Sunday, November 30, 2008

Thai Noodle Soup

Bangkok or any other cities or towns in Thailand we can find noodle shops. It is economical food and also very delicious for me to eat, I love it! My best one is Chaing Mai Chicken Coconut Noodle Soup. It is similar to Burmese Ohn Noik Kowk Swe. Normally come with egg noodle.

6 years ago, when we just arrived to Bangkok, a bowl of noodle soup can be your Breakfast or Lunch meal. For 35 Baht, we can get plenty of noodle with soup.

Today right after the Church, me and my son went to the Emporium Mall to have noodle soup. For 120 Baht a bowl of pork mince noodle soup, I had to eat only 3 spoonful of noodle and finished!! I also had to ask some more soup to fill in. Shan ate Burrito which is 290 (8.5 US Dollar) Baht. The size of Burrito is also the same size of my nose! pretty small.

Thailand is as any another parts of the world, food prize is increasing but the amount of food is decreasing. Honestly, I am starting to think that where are we all heading to???? In my son era, he must work double to feed his family??

On this Sunday I would like to end with this.....
"Give us this day our daily bread."...Matthew 6:11

My dinner plates might be getting smaller in future but I know there will be food on my table always which is provided by my God. See this is what I am reminding to myself....."No matter how much money you have, without the sun, the air and the water which is from the good God, there won't be food or cow or pig or whatever you are eating."

Thanks God for my daily food.

1. Thai Pork Noodle Soup

2. Thai Beef Noodle Soup
3. Chicken Kowk Swe Noodle (Chaing Mai)

Friday, November 28, 2008

Body Parts

I had never ever think about my body parts seriously till I got hit by liver cancer. I should say before my cancer, I was a healthy woman who never been to the hospital as a sick person except went to see friends. I am not a smoker, not a drinker nor not believe in one night stand sex crazy person either (although some thought excitement, that's never occur to me). As no one know the future, here I got my new liver.

I am thinking about my body parts alot after I got my new precious life. Naturally of course my liver this and my liver that! See as you all knows hair, nails, skin and Liver regrow itself. Now see teeth regrow once only. The minute you change into adult teeth that's it, never again (That's what I am telling to my son often). I am not talking about implant. By the way I got one tooth implant 12 years ago in Gainesville. It done so well and so look nice still there never bother me. It is the one stay in the back not the front.

Here as a believer I want to bring it in The Creation. I do believe in that the creation is perfect....so perfect. Lets reverse that in my way of thinking.......OK put it this way, if your breast, your nose (Like Pinocchio??), your private part, your arms and your legs need to be retrim often as we did our nail, hair....Oh how painful we are going to be just for thinking only. Now how great my deep thought for a day!!!

I got the below article from my subscriber. Nothing to do with my today blog but you can read as knowledge or as to kill your time. Free will!


Do Race, Gender Play a Role in Liver Transplant?
By Alice Carver 17:40, November 26th 2008

A new study has tried to find an answer to the question whether race or gender plays a role on who is eligible for a liver transplant. The report from Dr. Cynthia Moylan and colleagues at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina discovered a new disparity – between men and women.

The study found women were less likely than men to get a life-saving liver transplant, perhaps because of physical differences between the two sexes, according to the study published in this week’s Journal of the American Medical Association. The authors of the new study looked at more than 45,000 patients, black and white, on the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network waiting list for liver transplantation between Jan. 1, 1996, and Dec. 31, 2000, and between Feb. 28, 2002, and March 31, 2006 (after the new system of liver transplant, called the MELD Score System (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease), was introduced).

The new system has reduced the racial inequity, but gender disparity remains. This means that women are less likely to receive a transplant and more likely to die. This problem is the result of several factors, including women's smaller size (meaning they need a smaller liver), higher likelihood of having an autoimmune disease, and the fact that women have less muscle mass. “Sex differences persist despite the (new system),” the study authors said. “Whether these differences result from true anatomic differences or represent a problem not addressed by the use of the (system) mandates further investigation.”

“It's important that we make sure that these livers are allocated fairly,” said Duke’s Dr. Cynthia Moylan, first author of the study.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

My Bangkok and My Thailand

As you all know my Bangkok is on the news often lately. I hope this problem will go a way soon and will be back on the right track again. Tomorrow, I will not sending my son to school. From where I live, I have seen nothing at all but better Shan stays at home with me. We cancelled our Thanksgiving dinner and end up Japanese noodle shop (near by home), as we were told to go home by 9pm.

Last Friday Robins asked me to attend the cocktail for the Vitamin Group meeting. On that day the traffic was very bad because of all this mess happening in Bangkok. So I got out from my car and told my driver to go home. Then, I took off my shoes and I headed to the sky train with my bare feet. My feet were hurt like hell (do not know how the hell will be and never wanted to know either). See this....................I was with this 1 and 1/2 " high heel with a nice cocktail dress and here I am walking in the middle of down town without shoes!!!!. I bet I was look like a retarded woman. I couldn't walk it anymore I creamed at Robins to help me and rest in the park for a while. I was piss! Real Piss!

This evening I went to the grocery store and stock up water, dried food, bread..list went on. People are predicting that military will be involving tonight. What ever will be happen I hope there will be no mortality. Life is so value and why can't people live with harmony?

Hope everything will be normal soon in my Bangkok and my Thailand!
















Fire Rainbow

My sister in law sent me the following photos which is happened in this week at the Idaho and Washington border. See 1 to 5, how the fire rainbow developing.

For me, it is God handiworks and is very beautiful sight.

Northern Lights and Fire Rainbow over Yellow night Canada
Don't skip the last picture. Enjoy!



1


2

3


4
5


THE LAST IS A FIRE RAINBOW - THE RAREST OF ALL NATURALLY OCCURRING ATMOSPHERIC PHENOMENA.
THE PICTURE WAS CAPTURED THIS WEEK ON THE IDAHO / WASHINGTON BORDER. THE EVENT LASTED ABOUT 1 HOUR.
CLOUDS HAVE TO BE CIRRUS, AT LEAST 20K FEET IN THE AIR, WITH JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF ICE CRYSTALS AND THE SUN HAS TO HIT THE CLOUDS AT PRECISELY 58 DEGREES.



Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Thanksgiving Part 3

Once a donor family said .."I thank the Lord for those who are living with parts of my son .." . I do have a huge respect for those families who lost their love child in very young age and still thinking about others. Instead of anger, they are coping with such a loving way!

I was a cancer patient now living with someone's liver from a family who are very thoughtful, loving, caring and unselfish. I do not know who give me this priceless present but this blog is dedicated to you. Thanks God for your family.

"Thank you so much for your giving on this Thanksgiving day!"


Thanks And Giving

Thanksgiving used to be such a fun holiday. A gathering of family and friends and food. The big three.
It's different now. Actually, I think it has more meaning. I probably won't celebrate it much this year. But that doesn't mean I won't privately give "thanks." Any of us living in cancer world needs to say thanks.
There are the obvious "thankees" -- the doctors, nurses, home care aides. Then there are the family and friends who lift us up every day with a phone call, a walk, an email, or a delicious loaf of bread.
Break it down, there are "thanks" and "giving."
We say "thanks" for their "giving." Their endless giving. And, let's face it. We couldn't make it without them.
-- Laurie
7:00 AM ET 11-25-2008

Thanksgiving Part 2

I like this man's Thanksgiving spirit. Hope you enjoy this article as I do.



