Geez, am I really wearing Crocs

I swore up and down I would never be caught dead in Crocs.  I told Sam that hers looked silly, and no way, no how, would I ever wear them.  Then I moved to Thailand, and learned that a significant part of the year it would rain incessantly.  And that I would need to walk 10+ minutes from my apartment to the SkyTrain, and another 10 minutes from the SkyTrain to the building in which I work.  And I did it more than a few times in my nice work leather shoes, and thought about it, and realized, I needed to be wearing shoes that could handle being rained on, and not care.  I needed - Crocs.

Gosh darnit, now I have a pair of Crocs, and I wear them to and from work, and just change into my swanky leather work shoes when I get to work.  And I hate to say it - they are as comfortable as my wife said they were.  If only they were more fashionable!  Because I am, in the end, a slave to fashion.

Rain returns to Bangkok

It rained a couple days ago for the first time since we arrived in Bangkok on December 17, 2008.  This is a bit earlier than the 'dry season' in Bangkok usually ends - typically, there is monsoon rains from around May-November, dry season from December-February, and hot season in March-May.  Someone said this might be what the French call 'le petit Monsoon', or, presumably, the little Monsoon (though, can you really ever tell with the French?).  Anyhow, French or no French, it typically doesn't rain as early as early March.  But rain it did, and hard.   Here are some pictures, which don't quite capture the flash floodiness of the downpour.