Today's song is: Say Something . A Great Big World .. Christina ..
Life in Thailand just keeps getting better. AIS, my cell phone provider just rolled out LTE and they upgraded my access from 3G to 4G by providing me a new sim. Same data plan as before just much faster access speeds. About 50 GBs download and about 35 GBs upload. Ping was 25 seconds.
I was paying 1,699 Baht a month for a 10 GB download cap per month. Sometimes when I am working a lot I go over by a gig or 2 and I get throttled back to 387 kps access. AIS just released a new plan with a 20 GB download cap per month for 1,799. Kind of a no brainer to get an extra 10 GBs for about an extra $3.50 CDN per month.
We have Christmas dinner brunch set up at the Novotel hotel for the 25th and Thavorn really did not have an appropriate dress to wear so we went shopping. We found a red dress at Guess that makes her look awesome so she is good to go.
In case you are wondering I am loving my new monitor. Also, the weather in Bangkok this week is great. We leave for the village on the 28th and it will be cooler still.
As you can see .. as soon as the sun goes down it is quite cool .. party time ..
Today I went out and purchase a Samsung UHD 34" monitor with a resolution of 3440 x 1440 Ultra WQHD which means lots of open windows, which means improved productivity for a programmer like me. It is expensive at $1,000 CDN and I am not sure I would purchase it for personal use but I can certainly justify it as a business expense as it is very ergonomic and will increase my productivity. Easy on the eyes and neck. It has a curved screen like some of the new Televisions. I decided not to go with 4K HD after reading reviews on many of those monitors.
Couple of pics of my work area:
Overall area ..
The monitor with programming environment open ..
My existing laptop is over 2 years old now but is capable of driving the monitor albeit at 50 MHZ. My new laptop which arrives in the first week of January has a display port and will drive the monitor at 60 MHZ. More MHZ is better as it is perceived as a more stable image, not that I find 50 MHZ bad.
The ergonomics are great as I can move the monitor vertically on its stand and keep it at eye level despite my chair height.
Today, one of Thavorn's cousins is visiting with 2 of her children. Looks like they will be staying overnight. Her cousin is 3 months pregnant with her 5th child but still has the typical slim Thai figure. I am not sure they can pull that off after 4 or 5 children but Thavorn does as well.
I am looking forward to Christmas dinner on the 25th at the Novotel hotel. All the turkey you can eat with the trimmings and the booze is free flow as usual with special dinners in Bangkok. They don't have the LCBO looking over their shoulders :-)
Today's song is: is actually a parade of politically incorrect songs by Kinky Friedman .. you were warned .. so don't take offense .. Kinky is a satirist ..
They don't make Jews like Jesus any More .. favourite
Amelia Earhart ..
Kinyk's most popular ..
In the spirit of Bill Clinton ..
As you can probably tell by my lack of postings, I have been busy programming lately as well as research on replacing my current development computer and external monitor. It kind of reminds me of the old Icon days and QNX when I would sit in front of 3 workstations, making use of all three of them. Liz, you can probably relate. More follows, later in this post.
I have spoken before about human trafficking and how the bar trade is not a big player in this problem. The major reason is that a bar girl has an easy time escaping from her human traffickers and therefore, the bars are not a good place to traffic. Instead, to understand the issue, please read this post in the Bangkok Post:
Shrimp peeled by slaves in Thailand http://bit.ly/1Ye9DpY #BangkokPost
I have also been discussing political correctness and the Christmas (as opposed to holiday) season. Here is an example of one school principal doing what she considers to be a good job educating us all:
Santa Claus is banned. The Pledge of Allegiance is no longer recited. “Harvest festival” has replaced Thanksgiving, and “winter celebrations” substitute for Christmas parties.
Seems that the PC establishment is running amok. How about the Harvard place mat to take home to family for the 'Holiday' season: Those celebrating the holiday with any Harvard students may have a real treat in store. That’s because, as Campus Reform reported, the university is handing out a “place mat” for students, as “a guide for holiday discussions on race and justice with loved ones.” The place mat was created by the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The freshman’s dean’s office collaborated with the effort, and the place mats were then distributed at a dining hall.
There are many more examples, unfortunately too many to list in case I bore you, or shudder, offend you!
I stay informed in Thailand by reading online newspapers and news sources, such as The Bangkok Post, The Nation (Thailand), USA Today, CBC, CTV, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Fox News, CNN, BBC, and USA Today Sports.
Back to Technology, luddites may exit here.
My current laptop is a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga with 8 GB of ram, 256 GB of SSD drive, and an HD screen (1920 x 1080) I also have a Samsung 24" HD display for additional workspace. The best feature of this laptop has to be its spill resistant keyboard that I managed to test at least once. It is also military grade and withstands heat and dust very well. However, it is approaching 2 years of age and it gets constant use, of about 16 hours a day.
I have gradually and finally moved to vmWare images for my development work. It used to take me about 5 days to prep a new laptop with all my development software. I now have a 60 GB Windows pro image that has my development software and it akes me about 10 minutes to move it to a new laptop. I also have a 10 GB WinXP image that I use for my legacy software. And, then there is a server image that I boot up to test in a distributed environment. Then, my Linux learning image where I spend time coming to grips with Linux.
Now, in order for this environment to work well, I need a high end CPU, i7 with multiple cores (dual or quad), 16 GB of Ram, a display capable of HD or UHD, and at least 512 GB of SSD storage to accommodate about 256 GB of vmWare images. When I explored the hardware offering for this type of laptop the prices invariably settled between $2,500 and $3,500 (CDN) which I considered exorbitant.
