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The Pattaya Cross Bay swim in a charity swim every year. It is usually a great deal of fun. It is for a good cause. We went today to cheer on these fine young men and ladies and they were brave to swim in the busy bay! I hope you enjoy the photos!

Thailand and United States have agreed to chart the way for a deeper bilateral strategic partnership and enhanced regional cooperation as Bangkok welcomed Washington’s policy of forging a stronger partnership with the Asia-Pacific region. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Sunday welcomed the US President Barack Obama at Government House and held bilateral talks on a wide range of issues. Both leaders later held a joint press conference in which Mr Obama reaffirmed the enduring US support for democracy in Thailand and welcomed the Thai government’s commitment to strengthening Thailand’s parliamentary democracy. He emphasised that Thailand is America’s oldest treaty ally in Asia. The two leaders agreed that their alliance is rooted in a shared commitment to democracy, the rule of law, respect for both universal human rights and open societies, and a free market, which has bonded the people of the two nations closely together. Thailand and the US will mark the anniversary of their 180 years of diplomatic relations in 2013. The two leaders welcomed their continuing high-level and multidimensional dialogue, including the Fourth United States-Thailand Strategic Dialogue in June 2012, considered as the critical framework for shaping the agenda for United States-Thai relations. Ms Yingluck welcomed the American’ policy of forging a stronger partnership with the Asia-Pacific region and US support for ASEAN centrality in regional development and integration, especially through Washington’s engagement in the ASEAN-US Summit and the East Asia Summit (EAS). Mr Obama noted the growing importance of the EAS as an important regional forum for Asia-Pacific leaders to discuss political and strategic issues. The two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to working together to promote practical regional cooperation, including using other regional multilateral organisations such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. The US President welcomed Thailand’s interest in the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, which is subject to Thailand’s undertaking the necessary domestic procedures. The two leaders looked forward to reconvening the TIFA Joint Council as an important step to strengthening our trade ties and consulting on the requirements for Thailand’s eventual participation in high-standard agreements, including the TPP. (MCOT online news) http://englishnews.mcot.net/site/content?id=50a9ac6b150ba0aa500000d9#.UKo2u4V8VD0

I thought iPhone was the latest and greatest. According to this article, Android might be even better. From http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/57664 Watch out, iPhone—Android's nipping at your heels. Researchers at Gartner (via AppleInsider) are predicting that the global market share for Google's Android mobile OS could overtake the iPhone's in a little over two years, with Android poised to leapfrog Apple into the No. 2 spot. That would leave the iPhone in the No. 3 position—right where it is now, behind BlackBerry and Nokia's Symbian OS, according to Gartner. The industry researchers believe that by 2012, Research in Motion (the company behind the BlackBerry) will have lost 7 percent of its market share, causing it to slip into fifth place (behind even Windows Mobile). Android, meanwhile, will get a 12.9-percent boost to become the No. 2 smartphone platform in the world, with Symbian still safe in the No. 1 spot (with a dominating, although dwindling, 39 percent of the global market). Those are just analyst predictions, of course, and two years is an eternity in the wireless world; after all, two years ago today, we were still getting used to the first iPhone. That said, I think the gist of Gartner's prediction—that Android is poised to take the wireless market by storm—is spot on, and we've seen evidence of that in the past few months and weeks. Google's open-source Android platform—which boasts one of the finest touchscreen interfaces out there, iPhone included—came slow out of the gates in fall 2008 with the solid, if uninspiring T-Mobile G1. We had to wait almost a year for the next Android phone in the U.S., but we finally got one this past August with the G1's follow-up, the HTC-made myTouch 3G (also on T-Mobile). Soon after, what started as a trickle quickly became a flood. Sprint trotted out its first Android phone, the eye-catching, touchscreen HTC Hero, and then T-Mobile followed suit with the Motorola Cliq, its third Android handset ... followed by the Samsung Behold II just a few days ago. On Tuesday, Verizon Wireless announced it would launch a pair of Android phones before the end of the year, while Sprint announced its second Android phone—the Samsung Moment—a day later. Oh, and now there's rumors that Dell wants in on the Android action, with a new handset possible slated for iPhone carrier AT&T. Let's see, that's ... one, two, three, four ... five new Android phones in in the past few months, with two more—and possibly even a third—due by the end of the year, from two (or maybe three) different manufacturers and three (possibly four) carriers. Some will be better than others, but consumers will have plenty of models (and carriers) from which to choose. Of course, a bunch of new phones on the market doesn't mean diddly unless someone buys them, and for now, Apple has a solid 10.8- versus 1.6-percent lead over Android in terms of global smartphone market share. But Apple is the only company making iPhones, while the open-source (and high-quality) Android platform is available to all manufacturers and carriers—and from what we've been seeing, they're taking the ball and running with it.

My wife recently was granted a visa to join me in the U.S. while we continue to wait for her Green Card. I was under the assumption that I need to buy for her only a one-way ticket to the U.S. However, I know from previous experience, that her visa required a r/t ticket before she was allowed to leave Suvarnabhumi airport. Is this the case in our present situation? Will a r/t ticket be required with her current visa, or does the type of visa make a difference?

How about a jokes and games section ?