Looking in the North-Easterly Direction

 

A very cliché of a shot (Sathorn / Narathiwas-Rajanagarindra crossroads), but just wanted to keep it as a record of how it is now, it would be interesting to look back when I am about eighty :) assuming we get pass 21.12.12.

Holy Noodle Schanoodle Batman

Just in case anyone fancies a Japanese style noodles (Ramen) in Bangkok, there is no better place one can be than ‘Ramen Champions’ on Thonglor 10 or Ekamai 5 (depends on the direction you are coming from), the briefest overview is quite simple, 6 Ramen champions from Japan have set up shops right here in Bangkok, a great marketing ploy really (Mr. Tan of Oishi fame). Just in case you need more information, please click this link, thonglor-ekamai.com/ramen_review.html, dedicated to all things interesting and fun around the Thonglor-Ekamai area. 
  

 




Due to my x-men like ability to find anything edible absolutely delicious, so I am literally the last person on earth you should turn to for critiques on food, so the ramen I had was quite (unsurprisingly) delicious :)

I also liked the design of the place, six, closely knitted together smallish buildings all within a stone throw of each other really reflect the stereotype of the cramp Japanese urban planning, not sure if it was on purpose or just happened through the necessity to keep the cost down. The common area although small, was designed well enough to keep the whole place interesting, oh, the toilets could have been a lot better :)

The best thing of all, we managed to find a menu that Matt would eat… that night turned out to be a good one :)

Just heard a pin drop :)

Your mother and I love this photo, it is so nice to see you sit still for a change :) this is how we wake you up after your afternoon nap, we’ve pretty much tried everything, and lifting you straight from your bed and planting you down on the sofa have been the most agreeable with you so far :)

Just another sign of you growing up, you are now sleeping later and later each afternoon, today with all the activities, you managed to nod off around five, and soon you’ll be off to college :)

My Little ‘Thor’ :)

I am not sure where you got the idea from, but since we've got you the toy tool set, you have been inseparable from your little orange hammer, as it turned out it was another bad, bad, bad decision on my part. In comparison to the 'hammer' the harmonica' that almost drove me over the cliff is like a full French kiss from an angle.

Now you are probably wondering, what you could have done to make this tiny, harmless, plastic hammer to become your father's worst purchase of 2011 (so far) or to make it worst than the dreaded harmonica (that is now hidden away, I am trying to find the time to take it back to the ‘Crack of Doom’ in Mordor).

It all came down to this one thing, no matter how small this hammer is, it is still pretty solid and with a small surface area, meaning more pressure (force per unit area) can be created, and of course in the real world, this simply means more 'PAIN'!

With your arm fully cranked, reaching high above your head each finger tightly grasping the hammer's handle, your body arched backward like a crescent moon even tip toeing to reach the maximum height, your whole torso shook from the strain, like a great dam of potential energy that is just about to burst... and of course it does burst; all of your might, your determination, your strength was transferred to the tiny orange hammer, then very swiftly to my head :) (did I tell you I was as sleep).

This new trend of waking me up by putting an orange hammer to my head is not only annoying but quite painful, it felt like such a wonderful idea in getting you this tool set... :)

‘Make up’ Holiday :)

A month after our amazing 'Hospital Holiday' in Pattaya, we have decided to give it another go but this time to Huahin, decided to also take a couple of days off, together with the Labour and Coronation Day, this meant an extra, extra long weekend.


Wow, what a complete contrast to Pattaya, everything went as it should, the hotel and the room was wonderful, although the checking in experience left Gio totally fuming, we had to wait way beyond fifteen hundred before we were given the keys, on top of that we waited forever for our bags and ended up having to go down and pick up some of the bags ourselves, only to find our bag sitting by the concierge, to be honest I think we were so frustrated because we were missing 'pool' time for Matt :)





Like I said earlier, everything ran like one of the The A Team’s plan, perfection. Ended up spending most of Matt's waking hours (of the 3 days and 2 nights) in the water, whether in the pool or in the sea, although the sea came second to the sand, I never knew so much joy could be had from digging holes in sand and filling it up again... :) Apart from that we managed to sneaked in a short trip to a temple and a couple more other places.
 














