Seoul Tower Lit
Okay on any given night this would not have been that exciting. However the lights for Seoul Tower have been off since mid-March and were expected to be off until around October as it was being remodeled. It may have been lit a few days prior, but I didn't notice until I was sitting outside reading and looked up.
Well, the lights are back on - temporarily, as they turn off the tower around 10pm now. You may also notice that the middle section is completely black. This is where the resturant is located and is probably deep in the midst of renovation.
Paper Done
Okay!!! Paper number two is done. First draft anyway. I'm taking a little break between edits, which I plan to finish tonight and sent it out first thing in the morning.
7:46pm 6/26/05:
Note to Self - Library closes at 7pm on Sundays. Good thing I got there early. Needed a book on Clausewitz, and was going to do the first editing there. Nope not going to happen. Came back home, so edit nummero uno is done.
The rains have returned and dropped the temp a few degrees. We see if it keeps up.
8:20pm 6/26/05:
Oops. I guess if you want watch a new release movie when it is raining you need to go early. Strike one for me. Oh well, I needed to get out and buy a book of stamps so I can send off the paper in the morning.
The rain rather then let up, has actually gotten heavier. Temp has definitely cooled, but can't keep the windows open unless I want to get flooded.
10:26pm 6/26/05:
Final edits are complete and the paper is all signed and sealed. It will go out in the mail on Monday.
Next stop - Leadership...
Reading...
Yep, been busy since last week. Finished the first paper as noted in the last post (to include final editing and sending it off). Spent the rest of the remaining time this week finishing up the reading for the remainder of the section of material for this portion of the course.
I plan to knock out the second paper on Sunday, to include all the editing. That is the plan as it stands right now. Of course, I don't have a complete topic yet, or a bunch of other things that normally go into a paper at this point. I'll do research in my sleep....
One down...
Okay, so I haven't do so much history writing since, hmm... 1990! The last time I was in any serious academic enviroment was 1996, but that was for a Master of Science in Information Systems Management. Yes, there was some writing envolved, but usually was not a history paper.
I don't mind history, in fact I enjoy it. My problem was putting all the thoughts running around in my head down on "paper".
First draft is done. I'll head to bed, sleep on it, make changes tomorrow, mail it off on Monday and start work on number two.
One down....One to go.
Slow Week...
Well, so far it has been a very slow week, which seems strange since it has been busy leading up to this week.
I did get a bonus today - other than the phone ringing at 4:30am. What was my bonus you ask? Well, back in December, I had taken a few bottles of beer over to a friends house for their Christmas party. Some of those bottles were not drunk that night or over the last six months. They were getting ready to leave Korea enroute back to Washington, DC and found my empty bottles, plus two full bottles. Tonight I popped the top on one of the two bottles. Not sure which one it was, probably the Bitter. I must say that for being nine month old beer, it was very very tasty. I can't wait for the others to be ready for drinking...
Not much else planned for the rest of the week. I have a quick trip down to Taegu later in the week and the last of my formal events for a long time on Friday.
Weekend
Well, this Saturday was probably the first that I had to myself in a very long time. Between events and teaching English on Saturdays, the've been extremely busy most days.
So what did I do - absolutely nothing. I did a little work and homework, took a long nap in the afternoon, but otherwise did nothing all Saturday, which was a refreshing experience.
Did mention that it is extremely HOT! Okay, its not so hot, but the humiding is starting to rise - it is going to be a long summer.
Sunday, I did a little bit of house cleaning, made some fried rice for lunches next week. The big event was racking the Oktoberfest from the primary to the secondary frementer. So far, it is looking pretty good, a couple of more weeks, it will be bottled and ready to drink in August/September time frame.
Bubbling Away
Well, my fears of dead yeast were abated when I check on the wort this morning. It was happily bubbling away. I suppose that if I had used a yeast starter and started a couple of days ago, I could have had a quicker fermentation.
Its been awhile since I used the liquid yeast packs and had started to get used to the dry yeast and it producing results within about 12 hours.
NOTE TO SELF: Don't ship liquid yeast (or other items that require refrigeration) in the Summer months. It will probably be okay, but the cold pack won't survive very long on a hot summer day.
Bottled!!!
So, I delayed a couple of days for bottling the Pale Ale. But, now its in bottles.
That took about the first couple of hours this evening. Just in case you are wondering, it is bottled in standard 12oz bottles, 16oz bottles and 1.5 liter big bottles. It is now safely in the closet carbonating. Yes, these are naturally carbonated beer. I add a cup of Dry Malt Extract to 1 liter of water and boil for about 15 minutes. That mixture is placed at the bottom of the bottling container and the wort from the secondary fermentator is racked on to the priming sugar. From there into the bottles.
