 | A Personal Welcome to Marc's World! | Jul 28, 2005 |
Thanks for visiting my site! I've been posting here since early 2005 and I try to update as often as I can but you know how it can be. You'll find that most of the things that I post are accessible by everyone however I do have some restricted content so if you know me and would like more access you will need to register. Still, it's the best way at the moment to keep as many friends and family members up to date with what is going on with me and to learn more about me as well. If you would like to leave a reply to anything, please feel welcome!  
If you prefer to no longer receive notifications, please contact me via my email address above and I'll respectfully remove you from my email list. Also, please feel free to browse my site. You don't need to be a member to surf most of my posts and I love to share my life with others! My Return to the States! Apologies to all who were anticipating more photos from my trip but as some of you know, I experienced no end of technological problems while I was there. From the failure of my hard drive, to my internet connectivity staying connected was definitely a task. I did manage to upload a few photos which you can view here and here. I'll be uploading as much as I am able to over the next few days so please check back as you have time.
I've been back since July 9th, but jet lag definitely took a toll on me this time and I'm only just feeling like my old self.
On another note, Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor, Dr Randy Pausch has died from pancreatic cancer. For those of you unfamiliar with his story, just prior to being diagnosed in 2006, Dr Pausch was given a task to create a "last lecture". He took this to heart upon his diagnosis and delivered what became a YouTube sensation and now a best-selling book co-written by Jeffrey Zaslow.
To view the video, please click the following link,
Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams
Remember my earlier post about mai pen rai?
It appears that as of today, April 28th 2008, my notebook hard drive has officially passed on to that great big tech graveyard in the sky.
I will do my best to keep you all updated and informed of my trip and current events in as timely a manner as possible but please bear with a slowness in responding to any but the most urgent emails until I have an acceptable solution.
Thank you for your patience and I hope you are enjoying my most recent entries about my trip to Southeast Asia.
Also please note that as a courtesy, I try to limit the amount of notifications you receive regarding updates to this site so you might wish to bookmark my homepage link and check there periodically for continued updates and posts.
Kop Khun Krap!
Marc
|  | Our second day in Vietnam found us at the beginning of our mostly guided, package tour still in Hanoi. After a simple, but pleasant breakfast at our hotel, we were picked up and taken along with a few other intrepid travelers to view and of course pay respects to Hồ Chí Minh (Uncle Hồ) as we visited the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and the nearby Presidential Palace and grounds afforded him during the 1950s and 1960s. It was fascinating to watch the hordes of school children there, no doubt on some sort of field trip which reminded me of the ones I had taken to Philadelphia and Gettysburg when I was that age. The grounds and architecture are quite beautiful and the house on stilts that he lived in quite impressive. There are quite a few things to see throughout the grounds including some cars used by him. Curiously, I suspect if he saw how his name and his history is now being marketed, he'd roll over in his... er, never mind.
After our trip to the mausoleum, our guide whisked us over to the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology. The Viet (or Kinh) make up about 86% of the population of Vietnam, comprising the largest of 54 ethnic groups belonging to 5 ethnoliguistic families. The museum offers a glimpse into the rich history of the cultures that comprise Vietnam. This includes assorted tools, instruments, toys and other artifacts and both inside the museum and on the adjacent grounds are structures as well as simple dioramas of the people and their lives.
Our outing to the Museum of Ethnology complete, a light but satisfying lunch and on to the second part of the tour that day. You may remember the evening before after checking into our hotel, we scouted around the Hoan Kiem Lake area. Today, we were treated to the West Lake (Hồ Tây) area where we saw the Trấn Quốc pagoda and temple grounds nearby. Chùa Trấn Quốc resides on an island linked by a bridge to the causeway between two lakes Hồ Tây and Trúc Bạch. In the gardens stands a Bồ Đề (Bodhi) tree that is is easily recognizable from its heart-shaped leaves, taken from a cutting of the original tree, under which Buddha sat and achieved enlightenment in India.
After West Lake came the last part of our tour that day. A visit to Văn Miếu! Otherwise known as The Temple of Literature. Dedicated to Confuscious, Vietnam's first university was established to educate the administrative and warriors class. It is thought that touching one of the stone tortoise statues will bring luck to students in their education tests. The statues are inscribed with the names, places of birth and achievements of successful contestants in the national and royal examinations that occured between 1442 and 1778.
At the end of the day, we had dinner and then boarded the train, (my first overnighter on a rail car!) to Lao Cai and Sapa in Northern Vietnam where images from Days 3 and 4 will pick up.
