yess

Yes, a day late, but happy birthday Nicole! 🙂

I saw a show on discovery last night with a robot monkey, this wasn’t your run of the mill robot monkey either, it didn’t sit there giving out fortune cookies or eating robotic bananas. It actually swung around, with agile monkey-like movment, you’d think this would be amazing enough, BUT the reason it didn’t fall (often) was because its AI (artificial intelligence) would self adjust from the times that it did fall so that it wouldn’t commit the same mistake again. This is by far the most agile robot I have ever seen, and if it is an indicator of things to come situations like I-Robot may be just around the corner. The most limiting factor with robots as far as I can assertain is their reliance on a large power source, most (like the monkey) have power cords attached, I’m sure even this will be overcome within the next 10-20 years and we will start seeing machines play an even more important role in our lives.

The more I read about Bangkok the more trepedious I become, it appears that sure, there is a lot to see and do however one must be aware of being ripped off, attacked, mislead, etc.. I am now starting to think of such problems as transportation around the city, language barrier, conversion rates, etc.. I’ve found a few valuable websites and am doing research on it as well as asking people who have been there before. My main tasks in Bangkok are as follows:
* See something historic / temple
* Go hang out at cool bars/clubs, etc.
* Go shopping for clothes, software and other discounted goods
* Go diving (weather allowing)

And that’s about it, I’m going to be there for 6 nights, so almost 7 full days, I’m sure I’ll achieve those tasks, the first day I just want to get aquainted with getting around and get a hotel. I’m thinking I should be right, I’m thinking of staying in the Sukhumvit district, which is an area frequented by tourists, this way I might find some backpackers or someone who’s been around there before to show me the ropes (or if there are no ropes, cables will do, failing that I’ll just have to tie string together).