Saturday in Ottawa

Today's song is  Zombie  ... Bad Wolves

Compared with Bangkok Saturdays in Ottawa are extremely quiet  .. maybe not for the under 40's  .. but definitely for the over 50's. I was chatting with my buddy Arthur in Bangkok and he said things were hopping at the Beer Garden.  There was talk of the Beer garden shutting down and another condo going up, but that has yet to come to pass.

My daughter Jaime told me to visit before the country changed. She was referring to Vietnam about 10 years ago, but that definitely applied to Thailand as well. There is a push in the world to sanitize everything and unfortunately much is lost in the process.

Heraclitus had it right when he stated, 'You can not step into the same river twice.'  I suggest you do S.E Asia now, not later.  There is nothing so constant as change.

Speaking of change, Thavorn is going the opposite way of most Thai women who head west. She is losing weight, not gaining weight, much to her delight.

She does not know I took the pic, or posted it.  Don't tell :-)

The heat wave continues in Thailand (44 degrees in the village) as the cold continues in Canada (high of 9 degrees today). However, Thavorn agrees with me that you can always get warm by putting on more clothes, whereas in Thailand, apart from air con, you are stuck.

It's a quiet Sunday afternoon and may is fast approaching.  I find myself missing my Thai friends. However, on Wednesday it is beer and the meatball platter at the Prescott which should help. About 5 friends are coming  :-)

TTYL

Rainy Day

Today's song is: panic at the Disco ... High Hopes

It is a very rainy and cool day today. We are still getting unseasonable weather for late April but May has got to be better. We have now been in Canada for over 2 months, with 4 more months (the best), to go.

I just checked one way tickets back to Bangkok from Vancouver in the first week in February. They are very inexpensive at $440 dollars one way. I think they are inexpensive because China Air and China Eastern Air, as well as Hong Kong Air, fly full planes to Vancouver the first week in September for returning students and they don't want the planes to fly back empty. I also suspect because that week is the first week of school, most folks are not flying.

We do have the return leg of our Aeroplan flights from Vancouver to Ottawa, on August 30th so we will spend a few days in Vancouver before flying out. I suspect the weather will be much better in Vancouver than when we arrived on February 17th.

I am looking forward to getting back to basketball in September and I am thankful that my friend Shaun is supervising lunch hour and the ever popular Friday after school game. It is much appreciated by myself and the team.

I have a lunch hour meet at the famous Prescott restaurant and tavern and I suspect most people will be ordering the meatball platter or the equally famous square pizza. It is scheduled for this coming Wednesday.

Programming has been going well but their is no end in site in the near future. We are also meeting with school board employees who are using our software.

Some pics of our daily walks:

Our resident Canada Goose. We also have a male and female Mallard (ducks)

The pics are of the little inland lake that is part of our condominium project.

I look forward to running around the paved path that surrounds it.

TTYL

Good News

Today's song is: Heaven Can Wait  .. Meatloaf

I received good news yesterday that my application for life insurance was approved. My young wife and younger son would need help if I happen to die in the next 10 years. Plans are in place over the next 10 years to purchase some land (this September), build a house in Thailand (the next 3 years) and put Jaidan into the Ontario school system (winter of 2021).

My insurance medical turned out okay as my blood pressure was 122/80 and my resting heart beat was 64. I have all my original parts and no pre-existing conditions or serious past health problems.  I guess the time spent in the gym over my lifetime has paid off.

The monthly rate is $276 so that is not too bad. Kind of like buying a lottery ticket (which Thavorn enjoys immensely).

It is supposed to finally warm up at the end of this week.

That should be the end of the snow on the ground.  Spring is sprung, the grass is ris, I wonder where the birdies is  ...

Jaidan enjoys playing with his Lego vehicles and Thavorn enjoys building them 

(at least the first time :-)

I cook Jaidan some bacon most mornings. Yummy

Crispy

 

Bacon plus Lego  .. does not get much better

Thavorn makes yummy stir fries most lunch times.

My sister Elaine is hosting Easter dinner this coming weekend. My sister Ann is out of the country but my Jordan and Jaime should be there.

TTYL

Busy Coding

Today's song is: Start Me Up  ..hope Mick makes a full recovery!

