Updates: Pantip Plaza

It has been a while.... Lots has happened in the past two weeks. Work is as busy as ever and I am still rushing around buying xmas presents for family - the experience is slightly more credible due to recent xmas decorations and songs flooding the soundwaves (despite the fact that it is quite hot here and yeah.. still November!)
We have been to the doctor (yeah... I had been putting that off a bit). He was delighted with the statue of the Virgin Mary which we had bought him in Fatima last August (made a good xmas pressie). Basically, we went for information on the IVF procedure. I had read conflicting information on the web re cost and how long it takes and steps involved. So, in Thailand it takes 5 weeks from the stage where I get a nasal spray to supress hormones one week before my period, to ultrasounds and self administered hormone injections (will have to recruit my own personal nurse Amandio for that! :-), to extracting the eggs under anesthetic, mixing them with Amandio's sample, reinserting - a number to be decided on - of embryos to the final two week wait for the pregnancy test. The hospital has a 40% success rate which seems to be quite high. Sit down for the cost though... 250,000 Bhat and up - 5,000 Euro. Hmm.. well, we may have to have a conversation with Amex :-)
We also bought a 'spanking' new computer. Here goes my attempt at all the technical mumbo jumbo .... HP Pavilion, Intel Core 2Duo processor, 2042RAM and 280GB memory, graphics of 512MB G-force, 2MB L2 Cache, HP 22inch flat lcd monitor with optimum resolution 1680 x 1050 @ 60 Hz, wireless keyboard and optical mouse. Our software (XP Service pack 2, Adobe, WMPlayer etc) is all pirated.. (all done in the time it took to buy some counterfeit DVDs) courtesy of where we bought the pc, an experience in itself - Pantip Plaza - a techies wet dream, a haven of modern day pirates :-) Despite regular police raids (early warning system in place) it seems to boom with underworld trading. Most of the hundreds of small shops specialise in computer hardware, software and accessories, including parts, repair, modifications, networking, second hand, laptops, Macintosh and peripherals. We almost bought a video camera but decided to wait on that, prioritising the pc, as we have decided to offer my 1 year old laptop to my brother for xmas seeing as we prefer to have a desktop at home, now that we have a more reliable internet cable connection.
The only genuine bit of software is the upgrade I bought online for Windows Movie Maker - the full pack with loads of transition and video effects! I will get my teeth into this when we get back from Portugal in January. Looking forward!
The countdown is on for our departure on Tuesday 27th. A trip to Chatuchak market, a xmas bowling/dinner work night out and finishing off the last version of the NCTest is on the cards for this weekend.
I can't wait for Portugal..I feel like I have been living for the future a lot recently, not really in the here and now. All very exciting, but I need to catch my breath :-)