Sunrise over Namsan Tower
I took this photo a few days ago after waking up for the day. Of course, the shot that I really wanted occured about two minutes before this one. Still, I thin it turned out pretty well. I did some manipulation of the photo in image editing software - adjust the brightness, adjust the color balance, etc. Not too bad of a job considering that the base photo was JPG and not RAW which would allow for more manipulation/correction.
World Cup Fever
As my time in Korea is dwindling down, I find myself scrambling to get ready to leave this wonderful country.
Of course, the 2006 World Cup kicked off a few days ago and is being playing in Germany - 8 hours behind us here in Korea. First problem is that the games end up being in the afternoon in Germany, which leads to them starting around 10-11pm in Korea. That is all well and good...
The second problem is that June is a transition month for the weather here in Korea. So for the next couple of weeks it is warm during the day, but usually cools off fairly nicely during the evening - so I leave the windows open at night. Okay, the temperature changes are NOT the problem.
Okay, the second problem stems from the windows being open. So the match starts at say 10pm and I attempt to go to sleep at 11pm. Well, I cannot do much of anything except lay there until the match ends (say around 11:30pm) due to the cheering from all my neighbors in the greater area (I live on the side of a hill so I also get to hear the neighbors from down in the valley).
I started to figure out when there were shots on goal and of course the scores. But, it is kind of frustrating.
Oh yeah, Korea is now 1-0-0, as they beat Togo in their opening Group G match.
DC Musings
Wow! What a trip (and its not yet over as I'm on a layover on the City By the Bay; San Franciscio for those of you not in the know)!
I could have another post on San Francisco, but that is another time as it has been a looooong time since I've live here and many things have changed. Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
So, for roughly the last week, I've been living and working the in greater Washington, DC area (actually, I guess I never left Virginia!).
The first couple of days that I was there, my mission was to look for and find suitable housing for the family to move into when we get to DC for my next job posting. While living in Korea has been
interesting to say the least. It is getting on time to go and get back with the family. As you've notice from DVN2RCKR's posts, they are currently over in Korea visiting me right now. Yes, it is odd, but my business trip back to DC was rather late notice and unexpected, but it meet our needs and they weren't entirely strangers to Korea.
Back to housing in the DC metroplex. The prices are downright crazy and overpriced. A small/simple townhome (on postage stamp property) located in Alexandria, VA was priced at about $499,000. Looking and housing quickly became non-event as: 1) the market is changing to rapidly for something available now to be available later this summer, and 2) in order to be within our price range, we'd have to move to West Virginia and take a 2 hour commute one way. So... I turned to look for apartment complexes that are located within walking distance or have shuttles to metro stops. I found a couple, but again, I was too soon to be guarenteed that something would be available later this year. Based on where I will be working and some of the places that I looked at, I could concivibly be home in 30-45 minutes after leaving my office (includes going down the elevator and walking out of the building).
DC beltway traffic is just weird and I'm not sure if it is a result of the Springfield interchange (where I-95 goes south to Richmond), which is under construction/improvement or something else, like work. But during the morning rush (5a-10a) it is a parking lot and then during the evening rush (3p-6p) it is a parking lot, but any other time you can drive the limit.
Not sure I'm going to like living in the DC area due to the traffic, but the closeness to all that culture and history is going to be a bonus.
Trans-Pacific Flight
Long time, no post...
Just one quick little update - no pictures...yet.
Completed 9/10th of a Trans-Pacific flight. I say 9/10th since I'm stuck 600 miles from my final destination today. Due to problems in the "Windy City", I'm sitting on a 5 hour delay.
I did have some interesting experiences during the first 9/10th of the trip. Flew in a Japanense communter plane - configured only for economy. Seats were tight and I had no leg room. Fortuneately, it was a relatively short flight (1:45) to Osaka. Never been to Osaka before, so that was a new experience.
Osaka is a fairly new and well configured airport. I think I like Narita better though for services. Osaka was good for the ability to upgrade to Business. I must say, if you ever get the chance to upgrade to business class, by all means do it. This flight was probably the first in a good while that I was able to get some sleep.