 
This time round, we had an additional team member, Matt's Auntie, Tip, so Matt was in extra high spirit all through the trip. May be it got all too much for him on the final day where Matt and I went swimming before breakfast, in fact we sneaked in even before the pool opened, so by the late morning / early afternoon he was in such a foul mood (probably from the lack of sleep), and of course it all ended in tears (for him). The tears were gone as fast as it came because he felt as sleep as soon as he had stopped crying, then once again when awake it was like hitting Ctrl+Alt+Delete, resetting a three year old is actually quite simple :)

 

























 

Facebook and I: a changing relationship.

It certainly was not love at first sight, I proudly would classify yours truly as a nerd/geek, so I was already in the Facebook (FB) universe around July 19, 2007 at 22:34 (according to this FB app), way before anyone I knew even knew of FB. I took a good look around, tweaked all the settings until I was bored, posted my (plain) profile pic. and promptly left (at that time High5 was all the rage here in Thailand, especially at work, and I wasn't particularly a big fan there either).

Becoming a born again FB is a bit of a cliché, like so many it was through a very old friend whom I have not seen (nor contacted) for over twenty years (couldn't thank her enough, we attended the same prep school, so, so, so many years ago), she had suggested that I join Facebook, (now, how on earth did we got in touch in the first place is still foggy in my mind, perhaps it was through one of those 'Friends reunited' site).

Since that born again moment, it was scary how quickly 'my' FB bubble got populated, certainly it was full of ooohhhsss and aarrrrrrssss, '%$#^ look at him/her' (I am sure they were mouthing the same words, may be even at the same time). Certainly with the user group of my age, I can only assume that the 'holy crap' moment often comes when a long lost friend popped up as a friend request, and definitely I was totally hook line and sinker (another cliché?), probably more than most.

The biggest piece of the 'friends' pie chart is easily my friends from secondary school (have not see them for over twenty years), so like I said earlier, as each one came up it was full of 'Oprah' moment, at Wellington (school's name) it was kind a my thing to always be taking pictures, especially in the house (this was a boarding school, Darks was my house, think of Harry Potter, replace the broom stick with real mop, Quidditch with Rugby, The one who must not be named with our Matron (only kidding... she was lovely) and you are half way there).

Each night during my honeymoon with FB, I was up way beyond what a professional 'employee' should, and what was I doing with / for my beloved FB? Sifting through each photo, choosing the presentable ones, scanning it, uploading it to FB, label it carefully, tagging the start all over again for the next batch. There was nothing I wouldn't do, I was shamelessly addicted to the comments... give me more, hoping my friends would find as much joy as I have all these years... and they did.

At the same time, FB was a part of me as my lungs were, each step took outside of the house seemed all worthwhile to be shot to FB, it was done really without thought, like a spoilt brat, it was all about me... then suddently I got bored... not enlightenment, just bored of putting up irrelevant rubbish. This gave me time to consume rather than spewing crap into the cesspit, it was quite a change.

Don't get me wrong, I am still in love with FB, but more like a loving couple who had just celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary, I am now wise enough to have wholeheartedly chosen to listen to her rather than talk back, and FB have grown to be very mature, secure and have branch out to other interests such as vdos and locations.

To me FB is still the only place where I can keep track (and contact) of all my friends, it may try to be a new platform of the modern lifestyle, it may be the number one content creator, it my replace Flickr, if done right it could be the center of all knowledge (lol) and cure cancer, well it could even win the Nobel Prize, %^$$ it had already helped Egypt to become free (but for how long). But for me I think I have found the best side of FB, it's the front page news of my social life... haa haa haa, now where is that Diaspora.

Hospital Holiday :)

We decided to get away before the Songkran holiday, the last time we were in Pattaya we promised ourselves for our next return trip here, we would try to stay at Centara Grand, simply because of the huge water park, and family orientated hotel.

