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Just when I thought I was out.....
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Activity Summary
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Reviews Written: 357
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Member Visits: 12,824
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Total Visits: 195,494
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About mongkut
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Mongkut’s Asian Restaurant Reviews
Mongkut’s Cigar Reviews - By Wrapper
I was born in a log cabin in the wilderness and had to walk ten miles to and from school.........
.....no wait, that's not me......Oh yeah, I grew up in the Western suburbs of the Boston area, two towns over from Foxboro, the home of the New England Patriots. As a kid during the the 70's and early 80's I rooted for my beloved Pats and Red Sox through many a losing season. Of course six years after moving out of the Bay State the Pat's finally win their first of three Super Bowls and then the Red Sox win the World Series. Coincidence? I think not.
For ten years of my life I taught scuba diving and managed dive shops. I started this career while still in the Boston area and enjoyed several years of near freezing, low visibility water before leaving for the exotic lands of Asia.
The first thing I noticed teaching in Asia was that the water was as warm as bath water and as clear as gin, errr bath tub gin as it were. Thus began my several year love affair with Southeast Asia and my pledge to never again willingly don a 1/4 inch wetsuit to take students on a dive tour in 2 foot visibility water.
By the way my background picture is of the Koh Phi Phi (Pronounced like a kid needing to go potty) Islands in Thailand's Andaman Sea. I spent seven months teaching there and this is also the site where the movie 'The Beach' was filmed. It got leveled in the 2005 tsunami exactly ten years after I left. Kind of gives one pause to think.
The image below is of a whale shark, the largest fish in the world and can easily reach sizes in excess of thirty feet. They are a fairly common site around the Islands of the Andaman Sea and I had the opportunity to interact with them several times.
Upon returning to the US I eventually settled in the Tampa Bay area of Florida and continued managing dive shops and teaching scuba. This was until I realized that scuba instruction in Florida is a career actually listed by the state as qualifying for welfare benefits.
So now I set up small business computer networks and troubleshoot systems issues. Typically this involves explaining to my clients that their PC was working fine when I left their office and that it is never a good idea to click 'yes' when surfing the internet and a dialog box pops up asking if you want to install some wonderful program that you weren't expecting. Not quite as much fun as introducing people to the joys of the undersea world but certainly more fulfilling financially.
My free time is occupied by entertaining my five year old, searching for new restaurants to try, and enjoying a few cigars with friends while watching the latest Buccaneers debacle.
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How do I rate?
When I rate a restaurant review I have a check list of things I’m looking for in order to rate your review. The number of those topics you cover in your review combined with the quality of your writing will determine the rating I give out. Here are the things I feel are important in writing restaurant reviews:
Core Items - All need to be touched on to received a ‘VH’ rating.
-The Food - This is by far the most important and the better you are able to describe what you ate the higher I’ll rate. I don’t want to read a cut and paste of the menu, but a good description of the food you had.
- The Prices - It is important to me to know what kind of value this restaurant represents. You don’t have to list all the prices but give me an idea of what a meal for two would cost or the prices of the items you ordered.
- The Atmosphere - What was the place like? You don’t have to describe the exterior, although that is nice too, but definitely let me know what the inside is like.
- Service - Was it friendly, prompt, courteous, or bad?
- Hours - When is it open?
- Location - Chain Restaurants - If you are reviewing a chain restaurant and you do not include the specific location you visited I will likely not rate your review 'VH.' Not all chain locations are the same.
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Bonus items - Including these will possibly make me overlook the omission of one of the above and still rate your review a ‘VH’.
- Parking - What is the parking like? Is there valet parking or alternate parking nearby?
- Cleanliness of the restaurant and/or bathrooms
- Reservations - Do they take them? Are they necessary?
- Interesting facts about the restaurant - Such as the chef’s pedigree, the ownership, special promotions they do, etc.
- Location - Non-Chain Restaurant - If the restaurant you are reviewing isn't a chain, the location information is likely to be included in the product details. Having said that I do like to see specific information such as the nearest cross street or the plaza whare a restaurant is located.
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If your review doesn’t touch on any of the core items in any depth, such as in the typical one review anger rant, I will rate it as ‘Not Helpful.’ If your review only covers one core item I will rate it as ‘Somewhat Helpful.’ If your review covers at least two of the core items I will rate it as ‘Helpful’, which is considered a good rating and indicates I believe your review can help a consumer make a decision to dine or not to dine at the restaurant you reviewed. If your review includes all the core items or most plus some bonus items and is well written I will rate it as ‘Very Helpful’, meaning I believe a consumer can read your review and on that information alone make a decision about going to the restaurant you review. If you have any specific questions please feel free to email me.
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My WOT
The people on my WOT are reviewers whose work has impressed me and who I believe add something positive to the Epinions community. I do not add people to my WOT with any expectation that they add me to theirs, and likewise you should not have that expectation of me. If you add me to your WOT I will add you to my review alerts and take a look at your reviews and once I can see that you make a positive impact on the site I will add you to my WOT. This my happen in a few days if you already have a body of work on the site or it may take a month or more. I do try to update my alerts list frequently to add new people I think are worth watching or whose writing I enjoy.
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You Are 80% Gentleman
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You are definitely a gentleman. You're very considerate and you have excellent manners.
Occasionally, you slip and do something foolish... but usually no one notices!
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Real men have manners.
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You Probably Couldn't Be a Vegetarian
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The truth is, you really like your meat - a lot more than you like animals.
For you, being vegetarian is hardly even a choice. You'll take steak over tofu any day.
A vegetarian lifestyle is not in the cards for you. You're just not going to go there!
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To paraphrase one of my favorite comedians, Dennis Leary: "How do I like my steak? Just bring the cow by the table, I'll cut off a hunk and ride the rest home."
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You Are 76% Massachusetts
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You're pretty Massachusetts, but you're starting to slip. Go eat a bulky roll and flip off a New Yorker.
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76%? I must have spent way too much time in Thailand and Florida, but I was born in Boston's Lying-In Hospital, the predecessor to Brigham & Women's Hospital, that plus 26 years makes me Bay State through and through.
Rob's Epi-dictionary:
(In no specific order)
Epinnnacle – Top reviewers like Jo, et al.
Epinch – To borrow style tricks from other Epinion members.
Epinhead – People who register just so they can post one scathing four or five sentence review out of vengeance at a company they feel has slighted them. These reviews typically contain no useful information.
Epinstigator – A person who writes comments to other members reviews simply to get a reaction.
Epinionated – Any one of us who post our opinions on Epinions.
Epointless – The one time review written by an Epinhead.
Epinionator – The true warriors of Epinions who write thousands of reviews and for whom no product is too insignificant to write about.
Epinsulation – Our Epinion member names that help shield us from crazed restaurant owners who want to hunt us down after we give their sushi bar a 3 out of 5.
Epennies – What I can expect my review of some obscure Tampa Bay area mom & pop restaurant to earn me in my lifetime.
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: Boston You definitely have a Boston accent, even if you think you don't. Of course, that doesn't mean you are from the Boston area, you may also be from New Hampshire or Maine. | | The West | | | The Midland | | | North Central | | | The Northeast | | | Philadelphia | | | The Inland North | | | The South | | What American accent do you have?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz |
The above quiz I found on Bryan Carey's page, thanks Bryan. It freaked me out because everyone says I don't have a Boston accent because I don't say "pahk the cah in Hahvahd Yahd." Yet this weird quiz still had me pegged. Freaky.
It seems like everyone has these on their profile page.
My Dad's family is from Canada
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