iWeb is Back

The caretaker blog is over, well, for the most part.  I finally have iWeb up and running again, and I know how it works so I won't permanently lose anything anymore.  So please check out my Mac Blog Site .  Thanks.

Switcheroo?

Can you see that?  This is Facebook's "L'il Green Patch" application.  The "Accept" and the "Ignore" are plain as day, but I've learned (the hard way) that if the 'Ignore' is first, it really is the 'Accept'.  So I've clicked 'Accept' a few times and got the message that I ignored somebody!  No!  That makes me seem like a jerk... or a bigger jerk.. whatever.


Oh, this Blogger post is basically to tell you all, the two or three who read this blog, that I am back on iWeb with a Mac blog, what they call "MobileMe."  As you might recall, I've had my run-ins with iWeb, but I pay $99 a year to be a member of Apple Mac, and I just paid W88,000 for the iLife08 suite, and by the gods of Imagination Land, I'm going to get my money's worth!


My iWeb site is here .  Click here to go there .  There isn't much there yet, but as the days go by it will fill up.  I've figured out how to save my blogs on my computer, or better, I've learned that I have to save my blogs on the computer, because Apple's MobileMe won't save them if I don't.  Another lesson learned the hard way.  I'm going to have my calendar on my MobileMe site, too, just like Dr. Myers in Minnesota.  He's a grand inspiration all around.


I don't know what will become of this site, really.  It's my back-up, so if the other site fails for some reason, this one will probably get written in again.      

Weekend of Wonder

This is me and the other "Ambassadors" at the KOTESOL conference on Saturday.  We were volunteers to help conference-goers and presenters get around, find things, and so forth.  It was fun.

The KOTESOL weekend was exhausting, though.  Since I needed to have a coat and tie outfit, I had this bag I needed to carry around with a change of clothes and some stuff I wanted to work on from the university plus some things I bought at the mall. It became a burden after a while. The hotel couldn't give me a room for two nights, so the next day I lugged this heavy bag around all over Seoul trying to find a place to stay the second night.  Ended up at a crappy motel near Seoul Station.  Saturday night I went to Gavin Farrell's place for a soiree.  We hadn't seen each other in probably ten years.  He was teaching in a high school in Ansan when I lived there "back in the day."  His mum and stepdad were over visiting, and they're from Windsor, so they're practically Michiganians! (But I didn't hold that against them)

Sunday morning I was sick (with green puke! yuck!) and just wanted to go home... so I did.  Simon is probably a little miffed that I took off without telling him, but my phone was dead, and I have no idea what his phone number is without the phone working.  I haven't heard from Joel for a long time now.  He updates his blog, so at least he's still among the living! heh heh  I'll try to make a trip just to Ansan sometime.  I can't really handle doing several things all in one weekend.  I don't care for running around and going out a lot.

Tidy is as tidy does

 

This is a poster I found outside our office advertising positions as au pair in the United States. It says "Enjoy a year in the USA."  Sounds fun.

I made the mistake of going out to HomePlus without having anything to eat since breakfast, so I gave in to temptation and went into McDonald's and got a Big Mac.  Now, before you chastise me, the Big Macs in Korea are smaller than the ones in America.  I don't feel too bad about eating one then, though the salt content is no different than back home.

Did some laundry and cleaned a little bit more in the house.  I'm thinking that if I need/want somebody to come check on the cats over the weekend, the place should at least be tidy (or what passes for tidy with me).

Tomorrow I take off after classes for Seoul so I can be on hand for the KOTESOL conference.  The guy who's handling volunteers said I'm to work Saturday morning, and I'm an "Ambassador" whatever that might be.  Hope I get a diplomatic limo! heh heh  Sunday I hope to spend in Ansan.

I think Sugar senses my impending trip and stay over in Gyeongi province.  She's been more clingy than usual and actually tries to talk to me while she clings.  She's such a senstive little thing.  It breaks my heart when she sits at the glass door and watches me go someplace and she can't go, too.  They both have cabin fever, and it's my fault.  Tomorrow morning before work, we'll go on the roof and play for a while.   

