Another Month, Another Post

 It has been a month since my last post, so what is new? My hernia repair surgery that was scheduled for June 16 was cancelled due to a patient with emergency colon cancer surgery. Apparently when you are cancelled you get rescheduled in about 2 to 3 weeks so I am guessing the first or second week in July.

Jaidan is just finishing grade 5 at St. Lukes and is looking forward to about 70 days off. As a reward for a good report card I bought him a Nintendo Switch2 for the school end. He really likes it but all his buddies told him he was so spoiled. Probably true but he is a good kid so why not spoil him. Better yet he knows he is spoiled so he paid $200 from his savings towards the purchase.

My buddy John and Fon arrive on July 2nd so it will have to be a few beers and time to get caught up on how he adjusted to almost a year in Thailand for the first time without a full time job. Also time for a few games of pool.

My friend Paul Cotton is back in Ottawa for a few days so we will get together for a lunch and get caught up on what has been going on in our lives as we have not got together for almost 10 years.

My buddy Kerry is also spending some time at their cottage on Bob's Lake which is also where Paul likes to spend time fishing as well. Maybe it is time Paul and Kerry met as they have some early tech days in Ottawa in common.

Thavorn is the joyful Thavorn that she always is. As long as she gets to spend some time shopping for clothes once a week she is happy. She is so easy to dress as she looks good in almost anything. However her walkin closest is almost full to capacity.

My two older children, Jordan and Jaime are looking forward to summer holidays as they are both teachers.

My sisters Ann and Elaine are planning their trip to England in September to visit our cousin Jill.

I am also planning to take a 3 week trip to Thailand in the fall as long as my July surgery goes well. It will be my 75th birthday present to myself. It's much cheaper for just me to go and Thavorn does not like flying. Jaidan is envious but perhaps we will go as a family in the summer of 2026 for his grade 6 graduation present before he attends Mother Teresa High School in the Fall.

After he finishes grade 8 we are currently thinking of placing Jaidan in an International School in Thailsnd so that he can improve his Thai and make important social contacts in Thailand so he can decide where he wants to work or attend University in the future.

My latest robotic car with mecanum wheels and ESP32 control and receiver for ESPnow

My first 3D print - whale comb

TTYL

Life in the Slow Lane

 Lots happening in Canada but not much new, We had a federal election but the Liberals won with a new Prime Minister, named Mark Carney. IMHO he was elected because the boogey man down south scared the chicken little electorate up north who saw Carney as the best person to deal with Trump. Time will tell but I am not optimistic. 

The weather in Ottawa remains cool for this time of years but Thavorn and I decided to visit the Tulip Festival  yet again and we took many pictures. However, if you wish to see them you need to look up her Facebook page undet Thavorn Dale.

However it appears we stole the land the tulips are planted on from the indigenous folks who passed through it from time to time, hundreds if not thousands of years ago. Before that, it belonged to the dinosaurs but there are no descendents to make claims.

I am still enaroured with my Kia Forte GT that is now 5 years old and I plan on keeping it another 5 years or when we depart Canada, which ever occurs first. The jury is still out when we will start to spend more time in Thailand. It all depends on how PM Carney handles the economy and when Thavorn starts to feel home sick, which she has not to date.

I continue to coach basketall (U19 Boys) and this is my 47th year. This comimg Saturday I will coach againt my friend Alex who is in his 37th year of coaching. He has said this is his last year and I am starting to think the same. I reactivated my incisional hernia while coaching this year and go under the knife again on June 16th. Such is life when you start aging and pretend you are still capable of doing the same stuff you did 30 years ago.

Not much else going on so TTYL

Wow - so long since my last post

You can probably tell that life in Canada is pretty boring. However, March Madness is due and basketball is getting exciting once again as teams start playing defense.

I spent 5 hours with my sister in emergency as she came down with a stomach bug of some kind. She spent an additional 5 hours there before I arrived. Ontario's health system needs to be revamped. For example there should be a user charge of $25 in emergency to keep the losers out.

