Eventful Trip

Unfortunately, I have something to write about. Our trip to Pattaya wasn't without catastrophe. About 400 kilometers from Chiang Mai, I thought I hit an animal. Immediately, however, there was LOTS of clear water hitting the windshield. I then thought that someone threw a water bottle at the truck. However, nano-seconds later, steam billowed from the hood. I looked down to see my temperature gauge doing a mad-dash for the red zone. I instantaneously pulled to the side and killed the engine. As I opened the hood, I saw the problem. My radiator had actually exploded! It blew the entire top off the radiator and completely destroyed the fan and fan assembly. Unfortunately, I didn't think about taking a picture of it until much later.

The good news is even though we were 400 kilometers from home and 250 k from Bangkok, we were only 6 kilometers from a bona fide Toyota dealership with an incredible service area! With in an hour, the truck was at the repair shop and we were back on the road in another hour after making necessary arrangements and even eating lunch at KFC and DQ!

We had been making such good time that we still made it into the hotel here in Pattaya at about 6 pm. We went out to eat at Henry J. Bean's, and had wonderful ribs. Tonight, I think we are going to the Hard Rock Cafe, Pattaya, to compare their ribs with HJ Beans.

The big day

The "Big Day" is quickly upon us. We will be packing our entire office to move temporarily to a hotel 400 miles south of here. The moving company comes tomorrow at 9 am and should be done by noon. We will close for the rest of the day, then Saturday morning, most of us will drive the 9 hour trip south of Bangkok to the hotel. I'll make a few postings from there, probably some pics of the sea, etc. But, don't expect too much until mid February.

Feeling Better

We are all feeling better. Both girls are back at school. Sally and I are back at work. We still have a bad cough.

Thanks for your prayers! PTL!

Rick and Graybar Truck, Los Angeles, 1986

See story below for details on why this pic is here.

Thanks, Johnny

I am sad to hear that Johnny Carson died today. I sure did enjoy watching the Tonight Show while I was growing up.

I have one "close encounter" Johnny Carson story. When I lived in Los Angeles, I worked at Graybar Electric Company. I was in the management training program. Part of the training was to make deliveries. One of my deliveries was to the NBC Studios. Well, one day, I had a small little box to deliver to an area that I had never been to before. So, I tooled my cool little delivery truck into a "secured" parking lot, but my delivery bill gave me access. There were no guest parking places and only one delivery space. A UPS truck was parked there. So, I whipped my little Graybar truck into the only available space I could find. It was a really good space; right next to the door. Only problem was it was marked with "Johnny Carson". As I looked around, the next space was David Horowitz, and then two or three other famous NBC folks. Well, it wasn't 2 seconds and there was some little security guard telling me I had to leave because I was parked in Mr. Carson's spot. I told the guard that I only needed someone to sign for the delivery and I'd be on my way. He INSISTED that I move the truck before looking for someone sign. It was like 8:30 am and I knew that "Mr. Carson" probably wouldn't be there that early and the security guard was probably a little paranoid for his job and a little enthusiastic in making sure that "Mr. Carson's spot" was secure. I asked him what time "Johnny" got to work. He said "Mr. Carson" arrived at little after one or two pm. I said, "well, that is more than enough time for me to get someone to sign for the box and I can be on my way before Johnny gets to work." This drove the poor little security guard wild! He began to scream at me to move the truck and move it now. I simply looked at him, locked my doors, and went inside for the signature. I came out to see a little guard guy about to have a coronary. I thanked him for making sure my truck was safe, got in the vehicle, waved, and left.

I never did get to see Johnny Carson. :-(

Thanks, Johnny, for all the laughs!

Now, everybody's sick

I have spread my sickness to my entire family. Today was the first day since Wednesday that I got out of the house, and it was to take my whole family to the doctor, suffering from the same crud I have. We are all diagnosed with some un-specific upper respiratory infection. We were given antibiotics and cough medicine.

I feel doubly worse that my girls are sick.

Sick and Tired of being sick and tired

That's right. I am home sick. I have some sort of creeping crawling crud. I haven't been this sick in a LONG time. Low grade fever. Chest and nasal congestion. Horrible deep cough. And now, as terribly sore throat that feels like I am ripping it out every time I cough, and I am coughing a LOT!