 
 


For this trip (07-09.04.11) we have decided to take our house keeper (Pui) with us, Matt is getting to be a handful so an extra pair of hands means we can enjoy this short break just a little bit more :) The plan was simple, drive down on the Thursday and return on the Saturday, spend as much time as we could in the pool, eat some seafood and then come home... what could be simpler :)






 



















Life is never that simple, it all started so perfectly, Pui was here as early as usual, she helped to pack and in no time we were all in the car heading towards the deep blue sea. We arrived at the hotel around noon-ish, despite what the foursquare tipsters had posted, the checking in experience was faultless.

Usually Matt would have had a long nap in the car, but not this time, so after checking in and a quick lunch it was clear that he was tired, so we decided to go back to the hotel for a quick rest, he pretty much felt asleep as soon as his head touches the pillow, and here is where the fun begins (not).

The plan was as soon as he had woken up we were going to take him down to one of the gazillion pools downstairs. As soon as he had stirred Gio gave out a quiet, and much feared few words, 'I think he has a temperature', Gio is never, never wrong... :)

He woke up with a temperature and diarrhea, things suddenly looked rather gloomy, I was more concern with the temperature and there was no doubt that one was connected to the other. It was terrible seeing him playing and happy then suddenly he was curling over on the floor like a shrimp with both hands in a fist pushing on his stomach... like many parents, we felt awful and helpless...


Luckily the hospital was only a few minutes drive away, everyone was nice enough, but at home we were used to one of those thermometer that you stick in the ear (it takes about a sec to give the result), but here I had to hold a thermometer under Matt's arm for what felt like an eternity, Matt was having none of it and screamed like a busted exhaust the whole entire time.



 

 


          
By the time it was over we came out with a bunch of medicine, including powdered antibiotic that could be mixed with milk, you should have seen my face, I was over the flipping moon, no more holding Matt down and physically force the med down him.

Oh, how life could be so cruel, it all sounds too perfect just like a Ponzi Scheme, it was just too blooming good to be true. After mixing in the powered antibiotic (orange flavoured) and milk, I had a quick sip knowing how particular Matt could be... Gio read my face like a front page news, there was no way in ^%$$ he was going to take that, I can categorically say, it was worst than dog's poo biscuit.

So the first day was over, Matt was snoring away at around ten, so we had some time to relax. We managed to give him the med for his temperature, all the fingers were crossed for him to feel better in the morning. Well, the night was terrible, Matt woke up three times needing the loo, holding him steady on top of the loo and seeing his face in pain was not what I had expected for this short break.
   

The next morning looked a bit better, he was still suffering from the stomach cramp but his temperature was down (yippp ppppeeee), so we took a gamble and asked him if he wanted a swim, it was a pointless question really, the answer would always be 'yes'.

Within a blink of an eye we were both playing in the pool, his stomach suddenly got better, hygiene was on the top of my mind with the swimming nappy and constantly being vigilant we ended up having a great time (including a quick dip in the sea). 


  
 

After the pool we took Matt to the playpen, it was obvious that his stomach was still giving him some trouble, during his afternoon nap I was sent by my CEO (Gio) to the hospital, taking with me an extremely dirty nappy just to get it tested :) After around thirty minutes the preliminary results gave the Doc. no concern, so on this second visit I was given Matt’s usual antibiotic, oh what joy.

On the check out day, we woke up early trying to get back all the lost time… well, we tried our best ;) Got in another swimming session before heading home :)
 
 
 

Well, here we go again :)

Hi

‘A picture is worth a thousand words’ don’t you think? Here is a picture of you at about eleven weeks, during the scan you were dancing like mad, quite the opposite to Matt who was quite still during all scans.

So we were thinking that perhaps once you are in our arms you’ll be all ‘danced’ out, unlike your big brother, full of energy, as I am writing this I can hear him dancing/jumping to ‘Because I got high’ (Afroman) of all things :)

Matt gave us such joy so we decided to go for another, by the way I was just as nervous as before, but seeing you there just took me home :) Can not wait to hold you :)

Over the &*%$^#@ moon :)

Since our return from a short break in Pattaya, you were still poorly, running a slight fever and your diarrhea wasn’t that much better, so the only thing to do was to give you the medicine, the much dreaded antibiotic.

