The Home Stretch
Another work week come and gone (although it looks like I’ll still be working tomorrow), and with that, Apple and I are now approaching the last few days of our excursion to Thailand.
It’s been a good few days. At work, we’re close to completion on our big new product version, the new user interface for which I designed, and which has already guaranteed us at least four or five sales — customers who preview it are always chomping at the bit to license it. The weather here has been nice, I’ve been getting some good sleep, and we’ve been enjoying some good meals.
Yesterday evening was particularly good. We went to dinner at the Hachiban Ramen Japanese noodle shop over at the Carrefour shopping plaza, and it greatly exceeded my expectations. I had the “soup noodle with Japanese roasted pork,” which was phenomenal. We also had spring rolls, some excellent fried chicken (screw KFC), a chicken salad, and various other things which were all great. I actually thought about having a second bowl of noodles, but that would have been overkill. We might just have a chance to go back there one more time before we leave.
After the noodles, we went next door to Swensen’s ice cream shop and had the “Sticky Chewy Choc Fantasy” as I believe it was called, which was basically a chocolate ice cream sundae with chocolate syrup, chocolate chips and chocolate coming out of your ears. It was amazing.
Finally, we stopped at a place called Roti Bun - “Where The Good Bread Come From.” Ha, that’s actually their slogan. Apparently this joint is like a coffee bar that’s also known for their “roti buns” — they’re like a Muslim specialty pastry that’s really fluffy and sweet. Apparently they were all the rage some time ago when the chain first came to Thailand from Malaysia. In Malaysia, they have three different shops under the same chain: “Roti Mum,” “Roti Dad” and “Roti Boy.” When they first entered Thailand, they were “Roti Boy,” but now there’s hardly any of them left — none at all in Bangkok, actually — and the ones that remain are called “Roti Bun” instead.
I guess it was like a fad; people were all over them at first, but I guess the buns are too sweet for most Thai people so eventually everyone stopped going there. We’ve bought Roti Buns from the mall location twice now, and both times there’s never been any customers anywhere near the place. They’ll probably be out of business by the next time we come back, just like Mango Tasto, so I thought I’d better enjoy them while I can. I’ve had the vanilla, banana and cocoa flavored Roti Buns, all of which were great. There’s a fourth flavor too, “coffee,” but…bleh. I’m not a coffee guy.
Did I mention the great new China Dolls albums I got while we’ve been here? Since one of Apple’s sisters works as a radio DJ, she has access to a huge library of CDs. I managed to rip MP3s from a few China Dolls albums that I’d never heard before; unfortunately the Thai pop duo hasn’t released a new CD in three years, but their second album got by me, so my sister in law let me borrow it. I think it has become my favorite China Dolls album. I mean, there’s a song about soup. Yeah, soup. It’s called “Tom Yum” and is named after the famous Thai hot and sour soup dish of the same designation. “Hot-hot-hot chicken Tom Yum, I love you!” the girls sing. I want to laugh myself silly, but it’s just so much fun. Oh, and I know enough Thai words now that I understood that much of the song without Apple translating for me.
For us computer nerds, one of the great things about being in Asia is that you can load up your BitTorrent client with all kinds of materials that would get you into hot water back in the U.S., assuming any of the studios caught you with them. Specifically, I’ve been able to download all the episodes of Battlestar Galactica which have aired since our departure, ensuring that I’ll be up-to-date by the time I get home. The season finale is airing this coming Sunday night, so I’ll be watching that one via TiVo upon our return. I hear it’s scheduled to run five minutes past the end of the hour, so be aware, anyone out there who’s planning to record it.
Back home, I see that Ford is introducing another stodgy, boxy, SUV-looking vehicle whose name starts with an “F.” Seems like every Ford car has to have a name starting with “E” or “F” these days, which really got old about six years ago if you ask me. The new vehicle is called the Ford Flex, and it’s like the big brother of the Scion xB in the sense that it’s all square and boxy, but at least it’s not the size of a shoebox and probably makes better torque. Apparently, Ford considered calling this thing the Fairlane, and it’s damn good thing they didn’t because that would have been a major disservice to that lengendary marque. (I mean, it’s not even a car. It’s a crossover SUV thing.) According to the Detroit News, the Flex is Ford’s replacement for the cancelled Windstar, so in my mind, at least its stodginess has been explained. Ah, Ford…still on the road to nothing at all exciting.
Our return trip from Thailand next week could prove to be interesting. Bangkok has a brand new airport, one which we have passed through three times since we’ve been here. Unfortunately, it was built during the reign of former prime minister “Toxin” Thaksin, and the corruption of his administration apparently ensured that all kinds of corners were cut during the airport’s assembly. In particular, the premature failure of several segments of runway caused the International Aviation Authority to revoke the airport’s safety certificate.
As a result of this, air traffic here in Thailand is being thrown into a mess in a couple of days. On the 25th, all domestic air traffic is being rerouted through the old Bangkok airport, while international flights will continue to operate out of the new airport. Of course, this means that when we fly from Hat Yai to Bangkok, we’ll have to fly into the old airport and then get a taxi or something to the new one in order to catch our Bangkok to Los Angeles flight. Since we leave only three days after this rerouting starts, it’s possible it could be a debacle on the highest order. Fortunately, we have over six hours between our flights at the two airports, so that should be plenty of time to get there.