 

Ticket to Ride

These are my train tickets for Seoul this weekend, there and back.  Sherry got me a Dongguk University discount sheet for the KTX, and it did save me a lot of money.  The KOTESOL Conference is this weekend in Seoul, so I'm going up Friday night and coming back Monday morning.  The cats will be more than pissed at me, but I'm the boss, and that's just the way it is.  Hope to spend Sunday in Ansan, my 'hometown'.  
I listened to Sarah Palin's remarks in Virginia about "real America" and it convinced me she's not ready for national public office.  People wonder why the country is divided, and there it is, another Republican candidate saying that some citizens are real Americans because they believe the same as they, implying that some citizens are not real Americans because they dare to disagree.  And she says Obama's a socialist?  She obviously hasn't checked out the Bush administration's socialized banking system lately.  
It has rained all day. Yuck. The rain makes Korea beautiful and full of fresh, clean water, but it's still yuck.  My one class today played 'Password' much better than my other classes so far this week!  There were a few students who obviously had studied the vocabulary to a pulp, because for them, all it took was one hint word and they got the password!  However, because of students sharing the nature of my test with others, I have put together another pair of tests so that my other classes this week will not get the same test as their friends got earlier in the week.  The students have to sit side by side at little two-person tables, so I took Sherwin's idea and made a pair of tests so that they could sit next to each other and not be able to copy.  It has worked like a charm.  Thanks Sherwin!
      

Two's Day

The house governors put up a sign.  Apparently there is a new clothes line or clothes pole or something like that on the roof, but you have to use your own clothes pins.  I didn't know we could use the roof for our own personal laundry drying needs.  Live and learn.
Since my midterm test is only 30 minutes long, I decided to use a game to relieve stress before the test.  We played Password.  I had wanted to show the students a clip of the TV game show Password, but the overhead projector for the computer in the classroom wouldn't work.  We played anyway, but they sucked at it.  I did it in lieu of a vocabulary section of the test.  Should have had a vocab section on the test!  They are SO lucky!
This house is a wreck again already!  I can't keep a place clean to save my life.  Need a maid... well, probably need an engineer the way I absolutely destroy a house just by living in it!
Laura and I made some arrangements to go to a Halloween party in Daegu at some hotel.  There's supposed to be a buffet and all that.  She said it was basically an event where Koreans can gawk at foreigners having a good time while wearing costumes.  I would love to see Koreans let loose sometime and enjoy themselves without inhibitions.  Not holding my breath, though.
Lotte SuperCenter isn't selling Hoegaardens at all anymore, so had to go to HomePlus for my favorite beer.  Lotte is on my list. grrr
I'v discovered this spread they call marron.  It's like carmely goodness you can spread on toast.  It's basically candy posing as a breakfast accoutrement, but I don't care.  It's great.  Tomorrow I'm going to mix it with peanut butter to see how it holds up under the conditions of my bizarre eating habits.
  

Be All You Can, Bee

In front of the Hyundae Department store in Ulsan, the butterfly was helping the bee get his head on.  I didn't see any indication as to the purpose of the costumes.  Maybe having huge insects among all the flowers at the front door was just meant to turn heads. 


Yesterday after work I was riding my motorcycle home and some taxi overtook me on the left, but pulled into my lane before he had cleared me, so I was forced into another lane suddenly.  Fortunately, there were no other maniac Korean men driving in that lane, but I was furious, because if somebody had been driving in that lane, I'd be in the hospital now or possibly the morgue.  When the taxi stopped at the red light, I pulled up and started yelling at him.  He had some middle school kid in the back seat who froze and stared at me.  The taxi driver took off while I was chewing him out, so I followed him and when he finally stopped to let the kid out, I started in on the driver again.  When I felt he had had enough, I took off, but in my mirrors I saw he was following me.  He got up right behind me, so I pulled hard on my brakes and stopped.  He wanted to know why I was so furious, and I told him he almost killed me.  I was in no mood for the ritual of phony apologies they go through here in their Confucian attempts to restore social harmony.  The best thing they could do is throw Confucius out the window and start behaving like other people actually mattered.  I get very pissed off with their inattention to how their selfish actions affect others.  


