Timberwolf

Some of you may know this, but @hirondelle recently "retired" from her position as Academic Manager at the British Council, and she really needed to relax, so we had decided to take a trip to Pai, Thailand for a few days. Everybody here has talked about how great Pai is, and neither of us has been there, so we decided why not. Now we've both heard all kinds of things about Pai. One was how relaxing and beautiful it is, and another was how openly people smoke weed there, so we kind of figured we would see people walking down the street or sitting in the coffee shop/restaurants smoking. Much to our surprise, we never saw it. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Let me start from the beginning. We decided that since Friday (today) was a public holiday and @hirondelle didn't have to work at all this week, we would leave Chiang Mai on Sunday and drive to Pai and stay there until Thursday. On Sunday morning, we go and have breakfast, come back home and finish up the packing and load up the bike. We got started at about 12 noon. We turn onto Highway 107 and it's a fairly straight road once you get out of the city and just start cruising along. It's a nice stretch of road once you get outside the city. No sharp turns, just straight road with nice sweeping bends so I can open the bike up a bit, which I love doing when I can. After about an hour, I turn onto our next road, which is the road that leads to Pai. We stop to have a bit of a break, because the road looks a little twisty and it goes through the mountains, so we stop at this little shop and relax a bit before we continue on. To say that the road looks a bit twisty is like a huge understatement! From Chiang Mai to Pai, they say there are 762 bends and curves in the road. All this with going up and down mountains. After about an hour we had to take a break again, because it was kind of getting to us. So we stopped and had some coffee. When we continued on, we had to stop again after about an hour because not only was the road twisting and turning, Thai drivers like to try to pass you on the bends and if another car/truck is coming, they tend to move over, so you either get pushed off the road or have to fall back quickly! The place we stopped had a great view, so that was nice and we relaxed some more and calmed down a bit. Also, on the way to this stop, there was this couple that pulled out in front of us and after little while, they started weaving all over the road and looking over their shoulder at us. As I got closer, I could see huge smiles on their faces, but the way they were driving, I thought it best we pass them at the next passing point. As we are passing, they start waving at us and asking where we are from. I yell back that I'm from America and they yell back ... "I love America!!" which was really cool. When we stopped at the next place with the great view, they rode by on their bike and waved. When we were back on the road again, we saw that they had stopped and were taking a break and we beeped and waved at them. When we stopped just out side of Pai one last time, they passed up and beeped and waved again. It was a lot of fun. We found Spa Exotic Home, a place that a friend of ours recommended to us. They have a round bathtub with hot water from a local hot spring, so the first thing we did was have a bath together. It was really nice. But, the place looked like it had seen better days. The porch outside our front door, the wood looked rotted to the point where I might fall through by just walking on it. The screens didn't quite seem to fit the windows, and there was no AC. There was just a fan the blew straight down on the bed. The driveway looked like it used to be really nice, with nice brick work, but it hadn't been maintained, and it was all muddy. Our friend told us that it had a nice restaurant and the Lonely Planet also said it had a nice restaurant. When we checked in, I asked what time they started serving dinner, and they said the they didn't have a restaurant any more. So we had to head into town to get something to eat, which was OK. When we rode into town, it had just got dark, which is normally no big deal, but there were no street lights, the road wasn't very wide and in poor condition with a lot of curves and hills, and we were a good distance from town. When we did finally get into town, we found this great little Italian restaurant that made great little personal sized pizzas. After dinner, we decided to walk around and look for a place that served fresh coffee. While walking up the road, we ran into two of my old students (a mother and daughter) and they introduced us to the husband and brother. That was really nice. We found a really nice coffee shop on a corner, and there were a few parade like things going on, so we got to see them. We decided to buy some shorts, because we figured we might decide to wade in one of the many hot springs in the area. The ride back to Spa Exotic Home was a long dark ride. We decided that we would try to find a place closer to town in the morning. The next morning, we had an OK breakfast, and bad instant coffee. We headed out to find a place that looked like it might serve at least decent coffee. We found a place named Pai Best Friend's Coffee [sic]. The coffee there was really good. And right across the road was a really nice place to stay, called Pai Baan Thai Resort, so we decided that after coffee we would walk over and see if they had any rooms available. As luck would have it, they did, and we booked a room for the remainder of the time we would be in Pai. And the nice thing, the town was right down the road, not far at all. We headed back to Spa Exotic Home and checked out, and I explained that we decided to stay closer to town, and the lady at the desk was OK with that. After putting our things in the new room, we decided to relax some, and play some cards. After awhile, we headed into town to try and find a place that gave foot massages, and scout a place for dinner. We found a decent place and got a foot massage and then walked around town for a bit. We found a place for dinner for later that night, and decided to walk on and find a place to have coffee. We found this great place called Cake Go "O" that served great coffee and had the most amazing