Kit mai auk!

"Kit mai auk" is Thai language for 'I don't know what to think' meaning I don't really have anything to blog about today. So instead I'll just share with you a pic of my house in Thailand.

If the picture looks a little funny it's because I had to splice 3 different images together to get the whole front in one image.

Things we have had to do to the house to live here?

1. Install whole house water filtration system (you don't drink the water in Thailand!)

2. Install a 5 stage filter in the kitchen for drinking water (works great! I've tested it and it actually tests cleaner than evian and other bottled waters)

3. Have all the locks on all the upstairs exterior doors and windows replaced. (original builder used cheap aliminum crap that warped in the tropical heat and broke apart. Now we have good stainless steel)

4. Replaced all the doorknobs on the exterior doors downstairs (again, cheap local materials replaced with good imported Yale locks and knobs. Nothin' like a good nobbin'!) ;-)

5. Lots of other minor little stuff like plumbing, toilets, new floors in bathrooms, new water pump, new shower fixtures, some nice good quality built-ins in the master BR. that kind of thing.

One thing about homes in Thailand. They're tough. The are made of solid concrete with rebar reinforcement. The places are pretty sound proof other than what comes through the doors. The floors take getting used to... no carptet. All our floors (even the baths) are polished granite. Looks great, easy to clean, but hell on your feet until you get used to it.

There's no such thing as central air. Every room has it's own A/C and compressor (my house has 5). You keep them turned off if you aren't in the room!

There's no central hot water heater. Every where you want hot water you install a mini "flash" water heater (that's a heating element that heats water quickly) so there's only one water supply pipe per bathroom, which reduces material costs. I love those little heaters! They fit under the sink cause they're just a little bigger than a shoe box, and you aren't paying for water or gas to constantly reheat the same water in a tank over and over.

I hate our kitchen. Well, I hate one of them. I'd barely call it a kitchen. It's HUGE, but it's completely disfunctional. It has no oven. It has no overhead fan. It has no real stove (just a little two burner cooktop). If we weren't selling the place we'd have it all torn out and a new one put in with real cabinets and stuff! When I say I hate one of them it's because most Thai houses have two - one inside, one outside. The outside one is covered and semi enclosed and is where 99% of all the real action is. Thai food can be very... um... aromatic so they do most cooking outside.

See, these houses if you buy them new are simply empty shells. No hot water, no A/C, no kitchen fixtures, no closets or storage, just walls with doors and windows in them. That way the buyer can fit the house out the way they want. Most Thais don't install A/C, and many time not even hot water. No thanks!

So there you go. For a guy who had nothing to say those are a lot of... um... words?

Oh yeah! That reminds me of...

Just curious, but do the rest of you have music that brings back such specific and strong memories you can actually feel them?
I have several like that.

The earliest I can remember a song affecting me that way is (and don't laugh) Ray Parker Jr's "The Other Woman"... when I hear that song I can literally smell the chlorine in the pool outside the apartment back around 1982.

They don't even have to be really good songs, they just apparently were branded in my brain by circumstance like that stupid "Putin' on the Ritz" remake by Taco or whatever his name was. That one seems to bring back memories of the musty hallways of Grissom HS.

Then another one is "The Bird" by The Time. Remember that one from Purple Rain? I can still feel the wind in hair as we went flying down the road, all windows open, flappin' our arms outside, and laughin' our asses off. Um... names of other dudes in the car withheld to protect the guilty.

And speaking of Purple Rain... "Go Crazy"... THAT song brings back some memories that I won't discuss here... along with a strange scent of... menthol? Don't ask.

Then there's "My best friends Girlfriend" by The Cars. Weirdly enough that was the very first song that came on the radio as my best friend and I, who hadn't spoken for a month after he started dating my ex-gf... before she was my ex-gf. It's okay folks - he didn't know she was my gf at the time... but the bitch knew he was my friend... but anyway. he and I looked at each other rolled our eyes and just laughed. I can still feel that moment, the click of the radio, the hum of the tires on the road, the feel of the seat. Weird.

So those are a few of mine. What about you?

HAPPY! HAPPY! JOY! JOY!

This is for you-know-who! :-)

BIRTHDAY WISHES:

Happy, merry, and felicitous birthday wishes!
It's an occasion for friends, family, and lots of sweet dishes!
Another year to add to your collection
of memories and dreams and sugar coated confections!
May they come to you in never-ending wealth
of joy and pleasure in family and health!

Always : past - present - future
copyright 2006 CNWilliams

PS: For those of you visually challenged, the translation for the image at the top follows:

Hippo, birdy, two ewes!
Hippo, birdy, two ewes!
Hippo, birdy dear ewes!
Hippo, birdy, two ewes!

"Hybrid Mutant of Something."

Yes I've been away from the blog for quite some time, but I saw this article and just had to post it for you all to see!!! For anything to have killed a Doberman more especially a Rottweiler in one-on-one competition? It must have been an incredibly viscious and strong creature. Here's a pic of the dead beast, and a link (click on the photo) to the article. Could the New Jersey Devil of the south Jersey Pine Barrens be next?

Look at those pointy ears like a cat, the heavy big skull, the short thick snout, and strange bulging eyes! I think I'd be checking that carcass for silver bullets!

That's no dog, wolf, coyote, hyena, or dingo. I've seen all of those. I've also seen hybrids of those, at 50 pounds this thing is heavier and thicker than any of them. This is something different.