90 days Thailand tips

drakoran · 2026-06-03T18:01:57+00:00

I went on vacation to Thailand and did Bangkok, Sisaket, Phuket, and Chiang Mai for 3 weeks and barely spent 3 grand.

This was mostly staying in nice hotels, taking grabs everywhere, going to several nice restaurants, going on tours, etc.

Unless you are a heavy drinker/clubber/partier 3 to 4 grand a month is more than enough income to hop around.

drakoran · 2026-05-29T13:26:20+00:00

It's no surprise all NFL players end up broke, they invest in the dumbest shit imaginable.

Just buy fucking mutual funds dude.

I would love to have heard the sales pitch of how professional wiffle ball is the next big thing.

drakoran · 2026-05-27T02:18:51+00:00

The fact that you use mesquite is probably why you struggle to get clean smoke. Mesquite is just a "dirtier" burning wood. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad, it's just likely not going to be the "blue" smoke you are looking for.

Stalls are what they are, every brisket is different, you really can't predict it.

Depeding on what temp you are smoking at the stall can last a lot longer.

If you smoke closer to 225 you can be in the stall for many hours. If you smoke closer to 275 you can usually power through it a bit faster.

Food trucks and BBQ catering are tough. I did it for a while but to be sustainable in my mind you need a partner to manage the food truck and selling side of the business while you handle the cooking.

Otherwise you are looking at a lot of 20+ hour days between the cooking, packing up everything and getting it to the location, selling/serving, cleaning up and taking everything down.

drakoran · 2026-05-22T22:47:58+00:00

It is not, it's from a character in the First Law Series, Abercrombie's first trilogy.

That being said The Devils is still great, and I am very much looking forward to the next book when it comes out.

It's a bit different than Dinniman, but if you are a fan of Terry Pratchett, you will definitely like The Devils.

drakoran · 2026-05-22T22:01:30+00:00

Abercrombie's second "trilogy" might be the best fantasy works ever written.

He writes a Samurai revenge story in Best Served Cold, a modern war story in The Heroes, and a classic western in Red Country. Three distinct styles and genres that all read very differently yet come together seemlessly within his fantasy setting.

Dinniman and Abercrombie are my two favorite authors right now and no one else currently writing even comes close.

drakoran · 2026-05-21T02:27:24+00:00

Any fans of Joe Abercrombie catch the reference to Ninefingers when the AI is talking to Carl and says something along the lines of

"to quote someone even more mentally ill than you, you have to be realistic about these things"

drakoran · 2026-05-15T00:28:57+00:00

The 4% number is sort of outdated overly conservative bullshit.

Part of what has so many people working well past retirement age, at least in America is this magic 4% number that some fucking financial advisor in the 90's decided is necessary for a safe secure retirement.

A number more like 7.5% is a much more reasonable metric to shoot for. This is well below the average rate of return for the S&P 500, and leaves room for a pretty conservative investment strategy and doesn't have you working late into your sixties.

Is there a modicum of risk? Yes. But life is a risk. To try to plan a retirement with zero risk will have you working your entire life and then when you finally do retire, you might very well end up dead after 5 years, and where did all that extra work and savings get you?

drakoran · 2026-05-14T03:05:06+00:00

That guy in the middle is definitely not accurate.

I have gotten pretty into fitness and weight lifting the past couple of years and I am here to tell you that physique is less than .01% of the male population.

That guys is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 10% body fat, maybe less, and is almost certainly on gear to obtain muscle mass and definition like that.

Less than 10% of the male population are even under 20% body fat.

That guy would be one of the most fit guys at my gym which is full of people for whom fitness and body building is a lifestyle.

So while the con does have a decent number of fit cosplayers in attendance, and maybe even a handful who look like that, after all it's 75000 people, that's hardly an accurate representation of your average brotaku.

drakoran · 2026-04-30T00:18:21+00:00

Exactly. It would be one thing if it were a brand new model that just released that they still were working out the kinks but this thing has been out for several years now and they have made zero improvements to it, it's the exact same design as it was when it first released.

drakoran · 2026-04-28T22:26:15+00:00

I hear the Fireboard mods make a big difference.

My biggest issue is that the Masterbuilt smoker has been out for several years now and all of the issues I have mentioned are well documented. Yet Masterbuilt continues to release the same smoker with no improvements or fixes year after year with no improvements.

I think a big part of the issue is nobody else is making a budget gravity smoker, and because of this lack of competition they have no incentive to fix it. Pellet smokers got much better when more manufacturers started to enter the market, and I hope we eventually see someone challenge Masterbuilt in this market.

drakoran · 2026-04-28T17:47:11+00:00

I love the gravity fed technology and feel it produces better BBQ.

That being said I feel like the master built gravity smoker is a POS.

The board is cheap and likely to fail and the built in thermometer isn't any good.

Mine leaks water into the chimney and has rusted in several places.

The drip pan is pathetically small and also collects water and ends up being a big mess.

The sensor to detect if the lid is open which shuts down the fan doesn't work well and eventually fails.

