Sunbathing!

This is something that my dogs do and a dog owner like me finds it very interesting, amusing and cute at the same time, and like to share it with you.

MC & KT love to go outside during the day for sunbathing. They like to spend about 10 – 15 minutes or so in the sun 4 – 5 times a day...

During the fall season, there is not much sun on their favorite spot. However, they try to make themselves to be as small as possible in order to fit into their preferred area. (You know they are not that small :)) I found it very funny, so I sneaked behind a curtain inside the house and took a picture of them.


They saw me taking the picture (They had good eyes). For some reason, they were so excited. They might think I was playing hide-and-seek with them. They both immediately jumped up and ran as fast as they could towards me. If they could talk, they would probably say 'Got you, mama'.


Hope you enjoy the pictures.

The Economic Meltdown! -- What should we do? (Part 2)

Under this current economy, my husband and I try to find a way to tighten our belts and save money as much as we can in case of a financial emergency, so we will have money at our expense. I’ve tried to come up with the list of things that we do in order to help us save money on bills. Here are some tips that I would like to share with you.

• Get rid of your bad spending habits. Create a budget so you know where your money goes each month.

• Don’t eat out. Cook all your meals at home. Bring lunch to work. No coffee from Starbucks. :)

• Shop carefully and always have a shopping list when you go grocery shopping. Stick with the list. Don’t buy products that you don’t really need because they are on sale. It’s a good idea to shop at bulk discount stores like Sam's Club and Costco to get the best deals.

• Instead of going out to a movie, get Blockbuster or Netflix online membership. You can get movies delivered to your mailbox with low price.

• Don’t spend a lot of money going on a trip. Consider a staycation instead.

• Know how much money you have in your bank account. Make sure you don’t have a returned check (it costs $25-30 per check) and pay your bills on time to avoid paying a late fee.

• Get rid of your landline phone if you have one. It is unnecessary expense and a waste of your money. Cell phones offer better rates and your can have a special deal by calling your family for free.

• You might be able to get some kind of discount on your monthly bills if you have the payment deducted directly from your checking account electronically. Check with your providers.

• Remove your credit card from your wallet, keep it in a safe place and DON'T use it. Try to pay everything in cash. When you see your cash fly out of your wallet, you will tend to spend less.
  
  • REMEMBER: Although you don't use your credit card, you need to keep it. DON'T CANCEL IT!! Closing down the credit card will hurt your credit score (FICO score). America is a credit based economy. You need to have the credit (i.e. the credit card) in order to get a home mortgage, a car loan, rent an apartment, rent a car, apply for a job (for some jobs), get an insurance, etc. Good credit history will make your life easier financially.
    

• Don’t borrow any money for anything. No home equity loan. No new kitchen. No new appliances unless it’s absolutely necessary.

• Get out of debt ASAP. If you have credit card debt, pay it off ASAP. Focus on an interest rate and pay off the card with the highest interest rate first. This is very important if you want to pay down your debt quickly.

• If you are a homeowner, make sure your interest rate is fixed and don’t fall behind on your mortgage payment.

• Try to increase your cash flow. Make sure you have at least 6 months in the bank in case you lose your job (We are still working on it...it’s really hard!) Also, make sure your bank is FDIC insured because if your bank goes under, your money will be saved. Due to FDIC rules, it’s $100,000 for an individual account and $200,000 for a joint account.

What else do you do to save money? Share your thoughts!

The Economic Meltdown! -- What should we do? (Part 1)

I apologize for keeping you waiting so long. I know some of you visit my blog to check on my new post regularly. But there is no update for a month. This is terrible! Anyway, I am back now and today I am going to talk about a HOT issue… (I am wearing my economist’s hat today.) :)

As you’ve known, the U.S.has been going towards an economic recession. There have been large layoffs across the board, from auto industry, airline industry to financial industry. According to the Labor Dept’s recent unemployment report released in September, unemployment rate increased to 6.1%, the highest level since 2003, 1.3% higher relative to the rate in February, and it is expected to keep on rising.

Housing market is in bad shape and continues to worsen. Housing inventory has incessantly gone up while the price has decreased. However, a lot of people still can’t afford a house because of not having high credit scores, the credit crunch and the credit freeze. Current foreclosure rate is high (one in every 538 U.S. households were in some stage of foreclosure). At the same time, stock prices have been falling with violent swings. U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987.

Due to uncertainty, many companies and businesses try to survive and come up with a strategy and an action plan to cope with the economic meltdown. One of the strategies is to reduce an expense by downsizing the company. As well as other companies, the president of my company just announced the new business plan. 17% of total positions got eliminated last week. It’s very stressful and painful situation for everybody.

