20 years grafting over a hot keyboard in Silicon Valley, 2 years in Ko Phangan and loving it. keeping busy, built a house, wrote a book, "Building Thai Land" and teaching computer programming and internet business,
http://www.programminginparadise.com.
my tips for success as an expat: keep busy and make enough money to cover your cost of living, don't hang out in bars every day (unless you own one), find a good woman (or man if your into that kind of thing) and keep her, enjoy thailand and avoid ex-pat forums (just joking about the last one!)