Comments Posted By Brian
Displaying 1 To 30 Of 1,084 Comments
Re: VW van
They have come out with a retro version of the VW van. I believe it is all electric. I have seen a couple of them on the road.» Posted By Brian On 21/October/2026 @ 12:04 am
Re: video from “Elena Morina”
Damn, it is getting harder and harder to tell AI from real content. When I first looked at it, I thought, “why is John saying this is AI?”. After looking closer and at some of “her” other videos, I’m agree with you. Both audio and video are AI generated. Crazy!!» Posted By Brian On 20/October/2026 @ 11:51 pm
Yeah, and I think that the age of the visa wannabe is taken into account also. A 25 year old third world national will have a tougher time than a 50 YO from the same country.
I have a tendency (sometimes an over tendency) to look at a decision by weighing the upside and downside.
Robbing a bank?
Upside – extra cash quickly
Downside – ending up in prison and being worried about turning my back on someone in the shower.
Overall rating – downside >>>>> upside so don’t do it.Trying to get a visa for a 3rd world national?
Upside – she gets it. (Generic) we get to travel to new (or old) places that are different from her home country
Downside – she doesn’t get it. Other than a bit of wasted time and effort, no real downside
Overall rating – Upside >> downside so do it.LOL
» Posted By Brian On 19/October/2026 @ 11:29 pm
Yeah, a bit of a hassle, but even if Swan needs a visa, no harm in trying if it is a place you want to go to.
I have traveled to places (as I am sure you have) where, even as a US citizen, I required a visa. Some were done remotely, some required a visit to the nearest consulate/embassy. With lack of leisure time not being a factor, you should go for it if there is a place you want to go to.
» Posted By Brian On 17/October/2026 @ 11:08 pm
Re: hash
You have mentioned that the number of foreign bar patrons in your neck of the woods has decreased and all bars seem to be hurting. Has the hash group suffered a similar decline in numbers from XX years ago? Or is there a steady influx of new blood?Re: 2022 post
Whatever happened to hops and brews?Re: Reekay video
Nice looking beach there, that is for sure.» Posted By Brian On 14/October/2026 @ 4:28 am
One of the advantages of a GoPro when having it strapped to your body is that there is some image stabilization. Not sure if phones have that also. If they do, then maybe just some sort of holder for your phone would work just as well.
For myself, I usually just take the micro SD card from the GoPro and upload the files that way. I know that there is also a GoPro app for the phone that will allow you to “read” the file contents of the GoPro directly.
» Posted By Brian On 14/October/2026 @ 10:48 pm
Thanks for the video, and doing it horizontally. LOL. If you are going to be vlogging a lot, you could easily (well, not sure how easy it would be in the PI) get a (used) GoPro and a chest strap. If I want hands free videoing, that I what I use. Another step or two vs. a phone to upload however.
» Posted By Brian On 12/October/2026 @ 11:14 pm
Re: Sam Miguel Light
It would be interesting to see the total sales of beer in Barretto broken down by brand. (But not having it in stock will skew the numbers. You can’t buy what isn’t there! LOL). In regards to San Miguel Light, wondering (to myself) if the issue is with the brewery, the individual bars, or something else. Maybe overall sales nationwide are poor and relying on Mr. McCrarey to keep the production line open just isn’t enough. LOLRe: vlogger
Sad, but medical care (or lack thereof) is an issue in a developing country. Drawing maybe unwarranted conclusions, but he/his family having a go fund me campaign to pay for medical care seems to indicate that he probably wasn’t receiving the absolute best care possible. I get it. Medical care is expensive, but man, going to live in a third world country and assuming you are bulletproof and don’t need to set aside money for insurance, etc. is a risk I just would not be willing to take. But I have always been a belt AND suspenders type of person when it comes to things like that.» Posted By Brian On 10/October/2026 @ 11:21 pm
Re: Walking videos
Thanks for sharing. Enjoyed the videos. Personal preference, but I like videos in landscape mode rather than portrait.Lola – hope that the grandkids can break the cycle of poverty, etc. Odds are against them, but there is a chance.
