One "Mann" in Bangkok

Okay, so the title to this entry is a blatant ripoff of the name of the blog maintained by my friend Matt (see the link at the right, near the top, to "My Friend Matt's Cool Blog."). I just couldn't resist, because Doris and I had an interesting and very enjoyable dinner in Bangkok last night with a new friend named Byron Mann, along with his Thai girlfriend Jeab. We met Byron and Jeab a week ago at a meeting of Newsong, the church we attend here, and we discovered that Byron is an accomplished actor who has co-starred in many TV shows and Hollywood movies. His co-stars have included Richard Gere, Steven Seagal and Tom Berenger. For those who don't recognize Byron's name but may remember his face, further details can be found at:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0542677/

Here's a photo of Byron and Jeab at the restaurant last night:

Baby Eames Visits Ford

As you may recall from an earlier blog entry, one of our Thai lawyers, Khun Sutathip, went on maternity leave at the end of last year. She visited my office with her baby, Eames, this week. Eames naturally was a big hit:

The photo above shows Eames with Sutathip, as well as Khun May, the more junior of our Thai lawyers. Eames also took a good look at me:

And, of course, there's nothing like a baby at work to attract admiring women...

Now It's Looking Like a House

Here are some photos showing the significant progress on our house in Austin. We just learned today that the insulation has been installed, and when Doris is in Texas in just a little over two weeks, the dry wall may be up by then.

Pale Mexicans at the "South of the Border" Ball

A few weeks ago, Doris and I attended a charity ball in Bangkok that was sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand. The theme of the ball was "South of the Border," and attendees were encouraged to dress appropriately. Doris put a lot of effort into finding the right clothing and accessories for us to wear. This wasn't easy, because as you might imagine, Thai stores don't exactly have a Mexican clothing section, and the AmCham organizers evidently intended "South of the Border" to refer to Mexico, or at least Latin America. In the end, Doris did a great job of finding me a Mexican-looking hat, shirt and jeans, and I even bought my first pair of cowboy boots. Doris selected an outfit for herself that certainly had her looking like a genuine senora. Of course, we still were the palest people who ever attempted to pass themselves off as Mexicans. Here's a picture of us at the start of the ball:

About a week before the ball, we learned that many of the attendees were planning to come in black tie, instead of in costume, and of the ten people at the table that Ford had bought, Doris and I were the only ones looking even remotely Mexican -- GRRR!!!