cakes!! While sitting there enjoying our coffee and cake, I saw one of our Teaching Assistants coming down the road on the back of a bike with this really shocked look on her face. She didn't see us though, and the look on her face was so funny. Her and her friend continued on down the road, and we finished our cakes and coffee. After we finished, we walked back to the bike and headed back to the room and play more cards until it was time for dinner. We had dinner at this nice little middle eastern restaurant, and as we were finishing our dinner, the Teaching Assistant the we saw earlier (New New) saw us from across the road and ran over to say hi and see how we were doing. We talked a bit and then walked around town again. Pai is a great town to just walk around, mainly, because the town is small and there are so many strange and interesting different characters. We found this place that looked like it would have decent coffee, so we stopped and had coffee, which ended up being really bad, because they put sugar in my coffee and didn't tell me. It was nasty!! The next day, we had breakfast and went across the road to have coffee at Pai Best Friend's Coffee, but they didn't have any power because there was work being done on the power lines down the road. So we decided to head into town for coffee and had some OK coffee at a nice little place. After our coffee, we decided that we were going to ride around and look for this massage place called Pai Traditional Thai Massage (PTTM), that the Lonely Planet raved about, which is also a traditional Thai massage school. We found it and decided to have a traditional Thai full body massage which was for two hours. OMG, it was amazing! And they worked out a knot that @hirondelle had that she didn't realize she had from when her back was hurting. It was incredible. We felt so relaxed afterwords! We decided that we should have Thai food one night, so we ate at the resort and they made the Thai food Thai style, which I love! I hate when they Westernize Thai food, because they take out all the chillies. God it was so good. After dinner, we went back into town and decided to walk around and find @hirondelle a necklace. We found a little place that had some hand made necklaces and we got one for @hirondelle and one for a friend of ours. They are beautiful necklaces. The next day, we decided to find the gas station, so we knew where it was for when we were ready to leave and I can fill up the bike. @hirondelle wanted another Thai massage, and I decided I wanted an herbal massage. I'd been hearing rave reviews about how good the herbal massages were, so I figured I would get one at PTTM. Another great massage! After our massages, we wanted coffee again, so we went back to Cake Go "O" (one of our favorite coffee places in Pai) and we saw more people from work, so we walked over and said hi. That night we had dinner at Amido's (the great little Italian restaurant) again. They ave really great pizza! We walked around town again, and we found some T-shirts for me and one for our cleaning lady, and finished the night off with coffee at that nice little corner coffee shop again. Thursday was time to head back home, so we had breakfast, packed up the bike and went to Cake Go "O" for our final coffee in Pai. Fueled up the bike and headed back to Chiang Mai. Lots and lots of curves, with Thai drivers passing going through the mountains again. We stopped at the nice look out place again, and stopped at the nice little coffee shop and then at the little road side shop for a final stop before we got back onto 107 and back to Chiang Mai. Once we got back onto 107, I got the bike upto 110 km/h and was cruising down the highway when this guy on a little bike decided he was going to meander across the road and wobble from one lane to the other, giving us a fright. From that point on, I kept the bike at about 100 km/h and played passing tag with a sungtao with the back full of westerners smiling and waving at us. All in all, it was a great and relaxing trip, but it was nice to come home and have Fon, our cleaning lady, drop off Spike, so the family could be home together again for the first night back.

Last week I posted about some issues that I have been having while here in Chiang Mai, that started when I was leaving the company NES. And I've noticed something really great since I've written. When I'm driving, I no longer get angry or bitter. I mean, some of the things they do, still make me a bit upset, but the good thing is, when that happens, I usually either laugh about it or I just growl and let it go. Where as before, I would get angry, hold on to it, and then somebody would do something and I would get more angry, and then it would happen again and I would get more angry and it would just build and build until I was just seething and ready to explode. So this is a very good thing! Another thing, is all my life, I've been a bit of a hoarder of books. I've always found it very hard to let a book go, either giving it away or selling it. Once I have read it, or got it for myself, I tend to keep it close. Now, I can easily buy a book for a friend. I have not had any problems at all with that. I've bought many books over the years for friends and family, and I really enjoy that. Now as I think I mentioned in my last post here, we have been having some great breakfasts with somebody who has started to become a really good friend. We've been talking about a lot of things. One thing she told me to think about is imagine all the love I've put into that book from reading it, and passing it on to somebody that I think would enjoy it as much as I did. And it really just kind of slapped me in the face. So I'm going to try it. We have a book that both @hirondelle and I just love, well, I think I'm going to try sending it to my dad. The book is called Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's an incredible book. Now if any of you decide to read this incredible book, note that it is a little bit about Zen, a little bit about motorcycle maintenance and a lot about one mans journey though some hard things in his life, and seeing the US with his son on a motorcycle. I recommend that everybody read it with an open mind. Well, that's all for now. Thank you following my journey.