I then discovered that gaming laptops were often configured with the above specs and that 1 year old models were often discounted. I settled on:
I forgot to mention that the laptop has to be capable of driving 2 extermnal monitors, my existing HD monitor and another supporting greater than HD. I am seriously considering this as my second external display:
Samsung UHD 28" Monitor with High Glossy Black Finish LU28E590DS/ZA ★★★★★ 4K, 3840 X 2160 Resolution (UHD), 60Hz (DP) Sharper Viewing Angle with T-shaped Stand 1 Billion Color Support 1ms (GTG) Response Time SUGGESTED RETAIL:$599.99
The hardware will enable me to be even more productive in programming than my current hardware setup. Once I get it all setup in January 2016 I will post some pics.
Today's song is: Is a mashup of mixes .. often played in bars in Bangkok .. useful for dancing around the kitchen while making breakfast for your hubby .. talking at you Debbie :-)
The Christmas season is quite festive in Bangkok. Thavorn, Jaidan, and I (along with some friends) are booked into the Novotel hotel on the 25th for their Christmas turkey dinner. It should be fun (Jaidan permitting) as Thavorn has never had turkey before. Will let you know how it goes.
We also plan to head off to the village for a week, starting December 28th. It has been a while since I have provided the mosquitoes a feeding so it is time. During this time we will attend the school Christmas/New Year performance which is always entertaining and I get to talk to some Thai educators. The principal's English is quite good and I enjoy talking with him.
Meanwhile, as we walk around Bangkok, the Christmas trees are decked out everywhere as are the Christmas lights.
Here are some pics:
Jaidan has amassed quite a collection of stuffed toys ... Papa bear, mamma bear, and baby bear courtesy of me, Kanga from Liam (Australia), Elly from my sister Elaine, bunny from a freebee, Monkey from Aly, puppy chosen by himself at Ikea, and 2 characters won by Thavorn at a fair.
It is so nice to experience Christmas in a Buddhist country where there is no politically correct bullshit over the use of the word Christmas, or Christmas trees in public, or just being able to wish someone a Merry Christmas. We can only wish christian Canadians had the backbone to insist on the right to celebrate their heritage without worrying about who they are going to offend.
Jaidan has been busy decorating and undecorating (yes, I know it is not a word) Christmas trees in Rumours Bar and the building we live in. He really enjoys placing the ornaments on the trees .. he can do it for hours .. on .. off .. on!
Here are some pics.
Poy and Jaidan decorating tree at bar
Poy is very good with Jaidan
Jaidan gets and gives to Poy
New bar tender at Rumours .. getting to know Jaidan
Off and on :-)
Jaidan undecorating the tree in our building
More Christmas decorations in our building .. owners are Buddhists.
Office girl and Jaidan .. don't know her name .. we always call her Jaidan's GF :-) Jaidan visits her many times throughout the day!
Today's song is: 2 out of 3 ain't bad .. another Meatloaf classic
We checked out of the Marriott at 10 am on Friday and headed back to our apartment. We ended up with 4 surprise visitors that evening. Two of them were friends of Thavorn's from high school who needed a place to stay for the night as there was a huge party in their place that was going to last all night, and they needed some sleep as they had to work Saturday morning.
The second two visitors where Thavorn's friend Tacky and her friend/customer N..o. Their relationship is under stress for a variety of reasons that I could fill a book with and may do so at a later date. Many farangs go through this stage when they are enamored with a Thai girl and come to realize they may be nothing other than another customer. Not sure how this one will play out as it is a little complex as they both have significant others in their life like a wife and a Thai boyfriend, hence, today's song.
Today is also Father's day in Thailand and it is being played up large by the government. It is also the King's birthday. Everyone will be decked out in yellow (Royal color for King) and riding bicycles for Dad.
Have you ever looked in the mirror and wondered how that old fart arrived in your place. It's funny how we often think of ourselves as younger than we are. We head off to the gym and workout and can do most of the same stuff we did thirty years ago, but our faces will show the miles we have traveled, unless, of course we start stretching the skin on our face so the wrinkles disappear.
The front facing cameras are particularly bad at showing us as others perceive us. Here is an early morning shot of the young and the old moments after we have woken up. Does not matter that I can still run 3 kms under 18 mins or bench press 260 pounds .. the camera does not lie.
The beard is grey as is some of the hair and the wrinkles around the eyes give my age away. Maybe it is time to get the eyes done as it is pretty inexpensive in Thailand. But then again Willy Nelson is taking it all in stride.
I could always add the bandanna and be a wannabe or I could go with a buzz #1 (like Willy Fox) and buy a couple of baseball caps and go with the old fart farang look. Your thoughts .. embrace the years, do the eye lift, which Willy should it be?
Kobe Bryant announced his retirement as of the end of this season and the comparisons to Michael Jordan are starting to be made. They were both exciting to watch but Michael was in a class all of his own making 49.5% of his shots over his career. Kobe holds the distinction of making the most missed shots of any NBA player in history and I think that sums up the difference between the two of them. Kobe never saw a shot he didn't like. He did make 45.3% of his shots so far but that will be down after this season. I think the best person to judge the two of them would have to be Phil Jackson as he coached both of them to NBA championships, but he is unlikely to make a choice. However ...
I am really enjoying watching some movies but mostly watching college bball and football with a little bit of NBA. It is also just good to get out of the routine of swimming, cooking, and cleaning for a week. Some pics from yesterday ...
Thavorn shooting a selfie
Jaidan, after getting into Thavorn's lipstick .. had the right idea :-)
