Hub

Give a guy some new clubs and now he gets cocky Hope to be able to tip a few with you and AM this year. I sincerely hope any ties this year are not settled by rigged contests (I say rigged because the Euros obviously have an edge in familiarity with both sheep and blow up sex toys) in the FLB and on the course instead, or that at aminimum, the previous WINNING side retains the Cup as with the Ryder Cup. Hub

Barbara: I sent you an IM on how to get Royal Wing for 7K/night. Yousee: I stayed at HR last trip and was not too impressed for price as room was quite small and no view.

Pie: Of course be there for the Catz as well. I tried to send you email tonight to say so, but c**t that I am I must have deleted your good address and kept your old. Arrive night before, I will meet you at course. I will try and have someone ferry logo balls over. Kev: Would you mind bringing some golf balls over for Catz Open with you as I don't arrive until last minute? IM me your address if you are OK with it. Hopefully your shorts stay up during these events Hub

I'm in! I'll take my Bangladeshi driver again if he is available and this time we will crush the opponents on BOTH nines, not just the first, and not let it come down to the fortuitous placement of a rake on the 18th! Hub

Tom: Good point via the testing; however, it is my understanding the tests also looks for general types of drugs, so it may be more difficult to come up with a new "Drug B". Also, false positives seem rampant, as this guy may have gotten hit for sudafed: http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Cycling/2005/07/28/1151028-ap.html I just don't understand the surety or even questions you and others place on LAs drug usage, in light of the lack of positive testing results and the Enormous amount of negative testing results. Wasn't he known as the "worlds most tested athlete"? It just doesn't make sense - scads of data and test results documenting he didn't dope, none (or very very little) saying he did, yet you and others ignore this fact. Do you place the same presumptions on the others that came near his marks (Indurain, Merxck, et al); if so, no one was as vocal on casting aspersions on them that I remember. Not knowing enough about cycling to be sure, but if any of his rivals were in the last 30 years there would be even more suspicion in my mind, as the testing would not have has even a chance to catch up with the doping. Another point: LAs actions in current law suits (e.g., against your Sunday Times) are not consistent with the reactions of other dopers - if he had something to hide he would not bring it into a court setting so more facts could come out, he would slink off with his 7 TDF victories. That's why you didn't see McGuire and others suing Canseco - they didn't want any more scrutiny. RE: Palmeiro - I really don't see any connection here. I don't think anyone arguing for LA on this thread would argue that PE drugs are a fact (regardless of the silly conclusion the idiot posted a few replies before me). It is just that LA has been tested more than anyone, with all negative results, so where is your argument? Relative to Numbnut's comment above, the current wider testing policy in MLB was just implemented in January so it shouldn't be compared to the testing LA historically received. Palmeiro could have easily have been a French boxer of brazillian weightlifter that has denied using drugs or was caught, so why bring Palmeiro up? Could it be because he is an................................... nah, couldn't be. Or the fact that some just don't like "The Star-Spangled Banner" ringing out over the Champs-Elysees? Nahhhhh, impossible Hub

Hands down, the poshest place local to Pattaya with 5* facilities and great ocean views would be the Royal Cliff. http://www.royalcliff.com/ For a more of a romantic but also somehwat upscale with a Thai flair, the C&C and Sugar Hut mentioned above are great recommendations. Hub PS, Happy 40th, I'll be celebrating mine a few weeks later in LOS as well.

I've taken that van service as well fom Dianna a few years ago and remember reading it was stopped. It is not on their website any longer and it used to be. An AC taxi RT should be about 800-900 if you negotiate (we were paying 600-700 to SCC and Pheonix last year), just print map from LC website. Hub

Khun Tom: As much as it pains me to say so, our friend BigD seems to have the upper hand over you on this one. He is giving you some "rough trade" Niall gives an example that seems to defeat his arguments and you seem to be hanging on mainly presumptions and allegations by potentially interested parties. I don't claim to have ANY expertise in the accuracy or lack thereof of drug testing samples. However, as you know, I review and use analytical results from environmental and toxicological sampling as part of my work. These results are accurate to the low part per billion (ppb) levels. The detection limits continually get lower and if LA was tested as frequently as rumored, I have trouble believing even the cleverest "nutritionist" could erase ppb signs between tests. However, I defer to those doping experts or those more familiar with medical sampling. I have no real interest in cycling, as it seems you do, but as a casual fan I think LA will go down as the top cyclist regardless of the overtures he makes towards Merkx (sp?). I have to admit the beating of cancer pulls at my heartstrings, for personal reasons as I am sure it does for many others. Regards, Hub

Before the Babe was the Babe and was just hitting HRs, he reportedly was an awsome athlete when he was also a great pitcher.