Garbage garbage everywhere…….
Re: Video
A bit over melodramatic, but does make some good points. For me, the biggest is understanding and embracing forgiveness. I think that the video is spot on that forgiveness is not so much bringing peace to the other person but to yourself.re: 2022 bar crawl
How many of those SOB bars still have the same owner as in 2022? From your posts through the years, it doesn’t appear that the customer base has increased.» Posted By Brian On 09/October/2026 @ 11:14 pm
Re: Pool
Sounds like it was a good first tournament.Re:2022 post
How many of the group that did the stairway to heaven hike are still active hashers?Re: Video
Didn’t watch it, but what were the main reasons that made those towns so hated?» Posted By Brian On 08/October/2026 @ 11:15 pm
Re: Sunday stroll
Interesting to see, but.. garbage everywhere.Re:Expat video
The blogger doesn’t look too young, and if I heard correctly, he is getting the house for HIS parents!! Wow! I can’t imagine my parents moving other rural PI at their age. I am pretty sure they would not want to downgrade their accommodations at this point in their life. But, who knows what is their current situation. Maybe this would be an upgrade.» Posted By Brian On 05/October/2026 @ 10:19 pm
Re: Road
My memory is a bit fuzzy, but aren’t they trying to build a national highway bypass around Barretto? Are they still making progress?Re: meme about sleeping around
All joking aside, there definitely is a double standard when it comes to perceptions of men/women and the # of partners they have.Re: July 2022 post
Yup. Gets back to the transactional nature of the majority of relationships where there is a big economic gap between the two partners. This is something that is common worldwide, and not only in SE Asia. It is tough to navigate.Never saw it, but there was a short lived reality show akin to the Bachelor where women were vying for the attention of a guy whom they were led to believe was super rich. Most of the contestants were raving about what a great guy he was. The big reveal at the end was that he had no money. I will leave it to you to guess if all of a sudden, he wasn’t so great any more. LOL
» Posted By Brian On 03/October/2026 @ 10:49 pm
Re: Kamana Beach Resort
Did you see any activity while you were there? Seeing that you were not aware of it as part of the expat crowd, I wonder who they are targeting as their customer base? Maybe package tours from somewhere? With their prices, doesn’t seem like the domestic market would be enough.Re: Trash
I think (generic) you becomes a bit desensitized to something like that the longer you are there, but damn, that would be a big turn off for me. living there.Re: 9 ball
Played a lot when I was at a camp in Nigeria. Not much to do there except shoot pool, throw darts, and drink. LOL. Was inspired by the Tom Cruise/Paul Newman movie “The Color of Money” (which itself was a sequel to “The Hustler”). I agree, more luck involved, but also a lot of skill. Game moves faster than 8 ball. I am guessing you do know that the first ball the cue contacts has to be the next ball in numerical sequence.Re: staying out late
I am sure there is a different vibe the later you are out. I worked with a guy who had similar drinking hours to you. He would tell me that XX bar was never crowded, he was usually the only customer, etc. I’m like, “Are we talking about the same bar. Place always seems packed to me.” LOL» Posted By Brian On 02/October/2026 @ 12:29 am
Re: sickness
This too shall pass. Any chance there is some relationship between the new GLP-1 drug and the overall feeling of sickness?Re: video
I recently learned that “vertical videos” are becoming a thing. Designed to be watched on a phone screen, so in portrait mode. A lot of them are micro video series; 60-120 seconds in length for each episode. Haven’t ever looked at any of them, but an interesting concept.Re: joke of the day
almost sounds like something a sovereign citizen would say. LOL» Posted By Brian On 24/September/2026 @ 9:53 pm
Re: elevator
Hmm, not sure about that. Just guessing, but I would think something like that would cost $40-50K. Who knows what modifications would be needed to the building, etc. Maybe over ten years you might make it back.Ah, so the guy who bought Barcelona is the one buying up all the other bars? Maybe money laundering? LOL
» Posted By Brian On 24/September/2026 @ 9:44 pm
You said:
>I don’t think the old expat crowd in Barretto is going to make that climb for a disco.Yeah, but they didn’t seem to be making the climb for its previous incarnation either. LOL
Too many bars chasing too few people but it seems the owners never learn. For some, it is probably the “sunk cost fallacy”. For others, it may just be more money than common sense. People trying to make money in the bar business in a place like Barretto has been going on for a long long while, and most likely, will still be going on long after you and I are here.