I plan on making this post a bit of internal exploration. Now at times, I may wonder off track, but bare with me. About 2 years ago, @hirondelle I and moved from Bangkok, Thailand to Chiang Mai, Thailand. When we first got here, we rented a Honda Click (what a Click looks like) for a month until we bought bikes of our own. First we got a Honda Wave 100 cc (what a Wave looks like) for @hirondelle, and ordered a Honda Phantom 200 cc for me. When my bike arrived, we returned the Click, and used my bike to go every where. @hirondelle tried learning how to drive her Wave, but at that point in time, it just didn't work out, so we sold it. When we first moved here, I didn't find a job right away. I was unemployed from September to about February, when I was hired by a company called CEC, where they sent me out to this private school to teach English to Korean exchange students, which was pretty cool. The students were nice, and we seemed to get along. I was also covering on the weekend for teachers that were off for their kids classes at their main office, which didn't go very well, because they were one of the most unorganized and unhelpful places I've ever worked. I asked to many questions, and after a short period of time, they let me go, which was no big deal. I had already had an interview with another company called NES (New Zealand English Services), and things looked really promising. I talked with the owner (Paul) and the head teacher of all the centers (Ryan), and they were looking for a teacher with my enthusiasm and experience to be the head teacher at one of the three offices they have here in Chiang Mai. So, I signed on with them as a temp teacher so we could feel each other out. To start, I was teaching English to the staff at a new hotel in the area. Things were going really well, and on the first weekend, Ryan called me to pick up some kids classes, which I did, because I needed as many hours as I could get because they were only paying me 200 baht an hour. A huge difference from the 450 baht an hour I was making to start in Bangkok. Before long, things were going really good, and I had adult classes at one of their centers (the one I was to become the full time teacher at) and kids classes at their other two centers. When teaching at the hotel finished, they were feeding me all kinds of hours, and they offered me a full time contract making 250 baht an hour for 20 hours a week. If I worked over the 20 hours a week, I would have an additional percentage per hour. I would receive the over time pay every three months. Things were going really good for awhile, and I had dinner with Paul and Ryan and talked about things we could do to update the center and make it more modern. I was supposed to help them put wireless in all three centers, and put English onto their website. Also, I was helping them to write summer courses. Everything was going great! I would have done anything for Paul and Ryan. I was picking up extra classes, and I was covering classes for teachers that were off at their request. All was good. It stared when one week, I didn't complete the 20 hours a week, but I had already worked a number of overtime hours in previous weeks. When I got my paycheck, it was short on the hours. I was pretty upset about this, and Paul heard about it and confronted me about it, and we discussed it. We came to solution that we both liked, and he cut me another check to make up for what I felt I was shorted. I just had to make up the hours, which with the summer courses coming up, wouldn't be a problem at all. At this same time, I was in my center all day, working on things for the office and placement testing potential students, which I wasn't being paid for. Things started to look a bit better again. I was asked to re-write a kids course that somebody else had already done that Paul wasn't happy with. They gave me a whole stack of books for me to set up this course. I kept the books, kind of a lean to make sure I would get the money they owed me in case something happened with my pay again. I was offered a position with the British Council to teach classes at a college, making almost double what I was making at NES. I accepted this position, but I had to put off starting until I finished the classes I had with NES. I informed Ryan what was going on, and Ryan totally understood and told me to let Paul know, so I went back to the main office to talk to Paul about it. He seemed fine with it. A few days later, I got a call from Paul's wife Tann (the co-owner) informing me that I needed to return the books that were lent to me. I told Tann that I would return the books when I was paid everything that was owed to me. She got very upset about this, and told the accountant that she wasn't to give me my paycheck until I return the books. The accountant and I had a bit of a discussion about it, and I was upset, and I kept apologizing to her about it and saying that it wasn't her fault. That I didn't mean to take it out on her. I had a few more conversations with Tann... or I should say a few more arguments on the phone with her about the books and my pay. In the end, Paul called me and told me that I had until such and such time to return the books or he would call the police and tell them that I stole the books. I went to my classroom, packed up all my stuff, and apologized to my students that I wouldn't be teaching their class, and that I was no longer with the company. I went home, collected the books while telling @hirondelle what was going on. @hirondelle wouldn't let me go to the main office by myself, so she went with me. She didn't want me doing something stupid, like hitting Paul, which I'm sure that if @hirondelle wasn't with me, I probably would have done. When we got to the office, I walked up to the desk. Paul was in his office and refused to even look at me, let alone talk to me. The two front desk girls came up to me and said that they were sorry, but wouldn't say more. I told them that I wanted to talk to Paul or Tann to return the books. They went into the office to let them know that I was there. Paul went outside and Tann came over to talk to me. I returned the books to her, and told her that i wanted to talk to Paul. She went outside for a few minutes and