Anyway, back to Osaka. I saw what I will call the quintesential "Japanese Tourist". He had only two cameras (Digital). They were in a rig that allowed both of the cameras to take the same picture, but at slightly different perspectivies - basically, he was taking stereoscopic photos. Interesting, but he took a picture of the Duty Free shop...
The terminal at Chicago O'Hare is nice - spent a lot of time walking around it tonight. They've got a lot of nice resturants inside the terminal. I ate my late dinner at Wolfgang Puck's. Okay, it is an express, but it was a really good firebaked Spicy Chicken pizza.
Spent some time coordinating my rental car - change the time, then eventually change the reservation.
Spent some time on the Internet. The USO has free internet available; of course you must be able to access the services of the USO to use it. For those of you that do not know what the USO is or what it does, please go to
www.uso.org. Please donate to support the USO as they provide services to transiting US Servicemembers at airports around the world.
January 2006 Upate
Howdy folks. Yes, it has been a while since I've posted. Not much is going on. Looks like I'll be in Korea just a little while longer. Not a problem, just more time away from the family.
Workout update - Still going strong after one month. To date, I've lost 16 lbs and am currently weighing in at 192 lbs. Not too bad for a months work of workouts. Of course I am pretty close to the "recommended" 2-3 lbs weight loss per week. A couple more weeks and I may taper off to 4-5 sessions per week.
Well, like most people, work has been keeping me busy. Otherwise not much to report. After the cold weather of December it has definitely warmed up here in Korea. Warm being relative to really cold. It is still in the high 30s, low 40s most of the time, but that is warmer than the teens.
We (dvn2rckr, rnrB, trkr and myself) hit the thrift shops looking for that perfect deal. We all have our reasons for looking. But, ocassionally you find the best deal. On the 28th, I was browsing through a local thrift shop here in Korea and found this...
A brand new, sealed in the box Harry Potter "Knights Bus" lego set. This set is from the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Anyway, it retailed for $30.00, but I manged to buy it for $3.00. Not a bad deal at all, if I do say so myself. Not sure if I'll open it and build it myself or wait and let rnrB and trkr have a go at building it.
My bowling is having its ups and downs. A few days ago, I bowled seven games and on my last three I had a 204, 206 and a 206. I figured I had it my mark and my performance would be better. Well, it was apparently all a myth as I tried again a few days later and was in the 130s. Friday was worse, as I ended my last game with 7 splits (in 10 frames) and a pathetic 98! I bounced back on Saturday to my normal average of 155. The only thing different between Monday, Friday and Saturday was that I didn't workout on Friday. (Wednesday was just weird since I wasn't able to get two lanes and was on lane 2, which is not exactly on of the better lanes.
It is tax time again, so lot of work going into determining of much of our money is going to Uncle Sam.
Happy New Year!
Well, 2005 is over. Here comes 2006 and it is a
MOVING year. What does that mean, you ask? Well, a
MOVING year is just what it sounds like and it involves moving. In this case from Korea to the Washington, DC area.
Anyway, a little update from the previous posts:
* I've rearranged my living room, yet again. So the Christmas tree and Monorail have been put away and relocated.
* Moped is working fine - still a little cold to be riding it unless I'm completely bundled up. Cold is okay, but add a windy day and it is really cold.
* Washer Machine was fine. Apparantly water freezes when it gets below 32F. Good thing to know. My washer is located on an enclosed balcony and that is it, no heating, just basic protection from the elements. Some water remains in the base on the drum, which will freeze if the temp drops below, well, freezing until it is thawed. Have to do laundry on warm days or start with
hot water in the machine to melt the other ice.
Mostly spend New Years Eve in a quiet evening with friends. Of course, I didn't even make it to New Years there and left around 1115 so I could take a subway back to my place. I walked in the door at 1155 (most of my clocks already said 1201). Seoul Tower was completely dark, but right at midnight, it lit back up. There were a number of firework displays around the city. So, I guess I spent a quiet night at home for New Years, or did I?