» Posted By Brian On 23/September/2026 @ 10:38 pm
Don’t know if it was just the pictures you took, but Pundaquit seems to be noticeably cleaner than Barretto, both along the streets and at the beach.
Re: transportation
Because it is smaller, there are not the jeepneys, trikes, car/drivers etc.?» Posted By Brian On 19/September/2026 @ 12:50 am
Re: get out of town getaway
Looks like the trip is going well. Always good to vary things up a bit.Re: Blog title and song
I guessed right this time. Figured you would pick that song. LOL. Actually saw Garth Brooks in concert this past weekend. He is not for everybody, but IMO, he puts on a darn good show.Re: relationships
Hopefully some of the advice given and lessons learned have been taken to heart. A relationship with a large gap in (pick one or all) age, economics, culture, education, worldview, etc. will be different from a “traditional” relationship in the west, where both are looking for love. As long as you understand that and are okay with the possible limitations that go along with it, it can work out. (And, to your credit, your current relationship seems to be going along (relatively) smoothly, so maybe lessons have been learned. LOL)» Posted By Brian On 18/September/2026 @ 1:51 am
I don’t think that the PI is inherently safer (or less safe) than the US, but ignorance is bliss I think when it comes to perception in a foreign country. If a person doesn’t have any cultural background in a country, doesn’t speak the language, etc. they are not going to know what places “should” be unsafe. Like the guy in the video; after the fact, he was told that he shouldn’t have gone to a particular area as it was unsafe. Because he didn’t know, it didn’t feel unsafe to him.
99% of the time in the US, I don’t give a second thought to personal safety in regards to violent crime. But it is common sense that whether I am in the US, Thailand, Spain, etc. to make sure that petty crime is not an issue.
» Posted By Brian On 13/September/2026 @ 11:30 pm
If you are interested, here it is. LOL
The day remains so vivid in our collective memories: the rush to turn on the television, the sudden reverse commute, the dash to collect the kids from school or daycare, the worry about family members who had traveled to New York or Washington or were studying there, the astounding sight of panicked Chicagoans streaming out of Loop skyscrapers and wondering where they would be safe.Those of us who were still kids on Sept. 11, 2001, remember adult confusion and fear for absent parents; those of us already in the workplace had other worries, not the least of which was what to tell our children.
Some of us remember the eerie silence in the skies that afternoon as arrivals and departures at O’Hare ceased. We suddenly realized how the sounds of a city can be a comfort.
And we all still can recall the improbably sunny weather. Chicago’s most beautiful month.
Chicago that day was wondering if it, too, was intended to be an al-Qaida target, a question that lingered for several years thereafter, especially after former President George W. Bush suggested it was so, when he visited the city in 2010: “And people forget that the Sears Tower was a target, a genuine target,” he was heard to say, thanks to a WLS microphone left open, “and the mayor responded and his people responded brilliantly to the threats, so this is an interesting example of federal, state and local cooperation.”
Federal, state and local cooperation. Not a concept in ascendency at present.
Precisely what was meant by “target” was debated long after Bush’s words although it now feels moot. Chicago was attacked because America as a nation was attacked: New York; Arlington County, Virginia; Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Blue and red states were not yet a thing. Especially not on that day.
It’s axiomatic that people living through moments of seismic historical change do not realize it at the time. Nor can they see narrative beginnings and endings. Those fighting the American Revolution did not know they would win and forge a new country, and yet we now are hardwired to see it as the start of something, not an event where everything hung in the balance.
