Been Burgled: Aftermath

We are somewhat getting back to normal, the house is now clean once more, the metal door will be coming back tomorrow, that would make the entrance to the house via the kitchen a little more secure, the same as before.

We were so lucky not to have lost anything of real sentimental value, I’d just realised the ‘important’ stuff doesn’t have any monetary value at all. Must admit that the camera was a real shocker for about 20 minutes, as it was not even a year old :(, the watch was another expensive item, but I haven’t wore it in ages, at the end it wasn’t the things they have taken that is really getting to me, but the fact that ‘they were in the house and wandering freely'!’.

We have decided to beef up the security, the railings did its job, but this has proven that railings can only slow down the Basta%@#, tomorrow a supplier will be coming to discuss about CCTV and other intrusion alarms (it seems to be all the rage now these days).

While going back to my normal routines around the house, I had kept discovering all of the other small things the ars# hol%& had taken, and it is getting to be a real pain. “They too the charger for my iPod!!!!!” how can I survive? (only kidding), each time a small thing was discovered missing, only brings back a feeling that I wouldn’t call it anger, but a real annoyance and somewhat ‘pissed off’ at the whole ordeal.

It is easy to be so suspicious of everyone, the security team that the housing estate had outsourced is on my list too. There have been so many cases that the burglars had turned out to be the security guards themselves. Then again it could be the manual labourers at a building site not 20 metres away, in fact these labourers are the number one suspect on the police list, most of the known burgled cases have been committed by them.

Only one question remains, the burglars must have spent at least half an hour trying to get into this house, and they must have made a real racket too (judging by all the damages)… and no one heard them? The house is on the main road, no more than 50 metres from the main and only entrance to the housing estate (where the guards were stationed). They certainly have lots of information, when the house would be empty, security route detail and timing, our returning time and so on. All in all it must be someone here.

I think this type of suspicions can run and run forever, the decision I have made is to let it go, Karma is the key… :)

At least no one was hurt, and that is the most important thing after all… :)

What a Pic! [Arc of Discovery]

Arc of Discovery

PHOTO CREDIT:   NASA or National Aeronautics and Space Administration

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Viewed from the Banana River Viewing Site at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, space shuttle Discovery arcs through a cloud-brushed sky lighted by the trail of fire after launch on the STS-128 mission. Liftoff from Launch Pad 39A was on time at 11:59 p.m. EDT. The first launch attempt on Aug. 24 was postponed due to unfavorable weather conditions. The second attempt on Aug. 25 also was postponed due to an issue with a valve in space shuttle Discovery's main propulsion system. The STS-128 mission is the 30th International Space Station assembly flight and the 128th space shuttle flight. The 13-day mission will deliver more than 7 tons of supplies, science racks and equipment, as well as additional environmental hardware to sustain six crew members on the International Space Station. The equipment includes a freezer to store research samples, a new sleeping compartment and the COLBERT treadmill. Photo credit: NASA/Ben Cooper

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A picture like this make me missed my (very recently) stolen camera even more (basta%$#), I am not saying that I can take one like this but “What a Pic!”… :)

Been Burgled: Police

Saturday 29th, August 2009. Spent the whole night as sleep downstairs because the kitchen’s door could not be shut properly, so just in case, and the only thing one could do was to sleep in the living room, the last glanced at the clock said 02:45.

Got up later than usual, went through the normal routine (making a bottle for Matt and so on), once the ‘routine’ ran it course I was ready to go to the police station (via some other errands for Gio). Luckily or unluckily this wasn’t the first time we’ve been burgled, the last time was back in May of 2007, so I already knew where the police station was…

This time was different, back in 2007, the bugler came through the toilet’s window while we were as sleep so they had stayed on the ground floor and only minor things were taken (I was pissed because they took my trainers and tools), but this time no one was in the house and the feeling of them having ‘free time’ especially in our bed room is leaving me with a some real anger.

What made it worst, was the time they had to try to get into our home, we have installed railings on all the windows and doors after the first break in, so the house was much more secure, but this break in made me realised, as long as they have ‘time’ all the railings were useless.

They tried a couple of windows first, that was useless, the railing did their job, but then they attacked door (leading into the kitchen), it must have taken them a good half hour or more… and no one saw or heard them! The housing security people were/and still are useless…

The whole process at the police station must have taken less than 30 minutes, basically they took down my account of what happened, what were taken and that was it. The last time someone came to the house and took away finger prints, this time nothing… We waited until around midnight then began to tidy up the house…

I am guessing here, the reason no additional team came to take away finger prints could be because of another burgled case, in the next housing area where they had lost slightly more than a camera, watches, iPod and etc… Apparently they had lost somewhere around the 2 mill… OMG! I do hope they get everything back…

28.08.2009 Been Burgled: Discovery

Came home slightly later this Friday evening, must have been around 22:25 when we walked through the door. Gio took the baby upstairs while I unloaded the car…, everything was so normal, that is until Gio shouted “We’ve been burgled”…

“Stop joking around” was my answer, until I went up stairs and saw the bedroom, oh what a mess!

