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Timberwolf

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Blog Entries posted by Timberwolf

  2. Timberwolf

    A New Start

    By Timberwolf,

    So it really has been a long time since I've written anything of substance.  At least, I haven't written any stories or poems.  If you look at NL Archive, the last blog post I've written was on August 15, 2016, and that was about American football, titled NFL Competition.
    That's not to say that I haven't been busy creating things.  I've also been podcasting, which you can find at my Dom Dumais website, thought it's been ages since I've done a podcast as well.  I've also done a lot of work with a local hockey league called the Siam Hockey League, and I've recently rebuilt their website, and I've been asked to build a demo site for another possible job.
    My goal in restarting Rambling In The Woods, and creating a new character in @Kethlia's thread titled Pristov Eli Isles, as well as starting The Woods and being Wolf, which is always fun, but I digress.  My goal in restarting Rambling In The Woods is to sprak my creative juices and start writing poems and stories again.
    This first post, I'm going to keep short, because, well, I'm having so much fun posting on NL 4.0.   
    Always Remember: You should treat everybody better than you expect to be treated.
  3. Timberwolf

    Problems Fixed

    By Timberwolf,

    So, we recently had some problems with a few of our themes after we updated.  For The Lodge, Fancy Pants and Gamer Nerd to be specific.  The problem was, if I had one of them set as a default theme, and a member wasn't signed in, they got nothing but a blank page.  We didn't catch this right away, because we are always signed in.  We don't know how long it went on because nobody let us know that it had happed unfortunately.  Now we understand that people are busy with their real lives, so that's not a problem.  I would like to thank @Cyrainfor bringing it to our attention.  With working with the theme developer, we finally got The Lodge and Fancy Pants all sorted.  We're still waiting on Gamer Nerd though.
    Please, if you notice anything isn't working the way it should, bring it to our attention right away so we can fix it as soon as possible.  
  4. Timberwolf

    Roller Hockey

    By Timberwolf,


    Sports
    As you all know, I’m a hockey player.  I’ve written quite a bit about it here in this blog, so I’m not going to list all the blog posts, but a brief history, I grew up playing hockey, I stepped away when I was eighteen (18) years old and started again when I was forty-six (46) years old.  I play for the Flying Farangs, a foreign traveling team located here in Bangkok, Thailand.  We play in tournaments in the region, in Bangkok, and against the Thai Men’s National Team.  I also play for the Lion State, which I played with for two seasons before I had my knee surgery.  I’ve also played ball hockey a few times at the British Club as well.
     
    This past year has been great!  Back in September, I stepped back on the ice and started to prepare for a hockey tournament that was coming up in November.  This was the first real hockey I’ve played since before my knee surgery.  We ended up losing all our games on the first day, but we won all our games on the second day and ended up taking first place in our division.
     
    When I was recovering from my knee surgery, I wanted to go roller blading, so I took my skates to a local park where I used to skate before, but they stopped me and told me no skateboarding.  So, I never got to go skating, so that sucked.
     
    Then, on 03 July 2021, a friend of mine contacted me and asked if I was interested in playing roller hockey.  Of course, I was interested.  I’ve been wanting to play hockey again; I’ve never played roller hockey and I wanted to play roller hockey since the first time I got roller blades back in the 90s.  What do I need to do?  He put me in touch with the organizer, who happened to be a guy that I played hockey with one time and chatted with.  He told me what I needed to play, roller blades, gloves, shin pads and a stick.  I added a cup to the list, because you know, you must protect the family jewels!
     
    So, on Sunday, 04 July 2021 I packed my gear, and drove to the place.  We played on a futsal court, which was great as it had a center line, face-off dot, goal circles.  I think the guy that organized it made the nets for us to play.  So, the week before, they used a ball hockey ball to play, but a few guys decided to bring street hockey pucks, and a few of us were using these to warm up.
     
    Once we got started, it was pretty faced paced, and the dark team (not my team) scored an early goal.  That wasn’t so bad, but it didn’t take long for them to score their second goal.  Damn!  That was quick.  Next, we were taking the ball up the court and I didn’t see anybody open, but I did see that I had an opening on the net, so I fired a shot at the net, and buried the puck in the net.  Awesome!  The game went back and forth with both teams scoring goals.  About halfway through the game, we made a new rule, no scoring from the far side of the center line, which was cool.  Made us work a little harder, but no big deal.
     
