No net again!?!

We just got back our internet connection last September 20 and before we reached a month enjoying the internet, we received our bill from TOT billing us a total of 1,990.88! It shows in the billing statement that we had a previous balance of 1,476.60! Why's that? When I apply for relocation of our old telephone and internet account prior to our moving they said it's OK to just continue our old account. After 2 weeks without any update from TOT, I visited their branch at Diana Mall and there I was told that we need to apply for a new account because we can't use the old account anymore because of jurisdiction issues. We waited for more than a month before a new telephone number was assigned to us. And now that we enjoy the internet for less than a month we received that bill. Is it just coincidence that when we received the bill, the internet connection stopped too? Did they just cut our internet connection because of previous bill I never knew existed? If that's the reason, can't they wait because it's clearly stated that our due date will be next week, October 22. I went to TOT Diana Branch and inquire the manager there. She promised to call me back today because she needs to talk to somebody there in the Head Office. She was confused too because our old account (based on our old telephone number) is the one that appears on the bill statement instead of the new account. It's already 5:50 pm and I haven't heard yet from the TOT. In case like this, I'm back blogging in the net cafe while waiting for hubby to fetch me and as usual it's raining hard outside!

Rain water

We collected rain water to water our plants, wash our dishes and even for bath! This is what we've been doing every time it rains because until now Hatyai Water District (HWD) doesn't take any necessary action to give us WATER! (You can read my frustrations here and here )

Last week my patience was already on its last straw. Never in my life have I gone so pissed ! It's over 3 months now that we've waited for that WATER but until now we remain "WATER-LESS"! Everyday we called the owner asking him to follow-up HWD (because if you won't follow-up him, he doesn't do a thing too!). Actually, a group of working men with pipes and drills came last April 21 and I thought that my terrible dilemma will end that day. Much to my dismay without any valid reasons they left without doing anything! I was really furious!

I called again the owner of the house and told him that we'll move ! He asked his friend who could speak English to explain to us that he already went to the HWD officer, doing the follow-up everyday, paid the required fees and many other stuffs . He's trying to explain that the DELAY is not his fault but the HWD. They better give us WATER this week or else we'll really move though it means hassle because class already started. If I''m not online for weeks and months then you'll know WHY.

No water is giving me MIGRAINE!

Oh, this is my life in Thailand...Help me God to be PATIENT in this trying moment!

Personal Experience on Trade Shows

I worked as a college instructor before at an agricultural college where we trained entrepreneurs. We usually conducted or joined trade show to let our budding student-entrepreneurs meet many potential customers face-to-face in a brief period of time inexpensively. It is also a way for our college to personally meet possible sponsors and partners and reinforce relationships.

Preparing for our exhibit booth is not an easy task. Though we cannot afford decorative truss , we managed to purchase presentable used trade show displays. We refurbished the damage and replaced missing pieces, we did still come up with an effective, original display for very little cash. We wanted to decorate our floor with logo floor mats but it's way above our budget already.

For the informational items on our booth display, we prepare written materials to distribute such as flyers and information sheets. We displayed items that appeal to multiple senses, including photographs or posters of our product or service (grafted mango, grafted durian,grafted rambutan, seedlings)), music that communicates a mood or a sense of place, and taste samples if we are introducing people to a food product like shrimp and crab kroepeck or polvoron with crab shell powder.

There were times that I'm assigned to look for our exhibit booth. I need to learn as much as I can about the product, service or issue that our booth represents. It's not easy to speak about it to people who are knowledgeable as well as people who are unfamiliar with it. I prepared myself for questions they might ask and prepared answers for them.

Another thing, we purchased inexpensive giveaway items to attract passersby to our booth like pens or key chains to complement our school's image.

I would love to hear any personal experience from you on how you prepare your trade shows.