Sorry, I hope your flight works out, but I fucking detest NWA. Nothing but bad experiences, latest being them raising the Asia RT biz FF reward from 90 to 120K without notice, so I am sitting on 100K FF miles I almost don't want. I want to use the 100K ASAP, so I can proceed to do voodoo dances for them to go chapter 11. Hub

Duece: Good use of Photoshop, very funny Hub

Cathay played up their bar in their new business class also, but when I tried it during November in reality it was too small to hang out by and in a very high traffic area so no one really hung out there. Hopefully EVA's is better. Hub

Floyd: Thanks for the review and great photos, which really give a sense of the two places. Hub

Doggie: So that means we have to play with this guy? We should give him his own cart then: Hub

Floyd they have them in cx biz. The converter from Radio Shack I bought for $30 US didn't work though but they work for other people. Hub

Tom: When I flew CX biz in November I read about this. A quick internet search found: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,...,tfg,tfg,00.asp Hub

I am betting that jimmybcool on the pbg site knows as he used to stay there frequently

It is my understanding that the Royal Cliff is not GF if you are bringing different girls back every night. Two of the hotels Tom refered you to, the Sunshine Vista (so I have heard) and Bella Villa Prima are very nice and close to the action on Sois 2/3 (multiple and big Beer bar complex) and I would recommend either. Hub

Very nice lunch buffet, although not cheap by Thai standards, in The Med. The piano bar has some very nice looking service staff and is a nice place to meet up with friends for drinks before heading out on the town. One or two times had drinks with the GF there, met up with some friends for a few more, then guys only bolted over to Soi Cobow/33, which is close. The bed is called "The Heavenly Bed". Can get this hotel for around $70 US on priceline. Hub

OK Pie, Well said, but I don't think we want to start pulling out old pictures, lest we forget that before your current tempestous relationship with the Scotsman............................................................................................ ............................................ there was your Arab flame of the desert, Hamdoon I can't remember how many evenings whilst we road in the back of a songteaw on Beach Road, you stared out at the sand on Pattaya Beach and could be heard, almost inaudably, whispering ........ Hamdoon..........Hamdoon.......Hamdoon. Hub P.S. Yes, still have the tackle but maybe jut hanging by a thread, I think November will determine whether that remains the case......

Duece: Great pics, but who are those two old queens in the last three or four? It looks like the Alpha Male is about to enter the weaker one in the last photo. I think I've seen them eating at Brunos or nancing about SP 3. They certainly seem quite loved up. Wait, here I did see them before, I think this is just outside Throb Bar: Hub P.S. One would hope that the tall dromedary-looking queen has gotten a new shirt by now, as it seems he is sporting the same one in both our photos.

NW just recently bumped their RT biz class to asia from 90k to 120k. Of course I have around 95k. Hub

You must be speaking of "China" eating his own hand in the rear of the bus while we did laps aroud Kreung Thep! Doggie, you may want to make sure this time that the van driver knows a) that the hood (bonnet?) does go up and there are fluids that go into the engine occasionally other than petrol, and B} the main thoroughfares in Bangkok (it was nice seeing every back alley in Bangers, but I've now checked it of my list Hub

I agree, Thais are very conscious of food etiquette and eating is a bigger part of life that in the west. I would agree with most of what Poker said, although finishing or not finishing your plate changes with each situation. For example, if a girl cooks for you or has ordered a dish for you and there is some left in the main dish, she probably will be very happy if you finish your plate and ask for more. Some of my other observations: If you buy a bunch of food for bargirls, make sure you tell them you are full (im or im lao) so they dig in. Greng jai will tell them to wait in case you are still hungry. If you want to get in good graces, notice which dish the girl you are with likes the best and refill her dish with a good part from it, like a big prawn. I've heard also that leaving a bit on the plate indicates you are not poor. In March, I still remember one night when the best piece of butterflied giant prawns was left in the middle of the table at the end oif a meal when Pieman and I were with a few girls and were eating at an outdoor place. I know the girls wanted it and so did I but nobody would eat it. The Thais definitely overcook or over order relative to amounts so they don't run out of food (which resulted in me eating leftover kow paid gai this morning in my car on the way to work that was supposed to be for lunch but smelled too good ). Hub

I agree, this was seems like a "sia nah" scenario, but IMO probably because she realized she was acting very naughty and innapropriate in the first place by not considering you and then had no wiggle room when caught out at it. In other words, it was more her fault in the first place and she couldn't deal with it. Think of a guy yelling at his wife when he lost the mortgage in the casino for a western analogy. Hub