My journey into computers began in 1969 at Carleton University where I took computers 101. The course was on a mainframe and the computer code was entered using Fortran as a language and punch cards for input.
10 years later I was teacher in my first year in 1979. I was making $10,500 a year and I decided to spend 20% of my salary to purchase a Commodore 2001 Series Pet ($2,100). It featured an 8 bit CPU (6502) and 8K of memory. Storage was on a cassette tape and drive and the conputer language was Basic. I soometimes stayed up 24 hours straight learning on this computer. I sold it after a year for $2,000 and today it is worth sold much more as it is a classic.
The computer appeared in the Star Trek TV series as well as the Star Trek 2 movie, the Wrath of Kahn.
Over the years I have gone through countless computers and I currently use a Lenovo ThinkStation which is very powerful. I have 3 monitors hooked up to it and it does everything I need to do. BTW, it is cheaper than my original Pet :-)
However, what I use for my hobby are single board computers and micro controllers which are way more powerful than my Commodore pet.
The Raspberry Pi was about $80 with the LCD screen and the micro controllers are about $25. All 3 have wifi and bluetooth and can connect up to the internet. The small microcontrollers are battery powered and can run webservers that can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
I program them in C++, Python, and Javascript. The jouney has come such a long way and there is no end in sight for me, other than my longevity. What once was an expensive hobby is now quite inexpensive, and the uses are endless, only limited by my imagination.
It is going to be a white Christmas here in Ottawa. Merry Christmas to one and all.
We are all getting excited about finally getting back to Thailand, although we probably all have different reasons.
Thavorn misses her native country. traditions, food, culture, etc. She misses her friends and going out with them to Thai music venues to dance and have fun. She misses going to Hillary 2 to listen to western music and having farangs buy her drinks all night. She misses her family, her 2 daughters and son. She has yet to see her sisters 2 children that were born after we left in March of 2019. Oh yes, above all, she misses the food.
Jaidan wants to revisit things that we talk about that he can't remember as he was less than 4 when we left. He also looks forward to using his Thai language to speak to someone else than his mother.
I miss the night life! the ability to go out every night if I choose to do so and enjoy myself, meeting with friends or meeting new friends. The new male friends I tend to meet will be expats whereas the new female friends tend to be Thai females who range from street vendors, pool girls, to bar girls. I expect many of my friends, be they Thai or farang have disappeared.
I hope to reconnect with Mimmo, Harvey, Arthur, and Shauny. John is now in Canada so my number 1 wing man will be MIA. I know many of Thavorn's friends and always enjoy their company.
I imagine we will fly into Phuket and stay in Phang Nga where her children and her sister reside. We will spend some time there and then we will visit Bangkok and I will visit Pattaya for a walk on the wild side. At some time we will head north to Kok Som Lan to visit Thavorn's mom and check out the property we purchased.
And, last but not least, we will holiday on an island or two to enjoy the ocean breezes as we will be there in the wet season.
To get a reasonable price for our 3 air tickets we will need to fly the 2nd last week in June and return the 2nd week in September. The preferred itinerary is Ottawa to Vancouver via air miles with an overnight stay and and then Vancouver to Singapore and Singapore to Phuket.
Thavorn and I have been laughing about taking some dandelion seeds to Thailand. It would not really be a curse for Thais and I suspect it would enrich the Thai diet of greens.
In Canada, both Thavorn and Jaidan are looking forward to Christmas. Me, not so much. We are also looking forward to spending 4 days at Mount Tremblant from Dec. 2nd to Dec. 4th. My two sisters will be joining us and it is Elaine's birthday on Dec. 2nd. We already have snow cover in Ottawa so there will be lots of snow in Tremblant. Maybe Thavorn or Jaidan will try skiing or snowboarding.
We see John and his wife Fon about once a week. Fon is still waiting on her PR because the government seems unable to process the applications in a decent time frame despite having been submitted by a law firm specializing in immigration. They keep blaming covid for the backlog which just proves that the government workers did dick all while working from home.
Settled In sounds a little like Boredom but that is not always the case.
Today's song is: I Like You ... Malone and Cat
Jaidan is settled in with his new school and is doing very well scholastically. The social part of his life is not ideal but that is the case in many post covid children of his age.
