happenings

James Costa is an IDIOT

I love how idiots like James use the comments section to put their crap ass spam out there. So James - I blocked your IP and I am letting the world know that you are a tool. Enuff said. I also hope your crappy online company burns a slow and painful death on the web. moron.

thanks

The Protecto Phone

My friend Jesper and I used to talk about that someone needed to write an app for our palm or nokia phones that allowed you to tag certain entries in your phone book to make sure you did not call them at the wrong time. Meaning - you needed to put your phone into the local time zone and from let's say 1 in the morning until 10 the next day you would not be able to SMS or dial the contacts you had tagged. This is to keep you from one of two things. Calling someone "special" in your life while you are drunk and saying things that you might live to regret in the morning. Or it is to keep you from dialing the wrong person at the wrong time. Meaning you are off partying in Hong Kong and you dial your GF back home in the states. Both situations are bad but preventable-meaning don't go out and drink with your phone or buy the protecto phone. Given the spate of Palm, windows, and Nokia smart phones you would think someone would have written some apps to solve this problem.

Looks like LG is making this a hardware solution at this point.

cya

Lost an old grammar school friend...

article from the auburn journal

I remember jason from grammar school. We were not close but both being from the same small town means you know everyone. I did not go to high school with him since I went to home school but I do remember seeing him once at Marine World while he was working the elephants. Really nice guy. Pretty shocking for this to happen. wow. bummed out.

Snack Foods

I noticed a column in Business Week talking about how snack food companies in the US were starting to package things like chips and cookies in single serving portions as US people were realizing that they are too damn fat and should eat a small bag of chips rather than a bag meant to feed 5 people. Makes sense to me but the funny thing is that SE Asia has been doing this for years mostly given that people cannot afford a huge bag of chips so companies around here package things in single serving portions. Cool for me. I want some chips now and then so I grab a small bag with a drink and polish them off while I am walking down the street. I get my oil and salt fix but I don't turn into a big fattie. It is funny how I continually see things around here, due to economics, reach america but for different reasons.

coolio

Podcasts!

I have had an iPod since they first came out and can never see myself living without one. Dealing with the eye thing the last few weeks I have taken to enjoying audio even more - both audiobooks and podcasts. Been through about 5 books and need to get the reviews up but been busy just catching up on life.

However I wanted to comment on Podcasts for a moment. I dig them for the most part but what I am not digging is how some podcasts seem totally not worth being turned into a podcast or how the person doing the podcast is just totally lame.

For example. MP3.com has the Great Albums podcast. Perfect. A great host who has a radio voice, interacts well with his guests, showcases good music and it just all comes together well as a podcast. Been listening every week and have found some great new bands because of it.

BBC, NYtime and NPR - all great podcasts. I mean these are radio/newspaper guys just giving me the content in a new format.

Wired news. Just sucks. What I mean is this. Most of their podcasts are just the columnist reading their column into a cheap microphone and offering it up as an MP3. It is so bad. The Sex Column is one example of the worst. She is a terrrible interviewer and she seems to take no advantage of the spoken medium. I am sure she is a good writer and columnist and she should stick to it. Guys like Imomus are cool and are using podcasts to their advantage so Wired News should keep it up but they should fix the broken ones.

In radio, for example, most disc jockeys or hosts, are on the radio because they have a good voice, know how to conduct interviews and know how to use their voice as a tool. Hence why some radio people are not on TV. They are not good looking and make for better audio only mediums. I think the same should be done with podcasting - just because someone can write a column does not mean they should be the one to read their column and deliver it as a podcast. Someone good at narrating or has a good radio voice should be the one to transform the column into the MP3 medium - not the columnist. Just like in Audiobooks the author is not the one reading the book but someone else is chosen who can bring the book to live via voice and who is pleasant and intriguing to to listen to. Most authors would tell you the same that they are writers not good orators.

