Month: November 2008

Sawadee Khrap

The temperature plummeted last night – yes PLUMMETED to 68C last night – freezing.  Like I said in a earlier post I am now getting used to Chiang Mai weather and anything below 72C is starting to get very cold – our normal days are about 80.

The blankets are out now and we expect the temps to drop even more as we go into the cool season – perhaps as low as 55 F, and that’s really cold here – 12 C. 

All windows are shut to stop the cross flows – I may even have to go out and buy a small space heater – to take the edge off in the mornings.

Such a deal.

Ciao

Sawadee Khrap

News Headlines :  Bangkok Post Friday Nov 28th.

What the hell – not much to say – Chiang Mai is still a great place to be and live.  I hope the mess is over soon.

Thanks David for e-mailing me on this article –

Ciao

 

 

Sawadee Khrap

I have tried to stay away from Vista – until now.  I just loaded the Adobe Production Suite and find I needed more memory, so I increased it to 7G and low and behold I find that XP can only address up to 3G.  Bummer!!!!

So now I have Vista loaded and back in business.  I also didn’t like Adobe Premier and stuck with Sony Vegas to make my DVD’s.  But now that I have a good version of Premier (CS4) to test – I find that I am liking it better than Vegas and I think it’s making better videos – clearer, brighter, etc.   Wouldn’t you know.

So today was the first day I am back on line again – still have some computer issues but running and I am reluctant to shut it down again.  So we will see how long it runs this time

Ciao

 

 

Sawadee Khrap

Just thought I’d add a couple of shots of some friends here in Chiang Mai.

First here is a shot taken at Chatt’s birthday party last week.   Chatt is Kevin’s partner and our old neighbor in the Condo we used to live at.  This was take at a small restaurant off Huay Kaew Rd.  Chatt also went to the same YMCA English classes with Nu while we lived there.

That’s Nu, Chatt, Kevin

 

And here is a couple of shots of David Cooper.  These were taken with my small Canon One-Shot at Loy Krathong 2008 when we let off our Krathong and fire balloon.

David’s partner is Tay and they are moving to a new house  – I’ll try and get some shots later

 

 

Both are good friends here in Chiang Mai – dinners, shows and just great friendship –

 

 

Sawadee Khrap

We went to see the Chiang Mai Loy Krathong Parade last night.  Didn’t want to miss getting photos of the boys, especially for the blog.  We weren’t disappointed.

What a great parade,

boys, boys, boys. 

We first had dinner at a Pizza House around the corner from the Tapae Gate where the parade started.  We got there just before it began to move so I had a good chance to get some shots while they lined up.  Much better than while they are walking – some control of the lighting – but not much it was fairly dark and so the images are a little grainy.

 

Please enjoy the PARADE SLIDESHOW

 

 

After walking through the parade area we went to the Mae Ping River to float our Krathong.  Nu picked this one out of the many vendors along the road by the Super Highway.   Then we bought a fire balloon and took it home to release. 

 

 I had to retire early because my foot was acting up from the accident with the motorcycle last week – I think I did fracture something in my foot – it wasn’t broken but it was really sore and felt more like a fracture than a sprain.  Oh Well, staying off it for a while.

Here’s the KRATHONG & FIRE BALLOON SLIDESHOW

 

And finally – update on Nu’s Ladyboy Beauty Contest at school.  He came in 4^th out of 12 contestants – just behind the 3 girls that were in the contest.    It wasn’t a Ladyboy contest !!!  – it was a full Beauty Contest for everyone in the school.  

Amazing, 4^th when competing with real ladies in the contest.  Had it been a Ladyboy contest I am sure he would have taken first place.  In addition, he had done his own makeup that morning  – not professionally as he had done when wearing his Lanna Dress some posts back. 

I’ll even bet that if we had the professional makeup job done – he could have taken 3^rd or maybe even 2^nd place.  Here’s a shot of the 1^st place winner.  Isn’t she a beauty !!!!!   

He didn’t take a camera, so I don’t have shots of the others – next time.

 

All for now   Ciao

 

 

Sawadee Khrap

Here are several shots of the coconut trees lining to entrance to our cul-de-sac and a shot of the fruit on one of the Palm trees there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is a shot of Nu as he prepares to leave for school as a contestant in the Yee-Peng Beauty Contest at his new school.

 

 

If he can be one of the top three winners he will represent the school in the big Yee-Peng, Loy Krathong Parade in Chiang Mai on Thursday night.

He is supposed to call me and let me know as soon as he wins – I think he will but only time will tell now –  I’ll have more on the next post.

 

 

 

SIDE NOTE:    Temperatures plunged last night to 67F – freezing, damn it was cold – reminded me of the first time I came to San Francisco Bay Area from Omaha, Nebraska.  It was 50F and I thought I would never get warm – I had just left 0 or -0 temperatures and was never so cold – the Bay Area was cold !  — and now I feel the same way here – 60F and I’m freezing – Wow I am getting used to the climate.