From the Morning Sentinel

A rafter of about a dozen turkeys has been wandering around my neighborhood all summer and fall. Obviously these birds know nothing about Thanksgiving or they are brave beyond words.
They are certainly safe from me but I can't say the same for their distant cousin who came -- featherless, fortunately -- from the grocery store and who will be part of our holiday on Thursday.

Perhaps more than any other holiday Thanksgiving revolves around the dinner table. Family and friends gather to feast and to enjoy each other.

Maybe even to spend a few minutes thinking or talking about why they are thankful.

For some, struggling with economic turmoil, job loss, mortgages in danger, piles of bills and greater piles of worry, it may be difficult to be thankful. For the least fortunate, local food banks and kitchens will provide dinners on Thursday. Their generosity should make us all thankful.

I'm thankful on many levels this year.

As a writer who concentrates on issues -- often contentious and difficult -- I am grateful that once again this year the United States demonstrated to the world that our democracy works. We held an election and selected a winner. The loser, Sen. John McCain, offered congratulations as did the current occupant of the White House. There were no tanks or soldiers in the streets. No one doubts that on Jan. 20, George Bush will move out and Barack Obama will move in.

Even our most difficult elections end peacefully. There have been arguments, disagreements, court challenges. And then, peaceful transition, exemplified by the gracious welcome given the Obama by the Bushes in their visit to the White House just 10 days after the election.

In electing an African-American president the nation took another step toward racial equality. We're not there yet, but the election was a significant milestone, recognized as such all over the world -- and by McCain and Bush. That's another reason for thanks.

I am also grateful that good men and women ran for office. Certainly I include McCain and Obama. But I also think of Waterville Mayor Paul LePage who was challenged for re-election by city councilor Rosemary Winslow. I was privileged to be moderator for a debate between the two in October. I came away impressed with how fortunate the city is to have been able to choose between such capable candidates. Leading a city is never easy; it is even more difficult in these challenging times. LePage has my best wishes.

Maine voters chose between two talented, experienced candidates in the race for the U.S. Senate, electing Susan Collins for a third term. And we have no doubt that Tom Allen will play an important role in Maine and the nation in years to come.

These are the sorts of thanks that columnists have; political, official -- not very personal.

But the thanks that mean more to me -- the ones I'll think about at the dinner table -- are about family and friends.

The number 90 figures a lot in my thanks. My wife's aunt -- I think of her as my aunt, too -- turned 90 in October. We drove to Maryland to help her celebrate.

My mother-in-law will be 90 next month. Forget all the nasty mother-in-law jokes. They don't apply to Edith, who is as dear to me as she is to my wife. I'm looking forward to her birthday brunch in Milwaukee.

In June, we'll go to Seattle for my mother's 90th. She's planning her own party. We'll gather at the city zoo. Should be fun.

These three remarkable women all live independently and do rather well at it. All have strong opinions. They keep abreast of the news. They care for themselves and intend to keep doing so.

Isn't that worth some thanks? I think so.

I'm thankful that a very good friend from Rhode Island who will share Thanksgiving with us has returned to health after a liver transplant. It is astounding to compare him now -- full of vigor, preparing to leave on a three-month trip to do academic research in Mexico -- to just a year ago. Then he had trouble walking 20 yards. This summer we played golf. Lots of swings. Lots of walking.

I'm thankful that science has developed techniques like liver transplant surgery that can prolong the lives of people -- and make those lives worth living.

I wait for the day -- not too distant, I hope -- when stem-cell research will bring us closer to cures for Parkinson's, perhaps help paralyzed people walk again and save lives in countless ways. That will be special cause for thanks.

I'm about to finish my second year in retirement. I had a wonderful career in journalism, capped with five years as editor of the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel. I'm thankful that my work brought me and my wife to Maine, which we have come to love. I know I'll always be "from away," but even transplants can appreciate how special this state is.

Finally, I'm thankful to the many people who read this column, some every week; especially those who respond with their thoughts. Some agree; some always disagree. Regardless, I welcome the dialogue. I plan to keep writing; please keep reading.

To the neighborhood turkeys -- the birds, not the people -- I assure you I have no plans to add you to the festive table on Thursday.

To everyone else, Happy Thanksgiving.

David B. Offer is the retired executive editor of the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel. E-mail davidboffer@hotmail.com.

True Thanksgiving

My first Thanksgiving was introduce by my husband way way back in Burma. I have no idea when he said "I need a Turkey for my Thanksgiving Dinner." I will tell you without pretending, I asked myself, " What he needs to thank this Turkey for?". We found a live turkey at the Karen township and I remembered we carried that noisy turkey all the way back to Robins's home. It was one week a head of Thanksgiving so Robins need to fed the big bird at his home. One day before Thanksgiving, I went to see Robins and the turkey was living with full of his own TARs and lost my appetite because of the smell.

At that time Robins was not a good cook so the turkey came out over firm and not easy to break with my teeth! I think I fell in love with him on that day.

Now 17 year of being Mrs. Robins, I know the true meaning of Thanksgiving. Robins also become a very good cook especial in turkey meal. My son used to say "Happy Turkey Day!. I will close this with my prayer....

"Dear God,

I am so Thankful for those who make this Thanksgiving Day. I have so much to thank for. I thank you for I am still with my love ones...my husband, my son, my grand mama, my relative and my friends. I thank you for the food that you provide us. I thank you for my health, the medicine that I take and you make it work in me. I thank you for the doctors and nurses. I thank you for Donor families. I thank you for been with me when I was so down. I thank you for with me when I am ugly sometime so ugly. I thank you for the peace, the patience, kindness, love and thoughtfulness that you teach me. Thank you for let me know that forgiveness and love are the best medicines also.

Lord, you the only one knows each person's mind including my mind. I need you lord. Please walks with me and give me the wisdom to deal with my daily life.

I Thank you so much for choosing me to be one of your children. Thank you my God. Amen"......


The First Thanksgiving in 1621

The real meaning of ThanksgivingPosted: November 22, 20011:00 am EasternBy Joseph Farah© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com

There are many myths and misconceptions surrounding the people responsible for the American Thanksgiving tradition. Contrary to popular opinion, the Pilgrims didn't wear buckles on their shoes or hats. They weren't teetotalers, either. They smoked tobacco and drank beer. And, most importantly, their first harvest festival and subsequent "thanksgivings" weren't held to thank the local natives for saving their lives.


Do you know there are public schools in America today actually teaching that? Some textbooks, in their discomfort with open discussions of Christianity, say as much. I dare suggest most parents today know little more about this history than their children.

Yet, there is no way to divorce the spiritual from the celebration of Thanksgiving – at least not the way the Pilgrims envisioned it, a tradition dating back to the ancient Hebrews and their feasts of Succoth and Passover.The Pilgrims came to America for one reason – to form a separate community in which they could worship God as they saw fit. They had fled England because King James I was persecuting those who did not recognize the Church of England's absolute civil and spiritual authority.

On the two-month journey of 1620, William Bradford and the other elders wrote an extraordinary charter – the Mayflower Compact. Why was it extraordinary? Because it established just and equal laws for all members of their new community – believers and non-believers alike. Where did they get such revolutionary ideas? From the Bible, of course.

When the Pilgrims landed in the New World, they found a cold, rocky, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, Bradford wrote. No houses to shelter them. No inns where they could refresh themselves. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims died of sickness or exposure – including Bradford's wife. Though life improved for the Pilgrims when spring came, they did not really prosper. Why? Once again, the textbooks don't tell the story, but Bradford's own journal does. The reason they didn't succeed initially is because they were practicing an early form of socialism.

