Our report on condoms went very well. Our scores were released for the last two presentations and our group was very pleased to have received 100% on both.

Yesterday, Jim and June Hoffman came into Bangkok and we met for dinner at their hotel. I've heard so many stories over the years but can't remember actually meeting them. Jim Hoffman and my grandfather, Jim Buckley, have been good friends since graduating from college in '62. Both Jim and June were really fun. They've come to SE Asia to visit Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. Also on their list is the village they last visited 40 years ago when Jim was doing construction in the US army. Vietnam was receiving all the army supplies, so Jim hired local carpenters to make desks, chairs and things with hand tools. Before leaving Thailand he used left-over bomb crates and spare lumber to build a school house in the local village, followed by a road to the major highway with help from some borrowed heavy equipment. Today they were planing to go down again to see how things looked after 40 years of development around this area which has grown into modern Pattaya.

Today I got my last two wisdom teeth out. Oral icebergs. Top came out easy, bottom one took a nurse holding my head while the doctor pulled with both hands. That slow cracking feeling drives me nuts. I knew how to control the blood and pain afterwards this time which was a big plus. The holes have almost completely stopped bleeding.

Tomorrow I have my last speech and second to last class of the semester. Tuesday I begin finals, with exams on the 19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd, and 29th. I between the last two I may try to get up to the village. Still no plans for New Years Eve, but I did get invited to go with Big Ass to the beer garden concert at the World Trade Center. I don't really want to be in Bangkok for New Years, taking a trip with friends last year.

I'd like to wish everybody a happy and politically-correct Holiday Season and I apologize for sending gifts so late.