Thavorn is happy with her work and bank accounts as she has now saved enough money to build the house of her dreams in her village. She continues to work because she has become accustomed to Canadian standards and wants to equip the house with the latest appliances and kitchen layouts.
Thavorn now works 9 days every 2 weeks and that is something I can live with because I have to drive her to work and then return home which means I drive for 2 hours a day. It is an easy drive but she may need to cut back once the snow starts to fly.
My buddy John and his wife have arrived back in Canada and are settling in. John has a trip to Thailand for a month in February and his wife will need to stay in Canada as her PR has not yet been approved. Canada is way behind on approving visas and Immigration.
We are tentatively planning a 3 month trip to Thailand in next summer (2023). Thavorn misses her family and I miss my walks on the wild side. I am also curious to see what has changed as well as seeing how Thavorn's world view has changed how she views Thailand. Thais are taught that Thailand is the best country in the world and farangs are a necessary evil (my opinion). Thavorn now understands what a welcoming and multicultural country looks like.
We have now been in Canada for just over 3 years and Thavorn will be able to apply for citizenship, but then again, Canada is way behind in citizenship applications as well.
I will start exploring airfares and will report on what I find. In the meantime, here are some (boring) pics.
Our signature song that is often played at Hillary 2 on Soi 4 in Bangkok. This bar is a 'goto' bar for anyone visiting Bangkok and wanting to have a good time.
If you fail to plan then you plan to fail.
It has been over a month since my last post and frankly, it is because there is really nothing of interest to post. I doubt if my readers are interested in my Costco purchases, the back to school sales which are already happening, and driving Thavorn to work.
I have been busy rebuilding a fence for my sister and helping my daughter build her back yard deck. I continue to do some programming for my company. Again, probably not of interest to you.
Thavorn is very happy in Canada and our good friends from Thailand, John and Fon have arrived and are settling into retirement in Canada, similar to what we did, 3 years ago. I will not document their experiences due to privacy issues.
What may be of interest to you is our plan for the next 2 years.
Thavorn passes a milestone this month and she has now saved over a million baht. Never, in her wildest dreams (well maybe winning the lottery) did she expect to have that much money in her bank account. It goes to show, it is not how much you make, it is how much you can save and Thavorn is able to save every dollar she owns. Apart from purchasing a new motorbike for her son, which again, made her very happy. We continue to support her family back in Thailand to the tune of 12,000 baht a month.
We have rented a luxury townhouse in Barrhaven and signed up for a 2 year lease which started on May first 2022. The rent is $2050 which I can easily afford. I also lease a Kia Forte GT which is fun to drive and the lease expires on March 1st of the year our townhouse lease terminates.
At that time, Jaidan will be finishing up grade 4 which happens to be a grade I have taught. That means he can read and write which is probably the most important skills a child can have.
The plan is that in the summer of 2024 we head back to Thailand for an extended stay to build a house in Thavorn's village. I will home school Jaidan for grade 5 and he will also learn much about building a house. Thavorn will have 2 million baht in her account and she anticipates the house to cost about 1 million baht. We have already purchased the land in the village.
At that time this blog will document the whole process. For now, posts will be sporadic as there is not much interesting to post. As we get closer to heading back to Thailand I will post house plans and thoughts about what life is like returning back to the land of smiles.
That does not mean we will not be visiting before that time. I am anticpating a couple of months, either this Christmas or next Christmas, depending on the cost and availability of flights. Again, that trip will be well documented.
This blog remains an accounting of my life with a Thai wife, inside and outside of Thailand, along with my son's life. Jaidan is changing schools this Fall as we have moved. He had an excellent report card at his school in Osgoode and I expect he will do well in his new school, which is much larger. He continues to be bilingual with Thai and English and enjoys making fun of Thavorn's pronunciation of English words.
Today's song is: One Night in Bangkok - Best watched full screen ... Murray as usual
I must admit, although pleasant, living in Canada is very boring compared to Thailand. Even walking down the soi you live on in Thailand is interesting. The street vendors always saying hi, as do the motorcycle taxi drivers, and the massage girls are always entertaining.
Here in Canada walking down the street, you are anonymous.
I was researching billiards bars, getting ready for my buddy John's return to Canada. Just one sounded interesting with lots of tables and a live band, until I got to the spot where it was the happening place for Algonquin College students. I doubt that we senior citizens would fit in.
