Feels Comfortable Here

We pulled up to our place and Pop, the manager, was there to greet us and make sure everything was ok. We did some unpacking and eventually got ready to go out and get some things we needed - like soap and hangers and toilet paper. Pop was wearing a jacket the whole time and I teased him about it. Then wandered down the soi (soi's are streets coming off the main road - usually they are referred to as Thanon Suthep (Thanon means road) Soi 1, Soi 2, etc.)





It felt like we had just gone away for the weekend, not eight months.



There are some changes, most obviously some large buildings at the university are now completed. But the streets are basically the same, if maybe a bit more crowded.



The phone shop - they're everywhere - was informative. There are three different brands competing. They all have promotions (that's now a legit Thai word). He suggested a brand. You get unlimited calls, if the person you call has the same brand. But the first plan I had a couple of years ago was much easier to use and control - 1 Baht per call between 5am and 5pm. In the end I said I'd have to check to see which brands my friends were using.





















This is the main drag along the southern side of Chienag Mai University.



We were told that tomorrow is graduation at the University and that the king will be there. I'm guessing these flowers are there for the king.

And so are these newly painted curbs.

On the way home we stopped at Ek-Ah-Saw-Wah - the restaurant we saw being built last year. It's got a little more landscaping in. We sat outside, and while I didn't shiver, I could feel the cooling air. But the food was delicious. We ate it all up.

Last year it took nearly a week to find a place. Today we're settled from Day 1. I'm sure glad all this hstle and bustle

Safe and Sound in Chiang Mai

They still serve food on international flights and they gave us lots of choices when we got our tickets. So we took Hindu vegetarian. It sure tasted a lot like chicken. I know they can make vegie foods that seem like meat, but I think this was the real thing.






Since we were so late, we got to see the sunrise over the Pacific.









It looks just like being in an airplane. I took two seats in the back because that far back there were just two seats, not a third. But it meant there was a space between me and the window. The space was nice, but I couldn't lean on the window to sleep. But with a little bit of muscle relaxant, I slept a lot on the plane. It was also 5:45 am when we finally left three hours late.



We were on the ground in Taipei for at most 40 minutes. 20 of that was waiting to get off the plane from Anchorage, and another 15 until the plane to Chiang Mai took off. That leaves about five minutes to ask about the Chiang Mai flight as we got off the plane, be greeted as though we won the lottery, and pointed to a lady with a Chiang Mai sign who quickly led us and four others to the Chiang Mai flight. Someone had to move for us. They'd already closed the doors and people thought the empty seats were available. Thanks China Air for making sure we got our connection. That probably saved us four or five more hours.

I’d already assumed that we were going to be rerouted through Bangkok because we were almost three hours late - arriving at 8:30 am Taipei time - and our flight was leaving at 8:35am. Given that we were in the back of a crowded airbus, I knew it would take forever just to get off the plane.

But they knew we were due and the plane waited for us. I didn’t even have time to email Grib to say we’d made the flight. I'd emailed from Anchorage that she shouldn't come til she hears from us because we were probably going to miss our flight.






Mrs. Lee was sitting next to me. We did a lot of hand stuff, but she didn't speak English, Thai, or Chinese. In the end she asked me to fill in her immigration form. She had a Chinese passport and she was born in Thailand. I really wish I could have spoken to her in a language she understood. I did get to show her pictures of Alaska on my computer.



Well, after emailing Grib to not come to the airport, no one was there. We decided it would be faster to just catch a song thaew since we knew that Bon had made arrangements for us to stay where we'd stayed last year.












We stopped at the airport post office and mailed the package we'd taken for the Thai AFS student. That was easy and we had one less piece of luggage to haul around.



Here, we're in a bit of traffic in the back of the SongThaew (Two rows - a pickup with two benches in the back.)

We got a room right next to our old one on the fourth floor. It's not as big, but otherwise identical, except we have a west facing view instead of north. Still lots of trees and we can hear the birds, and the fourth floor means I've gotten more exercise today trying to get the internet connection just right than I've gotten in a couple of weeks.

Nolan's Going to Australia

Nolan saw me Mac-ing - he couldn't get his Mac to connect to the wifi here. He ended up dropping his stuff here and we started talking. He's headed to music school outside of Sydney.