The original contract the Pilgrims had with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store. Each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community. Bradford, as governor, recognized the inherent problem with this collectivist system.

"The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years ... that by taking away property, and bringing community into common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God," Bradford wrote. "For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense ... that was thought injustice."

What a surprise! Even back then people did not want to work without incentive. Bradford decided to assign a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of free enterprise. What was the result?"This had very good success," wrote Bradford, "for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been."

As a result, the Pilgrims soon found they had more food than they could eat themselves. They set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London much faster than expected. The success of the Plymouth colony thus attracted more Europeans and set off what we call the "Great Puritan Migration."

But it wasn't just an economic system that allowed the Pilgrims to prosper. It was their devotion to God and His laws. And that's what Thanksgiving is really all about. The Pilgrims recognized that everything we have is a gift from God – even our sorrows. Their Thanksgiving tradition was established to honor God and thank Him for His blessings and His grace.

Today we continue that tradition in my home – and I hope in yours. God bless you, God bless America, and Happy Thanksgiving.

Monday, November 24, 2008

Just For A Laugh

Thai baht one thousand note


My Friend, Lan who is a Financial Adviser, from Bangkok, she sent me the following this afternoon and it made me laugh. I think time for keep only in cash not in the Bank but in your own safe box at home.

Thank you Lan and I love it!

1. The US has made a new weapon that destroys people but keeps the building standing,. Its called the stock market.
2. Do you have any idea how cheap stocks are ?? Wall Street is now beingcalled Wal Mart Street. 3. The difference between a pigeon and a London investment banker. The pigeon can still make a deposit on a BMW.
4. What's the difference between a guy who lost everything in Las Vegas and an investment banker? A tie!
5. The problem with investment bank balance sheet is that on the left side nothing's right and on the right side nothing's left.
6. I want to warn people from Nigeria who might be watching our show, ifyou get any emails from Washington asking for money, it's a scam. Don'tfall for it.
7. Bush was asked about the credit crunch. He said it was his favourite candy bar.
8. The rescue bill was about 450 pages. President Bush's copy is even thicker. They had to include pictures.
9. President Bush's response was to meet some small business owners in San Antonio last week. The small business owners are General Motors,General Electric and Century 21.
10. What worries me most about the credit crunch, is that if one of mycheques is returned stamped 'insufficient funds'. I won't know whether that refers to mine or the bank's.

** New Stock Market Terms **

CEO --Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO-- Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET -- A 6 to 18 month period when the kids get no allowance,the wife gets no jewelry.
VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER -- What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assetsequally between themselves.
FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW-- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo@ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in anut house. PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use*****
JuliusBaer

An email from my friend who visit to Rangoon

I got the following letter from my dear friend now who lives in Houston, Texas. While I was reading her email, my memory flash back to our good old time. We both studied at the same high school, ( St. Augustine, in Inya Road, Rangoon), and later we both worked for US Embassy. There were 5 young and beautiful girls working together at the Embassy. Cho Mar was famous for her figure, her morena skin and tall, Pinky was famous as a very simple and honest, Esme was always famous for her beauty (Well with those Shan + English blood, she has that always rosy cheeks), Sandy was quiet and not so much talk, I was famous for naughty, loud and party girl (very proud of it!! Looking back, If I did not parties that time I will never know what is my young life. If you think I am crazy..please go a head!). We were full of colours, full of young spirits, so much laughter and so much fun together. See our nationality too, I am Shan and Lahu, Picky is Karen, Cho Mar is pure Burmese, Esme is Shan and English, Sandy is I think Hmong and Burmese (not sure).

I want to share you our education back ground. Pinky and Esme finished with English Major, I finished with Zoology (hate those times that got into the dirty ponds and gave injection to the fish to make lots of babies! we human are always try to manipulate the other life including the fish's sex life!), Sandy is Economic Major (not sure but 80% correct), Cho Mar is whether English or Botany Major. Asked me why we all end up at the US Embassy... because our English are the best in Burma (I admitted it here that my English is the worst in among my friends and still the same position), in our generation. Oh yes older generation speaks very very good English in Burma and still do. My English was originally come from Charlies Angels and Hart to Hart. I love those TV series and repeated some of the conversation.

Those years were gone and now we all married except Cho Mar (live in New York). 4 out of our very close 5 friends, me, Cho mar, Pinky and Esme, we all now become US Citizens or Green Card holder. Sandy left Burma for a long time and now living in Australia. May be one of these years we might see each other in USA. Hope Sandy can come.

My friend the one went back to visit is Catholic. On Soul Day, she went to visit her aunt and my sister grave yard and took some photos for me to see. This is the first time I am going to see my sister's grave.

OK too much bla bla bla bla, must stop here. I want to share some latest news of Rangoon's beauty to those Burmese who live in over sea and who read my blog.


I am back to U.S. on 11/22/08 at 2:00 p.m. You can now reach me via email or phone as usual. Yes, can give my email address to our friend.


Back to Burma (Myanmar) for four weeks is like a walking on the cloud. Had a great time with family, friends and relatives. Rangoon (Yangon) changed alot in the sense of deteriorating/down grading.

Home based shops everywhere, the enormous ugly brick houses of those suddenly so called rich people destroyed the beautiful sights of city and the landscapes. Roads are pretty bad especially on the sides so all vehicles try to run in the center areas regardless of which direction they are heading.

Blue collars and people rich in time are everywhere even on the tar road walking in between the running cars. Commodities prices are shockingly up in the sky, even I dare not touch the items on the shelves after viewing the price tags.

No matter how badly destroyed the city (may be country), the true spirit.e kind hearted to each other is still remain the same. Thanks to God for giving the Burmese people kindness to each other.On all souls day, I went to cemetery. Took photo with Ju Ju's grave (close to my Aunt's).

Keep in touch,

Friday, November 21, 2008

Dr Adrian Kantrowitz

I just want to say......."Thank you and rest in peace Dr. Adrian kantrowitz"!


By Thomas H. Maugh II November 20, 2008


Dr. Adrian Kantrowitz, the pioneering cardiovascular surgeon who performed the first U.S. heart transplant, developed a balloon-pumping device that has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and developed mechanical heart-assist devices, died of heart failure Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich. He was 90.Over his six-decade career, Kantrowitz developed more than 20 electronic and medical devices to assist heart patients and paraplegics, but he is probably better known for his seminal role in the heart-transplant drama that swept the world in the 1960s.
Find In-Depth Articles From Leading Publications

Kantrowitz could -- perhaps should -- have been the first surgeon to perform a human heart transplant. Working at the small, community-oriented Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., he had performed more than 400 experimental heart transplants in puppies and cats in preparation for the pioneering procedure.On a sweltering June night in 1966, Kantrowitz was ready to perform the first such transplant on a baby suffering from a terminal cluster of congenital heart defects, using as the donor a one-day-old baby who had been born without a brain -- a condition known as anencephaly. He had already received permission from the baby's parents to use its organ.As he prepared to begin the procedure, however, two members of his team intervened, pointing to the seemingly healthy body of the donor infant and arguing that he should wait until the heart stopped beating.

