Back in Chiang Mai

We just got done eating our mid-morning meal. Since we have been here we have taken to eating a large meal mid-morning and another mid-afternoon. It feels right. If I eat too close to bed I get hot and cannot sleep. We are trying to figure out how to keep entertained in Chiang Mai for another few days. We are thinking about visiting the zoo and a park here in town. It would be nice to find an activity outside of town as the mountains are so nice up here. They are so lush and also much cooler than it is in the city. We are still a little bummed (and worried) that the Chinnaworn stay didn't work out as he seemed like an amazing person. Maybe someday everyone can move over here with us and we can start the farm back up...

Ashley would like to hear from her family. They have been quiet for several days. Mom, dad, Bud, Lynne, and everyone else who has commented we really appreciate hearing from you all. Oh yeah, I hope that everyone who went to Pitkin had a nice trip.

An interesting thing happened the other day. We decided to try to buy Ashley's birth control pills over here because when she was sick she had trouble keeping them down and so she was a few pills short. Anyways we went into the pharmacy with out a prescription and they found some that had the same ingredients (we compared her old pack to the new one and they are identical). They cost us a whopping 50 cents/month here. In the states they are $20 with insurance. WTF!? If anyone needs meds it might be cheaper to fly over here to get them if they are particularly expensive... Does anyone need more evidence that our healthcare system in the US might be a little corrupt? This really raises questions for me as there are so many people paying thousands of dollars per year for AIDS medicine, cancer drugs, insulin, cholesterol medication, and other lifesaving drugs. Further, I am left to wonder why it is illegal for one to purchase these drugs overseas and bring them back into the United States, even if one has a valid prescription? It seems that this is "copyright infringement". Do the drug companies care so little about health and so much about making a few (billion) dollars that they are willing to sacrifice human life for profits? According to Fortune 500, Pfizer was the ninth most profitable company globally in 2007. Merck is fourteenth thus far in 2010. Merck has made almost $13 billion in profits thus far this year.

Well some guy that looks really sick just came into the computer place so we are out of here! Love to all!