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| | I left most of the travel booking in the care of Wit's capable hands
After arriving in Hanoi, we were picked up at the airport by Mr Tran Quoc Long from First Choice Co., Ltd & Vietnam Travel Services and taken to the Pacific Hotel on Cua Nam Street. All while dodging and deflecting countless livestock and scooters and seeing some of what I believe is really incredible housing as you'll soon see! Vietnam of course is not a huge country and the Government and it's people seem to have honed space conservation to a fine art incorporating multiple storied houses into family-run business'. I've also found the Vietnamese to be most industrious allowing very little to deter them from completing their tasks.
Once we had checked in to the hotel, it was off to explore on our own until the following morning when the first part of our actual package tour would begin. Some of the images you'll see later on this page are from the Hoan Kiem Lake area.
Links: First Choice Co., Ltd & Vietnam Travel Services AKA: Vietnam Budget Tour, Pacific Hotel |
 | Wow! | Apr 25, '08 11:45 AM
for everyone |
 You missed me hunh? 
My apologies for taking so long to put in a second appearance since arriving here in Southeast Asia. It's been an incredible fifteen days so far and I'm so very grateful for each moment that I've been blessed to experience. With each tentative step here I learn something new and exciting! Not only about the world around me, but more importantly, about the abilities I thought lost in me and about things I still have to learn. Upon arriving in Bangkok, I found out I was dropping right smack dab into the beginning of Songkran. This wild and wet occasion celebrates the Thai New Year from April 13th through April 15th and coincides with the New Year of many other calendars in South and Southeast Asia. Falling on one of the hottest times of the year in Thailand, one of it's most obvious traditions is the throwing of water on anyone within reach! Those of us unsuspecting newbies are probably the most fun to watch get hit but Wit, like many others, has grown bored of the mayhem that occurs. In spite of the fact that it supplies a welcome relief from the heat! Talcum powder, chalk and other media also figure prominently into this celebration and if it weren't for the few who go a bit too far with the revelry and the high number of fatalities due to alcohol-related road accidents, I am hard pressed to see a down side. We flew out of Bangkok on the last day of Songkran on Air Asia, one of the budget airlines here, making our way to Hanoi. Finally, I can say truthfully with my gruffest voice, "I remember back when I was in 'nam'!" Honestly, a couple of the places we stayed at seemed reminescent of the the famed Hanoi Hilton, if only for the "racks" we were sleeping on. I got to see the pickled Uncle Ho, endless rice farms and motored on Ha Long Bay on a pseudo-junk! Experienced my first overnight train ride, went "caving" and was overwhelmed with a number of people attempting to get get me to part with my dong! All in all, it was quite an adventure though as I told my Bunny, Krabi in 2006 was better. All this and tons of photos that I am currently sorting through for your viewing pleasure. Next up, tutoring in Thai and travel in about a week to the Northern most provinces of Thailand; Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai! Keep your eyes peeled for the photos. If all goes well they will start to appear within a day or so at the latest. Cheers!
Well, I've of course arrived here in the Land of Smiles and if nothing else comes of my trip I can at least say I'm finally getting the mai pen rai thing down pat!
Mai pen rai is a most Thai way of looking at life and one many of us farang will rarely grasp but would do well to adopt. In short, mai pen rai could translate to, "Se la vie!", "that's life!" or "not to worry". I'm sharing this with you because I've had to invoke this philosophy from the get-go of my trip so I feel that I'm adopting it with aplomb.
After what I thought was a spectacular pre-flight packing job, I arrived at Tuscon International (Yes Virginia, Tucson IS an international hub!), only to find out that my bag was packed almost twenty-five pounds overweight. Feeling like the fat lady caught stuffing an entire kugel under her dress and deducing that $29.00 dollars would be considerably cheaper than the $400.00 that I would be penalized for one overweight bag, I ran to the newsstand adjacent to check-in and bought a smaller carry-on sized bag and did some quick transferring of items to better manage weight distribution and make sure that each was under the fifty lb. maximum. Considering the bulk of my stuff was electronics equipment this was not necessarily the most inconspicuous of process' in the middle of the airport and negated the security-minded packing that was the reason for my initial "stuff-job".
My EVA flight on Tuesday then out of LAX was delayed by an hour. While I don't know for sure, I suspect it was caused by the American Airlines debacle that you've likely heard about in which hundreds of flights were recently canceled due to a grounding of much of their fleet for safety inspections. Anyway, the delay caused me to arrive at TPE (Taipei International Airport) late and miss my connecting flight to Bangkok. EVA, performed admirably in that they immediately put me and about twelve other passengers up in a sweet little hotel for the night. This put me behind the eight-ball so to speak for an early morning run to the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok so that I could be sure to get my visa for our trip there back on time.
