No pictures, leaving it to your imagination :)

Dear Matt,

This event took place on the Saturday August 13th, 2011. I shall never forget what happened on that early evening…

It was your shower time, and you were being your usual difficult self, the negotiation was finalised with a bath instead of a shower, ‘the big one’ was your code for the big bath (appropriately called on your part as the bath was actually big enough to fit three grown ups).

The water temperature in the bath was perfect, and it was ran to a reasonable height (you actually wanted to fill it right up to the edge, luckily I was still sober, so you lost that one). The routine ran without a hitch, so I’d left you alone in the bath so that you can enjoy your water time…

After a while, you went quiet… never was a good sign :) With my Spiderman like senses, I rushed to the bathroom to see you standing up, smiling from ear to ear! (another never was a good sign), in your right hand you were gently grasping something and slowly you raised it up and showed it to me every so proudly…

My face was one of absolute HORROR, my heart stopped pumping blood to my brain, the room began to spin, but I didn’t have time to pass out, the task in hand was too great…

For in your right hand was a small lump of ‘poo’ (there I said it), very, very unfortunately you have been eating your vegetable so you can imagine the state of the lump in your hand, no wonder why you were ever so gentle with it. I would like to apologise for my reaction, with hind sight it wasn’t the end of the world, I was only cross with you because I didn’t want you to be swimming in your own faeces, I can still see bits of floating carrots in my mind like it had just happened… (sigh…), when will the image fade I have no idea, but soon I hope :)

You of course are fine and dandy now, and will probably do it again if were given the chance… I shall never let you play alone in the bath again, never… ever… perhaps when you turn 23 or something :)

Love you,

Mum and Dad.

A total lapse of judgment

There are a billion quote on ‘hindsight’ and believe me all of them are true :)

Every parents know, never get your kid a drum kit unless you have managed to soundproof your life or you happened to live in the Southern Aitken Basin.

Well, I am sure that the list go well beyond a drum kit now, but just in case it hasn’t been considered before, I would like to add the fantastic ‘Harmonica’ to the list of things never to buy for a 2 and a half year old boy.

He calls it his ‘Moo-nee-car’, and how I hate those three short syllables :) he is so attached to it, like water to fish, totally inseparable. Can you imagine giving a child a shower while he huffs and puffs away, totally tuneless, on the bloomin mo-ni-ca? ‘Painful’ would be the most fitting word, lol, the acoustic profile of a small bathroom doesn’t help either :)

Is that a cat in your pocket, or are you just please to see me?

Well it is actually a cat (so we believe)…

 

After a heavy downpour, our neighbour found this little guy/gal in his garden, some people have noticed that lately some of the stray cats have gone missing, and here was our number one suspect :) Everyone was asking where these guys were going to take the snake, they said if they dropped it off at a zoo someone will have to pay 3,000 THB/month for the up keep, so they said they were going to find a quiet spot and drop it off.

I have my doubt, I think they will sell it to one of the dealer, probably at Chat-tu-chak market, whatever happens we all hope he/she finds a good home and that no one harms it.

Google Chrome Sticker :)

When I was a studying in the UK (I was very young then), during the holiday I would have to go and stay with my guardians, they were great and I was totally lucky to have them looking after me. Sometime ago I realised how Google is like a guardian to me, through the various services Google knows me better than my real parents ever could... Contacts (friends and acquaintances), e-mails (most of my communication), Searches/Browser (my questions and queries), Blogger (my life), Buzz (my thoughts, not much here, preferred to follow than be followed), Photographs (my important events (picasaweb))... hell, if I have amnesia all I need to do is log into 2 sites (of course I would have also forgotten my passwords), Facbook and Google that should cover 95% of my entire life, how sad/dangerous is that?

Anyway, weeks and weeks ago I found myself ‘liking’ Google Chrome on FB, and they were giving away free Chrome sticker... Of course being such a worshiper that I am, I had to apply for one, I think they were only giving away 2,000 pieces. At that time I never thought I was going to get one, just went through the mechanic of filling in the form and clicked send... then wiped it totally from my mind.

Then at the middle of this month (14.08), a large envelope arrived at the door step from Google, and having totally forgotten about the sticker, I had no idea what it could have been... ‘an invoice for all the services I am using?’, ‘a letter saying ‘we have lost all of your data?’’, ‘a questionnaire?’... After the reveal I was of course over the brilliant moon... :)

As I don’t have a notebook at the moment, and so I am still thinking where to put the sticker, but even if I have a notebook I doubt if I would put this sticker on it, notebook only lasts 3 years max... I am planning to put this where the hardware lasts forever... and it came to me last night...