The recession is predicted to last about 2 years or so. However, I think it might carry on longer, depending on our new U.S. President’s policies and other internal and external factors. Things don’t look good right now and I expect them to get worse.

I went grocery shopping last week and found the prices of many products have already been raised. For example, I used to spend $2.25 for my favorite TV dinner. Now I pay $2.99. Also, I paid $15.99 for a bag of frozen salmon. Now I pay $21. Surprise! Surprise! Looks like I have to find cheaper food to eat on my next grocery trip. How about you? What do you think about the current economic crisis?

Have you had any plan to deal with the economic downturn? Have you asked yourself about what you can do to spend less and save more during this time? What do you need to do to survive in case you or your significant other gets laid off?

คำนี้แปลว่าอะไรเอ่ย --- How do you say .... in Thai?

เมื่ออาทิตย์ที่แล้วน้องแคร์ฝากคำถามไว้ว่า คำว่า เกรงใจ ในภาษาอังกฤษควรจะใช้คำว่าอะไร พออ่านคำถามแล้วก็เกิดความคิดขึ้นมาว่ามีคำในภาษาอังกฤษง่ายๆ หลายคำที่เราเห็นและใช้กันบ่อยๆ แต่ไม่รู้ความหมายเป็นภาษาไทย วันนี้เลยอยากจะเขียนรวบรวมคำเหล่านี้ไว้ เผื่อน้องๆ จะได้เลือกนำไปใช้พูดในชีวิตประจำวันได้ตามความเหมาะสมค่ะ

• awesome = ยอดเยี่ยม หรือแบบคนไทยเราก็คือยอดเยี่ยมกระเทียมดอง

• That's awesome!

• You're awesome!

• cool = เจ๋งเป้ง

• This is so cool! or Cool!

• You rock! = สุดยอด, เริ่ดมาก, ยอดเยี่ยม

• a green thumb = เป็นคนมือเย็น (หมายถึงคนที่ปลูกต้นไม้อะไรก็เจริญงอกงามไปหมด)

• You have a green thumb.

• Chill out! (= calm down) = ใจเย็นๆ ค่า

• Be my guest = เชิญเลยค่ะ เชิญตามสบาย

• Be my guest = Do as you wish; go ahead; go for it; help yourself

• Example: Do you mind if I read your newspaper? Be my guest.

• Example: If you want to give it a try, be my guest!

• Make yourself at home = ตามสบายไม่ต้องเกรงใจ (ทำตัวตามสบายให้เหมือนกับอยู่บ้านตัวเอง)

• What goes around, come around.(อันนี้ได้ยินบ่อยมากๆ) = ให้ทุกข์แก่ท่านทุกข์นั้นถึงตัว, ทำดีได้ดี ทำชั่วได้ชั่ว

• It's not a big deal = เรื่องขี้ปะติ๋ว, ไม่ใช่เรื่องใหญ่

• It's not a big deal! = It's no big deal; don't worry; no problem

• It's a matter of life and death = เรื่องใหญ่มาก, เรื่องสำคัญมากๆ, เรื่องคอขาดบาดตาย

• two-faced = หน้าอย่างใจอย่าง, ใช้บรรยายอาการของคนที่ตีสองหน้าพูดหรือกระทำต่อหน้าเราอย่างหนึ่ง แต่ลับหลังกับคนอื่นกลายเป็นอีกอย่างหนึ่ง

• two-faced = fake (adj.)

• lose face = หมดความน่าเชื่อถือ, เสียหน้า

• Jack refused to admit he made a mistake because he didn't want to lose face.

• save face = รักษาหน้า, รักษาความน่าเชื่อถือ, รักษาศักดิ์ศรี

• Rather than fire him outright, they let him save face by accepting his resignation.

เอาแค่เท่าที่นึกได้ก่อนแล้วกัน และถ้าใครมีคำถามสงสัย หรืออยากรู้คำอื่นๆ ก็ฝากคำถามไว้นะคะ อาจจะตอบช้าบ้าง แต่รับรองว่าตอบแน่นอนค่ะ

Can you speak English very well?

Some of you might think since my writing skill is good, I must also speak English very well and probably sound very much like a native English speaker.

Oh well, I wish. The truth of the matter is no…not yet!

I might write like an American most of the time but, in my opinion, my speaking still need to be improved. I am able to speak English well but not as fluent as my Thai, especially when I want to yell at someone. :) Like some of you, I still suffer from Thai accent syndrome and often speak “Tinglish” instead of English.

