Paul Petrea

Dale Hodgins wrote:I think I'm all argued out on this thread...

Promise?

Honestly, I think you have posted some sage advice here.

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Dale Hodgins wrote:My most recent example of a well-timed flirtation, happened at a restaurant. A lady quickly removed her jacket, while remarking to her friend, that she was too hot. I was seated at the next table. She took it off and sat down 2 feet from me. A crowded place. I said, removing that jacket hasn't helped, I think it's your eyes that are making you so hot. Then I turned to her friend, and said, what do you think? I think it's the eyes. In your case, it's definitely the sweater. It All Happened very quickly and then that was it. An opportunity to engage with two pretty women, presented itself and in less than 5 seconds, I had both of them smiling. This didn't turn into a steamy threesome, and I wasn't expecting it to. In fact I wasn't expecting anything. This minor opportunity presented itself and I automatically responded. I went about my business on the phone, while they chatted. When they got up to leave, both said nice meeting you. The jacket went back on, so I said, now you're even hotter! And both ladies departed with a smile.

Hitting on women who were too polite to tell you how they really thought. And here we are, with you telling us all about your happy, devoted relationship with your Filipino girlfriend. I cannot help but wonder how she would feel about such an interaction.

Dale Hodgins wrote:I won't be taking any of that advice.

Like I said, it was unsolicited. And, it seems you know everything already.

How many times have you visited the Philippines? (That was a rhetorical question. I already have an idea.)

Good luck.

Dale Hodgins wrote:Fingers crossed.

You sir, may have found one of the best women on the face of this planet. They are often liken to American women of the 50's and 60's.

Unsolicited advice from someone who lived in the Philippines for more than 11 years:

Never send money prior to meeting and "reading" the woman face to face. A good Filipina would never ask for money.

Never loan money to the family. If the family is no good, the requests will never end.

See if she can tell her family, "No." If she cannot, you are in for a not-so-comfortable ride. If she can, kudos to her.

When you are with her, give her a 1,000 piso note and ask her to go buy something of small value. If she brings back your change, continue the relationship. If she pockets the money without offering it back to you, kick her to the curb.

If she can do all of the above, most likely, she will end up being the best wife you could ever hope to have. Upon returning home and starting the visa process, you can send her enough to live on until you are together again. This would be equivalent to $150 USD / month, if she is living at home.

People, all too often, tend to set up a solar system - then try to sort out what they can run off it. Rather than doing that, it is best to determine what sort of loads you wish to power from the system, and make your calculations for batteries, controller, and panels, accordingly.

Calculate how large of a battery bank you need to run a given load (watts) for a given length of time (hours) and total your watthours. If using FLA (Flooded Lead Acid), AGM (Advanced Glass Mat) or other sealed batteries, make sure they will not be depleted more than 50%.

From there, you can calculate the the appropriately sized solar panel array to keep the batteries charged. After that, you can determine what size controller you need. MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) controllers are more efficient than the old technology PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) controllers. But, they are also considerably more expensive. Personally, I would NEVER buy Chinese made garbage controllers. I have personally tested a number of them. I would never let them determine the charge going into my very costly set of deep cycle batteries. But, that is an individual choice to make.

Do not do it the other way around, or you will end up costing yourself unnecessary expense.

It is so much easier to date in Southeast Asia, than it is in the US (the west). Take the Philippines, for example.

Filipinas will happily communicate with you, with little initiation on your part. And, you can meet them everywhere, malls, shops, walking down the sidewalk. So, basically, no "pick up lines" are necessary. You just need to be there - you just need to show up, as it were.

Filipinas can be very devoted, loyal, and loving women.

Filipinas are brought up in a completely different culture from our own. (I am from the US; born and grew up in the South.) They are taught, more than we are it seems, about devotion to family. The traditional ones work very hard to maintain their relationships with their parents, husbands, children, siblings, etc.

Filipinos, as most Southeast Asians are, they do not throw their elderly into homes for the aged, either. Their parents stay with them until death.

Now, I reside in Cambodia, and have for going on 7 years. The previously listed reason is one of several, as to why I have lived in SEA, full time, for the past two decades. I have no intentions of living anywhere else, ever.

Here in Cambodia, we are going to build a home on an area we filled in with 120 truck loads of dirt. We want to give the land ample time to settle, prior to starting a foundation, though.

In the mean time, we had a 20' container insulated and finished inside, to stay in until the home is completed. We also added a metal roof / rainwater collection surface to the container. Total cost was roughly $3,600 USD, all in.

I realize costs will be much different stateside. But, it still may be something to consider.