    It was such a great night!  I had such a blast, and everybody seemed to enjoy themselves.  So much so that we are planning on doing it again the up-and-coming Sunday.  I can’t wait!
     
    Always Remember:  If you ever get the chance to do something that you’ve always wanted to try, give it a go!
  5. Timberwolf
    For the last 2 weeks, I've been teaching a special class. Well, what my work calls a camp actually. It was a lot fun. I had a class of twelve 5 year olds. Every day of the class they learned a little bit about a different countries.
     
    Day 1: Orientation, Make passports, Make photo albums Day 2: Went to United Kingdom Day 3: Went to New Zealand Day 4: Went to Australia Day 5: Went to United States Day 6: Went to Canada Day 7: Went to China Day 8: Went to South Korea Day 9: Went to Japan Day 10: Back to Thailand

    It was a lot of fun! The kids were great. On the last day, we gave them certificates for completing the camp (see photos).


    For the first week, I started each day, doing 3 hours every morning with the kids, then they would go to lunch, and I would work on things for the teacher in the afternoon and the afternoons later in the week. then off to my normal classes to teach in the evening.


    We had one teacher that did Monday and Tuesday afternoon, and the kids loved him, and he loves the kids, but his normal teaching work took him away for the rest of the week, so they hired another teacher to cover him the rest of the course. Well, as it worked out, he is a shit teacher with kids. What he wants is to teach University Students. Oh, and he would prefer to only teach the University students that are girls. Funny how that is. But hey, at least the kids knew he was a shit teacher. The only problem with this, is that then I had to teach the second week in the afternoons on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. So on Tuesday, I taught from 9am to 3pm, then I had to hightail it to my evening class and teach them 4pm to 6pm, and I had to do that again on Thursday. I was freaking beat! But like I said, I loved it.
  6. Timberwolf

    Changes

    By Timberwolf,


    Music
    Let me start off by saying that I've been a Black Sabbath and Ozzy fan for quite a long time.  Now that doesn't mean I have or had listened to everything they put out.  There is a lot of music there, and as much as I like Black Sabbath and Ozzy Osbourne, they weren't and aren't my favorite artist.  
     
    So, in 2003, I saw Ozzy Osbourne on some talk show, I don't remember which one it is now, and he was on with his daughter, Kelly, and they did this song.
     
     
    It just blew me away and I immediately fell in love with this song.  I have since done some research on this song.  This piano was by Tony Iommi and the lyrics were by Geezer Butler and was inspired by  Bill Ward's breakup with his first wife.   Black Sabbath did this song in their album Vol. 4 which was released in 1972.  This is Black Sabbath's version of this amazing song which is so heartbreaking.
     
     
    In 2010, one of my favorite rap artists, Eminem, sampled Changes for his song Going Through Changes for his album Recovery.  He talks about his problems with drugs and losing one of his closest friends Proof.  How he fought through his struggles for his daughters and for himself.  This song, for me, is also heartbreaking, but very inspiring as he has fought through his difficulties.
     
     
     
    The final version of this song, which I happened to stumble upon just a few weeks ago, just tears my heart out.  This version is by Charles Bradley, which he sung after losing his mother, which really hits home for me.
     
     
    Some of you may know this, I'm a huge music lover.  I love a lot of different genres of music.  These are different versions of the same song and inspire some different feelings in me.  I love when a song sung by different people can do that.
     