Didn't make banana muffins or anything else yet.  I have no ambition lately.  Today I went for a bicycle ride and made a little video about it.  The weather was gorgeous, but a little hot.  I was wearing shorts and a sweatshirt, and I regretted the sweatshirt after an hour out in the sun.   

By Azura!

Here's the picture of the Ferris wheel in Ulsan that I mentioned yesterday.  Being on the roof of a building makes it even higher and scarier than if it were on solid ground!  I get moribund chills just thinking about the horror of it.

And here's a daedra heart still warm and beating in my hand... oh, wait... fantasy life and real life overlapped there for a second!  This is really a dragonfruit from Jeju, as best I could tell from the conversation I wasn't paying attention to.  The fruit originally comes from Southeast Asia, again, as best I could tell.  (When people start to talk to each other about foodstuffs, I start to drift.)

Sanctities

I lifted this from the CEMB , because I think they're all good ideas:

Universal rights and equal citizenship for all. We are opposed to cultural relativism and the tolerance of inhuman beliefs, discrimination and abuse in the name of respecting religion or culture.

Freedom to criticise religion. Prohibition of restrictions on unconditional freedom of criticism and expression using so-called religious 'sanctities'.

Freedom of religion and atheism.

Separation of religion from the state and legal and educational system.

Prohibition of religious customs, rules, ceremonies or activities that are incompatible with or infringe people's rights and freedoms.

Abolition of all restrictive and repressive cultural and religious customs which hinder and contradict woman's independence, free will and equality. Prohibition of segregation of sexes.

Prohibition of interference by any authority, family members or relatives, or official authorities in the private lives of women and men and their personal, emotional and sexual relationships and sexuality.

Protection of children from manipulation and abuse by religion and religious institutions.

Prohibition of any kind of financial, material or moral support by the state or state institutions to religion and religious activities and institutions.

Prohibition of all forms of religious intimidation and threats.

Ferris Wheel's Day Off

A few days ago while I was over at the bank paying bills, I came across this incident.  Apparently the man hit the back of the woman's car, and she was trying to get him to do something about it.  He kept pulling the door toward him, but she was having none of that and kept yanking it back open.  I wish I could've gotten the camera on a video setting, but the light changed and everybody wanted to get going.  Anyway, good for her!  Even if it was only minor, he still should be polite and deal with it.

The other day I went to Ulsan to see our co-worker who was in a car accident.  She had surgery Monday, but I haven't heard how it went.  Debating whether to make banana oatmeal muffins or or just banana bread.  The muffins are pretty good, though.  I was rather surprised at how much I liked Ulsan.  It isn't huge, but it's got a big E-Mart and they say there's a HomePlus, too.  There's a Bennigans, Outback, Starbucks... the stuff that helps you feel normal here, even if you don't go to those places often.  The express bus terminal has a humongous Ferris wheel on the roof!  I have pictures, but my camera is in the office.  I'll post something tomorrow to show you.  It's huge, and it's very tall, so I won't be going up in it (vertigo or acrophobia, whatever it is, I hate heights).  The seats are inside little compartments, so you're not just hanging there, but still, it's high and rotates very slowly.

I made a stop-motion video yessterday, well, two really, but nothing to post.  I used little toy cars and had a race around an oval track.  It was very fun to do, though.  Had to lock the cats out of the room while I was working on it, and I still haven't heard the end of their complaining about it.

Blatant Political Endorsement

I'm a veteran of the US Army, and I believe that Senator Obama will be a sensible, responsible, and thoughtful Commander for the Armed Forces.  We have seen how Republicans in the 90's started calling our servicemen and women "troops," a term that makes it easier to abuse them on fool's errands around the world, a term that reduces their humanity to some nameless blob.  Our service members are not "troops."  They are soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines.  They are human beings who deserve to be addressed with proper dignity, not tossed into some amorphous heap called "the troops." 
I support our servicemen and women, and that is why I oppose the Republican Party and its deceitful ways.  The Republicans talk military, but when it comes down to it, the huge "defense budget" they get unquestioningly goes to big machines, technological miracles and Pentagon fat-cats while actual service members continue to struggle in their day to day lives during and after combat, especially when they come home where they get so little help from the Republican administration that it should be criminal.  We need a new administration with new people running the departments of government, new people chosen to lead the Pentagon, and we also need a new Congress with fresh, democratic ideas.   Vote against the Republican Party and elect progressive, thinking people to Congress.