Perhaps I would be better to search out Irish Pubs but the vast majority of then are down in the market which is a hike and parking is a challenge.
But then again, Bangkok and indeed Thailand is a unique place and not easily replicated if at all. Cambodia is similar fun on a much smaller scale with an unique French flavour thrown in.
So, I find myself looking forward to picking strawberries and apples with John and Fon and John mentioned he was looking forward to going to Timmy's with me. Major sigh :-)
I do believe you can adapt to your boring home country after a walk on the wild side but I do believe in BYOTG (Bring Your Own Thai Girl). It is no wonder that there are so many return visitors to the Land of Smiles.
Today's song is: Right Place, Wrong Time ... Dr. John
Speaking of the alternate Dr. John from Bangkok ... He will be arriving back in Canada for the foreeable future on July 2nd. Many jars will be drained to celebrate his home coming.
I like to walk around the neighbourhood at night and just look at how people live. One thing I noticed is that all the front lawns have gone to weeds since Ontaio banned private use of herbicides and pesticides. The ban came about because the doctors lobbied that they thought these chemicals were causing cancer in children although there was no evidence that was the case and all the federal studies showed that the chemicals were safe. I supposed if you let your kids forage for food on the lawn that might be the case. Who knows, with the price of food these days parents may be using the grass for leafy greens in their salads.
One thing we learned during the pandemic is that quite a few doctors are a brick short of a load. Doctors should not pretend to be chemists. Look at the job they did pushing pain killers and getting many people hooked on them.
Back to the homes, enterprising folks are filling their lansws with rocks and pavers. Just as well as I can see a ban coming on gas powered lawn mowers.
THe other major event was a huge, huge, huge major thunderstorm that rolled across the National Capitol region and destroyed mych of the power grid. 95% of homes lost their powere for 1 to 7 days and there are still thousands of homes without power at teh 10 day mark. Needless to say, this will get chalked up to global warming and another reason to ban the lawn mowers, or should we rename them weed mowers>
Many people, myself included, lost hundreds of dollars worth of food stored in the fridge and freezer.
Some Pics
We have settled into our new place nicely and we all seem happy, especially Thavorn sho loves her new kitchen and how bright and airy the new place is. Some pics, hopefully with the next post.
Today's song is: It's a Good Life ... Tragically Hip
Tomorrow is a big day as we move from the country back to the burbs. Matter of fact, about 1 kilometer from the last house I owned before the big adventure that lead to where I am now, in my life.
The new neighbourhood is Barrhaven which my older children used to refer to as Farhaven as there was not much there. Nowadays, it is a city onto itself. I will now be able to walk to everything except for Costco which be a 5 minute drive. Matter of fact we are between 2 Costcos, each equidistant from our new home.
Our new home is what is referred to as a stacked luxury townhouse. We are the middle unit, so we just walk in up a few steps from the street. It is about 1200 square feet which was the size of my starter home. It is all one level, 2 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms. Thavorn will get a walkin closet!
Jaidan will be attending a new school, which isCatholic, which will hopefully supply some answers as he has been asking some questions about God, etc. Jaidan is not baptized and I suspoect he will explore Christianity and Buddhism before making a choice, which is probably the way it should be done, rather than chosen for him.
Thavorn seems to be looking forward to the move and getting our own space rather than sharing. I really can't blame her. It will, however, mean a longer commute for her to work.
I finally get some decent internet speed :-) and a reliable cell connection.
We get the keys tomorrow at 9 am and I will follow up with some pics once we get moved in.
The first time we came to Canada on Thavorn's PR we stayed in a AirBnB for 6 months. We lived downtown and we could walk to everything and did not need a car. We quite enjoyed it!
At the end of that stay my son Jordan and his GF suggested we look for a house together to share. I thought, good all around, as I could help them with a mortgage. We found a beautiful house on 2 acres out in the country with 6 bedrooms, 4 car garage, etc.
When we arrived back in Canada we moved in on March 2nd, 2020, just over 2 years ago. Apart from continual construction, things went pretty well and I invested in a treadmill and a new motorcycle, as well as a car.
However, covid struck and we had online schooling for the first year and a heavy dose of cabin fever, but things were okay, not ideal, but what the heck, we were helping my son out.