Kantrowitz acquiesced, and when they finally opened the infant's chest an hour later, the heart had been irretrievably damaged.Eighteen months later, he had resolved the ethical issues and was prepared finally to perform the procedure. But on Dec. 3, 1967, his daughter woke him with the news that Dr. Christiaan Barnard had beaten him to the punch.Three days later, Dec. 6, Kantrowitz performed the world's second human heart transplant and the first pediatric transplant, immersing the anencephalic donor in cold water to shock its heart into stopping. The 19-day-old recipient lived for only 6 1/2 hours, however.Kantrowitz was philosophical about Barnard seizing the crown of immortality."You can't always be first," he said later. "Some races you lose, some you win."Critics charged Kantrowitz with "jumping on Barnard's bandwagon," even though the South African had not done anywhere near as much preparatory research as he had.Undeterred, the following January, Kantrowitz performed the fifth U.S. transplant, this time on an adult but again with little success and to a mounting chorus of criticism.

Recognizing that researchers needed to develop much better anti-rejection drugs, he abandoned the transplant field, choosing instead to work on artificial heart aids.Beginning in the early 1950s, working with his brother Arthur, a physicist who was co-founder of the Avco-Everett Research Laboratories, Kantrowitz began developing an intra-aortic balloon pump for an idea that he called "diastolic augmentation" but that is now known more simply as counterpulsation.In many patients with various forms of heart failure, circulation is particularly restricted during the diastolic portion of the heartbeat, when the heart is expanding and refilling with blood before a contraction.Kantrowitz reasoned that they would benefit if circulation was boosted during this phase and invented a 6-inch-long sausage-shaped balloon that could be inserted into the aorta. Using electronics to monitor natural heartbeat, the device inflated when the heart relaxed, then deflated when it pumped, augmenting blood flow and easing strain on the heart.More than 3 million people have been treated with the device since it came into general use in the early 1980s.Working with his brother and other colleagues, Kantrowitz also developed a series of heart pumps called left ventricular assist devices, or LVADs. Instead of replacing a failing heart with an artificial heart, these devices are meant to augment the natural organ, working in concert with it to provide a boost to circulation until the injured heart can recover.

Kantrowitz performed the world's second implantation of such a device on Feb. 4, 1966, but the desperately ill patient died 24 hours later from preexisting liver disease. The surgeon's second attempt on May 18 was in 63-year-old Louise Ceraso, who was able to sit up and eat well after the surgery. Her condition continued to improve, but she died of a stroke 13 days later.The 1972 implant of a newer model in Haskell Shanks, a 63-year-old patient with chronic heart failure, marked the first time that an LVAD recipient was able to leave the hospital and return home. Haskell survived three months, but Kantrow Working with engineers from General Electric Co., Kantrowitz in 1962 also developed one of the first implantable pacemakers, designed to trigger heartbeats when the heart's own electrical system is malfunctioning.Kantrowitz was born Oct. 4, 1918, in New York, the son of a father who was a general practitioner in the Bronx and a mother who designed costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies. He exhibited an interest in medicine at an early age: He and his brother built a simple electrocardiograph from radio parts.

Kantrowitz graduated from New York University with a degree in mathematics in 1940, then enrolled in the Long Island College of Medicine, now a part of the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center. Through an accelerated program designed to provide physicians for the World War II effort, he received his medical degree in 1943 and became a battalion surgeon in the Army Medical Corps.At war's end, he had intended to become a neurosurgeon, but the lack of available positions led him to a cardiovascular surgery post at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. From 1955 to 1970, he held a variety of surgical posts at Maimonides, achieving many of his breakthroughs there.Unfortunately, a small community hospital like Maimonides was not an ideal place for an aggressive research program. Many of the hospital's elders, moreover, had qualms about the ethics of such procedures as heart transplants.

In 1970, he transferred his surgical team of 25 surgeons, engineers and nurses to Detroit, where he taught at Wayne State University School of Medicine and operated at Sinai Hospital. He also accepted a then-magnificent research grant of $3 million from the National Institutes of Health.Other achievements over the years included the development of an early heart-lung machine and the construction of a radio-controlled device that would allow paralyzed patients to empty their bladders. Using techniques developed in stimulating heart tissues, he became one of the first physicians to develop devices to allow paralyzed patients to artificially move their limbs.A driven man who worked 18-hour days, six days a week, Kantrowitz also found time to ride his motorcycle and was a licensed pilot with his own plane.

Kantrowitz is survived by his wife of 60 years, the former Jean Rosensaft; two daughters, Niki, a cardiologist in Brooklyn, and Lisa, a radiologist in Newport Beach; a son, Allen, a neurosurgeon in Williamstown, Mass.; his brother; and nine grandchildren.

Freedom

Where is Freedom??


Popular Burmese Blogger Sentenced To More Than 20 Years
by Ashin Mettacara

Nay Phone Latt, the first ever blogger who was sentenced to more than 20 years
A popular Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt was sentenced to 20 years and six months imprisonment for posting caricatures of military leader General Than Shwe on his blog (Nayphonelatt.Net).



Nay Phone Latt is a 28-year-old blogger and organiser of the Myanmar Bloggers Society. He organised more than 400 Burmese bloggers in September before Saffron Revolution led by the Buddhist monks in 2007. He was arrested in January and given 15 years under the country's Electronics Law, two years for seditious writtings, and 3 1/2 years under the Video Act.His friend Thin July Kyaw and a poet Saw Waiwere also sentenced two years imprisonment for seditious writtings (creating public alarm).All news media in Burma is strictly censored and tightly controlled by the military.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Rules for a cross culture married

On my wedding reception night



(below photo) I don't know them but love them!
(They do have ture love each other)




Enjoy the following article with my thought, my view, and in my own language.

NOTE: Do not read my this blog so seriously! But all facts are base on True Story.


Rules For A Cross Cultural Marriage
Added: 04/29/2007


Any marriage is hard enough even with everything going your way. You might have money, influence, power, security, privacy, a sense of humor, like minds and good genes.....and still fail at a marriage "made in heaven". For those who find their Mister or Miss Right who is not from the same culture, there is a pretty good set of rules to learn before you make the big jump into taking vows that include the words, "for better or worse, until death do us part".
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Rule Number One: Make fully certain that both you and your potential spouse have at least one language in common in which you are both completely fluent. It sure might seem charming when you meet your true love and the language barrier seems to be an endless source of curiosity, stimulating attempts at sign language conversations, and entertaining afternoons at the market. However, a language barrier is precisely that, a barrier. Speaking some common language completely fluently together is the only way to make sure that you and your spouse can truly survive a decent cross cultural marriage. No marriage is a match made in heaven, at least if it is expected to last, and a cross cultural marriage will still be very much cross cultural even with a common language spoken between the two of you.


Helen said: I understand the most important language for a couple is, both must have more or less same interest, hobbies, outing, goals, lists went on. I totally agree with rule number one.

Now let see on English language which is main language and most cross married couple will likely use. Very important that both speak one language completely fluent. My own experience, (I married into a totally White Men from Florida), Some of Robins's excuses are "I do not understand what you mean or your English is not so clear this time." Come on even native English Speaker can confuse you too. My one big question to Robins is, Why before married he understand all my English but why he can't understand my English after married??? OK what do you think a bout a couple who both mute? Well..life might be easier as the less you talk the more you happier.


How true if I do not speak English, how could I defence myself when there is a thing to discuss. I will be a defenceless wife. I am so glad that I do speak English my own way.


In life, people (native or non native English speaker) can speak different way but finally same one meaning .