I saw this same thing happen in the tech industry when it comes to conferences. A software compnay would take a brilliant engineer and have him speak at a conference about his code or specific expertise. Problem is most engineers are engineers cause they are good coders, great at solving problems and many times they make lousy speakers. I always found that engineers like this are great for panels or sit down like venues where they can interact with other engineers but not used as speakers for large audiences. I hope I have highlighted the comparisons well. Not sure though. What I am trying to say is podcats are cool but when voice is the medium, the person delivering the content needs to know how to use the medium correctly otherwise it is a waste of time.

cya

New Book - THE AMBASSADOR’S WIFE

Well Jake just dropped of an early copy of his new book - THE AMBASSADOR’S WIFE. As some of you know my eyes are still on the mend so reading is slow going but I will get on it soon and post a review shortly.

Some information for those looking to get a copy once it is released:

The book will be generally available May 1 in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Indonesia. It won’t be available in Thailand or any of the rest of Southeast Asia for another month or so. Even then, it will be available only on a limited basis in Bookazine and Kinokuniya.

more soon...

The Surgey

My appointment was for 5:00 in the evening since they tend to do the Lasik surgeries in the evening so that after they get done slicing and burning you they can send you in a taxi home to go to sleep. Yeah right.
I was sent to an operation room waiting area where I was met with my personal nurse, stop it, the nurse was a male since he would be accompanying me through all the processes which meant joining me in the bathroom and all that. I was given my gorgeous blue outfit which consisted of some baggy pants and a Chinese style shirt that used strings to tie up the front of it versus buttons. This was joined by some basic lounge sandals and a nice paper based fast food like head cap to wear to keep my out of control locks from getting in the way. Fair enough. Looking decked out I headed for the huge lazyboys in the lounge and watched some CNN. Bumrungrad is the bomb. BTW – yes there are some pretty hot nurses scooting around the hospital. My time to get cut and burned was suppose to be around 6:30 but I was the last victim for the night and the doctor was running late so I don’t think I entered the cauldron until 7 or so. I was given a couple of pils which I was told was some muscle relaxants and then sent outside to lay down on a gurney. Now I was getting nervous. They wheeled me down a huge hallway and aligned my chariot along the wall and I was told to relax since it would be another 15 minutes before I entered the operating room. I have been in hospitals many times but this was going to be the first time I was having something serious done so I was starting to get a little edgy.
From here on out I will be describing the process step by step. When I was using the net for some Lasik research I was surprised that although I found some videos, some step by step procedures and lots of explanations I never found a personal account or a blow by blow so to speak. After the surgery I also found that the only people I could talk to in detail about the surgery was those who have also experienced it because it seems that it is just to uncomfortable for most people who have never been through it to talk about it. Well – I am a big talker and I have to share when I go through things like this so I figure I will provide a blow by blow as best as I can remember it. So if you are a bit squeamish you may want to skip this part.
They wheel my gurney in to the Lasik OR room and ask me to step up and get onto the specialized bed made for the Lasik machine. The room is big, slightly cool and mostly filled by the huge Lasik machine and a row of computers and diagnostic equipment on one side. I see Dr. Chate, makes me feel a little more at ease, a nurse and another female eye doctor. Dr. Chate starts explaining that once I relax and get comfortable they will slide my bed under the machine to practice a bit with me keeping my eye open and steady looking at small orange flashing light. Sounds easy. I had not trained for this but I was sure this part I could handle. My head was cradled pretty tight in a bladder like pillow that was inflated with air to mold itdelf to my head and neck preventing my head from any lateral or horizontal movement. Feeling constricted yet safe I continued to let my body will itself over to the large machine that was getting ready to zap my eyes. I guess we all take modern technology for granted most of the time but I was suddenly starting to realize how amazing modern medical technology is and my thoughts went out to the Quality Assurance team who had worked on the Lasik machine hoping they did a much better job than I know most of the QA people do with modern enterprise software or very well known crap like Windows.