    Always Remember:  Keep an open mind because you will never know what new thing you will end up loving.
  7. Timberwolf

    Social Media

    By Timberwolf,

    So as of today, I've re-added The Northlands to Facebook and Twitter.
    Here is the link to the Facebook page:
    https://www.facebook.com/thenorthlands/ 
    Here is the twitter page:
    https://twitter.com/TheNorthlands 
    Also, if you look in your profile, you have the option to link your Facebook account and/or your Twitter account.
    Have fun!
  8. Timberwolf

    2020 Honda BR-V

    By Timberwolf,


    Life
    For years, Tracy has been trying to convince me to drive a car. She wants us to do some road trips in the UK and here in Thailand. We’ve done road trips on the bike, and as lovely as those are, I’ve never felt comfortable with taking one puppy, let alone two, on the bike. Since I’ve started my new job, I travel farther for work. I used to ride for about 20 minutes to get to work, now it’s just shy of an hour, and Tracy has been concerned about my safety, understandably. I was starting to come round to the idea of driving a car here in Thailand, and then one day, on my way to work, I got caught in the rain. That normally wouldn’t be such a problem, but then, on my way home from work, on the same day, I got caught in the rain again! At least on the way to school, I could pull over and put my rain gear on, but when it happened on my way home, I wasn’t in a place where I couldn’t do that, and was soaked. I got home and told Tracy I was ready for a car. 
     
    We talked about it, and I told her that I wanted to go out with a driving school instructor, if they had them in Thailand, and practice driving so I could see what it was like to drive a car on the wrong side of the road and be on the wrong side of the car. 
     
    Now, in the States, I can drive an automatic and a manual, but as I felt everything would be on the wrong side, decided I wanted to start with an automatic, and get used to that. The driving school instructor said that was a good, because she only had automatic. The day arrived and she took me to a deserted area of Bangkok and we switched sides of the car and off I went. She took me through some Bangkok traffic, a lot of Bangkok traffic actually, , then she took me to a parking garage at a mall to try parking, but it was full, so she took me out on to the express way and we drove out to the airport and back. Then through some more Bangkok traffic and back to our apartment. When I was finished, she said I was fine and could take my driving test any time I wanted.  
     
    Now, for cars. Tracy and I did a lot of talking about cars, should we go new, should we go used. We decided on used, and an SUV, so we looked at some of the used car dealerships here in Bangkok, and first we looked at a Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, but thought we wouldn’t be able to get it into the parking spot. Next, we looked at the Nissan Juke. Nice little SUV, but Tracy felt I was almost too big for it. After that, we looked at a Ford EcoSport. We almost got one of these, but in the end, we felt we couldn’t trust used car dealerships. 
     
    So, we decided to go for new. I did a ton of researched on car makes and models, and wanted the best we could get within the budget we had set, and still get an SUV if possible. Once we decided what we wanted, we contacted dealership and went in to talk with them about what we wanted. Interesting thing, in my experience, when getting a new car in the States, you start off with a barebones model and as you add options, your price goes up. Here in Thailand, at least for the car we chose, we chose the model and it was a certain price (not going to discus how much we paid), and that’s with all the options. If you wanted to pay less, they start removing options. This was great for us, because then we could get everything wanted and the price would remain the same. 
     
    So, we ended up going for a Honda BR-V. Here in Thailand, they have 2 versions of it. There is the V and the SV. The V is a 5 seater and the SV is a 7 seater. We decided on the V version because we wanted more room in the back for the puppies and for my hockey gear. 
     
    We picked up the car last night and it’s amazing! And there is so much more space in the back than we thought. We need to get more puppies.  
     
    Sorry about such a long post, but I’ve been holding this in for a few weeks. 
     
    Anyways, my positive of the day is getting a new car! 
     
    Always Remember: If there is something you want, it's never to late to get it.
  9. Timberwolf

    Update

    By Timberwolf,

    So, just to keep you all in the loop, when we started NL 4.0, we were on IP version 4.2.4.  There has been an update that consisted of security patches.  I have installed the update, so if you encounter any issues (outside of appearing to be logged out) please either post them or send me a message. 
    Happy posting!
  10. Timberwolf
    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
  11. Timberwolf

    Going Back To Karate

    By Timberwolf,


    Karate
    As most of you know, back in March, I had knee surgery, which I wrote a blog post about back on September 14th, 2020.  Since before that, I've thought about going back to martial arts.  There is a place near me that teacher Brazilian Jiujitsu (BJJ), but to I have a few issues with going to that place, which I won't get into here.  To go along with that, I really wanted to go back to karate. 
     