Example: I have heard many times in Alabama folks say, "Oh bless her heart, she is not pleasure to look at." In my language I would put it "Oh she is ugly!"



Rule Number Two: Do not assume anything. Assumption is the mother of all screw ups, as the saying sort of goes, and the saying certainly applies when speaking of a cross cultural marriage. Do not ever assume that you know something about your spouse or potential spouse unless it has been openly discussed, with hand waving signs if necessary, to make sure you understand each other. Then do it again. Do not assume that because you have a spark and a love between you, that you understand how this other person feels about any particular topic or plans. Assumptions can take you straight into hot water, in the deep end of the cross cultural pool.


Helen said: Oh yes never assume. Never never and ever!!Assuming is very bad and end up discussing long hours. Yes or No is much better than assuming. Again my Dear Robins gave me 2 credit cards and plus one of my own. Of course your husband give you credit cards mean to use when you need it but...that was my assuming. I was very wrong. Robins said he gave the credit cards to me only for emergency use. The problem is I do have emergency quite often!

Assumptions is not only can take you to straight into hot water but also for some couple, might take them straight into beating up or divorce!


Rule Number Three: Do not underestimate the power of potential in-laws. In the United States, it is quite common for individuals to give little or no regard to the opinion that their immediate family holds regarding their choice of life mate. It is not so in nearly any other country or region in the world. In much of the world, marriages are still quite nearly arranged, if not literally then almost literally. Do not underestimate the power of your potential in-laws. The opinions they hold may be of the utmost importance to your spouse, and not taking full stock of your responsibilities in that direction will make your cross cultural marriage just that much more difficult.

Helen said: My married was not arranged! I love him and married him. The article said do not never underestimate the power of potential in -laws. Agree! Talking about in law, I have a friend in Singapore I love the way she said "Should not call this people in-law, should be call them out-law". I know there are good in laws and bad in laws (including daughter in law and son in law). Robins has very good relationship with his parent.


The son and the mother are blood relative and they are bounded the day he came out from what ever his mother's part of it but the wife and the husband or the wife and the mother in law, there is no one blood drop connected. Have you heard that the blood is ticker than water. The Burmese say "the blood can talk too"!!

I learn one thing...do not never ever complaint about your husband to his mother, your mother in laws. The result will be, right or wrong these old mother will stick with their sons for ever and ever till the end of their lives. Well fair enough. I love my son too. Honestly In laws things, I like white culture very much. They do not want to stay with us and I do not want to stay with them in the same house more than a month. Asian people can be end up with their in laws till the day they die you know.

Rule Number Four: Examine your own motives as well as the motives of the Significant Other when you start talking about getting married. Are you getting married because you think that your spouse to be will forever be the charming inquisitive person that they are now, looking up to you for advice always, asking for your help and opinion always, just as they were when you met and they were trying to figure out your native culture? Are you on the other end, grasping to hold on to the security and safety you need to assimilate into your new culture? Examine your motives in regards to wanting to get married. Take a serious step back and ask yourself, what would an outsider say about this? A smart outsider, mind you. Take heed if you can’t answer this question for yourself or for your future spouse. You do not want a parent or a child out of this person, but a partner.


Helen said: If I live long enough to see my son marry, I will tell my son to talk everything out before married. I want my future daughter in law happy and I am happy too. She must knows that I am originally from Asia ha ha (whats that for ??) . I have a friend from Chaing Mai, Thailand. She married into an American men. I met them in Guatemala. Nice couple! Oh she is so smart because she told Peter, her husband that "I am an older daughter, I have to recognize my Mae Noome duty. Mae Noome in Thai, it directly means (ma ma's breast but here means she want to pay back the year that her parent raised her.)... So Peter agree that to support his wife parents with some money". The agreement was done before married and It work out beautifully.


In my case, I forgot to tell to my sweet husband about my "Mae Noome" duty! I was so happy knowing that Iam getting a nice husband, I forgot to say everything except "Yes" to my marry vows. Too bad, I forgot to tell him my Ma Ma's breast fee.

One thing I was sure, Robins will make a good man and a good father. I jsut happy that I am not going to face this world alone.


Rule Number Five: Talk openly about the biggest topics like money, children, education, and professional goals before you make the jump into forever. Any long term business relationship would openly format the long term plan. A marriage should do so also. Especially a cross cultural marriage. Don’t become partners with someone who doesn’t see eye to eye with you on the large issues.

Helen said: Money: I no need to talk about money so much in my married life. So this is good. What I know is when Robins die I get his money and I die Robins will taking care of it. My husband does not spend money at all so I no need to talk to him but he talk about money to me every day. He said, "You spend this and that ..tra la la . Depression and recession is coming, will hit all of us." I told my husband that I can taking care of recession but I can't take or taking care of depression. So I live happy!

Children: We have only one child. We both taking care of our boy pretty well. I am totally agree with that investing in our son education as much as we can.

Education: I can read, I can write, I can talk to everyone so I am OK! In education, Robins is way way better than me. He is very good at what he is doing.

Professional goals: One thing I know Robins want to retire at 60. Hummmm..I am retired the day that I married to him. You can say my goal is accomplish.

Rule Number Six: If your partner doesn’t wish to talk about the biggest topics, consider that to be a giant red flag with flashing red lights hanging over a glaringly obvious hazard marker. Beware if serious subjects are taboo subjects to your partner. Nothing great happens on accident, and neither is a great marriage a complete accident. You will need to make plans for your future, and need to discuss those plans with your spouse to make sure that you do hold common ground in regards to life principals and plans. What is very honorable and meaningful in one culture, certainly may not be that in another culture.

Helen said: I like to talk about the article said "what is very honorable and meaningful in one culture, certainly may not be that in another culture."

One big thing is Asian people want to give money to mother or grandmother but other culture think, they are suckers!

My mother in law told me once back home Gainesville "You all no need to worry about my funeral, I already arranged. You all just come!"... and after one year she told me "I went to change the hymme number because I like this one better." Chinese will do that?? OR Burmese will do that?? I would love to arrange my grand ma ma funeral when she die.

Robins once said "talking to ex girlfriend is nothing in our culture". I said "Oh yeah it call bull $%^& if you talk to her all the time in my culture."

Another thing I do not understand is, I saw some kept their love one ashes in the house. Once in Florida at my friend house she said .."Helen here is my daughter." (I know her young daughter passed aways but my head did not click fast on that day). I told her "Oh ..in that Vase??" I felt so bad on that day BUT I say sorry to her.

Shan people do not keep ashes at home because they believe the dead one can be angel or bad ghost, you see the point??

For my culture "farting" in front of other is real disrespect. The first 4 years of my married to Robins I used to fart behind the door but Robins not. Christmas visiting for the early year of my married to Robins family is the worst. There is fart sound every where. Even my Gainesville Maid, Challis, She is a very nice big size black lady but she can walks and farts the same time in front of me. I hate that you know.

Now see, for Shan people "Spitting" is normal but Robins hates it! He thought so rude spitting in front of him. I did not do that . I told him you white people farting is worst than spitting!

OK lets serious. Once an Asian mother in law (she is from very high socity family) told to her sun in law who is tossing his baby on the air and catch the baby, "Please do not do that it is dangerous!" (I knows the mother in law said this for nothing but to prevent the accident but the son in law ( a white man ) replied was real ugly saying..."I know what I am doing and I will raise my child in my way.".....For Asian view, this is a very rude to say such thing to the elderly but other culture is nothing just normal conversation. May be! They end up not talking for 3 months.


