Speaking with my father yesterday, he commented on the lull in my blogging activity. When it reaches the point where even your parents are noticing, maybe that’s a sign that I need to exercise more discipline and post more regularly.
A quick update on recent activity:
I’ve been tremendously busy with work. My employer was bought three years ago by another company and as of April 1st our branding integration will be complete. This means that I have literally thousands of pages of training materials (and dozens of online presentations) that need to be rebranded. This involves a long checklist of look-for items from company names and acronyms to terminology changes (“district” instead of “region”) and new logos. Since this involves hours of monitor-staring tedium, you can understand why my enthusiasm wanes when it comes to spending more time on the computer after work.
After exploring several volunteering options, this past week I found a new opportunity that might meet my needs to do something societally productive with my free time. A graduate school classmate of my Thai language tutor is a teacher at a government elementary school nearby Thammasat University and the Grand Palace. The school is interested in having a foreigner come in and work with the students regularly, so they have an opportunity to apply their English language studies in a more real-world setting. Thursday morning I went to the school and taught one morning class (third graders) and one afternoon class (sixth graders). These students are a lot more rambunctious than the ones I taught in Samut Songkhram province in 2007-8.
Also last week, Tawn had appointments with buyers from Bangkok’s two largest department store chains: the Central group and the Mall group. We’re still waiting to hear any official response but Tawn said that the feedback from the two buyers he met with at Central was enthusiastic. It would be an exciting step for his brand to land a spot in one of the major department stores in town because it would give his brand tremendous visibility. Meanwhile, he is selling outfits through private showings and sales have been good so far.
Finally, we’ve had some really nice meals with friends lately. Not even focusing on the food (which is hard to believe that I can not do that), the visits have been really pleasant and I’m glad we’ve had those opportunities.
I hope you are doing well and I apologize for being behind in reading your blog entries.
christao408 
Reminds me of that class you gave about a year ago to those monks. I think your students will be happy, if not curious, to have a foreign teacher. Lot of attention your way.
It’s nice that you give your free time to teach students, it will be a wonderful experience for them!
Glad you are well. We all get busy and you particularly with the food and teaching. Stay well.
I understand completely about the work thing. I’ve been burning the candle at both ends trying to get things done. It is very hard to fit everything into 24 hr increments. If only I didn’t need to sleep! I hope the training redo is going smoothly – I hate to revise ppt (especially the old 2003 version going into 2010)… Hang in there and know it is OK with me if you don’t go back and read/comment old posts…
Thanks for the update. I was already wondering what you were up to.
I was wondering if you were busy with work and baking too! Nice to hear you have a new class of students close to your home.
Tats great to know u and Twan are doing well n. busy! 🙂
Hey, you’re still finding the time to update more than me!
Yay update at least!
Apology accepted.
I can offer you a special rate. Perhaps I’ll submit a trial entry on your behalf. hahahaha….
that’s hilarious that your parents noticed your decrease in blogging frequency. i think it’s just that time of year… everyone seems to be swamped with work lately. hope you get caught up soon!
Haha. It’s funny that your dad mentioned about your lack of blogging. It’s truly 2012!
The first sentences put a smile on my face.Awesome for the volunteering part. I’m glad that you’re reaching out and making an impact on other peoples lives. Congrats as well to Tawn. Sounds like his clothing line is really skyrocketing 🙂 I hope to hear great news in the upcoming blog updates.
I think it’s so great that your dad reads your blog entries. Major props to you for doing more volunteering work. It’s also so good to hear about Tawn’s near future prospects with the major department stores – he’s going up and up and up.
Funny fact someone once did a count on the biggest commenters on the front page. You were number one…..I was number two. The funny thing being that you and I almost never commented on each others blog. I just did
Yay for good news! And for catching up with friends (:
Glad to hear you are doing fine.
So much going on in your life these days it seems, and I just wanted to wish you all the best. See you on the other side mate.
So, you are BUSY. I am so happy to hear that you are involved with teaching english to the higher elementary classes.Really tickled that Tawn’s work will be accepted God Willing at the Department stores there. What a fine feather in his cap.
Mmmm, I remember when I used to work on computers- I dreaded nothing more than just checking my messages later at home.
@catstemplar2 – After two weeks of teaching, they certainly are curious. I keep having young children who want to touch the hair on my arms. Perhaps a natural curiosity but not very polite to pet your teacher!@gasdoc73 – And I think the experience will be a good one for me, too. Thanks for the recommendation.@Fatcat723 – @stevew918 – @beowulf222 – @hilabpartnerxD – @agmhkg – @CurryPuffy – Am making the effort to increase my frequency of updates so please stay tuned…@RestlessButterfly – Maybe if I get an iPhone then I can use the mobile app to more easily update?@murisopsis – I’m having difficulties with converting files from 2003 to 2010… seems like various bugs come along for the ride.@secade – Computer overload.@ZSA_MD – Yes, it seems like a lot of good news… but that good news is keeping us very busy!@AzureRecollections – Thanks; I wish you were posting more frequently. Come back!@trunthepaige – Really? Was that someone’s post or are there some commenting stats on the front page now? I feel like I’ve fallen so far behind in commenting on others’ pages.@Devilzgaysianboi – The volunteering thing is something that has been missing in my life for the past two years. I really like to spend time giving to others but finding the right place/way to give here in Bangkok seems a bit challenging.@stepaside_loser – @Dezinerdreams – @kunhuo42 – Now if my *grandfather* had mentioned the lack of updates then I would have been really concerned.@ClimbUpTreesToLookForFish – Very gracious of you.@ElusiveWords – Seriously…@Roadlesstaken – And that’s saying something because you are usually very prolific.
@christao408 – Hahah
That’s how I am with computers now…Yay Tawn!!!!!!!!!!
@yang1815 – Yeah, I’m sure you are busy. Looking forward to catching up with you in May.