I started my New Years resolution early this year. Typically, I don't make any resolutions, so starting early is no big deal. I woke up on the 26th of December and realized that I was starting to get pretty hefty. Okay, I had been tossing in my head for awhile to get back down to about 175-185 range, instead of the 205 range, I had been at. Today marks the second complete week on "new" program and I have lost 10 lbs (started at 208). I definitely feel better and I've started to get some muscle tone back. I haven't gone crazy and starved myself - I'm still eating "normal" foods - eggs, bagels, waffles, tacos, rice, chicken, etc. Of course, I am trying to eat smaller portions.
I might have made the biggest Korean/Asia faux paux there is - I am out of rice! Shorting after moving in almost 21 months ago, I bought a 25lb bag of rice. I finally finished it about a week ago. I haven't had time (or really a need) to go and buy more. So, no visitors until I get more rice...
I bottled my latest batch of beer on the 22nd of December. It is called Positive Perspective Porter. I'll test a bottle for carbonation in two weeks. A
porter is a strong and dark beer, but not nearly as strong as a
stout beer. I still have a couple of bottles of my IPA that I am slowing working through. I may be able to brew another batch before I leave Korea.
Christmas 2005 in Korea! The lights are on the tree. That is a Lego Monorail running around the tree and a Lego Semi truck with helicopter in front of the tree.
Funny thing happened on the way to the forum...
Wow! Lots of stuff going on this week and it is only Wednesday!!!
I've been back from my vacation in the US for a little over a week now, and it is still frigid cold here in Korea. The snow/ice had melted enough to allow safe operation of two wheeled vehicles (aka, the moped). Saturday afternoon, I get all bundled up and hop on the moped to go someplace (doesn't really matter). I don't get a block before the rear tire goes flat. Bummer. About two months ago, the the same tire went flat, but was easily fixed by adding more air. Not so this time. But, alas it was too late on Sat night to go find the moped repair guy to fix it.
Fast forward to Monday evening, and I take the moped in for "repair". Needed to replace the tire anyway, it was starting to get a little bald and I can probably use all the traction I can get this winter. Anyway, the guy starts working on the moped; lots of stuff to take off before he can remove the tire/wheel assembly. Oops, rear tire is essentially FROZEN onto its mount. The power wrench doesn't work, even with WD-40. So, he pulls out the portable butane torch to heat up the bolt. Yep, it was a little disconcerting having such an open flame near the gas tank. He got the bolt warmed up enough for it to come off. Tire was replaced and I was on my way after about 30-45 minutes. All that work for $45 (including parts); not too bad.
The funny part about the whole thing was what was on the TV in the shop. It looked like a Korean special interest news piece. The gist of it was how much knitting that certain people did in Korea. There were security guards, cooks and others that either knit while they were working or in their off time. The truely astonishing parts were the individuals that knit a scarf using only her fingers or another that knit a small purse/bag using one kneedle and her hands in about 8 minutes.
Tuesday rolls around, and I realize that I need to run the third load of laundry that I had from the previous weekend. Yes, I usually only do my laundry on the weekends for two main reasons - it is when I have time, and if I don't, I run out of items at the wrong time. So about 8pm on Tuesday, I start the water, throw the clothes in the machine, and settle in to make dinner. I finish cooking dinner, but smell as if something was burning or burnt. I thought maybe it was dinner or the 220V transformer (blew one of those up last year :). Nope none of those things, but then I think that I don't hear the washer machine running. I look out and low and behold - its not working. Its also smokey out there and I really didn't have time or energy to deal with it, so I went to bed.
This morning (Wednesday), I decide that I need to fish the wet clothes out of the washer machine. Let me say that water gets very cold overnight in the winter. Between thawing breaks, I was able to get all the clothes out. During lunch I used a syphon to drain most of the water from the machine. Of course, when I called to have the machine repaired, I was told that I have to warm it up first before I can use it. Okay, there is a difference between cold, frozen and just plan broke.
It gets looked at on Thursday. I'm not expecting much, but if it is replaced, it probably won't be until Monday. So for the time being, I'm saving all my change to feed the machines at the laundrymat.