Rule Number Seven: Forget about any rules. Love happens. Live happens. If you’re really in love and want to make it work, and your spouse wants to make it work, then nothing can truly stand in the way of a successful cross cultural marriage. Whether you’re white or Asian, Hispanic or black, interracial and cross cultural marriages happen every day, and people survive them and live happily ever afer!!

Helen said: As marrying Robins for 16 years I know more or less what Robins likes even he is totally white and I am totally yellow. There is time that I am wrong and there is time that Robins worng. No one is perfect so do we. Our married life is not full of roses but once in a while we do have bumping road but we are survie and hope to live happily ever after. (Sound like Snow White story??.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Private Chicken dealer in China

One of my very very good friend sent this to my email. I decided to blog it since funny comments in my email. Actually some explanation in each photos but do not know how to blog them together. This is a private chicken dealer life starting in the early morning in China. He is an expert on DEAD chicken and turn them into commercial. Sorry to those chicken lovers!

Do we need ACC (??) people on his processing plant and on his chicken?

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Life after Dead

"When you die, if you are a nice person you will become an angel and if you are a bad person you become a bad ghost!"..This was what me and my friends conversation in Shan Land! (I think I was only 8 or 10 year old. That time my brain was only half developing and so did my friends who had the same size of my brain but we did have the best time in Shan Land with our small brains.)

I had heard some stories about ghosts when Tsunami hit in Indonesia. In South of Thailand I think around 6000 people die also. This is a good one story about ghost that I had heard..."One night a Taxi driver in Phuket was got stop by a 5 young people. The driver stoped and they got into taxi. They were talking and laughing but after 10 minutes drove, the driver hear nothing and the car felt much lighter. So Driver turned his head and checked but there was no one in the car anymore. They all gone. The driver drove so fast back to home.."

I do not believe there are ghosts because I just don't!!. I never seen ghosts nor smell ghost in my life. (Well I even do not know how's the ghost smell, do you???) . Oh yes...I was told once that they have to move another hotel because a ghost was standing by their bed side and the wife saw it clearly. She refused to stay in that hotel. (It was told by the wife to me, actually she told me twice!)

I saw a blog just only talking about life after dead! These are what they are talking and answering for whether life after dead or not. They said...

1. No. I think we all become worm food!
2. I would rather be a fish food.
3. Is there life after marriage? ( This one make me laugh!)
4. Yes, but I can't prove it to you till I experience a death.
5. Death mean we are sleeping and will get up when Jesus is coming for the second time.
6. Give me your number, if there is I will ring you right a way. (A good one!)
7. There is life after dead, my family and friends experiences with ghosts!

The blog goes on and on with many points of view.

I do not think so much about life after dead because by my faith, I know I am in the hands of my Lord Jesus. Now as my brain is getting fuller day by day, I will not put my thinking time on life after dead. I am a believer I would agree with someone said "By Faith I know where I am going just I can't prove you because I am not dead yet!"

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Plane Crash with a patient just about to receive Kidney transplant

I went to the church this morning. I had brought some names with me, in my mind that to pray for them. One of is my neighbour a lady who I love, she will be in operation room at Shands Hospital of UF in Gainesville. She just got diagnose with Breast Cancer, spread to lymph node. She email me that might need chemo too.

The other person I am praying for is a lady from Singapore. She always make me miss my sister. She is too young to leave her children and her husband behind. She needs to live for them. Her family needs her to live as well.

I came back from the church and Robins showed me a sad new from Gainesville, Florida. A plane crash with a patient and his wife on the way to receive a kidney transplant at Shands Hospital (same as where I got my liver). They are from Key West. My thought and prayer are with the Taylor family. May my good God has mercy on the family. In life there are so much things that I do not understand.

Why so many die of Tsunami?
Why so many die of Nargis?
Why so many die of 9/11?
Why Taylor die on the way to receive the transplant? Why the pilot tried to land in such a bad weather and end up such a bad result?
Why my mother and sister die of cancer?...go on.....

and mean time...

Why 4 months old baby's liver transplant is doing so well?
Why a lady got liver within one day if not she will die very soon? Why she is doing so well now?
Why some one survive from a plane crash?
Why my grand ma ma is so healthy and still living at 91 year old?
Why my donor die and I am living with his precious liver? Why me?

I do not believe in that you are good that's why good thing happened to you because no one is perfectly good. How will you explain to me why a new born baby die? Such a innocence life? (Some do believe in that her last life, she was bad) Who can surely say about some one last life is bad?? Are you God for to judge someone unseen life in such negative way? Are you no sin at all? Oh so many questions that I can ask.

I will honestly say again, there are so much things that I do not understand but one thing I understand so well. It is, have faith in God. I was, I am and I will be forever have faith in my God. Please please say a little prayer for the Taylor family to night. Will you please!

Gordon Bennett Taylor and his wife Barbara Taylor



Family, friends recall crash victims
By Diane ChunSun staff writer
Published: Sunday, November 16, 2008 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, November 15, 2008 at 11:42 p.m.


KEY WEST - The crowds streaming along the sidewalk of Duval Street on Wednesday paid little attention to St. Paul's Episcopal Church. They focused on the T-shirt shops, the bars, the tarot card readers and the local characters who dot this stretch south of Hemingway's old stomping grounds, Sloppy Joe's.