    There are basically two (2) different disciplines in karate.  There is Japanese karate and Okinawan karate.  Here is a one of my favorite youtube people for martial arts, Jesse Enkamp, talking about 10 differences between Okinawan karate and Japanese karate.
     
     
    Now, there isn't anything wrong with Japanese karate or Okinawan karate, it's just that Okinawan karate was where I got my start when I still lived in the States.
     
    Now, in Thailand, I studied Japanese karate.  To be more specific, I studied JKS Shotokan Karate, which I really do enjoy.  I studied for about 3 years.  You can see my belt tests here with these videos:
     
    10th kyu (White belt) to 8th kyu (Orange belt) test:
     
    8th kyu (Orange belt) to 5th kyu (1st purple belt) test:
     
    5th kyu (1st purple belt) to 4th kyu (2nd purple belt) test:
     
    4th kyu (2nd purple belt) to 2nd kyu (2nd brown belt) test:
     
    2nd kyu (2nd brown belt) to 1st kyu (3rd brown belt) test:
     
    1st kyu (3rd brown belt) to Shodan (1st black belt) test:
     
    I felt so honored when I achieved my Shodan belt.  The problem was, my life got busy, and I moved away from karate for a bit, and when I did come back, I didn't agree with some of the things that I saw happening at the dojo, and I had a really hard time with that and I ended up walking away from the dojo.  I came back a year or so later, and it was pretty much the same, just fewer students.  
     
    Fast forward to November 2020, and I feel like I'm ready to go back to karate, actually, I'm kind of craving it.  So I went back to karate on October 22nd:
     
    https://www.facebook.com/Timberwolf1771/posts/10157352946052676 <=== My FB post about it.
     
    I have since done a total of 4 classes, with last night being my 4th class.  Now, I can't do as deep of stances as I used to, not yet anyway, and I can't quite move the way I used to, but I will get there.  It's just going to take some time, and I need to be patient.  Katas are slowly starting to come back, and I'm seeing different layers of the katas again which is nice.  Also last night, we were recorded doing the kata teki-shodan.  
     

    teki-shodan.mp4  
    I'm really happy to be back doing karate, and I'm looking forward to doing more.  I'm really looking forward to doing more karate.  I don't know if I will do any more tests, but I will keep learning and finding more and more layers to the katas.
     
    Always Remember:  You should do the things you love, even if you don't get the chance to do so in the autumn of your life.  Still do it, because you love it.
     
  12. Timberwolf

    Losing Weight - Week 5

    By Timberwolf,


    Weight Loss Update
    So, here I am, 5 weeks in.  Honestly, on this day, I’m feeling kind of down.  I haven’t lost any weight, and for the past two weeks, I’ve only done a few sun salutations, and my hockey game, back on April 21st, I had a hockey game, and my knee felt so bad that I thought my hockey career was going to be finished at the end of this season.  I feel like the guy in this picture, and I'm not really very happy about it.
     

     
    One good thing that has happened, during and after my hockey game on the April 28th, my knee felt loads better, but I still haven’t done much of anything else.  I have been eating better a little better, which probably helps.
     
    I know this isn’t a race, and it’s better to lose weight at a moderate pace instead of a fast pace, but honestly, I am feeling a just a bit down.  I’m sure there are other contributing factors to this, but I thought it would be best to be honest about how I’m feeling here, nullas this is what this space is for.  I’m sure that in a few days, I will feel much better.
     
    I’m going to keep at it and do my best to make a blog post about it about every week to two (2) weeks.  As I said, I’m sure that I will get out of this funk in the next few days, especially as tonight, I have a Flying Farangs practice at the new ice arena that has been built here in Bangkok.
     
    Always Remember:  Don’t stop when times get tough!  You have the strength to keep going.
  14. Timberwolf

    15 Years

    By Timberwolf,


    Poems
    So, on October 9, @hirondelle and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary of being together.  On October 09, 2005, after 40+ hours of travel from Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI) to John F. Kennedy International Airport (where I spent 8 hours) to Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport (where I spent 2 hours in the middle of the night) to Taiwan International Airport to Don Muang International Airport, which at the time, was the only international airport in Bangkok just to hold @hirondelle in my arms for the first time.  I'd never traveled so far in my life, let alone to fly internationally.  It was so worth it! 
     