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

Nov 13, will be Thailand Loy Krathong Day.  Festivities have already started, fireworks all night long, but not officially.  Last night at Mae Jo University they held the “Yee Peng San Sai “ floating lantern ceremony.  Nu and I could not make it but Kevin and Chatt went and sent me these pictures so I could post them.

 

 

 

  The last shot shows the hot air balloons that were let go – almost 5000 I am told, let go at the same time –  really wish I could have been there.

 

 

Tonight, Tuesday, I will bring Nu back to the same lady’s shop that he rented his Lanna Dress last time.  He is going to be in a school Ladyboy beauty contest, and if one of the top three will represent his school in the Yee Peng parade Wednesday night in Chiang Mai.  The Official kick off to Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai.  I will be there and promise to get some shots.

  

Ciao

Here’s something I’ll never understand.  It’s about 85F today and this is how they dress to ride a motorcycle.  I was sweating just looking at him (or her, can’t really tell – but the shoes look male).  We had the air-conditioner on.

It can be hotter than hell and all they worry about getting a tan – dark skin means you work in the fields – light or better yet “white” skin is the preferred choice.  The store shelves are full of skin whitener products – most of which I am sure they are not allowed to sell in the States but are still pushed on the un-suspecting Thais.  Amazing – but I must admit that the light skinned boys are really cute here – of course so are the darker versions but they really don’t want to hear that.

Ciao 

Sawadee Khrap  – A look at our new place.

 

 

 

 

First our front yard and shots of my new studio – I will start to setup as soon as I can install the curtains – next week, this weekend is full already.

 

 

 

 

Here is our living room and shot of the dining room and you can also see the kitchen area – now that we have it somewhat furnished it is looking like home – Nu still wants to make a meditation area next to the living room.

 And the massage room and computer room – and if I didn’t show you before – another shot of Nu’s new Honda 125 Wave.  He’s been going to school with it now and everything is working great.

Ciao

 

Sawadee Khrap

I want to introduce WebCamMax -Add videos, pictures and effects to virtual/real Webcam and broadcast on messengers.  Great program, I use it for CamFrog, MSN, Yahoo, Skype – and so on to control my video-cam. 

In addition I will also receive a free copy to use for this plug on the blog – such a deal I can’t pass it up.

Here’s the main menu:

1. Use your camera

2. Show your screen

3. Show a movie

4. Show photos

5. Make a background and just doodle.

Here are some actual examples:

WebCamMax.com-screen

It is really a powerful program and gives you complete control of your camera and what you broadcast. 

I use it to show a pre-recorded clip of myself when I visiting any site – that way I don’t have to worry what or how I am dressed at the time and still can present a proper image to the group.

I have also used it several times to show someone what or how I was working with my desktop or show a particular window and what to click on for a program.  This made it really slick – just click and click back to the main screen.

And I have used it to show movie clips C2C. 

So again here’s what it can do:

 Add Effects –Select from thousands of local and online effects and add them over your webcam

• Transform: apply Distorting Mirror, Fire, Mosaic, Line, Color, Snow or Water to your video show
• Mask: wear all kinds of glasses and hats, or change your hair style, or even pretend to be a famous people
• Background: Change your background to the place you like
• Frame: add some Frame to make your video cooler
• Emotion: use smileys you like to express your feeling better
• Text: type what you want to say on the video box directly
• A large number of online effects to download
• Customize effects properties: change the effect’s color, position, size, speed and etc.
• Create your own effects: Just follow the guide and it’s really easy and fun

Record Video – Add some cool effects and record your unique video show to broadcast on YouTube or your Blog which will definitely attract lots of people and surprise them.

• Save recorded videos in Non-loss AVI format or ASF format which you can easily play and edit.
• Snap your webcam, a movie or your screen to make fantastic photos and post on your Blog.
• Save pictures in JPG, BMP, GIF or PNG format according to your requirement.

Virtual Webcam – Play a variety of videos or pretend to be somebody else on messengers even without a real webcam. Share your screen and pictures with friends.

• Play movie for your friends or trick them with a fake video.
• Share the whole or part of your screen with your friends
• Play photo slides for your friends
• Fast switch between virtual and real webcam

Enable PinP – Select Webcam, Screen, Movie, Picture or Color to be the PinP Source.

• Using the fantastic Picture in Picture feature you can broadcast different sources at the same time.
• Set your PinP source: you can set your webcam, video, picture, your screen or color as your PinP source and broadcast with the main source at the same time.
• Customize your PinP: you can adjust the size and position of the PinP as you want and set the PinP quantity according to your requirement.

Enable Doodling – Paint on the video box freely and directly.

• By creating designs directly on your video, you can make your video chat funnier and cooler.
• Select painting tools to create and edit your drawings including Pencil, Eraser and Color Bucket. Change the line size and color if needed. Instantly wipe off the part you don’t like with the eraser. And don’t forget to
  save your works for the later use.

Try it  – you’ll love it.