57074--Southern United States

[zyzyly]

This was a good day, the last of the four-day weekend. I woke up at about 1 am with some stomach upset and went to sit in the living room for a few minutes. I fell asleep in the chair and woke up at 4 am, and went back to bed. I rarely have trouble sleeping, other than occasionally going to bed too late and having to get up too early.



The housekeeper is coming tomorrow, so we finished straightening up the house for her. I put away some more books, and put a bunch of others in a box. This bookcase came out of what was my office during the time I was studying theology, and was full of theology books. I've kept some, but most of them no longer have any interest for me, so I put them in boxes and began to think about how I can get rid of them. I don't think they would sell well at a garage sale. Once I get the bookcase all set up with the books I like I will take a picture of it. If you are like me, you love seeing what other people's books are, and maybe getting a little thrill when you see one that you know and like in someone else's collection.

We went for lunch at the Korea bbq. Malida promised God that she would eat only vegetarian for a week if my MRI came out ok, which it did, so she did. After she was done, she longed for grilled meat, so off we went. She's not Christian--she's Buddhist, but she keeps up a dialogue with God. It's interesting to hear her take on what she understands about Christianity. After lunch we took the vacuum cleaner to the repair guy. It has stopped picking things up. He took it in the back and fooled around a bit, then came out and asked if we had a cat. One of Mook's little rubber balls was clogging up the intake. Problem solved.



On the way home we stopped at the asian market. Malida heard they had rambutan, which is a fruit they have in Thailand. She heard correctly, and bought a case. They hardly ever have it fresh, so it was a real treat for her. The case cost $22, but she said, "if anyone says it's too expensive, I will tell them 'at least I'm not buying drugs!'" I took a few of them and took some pictures. It makes an interesting subject.

When we got home, I had a package from Amazon. It's the first part of a new wireless speaker system I ordered. It connects to our home network and can stream music from the computers, from the internet, or from our phones, and it is controlled by the phone. It sounds great. I put the first part of it in the new reading room and streamed in music all afternoon from my favorite satellite radio station. In the late afternoon, I laid down on the couch and read for a while, and eventually drifted off into my afternoon nap.



Here's the new speaker--it's not very big--maybe about 10 inches tall--but it has a great sound. As I was listening to the radio this afternoon, I heard an artist that I had never heard before. That's one of the great things about this station--I am exposed to so much good new music. I ended up buying the album and that's what I'm listening to now.

Comments

[shutterbug.livejournal.com]

Did Matilda say the fruit's Thai name? It's one of those really hard words for me to say since it has no equivalent english phonetic. I personnaly think they are fun to look at but I'm not fond of the flavor.

Also I would live speakers like that. Someday...

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I just asked her and she told me, but I can't really wrap my tongue around it. I asked her how it's spelled, and she said, "it isn't".

[howeird]

เงาะ
ngór

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Yes--it sounded something like that. She will be pleased that you knew it.

[shutterbug.livejournal.com]

Stupid phone auto corrected her name: Malida

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

lol!

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

This is a fun post. That fruit is very interesting! Someday I want to go to Thailand. It's on my list.

I have been thinking about what I'm going to do for music when I move into my new place in May. I like the idea of wireless speakers and am going to look further into the one you show here. What other parts did you order for your system?

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I ordered the bridge that connects everything and two speakers. It gets kind of expensive, but I figure I can just add as I have extra money and desire. And the speakers are totally portable. I can really put them in any room I like--just need a power supply.

I think in the next year or two I am going to start taking people on tours of Thailand and the surrounding areas. I've been thinking about it for a while, and there are a bunch of my ICU friends who are volunteering to be my test subjects.

[anita-margarita.livejournal.com]

Perhaps the books could be donated to a seminary?

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

This is what I was thinking -- contact your old seminary and ask them if they'd like you to donate the books. Students are probably reading quite a few of the same ones.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about donating them to the deacon students who are going through the same program I went through, but I find that I am kind of shunned in that community. I will have to find a back door way to do it.

[rockbirthedme.livejournal.com]

Oh, for pity's sake. I suppose I should not be surprised by that. Are any of the individual professors open-minded about black sheep who want to donate their books?

[manintheboat.livejournal.com]

Yeah rambutans! I love them too.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I do too. There are all sorts of fruits that are my "favorites" when I am in southeast asia.

[pinkroo.livejournal.com]

what do they taste like?

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Hard to describe, but somewhat sweet. If you have an asian market (and I'm sure you do) nearby, you can buy some canned ones and try them. Not quite the same, but you can get the general idea.

[ineedcoffee.livejournal.com]

The fruit is pretty! And I like your new reading area, very cozy!

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I do too--I've wanted a reading area for a long time now.

[howeird]

Stunning fruit photo. เงาะ (ngór) has three treasured places in my heart. First, it was how I learned to pronounce words beginning in "ng", because it was in season in Nakorn Sawan during our language training. Second, it's the first Thai fruit I enjoyed which I had never tasted before being in the country. And third, my boss at the research center was the official fruit sweetness judge for provincial fairs in the south, and we always had a basketful in the jeep on the way home. Crawling with ants, of course.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Wow, you have a long history with the rambutan!

My favorite fruit in that part of the world is the som-oh, or pomelo. We can get them here, but they just aren't the same.

[howeird]

I also have a history with longan (lam-yai ลำไย ). I can eat 4 kilos of the stuff at a sitting. When I can afford it. But the rest of the story is too long, maybe sometime I'll put something on my LJ about it.

Different tastes - som-oh never appealed to me. Too much like grapefruit, which caused many traumatic childhood mornings.

[egg-shell.livejournal.com]

You always have the best music recommendations! I think I am going to like Leif Vollebekk just as much as Hiss Golden Messenger (I love him).

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

They are both great, and I have been listening to both of them a lot. I love finding great new music.

[annie-r.livejournal.com]

Since the fruit photo was underneath the story about the vacuum cleaner, I first thought that thing was the cat toy that got stuck, and thought, "My cats don't have that one, I'm sure they'd love it".

[elainetyger.livejournal.com]

haha I also thought it was the cat toy! It looks like the soft ball with tinsel pieces coming out of it that mine like to carry in their teeth and rip up so there are ministrands of tinsel everywhere.

[annie-r.livejournal.com]

My cats are so picky about toys. Larry's favorite for a while was a small tinsel ball, but it disappeared (probably into the vacuum.) I tried to replace it, but the new ones were not to his liking. I think they were too big. I tried giving them a haircut, but still no love there.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Mook just loves her little rubber balls. She carries them all over the house and likes to drop them in front of me so I will throw them for her. You can tell which rooms she's been hanging around in by the number of rubber balls on the floor.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Cats are funny about what they like to play with. You never know what is going to catch their attention.

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

haha--you're right! I didn't even think about that.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

Straightening for the housekeeper is an American tradition, I think. Those speakers look great!

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

Yes it is. In my case, it is clearing off surfaces so they can be accessed for cleaning.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The rambutan looks like a fruit a child would design. Do you like the taste?

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I do--they are sweet, but not too sweet, and the texture is pleasing. Have you ever tried them?

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

No, but I'd like to.