I have been busy coding and I am too bagged to contribute to my blog most days.

Yesterday it was 13 degrees and sunny and we took the bus across town to visit my sister Elaine and her cats (mainly Jaidan with the cats). It was a learning experience as we are still learning the ins and outs of OC Transpo.

Back in Thailand, Songkran is taking its toll on the population:

2,294 vehicles impounded, 71,307 charged for drink-driving in 3 days

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1661560/2-294-vehicles-impounded-71-307-charged-for-drink-driving-in-3-days

The first three days of the danger-prone Songkran travel week saw 1,665 traffic accidents, with 174 deaths and 1,728 people injured -- a significant drop from last year's road toll and lower than Thailand's average number of road deaths throughout the year, according to World Health Organization figures.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/KtbxLvGzZrPSlwLkxJbhtCgJWSnHpTqcBq

TTYL

Icy Rain

Today's song is: Kill this Love  .. BlackPink

This Korean pop group is breaking all YouTube records.

It still is very cool for this time of year. Icy rain today and not over 10 degrees until Friday. We are spending more time indoors than we normally do and are keeping Jaidan busy with floor puzzles which he loves completing.

and Thavorn is keeping busy cooking up some yummy Thai dishes for us ...

I am staying busy coding some changes for my business.  Mostly adjusting reports that end up being printed for invoices and record keeping.

On Wednesday we have a big meeting with a large school board to discuss moving a key piece of software (18 years in production) to the web and hosting their data offsite. These meeting are always interesting especially reading between the lines.

I keep yearning for another motorcycle (my 6th) but I suspect that it will have to wait until I am 69 which coincides nicely with the 1969 movie Easy Rider. I also graduated from high school in 1969 and was riding a 1969 Triumph T120 650cc motorcycle (my first) that year.

I suspect it will be my last motorcycle so I will have to choose carefully. I have driven parallel twin, vTwins, and inline fours. It may be time for a triple and I am partial to Yamaha's triple 900cc but it could also be time to go back to Triumph.

The Triumph is about $16,000 more expensive

The Yamaha 900cc MT-09 is about $9,500

But perhaps it is time to slow down with a Triumph Street Twin at $10,000

TTYL

Eventful Day

Today's song is: Light my Fire .. The Doors

Today started off as a quiet day and then we decided to go for a walk to explore the sales at the Independent Grocers. Jaidan is always the first out the door and he usually looks out the window but this day he walked down the hall 10 feet and noticed some interesting red gadget on the wall. I believe he is starting to understand simple words such as 'pull' so he did exactly that and the fire alarm alarm stared ringing. Jaidan does not like loud noises so he came running to the door just as I stepped out and noticed that the fire alarm had been pulled.

Your immediate action is to try to close the alarm, but just like Pandora's box, once opened, the path is set. Residents start coming out of their apartments so I tell them to stay put as my son has pulled the alarm. I run downstairs to the office but it is closed and I tell another 5 residents to ignore the alarm and run back up the stairs to find a scared Jaidan and an inquisitive Thavorn. I decide to call 911 and report that the alarm is false, and that my 4 year old had pulled it. The person informs me that they will notify the station to send one truck to reset the alarm. I go back downstairs and arrive in the foyer to see two fire trucks pulling up.

I walk up to the first truck as a huge firefighter steps out (6'8" and about 280 pounds). Jaidan is now with me and I confess that my 4 year old son pulled the alarm and that I will show him where the alarm is.  Of course they have to reset the alarm panel and then go to the switch. Upstairs there is a 50ish Asian lady and the firefighter asks me if this is the mother, just as Thavorn walks out of the apartment and I say, here is the mother and the firefighter does a double take but says nothing (we get that look a lot).

I am anticipating a huge fine:

The fine for the first false alarm is $189, and it goes up from there for each subsequent false alarm. The initial proposal is a fire alarm permit fee of $48 annually, along with a fine of $172 for a 15-minute on-scene response, or $343 for a 30-minute response.

but the firefighter does not take any information and talks kindly to Jaidan about pulling the alarm, so I am hoping we do not get fined.  I would have taken a picture of the 2 fire trucks and the firefighter with  Jaidan but I felt that would be pushing our luck.