Similarly, many of the numerous articles we read this week have defined the events of Sept. 11, 2001, as singular and definitive: a dividing line, say, or the end of an era of innocence or the last gasp of true American unity or the beginning of a war that begat more wars.
But a truer recollection of the experience of actually living through that day means understanding that we didn’t see it as a single day to be remembered but potentially as the first locus of several such attacks. That persisted throughout that fall. We have often wondered what would have happened if the so-called shoe bomber, Richard Reid, had been successful in his attempt to blow up a transatlantic flight that following December. He came close. A small shift in circumstances might have have yet further changed the trajectory of global history.
In the end, though, perhaps Sept. 11 is not best honored by these grander narratives, these ex post facto analyses.
Perhaps we should all just focus on the lives (many in their prime) that were lost, the bravery of the first responders, the admirable responses of some elected officials who found their voice as they never had before or did so again.
As journalists, we often are wary of people pushing the importance of anniversaries, which can be used as ways to drum up interest in something long-established and wheezing. They often are marketing tools, malleable to make a political point. Those who care deeply about one aspect of something or another often take charge of their memory, not necessarily reflecting the wretched, real-time ambivalence of the original experience. Perhaps the best way to remember 9/11 is to say we just did not understand.
But then it’s also worth noting that this will be the last time for a while 9/11 gets this kind of attention. Twenty-six, 27, 28, 29 years will seem less important. Come to think of it, many Americans probably won’t think this way again about 9/11 until 2051, which will come sooner than we think. For those of us still here.
We also can imagine a time when whatever media organizations that exist in 2101 will trot out those who actually remember that day as curiosities. Maybe there will be far more of us than we now think, if medical advances continue.
Who knows how their memories will be contextualized by whatever agents of artificial intelligence are doing the contextualizing?
All we can do now is acknowledge the overwhelming loss of office workers, waiters, electricians, traders, firefighters ascending a building and never climbing back down, and remember that tomorrow never is a certainty.
» Posted By Brian On 13/September/2026 @ 11:07 pm
When you live history, there is a desire that others who did not will still feel the same way about a particular day or era. But it is an impossible ask. You just do what you can to keep the memory alive.
The Chicago Tribune had a pretty good editorial which I think captures a lot of my thoughts.
» Posted By Brian On 13/September/2026 @ 3:55 am
re: 9/11
Crazy that it has been 25 years already. For people 30 (or maybe even 35) and under, it is something out of the history books. For our generation, it is a “I will always remember where I was when…………” We will never forget.But, time marches on. The emotional resonance is just not the same for someone who was not around when it happened. Not to say that everybody should never forget, but with the passage time, people do not necessarily forget but see things through a different lens. On July 1st, how often do any of us reflect upon the battle of Gettysburg? Except for a shrinking number of people, the same can be said for June 6th and D-day. (I have a relative, 99 years old and a WW II vet and still going strong. Love hearing the reminisces and stories, but I don’t have that same emotional attachment as he does.)
Not in anyway trying to diminish what happened that day, but do understand why remembrances etc get less and less over time.
Re bars
what would you say is the most successful bar among your crowd in Barretto? What makes it successful? Do Filipinos have a bar culture, or is any drinking/socializing mainly done at home?» Posted By Brian On 11/September/2026 @ 11:41 pm
re: rain
Hopefully you scrubbed yourself after wading through the flood waters. I am sure that there are all kinds of nasties floating around in that stuff. LOLre: Paula
Hmm, waiting with bated breath as to the outcome. On one hand, I am thinking that yup, she was the one, and you guys are living happily ever after. Oh wait, that is the alternate/parallel universe…………………..re: tipping
I become more anti tipping lately. To me, everybody is in the service industry in some way or another. Do (generic) you tip your doctor? Dentist? Car mechanic? etc. At the root, I don’t believe that tipping motivates people to provide better service.During my trip to Ireland, I loved the fact that the price you saw on the menu in a restaurant or bar was the price you were going to pay. Any and all taxes and service charges were included. Price said 10 euros. That was the price. And service was not any worse (nor better) than typically seen in the US.