Special to The Sun
Bennett and Barbara Taylor.
Few slowed their steps as the bell chimed from the steeple of St. Paul's. On this day, the bell tolled for two of Key West's own, Gordon Bennett Taylor and his wife, Barbara.
The Taylors were two of the island's full-time residents, raising two daughters and working in the tourist trade in a place some folks call paradise.
Bennett Taylor, 51, had spent most of the past dozen years establishing himself as a sports fishing boat captain. Barbara, 52, worked as a concierge at the Hyatt Key West Resort.
Their dream died abruptly in the early-morning fog on Nov. 7, when the Taylors and Andrew Ricciuti, the pilot of the small plane that was bringing Bennett to Gainesville for a kidney transplant, struck the pine trees east of the Gainesville airport runway. All three apparently were killed instantly.
Kyle Taylor, 21, speaks quietly about how much she misses her parents, so suddenly snatched from her life. Julia Taylor, 18, drove them to the Key West airport for their flight to Gainesville.
"They were both so happy," Julia tells friends gathered after the Wednesday evening memorial service for Bennett and Barbara.
It was late Thursday evening, Nov. 6, when the phone rang at the Taylors' home.
It brought the best possible news: The transplant coordinator at Shands at the University of Florida called to say they had a donated kidney for Bennett. Could they be in Gainesville within eight hours for transplant surgery, or should the transplant team move on to another potential recipient on the organ waiting list?
The Taylors didn't hesitate. Bennett had turned down the opportunity of an earlier transplant because he'd been feeling well and felt the kidney should go to someone whose need was more urgent.
Not this time. By 12:37 a.m., they were airborne.
It was around 2:30 a.m. when daughter Kyle, a student at the University of Florida, got a mid-flight cell phone call from her mother, who was aboard the chartered six-passenger plane.
The Gainesville airport was socked in by heavy fog. Air traffic controllers in Jacksonville had told them that they might have to be diverted to the St. Augustine airport, where visibility was better.
Kyle had planned to meet the plane at the Gainesville airport and go to Shands with her parents. While she waited for her mother to call back with word on whether they'd been able to land, she fell asleep.
By now, most Gainesville residents know the rest of the story.
About 2:45 a.m., Jacksonville controllers cleared the small plane to attempt a landing in Gainesville, despite the poor visibility.
When they hadn't heard from pilot Ricciuti by 3 a.m., saying that he was on the ground, they sent out an alert that they had lost contact with the aircraft in the Gainesville area.
The control tower at Gainesville is typically closed from 10:30 p.m. to 6:45 a.m., and control of any overnight air traffic switches to Jacksonville.
It wasn't until 7:09 a.m. Friday that Gainesville's airport facilities manager called 911 to report a debris field at the eastern end of the airport property.
The plane had apparently struck some trees on one side of NE 39th Avenue, then careened into the woods across the road, where the fuselage was found with the wings sheared off.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, which investigators have described as "likely unsurvivable." It could be a year before the NTSB issues its report.
The Taylor family lives in a section of Key West that few tourists see, part of a community of small, neat homes tucked behind the Searstown shopping center on the north side of the island.
This is not the Key West of restored historic homes and intimate bed-and-breakfasts.
Slip 3 of the A&B Marina just off Front Street was home to Capt. Bennett Taylor's 41-foot boat, the "Outer Limits."
There is no boat to be seen on Wednesday afternoon. Bennett had a booking to take a couple of visitors out for a day of charter fishing, and his first mate has taken the boat out rather than cancel the trip. A fat brown tabby snoozes on the dock.
In the next slip, a sun-browned guy who gives his name as Jimmy washes saltwater off his boat. As soon as he's finished, he'll go home to shower, shave and get ready for the Taylors' memorial service.
Wouldn't miss it, he says.
"Everybody down here knew Bennett . . . he was a great guy," Jimmy says.
The mates of the "Outer Limits," Cory Robinson and Jay Miller, and some of the other local fishermen, already have banded together. They'll continue to take bookings for the boat through the winter season.
It's the busiest time of year, the time a boat captain and his crew bring in the most money. It's money that the Taylor girls will need. Any decision to sell the boat will have to wait until January.
Kyle Taylor is in her fourth year of a six-year program in environmental engineering at the University of Florida.
Thursday morning, her parents' memorial service behind her, Kyle speaks about her plans by phone. She says she will be returning to Gainesville to finish the semester.
"I will probably take the spring semester off to help Julia get enrolled in college," she said.
Julia and her mother had recently visited several Florida community colleges, looking for the one that would be the best fit for the quiet 18-year-old.
The sisters will keep the family home, with friends and family continuing to look in on Julia.
Her father's kidney disease ran in the family, according to Kyle. Bennett's father had spent nearly 15 years on dialysis before succumbing to the disease.
Bennett hadn't yet been affected to that extent, according to his daughter, but recently he'd had less energy.
His wife had offered to donate one of her kidneys, but Bennett worried because the transplant process is always harder on the donor than the recipient.
When the call came from Shands, the timing seemed perfect.
The Taylors had made arrangements with a charter service, Key West Aviation, for Andrew "Drew" Ricciuti to fly them north when the call came.
Julia drove her parents to the airport.
Bennett and Barbara boarded the small plane. Ricciuti, a 1987 Naval Academy graduate and former Navy pilot, was at the controls of the Partenavia P.68. The plane lifted off from tiny Key West International Airport and headed north.
Julia, an honors student at Key West High School, is a quiet young woman doing well in advanced placement classes, according to principal John Welsh. The school draws its 1,406 students from throughout the lower Keys.
Julia's favorite class is French, and she'd made two trips to Paris with members of the French club.
Julia was already at school the morning of the crash, and it was Welsh who took the call from Gainesville authorities.
"I immediately lined up a counselor and we went to tell Julia," he said.
Welch called Kyle in Gainesville. At that point, he said, Kyle didn't know about the crash either, but was already concerned that she hadn't heard from her parents since the mid-flight phone call.
For the moment, Welch added, he thinks both young women are OK.
"There's been an outpouring of love and assistance for the family," he said.
His concern is for how well they will be able to cope with their loss a week from now, or a month from now.
"After all, it was Julia who took them to the airport that night," he said. "I think it will be awhile before the reality of what has happened sinks in."
The entrance to St. Paul's is just yards from the Duval Street sidewalk, separated by a wrought-iron fence from the colorful passers-by.
Two ancient royal poincianas shade the church yard, which is prowled by a couple of territorial roosters, crowing that this little corner of Key West belongs to them.
The Rev. Kerry Robb is interim pastor at St. Paul's. He recently held the same post at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Gainesville.
Robb never met Bennett and Barbara Taylor. He'll assist at the service, but the Rev. Max Wolf, rector of All Saints' Church in Rehoboth Beach, Del., has flown in with his wife, Olly, to speak about his friends and former parishioners.
Robb says Bennett's mother, Louise Taylor, had died in June. The Taylor girls will inherit their grandmother's estate, so financially, they should be OK. Emotionally, they will need lots of support.
"This is a close community," Robb said of Key West. "They'll band together around the girls."
The Rev. Wolf puts on the white vestments of his office over Bermuda shorts and boat shoes as he prepares for the service.
Wolf married Bennett and Barbara Taylor 24 years ago in his church just a stone's throw from the ocean in Delaware. He baptized both girls when they were born.
Now he wants to help family and friends whose lives have been changed by tragedy, who are, as Wolf says, asking "where is God in this?"
"Bennett and Barbara were down here living their dream with their children," Wolf says.
Family members share the story of the Taylors' dream during the service.
Liz Holmgren, Bennett's sister, said she'd have a hard time picking just a few words to describe her brother. Resourceful, fair, competitive, engaging, verbal and verbose are a few she thought applied.
"He was a very funny man who always laughed at his own jokes," she said. "He was sometimes full of himself, but we always forgave him for that."
As a young man, Bennett played guitar and loved music. His first business venture was a rock 'n' roll club called Hucksters in Delaware. That's where he met Barbara.
"He had a lot of charm but he couldn't fool Barbara," Bennett's sister recalled. "She totally had his number."
At the age of 19, Bennett left home to fish commercially in Alaska. Later, in Delaware, he served as mate on a charter boat. His dream was to have a boat of his own in Florida.
Bennett and Barbara started an auto detailing business in Wilmington, Del., and Barbara ran it while Bennett got himself established as a fisherman in the Keys.
Eventually he was able to buy the hull of a boat that he spent 18 months converting into the comfortable 41-foot charter he named "Outer Limits."
He built up his business until he was fishing 280 days a year, friends said, including the four days just before he made the flight to Gainesville.
His sister describes how it must have been for some snowbound Pennsylvania resident who called Capt. Bennett in mid-December about fishing and got his voice mail.
"That's where Bennett set the hook," she said, describing his message that said he was sorry, but he was "offshore and out of range" with a party fishing in the sun, and he'd have to return the call.
"He fished every day like it was a tournament," Holmgren said. "He lived a happy life."
Steve Gibson remembers his sister Barbara, five years younger, as a woman who "lived life out loud, with real exuberance."
Barbara Taylor took a position as a concierge for the Hyatt Key West Resort in 2002. Fellow employees said she knew just about everyone on the island in her job fulfilling the wishes or demands of resort guests bent on having a good time in paradise.
"Her needs never trumped those of others," her brother recalled.
At Barbara's wedding to Bennett, Steve Gibson made a toast, wishing them "health, wealth and the time to enjoy both."
The Taylors loved their life in Key West, he said. They just ran out of time to enjoy it.
Max Roth, in the memorial service, stole a line from what he calls "the gospel according to Willie Nelson," saying that his longtime friends Bennett and Barbara were "two angels who flew too close to the ground."
It was dark before the service ended. Friends of the Taylors lingered in front of the church doors, saying goodbye to Kyle and Julia.
Some had the weathered tan and short-cropped haircuts of those who fish for a living. Others wore the pressed blue shirts and navy slacks of Hyatt employees.
Out on the street, a couple on a motorcycle heard the church bell and shouted to onlookers on the sidewalk.
"Hey, let's see who's getting married!"
One of the group on the steps shouted back, "This is a funeral . . . show a little respect!"
Then the mourners slipped away in twos and threes, back down Duval Street, back to their real Key West lives.