came back in and told me that she didn't know what was going on, but I was asked to leave. So @hirondelle and I started to leave. When we got outside, Paul was out there laughing and joking with a couple of police officers. I put my shoes on, and walked over to Paul to tell him that it was an experience to work for him. I actually offered to shake his hand, but he refused. He said that the he refused to talk to somebody that treated the girl at the other office so badly (her name was Peung). That he didn't understand how us foreigners could treat the girls here so badly, when we don't treat the women in our own country so badly. I tried to tell him that I didn't treat Peung badly in any way, but he refused to listen to me. So @hirondelle and I got back on the bike and left. Thinking of ways we could really screw him over, which we never did, but we were pretty angry over the whole situation, me more than @hirondelle. A few days later was the start of the Songkrahn Festival here in Thailand. On the first day, we saw Peung and stopped to talk to her. I wanted to apologize to her if I treated her badly in any way. She told me that I didn't, and that she understood why I was so upset. We talked about it for awhile, but she keep telling me not to worry about it. We spent the next two days celebrating Songkrahn with Peung, her boyfriend and a few of the students, and had a lot of fun. A few days after the Songkrahn Festival, I turned in all my paperwork showing exactly how much I was owed (keeping a copy for myself), which was a large chunk of money. When it came time to pick up the pay checks, it was only for a normal weeks pay. When I tried to ask when I could expect to receive the rest of what was owed to me, Peung said she would get Tann for me. But instead, she sent another member of staff over, and at first, she said she didn't understand. Finally when she did "understand" me, she said she didn't know. So I said I would be back the following payday. During the week, I received an email from Tann, saying that I owed NES them money for quitting and not finishing my classes. I emailed her back stating that I didn't quit, I was fired, and that they still owed me the money. That was the last email I received from NES. When all this happened, Ryan, whom I thought was my friend, didn't even call me to see how I was doing. This really hurt. This whole thing really cut me hard, and I thought I had let it go. But as time here in Chiang Mai goes by, I seem to get angrier and angrier about things here. I've always blamed it on how stupidly they drive here. And something else, that I never noticed before, I was generalizing Thai people. I don't feel good about admitting this, but I also know that in order for me to heal myself, it's something that I need to admit. The healing process started this morning while @hirondelle and I went to breakfast with a friend of ours, and had a great time just talking and relaxing. At breakfast, we talked a bit about some of the problems we seem to be having here. And as per my usual, I was complaining about Thai drivers, but @hirondelle said that she thinks that maybe my bitterness goes deeper than that. And it started to dawn on me that it does. It goes back to this whole experience with Paul, Tann and NES. I started thinking about it more and more on the way home. And I started to notice a few things. The both times we were in Bangkok, I didn't have this bitterness, but as soon as we got back to Chiang Mai, the bitterness was back. I hadn't really let this whole thing with Paul, Tann and NES go. The reason I am writing this blog post, is in the hopes of helping me release this anger and bitterness that has been building in me for almost two years, that I didn't realize were building. In writing this, I have felt as if a great weight has been lifted from my shoulders. Thank you for sharing your time with me.

Hey all. I know I've kind of missed a little on keeping up with my writing, but I have been a bit distracted. One of the small distractions has been my own Visa for Thailand. It's become a bit of a rig-a-maroll. Before, all I needed was a letter from the British Consulate, but things have recently changed. As I am an American working for the British Council, I now need to go to the American Consulate and get a letter from them stating that I am working for the British Council. Now the American Consulate understandably doesn't want anything to do with this, and thinks that they should be removed from the circle, but the Thai Immigration doesn't agree. So the first letter I got, my boss's, boss's boss (John) who is friends with the American Consulate General, got the letter for me. But John isn't there any more. He has been transferred as his 4 years in a position are up, and he needed to move to another country. For my second letter, I needed to go to the American Consulate and get the letter myself. The American Consulate General was on vacation and didn't inform anybody about this letter I was supposed to be getting, so I didn't get the letter the first time I went, that's when the American Consulate informed me that they didn't know what the letter was about, and didn't want to do the letter. Now @hirondelle contacted John, and the American Consulate to let them all know what was going on. The American Consulate informed me that they wanted me to come back in to get a notarized affidavit instead of the letter. This affidavit, I would have to fill out myself, and swear that it was all true and correct, which is no big deal. But I didn't know I was supposed to put on the affidavit a request to extend my Visa. Nobody told me this and Thai Immigration decided that my letter wouldn't do. So I had to do another Visa trip to Malaysia, with out @hirondelle again. The second distraction has been that I got a new xbox and have been playing a lot of Smackdown vs. Raw, lol. I've created a wrestler called Mr. Destroyer that has his own entrance music (Destroyer by Twisted Sister) and I have won the U.S. Title, the Intercontinental Title, the ECW title, The World Tag Team Titles, the WWE Heavy Weight Title, and the WWE World Title (my favorite as Ric Flair held it for such a long time!). I will try to get back to writing here again. Talk to you soon.

