Mark,Mom,and Sister Stephanie in front of the picture of the Thailand King in Mark's condominium lobby when we last were all three together at Spring break

Mr.Mark called me today from his hospital room at Bumrungrad Hospital
Mark is currently getting a three day regimen of chemotherapy.Since his creatinine clearance is a little off normal, his platinol has been decreased and the doctor is considering shifting from Platinol to carboplatin to make it easier on Mark's kidneys. Don't forget Mark. He needs support more than ever.It is the support of friends and strangers that keeps him alive as he wages a battle against liver cancer (a metastasis from the primary tumor which is now gone.) Your support means everything to Mark. Your support can keep him going in his battle against cancer. You can donate to his treatment fund by sending a check to the Highland Park Baptist Church in Austin. (See instructions in the right hand column.) It will help keep him in treatment until medicare kicks in next April and we can bring him home. If we run out of money he will come home sooner.
The King of Thailand is celebrating 60 years on the throne Mark tells me that the beloved King of Thailand, who is the longest reigning monarch in the world, declared that all streets in Bangkok would be clean for the celebration of his 60 years on the throne and people made sure that every scrap of paper and speck of dirt was off the streets and they did not let any dogs on the streets to make sure the streets were clean . Royalty from all over the world were in Thailand to join in the celebration. The King's royal color is yellow so every Thailand citizen and foreigners small enough to find a shirt to fit them bought a yellow shirt and the country was a sea of yellow. The King rode the royal barge down the Cho Phyra River with other royals on board. Citizens turned out by the thousands to see their King and the foreign royals and a huge firewords display. All Thai people love the King and there are pictures of him everywhere. There is a huge picture of the king in the lobby of Mark's condominium. Each day there are fresh flowers in front of the picture of the King. Several months ago James (Mark's Aggie stepfather) was sitting in the lobby of the condominium off and on for several days and he thought that the Thai people were very friendly as they made a wai (y) for him by putting their hands together and bowing. Later he found out that the Thai people were greeting the picture of the King in a sign of respect. Thai, no matter how rich or how poor,are proud to be Thai and often say: "Farang (foreigner)if you lucky in the next life, you be born Thai.
Training a Parakeet
This is the continued Saga of Kuhn Petey bird.This is the miracle bird that I found outside my 11th story bedroom in Bangkok. He was sitting outside the window looking at himself in the glass (see earlier story). Mark told me this week that after cooing to Kuhn Petey for weeks and months to get him to talk and putting his finger in the cage and cooing to get Petey to sit on his finger, he got tired of cooing and just grabbed Petey and put him on his finger and after a couple of times Petey got the picture and now will ride around on Mark's finger and come back to the finger when Mark turns him loose in my bedroom to fly around. Hmm there may be a behavior modification principle in here somewhere.