Okay, applause isn't really necessary. But, if you really want to...

As I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, LTMS has a new design. I guess you can say that the effort put into making and implementing this new design shows that I’m planning on keeping it around for a while. I’m having a ton of fun learning more about Thai language and culture, and also sharing it with everyone who reads my blog.

It’s important that I mention two people who really helped me to put this together; the first is Jay Hafling who designed the original theme that I’m using for my templates. He also helped me with some customization. If you are interested in a blog you should check out his work. Secondly is the massive amount of design work done by my good friend Martin Kornick. He took a rough idea I had in my head and poorly described via email into the visual masterpiece that you see before you. He really brought the blog to life and pushed it to the next level. I only hope that my posting can do the design justice. Martin has also done a lot of graphic design work in many different areas; everything from CD artwork for major-league musicians to print ads, website designs, and everything in between. He also designed the Thai wedding invitations Su and I sent out.

Never mind my misshapen head, look at the great design work!

If you are looking for some graphic design work, please talk to Martin. He’s absolutely worth every penny!

I would love to hear what you think of the new design. Please drop me a comment and share your thoughts with me.

Dear, dear Thai rooster, where did you go wrong? We had such high hopes and expectations for you growing up. Didn’t your parents tell you to stay in school and complete your education? Everyone knows the value of finishing what you start. Well, it’s time for an intervention; enough is enough! We will no longer sit by and allow you to humiliate yourself in front of millions!

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Tomorrow is the 82nd birthday of His Holiness Bhumibol Adulyadej, the king of Thailand. Adored by the nation, virtually every office building and business in Thailand has a picture of the king or his wife, Queen Sikrit, hanging prominently for all to see.

The king is also known as Rama IX (in English), and assumed the throne in 1946 after the death of his brother. He was educated in Switzerland where he studied law and political science.

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Before I say anything, please watch the following video:

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I’m quite sure no one will take notice, but I decided to change the tag line of my blog to “Navigating the New Culture Frontier.” When I started the blog a few months ago my goal was to write about my efforts to learn the Thai language, hoping that I can not only help others with the same goal, but also to engage like-minded people who can help me achieve my language goals.

The deeper I get into my studies, however – not to mention the fact that I’m married to a wonderful Thai woman – the more I realize that I’m exposing myself more and more to other aspects of Thai culture, not just the language. All of this exposure is, of course, helping me with my language learning studies, but I’m now feeling that sticking strictly to the language aspect of Thai is not allowing me to express myself as much as I would like.

So, with all of that being said, you will start to see more Thailand-related posts, not necessarily specific to Thai language. Language posts will continue to be the main focus of the blog, but I will be adding other topics as well to keep things interesting.

Thanks for reading!