I have to give you some back story for this before I get to far into this. Since the start of the Swine Flu scare, I've been kind of taking the piss out of it. Someone coughs and "OH NO, IT'S SWINE FLU! SWINE FLU, SWINE FLU!" That type of thing. At work we were told that if a child coughs a lot, sneeze s a lot or has a runny nose we should ask their parents to take them home. So I would joke cough and say I've got swine flu, can I go home. And things like that. I was also scoffing at people wearing masks, because it's a virus and the mask is totally useless for this. They are to help prevent dust inhalation. Well, this past Friday, I was at work, planning my lesson, and feeling worse and worse as the day went on. I started getting body aches and feeling hot and having a head ache. We sat down to watch a movie and eat dinner, and all I could eat were my mashed potatoes and I barely finished those. You have to remember that I love pizza, and we order pizza on Thursday, I eat half on Thursday and eat the other half on Friday, so me not wanting to eat pizza is kind of scary in itself. I decided at about 8 that I would go to sleep and hope that I felt better in the morning as I had to teach kids all day Saturday and Sunday. Well, about 9 I got my first bout of diarrhea and about every 1 hour or less I was back in the bathroom. At about 11 I told @hirondelle that there wasn't any way I would be able to make it to work to teach for Saturday, and she should text our boss and the most senior full time teacher in the morning to let them know that I wouldn't be in. At about 2 we decided that I would go to the hospital and get checked out, and I started thinking that this was it. I got it. After all this time taking the piss out of Swine Flu, I got it. Stupid me didn't think about it until about 5 in the morning that I should get some water to drink, so I stumbled down the stairs to get some water, and stumble back up stairs to bed, taking drinks of the water every time I woke up. I finally stopped rushing to the toilet at about 6 am and @hirondelle woke me up about 9 to see when I wanted to go to the hospital. She also wanted to get some food for me to eat since I was probably going to be quarantined to the house. I told her to go do her shopping and I would just sleep some more until she got back. I was beat, my whole body ached, my head was pounding, every time I moved my eyes to look some where, they hurt, and my bum hurt from going so much. She got back I showered and we went to the hospital to see the doctor. I got checked into the hospital and they directed us to place to take my vitals. I felt like shit to say the least, lol. She checked my temp, which was high, checked my blood pressure, which was high, which isn't normal for me, and my heart rate was high, again, which wasn't normal for me. I shuffled back out into the hall and waited for the doctor to see me. I went in to see the doctor, and this is when he informed me about my vitals, and said I looked really weak. Asked me a few questions and asked me to get up onto his table. He felt my belly and told me he was going to admit me at least over night. He told me I was dehydrated and he wanted to get fluids back into me. So I went back out into the hall with the nurses help to let @hirondelle know what was going on, and wait for a room. They brought me a wheel chair, which is the first time I've ever been given a wheel chair in a hospital. We waited around for a bit and then they took us up to my room. They also told @hirondelle that she can stay in the room with me, that there weren't visiting hours. They gave me some scrubs to change into because it would be easier for them to put the IV in me and such. So I changed, and they started getting things ready for me. One nurse came in and wanted to know what I wanted to eat for lunch and gave me an ice pack for my head ache and the other nurse started preparing the IV and the needle. The only problem was the bed was a little small for me, lol, but that's OK, because as you can see in the picture, I had pretty nurses to take care of me. I spent most of the day sleeping, waking up every time somebody came into the room. @hirondelle called Fon to ask her if she could take Spike since I would be spending at least a night in the hospital. After I got settled in, @hirondelle decided to head to the house to get a few things, like a book for me and clothes and such, and some things for herself, love the cats and to let everybody know what was going on, my family here at the NL and my family back in the States. After about 3 hours I had to use the toilet again, so I shuffled my way to the toilet and was doing my business. While I was in there, one of the nurses came in to the room, so I coughed to let her know I was in the bathroom. This is our conversation Nurse: Oh you are in the toilet? Pee pee? Me: Yes Nurse: Poo poo? Me: Yes Nurse: Remember sample. Call us when you are finished. Me: OK. The nurses were coming into the room at the most every hour to check my temp, blood pressure and heart rate. For lunch, I ordered a ham and cheese omelet, and it was the nastiest omelet and bacon I've ever had. For dinner I ordered a BLT sandwich. Before my dinner came, the doctor came to see me to let me know what my blood tests showed. I got a bacterial infection, which is from food, which is why I was running such a high fever and had so much diarrhea. And he asked how I was feeling. When my sandwich arrived, I found that I didn't get a BLT, I just got a bacon sandwich with this nasty sweet Thai mayonnaise. @hirondelle, the Goddess that she is, took all the bacon off of my sandwich and put it onto the toast that they gave me, then forced me to eat half of it, lol. In the morning, the doctor came in again to see me and to tell me that my blood pressure had gone back to normal, my temp was back to normal and so was my heart rate. I still had to take the last bag of fluid, but I looked better. I told him that I was also feeling better. @hirondelle decided to run home and get herself a change of clothes (she forgot to bring some for herself) and to check up with everybody online. While she was at home, the doctor came in again to see me and to see how I was doing. And asked if I wanted to go home today. I said yes, and he said OK. You can go home this after noon, but no fruit or vegetables for a few days and drink lots of fluids, and relax and that he was going to send some anti-biotics home with me. So we came home and I napped for a bit, and @hirondelle made me the best chicken noodle soup I've ever had. I'm feeling much better. Still have a bit of a head ache and a sore belly, but I feel good. And the best thing of all........ I DON'T HAVE SWINE FLU!! Though it was confirmed at work that that was what I had. And a very strong reminder to me never to get anything from the T-Zone at work ever again.