I did something bad that you should never do when you are sick; I watched a special on diseases on the Discovery Channel. I am now sure that I have anthrax.

I have way too much to do to be sick. And to make matters worse, I can't access my VPN to get my email to try to keep up on my work. Bummer.

Give me a break!

12 days after our devastating loss to the USC Trojans, I am still getting grief about the outcome of the game. It was just a game people! Get over it!

My standard reply has been "Where did you go to college?"
answer: "Brand-X University".
reply back: "Gee, I don't remember BU even having an OPPORTUNITY to compete for the national championship". At least we had a shot at it."

Go SOONERS!!!

Life in Thailand, Part 1

Living in Thailand is an incredible adventure. I would like to start posting my observations on the unusual, the bizarre, and the interesting things I see and/or encounter. As a stranger in a foreign land, I know that I am the guest here and what I see is the normal for here. However, being the Okie that I am, to me, some of what I see is unbelievable, strange, and just down-right confounding.

Take, for instance, my ride to work this morning. It is a commute of about 7 miles and usually takes about 15 minutes, depending on traffic. As I turned from my street onto the artery that takes me out of my neighborhood, I saw rows of clear plastic water bottles in front of people's houses, spaced anywhere from 1 foot to 3 feet apart. They are used bottles with the labels taken off, usually, in the 1.5 - 2 liter range. They look, in my opinion, quite silly. I had to ask my neighbor the other day, what they were for. She said that people put them in their yards to scare dogs away. She said that Thai people think that the dog will look into the bottle and see it's reflection magnified and think that there is a "big dog" in the bottle and get scared and run away. They are put there because so many neighborhood dogs (not strays, but people's pets that they let out to run) urinate on the flowers/sidewalks in front of houses and the bottles are used for deterrence.

Then, on just down the street a little bit, I see a woman inside her house-shop, sweeping the floor. Many times, people will take a downstairs room or two and make it into a little store or a shop of some sort; in this case it is a beauty shop. This woman is using a home-made broom, made out of bamboo and some sort of leafy thing that is the brush part. OK, that is no big deal. I have seen home-made brooms all over the world. Not everyone needs a Rubbermaid broom. What I want to comment on is the fact that this woman is wearing a heavy winter woolen scarf. For goodness sakes! It is 59 degrees outside. It isn't like it is snowing! People here, I assume, cope with the constant heat by thinking that 59 is frigid. People where wearing stocking caps, some that cover their entire face and look like bank robbers! I saw one woman this morning actually wearing a parka, with the hood on and the string tight!

To be continued...

That's a BIG ROCK!

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
This 25 Ft high boulder fell on the Topanga Canyon Road in So. California during the recent mud slides. That would definitely make the commute to work "interesting".

Measles

The United Nations WHO has confirmed two cases of measles in Sumatra. That's all they need. Now, with the increased rebel activity, the locals seem to hardly stand a chance.

TOO BUSY!

I am so overwhelmingly busy, getting ready for a HUGE convention next month, that I really don't have time to be typing this. However, I need to keep a current posting, so here it is!

Pretty pitiful, huh?

We got our tails whooped

That is all that can describe what happened. Pathetic attempt, if you could even call it that. We played three teams today. OU, USC, and the Referee Team. OU had 5 turnovers. USC scored on each turnover. The Ref Team clearly called the game in favor of USC. In fact, I would go so far to say that the Orange Bowl had the best refs that USC money could buy! Not sour grapes; just my perspective.

I wish we would have at least shown our talent, instead of our hiney-ends.

Boomer Sooner, always and forever!

Orange Bowl

Amid the horrible suffering throughout all of South Asia and Eastern Africa, it is hard to get excited about something as silly as American College Football. I do realize that it doesn't have a place in the eternal scheme of things. I do realize that, in fact, it is low priority.

With those thoughts in mind, I am still looking forward to the Sooners absolutely obliterating the Trojans. There are a few folks who are going to get together tomorrow morning at 8:00 am here in Chiang Mai to watch the OU-USC Orange Bowl LIVE on satellite TV. I hope we win, I hope we win, I hope we win.

Go SoONErs!

Befor and After Pic of Aceh, Sumatra

Before and After Pic of Aceh, Sumatra taken from Yahoo News Photos, via AP, from DigitalGlobe. What an incredible display.

Estimates are now at 150,000 deaths.