I need a drink!

This week I decided to play catch up on the 2007 movies I have not seen and which won one or more Oscars on Sunday. Oh lordy, did I do a number on myself with that decision. On Tuesday I saw the excellent acting of Javier Bardem in "No Country of Old Men" but otherwise did not enjoy that extremely violent movie. Yesterday was a relief and a break as I watched one of my favorite actors George Clooney in "Michael Clayton". The ending of that was a hoot. Today I saw Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will be Blood". He was excellent and the movie was excellent but wow, did it ever drag me through the ringer? "No Country..." should not have won the Oscar for best film..."There Will be Blood" should have. At least Lewis won the Oscar of best actor. Now, however, I need a drink. Ha!

"...whenever any Form of Govenment becomes destructive...
it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,
and to institute new Government..."

Extracted from the United States
Declaration of Independence
July 4, 1776

Ralph Nader claims to be against big business and "business as usual", etc., but his candidacy this year will only help John McCain get elected as it did George W. Bush in 2000. This guy is complete friggin' idiot.

From one news source I keep seeing the headline "I didn't have sex with that woman". Bill Clinton? No, in this case it is John McCain. Ah, very interesting, as history seems to repeat itself. McCain seems to be rather low key these days on TV so despite his primary wins I wonder if he is running out of steam pesonally. This has been an interesting election year and promises to be even more interesting before year is out.

When I read news stories like this one I feel like we should have bombed them out of existence years ago. Yeah, I know that is extreme and would only hurt the innocent but these turds creating malware and spyware need to be strung up and caned or whipped or whatever. How about some waterboarding?

I wholeheartedly concur with the person who expressed these thoughts in a local newspaper...
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"Lately, the candidates' debates have been about who's using whose words. Can there be ownership of the English language? Most of us use words everyday. Are we using someone else's words? I guess at the end of the day, when candidates can't think of anything to pick on their opponent about, they'll come up with the most trite and inane things; who's using whose words.

Maybe I should look into copyrighting prepositions."

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San Francisco's newest high rise on Rincon Hill next to the Bay Bridge dominates the skyline as it did on this bright clear day.

During today's walk I discovered a lot of signs on the doors of small business about being closed tomorrow, Monday, Feb. 18th, President's Day. What? This has been a minor holiday for years with government offices and banks being closed but little else. Did King George decree it otherwise in 2008?

As I was reading the newspaper this morning several items started to cause my blood pressure to go up a bit but then I found this wonderful letter to the editor which calmed me down. It is good to know that some people have their heads on straight as they say.
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Editor - As a Muslim, learning of the republication of the caricatures of Prophet Muhammad made my heart bleed.

Presenting hurtful speech under the guise of freedom is shameful, but the caricatures publishers do have a point - who do these Muslims think they are? Since when do Muslims, or any party, have the authority to compel others to conform to their standards?

Did the Christians not peacefully protest the hurtful and ill-mannered "Piss Christ" and Ecce Homo exhibits? And when Christ's honor was being maligned, where were these Muslims?

Instead of observing decorum, the teddy bear and "The Satanic Verses" incidents incited madness amongst these same Muslims. Have they forgotten Prophet Muhammad not only forgave, but lead the funeral prayer of Abdullah Ubay bin Salul, the same man who spread the cruel and horrid lie that Prophet Muhammad's wife had committed adultery?

Indeed, who do these Muslims think they are?

ANEES AHMAD Waterloo, N.Y.

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There are some very creative TV commercials in Thailand and some are rather funny. This one, to me, is amongst the funniest:

This morning a friend helped m turn over the box springs of my bed. An earlier inspection of the mattress found no bugs (see below) and todays inspection was also negative however I did find a very small amount of live and dead bugs on the bottom of the box springs. They were very tiny and I tried to squish as many as I could. There weren't that many but one fell on the floor and I was not sure at the point if it was alive or dead. I hope dead. Anyway, the infestation of the bed appears to be minimal at this time. Now I must get to work to stem the invasion. I also hope that this is the only place they are residing.

Just where did these little buggers come from anyway??? (no pun intended) I have never had such a problem in my life prior to this.

Oh, rats! At least that is what Harrison Ford said in a movie a number of years ago. In my case it would be, "Oh bugs!". Since Christmas I seem to have been invaded from where I know not. I do know that I cannot find the nesting place of these critters that only come out at night and I know that if I move from my regular bed to the sofabed which is only about ten feet away, I do not get bit. Also, apartment # 302 is being worked on by the maintenance crew and they have been there all week making a lot of strange noises that I am not familiar with. As vacancies occur in this building I do know that they do considerable remodeling of vacant units but this week the sounds I am hearing seem to go above and beyond the usual sounds of remodeling. Does the occupant of 302, or did the occupant of that unit have a bed bug problem which has now spread to my unit and possibly beyond??? How do I deal with this without panicking anyone? If Tanya, the resident manager were more readily available I could ask her what is going on upstairs but I seldom see her as she seems to have become a semi-recluse since Don died a few years ago. What to do, what to do, WTD?????

