Highlights:
Continued stream of visitors from CGFS/Charleston, the new Comptroller of the Department Brad Higgins and Jim Millett including courtesy calls with the new Ambassador . Brad Higgins came to the Department after 20 years on Wall Street including Goldman-Sachs. He last worked in Iraq on the $18 billion Reconstruction project. Also, a revolving door of CGFS/Charleston staff plus Management Counselors and FMOs on consultations in route to embassies in the Southeast Asia and Pacific region.
- Bill Marjenhoff headed up the training effort. I got more involved in financial management training classes at the center greeting new students and conducting some training in the vouchering, cashiering, travel policy and payroll courses. Plus, handing out certificates of completion to participants. Also gave me an opportunity to see former LE Staff that I worked with and in the future running into staff we trained in subsequent years while with the OIG. One of the trainers from Charleston was Wagih Ibrahim. Wagih came to CGFS from Embassy Cairo where he was the Senior Financial Specialist. He became as U.S. citizen and followed that to become a FMO and is presently in Athens after serving his first tour in Brussels.
- Started electronic document storage project (IDOX) for converting paper files.
- Established Post Support Unit (PSU) headed up by Wasan for processing travel vouchers and originally servicing "distressed posts" (DPSU) like Baghdad. I was grateful for the support of retired FMO Morgan Byrnes during his TDY visits in setting up the PSU. Morgan still works at CGFS/PSU/CHS and lives here on Daniel Island.
- March 23rd attended reception honoring Peace Corps Thailand 45th Anniversary celebration. Peace Corps Director Jody Olson attended as well as Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn. I knew Jody when she was PC Director in Togo and I was at the Africa Bureau of PC/Washington. Over 100 PCVs were serving in Thailand at the time.
- April 24-28 hosted a Regionalization workshop at the Plaza Athenee and had a visit by the Comptroller Brad Higgins and Charlie Grover. Charlie retired and now works with the Organization of America States.
- May 14-25 travelled to Beijing with Bill Margenhoff to conduct training in a Basic and an Advanced Voucher Examiner courses. Training was requested by FMO Mazar Hassan and included a dependent spouse Dave Hamel in the class who ended up becoming a FMO and who I coincidentally inspected in 2012 while with the OIG he was assigned to Nassau. Dave is now working with CGFS in Washington D.C.
- Took an R&R and travelled through Paris June 7-11, then on to Washington D.C. to attend the Retirement Seminar and then annual leave and travel to to visit family in Portland, Maine, Boston and then Washington D.C.
- Ambassador Boyce departed Thailand November 29, 2007 and was replaced in the interim by Charge' Jim Entwistle who became Ambassador to Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Jim Millett visited the last week as well and did farewell to Ambassador Boyce.
- Attended the ICASS Conference in Singapore December 4-6 and gave a CGFS presentation in the place of Jim Millette who could not attend.
- Visit to Ankor Wat in Cambodia January 13-15.
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| Fred, Bill and Amika, Doris and other Embassy folks. |
Also see: Doris and Bill Travel Adventures Blog Angkor Wat, Cambodia
- January 20-21 fun Tennis Tournament in Pataya against the local Thai Police
- Wine and Steak night at the Marine House. The Detachment Commander lived in our apartment house and we would get together on occasion to socialize.
- Weekend of March 17-18 with brother Chris visited Kanchanaburi site of the infamous "Death Railway" and Bridge on the River Kwai, Japanese prison camp and WWII cemetery.
- Played softball with the embassy team on the weekends in March and April
- April 6-8 visited Hanoi with son David on a CLO trip including Halong Bay.
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| Kuhn Jeed with Marilyn, Steve and Fran, Bill and Amika and David |
For more photos see Doris and Bill (dorisandbilltraveladventures.blogspot.com)
- April 28 friends from Charleston Bob and Glo Novello visited us overnight from their Crystal cruise ship while docked at the Port of Laem Chabang.
- April 29 had lunch at the Intercontinental with old Peace Corps friend Jim Robertson and his wife Claire. They remained good friends and have visited us and see them when we go to Washington. Jim recently retired for good after working with F (Foreign Assistance) bureau post retirement.
- During our trip to Beijing in May we took advantage of visiting the wall at and Doris did a lot of shopping at various stores including the "dirt" market. In fact, we picked up a few rugs for our new house, yet to be built.
- June 8 - 11 we visited Paris in June on R&R in route back to the States. We stayed in the 6th Arrondissement (St. Germain) in a nice boutique hotel. Remember the first day we arrived we slept until 9:00 p.m. just in time for dinner at a local bistro and caught some live jazz after. Got caught in a victory celebration of the Stade Francais Rugby Team on the Champs Elysees.