Well, things have been a bit busy for me around here. As you all know, I've recently finished a number of skins, which I am very happy with. Just after finishing my latest skin, and just before heading to Bangkok, our desk top computer crashed. Well, the C-Drive crashed. Now that wouldn't be so bad if it was just the software, because then we could have gotten all the information off of the drive. But nope, the actual hard disk itself crashed. Which means we lost everything on that drive! All our pictures were on that drive. Everything saved in our network is gone as that was also on that drive. Now the good thing about that is this, the hard disk was guaranteed for 5 years, so we get a new 320 Gb hard disk for free. And we wanted to get a 1 Tb hard disk. So what happened is we now have a 1Tb hard disk and a 320 Gb hard disk, plus we will have a 320 Gb external hard disk. All our music and the movies we had on the other hard disk are fine. We actually have almost 200Gb of music, so that made me happy. Now, on to other computer things. I have recently been working on a new main page, history page and friends page. The new main page and history page are finished and they look pretty good. We are very happy with them. I'm still working on the new Friends page, and that is looking great. I'm just waiting on a few things from a few people to put the finishing touches on it. Once that's done, I will upload all the new pages. Now, onto non-computer things, lol. Our paper work is coming together really well. We just have a few more things to take care of, mainly my back taxes, but I got the paperwork from the company I worked for for 2006-2007 saying what I was making and I've contacted the CPA for American taxes to get those taken care of. Now I'm just waiting on him to get back to me.

On Saturday, Tracy ( @hirondelle)and I flew down to Bangkok from Chiang Mai. We wanted some time away from Chiang Mai and we also had an appointment with an immigration lawyer on Monday (Today). Yesterday, we went shopping for a camera for Tracy ( @hirondelle)(she has been wanting and SLR camera) and we looked at a number of places, but nobody had the model she was looking for. Hell, most places didn't have have the brand she wanted. We settled on a really nice camera which she really loved. I told her that we weren't leaving Bangkok with out getting her a camera as that was one of the reasons I wanted to come to Bangkok. We also got some movies and some great books! Today we had an appointment with the immigration lawyer at 11. We arrived a little early, and he wasn't there. He was at the embassy for some things. Tracy ( @hirondelle) got a little worried at first because she hadn't confirmed the appointment before we left to come to Bangkok. I told her not to worry and I was pretty sure that he wouldn't forget, especially with all the correspondence those two had had. At about 11, he walked in to the offices and walked up to Tracy ( @hirondelle) and said hi to her, knowing her name, and came over to me and introduced himself to me. He asked for a minute to put his brief case away and to get our file, then invited us into the conference room. He took a couple of minutes to talk to us and get to know us and to tell us a bit about himself. And then refreshed himself on our case and asked us some questions taking notes. He had a great demeanor, and was very personable. We spent about 2 hours in his office going over what was going to be done, and about how long it would take. He asked for our passport photos, and Tracy's ( @hirondelle) were the wrong size. They were the size for British passports, not American passport, so his secretary took Tracy ( @hirondelle) out to get her picture taken again for the right size. While Tracy ( @hirondelle) and her were out we talked and he told me more about himself, and asked me questions about Tracy ( @hirondelle). When we finished with the meeting, he asked how long we would be in Bangkok, because he would have some of the beginning documents drawn up so we could sign them. We told him we were going to be in the area, because I had to go and talk to my old boss about getting my pay information for my back taxes, and he said that would be great. We headed out and stopped at the 7-11 so I could buy my boss a bottle of whiskey (scotch) as a kind of gift to and to help ease the process of getting my old pay information. After buying the whiskey we crossed the street to head to the office and here he was, heading down the street, I think he was on his way to lunch. We talked for a minute and I told him I had something for him. On the way back to his office, we talked for a bit and told him that we were planning on moving to the States and that we were here talking to a lawyer to help with the immigration process for Tracy ( @hirondelle) . He asked when we would be moving and we told him it would be about 6 months, give or take a few weeks, according to our lawyer. He asked what we would be doing for the next 6 months. He has always had hopes that I would come back to Bangkok and work for him again. He is a really nice guy and was a great boss. We got back to the office and found out that they are moving buildings by about the end of the year also. We talked for a bit and told him why I needed the pay information, and he was totally understanding. I then pulled out the bottle of whiskey for him, and he was very appreciative but said he couldn't take it as he is allergic to alcohol, and said I should keep it. And that he would really like to keep in touch with us and find out how we are doing in the States and everything. After we finished talking to my old boss, we went for coffee to wait for 3 o'clock to head back to the lawyer's office. We got back to his office and he was in a meeting and they told us it would be about 10 minutes, we were early again. When he was finished with the meeting, he came out and said hi, and he had to get the documents. He checked them over, but needed some fixing, but he would talk us through everything and fix it later. He explained what everything was for and why we had to sign this document and that document and why he had was having us sign so many copies, the USCIS and the Embassy have a tendency to loose paper work, and he wanted back up