This might help you feel better about your English if I tell you I have already been in America for 7 years (3 years of schooling and 4 years of working). I try to improve my speaking skill but it seems to be progressed slowly nowadays. Maybe I am getting old?? My learning curve doesn’t grow as fast as when I first came here. My speaking tends to get worse when I am tired (working too hard, having a stressful day or not having enough sleep). When it happens, my brain starts to have a hard time processing an English vocabulary word. As a result, I start to speak English and Thai together in one sentence without noticing it. My American accent becomes Thai accent. I occasionally forget how to pronounce the simple word, too.

Have you experience the same problem as I have?

Also, if I spend a lot of time reading and/or speaking Thai with my friends and family, my English speaking ability will go down hill so quickly. I can’t switch back and forth between Thai and English easily. I can only remember a word in Thai but not in English. For example, instead of thinking of the word “airplane”, I might refer to it as “A big thing that flies in the sky” in English and perhaps point at the sky to give you a clue. Don’t be surprise if you sometimes hear me call “a rice cooker” as “A pot that you can plug into a wall to make rice”.

How about you? How long have you been in America?

Have you had the same problem as I have?

How did you handle it?

What do you do to improve your speaking skill?

My Very Interesting Pet!

Can you guess the most exotic pet I've ever had?

A spider...nope!

A snake...wrong!

Try again...

A cricket...nah...sorry!

The answer is an OCTOPUS! (ปลาหมึก = Pla -Muek)

Yes, a live octopus with tentacles. This is the same creature that is served as a delicious dish in Thailand! Have you ever eaten octopus? Does my pet look delicious?

Eddie, the octopus, was the pet my husband and I had when we lived in Thailand. I named him after Eddie Murphy, the movie star. He had a funny look that reminded him of 'Eddie'. Look at his picture on the left, then you will see what I am talking about.

Per Wikipedia, octopuses are highly intelligent, probably more intelligent than any other order of invertebrates. They are intelligent enough to escape from secure tanks, due to their problem solving skills, mobility and lack of rigid structure. Eddie tried to escape from the tank, too. Fortunately, he was not successful due to how our aquarium was built. When the octopus escape, they can't find their way back to the tank. They are usually found dead on the floor. What a sad way to lose your pet.
Have you lost a pet in some sad way?

Keeping Eddie was a lot fun. We provided him with different types of homes. Lucky him...I only had one home...hahaha. He didn't stay at one place for long. He liked to relocate from one home to the next. One of his favorite homes was my dad's whiskey glass. His second favorite home seemed to be a clay pot (see the picture on the left). It was actually made to be a bird house but it was perfect for Eddie.

See the pictures below. Looks like he was moving again. :)














One thing about Eddie that fascinated me was every time he moved to his new home, he always moved his "belongings" with him. What am I talking about? Well, Eddie collected quite a few empty shells. He used them to decorate his home. He was very particular about how placed the shells. He would rearrange them until he was happy about it. Isn't that funny?

We fed Eddi a live fish sometimes and let him hunt his own food.
He was a good predator. Here is a picture of him grasping the fish
with his tentacle.







Have you ever pet the live octopus?

It's very cool that Eddie let my husband pet him. He was very smart and figured out that my husband's hand was neither food nor his predator, so he didn't try to attack his hand. It was scary to think about it now because the octopus can bite you and inject you with poison and digestive enzymes if he feels threatened.

The octopus has a short life span. On average, they live about one year. We had Eddie about 6 - 7 months or so before he died from old age. He was a great and cool pet we've had!

If you would like to see Eddie's video, please visit the links below. We posted 2 of his videos on sharkle.com 3 years ago.

Part I Eddie the Octopus, My Interesting Pet

Part II Eddie the Octopus, My Interesting Pet

How about you? Tell me about your pet.

What is the most unusual pet you've ever had?

ชื่อนั้นสำคัญไฉน --- Cute Name or Not?

วันนี้อยากจะเล่าเรื่องชื่อค่ะ มีชื่อน่ารักๆ ในภาษาไทยจำนวนมากที่เมื่อนำมาเขียนเป็นภาษาอังกฤษแล้วกลายเป็นคำศัพท์คำหนึ่ง ซึ่งไม่น่าจะมีปัญหาอะไรถ้าคำศัพท์นั้นๆ มีความหมายน่ารักเหมือนในภาษาไทย ทีนี้มันไม่ใช่อย่างนั้นน่ะสิคะ ชื่อบางชื่อเวลาเขียนสะกดตรงตัวในภาษาอังกฤษ กลายเป็นคำศัพท์ที่มีความหมายตลกหรือน่าอายไปซะแล้ว วันนี้ก็เลยอยากจะขอยกตัวอย่างชื่อหรือคำนำหน้าชื่อที่พูดถึงนี้มาฝากไว้เป็นความรู้กัน