Upon landing at Suvarnabhumi in Bangkok a quick trip through immigration and I was on the lookout for a taxi to Blue Wana Place, the more traditional, yet spacious apartment building that Wit rented for our time together. Not realizing there are taxi's and then there are "taxi's", the official agent for Thailand which uses upscale BMWs and the like for pickup, I found myself quickly separated from about 1,600 baht ($50 US ) that I had just withdrawn from the ATM for a trip that is normally $15 to $20 US. Okay. So they saw me coming, right?
Once I got to Blue Wana I thought to myself that this would be a perfect time to start unpacking and preparing for my three month stay. Of course being the technological whore that I am, this meant setting up all my toys..., my laptop, the external dvd burner, a land-line phone, MY WII! My Wii? Yes, I even brought along my brand new Wii game to pass the time some while I am here. So after the crazy, fat lady luggage redistribution that I performed earlier I began to unpack it all forgetting that some places in Thailand are using 220 v instead of the 120 we have in the US. Thank goodness I had the foresight to bring my surge suppressor and plugged it in first!
ZZzzzzTt!! I just fried my suppressor. Likely the best 8 bucks that I've ever spent considering what not having it and plugging it in first could have cost me.
Suffice to say, I'm now on the look out for a transformer and a couple of adapters.
So as you can see, the concept of mai pen rai has become most helpful in the minor growing pains of my trip and what might have previously caused me no end of stress has instead allowed me to enjoy every moment I have with my bunny and in my temporarily adopted country. It's really all rolling off me very quickly like water off a ducks back and that is a most valuable thing to have.
HAPPY SONGKRAN!
 ...three, two, one!
Once again we find our intrepid traveler winging his way to the far east! This time in addition to the joy of spending time with my sweet Bunny in Thailand, we also have trips planned for Vietnam and Cambodia.
The images on this page are just two of the airplanes that I'll be traveling on, a CRJ-700 and a Boeing 777. In 2006, I flew exclusively on United Airlines but this time I'll also be flying on EVA Air so it will be interesting to compare service on the two competing international airlines. The last time, I traveled internationally, was my first flight outside the United States. Previous international trips to both Toronto and Vancouver Canada were both by automobile. Because it was my first international flight and I flew over the international date line, I felt everything else I would experience would be icing on the cake! As you can tell, I'm pretty easy to please as a traveler.  I'm leaving the sunny Old Pueblo, Tuesday, April 8th and return July 9th. Check back for photos and updates and I'll do my best to maintain a timely reporting of my adventures!
 | Category: | Movies | | Genre: | Documentary |
I finally had an opportunity to watch this film last evening on DVD and in a way that was both ecologically and economically sound. I borrowed it from the library. I love the Phoenix Public Library system. But anyway, that's another review.
Articulated masterfully by former Vice President Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth subtly, yet effectively educates the viewer about what is happening to our home due to global warming through some very concrete evidence.
Global warming is primarily the result of the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil and of clearing forests which dramatically increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere and raises temperatures.1
With a wry wit, not seen since before his defeat in the 2000 presidential race, Gore uses flawless logic to help us understand why there is so much ambiguity and fallacious reasoning on this topic and what can be done to help.
The film, lauded by many including both Democrat and Republican officials of our government, walks a concise, clear path in an effort to reach and teach the most viewers about what I believe is the most critical issue facing us today. There can be no shortcuts, no compromises to remedying our climate. Action needs to be taken immediately not simply discussed. I strongly urge anyone who has not yet seen this documentary to do so soon so that you can better understand what this issue means to us all and why it is so important not to wait to act on it.
Information about Global Warming can be found at http://www.climatecrisis.net.
1Paraphrased from this web page at climatecrisis.net.
I have some great news for 2008 that I'll be sharing with you all soon.
In the meantime I want to wish a very happy, healthy and prosperous New Years to all of my reader's and their families and friends!
A big hug to you all!!!
Marc
| | Snapshot - December 8 1999 Issue |
You have to ask yourself, "What would George (Bush) do?" 
Assistance was given yesterday to an impoverished 12-year-old boy and his family after a desperate plea to HM the King.
