Author: Justin

One Minute Forrest Gump

This video was everywhere including the top of Digg a couple weeks ago but I like it a lot, so here it is:

What I really wish they’d do is make a one minute version of Benjamin Button because I fell asleep less than halfway through both times I tried to watch it – and the second time, I started a quarter way through the movie!

Our New Thai House Part 4 – Roof and Walls

The Our New Thai House series must be finished before the subject becomes Our Old Thai House!
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By the end of this period in September/October of 2007, the house was 90% completed.
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In some of the photos above you can see a transformer box on the power pole to the right of the house. It took me considerable effort to get it moved from there, but it was of course worth it. Most Thais think its a non-issue, but after I campaigned to get it away from my house, nobody wanted it in front of theirs, either. We kept bothering and trying to bribe the power company to get it moved, to no avail. The man in charge at the power company claimed, out loud, to be incorruptible. This was relayed to me second hand, as foreigners should generally stay away from such negotiations. The intermediary reporting this back to me and the housing developer was sure we had hit a wall. I, however, am a skilled listener.
When a government official in the third world says they can’t be bribed, it can mean a few things: It can mean they are newly elected to office and don’t know how things work. It can mean they are currently under investigation. It can mean whatever you want to bribe them for isn’t possible/available at that specific point in time. Or it can mean your initial offer was too low. What it absolutely does not mean is that the official cannot be bribed under any circumstance.
So we made a better offer. The price to get a transformer moved just down the street in rural Thailand, all-inclusive? 50,000 Baht (approx. $1,500 US). We split the cost down the middle with the developer.
It was worth every satang.

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Our New Thai House entries:
Our New Thai House Part 1 – Picking a Plot
Our New Thai House Part 2 – Foundations
Our New Thai House Part 3 – Groundwork
Our New Thai House Part 4 – Roof and Walls
Our New Thai House Part 5 – The Blessing Way
Landscaping Our House – Before and After

leaps and bounds

Max is developing at such a fast pace, it’s hard to keep track of. I’m just jotting a few notes down here.

  • He knows the word “clock” in Thai. If you say it, he looks up at the clock.
  • Not only does he like playing with all the remotes in the house, he has started to understand that they control something. He was playing with the TV remote this evening and looking up at the TV every time he pressed a button to see what had changed (nothing, since he was pointing it at himself, but still…)
  • He can almost stand up without hanging onto anything.
  • He can trick us into putting a finger into his mouth (to munch on) even though we’ve fallen for it tons of times already. He has this awesome sleight of hand plus angelic face technique that’s impossible to resist.
  • A couple weeks ago, a ladyboy tried to kiss him and he defended himself with a mighty backhand. I laughed out loud and rescued him.