After that event we needed to go to Timmy's for a coffee and a donut to settle down somewhat and then we headed of to the grocery store and loaded up with some specials.

We are back home now and Jaidan is watching Paw Patrol and all is good  .. until next time .. life is seldom boring for me.  :-)

TTYL

Busy Day

Today's song is: Start Me Up .. Stones

Today was a busy day. I had my medical for my Life Insurance application. It was very detailed and thorough. The good news was my blood pressure was 122/80 and my resting heartbeat was 74 beats per minute. Of course my BMI sucks as I way 209 pounds and I am 5'10". The BMI scale never takes into accounts weightlifters. Muscle is 3 times heavier than fat!

Up next was an OC Transpo bus trip to Winners. Thavorn read on a Thai post that Winners was a must visit. Turns out to that Thai was right as Thavorn bought 2 pairs of jeans, a jean jacket, and an Adidas jacket, and a Spalding jacket and pants for Jaidan; all for $165.00

After Winners we stopped off at Timmy's for a coffee and donut.  Then we walked to St. Laurent to put in some time before my optometrist appointment and my frame purchase for Lenscrafters. My eye appointment was covered by OHIP except for one test which my RTO group insurance covered. Turns out I have a minimal cataract forming that will need to be monitored. I have a follow up appointment in a week to run a glaucoma test, just to be careful.  I found Rideau Optometrists to be very thorough and professional, with the latest equipment.  They were also able to file my RTO claim on line.

I decided on progressive lenses with automatic sun glass shading (to prevent cataracts by the Thai sunshine). I also settled on Oakley frames as I am hard on glasses. I topped off the purchase by buying a year's worth of insurance for $34. No matter what I do (sitting on them, driving over them, etc) as long as I can return them, I get a new pair!

My RTO group insurance will cover $400 of the $690 cost. I am quite happy with the fit and style.

The lens have the latest sun glass darkening that works inside cars!  The frames will also fit easily in a motorcycle helmet.

While at St. Laurent I also introduced Thavorn to New York Fries poutine, the spicy pulled pork version. The fries earned a yummy thumbs up from Thavorn.

We then caught OC Transpo back home and Jaidan fell asleep on the bus.  However, we were able to wake him up to get off the buss and walk back to the condo.

All in all, a good day with lots accomplished.

TTYL

45 Days in Canada

Today's post is: Timber  .. Pitbull

We are 45 days into Canada and things are going quite well. Everyone is happy and I tend to think the internet plays a huge part in that. As I type this entry in my blog, Thavorn is on her phone talking to her mom on LINE and has been for the past 30 minutes. She also talks with friends and other members of her family, most importantly her children.

Thavorn chatting with her mom

I suspect she talks more to her family and friends than I do to my family and friends who are here in Ottawa with me. Go figure. When I am in Thailand, many of my expat friends ask if I miss my friends back home. Truth be told, back home, you are lucky to see your friends once a month, whereas in Thailand it would be once a week for a night out. Just more fun in Thailand.

Today, my sister Elaine will drop by for lunch (that Thavorn is cooking up Thai style) and also to drop off my OHIP card and Thavorn's PR (Permanent Resident) card that was so difficult to obtain. Now that she has it, she can come and go as she pleases as long as she spends 2 of the next 5 years in Canada. After that she can apply for a new card which is a rubber stamp if she has done her 2 years.

However, the plan is to apply for Canadian Citizenship once she has accumulated 3 years in Canada and then she has identical rights to Jaidan and myself.

As I have mentioned before, the big decision is how much time to spend in Canada vs Thailand.  Our options are:

1. Full time in Canada
2. 6 months in Canada and 6 in Thailand.
3. 9 months in Canada and 3 months in Thailand.

Option #2 requires home schooling for Jaidan. Options #1 and 3 will mean that Jaidan attends school in Canada and we buy a car and put more roots into Canada.  All 3 options satisfy OHIP and Permanent Residency for Life insurance requirements.

Of course, Thavorn can travel to Thailand a bit earlier than Jaidan and I if she so desires, as long as she spends 6 months plus a day in Canada.

I have yet to meet with many of my friends and I plan to do so over the next month.

TTYL