I’m still waiting to get my hands on a steering wheel again. While I was working today, I listened to a recording I made of me driving the GTO. Sweet, sweet blissful V8 sound. I shall soon be hearing it again.
Better wrap this up, before someone turns off the Internet.
Categorized as Life, Randomness
Soup? Heeheehee.
Though, for songs about food, no one beats Shonen Knife - I’m still missing five or six of their albums, but from the albums I do own, here are some song titles:
“Banana Fish” - about a fish that eats bananas
“Flying Jelly Attack” - about eating jelly beans and cherry drops
“I Wanna Eat Chocobars”
“Ice Cream City”
“Diet Run”
“Blue Oyster Cult” - about getting food poisoning from an oyster
“Fruit Loop Dreams” - about candy and sweets, but actually mentions Toucan Sam (!)
“Broccoli Man”
“Brown Mushrooms”
“Fruits and vegetables”
“Sushi Bar Song” - SUSHI SUSHI SUSHI BAR! GOING TO A SUSHI BAR!
“Cookie Day”
“Sesame”
And so on. That’s not even listing the other songs that have food-related titles but are otherwise not really food-related (or songs about food that don’t have food-related titles). But they still rock and are very entertaining.
And not to forget about Puffy and “Cake Is Love”…
Sounds like you’ve been “eatin’ good in the neighborhood.” The Roti buns sound pretty darn appetizing to me, but I, of course, am blessed (or cursed) with the westerner’s sweet tooth.
Did you happen to read the story in today’s Free Press about St. Hugo’s School banning any students from having a MySpace site (or other “similar site”)? School officials were “not available for comment,” but the policy is posted on the school’s web site. “Over the last several weeks, there has been an arrest of a teacher and a police officer, both of whom posed as children on the interent to arrange meetings with unsuspecting children. It is out of this concern that we have determined that the school must take a stand.” The policy says…”If a family chooses to allow their children to continue their MySpace aoount, they will not be allowed to continue a students at St. Hugo.” And just how do they monitor this policy? Do all students have to turn their computers over to the St Hugo vice squad for de-fragging? Agggh!
This makes my blood boil. I’m sure they’ve had their Nazi flag cleaned and pressed as well.
Speaking of cars, I think I may go look at the Saab 9.3 (anniversary edition) tomorrow- seems it’s actually affordable.
That sounds an awful lot like the mock-Internet policy (the “INEPT”) I made back in high school when ol’ Divine Chekov introduced their own restrictive Internet access policy. That’s truly frightening.
“Cake Is Love” is another one of my favorites. Maybe I’m a sucker for food songs (perhaps it’s the influence of Weird Al). Hehe, I wouldn’t mind hearing some Shonen Knife. I think the only song of theirs I know is that one Rutles cover.
It’s interesting, because I did see the headlines about that school banning MySpace. I didn’t read the article, but I assumed at the time that they meant they were banning kids from visiting MySpace on the school’s computers. You know, like in the computer lab or something. That sounded reasonable to me, since MySpace is often a haven for viruses and other nefarious crap.
But now you’re telling me the school is forbidding kids from visiting MySpace at home? Or they’ll be — and this is D.C.’s favorite expression here — “asked to leave” the school? (Like a quote I read in an article in the Naples News yesterday, “People aren’t asked to resign. They’re fired.”) That policy is pretty friggin’ dictatorial, if you ask me.
And it’s yet another shining example of prime Catholic school policy numero uno, “punish everybody for the crimes of the few.” Even when those crimes haven’t been committed yet. I can only imagine what would have happened if D.C. had sent home letters in 1997 telling kids that they couldn’t participate in chat rooms, for example, or they’d be expelled. As stupid as that chat room was in retrospect, it was in large part how I kept myself sane for about six or eight months out of that year. It probably would have seemed like a living nightmare; not only can the school administration make my life hell while I’m there, but now they’re reaching their slimy fingers into my home, too? The one place on Earth where I thought I could feel relatively safe from attack? Fuck that.
But as you say, how the hell is the school even going to know who’s visiting MySpace? Are they gonna show up at a random student’s home dressed in jackboots and Death’s Head pins, pull out a Writ of Spiritual Cleansing and proceed to “exorcise the demonic influence” from the family computer by castigating it with a 10-pound sledge? And would anyone like to be within a hundred yards of the conflagration that would result should they happen to visit the home of a child whose father is a registered NRA member?
Pooch, I remember the INEPT. Oh Jesus, do I remember it. Funny as hell. Do you still have that thing? I don’t recall the details of D.C.’s draconian “acceptable computer use policy,” but at least it only covered computers on school property. Of cousre, the INEPT reminds me of that thing I started working on, The Nugget File, which was basically a log of the school’s collossal cock-ups. Unfortunately I only got about a page worth of entries, but they’re classic D.C. I know I still have that document somewhere.
Indeed, I still have the INEPT languishing on my hard drive (checked yesterday after posting my last comment, in fact). If you need a copy, let me know.
Actually yes, I’d very much enjoy it if you could drop me a copy of that.
Good times, good times.