This story reprinted from the November 20, 2007 The Nation, "Bangkok's Independent Newspaper"
In a letter written in August, Chatree Nadda detailed how he worked at any job he could find to support his family. "To the Father of the Nation … I usually stand guard at a duck coop at night on my holidays. I am paid Bt40 (about 1.27 USD) a night. If I don't do this job, I go to carry rice sacks between 8am and 5pm. I get Bt50 for this job. If I cannot find such jobs, I try to catch frogs and snakes at night for food. If I cannot find these animals, I go to Luang Por Boonlert at Beung Seefai Temple for help. I have done so every day because my family is so poor and destitute. "I look to Your Majesty as the last hope for my life and my family. We need a house and I need education. My siblings and I would like to receive a good education so that we can get good jobs after our graduation. We would like to repay our parents. From as far back as I can remember, they have always endured hardship. I turn to Your Majesty for help. May Your Majesty provide solace in my life ..." The letter was dated August 10 and signed by Chatree. Chatree's elder sister is in Grade 6 and his younger brother is in Grade 3. All are students at the Beung Seefai School. Their father is a manual worker, while their mother has mental problems. In response to Chatree's letter to the King, the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary wrote to Phichit Governor Preecha Ruangjan asking him to look into Chatree's problems. Preecha and representatives of relevant agencies visited yesterday Chatree's home to determine what forms of assistance could be given. Chatree's home is little more than a ramshackle hut with one old pan, an old pot, two worn-out blankets and a mosquito net. "There's salt but no other seasoning, not even fish sauce," Preecha said. The Thai Red Cross Society has provided consumer items for the family while the local social-development office has offered to find jobs for Chatree's parents. "All three children will receive free education," Preecha said. He said a house under a project in honour of His Majesty would be given to Chatree's family and it would be located on a plot of land near a pond. Chatree was overwhelmed by the assistance offered. "I would like to thank everyone who has helped my family," he said. His teacher, Lamai Sangkrit, praised Chatree as a dutiful and good son. "He loves his parents, his siblings and his friends. He cares about them much more than himself," Lamai said. The Nation Phichit
 | Category: | Books | | Genre: | Nonfiction | | Author: | Joseph Cirincione |
While I would never be as presumptuous as to speak for all of us or even most of us, to me being a "Baby Boomer" has always been about more than being just a market demographic or a medical statistic. It’s about more than just being born between the years 1945 and 1964. For myself and I suspect for more than a few like me, it's been about being the first generation to live under the shadow of something as heinous as The Bomb. We’ve lived and continue to live schizophrenically believing we are free yet simultaneously suspecting on some molecular level, that we are being held hostage to the whims and will of a few. Wondering if today will be the day; the day we are forced to comprehend the depths of man’s inhumanity to man. Recently, while at home watching the boob tube, I happened to be watching an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. His guest that evening was a man named Joseph Cirincione. Mr. Cirincione is currently the Vice President for National Security at the Center for American Progress in Washington D.C. He is the former director of the Nonproliferation Project at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and also teaches at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service and is known as one of America’s best known weapon’s experts having served on the professional staff of the Armed Services Committee and the Government Operations Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was promoting his new book, BOMB SCARE: The History & Future of Nuclear Weapons. Mr. Cirincione’s goal, given our low-fat, soy latte and McSociety, was to help his students to better understand the origins and history of the A-bomb, the nuclear arms race and our current non-proliferation policies as well as encourage them to find ways to continually diminish the global threat of nuclear weapons. And so I figured what the heck. Since I’m going to be headed back into the land of higher education soon, it sure can’t hurt to rev up a few of my brain cells in preparation. An assumption is made (and I believe rightly so), that non-proliferation is the overall goal and while admitting that the author comes from a slightly left of center political ideology, I found this book to be both fair and accurate in how the current ideal of “non-proliferation” has come about and why it is in our best interest to seek solutions for additional reduction of our current nuclear arsenals both here and abroad. It begins with the first atomic discoveries of the 1930’s and offers some strong suggestions for dealing with the current Iran/North Korea/Evil Axis du jour in such a way as to discourage the desire for nuclear weapons. It paints the U.S. in neither a negative nor a positive light but it does require that we along with a few other countries accept the “lion’s share” of responsibility for moving forward in a positive way toward non-proliferation. I found it a very insightful, honest discussion on the subject and an easy read at only 157 pages. And for once I can finally say honestly that, If you only read one book this year, make it this one. I really want to encourage you to read it. Personally I believe that this should be required reading in any high school.
| Category: | | Other | | Style: | | Thai | | Special Consideration: | | Vegetarian | | Servings: | | 2 - 4 |
Description:
I'm easing myself into a more vegetarian diet and found this easy and delicious recipe that I want to share. It's simple and quite yummy!
I hope that you enjoy it.
Ingredients:
* 3 small onions
* 4 pieces of garlic
* 1 dl herb broth
* 4 dl coconut milk
* 2 teaspoons red curry paste
* 3 teaspoons coconut paste (santen)
* 500 gr tofu
* 500 gr mixed vegetables (mushrooms, mangetouts (snow peas), zucchini, squash or whatever).