The first bout was set for Monday (11.04.2011), as it turned out it was the worst ever, you had decided to grit your teeth which was like 'checkmate' in chess, this time you were in full control, if it wasn't so important and essential to your well being we would have given up, but of course we could not.
 
It must have been about seven or eight minutes in, after constant crying and screaming not to mention the tears running like rivers during a monsoon season, my patience was running thin. You decided to loosen your grit just a little, enough for me to try to inject in the med. of course you spat it all out, so I went back for a refill (much to your disappointment, which brought even more tears and screams).

Did I shout at you this time, 'no', but I was so, so close, the words were firmed and to the point, and I must admit it, it did have 'anger' mixed in because it was so frustrating! I ended up going for a couple of refill before I gave up and hoped that after all the mess, enough of the medicine would have gone down. By the time I was cleaning up my mind was already on the following morning, will it be this stressful again?

As you can guess by the title of this blog, things were fantastic the following morning... Your mother got into her 'hold Matt down position' and I was already in my ‘med. injection pose’, then your mother gave you this question, 'do you want Papa to give you the med or will you take it yourself', there was a very quiet whimper... "Matt do it", of course in my mind I thought for sure that you would spit every last drop out (only 5 cc).

The medicine was in a syringe, so we let you sucked the syringe a little followed by a gulp of water, this went on several times and after a couple of minutes you had swallowed all the med. without a single drop touching the floor. We can not tell you the jubilations and the cheering your mother and I had, the only thing that could bring me the same fantastic sense of joy would probably be seeing England winning the world cup in 2014 :)

‘Blind Spot’ be gone!

It is just a 'repeater' how difficult can it be to set it up!

Since our move into the condo six months ago, we have always had this Wi-Fi blind spot in the far bedroom, although not surprising when the Wi-Fi router modem is on the furthest opposite side of the floor plan.

So it was about time to sort this out, the logical solution was to have a repeater in the bedroom, simple... Although having no experience in setting up a repeater, I wasn't expecting it to be that challenging, so no research was done... What a mistake that was.

Sunday morning, D Day, decided to drive to 'Fortune Tower', instead of the holy grail (Pantip), got there around 10:30, might as well be 3 in the morning, totally deserted but luckily my shop for all things 'network' was already up and running.

 

I was given two choices, D-Link or Asus (1,800 and 1,700 THB respectively) while D-link came with a life time warranty, I decided to go with the Asus instead, purely because it has a dedicated hard switch at the back for 'repeater'. I though 'this is perfect, easier than peeling a banana' (a very Thai expression).

A banana may be one of the easiest fruit to peel, but unfortunately on this occasion I was like a man with no hands whom was given a very raw banana to peel.

First of all, the shop keeper said “do you want to upgrade the firmware?”, who on earth would say no? (especially when they say it would make setting up easier). So off he went with swiftness of a hummingbird and a precision of a kingfisher, the firmware was upgraded literally in a few blinks of an eye.

Feeling pretty great, could not wait to kill that blind spot... It must have been just before noon when I was unboxing it at home.

Time warp... oh, I got it working alright, but it was almost one in the &*%$#@% morning!

Like I said, I should have done some research before hand... well, as it turned out the firmware that was updated by the salesman was a (very popular) third party firmware, although it is quite stable and very usable (seconds by several hundreds users), it has totally disabled the ‘hard’ selection switch (so the repeater choice was voided).

Decided to flush the firmware again, but his time using Asus’s own firmware... And ‘Sod’s law’ once again prevails :) I had made the wrong choice in reinstalling the official firmware, instead of using ‘update firmware’ procedures, I jumped at first option that I laid my eyes on and that was ‘firmware recovery’ (or something along that line).

After some furious fiddling, and praying, somehow the official firmware went in... and with a few tweaks, the Wi-Fi Router Modem (repeater mode) was running like a champion.