    🥰😍😘💌💘💝💖💗💓💞💕💟❣️❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🤎🖤🤍🤟👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨👨‍❤️‍💋‍👨👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩👩‍❤️‍👨👨‍❤️‍👨👩‍❤️‍👩♥️
     
    Yes, I know, that's a lot of hearts, but @hirondelle knows.   
     
    Anyway, for our 15 year anniversary, I decided I would write her a poem.  It was a bit last minute, but it was something that I wanted to do for her.  I have already given it to her, but I wanted to post it here as well.  I mean, this is one of the reasons I created a blog for, to share my writing.
     
    Oh yeah, before you read this, I made a mistake when I originally wrote it and something in my head told me it was 16 years.  
    I have since fixed it though.  
     
    15 Years
     
    Can you believe
    On this day
    15 years ago
    I stepped off
    Of the plane
    I couldn’t even
    Give you a hug
    Cuz of my bags
    So, I leaned in
    Oh, so close
    Just to be near
    To feel your body
    Next to mine
    You leaned up
    And kissed me
    Like I imagined
    1,000 times before
    We have had
    Some hard times
    We have had
    Some amazing times
    All based in love
    And now it’s been
    15 short years
    And I still have
    Not a regret
    I love you more
    Then I did before
    I love you
    My Darkness
    My Air
     
    ©October 8, 2020
    Domnick M. Dumais
     
    Always Remember: If you love somebody, tell them right now.  Don't hesitate.  
  15. Timberwolf

    Lost - Part 2

    By Timberwolf,


    Stories
    Part 2
     
    As the sound of the truck disappeared in the distance, Mindy collapses to the ground in tears.  “What are we going to do, Sean?  What the hell are we going to do?”
     
    Sean reaches down and picks up the bags and brings them over to sit down and sit next to Mindy.  “First thing we need to do is check what supplies we have.  He said there was enough food for two days for the two of us, a knife and a revolver with five rounds in it as well as a tent.  Let’s check”, Sean said as he started emptying one of the bags.
     
    Mindy nods to Sean and picks up one of the other bags and starts to remove the contents from it, and Sean grabs the third bag and empties out with rest of the supplies.  “OK, what do we have”, Sean said as he picked up the notebook and the pencil.  He opened the notebook and on the first page was a small note from Micah.
     
    As I said to you, you have enough food for two days for two people, and a tent.  You will also find a blanket.  Don’t lose it.  It gets cold out here at night.  Use this notebook to keep track of things like how much food you’ve eaten, landmarks, and anything else you feel is important.  
     
    Good Luck!
    Micah
     
    Sean handed the notebook to Mindy, “Here, you can write down our inventory while I set up the tent and start a fire?”
     
    “Start a fire?” asked Mindy hysterically.  “Why would you do that?  They will be able to see us….”
     
    Sean grabbed Mindy and forced her to look at him.  “Stop!  I need to start a fire so we can stay warm.  We are fine for tonight.  He said they won’t come after us until noon tomorrow.  Now organize our supplies and make a note of everything we have while I start the fire and set up the tent.”  With that, Sean went back to starting the fire.  Once the fire was started, he and Mindy set up the tent for the night.
     
    ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
     
    A few hours before dawn, Sean’s watch alarm went off.  He quickly got up, got some water and a little bit of breakfast for the both of them ready and then woke up Mindy.  While they ate, Seans said “We need to get moving as soon as possible.  The more distance we can cover before the sun rises, the harder it will be for the hunters to find us.”  The mention of the hunters brought Mindy around quickly and they finished their small breakfast, packed the last of their supplies, and headed north.
     
    After walking for a few hours, Sean turned them northwest.  “Why are we turning?” Mindy asked, looking back the way they came.
     
    “I don’t want to make it easy for them.  I think they will expect us to go one of the four main directions, so I started off going one way, and then changed, and I will change again in a few hours,” Sean said looking over his shoulder at Mindy.
     
    “But won’t that take us longer to get to the boundary?  Won’t we run out of food?” Mindy asked on the edge of hysterics again.  
     