However, covid was not kind to their relationship and they are splitting and we move out on May 1st. Back to my original plan, we are renting a luxury 2 bedroom, 2 bath, stacked townhouse in Barrhaven. Hooray, we can now walk to most things and drive to everywhere else in 5 mins or less. Jaidan will probably change schools in September but that is still to be decided.
Change has never really bothered me and it is through change that we grow. I had to sell my motorcycle as we will not have a garage. I am still undecided on selling the treadmill, but it may not be needed as we will be walking a lot more.
There will certainly be a lot more kids on the street for Jaidan to disvover new friends.
Thankfully, I am a minimalist and the move will be easy! My son moves out the same day so this time around we will share a truck. :-)
Today's song is: The Top 10 from the Tragically Hip
On another note, Thavorn has beautiful Thai hair that I just trimmed. Jaidan has inherited Thavorn's hair which is a good thing.
We visited my sister on the Quebec side and I believe the winter is almost over.
Tomorrow, it is supposed to be 14 degrees. I am planning to wash the car and start my motorcycle up for a quick run to celebrate spring. The first official day of spring is March 20th. It has been a long winter!
Jaidan is at a camp during March break, this week. Apparently he has learned to skate, which just make him, a legit Canadian. Learning to skate is a nrite of passage for Candian children.
Today's song is: Bat Out of Hell ... Meatloaf ... RIP
My buddy Shaunny in Samut Prakan has informed me today is one of those special days that occur once in your lifetime. Today is Tuesday, February, the 22 of 2022. What makes it special is it is the second day of the week, the second month of the year, the twenty-second day of the month , in the twenty-second year of the second millenium. Don't let it pass by without doing something special like:
do 2 acts of kindness
do 22 pushups, situps, plank for 22 seconds, etc.
give 2 compliments
talk to 2 people you don't normally talk to
Whatever, just go for it.
Today, they cancelled the school buses as their is a threat of freezing rain. Sign of the times, wimps!
The truck convoy is cleared out of downtown Ottawa and the politicans are claiming success. Depriving people of their freedom is not a win for anyone. I was not for the convoy and they could have proved their point by voluntarily pulling out after week one. However, they did expose the ineptitude of our politicians at all level.
I am looking forward to Spring and getting back on my motorcycle. Now that is a freedom convoy I could endorse. Bikers Againt Boredom ... Piss Off Covid. I love the New Hampshire licence plates ... 'Live Free or Die'.
I listen to the Tragically Hip every morning when I do my stretching workout. Their music actually has some pretty good lyrics and the lyrics get me thinking. One of my mottos is, 'I don't regret anything I have done, only the things I have not done. What is in the past you have to let go to move on, but you have choices in the future. Go for it :-)
It appears that covid19 is winding down in the world and Ontario is starting to open up, so I look forward to going to Chapters, and University basketball games, as well as a visit to the Prescott among other things.
Thavorn says the snow covered fields reming her of the ocean, albeit, a bit cooler. She has now amassed $22K in her bank account which makes her very happy. She should reach her goal of $50K this time in 2023. Pretty impressive :-)
Today's song is: Take a Load off Fanny .. The Band from Easy Rider - Peter Fonda RIP
Most things are just not that important to get your knickers in a knot. Some words of Wisdom:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Reinhold Niebuhr
It was the Summer of 69 and I was 19 and life was good. Life was also alot simpler. No cell phones or social media and Walter Cronkite delivered the Late Night News and Johnny Carson delivered the Tonight Show. American draft dodgers were arriving in Canada as American entered into its 2nd year of the Vietnam war. It was the year of Woodstock and The Band played there and hippies embraced free love. It was a time of awakening.
Contrast that with today and woke and cancel cultures, tick tock, and narcissist social media like facebook and instagram. Instead of A&W we have DoorDash. Instead of real facetime we have facetime and Zoom. Instead of real dates we have online dating. The Metaverse is coming soon, maybe that will be the end of Covid19, but just like iPhones, we may have a covid22.
I Don't Want a Pickle, I Just to Ride my Motorcycle.
This weekend was the day the trucker's convoy arrived in Ottawa. Basically demonstrating their dislike for Trudope and the Liberal's policies.