If you didn't register in time to vote this year, at least register so you can vote in the Congressional elections in 2010. 

The Compassionate, the Merciful

Hilarious picture that I pinched from Dr. Myer's site :

That says it all, as far as I'm concerned!

I have this minor debate going on with some proponent of the quran (koran).  He can't seem to grasp that I'm not elevating the bible above the quran; I'm denouncing both sets of literature as crap that twists weak minds away from reality.  All theistic religious literature is nonsense built around hearsay based on deceit.  It took me a long time to realize that and come out from among the religious nuts, so I'm not holding my breath with this guy.  He really believes the quran is the word of a god.  To me, the quran reads like the Unabomber Manifesto .  It starts out OK, then it just rambles and rants on and on until you want to blow something up in frustration.

The financial markets here in Korea are starting to feel the Bush Administration-sponsored Financial Crisis.  Oh well, I don't invest in the markets, and I don't take out loans, so I guess the only concern for me is the value of the currency.  We shall see how that goes.

My county clerk back in Michigan hasn't sent my absentee ballot yet.  Better give her a call to make sure she got my request.  I also need to call the police department to see about my criminal background check.  Korea requires non-professor teachers to get criminal checks.  Even though I work at a university, and they call me professor, the contract doesn't call me a 'professor', and the university will not hire us on an E-1 (professor) visa, so we have to go through all the crap and nonsense that the hagwon teachers have to go through to work in Korea.  Doesn't seem right, but that's what the Korean people decided after their hysterical reaction to that Canadian pedophile last year.  I guess it's cheaper to hire us on a one-year E-2 visa, even though we are the ones who actually pay for the visa to work here.  An E-1 visa is good for two years, so the university retains more leverage to dismiss Westerners they don't like by not using the E-1.  Some people trust Koreans completely, but I stay on the defensive around them still.  Been hurt too often, I suppose.  I do get sick of being called "foreigner" all the time.  They have no idea how insulting that is in English.  Well, at least at the airport, they changed the "foreigner" immigration check-in desks to "non-Korean".  That's a good sign, I guess.

John McCain is a Rotten Egg

I'm not a Republican for a reason. They are elitist, condescending, greedy, liars, deceivers, regressive, conservative, false patriots, self-centered, and things like that which I don't really care for. I believe that the happiness of individuals and families extends from the peace and prosperity of society in general, not in a handful of wealthy families and political dynasties dictating the rules for the rest of us. To choose John S. McCain as the next President of our Republic would be one more step toward dismantling the goals of our social prosperity in favor of individual and class greed, the continued obscenity of the rich getting filthy richer on the backs of the poor who are staying poor or, God forbid, getting poorer. I hope you will read this article and take it to heart, as it exposes what we already knew about this liar from the years and years he's been in bed with the graft and corruption that is so easily attracted to and tolerated by the Senate.

Day Out

I went out on my bicycle for a long while today and came across this little shop selling pumpkins.  A lot of the pumpkins have their stems still on them, so they'd be good for Halloween.  Koreans don't do Halloween, and they don't grow Halloween pumpkins, but these will do.  After Halloween, you can eat them!
Tonight I saw a commercial for a car with some kind of special airbags, so I waited and watched three CSI episodes so I could video the commercial if it came on again, but it never did.  It was rather cute, a child running and slamming into his mother's breasts, then a shot of an airbag deploying.  I think they were comparing the safety of mother's bosom to the safety of the car.
I made a video by the river and in the park with my new Canon camcorder and edited it in iMovie.  It wasn't anything special; I just wanted to see how it worked and how well it worked.
Got an email from the departmental office saying that they wanted one of us who don't work Mondays to take over another teacher's Monday morning class instead of the person who volunteered to do it.  Maybe that person is doing it grudgingly, I don't know, but the email didn't elaborate, and it's hard to read between the lines of somebody whose English isn't great.  One of our teachers was in a car accident, so she's laid up for the rest of the semester and needs other teachers to cover her lessons.  I swear to all the gods I don't believe in, our department is under a curse! 
As I type this, I'm listening to some men arguing someplace outside....
I took my camera out and caught the tail end of some altercation across the street.  The guys had already stripped to their wife-beater undershirts, but there was a woman trying to keep them apart.  Lots of swearing.  Lots of yelling.  The camera missed the good stuff, I think, but I might post what I have later.
As an aside, I've always wondered why men wear wife-beaters.  They're completely useless at protecting your clothing from sweat stains.  If you don't care that your clothes get sweat stains, then why bother wearing any undershirt at all?  
  