- From June12-15 I attended the Retirement Seminar in the Department.
- While in the States on R&R we visited Dick and Raine in York, Maine and took a trip up to Boothbay and visited the White Mountains. While in Boothbay there was a fleet of tall ships as well as a replica of the Bounty pirate ship that was used in the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean". Doris also visited with her friends from school.
- The end of June we also visited Doris' cousin Janet and Frank in Boston and had lunch in the North End.
- Our return to Bangkok was delayed due to my having to undergo prostate surgery in Charleston followed by a period of recovery which included working at the CGFS Finance Center. I was finally able to return to Bangkok September 27.
- On July 16 our grandson Jayden was born.
- Doris had the opportunity to work at the Mai La refugee camp on the Thai border with Burma in Mae Sot during November-December. She worked with a small group of mostly American relief workers screening potential refugees for potential resettlement to the U.S.. The camp was sponsored by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). I had the occasion to visit Doris over the weekend of November 9-11.
- The Senate confirms Mike
McConnell as the director of National Intelligence (Feb. 6).
- President Bush vetoes the $124
billion spending bill passed by Congress for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan. The bill called on the Bush administration to establish
benchmarks for the Iraqi government that, if met, set a timetable for the
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. It was only the second time in Bush's
presidency that he used the veto (May 1).
- President Bush vetoes
legislation, passed by Congress, that eases restrictions on federal
funding of embryonic stem cell research (June 7).
- Karl Rove, highly influential
and controversial advisor to President Bush, announces his resignation.
- The minimum wage increases to
$5.85, up from $5.15. It's the first increase in 10 years. The wage will
increase 70 cents each year through 2009, when it will be $7.25 an hour
(July 24).
- California Democrat Nancy
Pelosi becomes the first woman speaker of the House and will preside over
the 100th Congress. Democrats take control of both houses of Congress for
the first time since 1994).
- Gen. David Petraeus tells
members of the House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees that
the U.S. military needs more time to meet its goals in Iraq. U.S.
Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker also testifies, saying that while Iraqi
leaders and the people are capable of—and desire to—bridge the sectarian
divide, "I frankly do not expect that we will see rapid
progress" (Sep. 10).
- President Bush announces that a
surge of an additional 20,000 troops will be deployed to Baghdad to try to
stem the sectarian fighting (Jan. 10).
- President Bush signs law that legalizes
government eavesdropping of telephone conversations and emails of American
citizens and people overseas without a warrant as long as there is a
"reasonable belief" that one party is not in the United States
(Aug. 5).
- President Bush signs an energy
bill that requires passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. to have fuel
economy standards of 35 mpg by 2020, a 40% increase over the current
standard. Measure also calls for an increase in the production of ethanol
and other biofuels to 36 billion gallons a year by 2022, up from the
current 5 billion (Dec. 19).
- Supreme Court rules, 5-4, that
the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate
automobile emissions of heat-trapping gases and that the agency cannot
shirk its responsibility to do so unless it provides a scientific reason
(April 2).
Top World Stories of the Year:
- Gordon Brown replaces Tony
Blair as the prime minister of Great Britain (June 27).
- A National Intelligence
Estimate says "with high confidence" that Iran froze its nuclear
weapons program in 2003. The report contradicts one written in 2005 that
stated Iran was determined to continue developing such weapons (Dec. 3).
- The African National Congress
chooses Jacob Zuma as its leader, ousting South African president Thabo
Mbeki (Dec. 18).
- Australian prime minister John
Howard loses to the Labor Party's Kevin Rudd (Nov. 24).
- Japanese prime minister Shinzo
Abe abruptly announces his resignation. The move follows a string of
scandals and his party's recent defeat in parliamentary elections, in
which his Liberal Democratic Party lost control of the upper house to the opposition
Democratic Party (Sep. 12). Yasuo Fukuda is elected prime minister of
Japan (Sep. 23).
- Cristina Fernndez de Kirchner
is elected Argentina's first woman president. She succeeds her husband,
Nstor Kirchner (Oct. 28).
- Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf
is easily reelected to a third term by the country's national and
provincial assemblies
- After a month of peaceful
pro-democracy demonstrations that include hundreds of monks, Burmese
government forces shoot at crowds, raid pagodas, and arrest monks. Dozens
of people are killed. The protests are the largest in Myanmar in 20 years
(Sep. 26)
- Abdullah Gul, of the Justice
and Development Party, is elected president of Turkey in the third round
of voting by the country's parliament. He is the first Islamist president
in the country's modern history (Aug. 28).
