Fort Lauderdale, September 2006
After August
September 1-8, 2006
Jessica, near the Hua Hin polo field:
Andy Page sent this bit of news from England:
A scene from the More4 drama Death Of A President, which portrays the assassination of President George W Bush at a Chicago rally in 2007.
The White House has refused to comment on the programme, saying "it does not justify a response".
PS: Life's final dump.
A gray Saturday afternoon as seen through the car window.
Zero to 60 in under 8 seconds. A half century ago that was considered damn fast. My current car reaches that speed in 4.6 seconds. So I was totally amazed when I fell by accident into the "Drag Racing" channel on Comcast and saw this: Zero to 328 mph in 4.79 seconds ... and all of it done in a quarter mile! (*) (**)
(*) In the metric world that amounts to zero to 528 kph ... all squeezed into just 402 meters.
(**) This from the NHRA site:
By Rob Geiger, NHRA.com
9/3/2006
John Force earned $100,000 in 4.7 seconds Sunday at O'Reilly Raceway Park with a victory over Tommy Johnson Jr. in the 25th annual Skoal Showdown. 
The special race for the top eight qualifiers from the last 12 months was contested during Sunday's final two sessions of qualifying for the 52nd annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals.
"This is a great day for all of John Force Racing," said Force, who was competing in this event for the 23rd time. "It takes a team like this to win one of these deals because it's so hard to win any more. It's a lot of stress because it's so much money on the line and your sponsors, like Castrol, AAA, and Ford really want this trophy."
Force used consistency to earn his record sixth Skoal Showdown trophy, beating former teammate Tony Pedregon with a 4.790, Pedregon's replacement Eric Medlen with a 4.805, and Johnson with 4.789 at 327.19 mph. Johnson gave it a run, posting a 4.823 at 321.04 mph in the money round, but Force simply had too much horsepower.
"We ran as good as I think we were allowed to run out there," said decorated crew chief Austin Coil. "You have to remember not to get too greedy with the tune-up. The spread in Funny Car is too close these days. It's like Pro Stock. We used to have two-tenths on the field. Now we're lucky to have two-hundredths.
"All the wins feel great. This one might be a little better because we've struggled so much this year. Winning is what it's all about. It's why we're here. The money doesn't hurt either and we give so much of it back to the guys in bonuses that I'm pretty sure this will actually cost Force a few bucks, so that's alright, too."
Johnson gets $15,000 for his runner-up finish. The Skoal Chevrolet Monte Carlo driver was competing in the race for just the third time. He took out reigning series champion Gary Scelzi and red-hot sophomore Robert Hight to reach the final. The win over Hight came after Hight lost his blower to an explosive backfire, which allowed the tire-smoking Johnson to zoom by for the victory.
Hight and Medlen each received $6,000 for reaching the semifinals. Scelzi, Pedregon, Whit Bazemore, and Ron Capps were awarded $5,000 apiece for making the field.
Overall, U.S. Tobacco gave away $239,000 in the Skoal Showdown series. Aside from Sunday's $147,000 race day purse, each top qualifier from the 23-race schedule earned a $4,000 bonus for their effort.
The Labor Day picnic was totally rained out.
Watcharee, Stephani and I had a rainy day lunch at Trinas. We started off with Yellow Gazpacho Soup; and followed by Grouper Reuben, Arugula Salad or Asparagus With Seared Tuna.
For dinner Watcharee returned to our own kitchen (587k .AVI).
"Alf, that was boring."
OK, well how about this commercial (903k .WMV) from Bangkok Insurance. My friend, Dan, sent it via Shanghai and Taipei.
THOCBDC received four overseas emails from readers today. This must be an all time record.
The first was from reader John who included a photograph of our neighbor, the southern wing of the Shangri-La Hotel in Bangkok. I tried to copy and paste the photograph that was embedded in the text but for some reason the paste part didn't stick. But, I'll try it again, this time using AOL's forwarding feature; perhaps Paul can capture it.
The second was from reader George who attached a photograph of some soi food that he had in Sattahip. He said of it:
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Hi Alf, I couldn't resist sending you my lunch from today in Sattahip. Main course - Kao Moo Dang piset (extra crip pork and Kao Na Phet sauce instead of the sticky red stuff) Soup - Kao Lao, Luk Chine Neua, kap Neua sot (no noodles, beef meatballs and fresh beef strips, plus bean sprouts) Drink - Nam Oi (sugar cane juice) Total cost - 80 Baht George |
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The third was from my friend Rande who just got married:
Kim and I got married on Phi Phi island earlier this year.
The fourth one was from Beam and Bow and it included photos of the soon to be opened Suvarnabhumi Airport. They said:
Last day I have opportunity go to Suvarnabhumi Airport with my friend. It the very best.
I take a photo for you see. * Take care yourself. *
Long time readers will recall my thrilling Garmin GPS guided trip to the new Suvarnabhumi Airport many months ago.
PS: Here is another update regarding the construction of the Athenee Residence.
29/08/2006
Last night Watcharee and I took Kaw and her husband, Bill, to Chima, the Brazilian churrasco style restaurant for dinner. Though the restaurant is within walking distance from our house we drove. Only Kaw and Watcharee are pictured at the restaurant as my camera's battery died before I was able to snap anyone else doing anything else.
For my more destructive minded readers these photos of a local bombed out bank should prove more satisfying than mug shots.
For my couch potato readers these two new movies (sequels*) of my generator (489k .avi) and its fuel consumption gauge (362k .avi) will be riveting.
(*) Last week THOCBDC premiered the screening.
Though it's TGIF and the weather is fair the beaches are bare.
Namfon's singing career is about to get another boost when she shares the stage with one of Bangkok's superstars. The concert will take place on September 16th at Sushi Thai Cafe (*) in Pompano Beach. Get this: the curtain rises at 11:30 PM; and, the encore will be sometime after 3:00 AM!
(*) "Sushi Thai Cafe", you say? Yes, that does ring a bell. Watcharee and I were there just a little over a month ago.
PS: John sent this:
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Alf, Thanks for putting my photo on your website. Here is a nice one of your old headquarters, taken from the grounds of the Portuguese Embassy. Regards, |
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Next: Part II