The new Fridge... is the perfect place! Just bought a new fridge for the new place, it has a titanium metallic grey shell, it will lasts well over 10 years (I hope it will lasts many years longer especially considering how expensive it was), it will get great visibility... it is perfect... now all I have to do is to get the permission from the wife :)

Suddenly Missing England…

I was riding pillion again this morning, the sky was really blue and the sun was more cheerful than usual, the air was cool due to the recent rain and the traffic was light enough so the motorcycle taxi didn’t need to pretend it was doing the downhill Alpine slalom, which was a nice change (and relief).
 
Suddenly there was a familiar smell of freshly cut grass, just like all those Hollywood movies... fade to ‘flash back’ :) there were several images in my mind, with one single thread between them all, England.
 
And for a moment I was totally missing England, after spending my most important years there (10 to 20 (something)), it has been just a little over ten years since I had left, but now and then something would trigger the fond memories, and today it was the smell of the freshly cut grass, what a way to start one’s morning.
 
Lately things have just been piling on and on, at work, moving home, the baby being poorly (although not anymore), now and then I could sense the panic attack edging ever so close, close enough to be whispering in my ear... feels like a huge weight being slowly lowered from above and showing no sign of mercy. The heart pounds harder and harder; air thinning all around, making each breathe more difficult than the one before.
 
I’d guess all that made me missed England even more, back to a simpler time where the only responsibility I had was to show up to class on time and get good (passable) grades :) Of course that could never be again nor would I want it again, as I wouldn’t trade my family for anything.
 
Responsibility is mandatory in life, it is a part of growing up, at the beginning my parents had to sacrifice the things they enjoy for me, and now it is time for me to be ‘responsible’, to be a good son, to be a good husband and father, to be a good friend, to be a good colleague, to be tied down to the monthly mortgage that is anchoring one to a job that one doesn’t particularly enjoy.
 
Logically there would always be someone in a worst or better situation than us, and many will say you shouldn’t complaint; others are facing worst things... I totally agree, but if everyone was logical I’d guess there would be fewer suicides around the world, sometimes logic just doesn’t come into play, it just sat on the bench begging to be put on the pitch.
 
Rambling a little too much now, hope things will improve for others who are feeling down in the dump, although they are probably better off than so many others... of course that would include yours truly as well.

Just like riding a bike… eeerrrrmmm

Actually it is literally just like riding a bike :) Once moved, I have decided to get a bike, and now the question is what bike? Originally I had my heart set on a motorcycle, at last I was going to have my own small pocket rocket… Well that wasn’t meant to be, still too many oppositions :)

There is no way I am going to drive to work, as the office is only down the road (2 Kms), so downgrading (or upgrading) to a bicycle was a logical choice. Being a total nube in the world of bicycle, and so by the grace of destiny, I happen to be sitting next to a colleague who happens to own over 15 bicycles, there was probably no one better to give me all the info. I need.

We have already visited a couple of stores, one was right here in our building (Specilized), and today we walked across Suan Lum Park to another large store (Trek), I have a small budget in mind, and so I pretty much left it in his hands to make all the decision, and with a quick hindsight it was the correct thing to do. I never knew how complicated these bicycles can be now, just like building a PC, all components can be ‘a la carte’ (if you have the money).

Frame, head set, fork, rear derailleur, front derailleur, rims, brake (disc/calliper) and etc… What the &^(*! considering different brands and the different grade of parts within that brand, was enough to set my head spinning… so I was more than grateful for his help :)

After we finished looking around and the store staff did some ‘careful’ measurement of my ‘bike’ size :) this friend picked up his bike from this ‘Trek’ shop (it went in to change the mud guards), so on the way back we had to walk through Suan Lum again, but this time he let me have a quick ride on his (foldable) bike… What a laugh… it must have been forever since I had ridden a bicycle :)

We got it (moving soon) :) and what’s up with the 3 days rule?

