I Don't Post?

People tell me that I don't post on here. Well it has been a while and I imagine since I've been gone so long, I have no audience anymore...

Back to Work

Well, I went in to work today. That means I made it back to Conroe. I got back about 2AM after several flights and long drive back from Dallas. Yesterday was about 36 hours long and spanned several timezones. That is a stinkin' long day.

During our long layover in Seoul, we went on a short tour of the area and consumed some octopus. It was an interesting experience. I've never tried consuming something that fought back. With suction cups stuck to my tongue and cheeks, the squirming tentacles were tough to consume. But I fought them and swallowed them. Flavored by the eggs and ink naturally inside, the heads did not taste as good.

Part of My Lunch:


We shared our meal with a dude from Miami that shoots documentaries. Hanging with an American was a change from the time we'd been spending with Asians and Europeans.

As far as the flights, they were loooong. I'm so over flying for a little while at least.

I've got tons of pictures. It'll take a while to go through them all, but I'll post some as soon as I get a chance.

Koh Samet

Nick and I are sitting in Koh Samet (an island we're staying at near Bangkok), paying 2 baht per minute to use internet. It's a great place. We're enjoying the island life for a few days before we head back to the States.

Our other excursion, a trip to Kanchanerburi (spelling's wrong) was a blast as well. We met many Europians and chatted with them the first night we were there. Interesting people, a lot of fun to hang out with. Apparently Bangkok is a big vacation destination for Europians. They're everywhere. We've met a couple of Americans at the airport and a couple of Canadians. That's all!

We've taken plenty of pictures. Reviewing them will get me through the flight back until my battery dies. But I will have pictures to share with all of you. We're going to eat some dinner in a bit and then see what happens from there. We'll probably end up on the beach for the festivities (it's hard not too, since this is a small island, most of the land is the beach).

I took a couple of pictures with the webcam attached to this PC as I sat here :

I bought a new hat this morning for the island trip.

This is what I see out my window. Can't quite see the beach from here. But I can see other foreigners!

This is Nick, you know, the guy I'm traveling with... He sat down at the adjacent computer to send out some emails as well.

Chelsea should be about done showering, so it's gotta be dinner time.

Later on mainlanders!

A dose of Thailand

So far, so good in Bangkok. My sleep is back on schedule and we've done a lot. Knocked out a lot of the tourist sites, temples and such yesterday. Today we hit up some malls. We're back at Chelsea's getting showered up and ready to have our fitting for the suits we ordered.

We have to shower because it's stinkin' hot and muggy here. You sweat just by stepping outside. The Winter Sales advertised here with pictures of snowflakes and blue lettering makes us laugh. I can assure you that there are no snowflakes anywhere near us.

We began our 2nd day this morning by going to a large park on the Southside of town (Lumphini Park). Nick and I split up and went running. As I was running, I got some whistles and a "Woo Woo Baby!" from a lady sitting on a park bench. The women love whitey over here.

I've taken tons of pictures already and would like to share a couple.


This one shows a restaurant that we didn't try our luck at. The menu didn't seem too appetizing, especially the last item.














The other picture shows our cook at a small restaurant (3 tables) that we ate at. He came out of the back and brought our food. We noticed that he was in his boxers. Pretty casual place...














Alright, kiddoes. Time to head back to Riverside for our fitting! Have a good day.

Nothing's Free in Seoul

Nick and I have made it to Seoul. We're sending out emails on our 3300 won/hour internet. Luckily, that translates to about $3.50. Well I'm sleepy because it's 4AM CST and I couldn't sleep on the plane. Hopefully I'll get some shut eye by the time we reach Bangkok.

We rocked Seattle for the few hours we were there this morning. Hit up the Space Needle, Pike Street Market and learned the Metro system. The Wehner Express did not properly prepare me for the Metro experience. But we got it down now. Need a tour of Seattle? I'll be happy to take you.

And good news on the Eastern front. My biggest nightmare is not a reality. They clearly mark the bathrooms in English so I know which one to go in. Whew...crisis avoided.

It's Raining in Seattle

Big surprise... We're arrived in Seattle a little later than we should have due to rain. We learned that the Asiana airlines counter was closed for the night and so we couldn't check in early and drop of our bags. This forced us to go to our hotel with suitcases in tow. We called a Shuttle from our hotel to come pick us up on "Island 3," the front desk assured me that the shuttle should arrive in the next 15 minutes.