For example there was the well dressed druggy there to get his morphine injections and he joked about it with me. Not only does he tie up the nurses and doctors but also the security staff. He got a needle and an IV later for his morphine fix.

I can only think there are 2 reasons for the health care issue. The first is a shortage of doctors, especially family doctors and there is not the will to increase the number of doctors. Even the worst doctor will have no problems getting patients so the medical profession likes the shortage. The second reason is the province like the shortage, because the fewer the doctors, the less the billing. It is all about money!

On another health care issue, my hernia has come back and I probably caused it with coaching U19 boys basketball, I should not be demonstrating at 74 years of age. The good news is I called my surgeon and I am booked for mid June and will get a small mesh nserted this time around.

Jaidan continues to do well at school and Thavorn tolerates Canada much better than me. 

Trump has shown to be a moron and Musk is just as bad. We are in for interesting times in Canada and our dollar continues to suffer due to Canada's poor politacal leadership.

Not much else to say :-)

Never visit Thailand with your spouse :-)

Still lots of snow in March

I contunue with my RC hobby for sanity

TTYL

Reflections on 2024 and Looking Ahead

 2024 has come and gone. We started it off in Thailand during the month of January. It was a great trip, with Jaidan and I spending the majority of it in Bangkok and Thavorn spending half in Bangkok and half visiting her family in Phang Nga (hope I spelled it correctly).

We flew back through Abu Dhabi and spent a night there as our flight was delayed. Arriving back in Canada, Jaidan resumed school and Thavorn went back to work. Life became very routine! And I became very bored!

John and Fon were in Thailand and were scheduled to fly back to Canada at the end of June to live with us for the 2 summer months. However, I pulled the plug on Thavorn's job as it basically became worthless for her to work. I am sure that it came as a surprise to Fon as she was to work with Thavorn during the summer. I was also fed up with driving 2 hours a day over the past 2 years. I have not regretted my decision as I now have Thavorn home all day with me :-)

In February I developed an incisional hernia and went on a waiting list for surgery which happened in October so I became 100% healthy once again. Jaidan also entered grade 5 in school much to his chagrin.

My business has been going well which enables Thavorn to save as much as she would have if she had worked. We went from filling up the gas tank every 4 days to filling up once a month. We became carbon tax winners rather than losers.

We bought and learned how to ride an eScooter this year. This included Jaidan who has yet to learn how to ride a bicycle.

In June my basketball team won a gold medal albeit in div 5 at the provincials. In Septemver I signed up to coach U19 boys for the third time since arriving back in Canada. They keep me young :-)

I spent too much money at Christmas, as always, but Christmas is for kids (and Thai women) and as a wise man once told me, 'Work more, earn more'.

Looking ahead to 2025, we hope to bank about $20K and perhaps get ready to move back to Thailand in the summer of 2026. We would enrol Jaidan in an International School for grade 7. However as the best laid plans for mice and men, things could change.

We will have a new government in 2025 and I am hoping things will be better in Canada. They certaintly can not be worse than the past 9 years of liberal, woke government. When I arrived back in Canada in 2024 after living overseas for 10 years my initial thought was, 'What the fuck happened to Canada!'.

Happy New Year to All

TTYL

Christmas 2024

 Merry Christmas to All

Another Christmas has come and gone. My sister Ann hosted us at the lake and treated us to a prime rib roast that was awesome.

It was a very white Christnas with about 25 mm of snow over the last few days.

Jaidan enjoyed his many presents as Christmas is really meant for children. He received a 34 inch monitor and gaming chair plus $100 in Roblox gift cards and is making use of 3 on Boxing Day. He also received a game board to play checkers, chess and back gammon on. 

Coninuing on, he received a DJI Neo drone and a Cytron edukit to learn progtramming and controlling devices.

Thavorn received a jean jacket, a DJI OSMO camera stabilizer and selfie mount, plus 20 crispy $50 bills to keep in her wallet.

I bought my own Christmas gift which was a Tamiya TT02 RC car kit that I have been putting togers for the past 4 days. Lots of fun plus a few mistakes.