The doc slid my commander chair under the machine to practice my light watching skills. Open your eyes, stay steady – okay u see the light? Yes. So beautiful it is. Okay. Let’s try with the other eye. Yup. I see it with that one too. The doc says that I will need to keep my eye steady and looking at the light. The machine will do the rest. That’s it? Has to be more to it. And there is, much more to it, but let’s face it - if they really told u about every step of the process my guess is most people would back out. I still ask myself now, having almost healed but still not seeing great, would I have gone through with the procedure had I known what it was like and how long the healing process would take? I am not sure really. Every once in a while my right eye focuses with such clarity that I am just amazed with how crisp the vision is knowing I have not felt like that for years even when wearing contacts or glasses. During those brief moments I tell myself for sure I would have had the procedure done knowing what it was like but then other moments when my left eye still hurts like a MF I tell myself there is no way I would have had Lasik knowing what it was like. Tough call. I was explaining to one friend that someone needs to invent some technology where u wear some skull cap that can briefly generate the exact feeling of a particular form and severity of pain. Then during your Lasik consultation the doc can say would u like to know what the after surgery pain might feel like? Sure, why not? He pops on the skull cap contraption, punches a few keys on his computer and says here u go. Boom. Ouch. No thanks I think I will just get some new glasses or you might be saying I can deal with it. Carry on.
Carrying on. The doc slides me out from under the machine to prep me for the surgery. First they clean my face and put some sort of antibacterial ointment around my eyes. Then they tape both eyelids for each eye out of the way. I know this my sound stupid but think about it. U stop seeing when u close your eyelids. So with your eyelids taped open your eyes have to see everything. That’s right. You have to watch the procedure being done on your own eye, but wait why can’t u just knock me out and let me “sleep” through this. They can’t so deal with it. At this point I must admit I was getting a little nervous squirming in my chair a bit. The doc even told me to chill out and quit moving. Okay sorry I said  - just a tad freaked out and nothing had even happened yet. Nice. Then the doc stretched some latex over each eye and taped it into place. Eyelids taped open, eyes looking straight up scared shitless I felt the chair sliding back into place under the machine. The doc then told me he was going to cut the latex open on my right eye to begin the procedure. I could see through the latex as his hands using some scissor like device cut a nice hole into the latex basically only exposing my eyeball to the elements. Then the doc said they would be putting something on my eye to hold my eyeball in place and that I would be feeling some pressure at this point but to stay still. I felt a sort of like vise grip for the eye being put into place and could feel it lock down around the eyeball. For sure I felt some pressure and at this point I could tell I could not really move my eye around anymore even thought I tried. The doc noticed this and told me to hold still and watch the orange blinking light. My true friend at this point a stupid blinking light. Focus. Then the doc said the next step would feel even more uncomfortable. And it did. I think at think point he was either drawing a circle outlining the flap of skin that was going to be cut or was actually starting to cut it. I need to ask to be sure. Now this is where Lasik and Epi-Lasik part ways. In both procedures the top flap of your eye is moved out of the way to allow the laser to reshape the actual lens of your cornea. Traditional Lasik using some sort of alcohol based solution to separate the flap from your eye and slide it out of the way for the Laser to burn the correction in. Then they slide the flap back and you are done. In reality this process is less painful but is not as healthy to the eye given that the solution is a chemical and can kill some cells. Epi-Lasik actually slices the flap off, the laser burns away and the flap is put back. I am not sure if the flap is totally cut off or just cut enough to open up like a cup of noodles cover, then you laser and shut the flap. Like when you close the lid on