Friday, November 14, 2008

New Ruby Land

I had seen Ruby from Burma, Africa, US, Vietnam but haven't seen the one from
new ruby mine calls LOI HPALENG!! I would like to see it.




Burma Army sends experts to new ruby bonanza
Environment
Reporter: Zong Arng



Nice gem specialists were among those who arrived at Mongton's Nakawngmu village on Tuesday (30 September) on their way to investigate reports that rich ruby deposits had been discovered in the western corner of the township opposite Chiangmai, said local sources yesterday. (Re: New rubyland discovered, S.H.A.N., 10 September 2003)



The 18-trucks security convoy went on to Poongpakhem further south to put up for the night. The next day, 1 October, the experts were escorted to the gem mountain of Loi Hpaleng near the Salween corssing of Ta Hpaleng, according to them.



"The Wa troops of Wei Hsuehkang were said to have been ordered by the local Burmese military to move out of the area," said one. "But the Wa, as usual, replied that they were still waiting for orders from their own superior."



Jalaw Bo, assistant commander of Wei Hsuehkang's 171st Regional Army, had dispatched one of his units to occupy the area, when Infantry Battalion 225 that had been holding it since July departed in early August.



At the time of this reporting, it is still yet to be known whether or not the Wa have left. More than 300 strong reinforcements arrived in Poongpakhem this morning (3 October). "It may or may not be connected to the ruby findings," said S.H.A.N. source from the border.



The existence of Loi Hpaleng rubies came to Rangoon's notice after Japikoi, a local militia leader, became unusually wealthy after he sold the "red stones" he discovered there as rubies from Monghsu in Tachilek, said a local businessman.

Liver Cancer News

I am so happy for Cindy that she found a good doctor! I firmly believe that miracle is still on earth. God is good! Please click the link and you will see one more happy family.


http://curedoflivercancer.com/Cindy.wmv





View on Divorce

I vividly remember my wedding day as most of you do. We were in Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Macao after Married Ceremony in Hong Kong for 3 days. One morning I got a call from my mother in law said, "Come up for a while." I did went up and here my father in law told me " I do not believe in Divorce!!!". I have to give you some back ground of him. He is from a Traditional Southern Family. Actually his side of family ( I should say till his generation except his children), no one "Divorce" until last year when his own son, my husband's brother, got divorce. (after more than 20 years married!). It was very sad to see my father in law was hurt. It is still hurting him. My mother in law, I did not read her so well.

I remembered once Lady Diana said, "May be living with cheating person is much easier than passing through the divorcing. It is awful!" . I am not sure I am agree with her saying that.

Yesterday I had lunch with Dr. Chan wife. She is from Taiwan. I like her because she is simple, devoted mother, good wife. I love to have conversation with her as she always has such various thing to talk with. After Lunch we went to have coffee at Star buck. I was commenting on the heart shape cookie saying, "Oh my, so huge". It was huge cookie, bigger than my face!. Suddenly I heard someone behind me said "Yah..Yah..Yah..for me I ate half and take home half."... I turned my head and I saw a very modernizely dress woman, well make up with a huge smile (bigger than my smile). In within one minute she invited me and Mrs. Chan to sit with her. I thought oh..such a nice friendly lady. Yes she was a friendly woman.

OK let me call her "Gitt", she is from Germany and living in Bangkok. In my life I had seen for the first time a woman who can talk more than one hour continually nothing but boring. I was speechless of her never stop talking for 45 minutes about her relationship with her adopted daughter. NO JOKING, for 45 minutes!!!!. (My way is ..yes as a mother I love to talk about my son too but there is a limits. How could you talk for 45 minutes nothing just about her daughter to a totally stranger just you met?? She can. OK that's doesn't mean I do not love my son or do not want to talk about him. I can talk about my son endlessly but you have to understand when you are with others , you have to use your sense). The rest 40 minutes was about her breast cancer. Again She preached. Well .. about her breast cancer talking was much much better than about her daughter.

I tried to break her conversation, I think 3 times because he won't let you talk. Like a sermon time at Church. I see her as a lady preacher instead of Tea Party with a new friendship with her.. No one can't talk as she went non-stop. I reached the point that she irritated me abit. If I am a lone with her I might be walk out after 20 minutes but Mrs. Chan was so polite and so human acting. The other reason, the driver was not with me yesterday so I have to leave with Chan.

The only break point I can do was when I brought up about our new US Presient then she talked about "Hillary Clinton".. She said " Hillary is very smart for not divorcing even her husband was cheating to the left and right. How could she throw away of her life of living, social, high class and her future position"....and continue said , "Look at how many Thai Women put up their Husbands having mistresses because they can't let it go the money, the social and the position..". I have such kind of conversation about women who put up the ugly men in their lives in Bangkok.

I questioned many back to "Gitt"..." How could you still lying down at night with someone who did not love you any more?'" "Yes, you might have all these material but how could you be happy? Real meaningful happiness?" " Are you ready for to suffer the rest of your life with idiot husband that you have?". Gitt said to me "Helen you can say that because you are not in her, Hillary's shoes". I told her "Oh yes, I can if I am in her shoes. look, how many couples divorce in US beside Thailand?" "Most women did not put up such horrible way to live on". Obviously there are lost of women did not put up such way of life seeing "The divorce rate". Some even happily divorcing not once but 2 3 or 7 times!. That was it, the 10 minutes conversation with Gitt about "Divorce" which was end up disagreeing strongly. Mrs. Chan sat there for more than one hour only saying ....Yes..yes...yes yes yes! she can't even come out with "NO"!

Gitt is a nice lady beside her conversation bored me very much.

A children cancer specialist doctor who is my neighbour in Gainesville, her divorce took only 2 weeks. Both party agreed, signed and finished the story. They did not want the Lawyer takes a huge part of money!

I came from a divorce parents which is not good but as time move on I was doing well. I do not want "The Divorce" but I am not ready to live with a cheating husband also. You want to bring up with "not fair for your child or children"?? I would say.....The children will move on. Sooner or later they will understand the reason of why the parent divorce. As me I understand why my parents divorce. It's not easy but life move on. So does the same as "DEAD". For me divorce is Dead of Husband. If the Husband would like to have relation with his child or children, of course the answer is very YES.

Our lawyer friend said...The divorce should be like sharing an orange by the two parties agreements. Like....

1. Cut into half evenly

2. One party should see, "I want the skin because I will do the Jam or perfume"

3. One other party should see " I want the seeds because I need the plants and make the juice'

OR

Fight over the orange so long that no one get the profit except the orange got rotten.

Divorce is not easy but why so many nowadays?