Extinction is Forever - We Made it to the Airport

It was pretty drama free. We're at the airport. We have one extra piece of luggage. We'd met a Thai AFS student last week and so we're taking back an apple box full of gifts for her family and friends in Khonkaen.
Our China Air flight comes from New York. It left an hour late, lost more time in flight. Not exactly sure when it's due, but our departure is 75 minutes late. I'd checked and knew it was going to be late, but they close the check-in counter at 2am, so we couldn't just hang out at home. At least by the time we came there was no line at all. We originally had two hours to get our connection to Chiang Mai in Taipei.

So now I have all this time to read and do other great things, except it's 2:00am and I'd rather be sleeping. But I have a nice quiet spot with a plug. J is doing her walking. We did pass the display cabinet with some of the prohibited items that were intercepted here.

Full Moon

OK, so there is a light in the alley in the back.
But the shadow of the tree on the deck are from the full moon.

Under 30 at Out North

We went to Out North Friday night for the Under 30 performances. These are short pieces by local folks that are under 30 minutes. While some of the people of the years, maybe most, have been actors or at least people who are involved in the arts more than the average person, there are also performances done by 'normal' people. This year there were three very different pieces. Here's the description from the website:

Julius Rockwell’s
“The Sexual Behavior of the Male Red Salmon”
This nonagenarian blends science, humor, and anthropomorphism in a story that demonstrates how the mating rituals of salmon are surprisingly similar, and just as complicated, as those of humans.

Corinna Delgado’s
“Cell Therapy”
is the true prosaic story of one woman’s journey through incarceration to poetic justice.

Joan Cullinane’s
“Dive In”
is an invitation to the audience to get off their beach towels and jump in the water, even if it is mid-winter in Alaska. Joan the water witch says forget the role of the voyeur, no one really needs directors, writers and actors to play!

Imagine a ninety-year old man telling you his story about studying how salmon spawn, out in the Alaskan wilderness 50 years ago. It was interesting, informative, funny, and amazing. We learned about the different kinds of male salmon - the ones that stick loyally to their partners, the loners who dart in just when the female is about to spawn, the ones that just fight, etc. Among other things.


Corinna soft-rapped her story of incarceration and getting out. Watching her messed with my images of 'the prisoner.' A powerful performance revealing both toughness and fragility. And the battle continues. Although she is participating in prison poetry projects now, she's still having to deal with being an ex-con when looking for jobs.



Then, after intermission, Culinnane. I confess, I think she's spectacularly disarming. I could watch her wait tables or sit and read and be totally entranced. We'd seen her in a previous Under 30 and she had the same effect. I think it's the total authenticity in her performance. There's no mask. It's just her. Naked. Figuratively, and almost literally in this piece. Not only is she authentic, but she's knows stuff. She understands how people relate to each other. She's one of those people who watches other people and figures it out. And I liked that she was performing an anti-performance piece. She engaged the audience by telling us things about ourselves we don't usually admit out loud and got us into the performance. She was talking to us and even if we weren't all talking back aloud, we were all engaged. And some of us ended up down on the stage - actually a fair number. As I'm writing this, I'm still scratching my head at all the things she squeezed into 30 minutes, though I suspect it went over. The last part involved everyone deciding, in groups, where to donate $50 she was contributing. One rep of each of the five groups went down to the stage, told us what our group decision was and then they were told to mill around. One organization had to be chosen. She checked on whether they'd grouped up. Not really. Then she said, "Well, if you can't come up with something, then I'll just take my money home." Within a minute they'd all coalesced behind one charity. She was just showing us that there were other ways to make decisions. The whole piece was amazing, though I think 90% of it belongs to her ability to speak directly from her heart, no bs. Oh yes, the word 'play' came up a lot. As in playful.

Note: My pictures were taken before and after the performances, but I did sneak the one in when the audience was on stage, but with no flash.

There's one more performance Sunday afternoon at 4pm.

Trip List Makes Traveling a Little Easier

We leave for almost three months in less than 48 hours.

One thing I've found that makes traveling easier is a Trip List template I keep on my computer.

Trip List

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Vacations Travel simplify packing

• I open the file.
• Make necessary changes, additions
• Print it off
• Check off things as I pack them
  

So, the clothes are pretty much the same for every trip, the amount varies depending on how long I'm gone. Though I believe in doing laundry in the sink rather than taking lots and lots of stuff.