copies, lol. Over all, we are very pleased with him and glad we chose him for this. Once we get the last of the documentation and information that we need, he will submit our paper work to USCIS and get everything going for us. One of the good things is that there is a really good chance that Tracy ( @hirondelle)and I won't have to be separated at all during this process like the other lawyer had told us. And it should only take about 6 months, where the other lawyer also told us it would take about a year. So all and all, everything is looking really good. Also, with the Visa Tracy ( @hirondelle)will be getting, she will become a permanent resident the day she gets off the plane and will be able to start working when she wants. And she will be a permanent resident for about 3 years and then she can become a U.S. Citizen if she wants. We are very excited and very happy with him. All is looking good for us now. After that, we went and got me a new pair of sandals had died and were killing my feet. I got a really nice pair, and we also bought more BOOKS, lol. Will keep you all updated as we know more. Thanks

Well, as I had said in my last blog post, things are starting to move forward. I found a lot of the images for one of the skins we used to have at the old New The Northlands, so now, because of that, I'm almost finished with another skin. We have an appointment with an immigration lawyer for the 20th of July, and we received an email from the U.S. immigration offices saying that I really shouldn't leave until after Tracy ( @hirondelle)has her visa. It will make it easier for the interviews and such. Also, one of the things we will need right away when we get there is a vehicle of some sort. And Avia and Paladin have really been helping us out a lot with that, and have found us some really nice cars in the price range we have been looking for. They have also offered to put the car title and insurance in their name until we get to the States and then switch it over to my name. One Suzuki and one Subaru, both really nice and about the same price. We have pretty much decided on which one we would like, but we don't want to rush to any decisions about which one to get if it is even either of those until we have some type of time frame for when we will be moving to the States. And hopefully, one of both will still be available when it comes time for us to buy a car. Well, that's all for now. Enjoy!

Well, we are slowly getting things done in real life and I am getting things done here at NL. IN REAL LIFE I have filled my taxes for 2008, even though they are a little bit late, you get an automatic 2 month extension when you live out of the country, and I don't owe any late fees. We've made an appointment to go talk with an U.S. Immigration lawyer in Bangkok on July 20th, so we can find out our options. We had a bit of a scare concerning immigration just the past week. We contacted an immigration lawyer that was supposed to be here in Chiang Mai, they have an office here, but the lawyer doesn't come up here, and she told us that it will take about a year and I will have to make almost 4 times what I do now . But we are talking to the original lawyer and we are going in to talk to them and find out what he has to say. Also when we go to Bangkok, I will be able to talk to my former employer and hopefully get something saying about how much I made a month from them, so I can file my past taxes, and get that taken care of. ON THE NORTHLANDS I have finally finished something I've been working on here for a special foxy friend and I can start working on Original NL Skin, Wolf & Goddess Skin and the 18+ Skin, which I'm excited to be working on. Sorry everybody, there isn't a lot in this post, but I just wanted to give an update, lol. Enjoy

Tracy ( @hirondelle) and I have been doing a lot of talking about when we move to the States, and things are just messed up to say the least. First, we are having an issue with getting a mortgage, which I touched on before in a previous blog post. We can't get a mortgage until I've moved to Minnesota and I've got a job. I can't get a job until I move to Minnesota. Our contracts aren't up until September. We can't move until our contracts are up, as we don't want to break the contract because the British Council will pay for the move, or at least a good chunk of it, including flights. So that's just kind of funky right now and more on that later. Just last week, we had some really messed up issues at work, and policies need changed, but they won't be changed, and this guy was really kind of a little kid about the whole thing, and just made it worse for himself, and decided to take off for the weekend, so I had to pick up an extra class, which is good for the money, but hard on a Saturday as I already teach 6 hours of kids that day, so it ended up being 8 hours. While this is going on, Tracy ( @hirondelle)comes to a conclusion about the whole move thing. I should move out early, get a job, get THE house, and she will ship everything out to me. That really kind of threw me for a bit of a loop, and I was kind of upset about it. I don't want to leave her for a month. Hell, the two weeks she would take to go to England were hard enough. This will be at least a month. Well, the more I thought about it, the more I've come to realize, it's actually better that way. But, it's still stressful. 25 June 2009 Today we find out that it looks like I will have to leave around August - September time and Tracy ( @hirondelle)won't be able to come out until after Christmas, because of the processing for her visa and everything. One of the nice things though, is that it looks like she will be able to work when she does come out. And on top of all that, I didn't think about doing my taxes, as I haven't been living in the U.S., so I didn't really think about. I knew that I had to do it, but I figured I could just get it taken care of once we move back. Well, I have to have it done before I leave. So, that's about 4 years of back taxes. The nice thing is that I don't make a lot, and the earned income tax credit for living over seas, if I read it correctly is over $87,000.00, and I am no where even close to that. Oh well. I will be going to a tax lawyer on Monday to check it out.