    Sean stopped and took ahold of Mindy’s shoulders.  If we walk in a straight line, it will make easier for them to find us.  If we change directions every few hours or so, but keep heading towards a boundary, it will be better for us.  Yes, we only have two days worth of supplies, but we have a knife,” Sean said patting his left hip, “and I have this revolver,” patting his right hip.  “I also know how to hunt and set traps.  We will be fine if we start moving before dawn and stop after the sun sets.  We can do this.”
     
    Mindy took a deep breath, visibly pulling herself together.  “Ok.  You’re right.  We can make it.”
  16. Timberwolf

    Timberwolf - Losing Weight - Week 3

    By Timberwolf,


    Weight Loss Update
    OK, so here I am, three (3) weeks from my blog post Losing Weight - Week 1. 
     
    The reason I didn't do a blog post last week, is because I was on holiday in Koh Chang with @hirondelle, and some friends.  
     
    The good thing is that I haven't gained any weight.  I'm holding steady at about 237 lbs.  I've also started doing Sun Salutation A. 
     

     
    Now, I'm not doing them every day, but I am working towards that.  At the moment, I'm doing 5 in a row when I do them.  I did them for the first few days when I started, and then I didn't do them while we were on holiday, and then I did them a couple of times since we've been back.  Not enough, but it's a start.
     
    Always Remember:  There is no failure, there is just a new starting point.
  17. Timberwolf
    So, I've been talking about how I need to lose weight.  And I even talked about how I need to lose weight in the My fat ass thread here at NL.  I figured this would be a good way to keep track of my weight loss.  
     
    So, one of the things I decided I was going to do a few things.
     
    Drink less beer.  When there is a game, football or hockey, on TV, I drink two to three beers.  I decided, that no matter what is going on, I'm going to only drink one beer a day at the most. Drink less pop.  I don't generally drink a lot of pop any more.  I used to drink a lot of it, but I'm going to keep it down.  One of the things I'm going to do is, on the days, game days, instead of drinking two or three beers, I will drink one pop.   I'm also going to start doing yoga again.  A minimum of three Sun Salutation As a day.    
    On thing I plan on doing is keeping a weekly log of how things are going.  If I miss a week, please feel free to give me a nudge to get back on track.   
     
    So, as of this morning, I weight 237 lbs (108kg), which is about 20 lbs (9kg) less than I thought I was.  I thought I was up near 260 lbs (118kg), so that's good.  That doesn't mean I'm not going to work as hard.  It just means I have less to lose than I thought.  
     
    The start of my weight loss was yesterday.  There was a hockey game, and I only had one beer, and I had 1 coke.  When @hirondelle and I went to bed last night, we both did 3 Sun Salutation As.  It actually felt pretty good to do them.  I've gotten pretty shit at doing them, but it felt good at doing them.
     
    There are a few reasons that I've decided to lose weight.  First and foremost, I just want to feel healthier.  I'm out of shape, and I know that once I start losing weight, the right way, I will start getting back into shape at the same time.  Another reason for me to lose weight, is it will help improve my hockey game again.  I feel I have gotten slower since my knee surgery and all the lock downs and gaining weight.  It really sucks, because I was starting to get decent.  The final reason for me wanting to lose weight is because my knee has started to feel sore, and losing weight will take some of the stress off of my knee.  So getting in shape, taking stress off of my knee, I think this will set me back on the correct path of getting my skill level back up for hockey.... I hope.  
     
    Well, that's all for my first post.  See you next week some time.
     
    Always Remember:  If you set your mind to it, you can do it.
  18. Timberwolf
    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.
  19. Timberwolf

    Welcome To My Fat Ass

    By Timberwolf,


    Welcome
    Welcome to the NL Community blog that is focused on helping our member with losing weight and their struggles with with weight.  All are welcome to make blog posts and comments, all that we ask is that people are respectful to each other. 

    In this blog, we can talk about what exercises we are doing, our eating habits, our triggers, or anything that surrounds our weight loss.
     
    The most important thing is that we support and encourage each other in this journey.
     