The next question was so natural, “What have they taken!”, the list is short but expensive one… Nikon D90 (less than 6 months), old iPod, Sanyo VDO camera, a little Sony Photo printer, 3 watches and a Wii (it was gathering dust anyway).

So we are not feeling too chuff at the moment, a bunch of police just came and went, tomorrow I have to go to police station to give a formal statement, I am not expecting much, just like the last time in May 2007 nothing ever came of their investigation.

Had a quick chat with the police and discovered, that this night there have been so many cases of houses being burgled, it did not cheer me up one bit.

Point of entry, they tried the window first but failed, I can only assume that they then pried open the kitchen door, they must have come totally prepared, little bas%$&ds.

Went on facebook a few minutes ago, looking at the feed back, several friends have also been recently burgled as well. What worst is that most of the police are now on duty somewhere near the house of Parliament because of the mass gathering by the red shirts…

Faster than (Road Runner + Speedy Gonzales) Squared…

Only if you are a real masochist case, you would choose to travel on BKK’s roads during its infamous rush hour, Road Runner would find it hard to cry its famous “Beep-Beep”, Speed Gonzales will not have the heart to scream "Andale! Andale! Arriba! Arriba! Yii-hah!" while being stuck behind an old battered pickup truck.

During the rush hour, there are 3 modes of transport of choice, BTS (aka Sky Train), MRT (aka Subway/Undergrounds) or my favourite… Motorcycle Taxi.

Probably more expansive than all the rest, the price can range from 10 baths to infinity :) their routes mainly cover the small back roads (Soi), but on this day I needed to get to Central Department Store (fast), meaning a 60 baths price tag for a distant of no more than 2.5 kilometres, considering the starting fare in a normal taxi is only 35 baths.

The real gem is of course the ‘Time’ factor, if I had jumped into a 4 wheel taxi it could have easily taken an hour+ to cover the same distant, but in this case the whole trip took no more than 10 minutes… well worth it :) Life insurance is however greatly recommended, as it is like playing Russian Roulette, it all depends on who you get as the driver/rider.

They are also under the pressure of time, a simple correlation, more trips equal more money (unless they get run over by a car). There are unofficial stations dotted all over BKK, where a number of these motorcycles will be waiting, and you always get the same group of drivers/riders at the same station, so over time you’ll get to know your driver/rider of choice, but of course you can not choose as they all take turn to accept customers – hence Russian Roulette…

How can they be identified? Very easily, they all wear brightly single coloured waistcoat, in my office area they all wear ‘purple’. Some say they are closely related to the local gang, well that could be an urban myth.

If you are looking to live life on the edge and need to get somewhere fast, this is another option for your consideration… no helmet needed (totally illegal), more thrill than the best ride at Alton Towers, Cheap (relative to a pint of Guinness) and best of all you can take photographs, smoke or even use your mobile phone while enjoying the fresh wind in your hair, however, most of the time I just prey (honest).

Through the Windscreen and into the Abyss

‘Tang-Duan’ literally means ‘Way-Urgent’, to put it more internationally, ‘Express Way’, 45 Baths to enter it had changed many if not all  Bankokian’s way of life, several of us (including yours truly) only know how to get to a certain place via the express way.

‘Way-Urgent’/ ‘Express Way’ does imply free driving at speed, and it does (most of the time) apply in real life. Of course there are certain times in which you would like to beat the toll officers with a huge club (embedded with rusty nails) and get your 45 baths back,  when ‘Way-Urgent’ becomes’ No-F-ing-Way-Urgent and there are no other option than to sit here like a dumb gold fish in a metal bowl (time to waste more battery on the iPhone)’.

Every morning, getting on or off the express way seems to be more and more of an ordeal, the queue feels like it is getting longer and longer with each passing month, while the ‘Way-Urgent’ may imply most of the time once you are on the express way, but the entrance and exit definitely feels like a huge punishment for all the sins that I have accrued for this life and past :), may be there should be a ‘Pre-Entrance/Exit’ before the real Entrance/Exit gates… :) I think I need to think this one through…

Weekend Shooter…

Another Saturday is closing, you are as sleep downstairs, your mother is in the kitchen preparing your dinner and I am here looking at your photographs :)

Not a bad set this week, I am using your Gymboree class as a practice session, for the past few times I have moved away from the safety net of mode “P”, the first few times was a total disaster…

“Aperture mode” kept giving me blurry pictures, “Shutter Speed mode” kept giving me very under exposed pictures, finally it is really a balance between Aperture + Shutter Speed + ISO setting…

To get that fine balance, all one needs to do is to take loads of pictures in different environment… However, I am classifying my self as a weekend shooter, the camera doesn’t see the light of day until Saturday morning… :) and it goes back in the closet on the Sunday :(

 

I am slightly worried this evening, today you seem to be off  your food a little, especially your milk which is so important for you. Admittedly we arrived back home a little late this evening, so you felt as sleep in the car. We were hoping that you would wake up for your dinner, but you didn’t.