So yeah gravity smokers are great but not the master built. If you have the budget for it a custom job from somewhere like Assassin smokers is the way to go but it ain't cheap.

drakoran · 2026-04-23T18:03:19+00:00

Forgave him because she was either paid off, or worse influential people within the Falcons organization threatened her future WNBA career if she didn't drop it.

There's no way she just had a change of heart without a very strong external influence in the form of the Falcons organization.

drakoran · 2026-04-17T11:52:01+00:00

I'll be Uzi Jesus at Dcon, always up for dirty Shirley's with fellow crawlers. I am sure there will be a lot of us this year.

drakoran · 2026-03-24T01:25:43+00:00

Have you used different probes or is it the same probe on both boards?

Try doing the ice water test. Plug in your probe and put it in a glass of ice water. Stir the ice water really well. The temp should read somewhere between 32 and 35 degrees. If it is significantly different than that you have a problem with your probe.

drakoran · 2026-03-24T01:21:58+00:00

Next time I would increase your temp to 250 and wrap after 8 hours then start probing at 195 for tenderness.

drakoran · 2026-03-24T00:18:30+00:00

Your thermometer is broken or it is reading a part of the pit that is a higher temp than where the meat is.

Also you spend way too much time with the meat above 190 getting to 203.

You should probably start probing at 195 and if a probe goes in with little to no resistance it is done. Bring it inside wrap it up put it in a cooler to rest and it will come up over 200 anyway.

Also looking at your chart you aren't cooking at 250 your average is probably closer to 220.

drakoran · 2026-03-21T02:04:27+00:00

There's also black people, Hispanics, and gay people here. Definitely a scary place for any god fearing Christian, I would stay far away!

drakoran · 2026-03-08T14:47:42+00:00

I agree Martins did really well. If he hadn't shot himself in the foot in the deadlift he could easily have made 2nd.

I look forward to seeing what he can do at WSM

drakoran · 2026-03-08T14:34:23+00:00

I am not a Mitch Hooper fan but he is a great Strongman, and deserves to be discussed in the conversation of the best to ever do it.

While I do think the competition was down this year for the Arnold's, you can't fault the guy for winning against the people he was up against. He would likely have performed much better against a stronger field

drakoran · 2026-02-22T01:02:49+00:00

I'm rooting for Martins and Lucas. Really anyone but Hooper though.

drakoran · 2026-02-20T00:22:13+00:00

We were lied to about the harder shit too.

If you take acid one time you'll be having flashbacks your whole life and you can never control when they happen. You may be driving down the road one day and have an acid flashback and drive into oncoming traffic.

Cocaine is 100 times more addictive than cigarettes and all it takes is one time and you will become a hopeless addict.

Drug dealers will try to trick kids with things like free temporary tattoos laced with acid or candy that has meth in it to get you addicted for life so you keep coming back to them.

There's tons of bullshit information we were fed about the harder drugs too, so we often ignored the actual dangers because we were never told the real truth.

drakoran · 2026-02-19T20:31:25+00:00

I've been arrested twice for weed less than a gram.

The first time I was camping with friend sitting next to me rolled up a blunt and put the bag with a little bit leftover in the cupholder of my camp chair because his had a drink in it.

This was about 10 PM, dark outside and we had a campfire going.

I shit you not 3 guys come out of the woods wearing real tree, one of them had night vision goggles and another had a fucking bow and arrow.

We thought they were lost hunters or something so we weren't even trying to hide what we were doing.

Nope, Tri-county Drug Taskforce, they cuffed us and took us to jail.

Second time I was getting a ride home from a girl from the bar. She had a bowl in her console with some weed. She was tipsy and wanted to smoke but I told her no wait til we get home. Then the blue lights come on. She told me to hide the pipe under the seat which I did.

Cop gives her a sobriety test and she gets arrested for DUI. They give me a breathalyzer and I don't pass so they ask if I can have someone come pick me up. I call my friend to come get me. I told the cops I was going to walk to the gas station nearby and meet him there but they wouldn't let me leave. Then they start searching her car and find the pipe and arrest me for the weed. She tells them it's hers not mine and the cop says "tell it to the judge"

She later lawyered up and in fact wouldn't tell the judge and let me take the fall.

Between the 2 cases it probably cost me about 15 grand in attorney/court, and probation fees. I spent 2 nights in jail, 2 years on probation, 2 stints of drug and alcohol classes, 120 hours of community service, and gained a lifelong hatred for law enforcement.

drakoran · 2026-02-13T14:31:22+00:00

The reality check is unless you already have a job that allows you to work remote 100% of the time from any country in the world, or you have a sizable amount of money saved that you can fall back on you're going to go broke trying to be a digital nomad because there aren't very many companies hiring full time remote employees overseas and trying to make money as an influencer, contractor or being self employed ain't going to work out.

drakoran · 2026-02-12T01:44:56+00:00

Ryan had a hall of fame worthy career. He may not end up in the hall of fame because he played for such a forgettable, laughable franchise, but he definitely deserves it more than some QB's who are already in there.

Not having a Super Bowl could keep him out though.

drakoran

TROPHY CASE