You are here: Home / Archives for Paul Thompson

A Pox on the Internet?

August 30, 2010 By Paul Thompson 74 Comments
www

Back in May I signed on to Facebook, only because after Googling an old friend and I found him on Facebook. Some people swear by Facebook, me not so much. A lot of friends and relatives did show up, and that was a good thing. But my ex-wife? Please! The one thing I’ve worked so hard to do, is to keep continents and oceans between us (i.e.; North Carolina to the Philippines). The Ex shows up on Facebook asking to be my friend. Like that’s gonna’ happen. Say what? I’d sooner stick my hand in a blender and hit the puree button (see how I cleaned that up for our readers). Please understand, I wish her no harm, only distance. And Facebook … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Communication, Daily Life, Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson

Triskaidekaphobia, a Fear of the Number 13

August 23, 2010 By Paul Thompson 36 Comments
Casper the Friendly Ghost

I was born on Sunday 13 July 1947 and have lived all these years and just found out people fear the number 13. Nine times in my life my birthday has fallen on “FRIDAY the 13th” I would say that the number 13 has been lucky for me! Now that I ponder on it, I can remember many buildings in Boston that had no 13th floor, now a lot of those were less than 12 stories tall, and that kinda’ made sense. But the really tall buildings didn’t have them either. Are people really serious about this fear in the year 2010? Do they shun ladders, black cats and broken mirrors? I’ll Google it and see what they say. I didn’t know there were web sites … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Birthday, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson, Superstitions

The Big Adventure

August 16, 2010 By Paul Thompson 52 Comments
One of the Stores that my daughter manages

Prior to our youngest girl “Ymir Thea” moving to Singapore to work last year, she had a job with a large Japanese Electronics Firm on Subic Freeport, as an assistant administrator in the main office. Her supervisor tasked her with updating the company’s instruction manuals. She brought them home and worked on them, on our computer. I asked her if she would like me to proof read them and correct the English. “Of course Daddy!” she exclaimed.  As any former military person knows, writing manuals and instructions are what we do at every duty station. She wrote in a very lengthy and flowery style, and all I did was condensed them … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Communication, Daily Life, Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson, Relationships

Visiting Texas in Subic

August 9, 2010 By Paul Thompson 45 Comments
Pulled Pork

Lechon and liempo wow, they sure taste good, but do you miss Texas Pulled BBQ Pork? Or Texas style BBQ Pork Ribs, served with corn bread, ‘taters (Rice also) and corn on the cob? How about Texas style BBQ chicken and beef ribs? How about a BBQ beef brisket sandwich that falls apart in your mouth? And a host of BBQ sauces, that will remind you of home wherever that might be from, waiting to be dripped on you BBQ. Let me digress, the weekend of July 18th I had planned a road trip to Vigan up North, here on Luzon. The gods sent a typhoon that changed my plans a bit. My area of Bataan never did get hit hard, about 5 hours of gusting … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Daily Life, Entertainment, Expats, Food, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson, Travel, Weather

Let It Rain

August 2, 2010 By Paul Thompson 27 Comments
My Mango Tree Before Triming

What’s not to like about the rainy season here in my Bataan paradise? It follows a two-month period of blistering heat; it turns all plants from brown to green and makes my new lawn look great. Plus it’s a good excuse to stay home and consume a few canned consumables. The wife will explain about the shortage of rice in her kitchen, and I can say, “I think the National Highway is washed out.” While watching the local News last year, it was announced that Mega Manila was 90% ready for the rainy season! Then three days later it was shown that Mega Manila was flooded after the first rain fall, not from a Typhoon. I figured that … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Daily Life, Expats, Living in The Philippines, Luzon, Manila, Paul Thompson, Weather

If It’s On The Menu

July 26, 2010 By Paul Thompson 50 Comments
Pool

The Advertisement said that every Friday Night they served Mongolian BBQ, I’d been there before, just two weeks prior, it was good. (Their lunch menu has a Philly Cheese Steak sandwich that is the best I’ve had outside of Philadelphia.) My buddy has just come home after being to sea for the last three months. We decided to head over to the Casablanca Hotel on Subic Freeport and chow down on Mongolian BBQ. The added benefit was their huge pool with a swim up bar, when you order food, you may swim gratis. The Kid’s like that. We met there at 18:30, I with my family and assorted kids, and my friend with his family and some more … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Adjustment, Daily Life, Entertainment, Expats, Filipino Culture, Food, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson

She Did Promise Me!

July 19, 2010 By Paul Thompson 40 Comments
Nice Box

For my putting off the purchase of a new car, and having all her house projects completed, my wonderful wife promised me a new Pioneer car stereo that would play USB Flash drives in my old Honda. The one I had, played MP3 CD’s, and worked fine. The thought of one month of country music, never hearing the same song twice, well, that just gladdened my heart, and caused a slight tingle in my brain. Plus, my son-in-law Chris loves my old unit, which is now in his car. The shop I use is in downtown Olongapo City, and I’ve been using their services for more than ten years now. So when I drove in Max (the owner) asked what type of stereo was … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Daily Life, Entertainment, Expats, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson

You Can’t Get There from Here

July 12, 2010 By Paul Thompson 62 Comments
Pangasinan Hundred Islands

When I lived in Puerto Rico I knew to never ask direction from a local, as it was at best, a crap shoot. If they knew, they would gladly head you in the right direction. But, if they had no idea, then they would just send you somewhere. They were not being malicious, but, machismo would prevent them admitting that they didn’t know. While have lunch with a friend, we were talking about this dilemma here in the Philippines, why does no one know where they are, or where something is? My friend (and I paraphrase) pointed out it was all a frame of reference. We Westerners are used to driving and the Pinoy is not. They know what Jeepney to take … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines, Luzon, Paul Thompson, Travel

Mindanao Bob’s Deluxe BBQ Grill, Part II

July 5, 2010 By Paul Thompson 27 Comments
Ship's Wheel

I never would have thought that Kuya Obet and his helper King could have done that much work on the grill in one day (Last week’s part I), if they were working on a contract, I’d understand, but a daily salary? It was fascinating to watch them work, with such a high degree of skill, using tools we would have thrown away years ago. They were using a saw for a straight edge, when I would have wasted a lot of time, looking for one. A hammer welded to a steel pipe that they used to bend rebar with the handle. Such talent, we could learn so much by watching and not opening our mouth. I’ve learned long ago that if the guy is good at his job, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: BBQ, Daily Life, Entertainment, Expats, Filipino Culture, Food, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson

Mindanao Bob’s Deluxe BBQ Grill, Part I

June 28, 2010 By Paul Thompson 40 Comments
Romacris and me

June 15, Kuya Obet arrives to plan the location and proper placement of the Mindanao Bob’s Deluxe BBQ Grill, which will be referred to as “The Grill” for the rest of this post. First item was his pay; P 450.00 per day and P250.00 for his gofer, plus their lunches, which was agreed to by both parties. Measure and plan, plus work up a list of building materials, after viewing all photos Bob sent to me. Kuya Obet smiled at the pictures and gave them the “Thumbs Up” (Kudos to Bob, Jun and Jun-Jun from Kuya Obet) Due to prior commitments Kuya Obet will start on Tuesday June 22nd. I am starting my quest for a nautical steering wheel, … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Paul T Tagged With: Daily Life, Entertainment, Expats, Filipino Culture, Living in The Philippines, Paul Thompson, Relationships
« Older Posts