A FEW CHANGES TO mjochim.com

I don't spend a lot of time these days working on my main website.  Sometimes I do, however, actually implement an idea or two I may have had (ideas that usually come to me while riding on the back of Tim's motorbike).

I was never very happy with the top and left frames of my homepage nor with the vertical switch menu so I recently began changing the appearance of that page.  I decided I wanted a static top frame containing the masthead, a horizontal menu, and date but I can't seem to remember how to make that work!  For now, it's just a single page of simple HTML with a big Thai flag (reading "We Love The King") serving as a placeholder until I figure what to do with it.  I am happy with the new menu which is made with a not-so-simple bit of JavaScript coding.

With the re-organization of items within the menu, I have decided to add a "Thailand" subsection to the website since this is where my current interest lie.  A few weeks ago, I had scribbled my plans for such a section into my notebook with an idea for "An Expat's Library" containing mini-reviews of the books I've found helpful in my relocation to Thailand.  I've seen similar lists on other websites but most of these don't include the latest books or the works are out-of-print and difficult to find.  I visualize scanning the spines of my books in order to create a pictorial menu.  Although I did create a placeholder page yesterday, I think it will be quite sometime before I get the actual page off-the-drawing-board.

The second page I'd wanted to create for a while is one listing all of the many holidays — official, religious, or just plain fun — and festivals that we observe here in Thailand.  Partly, I wanted an easy-to-use reference so I would know when not to expect mail delivery, etc.  I also wanted to know the Thai names for these special days and the significance behind them.  Several different websites list the major national holidays and religious events (including United Nations Thailand and Wikipedia) but they don't include a number of celebrations and ceremonies.

My first step was to combine these two lists (contained in a basic table to make it easier to read — I don't have my HTML book with me so I had to search online for instructions to make a table since it'd been so long since I'd made one!) and then I scoured the Internet looking for information on other festivals I knew about.  I eventually want to include many of the local festivals — the region known as Isan in northeast Thailand has many unique celebration days — although it might be difficult pinning down exact days.

I have uploaded my "Public Holidays &Festivals" page although it still needs a lot of work.  I plan to dress it up a bit with some photos, perhaps a Thai flag or two, and include an introduction (including an explanation of the Suriyakati calendar and Buddhist Era years).

Since I don't/can't spend a lot of time on the computer these days, it might be quite sometime before I finish this.  For now, it gives me a one-stop list so I know what events to look forward to in the next few months.