Score of friends and various articles on the web all say it would take 3 days, then you’ll be over the hump and sail all the way to a smoke free life… Well, it had already been a week, a fully clean week ‘physically’, but ‘mentally’ is another matter, the need (craving?) is constantly nagging me, and I am looking at every opportunity to give myself a reason to have ‘just one more’… of course I am still clean… but today was the hardest…

Spent the whole morning at the Department of Land, finalising the purchase of the condo., talking about tons and tons of paperwork, luckily TCC’s representative (developer) was there to show the way. Arrived there at a quarter to nine, and I was out again at around eleven (the bank didn’t make it there until gone ten), so all in all it only took around an hour.

So, usually one would celebrate with a smoke (and a pint but as this was Wednesday and no where near lunch time, somehow it was fine to celebrate without that pint :) I was so, so, so very close… but they didn’t get me this time, decided to jump into a taxi and headed straight home :)

Anyway, as of this morning we have a new place to live :) hip hip hooo raaaayyyyyy, we have already chosen the wallpaper/curtain (amicably), the sofa and dining set have also been bought, the next thing is the most important… a fridge… decided to go with Fisher&Paykel, as for the rest, telly, washing machine, etc. would just have to wait a little, needed to get all the essential in first :)

Your mother is over the moon, you’ll be so much closer to the school, so no more hours and hours spent in the car getting all frustrated (2 hours to go 22 kms is quite a farce), not only that, I am now going to be close enough to bike to work (2 kms).

All of us welcome this change, and it would not have been possible without the help of your grandmother (as always) :)

It’s (very) hard to say ‘Goodbye’ :)

Nothing much to say here, you started your summer school last Monday (12.07.10), which was a sign of you growing up, and soon you’ll notice the terrible addiction that I have… and the last thing I wanted is for you to be influenced by my action…

So, since your first day at school, I had decided to stop, to kick this habit of a life time… this won’t be my first time, I actually had a year break from this filthy habit when I’d left University, then went back on it again during my first job… so for over ten years straight now, I have been willingly enslaved to the plant :)

Getting back, last Monday was D-day… millions and millions kick the habit everyday, so this is nothing special… decided to give myself 7 days to slowly cut down, started on the Monday with 6, then down to 2 a day until Saturday, the Sunday was the first free day… It will be four full days, today… I do miss it… but there is no way I am going back… Like I said it was a habit, it felt a little strange after lunch and after work… but hey, habit can be broken, at least I am on the right road…

Many say, the taste buds will return, you’ll breath clearer, the sense of smell will be better and so on… and to be honest none of that happened to me, and I don’t care for it too much, all I know is that you’ll won’t smell it on me anymore… and that is enough to keep me going :)

Overall it has been relative easy, with support from your mother and friends at work (continuously giving me jibs, haa haa haa), made me laugh all the way… :)

Cheers,

Dad :)

Is Al Gore a Lier???

More specifically should his film ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ be re titled as ‘A very convenient LIE (for the few)’???

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zOXmJ4jd-8

The link above will take you to a presentation by Christopher Monckton (about an hour and a half or so), he may not have the multi million dollars, spit and polish presentation, nothing flashes, nothing moves, no heart wrenching pictures of ice caps melting; just scientific graphs, equations and quotes from the science community.

In short, and as a conclusion, UN is lying, Al Gore is lying, this in turn changed public policy in various countries (less planting for food, and more for bio fuel), putting strain on global food production, driving up prices and starving/killing the poor.

No more comments from me, please just take a look at the video, and make the conclusion for yourself, a well spent hour and a half for me, will do more googling/binging on ‘climategate’ :)

New Font…

I am a bit of a font fanatic, just like the holy grail, I have been searching and searching for just the ‘one’ forever. I have a real soft spot for monospaced (fixed-width) font, and must have downloaded most if not all the free monospaced font from the net…

But today I think I have found it, the font I am using right now (you’ll probably won’t see it, because it isn’t installed on your machine) is ‘Envy Code R’, and it has all the characteristic that I have been searching for :)

Here is the link that will take you to all you need to know about Envy Code R…

http://damieng.com/blog/2008/05/26/envy-code-r-preview-7-coding-font-released

Cheers.

Now I know…

I was wondering why lately there were so many scratches on the car, especially on the front bonnet, and now I know… Late one night for some forgotten reason, I had to come down stairs and the answer was right in front of me… It looked so comfortable, the bonnet must still have been a little warm and I’d guess they just love that.

Right now there are 2 stray cats that we feed everyday, and from what I’ve heard the mother had just given birth to another set, so we are looking forward to even more visitors in the near future.