    Thank you,
     
    @Timberwolf
  20. 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.
  21. Timberwolf
    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.
  22. Timberwolf
    Well, yesterday was pretty good. Only had a few times where I really craved a cigarette, was a little sore from working out the day before with my buddy, and I got a lot of work done on the new thing for The Northlands.


    Today I go back to work. But how am I doing?  Well, I feel good about getting things done with the new thing for The Northlands, I'm feeling a little bit more sore from working out, lol. It usually takes two days. But I feel frustrated and full of anxiety. Everything our cleaning lady does, seems to drive me up a wall. I mean, from the beginning, she wasn't like one of my favorite people, but today it just seems a lot worse than normal. Now, I know this has to do with quitting smoking. I haven't snapped at her or anything, and I'm trying to be good, but sometimes it's really hard. To give an example, I was looking for some scissors so I could cut open the packaging of the patch I'm using to help me stop smoking, but the scissors weren't where they were supposed to be, and they weren't where they have been. so I got a little upset about it, and made a really snide cutting comment about not wanting to wear the patch anyway, thinking she had moved the scissors, she tends to move things, and here @hirondelle had actually moved them. Now I feel bad about making the comment, not only because it was @hirondelle who moved the scissors, but also because I know it's the way I'm feeling because of quitting smoking. It's nobody's fault I'm all wound up tighter than shit on the inside. I just need to find a way to release it some how without picking up another cigarette.


    Hopefully it will start getting easier again, lol.
  23. Timberwolf

    Sukhothai Motorcycle Trip 2022

    By Timberwolf,


    Travel
    @hirondelle and I had been talking about doing a trip to Sukhothai for quite a few years, but we never actually sat down to plan it.  Mostly, because my schedule is pretty busy.  This year, I ended up having a five (5) day weekend, so we decided to go for it.  
     
    Now, before we get started, to give you an idea of how far this trip actually is, it was just shy of 851km (just shy of 529miles) round trip.  That’s about 425.5km (264 miles) to Sukhothai from our home.  We decided it would be best to break this up over two days, which is something we would normally do.
     
    One more thing before I get started with this journey.  Once we got started on this journey, for our first stop, we stopped at a PTT gas station and almost all PTT gas stations have an Amazon Café.  Amazon Café has OK coffee and good iced lemon tea.  But it’s one of those things that is just special for when you travel.  It’s a nice little rest area.  They have a covered area outside that you sit and relax while you have a break, and some locations have an inside air-conditioned area to relax in as well.  This has become our favorite rest stop in all our journeys since this trip.  
     
    Just to put things into perspective, when we used to do our road trips around northern Thailand, we would go from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai to Chiang Saen to Thaton to Chiang Dao to Chiang Mai, about 565km (351 miles).  The trip we did right after we bought the Honda Rebel was Bangkok to Kanchanaburi to Sangklaburi to Saiyok to Nakhon Pathom to Bangkok which is 699km (434 miles).  So, this was our biggest journey on a bike to date.  
     
    When we were planning, we decided that would we stop in Nakhon Sawan, which is about four (4) hours out of Bangkok, 239km (149.5miles).  One thing that happened early on, when we made one of our stops, we realized that @hirondelle had forgotten her phone.  There was a bit of a panic at first, but we decided that we would just continue on without it.  Also, during this portion of the trip, we were on a nice stretch of road where the traffic was flowing quite nicely.  There was a section that I was doing about 130kph (81mph).  While doing this, there were a group of bikes that passed us and not thinking, I just picked up the pace a bit.  Before you know it, I was cruising along at 147 kph (91mph).  It was at this point, I decided to let go of some of that throttle and we continued coasting at between 120kph (75mph) and 125kph (78mph).  We stayed at a nice hotel there called The Paradiso JK Design Hotel.  Once we stopped, we headed to the local mall to get some drinks and snacks and then back to the hotel.  We had dinner at the hotel, which was some delicious Thai food.  They also had a very good breakfast, which was nice.  The staff were really friendly and helpful.  
     
