Caddo Lake

We went to Caddo Lake on Saturday. Row, row, row your boat! :)



Other than fish, I found a small water snake, a beaver, and a flock of hawks.

Plasma Donation

I went to give the whole blood actually. But since my iron level was a bit low (even I had been eating tons of cashews this week), the staff asked me to give plasma instead. He said it was going to help people who had cancer. So I am honored.

It was written in the document that giving plasma would take about an hour. In fact, it took longer than that. I finished "Something to Talk About" that the staff opened for me. Imagine, the needle stuck in my arm for over one and a half hour!

During that time, I also felt like my body was shaky... like getting cold. The staff said it was normal because it returned the fluid back to me along with the blood cells. They also gave me something to drink. It was a can of cold soda. Man!

The good thing is I can go give it again in two weeks. That means I can give 26 times a year! Yay!

Today's Report

Many things happened today:

First, I was not be able to get paid this month since they had lost the paperwork on my assistantship. Though, they told me that I was supposed to get two cheques next month. I have to carefully manage my money again. :(

Second, I finally got my grade in Parallel Algorithms class which I had taken in spring. Dr. Baggag eventually decided to change it from IB to A without even saw my final report. I was surprised!

Third, I almost hit the car that broke the red light at the intersection. Fortunately, I managed to hit the break in time. Thanks to Mon as well.

Forth, I just knew from James that Dr. Baggag had resigned. Now, it was not surprising why he gave me the grade. But I was wondering what had happened to him and what James, his advisee was going to do. James did not seem to be worried about this, though.

A Night at Thai Temple

I spent this weekend with my friends at Thai Temple in Bossier, LA. It was a great weekend. Despite the regular services in the temple, I also had an opportunity to do meditation. It made me feel great, content, and calm.

These days...

หลังจากพี่ก้านย้ายไปเมื่อเดือนที่แล้ว สองสามวันนี้เอกกับมนมาอยู่ด้วย เพราะสองคนนี้เพิ่งกลับจากแคลิฟอร์เนีย แล้วพอดีเป็นวันหยุด ก็เลยยังย้ายเข้าอพาร์ตเมนต์ไม่ได้ เมื่อวานก็ไปช่วยเขาขนของนิดหน่อย (คนอื่นแบกเยอะ ^^)

Try a New Thing

I have just got this Purex 3-in-1 sample.


Front and back


After washing


After drying


It smells good, but I do not think I will buy it. :P

เจาะใจ - ดร.วรภัทร์ ภู่เจริญ

Tub Tim Krob (Water Chestnut with Tapioca)

I had got this package from Asian market in Shreveport.
ได้ไอ้นี่มาจากร้านเอเชียใน Shreveport


I tried to follow the instructions but what I got was kind of water chestnut in sweet coconut milk (with pieces of jackfruit). The water chestnut was not covered by tapioca. Maybe it was too wet when I mixed it in tapioca.

ความจริงมันค่อนข้าง instant พอสมควรนะ แค่ต้มๆ แต่พอออกมากลายเป็นแห้วในกะทิ (แอบมีขนุนเล็กน้อย) แป้งมันไม่ยอมเกาะแห้ว แห้วก็เลยเป็นแค่แห้ว ไม่ใช่ทับทิม สงสัยตอนคลุกแป้ง แห้วมันยังไม่แห้งเท่าไหร่ พอลงไปต้มแป้งเลยหลุดหมด



It was not good but still not too bad.
เอาน่ะ พอกินได้

Pest Repeller

I have got it for two days. Let us see if it is going to work.

My Second Car (Pix)

Nothing but the pictures.







And find something to eat.

My Second Car

On the first day to Dallas, I thought I could not find the right one for me. But, eventually, I found a gold, 2002 Honda Civic LX from Dallas this morning. Right... It was old, and there were too many miles on it (about 86,3xx miles). However, it was in good conditions. The history was clean. The engine was good, no vibrations. P Gan and Ex helped me test drive and check on everything. It was okay, just too old. I will take the pictures of it post them here soon.

Mourn the Passing of My Car

This is my lost.

From the Police Report

This is what happened...
I am on the right. The truck is on the left.

An Experience on a Car Accident

Today, around 1PM, after I went to pay the utility bill, I drove back home. To go home, I had to head to the south, and it was just a straight way, so I kept on the right lane. When I was on Vienna St., a white truck on the left suddenly moved to my lane!

He hit me! And I also hit a telephone pole!

I got out of the car right away. The neighbors were so nice. They saw the incident and they helped me. I also called P Gan for help.

My right knee got bruised. It would hit the storage under the console. And I had some scratches because the seat belt pulled me back. I was not much injured but my car was really damaged.

The officers came over to collect the evidences and tow my car away. Fortunately, the guy that had hit me did not ran away. But we did not talk.

P Gan took me to the hospital to checkup after that. Nothing broke, only the bruise. James also negotiated with the insurance for me.

I feel really unlucky these days. =(

What I have to do now is just wait to the report from the police.

Thank to those neighbors, P Gan, P Noon, and James. Everyone is so nice.