Directions:
Heat up a little vegetable oil, and throw in the roughly chopped onion.
Saute until it gets a little brownish, then add the finely chopped or mashed garlic. Stir a little, then add vegetables.
Stir-fry until the vegetables are slightly cooked.
Add tofu in small cubes and stir-fry until they're a little brown.
Heat the coconut milk and mix with the broth and the curry paste.
Stir and wait until everything is thoroughly mixed.
Wait until the coconut milk mixture boils and add to the vegetables and onions.
Add coconut paste to thicken the curry.
Leave on heat for a while and mix regularly.
Add fresh coriander leaves and serve with rice.
Well, they say the third time is the charm... I wonder about the 5th or 6th though.
Tons of stressful things are now upcoming in my life.
June 5th I'll finally have my SSI disability hearing to determine if I am or am not eligible to receive benefits.
I've completed all of the paperwork needed to establish my residency here in Arizona to get in-state tuition so that I can finally apply to Arizona State University and start school in the fall. It's been a long hard road but I am finally getting there.
Let the chips fall where they may... I've finally turned in my taxes for the year 2004.
Now in my infinite wisdom (tongue-in-cheek), I've decided to again quit smoking. I've started on the Habitrol patch though this time and am working with multiple agencies in an effort to discharge this filthy disgusting habit that I picked up about twenty years ago. I never really believed that I would have such a difficult time putting them down. Hell getting off meth was way easier if you ask me. My father and mother smoked, My sister has smoked up until now as well. Her husband who was just recently diagnosed with emphysema smoked and countless friends throoughout my life did as well. Suffice to say, Phillip Morris, Jesse Helms and the other "Mooby" demons certainly put one over on the world at the expense of us all in order to pursue that almighty dollar.
Anyway, I try not to ask for much from anyone anymore but I would ask these three things of you all...
1. Do what you can to kill smoking throughout the world as much as it has killed many of us. Make sure your family and friends and their progeny no longer have to breathe that shit any longer for the good of us all and do your best to support those who want to quit without being "preachy". Trust me, it'll be more likely to help them quit and that's really the best way to help someone to do the right thing.
2. Also, if you can find it in your hearts to send me some "positive" vibes on my upcoming hearing, school and "quit".
3. Finally, take some time today to just relax, enjoy and appreciate just being alive.
Peace all
Hi All!
I guess it's been awhile since my last post. I've actually been tryin' to keep busy with a few different things so I haven't been online as much lately. I'm doing okay though so not to worry. 
Anyway, recently while scanning through some of those old bookmarks (that you never seem to get around to but you just can seem to bring yourself to throw out), I happened across one for a site called Queendom.com. The site bills itself as "the land of tests" and that's no idle claim either!
Anyway, I decided to take one to in the Career section to determine what sort of creative problem-solver I am. Attached in the Snapshot Report below are the results. You can access the test yourself here.
I'll try to touch base with you all more often and hope that 2007 has been a good year so far for you all.
Marc
| | These photos all were taken on my first adventure out into Bangkok with my friend from San Francisco who also was visiting at the time, along with his bf Tod and another friend of theirs. |
| | The images in this series were taken in and around Thanatawee Place which is the apartment building Vit rented from while I was visiting. |
Link: http://www.xanga.com/christao408This link takes you to my Bangkhonteenai host Chris' Xanga site. For a great perspective of Thailand through the eyes and experiences of someone who lives there, I encourage you to visit and tour around. And if you have a moment or two, sign his guest book and let him know that you stopped by.
| | What an absolute joy this whole vacation has been but what icing on the cake was this particular little trip. As I think that I mentioned earlier, I traveled here to Thailand at the same time that another friend of mine was here. He in turn introduced me to another friend of his named Chris. Chris has taught English at the school mentioned in the title which is located in Samut Songkhram Province just south of Bangkok. While visiting, he invited me along with his parents and some other relatives and friends to visit his school as "kind of" substitute teachers.
I can't begin to tell you how much fun it was to help teach kids aged 5 to 12 the English language. We arrived at around 8 AM on a Wednesday morning and were broken up into teams to teach. Around noon, we broke for lunch that was fully prepared by some of the locals there to show their appreciation for our efforts. FINALLY, some truly home cooked Thai!!! YUM, YUM!
After lunch and with the kids released from their classes for the rest of the day, some members of the school board, the school director, some locals and some of the children welcomed us all on a river tour through the area via boat. I'll be posting a link to the school (although it is in the Thai script) and to Chris' 'blog as well. He's a great guy and well versed in the Thai culture so if you want a much better perspective on Thai life, please visit his site!
Anyway, these are some pictures of this most excellant adventure |
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