    After breakfast, I packed up the bike and we headed out for our next stop.  Sriwilai Sukhothai Resort and Spa.  This portion of the trip was a little over 3 hours, 190km (118miles).  There were some scenic bits of this road, which was nice. Nothing too fast again, just cruising between 100kph (62mph) and 120kph (75mph).  We pulled in to Sriwilai Sukhothai Resort and Spa in the early afternoon.  Sriwilai Sukhothai had this amazing lily pond, which was huge!  They had four building that surrounded it, one of which was the building we were in.  Once we got to our room, @hirondelle relaxed for a bit, and I went and had a massage.  One of my favorite things while on holiday.  Once that was done, we had dinner then headed out to Sukhothai Historical Park to see the ruins at night.  It was supposed to be amazing, and it sure didn’t disappoint!  It was beautiful and we got some amazing pictures.  After we wondered around the lit-up parts of the park, we headed back to our resort.  In the morning, we got up and went to have breakfast, and that turned in a big pain in the ass.  We went to the restaurant, gave them our room number, found a table, and went to get our food from the buffet.  They approached us and said we couldn’t eat there.  There was some confusion about us having breakfast there.  Long story short, there was some mess up in the booking and we didn’t book breakfast and ended up having to pay for it.  Whatever.  We then went back out to the historical park and had a look at it during the day and took a lot of pictures.  It’s really cool.  Some of the best ruins in Thailand, in my opinion.  We then went to this lovely little restaurant the was kind of dead, and once we sat down, people started coming in and giving them business.  After lunch, we headed back to the resort and got massages and finished off the day with a nice dinner.  
     
    We got up in the morning and headed back to Bangkok, with us deciding to stop in Sing Buri, which was almost five (5) hours, 281 km (175miles) from Sukhothai.  We booked a room at Zen Garden Resort.  Oh was, was this place bad!  The room they gave us smelt like feet, didn’t look very clean, had no food or restaurant or anything.  We were almost tempted to stay there, but in the end, we just couldn’t do it.  We left and found this amazing little resort called Je t’aime café & villa.  They had four (4) rooms.  Of course.  Room L, Room O, Room V, Room E.  We had Room E.  They had a nice little restaurant there, and we had dinner and ordered our breakfast.  The only bad thing was that the beds were so small, but we did sleep together in the same bed.  
     
    We had a lovely little breakfast in the morning and then packed the bike to head to Bangkok, which was just shy of three (3) hours, 141km (88miles).  The last stretch is always the worst.  You want to stop, and have breaks, but you don’t want to stop, because you’re almost home.  It’s so hard.  We took breaks, but I think we just didn’t rest enough, and the very last bit was agony.
     
    Outside of the last little bit, the trip was actually really good.  I really enjoyed making that trip on the bike.  Makes me want to do more long trips on the bike.
     
    Always Remember:  If you really want to go someplace, set time aside to go.
  24. Timberwolf
    Hey all, I'd just like to keep you posted on what's going on with The Northlands. I will continue to post an update in the Forum News area, but I will also post in here.


    To start with, I've updated the blogs. The software for the blogs is supposed to be more streamlined and runs smoother and fit better with IP.Boards 3.1.4. If I see anything that is totally amazing going on with the blogs, I will let you know.


    Also, I tested out a thing that put the Active User list (who's online) over on the side tab. It didn't really look right there. Everything looked all crammed in, and it really looked strange looking at the bottom of the page and not seeing the Active User list down there. So, I just removed it.


    Now, About a month ago or so, I added a facebook like button to the bottom of threads. I told you about that before in the Forum News area, and we had some issues with the image that was being sent to facebook. Well, I've gotten that sorted out, and I've added another button to the bottom of the page (see image below):


    On the left hand side, you see the facebook like button, and now on the right, you will see the tweet button so know you can tweet a thread if you like it.


    There is still the one thing I talked about before, that I'm still working on, that will make things smother for signing in from the main page. We're adding what's called IP.Content, which is like what we have now, but it's fully integrated with the board, so we won't have the issue of people trying to sign in like they did before. And everything will be linked, and it will pull information right from the board and things like that. That's going to take a lot of work, but I'm really looking for to working with it.


    There is also a lot of things I'm looking at from the Invision Power Community, but you will just have to wait and see what's coming with that.
  25. Timberwolf
    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.

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