We met a couple (a rich couple) that was waiting for that same Fairfield bus at the same island. After talking to them about their exotic adventures (of chasing the first snow of each year, sailing, owning multiple houses, island hopping, etc), we realized that it had been 30 minutes and alas, no bus. The lady who complained of breathing in too many fumes, stormed off. She returned minutes later with a limo and a driver. We were driven to the hotel in style. We parted ways and now I am up late typing this entry.

We will rise early in the morning to venture to downtown Seattle before our noon flight. Sometime tomorrow we will be in Seoul catching yet another flight to Bangkok, our final destination. This is going to be a long couple of days.

Medical News of the Day

Ok, so let me interrupt the series on Ghostriding for something somewhat educational/interesting. It's almost inter-cational.

I sent the following email to all the slackers that I email from work to see what they'd heard about this condition I stumbled upon. Email makes for easier feedback, but I know there are some that read this that I dont send the daily emails to. So here you go, straight from my outbox:

Yesterday I stumbled upon a medical condition that I’d never hear of. Intrigued, I looked into it more. So allow me to share with you your medical lesson for the day. Here are some details about the condition known as “Synesthesia.” I’m curious to see if any of you have heard of this.

Basically, it is a neurologically-based phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

There are a few different types.

Grapheme -> Color Synesthesia is the most common. It’s where people think letters have an innate color. They see letters or numbers shaded with a certain color.

"I often associate letters and numbers with colors. Every digit and every letter has a color associated with it in my head. Sometimes, when letters are written boldly on a piece of paper, they will briefly appear to be that color if I'm not focusing on it. Some examples: 'S' is red, 'H' is orange, 'C' is yellow, 'J' is yellow-green, 'G' is green, 'E' is blue, 'X' is purple, 'I' is pale yellow, '2' is tan, '1' is white. If I write SHCJGEX it registers as a rainbow when I read over it, as does ABCPDEF."

Sound -> Color Synesthesia is where certain sounds, notes or tones elicit specific colors. People see the same color every time a certain note is played. Things like dogs barking also have visual effect on these people.

Number form synesthesia is hard to understand, but basically these people think of numbers differently. They arrange them in certain position on an axis in their head, rather than in a straight line.

Personification is where people associate numbers or letters naturally with personalities or traits.

"T’s are generally crabbed, ungenerous creatures. U is a soulless sort of thing. 4 is honest, but… 3 I cannot trust… 9 is dark, a gentleman, tall and graceful, but politic under his suavity"

And My Favorite!

Lexical -> Gustatory Synesthesia – This is a more rare case, but the strangest I think. This is where people can taste words. Hearing, reading or speaking words leaves a sensation in a person’s mouth.

“Whenever I hear, read, or articulate (inner speech) words or word sounds, I experience an immediate and involuntary taste sensation on my tongue. These very specific taste associations never change and have remained the same for as long as I can remember.”

Sources that I’ve seen range from saying 1 in every 20 people have these symptoms to 1 in every 2000 people have these symptoms. All reports have the types listed in the same order as I do from most common (Grapheme-Color) to least common (Lexical-Gustatory). Still I think it’s odd that I’ve never heard of something this prevalent. A lot of people don’t realize they have these symptoms until it’s pointed out that it’s not normal.

This doesn’t affect brain development or hinder any part of people’s lives, but I thought it was an interesting condition that some people have. The main source I used was Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia) if y’all are interested. There are pictures and such. The other sources I read through had a lot of broken links, so I found wiki to be the best. Just wanted to share this and see if y’all have heard of this

The Old Man and the Pea

I met Penny at the Black Eyed Pea for lunch today. The Black Eyed Pea is a good place to find old people. I walked quickly back to my car to change shoes (I had flip flops on, but it was freezing in there so I needed some socks and shoes).

Previously I noticed a certain old man eating lunch with his grandson at a table in the center of the room. The old man and grandson walked out of the restaurant as I was walking back across the parking lot. They bid each other farewell and began to get into their cars. I stopped the old man before he opened the door to his Yellow Scion that sported both an “Aggie Grandparent” bumper sticker and a “Longhorn Grandparent” sticker.

“Excuse Me,” I said, prompting both individuals to turn and look at me.

I addressed the grandpa, “Do you ever ghostride that thing?”

The man stopped. Put his head back and laughed. “Once or twice” he said. “You must have been watching the Youtube video.”

“Yes,” I said, “It’s very popular.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in Conroe said something to me.”

I met him and his grandson and he told me about the Longhorn grandkid that filmed the popular video and the Aggie who was hiding in the back seat controlling the speed.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, shame on you. Watch the video here:
http://chriswilson06.blogspot.com/2007/08/get-out-way-let-casper-drive.html