Over the last few days I've been kind of busy here at The Northlands. I've been fixing the blogging skins here. For some they are missing some images and for some, the coding for IE was all messed up. Over all, I've gotten it all cleaned up. I've got the missing images taken care of, and I've worked out how to add personal logos for all our hosted blogs. The Northlands is starting to shape up and look the way I want it to, so I'm feeling really good about all this. I've created personal logos for my blog here with a logo for each skin, so when you look at my blog with one skin, you will see one logo, and when you look at my blog with another skin, you will see another logo. Next step is to clean up all the emotes for the dark skins. They look great on the light skins, but on the dark skins, some of them look really bad because they have white lines around them and makes them looks dirty and messed up. So that's my current task for The Northlands. I really enjoy doing all this for The Northlands and it's members, I just need to remember that I also need to post and talk to people. I hear that they miss me, but I can't always figure out why, lol, J/K. But I will try to be around more, and keep make blog posts. Just remember that if I go over a week, somebody give me a kick up the backside and tell me to make a blog post.

Over the last few days, while I've been working on The Northlands, I've noticed something special. It always amazes me every time I notice it. And it all started back in 2004. I was at FE and posting mostly in The Woods and for one reason or another, the board got nuked. While we were waiting for the FE to come back, which it would for a bit and something would happen and it would go away again and come back. Somebody made a post about how stupid it was that the admin couldn't keep the board up and running, and the admin flipped out and shut all of FE down. A number of us went over to PI to post and I started talking to some people and found that they were tired with the way some of the things were run, just like I was. So I talked to a friend of mine and decided to open my own board. That was Northlands Fantasy. A number of people joined us there and started setting up what I thought was a good community. It actually inspired other members to set up their own communities, and I helped them with that. In about 2005, something happened and I decided to totally walk away from all the online communities. I was away for about 2 years. During that 2 year period, I would pop in and take a look at Northlands Fantasy, and I noticed that for whatever reason, it just wouldn't die. People would come back and make a post here and a post there and just keep it ticking over with just enough to keep people, like myself, checking to see what was going on. Thank you Moonhawk. Well, one day, Tracy ( @hirondelle ) and I decided to give it kick in the pants, change the name and change the look. This was in late 2006 early 2007. The Northlands was born! But we felt that wasn't enough for those people who stuck it out and who came back and the new members, as The Northlands started to become a family. So we purchase a board with all the bells and whistles and set it up. And everybody loved it! Some people left, but for some reason, most people found it hard to stay away. Including myself. Then we lost the board And we waited, and people offered to help us with getting the board back and with getting a new board. We decided to wait and ended up waiting about 5 months but the old board never came back. We finally got tired of waiting and decided to purchase a board with all the bells and whistles again. And again a number of the family offered to help. Once we got the board up and working and invited you all here, you flooded the place with your happiness and love, and showed us how much you loved The Northlands! And some of the family members who never went to the Original Northlands came back to this one. At least once a day I hear from a member how much they love The Northlands, or how much they love us. We decide to create a donate button for those people who wanted to help out The Northlands and before we had it finished we had donations. We couldn't believe it! And then just today, I had new member of the family tell me that all the good members of FE came here. That's why this place is great. I would have to agree with that member. Thank you all. Thank you all. You all mean so much to us!

Welcome family and friends. Today I start my new blog. A few days ago, we all started a new home here at The Northlands. And just a couple of hours ago, I started a new life. A five(5) months ago, our home crashed, burned and died. For whatever reason, our hosts server crashed. And for about two(2) months they answered my emails. About three(3) months they updated their main page, and stopped answering my emails. With their server down, I couldn't access any of the information to move our home. So, Tracy ( @hirondelle) and I decided to start fresh. We got a new board, some new skins, and some old skins and here we are. Welcome to ours and your new home. My new blog. I don't remember the name of my old blog on the old Northlands, but I decided to give blogging a try again. I will try to at least make some type of post a week. If I don't do it, feel free to give me a nudge, lol. Tracy ( @hirondelle) and I became husband and wife today at 12:30 p.m. Thailand time. It's an amazing feeling. I'm so happy! Our next step is to have the marriage documents translated into English (as we are in Thailand, they are in Thai). After that is to get Tracy ( @hirondelle) a visa so she can live in the States. One of the things we have been wanting to do is to buy a house in northern Minnesota. Either in Roseau, MN or in Warroad, MN. But we are having some issues. The biggest issue is getting a mortgage for a house. So far the one bank we have talked want us to wait until we get to Minnesota and come in and talk to them. Now this would be kind of hard for us. Why? Because while we are waiting on a mortgage, where are we going to keep our things? We have the furniture we want to bring with us, the electronics, the clothes and more importantly our pets, Lily, Roso and Spike. Now I am still talking to them via email and I will try to explain our predicament. But all and all, life is great! I'm incredibly happy to be married to The Goddess, and starting our new life together. Keep an eye out for us.