- President Ramos-Horta names
independence activist Xanana Gusmo as prime minister of East Timor (Aug.
6).
- India and U.S. reach an accord
on civilian nuclear power that allows India, which has not signed.
- Russian president Vladimir Putin
announces that the country will suspend its participation in the
Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, a cold-war era agreement that limits
the deployment of heavy weaponry (July 14).
- Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn
Fein, and Rev. Ian Paisley, the head of the Democratic Unionist Party,
meet face-to-face for the first time and hash out an agreement for a
power-sharing government (March 26).
- David Hicks, an Australian,
pleads guilty to providing material support to al Qaeda. He's the first
Guantnamo Bay detainee to be convicted by a military commission (March
26).
- Ukrainian president Viktor
Yushchenko dissolves Parliament and accuses Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich of attempting to consolidate power (April 2).
- The International Court of
Justice rules that the slaughter of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims by Bosnian
Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995 was genocide (Feb. 26).
- The U.S. begins its
"surge" of some 30,000 troops to Iraq to stem increasingly
deadly attacks by insurgents and militias (Feb. 7).
- President Vladimir Putin
announces Russia will suspend the 1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
Treaty, which limits conventional weapons in Europe (April 26).
- Romania and Bulgaria join the
European Union, bringing the number of member nations to 27 (Jan. 1).
- Leaders of Hamas and Fatah, two
rival Palestinian factions, meet in Mecca and reach a deal to end
hostilities and form a unity government (Feb. 7).
- In the second round of French
presidential elections, Conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy defeats
Socialist candidate Sgol?ne Royal, 53.1% to 46.9% (May 6).
- Two pairs of truck bombs
explode about five miles apart in the remote, northwestern Iraqi towns of
Qahtaniya and Jazeera, killing at least 500 members of the minority Yazidi
community, making it the single deadliest insurgent attack of the war
(Aug. 14).
- Seventeen Iraqi civilians are
killed when employees of private security company Blackwater USA
reportedly fire on a car that failed to stop at the request of a police
officer (Sep. 16).
- In a landmark deal, North Korea
agrees to disclose details about its nuclear facilities, including how
much plutonium it has produced, and dismantle all of its nuclear
facilities by the end of 2007. In exchange, the country will receive some
950,000 metric tons of fuel oil or financial aid. The
- Violence breaks out between
rival tribes after preliminary results in Kenya's presidential elections
show opposition candidate Raila Odinga, of the Orange Democratic Movement,
defeating incumbent Mwai Kibaki, 57% to 39% (Dec. 27).
Movies
Super Bowl
Super Bowl XLI (41) was played
between AFC champion Indianapolis Colts and the NFC champion Chicago Bears to
decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2006 season. The
Colts defeated the Bears by the score of 29–17. The game was played on February
4, 2007 at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. In the first Super Bowl played in rainy
conditions, the Colts overcame a 14–6 first-quarter deficit to outscore the Bears
23–3 in the last three quarters. Chicago posted the then-earliest lead in Super Bowl history when returner Devin Hester ran back the opening kickoff 92 yards
for a touchdown after 14 seconds had elapsed. The Colts forced five turnovers,
including cornerback Kelvin Hayden's 56-yard interception return for a
touchdown. Indianapolis kicker Adam Vinatieri also scored three field goals.
Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was named the game's Most Valuable Player
(MVP), completing 25 of 38 passes for 247 yards and a touchdown, with one
interception.
World Series
The Red Sox won their second World
Series in four seasons, edging the Colorado Rockies, 4-3, in Game 4 at
Coors Field. They are the first team to win multiple championships since 2000. Mike Lowell doubled and homered and was named
most valuable player in the Series for hitting .400 with six runs scored and
four runs batted in. Jon Lester — who,
like Lowell, is a cancer survivor — worked five and two-thirds shutout innings
for the victory. Jonathan Papelbonearned his third save of the series.
Recap of 2007 Grand Slam Tennis Tournament Winners
· Australian
Open Men's Singles. Winner – Roger Federer defeated Fernando
Gonzalez
· French Open Men's Singles. Winner– Rafael Nadal defeated Roger Federer
· Wimbledon
Men's Singles. Winner – Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal
US Open
Men's Singles. Winner – Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic
Australian Open Ladies Singles. Winner – Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova
French Open Ladies Singles. Winner– Justine Henin defeated Ana Ivanovic
Wimbledon Ladies Singles. Winner – Venus Williams defeated Marion Bartoli
US Open Ladies Singles. Winner – Justine Henin defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova
