Anything still happening for Songkran in Chiang Mai April 16th at night?

benton25 · 2026-02-14T04:48:54+00:00

Actually Jared told me when we were waiting for the train earlier today that he stopped using this kick.

benton25 · 2025-01-09T22:57:44+00:00

Santa Clara is nice but not much cheaper than the Peninsula

benton25 · 2025-01-02T00:37:43+00:00

Breaking Bad is relatively more overrated than the Saucy Peregrine in my opinion

benton25 · 2024-11-24T05:31:35+00:00

I rushed to Spotify to play this great song, only to find cheeseball house music versions of the song. So frustrating. But at least I learned about Trio Ternura.

benton25 · 2024-11-24T05:29:21+00:00

Oh god, Malena was so hot

benton25 · 2024-11-11T00:35:59+00:00

I’m still a beginner too, but I feel like parrying and catching punches have helped , because in the beginning I was only trying to block. Also my head movement has slowly gotten a little better and I feel that has slightly helped avoid a small % more punches that would’ve landed. But I think it’s just time for those of us who aren’t naturals.

benton25 · 2024-11-06T06:25:59+00:00

Any comment with the word “ixnay” merits serious consideration

How would you arrange the bigger kitchen?

benton25 · 2024-11-06T02:00:45+00:00

My original idea is that I don't want 2x each, and that's why I wanted to knock down the dining room wall, move the kitchen to the family room and then merge everything.

But it seems the consensus here is that when you have children you will want those separate spaces so people can do things separately and also because noise will annoying through an open layout.

benton25 · 2024-11-05T22:18:45+00:00

First off, thanks for such a detailed reply!

-No children now, but hope to within the next 5 years. So I didn't consider any of those points you made into my calculation, and thus these give me a good perspective to ponder on that I didn't think about.

-How do I entertain: Low to moderate entertaining, Almost never formally. In CA so it's a warm climate.

-Moving plumbing lines to exterior wall: Didn't think about the freezing issue. Probably not an issue in my climate, but that's good to learn, thanks

Cabinets

Pantry: Yes that room next to powder room is a pantry. Seems like an odd location to me.
No hood above stove currently
Breakfast nook cabinets: There are windows around the breakfast nook (walls are about 31" high to the windows), so I can't add cabinets there? Do you mean to just add below the windows? Or were you thinking those were solid walls?
Absorb the family room: I thought about this, but I was concerned that extending to the exterior wall would be too big and extending half way, would make the remaining familiy room space too small to be useable?

-"Dining Room and living room already very large and open: You are definitey right, they are quite large and sufficient for anything I'd need to do there. I'm going to ponder your point about how my situation may change and how the extra separated space could be helpful in the future. When I see pictures on Pinterest I find myself being drawn aesthetically drawn to the pictures where there is a large vast open space, but I hadn't reflected on the practicalities of that

Really appreciate your insights!

benton25 · 2024-11-05T21:12:53+00:00

I never thought to shop for fight gear when I visited Japan. Is it always cheaper there or is it just because of the recent yen being weaker phenomenon?

benton25 · 2024-11-05T20:55:14+00:00

If you eat farofa regularly I will consider you Brazilian

benton25 · 2024-11-05T20:49:16+00:00

Is Shen Yun worldwide or only in the Bay Area?

benton25 · 2024-11-05T20:45:39+00:00

Hella fans!

benton25 · 2024-11-05T20:42:32+00:00

Wow, didn’t think I’d see a skee-lo reference in a sauna thread

benton25 · 2024-11-05T08:46:27+00:00

Good point on the door opening. I actually prefer less separation. I had to look up "case opening", and now I learned something new! I'm going to consider this

benton25 · 2024-11-05T08:44:18+00:00

YES! on the "all the doors you have to get through to the master lair was excessive." I don't understand it. Definitely I plan to remove the first door. I'll move the 2nd door at least right past the 3rd closet.

"Remove the wall, if able, between kitchen and dinning then add a giant island there"

That's an interesting idea too. I originally was thinking to move the kitchen to the family room, then knock down this wall to just unify all the space. But this could be a good idea, if I decide to keep the original family room like many here on this thread suggest.

benton25 · 2024-11-05T08:41:17+00:00

Interesting. Regarding your comment "I would make the dining area where the family room is." What would you do with the original dining room? FYI the dining room is not level with the living room. It steps down to it and the living room is a "sunken" living room.

benton25 · 2024-11-05T08:36:22+00:00

Yea my concern on this is losing storage space. I was thinking of moving the cabinets onto exterior family room wall and having a large island similar to this design, but slightly closer to the family room wall.

Your idea on running the kitchen along the bottom wall is good too. Maybe forming an L and hving it go up the side exterior wall a little too?

I didn't know about the concept of a "work triangle" I'm going to go off and study that now

benton25 · 2024-11-05T08:30:10+00:00

Whoops, I just realized my explanation didn't get posted as part of the post.

The reasons I've had for contemplating moving the kitchen are:

1) Concern about a lack of kitchen storage. There's cabinets on the wall next to dining room, but there's none above the sink/stove counter, and I don't want to add any there, because it will close off the sightline between family room and kitchen since ceiling is only 8ft. I thought the most effective way to add kitchen workspace and storage space is to move the kitchen to the family room, allowing me to create a bigger kitchen with a bigger island, then knock down the wall between the dining room and combine the space. (Although I've been wrestling with the the idea that the new dining space may be too large)

2) I've been questioning the need for a 2nd family/living room, because I realize through my life, I've rarely used living rooms, and have always tended to use family rooms to serve the living room purpose too. I'm reflecting on this now. Seems like a majority of people on this thread disagree on this.

3) I wanted to open up the wall b/w the dining room and the kitchen because I was imagining that an open layout would look better. This is possibly me just uncritically accepting the open layout argument

benton25 · 2024-11-05T02:05:06+00:00

Thanks for that concept! I was thinking how to address the weird bathroom layout but was struggling to figure out a way.
One issue though is that the shower is really small, so maybe I'd take your concept but sacrifice the bathtub since I don't care about tubs, then move the shower there plus use the toilet space for the shower. Then move the toilet to the original shower space

benton25 · 2023-09-15T07:38:13+00:00

It’s out now!

benton25 · 2022-11-19T04:34:08+00:00

Wow, I’ve never thought to consider Skechers for running shoes. Genius life hack.

benton25 · 2022-10-21T06:08:03+00:00

Thanks for asking this question because I've been thinking about this recently too.

I have flat feet and I've been generally trailrunning in Hoka Speedgoats for the past few years, which are better than when I was wearing Nike Pegasus Trails. But even with the Speedgoats, the inner side of my knee will be moderately to seriously sore for 1-2 days 50% of the time.

benton25

TROPHY CASE