So we woke you up (ever so gently), but even after a big while, you were still too groggy and were in no mood to eat…  So we decided to give you a quick bath hoping you’ll freshen up… that was a big NOPE… :)

You are now as sleep again, lets hope you get your appetite back tomorrow :)

New PC System…

The fingers are itching again, the current PC I am using is around 4-5 years old, just to give you an idea on how out of date it is, the CPU is actually a Pentium D… :(

So I had a little time this morning, it only took a few minutes to plan the upgrade, quite simple really, all I need is a new CPU, Motherboard, Graphic Card, Cooler (I love my cooler) and Ram.

 

Current System	New System
Pentium D 820	Intel i7 – 920
Asus P5WD2 Premium	Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Winfast PF7800 GT 256	Asus GTX275
Thermaltake Big Typhoon	Coolermaster V8
Geil 1GB	Geil (3x2GB, DDR3).
Thermaltake Armor Case

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After checking my usual web sites (for Thailand; Jedi, Busitek and Hardwarehouse Inter), the prices were hovering around the 38,000 Bahts mark. That is around half of what I had paid the last time (but at that time it was the full system).

I think this is the right time, especially with Windows 7 looming not too far away… At first I was going to wait for USB 3, but that looks like a few more months (even years) away yet. Probably in a couple of years the CPU and Graphic Card will be upgraded, lets hope this 1366 socket stays a while :)

Can not wait to get all the bits laid out on the floor again, the last time was daunting (first build), luckily there was no problem (knock on wood), lets hope this time will be trouble free too. Actually, I still need to get the green light from my better half, in fact this could be the upgrade killer :) haa haa haa.

Short trip to Nakornpathom

Prior to yesterday, we were told that you will be moving up a level at Gymboree, meaning your class will now starts at 16:00. This new class is a lot more fun, a lot of running around with loads of new contraptions… :)
 

After the class you were still full of energy, so we decided to take a short drive to the next province (Nakornpathom), because our house is pretty much on the edge of Bangkok, going to Nakornpathom took hardly any time at all. One of the main attraction at Nakornpathom is the ‘Pathom Jadee’, a temple right in the middle of the main town.

Apart from the temple, Pathom Jadee has a great evening market with loads and loads of food stalls :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended up at one of the very busy noodle stall, that is always a good sign, and were lucky enough to have found a very recently vacant table (all the dirty dishes from the previous patrons were still sitting on the table).

Unfortunately, they were just a little too popular. When I went up to order, I was told to go back to our table and wait, once they are ready they will come and clear the table as well as take our order, oh, and it was going to be around 30 minutes… :( So your mother and I decided to find another place, we were sure they make great noodles but I wasn’t prepared to wait 30 minutes just for them to take our order… No hard feelings, we shall return… :)

This is also another interesting stall, ‘Flying Ice Cream’, basically the vendor throws the ice cream really high up in the air and then catches it in a cup, I have yet to see him drop one…

There are a couple of these ‘Flying Ice Cream’ stalls in the market, and both of them claimed to be the ‘original’ :)

We are trying to find new places for you to see each week, hopefully we won’t run out of idea any time soon :)

All my fault… Sorry…

Your mother had spent a lot time and effort to make you a fantastic breakfast this morning, she spent even more patience feeding you, spoon by spoon until you ate all of it.

Then I came along, and gave you a very small piece of fruit… 20 seconds later all of your mother’s effort was on the living room floor in one big pile :( I am feeling so bad right now… Ended up giving you extra bottle of milk, and now you are sleeping downstairs… Like I said, all my fault.

I should have know better, because this isn’t the first time, it was the rule not to give you anything after you have already eaten… Sorry I just forgot… never again… :)

 

Love you

 

Dad

Brand New Shoes

There are many, many natural laws in life, because I am 36 years older than you are I have already discovered many of those laws purely through experience… As you grow up, you’ll discover that women likes shoes, so far there has been no real scientific reasoning on why that is so, but judging from your mother, grandmother and several of our friends (female) shoes and the ladies goes together better than banana and ice-cream.

So when it was time to get you a new pair of shoes, I had left it in the hands of the expert, namely your mother… so far you have about 7 pairs of shoes (courtesy of your mother and your grandmother), considering that you spend most of your time barefoot ,that is just about 6 pairs too many :) (truth be told, several of those pairs are too big, so they are just waiting for you to grow into them).

 

 

 

Anyway, one of your main shoes are already too small, so it gave your mother an opportunity to show off her talent… Shoes Spotting…

It is of course always better to bite the shoes first, before it bites you!

 

 

 

Another interesting fact, while in the toy section, you’ll show real interest in all the toys, but as soon as we get it home we would always discovered that it was the box that you were interested in.

Because we are now wiser, we didn’t get you this toy this time, instead we left you to mess around until you were bored.

Judging by the way you were hammering at it, and no doubt many kids have already had a good go at this, no wonder why so many toys on display are often broken… :)

Fixing the House

Banging Banging everywhere
The contractors are here to stay
All I can do is run upstairs
This certainly will be an interesting day
Hope it will all be over soon
They said probably tomorrow by noon

 
I was expecting many of them
but only three of them came
They said probably tomorrow by noon?
Somehow, I feel they think I am a baboon! :)