the cup of noodles to allow the hot water to work their magic on the noodles. We have all watched the idiot who completely removes the lid on the cup of noodles and then wonders how to cover the noodles while the hot water does the trick. So this is how I imagine the Epi-Lasik working. As I was clamped down the tool cuts across sliding the flap out of the way as it goes but leaving the edge of the flap attached while holding the flap out of the way so the laser can burn away. To make this painfully clear because you see this all happening - I watched as the tool cut across my eye to remove the flap and I could see and feel the flap being put out of the way. I was really gripping the chair at this point and wishing I could just pass out. It was not the pain so much as it was having to watch all this happen to your own eye. Then the doc said that I would need to focus on the light for 15 seconds or so while the laser worked. I focused but still wanted to just escape my body and watch this all happen from over the doc’s shoulder. Just seems to me at the time that it would have been a better vantage point. Thinking about it now I find I need to step away from the keyboard for a bit to regroup.
With the flap out of the way the doc said to focus on the blinking light while the laser did the trick. He also mentioned not too worry about the clicking noise the machine made. Click, click, click and on the machine went burning my path to corrected vision. During this time I remember for a few seconds not being able to see at all – like I had suddenly lost my vision. The doc told me this was going to happen and not to worry. I am not sure what actually happenes but at one point during the laser working u just stop seeing. That was freaking scary but it happens so quickly that just as you are about to really lose it you start to see again. Okay I know this part is weird but I have to mention this. With as big as that machine is why can’t they figure out a way for it to be silent? Honestly I do not need any audible clues that the laser is working and I can’t imagine the doctor does either. This next point I am sure no one can do anything about except one could wear nose plugs but given the anxiety of the situation I am sure no one wants to mess up the patient’s breathing but while the laser is doing it’s thing you actually smell your own flesh burning. Nothing overwhelming but enough to let u know that the laser is connecting with some live flesh. Nice isn’t it?
Laser done the doctor proceeds to put the flap back in place and looks to hold it in place for 30 seconds or so with his finger. Thanks doc. Try not to sneeze cause I would hate for the front of my eye to be all crooked and shit. Then the doctor puts a rather large contact in your eye which basically acts to hold the flap in place and doubles as sort of a bandaid. At this point your own eyelids coming into contact with the newly cut flap in your eye would be quite painful so the contact is there to act as sort of a a buffer and later I would learn how wonderful these contacts were. The doctor then put some tape of over my eye so I would relax and try not to look around too much. He also said I could close my eye at this point. Nice but at this point the burning sensation in my eye seemed to persisst whether or not I closed my eye or left it open. Just as I was feeling so proud of myself and started to relax a bit the doc said it was time for the other eye. Oh shit. I have to do this two times? I forgot that all that hell was just for one eye.  Oh man. Anyway. At this point I was more agitated than before since with the first eye I was not sure what to expect but now having done one eye I was more scared than before. No need to explain the rest. Rinse and repeat. The whole process repeated but on the left eye. I took everything in me to just relax and to try to stop from going postal. I almost told the doc I could only handle one eye this year but I knew that would be stupid and I should just get it all over with. Deep breaths and he moved on. I recall remembering less about the left eye than the right because for some reason although I remained totally conscious through it all I just seemed to tune out a tad more and I am glad I did.
All cut up and burned I hopped, right, back on the gurney and was wheeled out to another post OR room. There I was cleaned up, had bug-like plastic covers taped over my eyes and was helped into my street clothes. Then they wheeled me to the pharmacy to pick up my much needed medications and then over to the taxi queue. I am sure I was just in a bad mood but having to wait for a taxi at this point really was making me crazy. After what seemed like an eternity, 15 minutes, I was helped into the taxi and on my way home to begin the 2 weeks of suffering.

