=-----------------------uuuuuuuu]]g (this is from Jak walking on the keyboard. I did say she was a bothersome son of a bitch)

Granted, this is an unsigned editorial from the NY Daily News, but it is an issue that impacts the region in which we now live. Medical experts may not be so "chicken little" about it, but whatever. So far so good, and the reporting out of Laos is that bird flu has not yet gotten here. Of course, that could just be for lack of reporting, but who knows.

On more positive notes, Jak now has the run of the house. At first we were relegating him to one room at a time when we weren't around, but she now gets to roam the house, which has its own hazards. Saturday night, after returning from golf and an afternoon at a floating restaurant on a river North of here, I spent a long evening on our porch with some friends and some beers watching the rain. At some point, early in the evening, I decided to check on Jak, so I went in to the house to look for her. I stepped back, and literally just crushed her under foot. It's too bad in some instances that she likes me so damn much, because she likes to follow me very closely. She was stunned for a minute, but bounced back quite impressively. I haven't felt that bad in quite a while. Okay, I guess me stepping on a cat isn't really a positive story, but compared to bird flu pandemics, it's not THAT bad.

Tonight after work I went for a long bike ride "ba noake" (in the countryside). Basically, we live on the edge of a rice field; if you go past it, you can get to small, dirt (now much of it mud) roads that wind around rice fields on the outskirts of town. It's very cool. As I rode by, covered in mud, everyone I passed had something to say, whether it was "hello" or "hey Falang, you are dirty" or "you have a lot of mud on you" or "beautiful shirt" (said tongue in cheek I would say, given I was covered in mud)eeeeeeeeeeeUUUUU`YY''''''''''''';];;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;MMMMMM(Jak is back on the keyboard).

Anyway, I was biking with a co-worker, and we biked past another co-worker who invited us in for a beer, which was lovely, as she lives right along the river. So we sat with her and watched the sun go down over the Mekong, then continued back home. Katherine comes home Wednesday. I'm trying to schedule some consultations in Bangkok (consultations being meetings with people who do what I do but have much more experience, and can impart their wisdom to me) for July 5 and 6, which would give us a 5 day weekend in BKK, which would be nice.

Speaking of golf, the course I played (1 of 2 18 hole courses in the country, the other one being the place we went to last weekend) was an absolutely terrific surprise. It was about 90 minutes North of town, in the start of the mountains, and literally cut right out of the jungle. Absolutely beautiful place to play golf, in great shape, and a really tough course. For those of you coming to visit who fancy a round of expat golf (caddies included), Dansavanh is waiting for you. At one point, I was walking along looking into a stand of thick bamboo lining the fairway and was startled to see some people emerging from the thick jungle. Of course, I figured they were coming after us and we were goners, victims of some ruthless jungle tribe that preys on unwitting Falangs out for an afternoon of golf. As it turned out, about 9 teenagers emerged hawking golf balls they had collected from the bush, and at a reasonable price too.

Anyway, that was my weekend. Katherine is having a great time in London with Amanda and Blair, although I think she's had some sticker shock coming from Vientiane and having to pay London prices. I mean, how can you possibly charge more than $0.80 for a liter of beer? I don't get it.