An Experience on Changing a Tire

I just got all tires of my car replaced couple of days ago. And today, I had to get one of them fixed.

My car was in the parking lot behind Nethen when I found the flat. Seeing from the back, it looked unbalanced. So, I took a closer look and found that the right back tire was flat. I knew that I had to get it changed. But how?

I had seen James car parked there when I had got out of the building. Then, I made him a call for help. While waiting for him, I took all tools that I had in the trunk, as well as the doughnut (spare) tire. It was heavy though. Also, the weather was damn hot!

When James appeared, we started changing it. James was an expert in doing so. It looked not hard though. The problem was, I did not have enough strength to screw the nuts, even thought I use my whole body weight. How pitiful!

Whatever, thank James for helping me.

Once I got it changed, I drove to wall-mart and paid $10 plus tax for this experience. =(

เป็นเด็กวัด

เมื่อคืน...มาเป็นเด็กวัด นอนวัดหนึ่งคืน
ตอนเช้าก็มาใส่บาตร ถวายเพลพระ กินข้าวเที่ยงแล้วก็นั่งคุยไปจนถึงเย็น

พอตกเย็นเอกกับมนมา พลวงพี่โจ้ก็พาไปร้านของทะเลทอด ซึ่งเป็นร้านของครอบครัวคุณคำพลอย เป็นคนลาว (พี่นูนกับพี่ก้านไม่ได้ไป ถือศีลแปดกัน) เราสั่ง 1 fish and 6 oysters เอกกับมนก็สั่งอะไรกันไป ปรากฏว่าพอเอามา มันเยอะมา รู้สึกเหมือนจะเยอะกว่าที่สั่ง กินไม่หมด แถมให้ cheesecake มาอีก เลยต้องเอา cheesecake กลับวัด

ตอนกลางคืนก็มานั่งทำวัตร สวดมนต์ นั่งสมาธิกันไป

เช้ามา ทำวัตรกันตั้งแต่หกโมง แล้วก็ช่วยพระเตรียมงานที่ศาลา ซึ่งยังสร้างไม่เสร็จ เป็นงานวันวิสาขบูชา แต่จัดล่วงหน้า ทำโน่นนี่เสร็จก็ได้นั่งพักหาอะไรกินนิดหนึ่ง คุยกับหลวงพี่โจ้อีกเล็กน้อย ประมาณสิบโมงครึ่ง คนมา ช่วยเตรียมอาหารต่อ

งานก็ไม่มีอะไร แค่ใส่บาตรพอเป็นพิธี มีพระสี่รูป เณรรูปหนึ่ง แล้วก็กินข้าว แล้วก็ช่วยกันเก็บ บ่ายๆ อากาศร้อนมาก ตัวเหนียว แต่ก็ช่วยกันเก็บเสร็จ

สี่โมง ลาพระท่านมา เพราะต้องไปรับเพื่อนพี่นูนที่เพิ่งเดินทางมาถึง แต่เครื่องบิน delay ก็เลยติดรถมนกลับ ส่วนพี่ก้านกับพี่นูนรอรับเขาต่อไป

...ไปเป็นเด็กวัดก็ได้อะไรเยอะดีเหมือนกัน ชอบแฮะ ไม่มีอะไรให้คิดมากดี

...หัวเข่าด้านแน่ๆ คลานไปคลานมา เพราะผู้ใหญ่ผู้น้อยเขานั่งพื้นกันหมด

-จบ-

Success and Fail

Two things:

As I took the qualifying exams earlier this quarter, I just got an email notifying me that I passed PDEs but failed Numerical Analysis. Right.. It was tough. =(

Usually I could not swim from one end to another end of the standard pool. (My friends told me it would be 50 meters). But today I could do that without stopping. Yay! It was so exhausted though.

Last Week

On Saturday, we (Thai students) went to the temple again. I drove this time. Fortunately that I have my new GPS and P Gan also showed me the way. My car shook when the speed reached 65 miles/hour. I think I should get it checkup someday.

In the evening, we had a small party. There was pork and beef grill. But I was so tired. I could eat just a little bit.

On Tuesday, there was blood drive in Tech. I could not give blood that day because my hemoglobin was a little bit lower than the requirement. Mine was only 37 while they required 38. The lady there told me to eat a lot of peanut butter. It could make the iron level go up. I did as she had told. I ate a bagel with very thick layer of peanut butter. So my iron level got higher in the next day. It was 39. I could give blood. Yay!

Early Songkran Day

...At Wat BuddhaSamakeeVanaRam. Then had supper and took a walk at Broadwalk, Bossier.

After Qual Exams

I had the qualifying exams on Wednesday and yesterday. Right after the exams, I went to the pool. Swimming was kind of getting relaxed a bit.

To get more relaxed, my friends and I went to eat at Raw restaurant. There were Sushi and Thai dishes. Surprisingly, the chef was also Thai. He has been in Ruston for only three months, but in the U.S. for thirty years. So, even he could speak Thai, his accent was quite like American. Another surprise was he was living in my old apartment.

Also, I just got my GPS today. It was Garmin nuvi 205W. I tested by let it leaded me to Raw.