And somehow in the US, the “standard” tip has crept up from the original 10% –> 15% –> 20% and now a lot of the credit card readers ask for more than 20%. You have to navigate through the menu to change it or eliminate it. All the while, the cashier is standing there watching you.
And don’t get me started on why tips are expected at places where you order, pay, and collect your food at the counter. Arrrrgh!!
Maybe you can be the trendsetter in the PI. You know enough bar owners. Tell them to pay their workers a decent salary. I should not be “required” to supplement their salary because the owner doesn’t pay them enough to begin with.
Rant over. LOL
» Posted By Brian On 09/September/2026 @ 3:44 am
re: new housekeeper
A bit of a double edged sword hiring a “relative”. If things start slipping work-wise, a bit more difficult to put the hammer down/terminate employment without possibly causing some friction.Re: San Miguel beer
I wonder how much beer a typical bar in your neck of the woods goes through in a week (or month). Although you consume your fair share, if you are the only person drinking San Miguel XL, probably doesn’t make sense for the bar to stock it on the off chance that you come in to drink at that place. I have no idea if distributors require the bars to purchase a minimum amount.I know in the US, bars are required to buy from an authorized distributor (you can lose your liquor license if you dont) and typically, the price from the distributor is more than if you went to the local grocery store and bought directly from them. #racket
» Posted By Brian On 08/September/2026 @ 12:42 am
Re: the meme at the top of the page
I can’t turn water into beer, but I am pretty good about turning beer into water!Re: bar scene
Im sure that the weather has a definite impact, as well as the timing you head out. But, even taking that into account, things seem pretty dire. And yet, there always seems to be someone who thinks that they can make it work.Lots of news in Pattaya Thailand about the US aircraft carrier arriving in port for 5 days of R&R. 5000 sailors who have been on ship for 280 days. The bargirls and all the vendors are loving it. LOL
re: weather
hope it gets better soon. That type of weather sucks. Everything feels damp and moldy. Yuk» Posted By Brian On 05/September/2026 @ 12:57 am
Re: rain, rain everywhere but not a drop in your house. LOL
Sucks but at least you have options. How is Swan’s family doing? Are they in a flood zone?Re: video
I dont think it is supposed to be humorous. Just a mini-drama in five and a half minutes.» Posted By Brian On 31/August/2026 @ 1:49 am
Another circle on the carousel of life
Happy Birthday John. Looks like it was a good day and a good time was had by all! Here is to many more!!
» Posted By Brian On 29/August/2026 @ 4:34 am
Re: old bars closing and new ones opening
Fits the layman’s definition of insanity. Repeating the same thing expecting a different outcome.
“Oh, a bar is closing because they were losing money every month. Perfect buying opportunity for me!”
“Wow – sounds good. What are you going to open in its place?”
“A bar!”Re: Hospitals
Public hospitals throughout SE Asia pretty much suck. Money talks, which is unfortunate for the majority of citizens in the country.Re: Dolly Parton
Can’t say I was a fan, but did enjoy some of her songs. She is the rare celebrity that no-one seems to have ever had a bad thing to say about her. I think she truly was a good person. What you saw was what you got with her.» Posted By Brian On 27/August/2026 @ 2:46 am
Re: Metro’s comment
Yeah, kind of like that old “joke” ; Answer yes or no, have you stopped beating your wife?
Hard to prove a negative.
» Posted By Brian On 27/August/2026 @ 2:31 am
«« Back To Stats PageI remember a teacher I had in school. His motto was:
If you’re early, you’re on time.
If you’re on time, you’re late
If you’re late, forget about it!!!That has always stuck with me.
One of the first jobs I had overseas, there was a meeting scheduled for (e.g.) 2 pm. At exactly 2 PM and one second, the meeting leader locked the door to the meeting room. People came up and were knocked and he told them to get lost. Only time those people were late was the first time. After that, they were on time or early. LOL
» Posted By Brian On 25/August/2026 @ 6:48 am