   Kreng Jai   is an important one in Thai culture and has been characterized as “the essence of Thai-ness”, but   what  specifically this nature entails can be ...

I wish good luck, good fortune and good health to family and friends for 2014. High season seems to be busier than past years. The New Years celebrations in the city were just packed....no it was stuffed with tourists this year.  Nonetheless, my  New Years was good. My Travel comrade, Dennis, did steaks at his condo. Good Beef is rare here (pun intended) and he discovered good Australian marbled beef. He's a very good chef. We went to fireworks and it was like an over-packed zoo. I stayed till midnight and then left him and went back to my lady's party. I took a motorbike taxi and hooked up with Ning and we partyd(?) on the beach. Dennis caught up with me later and we went to bar for nightcap. I'll be in touch.

Hello to whomever is out there a week before christmas. And happy birthday to mother. I don't know if she ever tracked down my blog writings after her computer geek ofover 60 years went on to the big hard drive in the sky. But I'll cover all the bases. Returned from Myranmar on Saturday. Two friends and I drove up to Mae Sai and crossed over into Myanmar at Tachilek. Tachileik was a border crossing used in the opium trade from the Golden Triangle, and was the home of the drug lord Khun Sa. On 24 March 2011 a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the region very close to Tachileik. It caused some damage as far away as Chiang Mai. On 24 March 2012, a bomb wounded 2 people at the Regina Hotel golf course in Tachileik, followed by a second bomb an hour that exploded later. Now let me tell you about our crossing. The street vendors are on you like flocking buzzards when you clear Myanmar immigration selling you everything from cigarettes to knock offs and ....hmmmm well lets keep...

Two friends driving to Burma this week. Was not planning to go but that would solve my visa extension with the border crossing into the northern country. It will be nice to go back to Chiang Mai and see the old city and Doi Suthep temple on the mountain. We will have to drive through Chiang Rai and I have never been there. I love a good adventure. Watch for pictures on Facebook. Ill be in touch.