Sections like reading, work, munchies all will vary from trip to trip.

I may not need everything, but at least I have a list and won't forget something basic.

Generally I don't take more than I can carry on with me on the plane. For this trip though - we're gone almost months in the same place - I think we'll take one or two bigger suitcases. This also allows us to take gifts that wouldn't fit into carry-on.

Now, gotta run and get all this stuff together as well as clean up the house for the house sitters.

Better Insults

Dick Cavett writes in a New York Times opinion piece:

There are two kinds of insult. “I was bored by your book” is one kind. “Your book? Once I put it down, I couldn’t pick it up,” is the other.

Unfortunately, too many comments on blogs are of a third variety, "Your book *&%%!!(sucks!" So my challenge to bloggers and commenters is this: If you must insult someone, do it with panache. When you've written your angry response, stop. Delete it. Then attempt to rewrite it like the second one above about the book.

The longer it takes the recipient to realize that he was insulted, the better the insult.

Note: The NY Times online is free. If you can't get the link, you may have to register.

What Does Daylight Mean?

Here's 9:05 am this morning. Only two and a half weeks after the solstice and it's light at 9 am in Anchorage.

The Anchorage Daily News has a Daylight feature in the weather section. But that focuses on sunrise to sunset. But we have long, long twilights this far north, so we really have more 'daylight' than the sunrise to sunset time suggests. In the picture above, it is still an hour before the sunrise, yet the sky is no longer dark. And the same is true on the other end of the day. When it is cloudy, we have much less 'daylight' of course.

Anyway, yesterday we gained 3 minutes and 25 seconds of official daylight. By March we'll be galloping along, gaining almost 6 minutes a day. You can really feel the change in the light here, even though it was -10˚F when I took this picture this morning, we know spring is on the way. You can see the temperatures are way below normal - which is between the blue and yellow lines in the middle chart.

And for J and me, spring will be Monday afternoon (Anchorage time) when we get off the plane in Chiang Mai.

MacHaus Rocks - eBatt Sucks

The MacHaus had the parts today. I dropped the computer off at about 1 and about 3 they called to say it was ready. We were meeting folks for dinner near there so did some errands on the way to dinner and got the computer. So now I have a new clean computer keyboard, the crack is gone, and presumably the keyboard won't be locking randomly any more.





On the other hand, eBatt, where I ordered a back up battery for my camera isn't nearly as responsive. I ordered Saturday. Here's what they had advertised:




Free shipping for a $12.95 battery. The comments on eBatt were all glowing. But then I got to the checkout page. There is no free delivery. My choices are Overnight for $40 or Two day for $23.95. I'm not happy, but I've waited too long to do this and I'll just pay for the Two day and not worry about this getting here before I leave. I'll call on Monday to see if they can send it priority mail. And I emailed them about my time constraints and what happened to my free shipping. No weekend phone option.



OK, shipping date is Jan 5. With two day delivery no problem.

I call Monday and he says, "No free shipping to Alaska or Hawaii." We go round and round - it does say it in small print way on the top of the page, but on my screen when I was ordering, that part of the page didn't show. I tell him we are part of the US. I tell him that a camera battery would cost $4.80 Priority Mail through the US Post Office. In fact, here are the rates I get for shipping 3 oz from LA (they're on the West Coast somewhere) to Anchorage on a Monday (had to use next Monday on their calculator):



"We don't do that."

"Why not?"

"We just don't. You want to cancel?"

I'm pissed but I tell him to send it right away. And then I get an email saying the same thing.

It's now January 8. Nothing has arrived. I look at my order. It says,



So now the estimated shipping date is Jan 7. If it really went out then, it should come tomorrow. But if they shipped it yesterday, why is that still the estimated shipping date? FedEx doesn't deliver on Saturdays or Sundays. If it doesn't come tomorrow, I won't get it before we leave. US Postal Service does deliver weekends. But eBatt wouldn't use the Post Office.

At this point I'm ready to cancel and just try to buy one in Thailand.

But the MacHaus was great.

[UPDATE 12:16am: I just checked the status so I could get the order number so I could email them my concern, and now the estimated shipping date is January 9. Why am I paying for two day shipping when it is now four days after the original shipping date and they haven't even sent it yet?