I'll have to wait a couple of weeks before it is ready to drink and is fully carbonated, but with any luck it should be ready by 4th of July weekend (weekday?). I must say that the test that I tasted of the Pale Ale was great; if I do say so myself. :)
I have also completed, as part of the remainder of the evening, the initial brewing of the Oktoberfest beer. It was an easier brew than then Pale Ale due to only one time for hop boiling (60 minutes) vice the Pale Ale which had three. The big test will to see if the liquid yeast pack survived the trip from Washington. It was shipped with an ice pack, but by the time I received the package the ice pack was completely melted. I'm not too concerned due to there being no yeast nutrition in the liquid pack so there wouldn't be any extra growth. The only issues may be a slow fermentation start due to fewer live yeast cells.
I'm now off to bed to sleep. I'll have to do the dishes tomorrow (some time)
Moving Week
Oh, sorry for the delay in posting, have been rather busy since last week.
1) Moved Buildings.
2) Spent "Considerable Time" in the library.
3) Recovered from moving buildings
4) Ordered gifts. Received gifts.
Moved Buildings:I used to work in a "temporary" building that was built in the 1960s (earliest information we could find). The building itself was designed to be used for a couple of years until permanent structures could be built. Well, it turned out that it was easier to maintain the "temporary" building than design and built a new structure. At the begining of the month we were able to move to the permanent building due to organization structure changes.
Of course moving a shop that had been in existance for several years is hard enough. We also had had to move three server racks and 12 servers from one building to their new home (on the second floor - no elevators). It took four of us until midnight to get half of the servers up and running. {Those were the mission critical servers.} We spent the better part of the next day doing proper cable management and getting the rest of the servers up and running.
Today (Monday) the guys were finally able to start getting their individual work spaces setup. Hey, what can I say, servers come first.
"Considerable Time" in the Library:Okay, not quite like Patton, I have spent time in libraries before. Of course it has been several years since I've done any "serious" research. Due to other requirements, I've doing research for several papers that I have to write. I finally stopped procrastinating this weekend and went to find my sources.
Recovered from Moving Buildings:Okay, so the building move is "officially" done; as in the stuff is moved from one to the other, but we're not totally unpacked yet. I cleaned out the last of my boxes this morning. The rest of my time is slowly getting to their stuff as well. I managed to hit the bowling lanes tonight ($1 a game) and bowled three quick games. Had a average of 155 (which is good for me), but had a low game of 114. That was a strange game, I couldn't pick up a spare.
Anyway, we'll probably be fully settled into the new building about this time next week. Everybody likes it (so far), and hey, I've got WALLS. {Old building was a quanset hut. A quanset hut is a semi-circular building - think Gomer Pyle.) The other nice thing is that on the second floor, I generally don't have to worry about water problems.
Ordered gifts. Received gifts:During the last time period, dvn2rckr and I had our wedding aniversary. Not sure what to get (or really how to do it), I ordered a set a Titanium wedding bands. We had been talking about getting Titanium wedding bands for probably two years now, but never really got much beyond talking about it. I remembered from when I got the engagement ring, her ring size is the same as my pinky finger (good information to know). I downloaded a couple of "ring sizers" off the internet. One from no idea where and the other from Walmart. Well, the sizes were off by half a size (which would not do). I went to a jewlry shop and asked to use their ring sizer, and found my size and dvn2rckr's size. {Note, it is recommended to take the size of different days and at different times to ensure that it is accurate}
With ring sizes in hand, I went searching the Internet for prices and rings. I wanted to find someone that would send overseas as well. For whatever reason, and I have no idea how I stumbled upon this website, but I found
Boone Rings. It seemed to be a Mom and Pop shop, and the prices were reasonable. The owner started out by making Titanium chain cogs for bikes. He eventually had to quit is "real job" and hire additional personnel to keep up with the demand for titantium bike parts. Eventually, he expanded out into rings, just before the bike manufacturers started including titanium parts in the bikes.
Anyway, I place the order at around 9pm Tuesday night (Korea Standard Time or 8 am EST). Of course, I leave the speakers turned on the computer and head off to bed. Next thing I know, I hear a new mail sound. That just won't work, so I head into the "office" to turn off the speakers. I check the mail and I have two notes from Bruce Boone (the owner) that he's got both of my orders and will start work on them today! Cool, I think and head off to bed. I check my mail in the morning and just about freak out - both rings are done (its only been 6 hours since I placed the order) and are in the mail that day!!!! Based on his timeline and USPS Priority Mail, dvn2rckr should receive hers by Friday and mine would arrive either on Saturday or Monday.
Making a long story longer... I talked to dvn2rckr on Wednesday (PST) to let her know that her anniversary gift was in the mail. She recived her ring on Friday and of course called me first thing Saturday morning to let me know that it had arrived. She asked if she could wear it now since it was an anniversary gift, I said yes (of course!). Mine of course had not arrived as it has to get transloaded in San Francisco before coming to me. Based on when dvn2rckr got hers, Monday was a good bet for me. It is here and is simply amazing.
It took SIX days from order to delivery for CUSTOM made Titanium rings. That completely astounds me. That was faster than shipping that I've had to winnings on eBay?!?! If your in the market for a Titanium ring (or pen) go to Boone's Rings at
http://www.boonerings.com you will not be disapointed and turn around is extremely FAST!
