Thailand?

Wow... it's been three weeks since the last post. I've been terribly busy at work and I kinda withdrew into that. (The plan was to work my ass off hoping to get home early. It didn't work.)

The truth is that I didn't really have much to talk about. But soon I will. This afternoon I'm flying to Thailand for the long holiday weekend. In the Philippines they have All Saints Day and All Souls Day off, so I'm escaping the country as well.

I don't really have a plan ironed out yet. So far all I know is that I'll be flying in and out of Bangkok, I have $300 in dollars and maybe a hotel reservation. Should be interesting!

My camera has been on the fritz recently so I apologize in advanced if I can't grab any pictures.

See you all on the flip side!

(By the way, my new flight back state side is on Nov 17th. I'll be pushing hard to actually be on this flight.)

Confusing Discussion with a Salesman

Salesman: Sir, pool cues?
Me: No thanks.
S: Very good price, only 25.
M: No thanks.
S: It has mother of pearl. Inlaid. (Shows a cue)
M: It looks like snake skin...
S: No, no that's mother of pearl. This one has snakes skin. (Shows second cue)
M: That one looks like mother of pearl.
S: You want?
M: How much?
S: Only 25. Good price.
M: 25 pesos? Or dollars...?
S: No, no 25 hundred pesos.
M: Oh, no thanks.
S: For your mama?
M: No my mom is a degenerate gambler. I can't give her a pool cue.
S: Good price! (Shows string of pearls)
M: Oh! The pearls are for my mother? No thanks.
S: Watches? (Shows a box of Rolexs)
M: No I'm wearing one. (Shows him my watch)
S: For your wife?
M: First of all, that's a mans watch. And I'm not married.
S: You enjoying being single?
M: (Runs away before I learn what he'll try to sell me next.)

When are you coming home

What's the pool at? Two or three hundred? Whoever wins owes me dinner and I promise to order something more than soup.

Here is the newest graph on the same axis as before.
It's getting a little crammed on the right hand side of the graph so I extended the axis from 100 days in Manila out to 150 days.
Hilarious story about that "Visa" line. I sent an email to my boss concerning my expiring visa and the delays in the project. I also presented my case for a quick, cheap and easy way to renew the visa (ie. a trip to "some nearby country"). Oh and by the way, can the company pay for the flight? The very next day I get a CC email asking to hook me up with a three month work permit. Two days later my passport is whisked away to get the official stamp. Mind you, this is the same boss who takes two to three weeks to approve my time sheets. In addition, I got a friendly reminder that if I'm here for more than six months, I have to pay taxes here. Sometimes all it takes is that extra shot of morbid humor to keep me laughing.

The graph does not include the fact that I will have a plane flight home for Thanksgiving. (Couldn't figure out the Maxwell-Boltzmann equation that takes holidays into account.)

Why my drivers license is useless

I went out to a club/restaurant with some friends to see 3 of the most famous Filipino rock bands play live. (Which was incredible, by the way.) On the way home we went through the intersection shown below. I’ve included the lane markers even though they are meaningless in this country.

The same intersection at rush hour . I’ve added our path Family circus style. The intension was to enter from the south and take a left turn heading west. Bear in mind this intersection did include a stop light. We entered on a green arrow but I get the feeling that is just a happy coincidence.
The different colors represent the different vehicle types which is basically irrelevant to this discussion. Suffice to say, we were in a ford pickup and the smallest vehicle in that intersection. At first I was a bit worried about the whole affair until it became apparent that we were forced to use the Jeepney pickup lane because the Jeepneys had taken over both sides of our street. At that point I couldn’t stop laughing.