• พี่ -- คำนี้ถ้าเขียนเป็นภาษาอังกฤษว่า PEE และใช้นำหน้าชื่อ เช่น PEE Nuch รู้ไหมคะว่า PEE หรือ PEE PEE นั้น แปลว่า ปัสสาวะ ถ้าจะให้ดี ควรใช้ P' หรือ Pi นำหน้าชื่อ เช่น P'Nuch จะดีกว่าค่ะ นอกจากนี้ ชื่อที่มีคำว่า พี นำหน้า เช่น พีรพงษ์ เวลาสะกดเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ ระวังอย่าสะกดว่า PEErapong นะคะ ถ้าให้ดี สะกดว่า Pirapong จะดูน่ารักกว่าเยอะเลยค่ะ

• ชมพู่ -- ถ้าเรียกย่อๆ ว่า พู่ และเขียนเป็นภาษาอังกฤษว่า POO รู้ไหมว่า POO หรือ POO POO แปลว่าอะไร แปลว่าอุจจาระ หรือ crap ค่ะ ถ้าจะให้ดีเขียนว่า Chompu ดูดีกว่า

• บุ๋ม -- มีหลายคนเขียนว่า BOOM ซึ่งดีค่ะ แปลว่า grow / develop แต่หลายคนเขียนว่า BUM คำนี้มีความหมายว่าเป็นคนไม่ทำงานทำการ ขี้เกียจสันหลังยาว และในภาษาอังกฤษแบบ British เป็นคำแสลง แปลว่า ก้น ค่ะ อยากจะเป็น Boom หรือ Bum ก็เลือกดูตามใจชอบค่ะ

• พร หรือ ภรณ์ -- สาวๆ หลายคนมีคำนำหน้าชื่อด้วย พร หรือลงท้ายชื่อด้วย ภรณ์ คำนี้ถ้าเขียนเป็นภาษาอังกฤษว่า PORN ความหมายไม่น่ารักเท่าไหร่ เพราะ PORN ย่อมาจาก Pornography แปลว่าหนังโป๊ ค่ะ โป๊แบบ xxx เลยนะ

• พิศ, พิศมัย, ชวนพิศ -- คำว่า พิศ ถ้าเขียนว่า Pis ไม่เป็นไรค่ะ แต่ถ้าเขียนว่า PISS เมื่อไหร่ล่ะก็ กลายเป็นคำแสลงที่ไม่สุภาพ แปลว่า ปัสสาวะ ค่ะ

• ฮัว -- ชื่อนี้ไม่มีปัญหาเรื่องเขียนสะกด แต่มีปัญหาเวลาออกเสียงค่ะ ฝรั่งบางคนฟังไม่ชัด อาจได้ยินว่า คุณชื่อ Whore (โสเภณี) ไม่ใช่ Huo ยุ่งเลยค่ะทีนี้ :)

จะว่าไปก็ไม่ใช่มีแต่ชื่อในภาษาไทยเท่านั้นที่อ่านออกเสียง หรือสะกดแล้วกลายเป็นเรื่องหัวเราะ ตลกเฮฮาในภาษาอังกฤษ ชื่อในภาษาอังกฤษเองก็มีเหมือนกันที่อ่านแล้ว กลายเป็นเรื่องตลกขบขัน จนเจ้าของชื่อต้องไปขอเปลี่ยนชื่อเป็นอย่างอื่น เพราะไม่อยากโดนล้อ ตัวอย่างเช่น

Ann Chovie ( sounds like 'Anchovy')
Bea Sting (sounds like 'Bee Sting')
Bill Ding (sounds like 'Building')
Brice Tagg (sounds like 'Price Tag')
Dinah Sore (sounds like 'Dinosaur')
Carl Arm (sounds like 'Car Alarm')
Doll R. Bill...(Dollar Bill)
Ira Fuse (I Refuse)
Justin Case (Just in Case)
Kent Cook (Can't Cook)
Lou Sirr (Loser)
Rita Book (Read a Book)
Stu Pitt (Stupid)
U.P. Freehly (You Pee Freely) --- จำคำว่า Pee ได้ไหมเอ่ย
Val Crow (Velcro)
Zoltan Pepper (Salt and Pepper)

ถ้าอยากอ่านเพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับ Funny Names ในภาษาอังกฤษ คลิกที่ลิ้งค์ ค่ะ

How about your name? Does it sound funny in English? How do you spell it in English?

Do you know someone who has a cute Thai name but when it is written in English, it can be translated into something funny or terrible?