Podcasts, steroids, audiobooks, frogger, Tylenol, Richard Simmons and Stevie Wonder.

You may be asking yourself what they all have in common? Lasik Surgery. To be even more precise – Epi-Lasik Surgery. A few months back I was having some coffee with a buddy of mine in Bangkok and out of the blue he mentioned that my glasses were looking a little dated. Bummer. I knew it to be true but never really thought about it. Usually I wear contacts but for some reason I have taken to wear my glasses more in Bangkok than I used to in Hong Kong. I had to admit though that I had not had my eyes checked in a while and I could use some new glasses. So while we were on the subject my buddy asked why I had not looked into getting laser surgery so I could dump both the eyeglasses and the contacts for a while or at least until I got older and would need reading glasses. Ouch. That hurt even more realizing that I was 34 and at one point would be needing reading glasses. It hit me. Not only was I getting older but that I should burn my eyes with some modern machinery so I could use some of the years I had left to live without glasses and contacts.
The very next week I headed out to Bumrungrad Hospital in Bangkok to look into the laser surgery. Bangkok is home to both the Rutnin Eye Hospital and Bumrungrad – both the leading centers in Asia for Lasik. I knew already that getting the surgery performed in Bangkok would be at least a 1/3 of the cost of getting it done in the US or other parts of Asia. I went to Bumrungrad first because I had been there before and was familiar with the process. I have mentioned before that the private hospitals like Bumrungrad in Bangkok are just amazing compared to healthcare in places of the FIRST world like the US. I sauntered over to the concierge and asked about Lasik. They politely sent me to the 3rd floor, the eye center, to meet with the staff there. I was greeted promptly and was handed an information kit with prices, guidelines, doctor information and after surgery care schedules. I made an appointment for the following day to meet one of the doctors and to get a thorough examination to determine if I was eligible for Lasik.
The next day I went in for my appointment and after 2 hours of poking and prodding my way through various eye tests I meet with doctor Chate to discuss the possibilities. Chate is renowned in SE Asia for some pioneering work in Lasik and comes highly recommened by some folks I have chatted with. Dr. Chate is a soft spoken, older Thai guy who instantly made me feel at home and comfortable with the path ahead. He quickly summed up my situation as one being eligible for Lasik but that due to my thinner than normal corneas I would need to take the Epi-Lasik route verus the normal Lasik procedure.
Lasik requires somehow removing the front flap of your eye to allow the laser to reshape your lens in order to alter your lens shape to correct your vision. Chate said I should get 20/20 or better and that my reading or close up eyesight would probably improve to be even better than it had been with or without glasses. Sounds good to me, What is the drawback I asked? Well he said. Sometime Epi-Lasik hurts more during the recovery period and sometimes the recovery is slower with normal eyesight taking longer to arrive. Meaning it could hurt like hell while I heal and that it would take 2 weeks or more to start seeing with the corrected vision. Did I have a choice I asked? Dr. Chate said no, It was Epi-Lasik or no laser at all due to my thin corneas. Okay. Sign me up. When can we get going? I don’t really have a schedule these days so anytime was fine with me. He wanted to see me 2 more times to make sure his choice of vision correction did not change so I made a few more follow up appointments over the next few days to verify how much vision correction I needed and during this time I made the appointment to get the Lasik done.
Since I am writing all this while I am still healing I will be breaking this up into different posts but let me answer the subject line before I move on.

Podcasts: I am a big Mac fan, use iTunes and have an iPod. So I signed up to a few podcaats so I had something stimulating to listen to since I was not able to read for almost 2 weeks.

Steroids: No. Not a bodybuilder I will be but to get my eyes healing faster I was using steroid eyes drops for a few days.

Audiobooks: I was getting so bored so thank God for the iTunes store where I downloaded more than a few books to listen to. Will review later.

Frogger: Remember the game? Trying to get your frog across that scary river or crazy street without getting killed? Well Bangkok is not a handicap friendly city in any way, shape or form. My friend Lee told me that he was surprised I was still alive knowing that even with good eyesight he worries about getting killed crossing some of the big streets in Bangkok sometimes. So getting around town when I could not see reminded me of being the little frog in Frogger.

Tylenol: I ate it like candy. It is so cheap in Thailand. You pick up a plastic pack of 10 tabs for 10 baht in Bangkok. That is 25 cents. Yes – that crap you are overpaying for in the US really is that cheap to make. I would go through at least one of these platic packs per day. Yummy.

Richard Simmons: When I was really hurting and board at home I would dance around to some techno music in my underwear trying to forget how much my eyes hurt and get a little exercise in the process. I am sure if I had the hairdo I would be Richard Simmons.

Stevie Wonder: I wore some really dark sunglasses when I went out whether I was inside or not and while talking to people, not looking directly at them, people kept telling me that my Stevie Wonder impersonation was pretty damn good.

There u have it.

This is why I am learning Thai

Next month I will get back to going to school everyday for about 3 hours a day.

Someone has to combat this China taking over the world thing. Bums me out.

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.04/mandarin.html

back to the books...

Breakfast

Went back to Crepes and Co today for some breakfast.

had a nice breakfast crepe with some iced coffee. very tasty.

nice and quiet morning place to eat and read the economist.
I like this place cause it feels like a small hideout from the hustle and bustle of bangkok.

btw - soap and xml is just too mainstream now.
ad in the economist for a fuji xerox copy machine.

main selling point - fully xml and soap compliant.
yes - I am sure the office manager in charge of hte copy machine knows what that is all about.

too funny

l8r