My family is all healthy, Elaine is healthy, and Ann is awaiting her hernia surgery which we hope happens sooner rather than later,

We wish all our friends and family a Merry Christmas.

TTYL

Thailand is Calling

 John and Fon moved back to Thailand full time at the end of summer and are really enjoying being back. Part of the enjoyment is that living in Thailand is like being on vacation full time. You can eat out all the time and fly around the South East Asia as it is much less expensive than Canada.

However, it is more expensive than it used to be because the Canadian dollar is not doing well, mostly thanks to the Liberal government that has been in power since 2015 and has no idea how to govern.

Thailand has had a good year mostly due to tourism but the manufacturing sector is not doing well.

When I first started going to Thailand in 2010, a CDN dollar got you 30 baht. Nowadays, it gets you 24 baht. The American dollar has fared much better and is still getting around 32 baht.

I am getting bored with the routine in Canada and Thavorn knows I am so she seems OK with me visiting friends in Thailand sometime in the new year for about 3 weeks. That would be fun! It is much more expensive for Jaidan and Thavorn to accompany me and Thavorn does not enjoying flying much at all.

Once in Thailand, it is also much cheaper when I am by myself as I tend to stay in cheaper hotels and eat inexpensively on the street. Monet save goes into my entertainment :-)

I can also fly through the states as it is much less expensive. Thavorn would need a visa to fly through the States.

THe new book by Malcolm Gladwell is worth reading.

I upgrade my work area with 2 new monitors and an Asus Duo laptop that has 2 OLED displays. I now have 4 screen for productivity.

Thavorn and I recently celebrated our birthdays but it is not much fun getting older.

My hernia repair was awesome and I am getting ready to hit the gym again once I get the all care from the surgeon which happens around the second week in November.

That is all the news, but I warned you, life is a bit boring these days.

What's Wrong with You?

 I have some observations about relationships and a question to ask.

On my walk this morning, on a beautiful sunny Fall day, and I smiled at oncoming walkers and said good morning. The majority of them did not acknowledge my hello. Some were alone, some with a partner, and some with a dog. What's Wrong with You?

On my walk I cross over a roundabout crosswalk. Most people stop, some roll right through, and some speed up so they don't need to stop. What does 3 seconds add to your drive? What's Wrong with You?

On my walk I pass my son's school and in the primary school yard their is a young couple with school age children letting their dogs run unleased. Every entrance to the school property is signed no dogs allowed. What are they teaching their children? What's Wrong with You?

The above got me thinking. Throughout my life I believe I was basically a rule follower. I am not talking legal rules, but perhaps societal norms. I have usually tried to do what best for those I come in contact with. I have coached for 40 years, worked in a supervisory capacity for 30 years and hired, and mentored many employees. I have even been accused of hiring my friends.

Coaching has always been something I enjoyed. My goal was to make players better and over 30 of those players have gone on to play at university. I just received two happy birthdays on my Facebook. Thank you and for the remaining hundreds of players ... What's Wrong with You?

In my career I mentored quite a few people who went on to very successful careers. I just received an eMail from one of them saying happy birthday and let's get together for a chat. The others (you know who you are) are probably patting themselves on the back and thinking how smart I was to have such a great career. Perhaps it is time for some self reflection and a birthday wish. What's Wrong with You?

I only taught for about 10 years but in those 10 years I think I may have made a difference in young lives. My goal was usually to make students smile and succeed in my course. Every now again one reaches out to me to say thanks. If sometime, you think back and realize 'That was the best of times ...' you should reach out, not necessarily to me but to some teacher or coach that made a difference. What's Wrong with You?

Since retiring, I have reached out to colleague and students when there was a need and tried to make a difference in their lives. You also know who you are. One particular student does not even reply to me if I ask how she is doing. What's Wrong with You?

What I take away from all of the above is that people move on and when they do they leave behind what was. Interesting enough, that is the theme of a book I taught to my grade 8s for 3 years.

That was Then, This is Now

Novel by S. E. Hinton

Perhaps I am just becoming maudlin in my old age ... or in search of truth like Don Quixote in 'Tilting at Windmills'

TTYL