The pandemic seem to be disappating so we are hoping to get out and do things and visit people. The rinks open this week so I thought we would try skating. Of course Thavorn and Jaidan have never skated so they could be in for some bruises. We are also thinking of visiting my sister Elaine who has a nice size sledding hill a walk from where she lives.
Meanwhile back in the house I finally completed the Red Racing Truck behemoth. It come out of China (similar to covid) and is produced by a company called MouldKing. It competes in quality and design with Lego Technics but is quite a bit cheaper, maybe 50%. Their designs are actually much better and they often license the design of MOC (My Own Creation) builders. The red racing truck has about 2,700 pieces and kept me busy for quite a while. It features 4 motors, 2 of which are very fast buggy motors.
The price of Lego technics and the clones has gone up by 50% in the last 6 months. I think it is more supply and demand rather than shortages. The real Lego stuff has become collectors items where people buy them, never open the box and sell them at 100% profit when they are discontinued in 2-3 years. Not unlike housing in Canada that is being snapped up by investors, who flip them and never live in them. That's the world we live in!
Some picks of 2 of my favorite cars and the Red Racing truck.
Racing Truck is 20 inches long, 10 wide by 10 high.
Sacle, pool table is 8 feet long.
Working engine is 8 cylinders.
A MOC I created. 4 motors, very fast and cool suspension
Thavorn is back at work that her Covid seems to have gone. Jaidan is back online and showing no signs of his Covid. He heads back to in person schooling on Monday. I myself, am almost done with my Covid so I expect that life will be back to normal come this weekend. Life will be back to as good as it gets in this Covid era that we find ourselves in.
Thavorn mentionned she would like to vist Thailand in the Summer of 2023which just happens to be that last time I will see a 23 (my birthday) in this lifetime. I thinking it would be good to switch to Buddhism to get a do over,
By the summer of 2023 Thavorn should have saved enough money to build her house so that summer opens up all kinds of posibilities for our family. Jaidan will will entering grade 4 which is a grade I have taught in the past and I would feel comfortable home schooling his that year. Our car lease is is up in February of 2024 which also happens to be the last time will see her birthday in this lifetime. Being Buddhist means she also gets do overs.
Back to the Wild Side has its appeal as long that Thailand, itself is back to some sort of normalcy which hopefully it will be. I will be 73 which will be the 4th last prime number before I would be 100 if I live that long. Running out of primes is never a good option as I believe they are special years to be lived well, having not just survived another year as we are doing during these Covid years.
I am optimistic that there bare some good years to be had and 2023 is aligning to be one of the good ones! The only problem I see is staying out of trouble in Thailand but that is a nice problem to have. Ivan Kelly had it right with the Raven, 'Don't Fool Around, buy a round!'.
When I first moved to Malaysia to teach overseas, a phrase I heard often was same same, which transates into nothing different happening. That pretty well describes my life at this moment in space and time.
Thavorn and Jaidan are pretty much over their bout of Omicron. They both managed to sleep 24 hours straight over the weekend. I now have the sniffles and a very minor tickle in my throat but I seem to be fighting it off. Thavorn and Jaidan are now in their 5th day and Jaidan is online with his class. Thavorn will go back to work tomorrow.
Needless to say I did not do much other than program and surf the net. Yesterday the power went out for about 10 hours. I have an excellent UPS that enables my internet to stay up.
Omicron is sweeping Ontario and I suspect it will lead to herd immunity down the road.
My expat friend John, in Bangkok, is moving back to Canada with his wife Fon in June. They are really excited about it and we are excited to have them back in Canada. Time for a trip to the Prescott and Broadways.
Thavorn mentioned that she would like to visit Thailand and see her family during 2023. Hopefully we will be able to make that happen.
Covid19 arrived in my family last night. This morning I tested Thavorn with the rapid anitigen Test and Thavorn tested positive. Jaidan also ran a fever and a headache all night so I suspect he also has covid. We are out of test kits and they are hard to come by, especially now I have to isolate for 5 days.
I feel okay, did my stretching exercises and 30 mins on the treadmill. I also had 2 shots of Jameson's Irish Whisky to play it safe as well as 3 episodes of Lethal Weapon on Netflix.
I did not miss Jaidan's online learning today but I may not be so lucky tomorrow dependent on how well Jaidan is.
The hardest part for me will be being locked up for 5 days, not that I have been going out much in this covid era that we find ourselves in.