By the way, in Thailand in January it was mosquitoes that liked me. Now I seem to be host to a non-flying brand of pest. Grrrrrrr.......

Oh where oh where is our presidential election going? Not sure but I will venture a guess that it will be McCain/Huckabee vs. Clinton/Obama (or Obama/Clinton) in November. I can't really see any other names emerging as being VP candidates at this time. Let's face it, Democrats, of which I am one, seem to be evenly divided between Clinton and Obama and on the Republican side Huckabee's conservatism fills in a few holes in McCain's political philosophy.

Q. How does a slut feel?
A. Whore-a-ble.

BTW, if we dump anti-freeze down the drains, why are we surprised that the poles are melting?

I don't doubt this in the least as I have already experienced the warmer than normal temperatures in Thailand. Glad to see that others are blaming global warming for this situation. I used to like Thailand in the winter (December and January) but if these hotter temperatures are going to be the norm, I may never return.

Having rested sufficiently from my vacation as well as the long flights from Bangkok to Taipei to SFO, I feel I am ready to resume a normal life, whatever that is. Anyway, the vacation trip was excellent as usual but this time the emphasis was on my friends in Pattaya and Sakon Nakhon instead of sightseeing. There was that but socializing was the main focus of things this time around.

The vacation started with one week in Pattaya where I spent considerable time with my friend there. From there I moved on to Bangkok where I met up with a friend from Sakon Nakhon which is in Isan territory in northeast Thailand. After several nights in Bangkok we took a daytime train (2nd class coach) up to Udon Thani (also in northeast Thailand) where we spent several days. From there we moved over to Sakon Nakhon for two days/one night and his house and we also took a day trip via bus up to Nong Khai where we ate lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant over looking the Mekong River from the Thai side of the border. After our time in this area we returned to Bangkok via first class sleeper on the night train for one more week before we each returned to our respective homes. BUT, before doing that we also took a local train up to Ayuttaya, the ancient capital. We had both been there previously but it had been several years for both of us.

I was not feeling one hundred percent when I left SFO and while nothing serious occurred, a persistent cough dogged me all the way and still does. I tend to have a bronchial condition in the winter here which is usually only relieved by warmer and dry weather. Sure had the warmer weather in Thailand but not dry weather as the humidity is always higher there than here. This time it seemed that their summer weather pattern had never really left in late 2007 or else was getting an early start in 2008 as this was the hottest and most humid January I have ever spent there. Also, it rained at Pattaya one day (this is supposed to be the dry season) and we had some heavy rain in Bangkok before I left the country.

Incidentally, for you fellow train buffs, the "first class" sleeper equipment was manufactured by Hyundai of Korea in 1996. Some lack of maintenance had it looking more like something much older. As for the diesel rail car coaches on the second class train to Ayuttaya, they were manufactured by Hitachi in 1983 after a design by the Budd Rail Car Company in the U.S. from the fifties. Biggest difference was that each units diesel engine was mounted underneath the carriage instead of at rooftop. Those rail cars has have definitely seen better days so I wonder when Thai National Railways will purchase new equipment. Their train system seems to be fairly efficient, all things considered, and everything is very well organized at Bangkok's main terminal, Hua Lumphong, where there is now direct access to the subway so one does not have to cross six lanes of traffic at surface level. Taxi and bus queues were all very efficient and busy places.

While Bangkok's subway and Sky Train systems are modern and efficient, their city bus system leaves everything to be desired. This was my first time on city buses as I rode the buses several times with my friend as he wanted to save a little money (they ARE cheaper than the subway and Sky Train) but are subject to much delay due to the city's horrendous traffic jams. Some buses are not air conditioned so one must "eat" the fumes from other cars and buses and when sitting in traffic that is no fun at all. As for the buses themselves, they need replacing, period!

Bangkok is definitely a city of contrasts as it moves into the modern era. World class shopping malls abound where you can find everything you would want from Gucci to Armani to you-name-it. Siam Paragon is the biggest and newest and sits next to the Siam Skytrain station, a major transfer point for the system's two lines. By the way, the line to Saphan Taksin Station is being extended across the Chao Praya River and the Sukhimvit line is also being extended. There is also a new Skytrain line under construction from the Suvarnabhumi International Airport which will have connections with the subway as well as one of the current Skytrain lines. These things really stand in stark contrast to the older buildings and the old ways especially the myriad sidewalk food vendors all over the city. Some sections of Silom and Surawong Roads are obstacles courses because of all of it. I write this not to complain. This is just an observation. What I do complain about is tourists who suddenly stop to look at something and act as if they were the only persons on the street thereby making it difficult for other people to squeeze by in the very narrow confines of the remaining spaces available to walk.

I did not get to Chiang Mai ("The Rose of the North") this time, much to my regret. That city has only about 150,000 residents and is a much quieter and less frantic city than Bangkok is with its 5,000,000 plus population. Oh well, next time maybe.

Returning after three weeks I must now deal with all sorts of things including a huge stack of mail plus filing income tax returns, etc., etc. Oh well, back to the real world as they say.