js007

Some of the places like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, perhaps, deal with an international clientele on a daily basis. I looked into it one time, but that was years ago and I never followed through. You could probably open a brokerage account and bank account in one of those places. As for having a US phone number? Skype, or Google Voice? Again, I haven't looked into it much, although I do have a Google Voice number that is ported to my cell phone number in the US, but I'm not sure what happens if I shut down my US cell phone service. Keeping the US line operational would cost me at least $50 a month.

If you have an address in Illinois, pay taxes, etc., how does Scottrade even know you spend a lot of time in Thailand? That would be a pain in the ass, having to close all your US accounts. What's the alternative? Hong Kong? Singapore? KL?

Airfares can change by the minute. I guess you have to be flexible and ready to buy now if you see a fare that you like.

Chromecast plugs into your TV’s HDMI port. Simply use your device and the TV you own to stream TV shows, movies, games and more. Chromecast works with iPhone®, iPad®, Android phone and tablet, Mac® and Windows® laptop and Chromebook.¹ Basically, it just allows you to beam whatever you’re looking at on your device over to the TV. I’m not familiar with Windows lately, but just about any of the latest operating systems shoul.d be able to do it.

As for casting content from a laptop or iPad to the TV, you don''t really need an Apple TV. Google makes a little gizmo that only costs $35. It's supposed to work just fine. The also have a version for audio? chromecast_2015

If you have a smart TV, it probably comes with the ability to load any of hundreds of apps. Mine even has a WWW browser, so you can load anything you can find on the internet. Really, though, if you want to watch stuff from the internet, just get an Apple TV or something like it that allows you to "cast" content from another device, such as an iPad or phone. I can find what I want on my iPad, start watching, and then beam it all over to my 60" TV. Works great.

I don't use a TV antenna, I just watch TV over the Internet on a smart TV. The TV picks up the wi-fi signal and then I can watch my Apple TV or, in the TV's apps, Amazon Prime video, Netflix, Youtube, etc. And I get TV stations vis the Apple TV and a service called Direct TV Now. I guess my Blue Ray player is plugged into the TV, but that isn't wired into anything except the electric connection. None of it's foolproof, I guess, but I'd rather not spend $5000 or so every time we have a thunderstorm.

That's one of the reasons I suggest wi-fi. For me, it works just as well as an ethernet connection, and the lightning risk is reduced.

Air fares change so often, it's hard to tell what's going on sometimes. In addition to the airfare search sites, I try to check fares on the airline websites. Sometimes, those can be better. And some of the travel sites have a service where they'll alert you to good fares for a proposed trip. I've seen some pretty cheap fares that way, although if you're not ready to book, the good prices don't do you much good.

Getting older. I guess we should all consider the alternative before complaining too much. I'm 66, although I can still pretty much do all the same stuff I could always do. I guess I don't run any more on a daily basis, although I might try that again after I finish my upcoming move. Once upon a time, I got up and ran 3 to 5 miles every morning, without fail. That always made me feel good for the rest of the day. Plus, it helped keep me fit. Anyway, some of my old friends are already dead, and others don't seem to be in such good shape. It's almost like they gave up on their bodies long ago. That's sad. My plan is to keep active and have as much fun as possible until that's really not possible any longer. My did was in his mid 80s before he slowed down. Maybe I'll be as lucky.

Whole house protection they install at the point where the electricity enters the house.

As a general rule, insurance adjusters can be real jerks. When I had the first lightning strike damage to the interior heat pump electronics, I called the insurance company and they sent out an adjuster. The first words out of his mouth were "how do we know it wasn't a manufacturing defect?" He backed off on that line of reasoning when he realized that a water heater on the other side of the house had also been affected by the same storm. Then I had to argue with him about the cost to fix it all. In the end, I think I got about 2/3 of what it cost to fix the problem. By the time the next two storms fried my other equipment, I wasn't in the mood to screw around with a bunch of assholes, so I just replaced the equipment. If I ever buy another house, I'll look into some sort of whole house protection they

Supposedly, surge protectors are great when it comes to protecting against power surges, but not really much help with a direct lightning hit. Anyway, the lightning situation was beginning to really piss me off. The cable company wasn't much help last time around, when, apparently, the lightning strike somehow hit my internet cable. Fried the Wi-Fi router, and everything that was connected via ethernet. All the cable guy could say was that what happened to all my equipment was "impossible." Asshole. My advice is to connect equipment via wi-fi only, if possible. You still have to plug it in, but at least you're eliminating one potential source for the problem.

In the last few years, I've lost thousands of dollars of electronics to lightning strikes. I also lost a heat pump. First it was a heat pump. The electronic parts inside the house went up in smoke. $3300. The next year, it was stereo equipment in my bedroom. $4000. The following year, lightning hit the cable TV system and everything that was hard-wired via ethernet was fried. $6000. Now, I've got lightning protection, plus, nothing is connected via ethernet. It's all Wi-Fi.

Drinking and cooking. Sometimes I don't do so well trying that, as I tend to drink too much and pretty soon the entire kitchen is a mess and I'm still not done. Fun, though.

The high season is from Nov through March or April, although I never noticed much difference then than in May, June, July, August.... I guess it can rain more in august, Sept, Oct.

Now I'm hungry. I can't remember the last time I had a sloppy joe sandwich. Usually, I'm too lazy to do that much cooking. Sometimes I'll buy a small tub of pulled pork BBQ stuff, or maybe BBQ beef. Just heat it up in a microwave, put some on a bun, and you're all set. Tastes sort of like sloppy joe.

For all the times I've walked past Kiss, I've never stopped to eat. They are always at least halfway busy, though.

Yea, Soi Buakhao looks dangerous. I've seen one or two motorcycle vs. car wrecks at the corner by the Oasis go go bar.

I'm normally not the kind of person that likes heights, so I don't do a lot of hanging around on balconies. But the other two things, the electrical systems and crossing the road? I've almost been killed by both at one time or another. One time, an ATM machine in the rain almost did me in, and one time, down in Phuket, I almost got run over by a motorcycle crossing the road one night. Alcohol may have played a part that time.

Looks good to me. Anyone ever try to get a Thai girl to eat Mexican food? The one time I tried, it was an exercise in futility. I took a girl to the old Blue Parrot bar and Mexican restaurant one afternoon, and after a long discussion with the Thai cook, it was decided she's try some fajitas. When the food came she just stared at it like to was some sort of poison from another planet.

I hope you know that, once you get there, everything can be very very expensive if you're not careful.

I drink coffee every morning, but I can't say that I'm "addicted" or particularly anxious. I think I've actually seen some news articles about the heath benefits of drinking coffee. I can't remember the details, though.

For 4000 baht, it better be good. Might be OK if you're just on vacation and don't mind blowing some money. But you really can find decent places to stay in Pattaya for a lot less than that. And you can find breakfast just about anywhere for 200 baht.

One time outside one of the malls in Pattaya I was trying to use the ATM machine with a card from an American bank. I put the card in and the machine ate it but then did nothing. So there I was with no money and no card. I didn't know what to do, so I just stood there. After what seemed like 10 or 15 minutes, the machine finally gave back my card. Weird. Next trip I opened a Thai bank account.