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Sunday, Jan 14, 2018 I was reviewing my emails and various social media feeds I’m subscribed to. As you might guess the false alarm (thank Gawd!) of an inbound ballistic mission that was received on Hawaiian cell phones on Saturday, Jan 13, 2018 was top of the list! As I read a few of my friends’ posts about it on Facebook my first thought was about my folks; how would I get in contact with them!!?? Then, almost immediately, I thought about Gracie. Who, at present, is home in her country of the Philippines.
I thought to myself, “What would I do if this were Not a false alarm and I got this message on my phone?”… then, I thought, “Why am I here!?!!! and not with her?” 🙁

I know the answer obviously… My current work/career and home is in San Diego – hardly a horrible place to be, right?

While I am not saying that I will base my future life plans or decisions on the low probably threat that I could die tomorrow from an ICBM landing in my front yard, it did give me pause and think about what’s “Important” in my life….

Hours later I landed in San Francisco and have a conference I’m attending this week up here… I took a nice walk around the Oyster Point are just up the street from the South San Francisco conference center and thought I’d check in and share some thoughts.

Hope you’re Living the Dream!!!

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We I’m in a new environment, I do some comparisons. What I like MORE than other places I’ve been… What I like LESS. What I’m grateful for and what I need to add to my life. In this check in, I was thinking about the difference between NEEDS vs. WANTS.
In “the west” I think that I confuse the 2 sometimes. I need the ability to get from point A to point be. BUT, I want an Acura… I don’t really *want* a Kia or even a bus pass… Yet, I *do* want spending money to stay at an AirBnB on Coconut Island near Phuket Thailand so maybe the bus pass is an ever better option than I thought! HA!

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy my little check in from Coconut Island and hope that you ARE Living the Dream.
thats a need for ME.. maybe only a want for others.

Looking forward to learning more about how you define wants vs. needs in your life.
All the best,
~mikes

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Gracie and I found a great little house on AirBnB on this little island, just east of Phuket… So, an Island off the coast of… well.. and Island.
We had a great time just relaxing.
Additionally. one day we even venture off the island to check out a Tiger Park.
Here’s the link to sign up for AirBnB:
http://www.airbnb.com/c/mikes107

And Here is the link to Stacey’s place on Coconut Island.:
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/5041577

If you go, say hi to the great neighbor, Red – He’s one of the nicest guys on the planet.

I’m pretty confident you won’t be disappointed.

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On our walk back from having some dinner close to XMAS, we strolled past Emporium so just wanted to share some footage.. ‘Tis the season!!!!

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Gracie and I checking in from Phuket International (HKT) on your way to “KL” a.k.a. Kuala Lumpur for you Non-totally Hip veteran travelers of South East Asia – HA!… right… With any luck our Air Asia flight will NOT be delayed as was shared with me by the Google… although, how often is Google wrong, eh? (travelers tears).
ALL THE BEST to you and your families!!! Thanks for watching – Live The Dream!!!
…stay tuned for more.. Lions and Tigers and Elephants oh my!!!

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The Central World mall at night has a very different *feel*, probably fueled by the MUCH larger number of people. Its fun to see the contrast.

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We figured since we ate KFC in Ho Chi Minh hCity, Vietnam we could eat Dominoes Pizza in Bangkok, Thailand and feel equally as touristy. There is quite a big difference in “sizes: of things as compared to the US. I honestly think the Largest fountain drink you can get at a 7-Eleven in Thailand is equal to the Smallest “Big Gulp”. I think the Largest pizza we could order at Dominoes in Bangkok is about the size of a Small pizza in San Diego. HA! Classic.
Also, the “thin crust”in Thailand is INDEED thin! I think “thick crust” here is equivalent to a regular pizza back home. And, i *always* get “Extra Cheese” when here in the Land of Smiles… That way, I have a pizza with a “normal” amount of pizza. HA!

There are so many things I love about the USA as well as Thailand so its a real blessing that I get to travel back and forth between the two locations so frequently.

Thanks for watching.
…stay tuned for more!

Live the Dream!

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Just wanted to give a quick example of what we eat several nights of the week. It may not be your favorite meal solution but for us Street Food or food from little stalls down little alleys (Soi) in Thailand are some of our favorite meals.

For about $12 we get dinner for two with some drinks and breakfast for the morning. From the perspective of the places where we eat in the US: San Diego, CA, Coronado, Boston, Las Vegas, etc… this is next to nothing.
I think that we actually ended up buying more food that we really *needed* to eat during this meal… it seems so inexpensive when we get it that I think my “eyes are bigger than my stomach” …
I have so many experiences like this when in Thailand.
The cost of living, and for me my “living” is basically being on vacation, which you could argue is infinitely more expensive than if you are truly Living in a city as a long-term (e.g. 3+ months) resident.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the little summary and we hope to be able to meet you one day and share some awesome Thai street food!!

Live the Dream!

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I stumbled across the AIS-sponsored co-working space that is on the top floor of the Emporium Mall in Bangkok. Its a fairly simple, small library-like open space with many open shared tables, a few comfy padded lounge chairs, a few private rooms for meetings as well as a basic video studio.
BUT, the sweetest part is that for 1200 Thai Baht (~$40 USD) i now have a *1 YEAR MEMBERSHIP* — I think this is an EPIC deal. BUT, the sweetest thing is the WiFi/Internet connectivity.
Speedtest.net told me I had ~150Mbps down and ~75 Mbps up. For a room full of laptops and a larger percentage being heavy Internet users, I am very pleased with this performance. I was able to upload a few YouTube videos until my battery(s) died.
HA! –
Its either the power for the data, ain’t it! Sigh.
Hehe…

Hope you enjoy the quick check in. If you want more information check it out here:
https://aisdc.ais.co.th/home/

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We headed back to the Emporium Mall as the newly released, Murder on The Orient Express was playing. Obviously, this is not a video of That video, BUT I did want to show you the Cinema they have:

Emprive Cineclub: https://www.emprivecineclub.com/

Indeed its quite comfy but the BEST thing was that they provided blankets.
I always argue that they don’t have to crank the A/C so high in the silly theaters, especially in an area of the world where the temperature outside it frequently 90 degrees… Anyway, don’t get me started. HA!
If you get a chance I do recommend the movie. It was very well done and a great classic story.

Enjoy!