Fresh is Best

This is me and Ted and Yunjeong at the butcher shop samgyeopsal restaurant last night.  You know the meat's fresh when you can watch the guy hacking it up for you when you order!  I had a nice evening with them; we chatted and caught up on stuff, ate samgyeopsal (pork with veggies), went to a late movie (Hellboy), then back to their place for more chatting and a really comfie bed in their living room.  The living room is the former serving area for La Cantina, which is unfortunately defunct right now.  Maybe a resurrection sometime(?)  We can always hope.  A little after 10:30 this morning, I got tired of waiting for those two to get up, so I left a note and took off for Seoul.  My intention was to get a camera that works with iMovie, then go to COEX Mall for a late lunch and shopping.  The former worked out, but the iPark Mall (where I got the camera) is loaded with shops and restaurants and all that, so I figured I didn't need to go to COEX. Got another book by Conn Iggulden to read on the train. Lunch wasn't at the mall; I went to Seoul Station and had a steak with mashed potatoes at Bennigans.  Outside there was a rally (protest?) regarding something about housing.  It was pretty darn noisy, but probably a worthwhile event.
Here's a picture of my camcorder that I have tested, and it does work with iMovie.  Everybody online said that all MiniDV camcorders with firewire will work with a Mac, so it really wasn't a big gamble.  This is a Canon ZR800.

Tomorrow I'll make a video with it, edit it in iMovie, and upload it to YouTube.  Also have to finish my lesson plan for this coming week. 

Quick Run to Busan

Here's a screen shot of my Mac after installing the new software.

After watching the Palin-Biden debate on CNN, I took off for Busan to get some software for the Mac at the Apple retailer there.  They didn't have the software that I had seen advertised on the Apple Korea website, but the saleslady told me they had "pah-wah-lehr-suh deh-suh-kuh-toe-puh".  The really funny thing is, she only had to say it once more for me to understand what she had said. (You know you've been in Korea too long when...) It's two words totally in English, so give it your best shot! I got this software, and my intention is, if it performs as predicted and desired on my Mac Mini, I will get a Macbook so I can have a portable computer to take places with me... well, that was redundant-- I teach English? har har.  Well, the software actually works!  I honestly didn't expect it to, but there it is.  I can run a copy of my Windows Vista on my Mac and interchange between the two operating systems seamlessly.  I was so happy, that I even made a new entry in my iWeb journal until I remembered that iWeb will not upload my entries for some reason, and nobody can tell me why.  It keeps asking me to sign in to my Mac account, but I am signed in. iWeb doesn't recognize it, though.  The Mac technical guys are stumped, too.  It looks like I'll be staying on here at Google's Blogger, but I like Google a lot, so this is OK by me.

Looking Forward

I hope everybody watches the vice-presidential debate this week.  If you have closed-captioning, I would suggest that, because Sarah Palin's accent is so abrasive I can't stand to listen to her.  Is that the normal way to talk in Alaska?  Yuck!  I'd go nuts if I had to listen to people talking through their noses like that all the time.

Rent is due today... I think.  I don't have a written contract with the owner, so I'm not sure what day of the month we agreed on last year for paying the rent.  It isn't a big deal here in Korea, though.  People get around to paying up eventually.

This Friday is a national holiday, Foundation Day.  It celebrates the day when Tangun, the son of a god, was born and started the Korean nation.  Needless to say, Christians want this holiday removed from the calendar, but so far, it has survived Christian imperialism.  The true meaning of the holiday, this year at least, is that it falls on a Friday, and I don't have classes on Mondays, so there will be (for me) a very long weekend!  I might even go to Seoul and enjoy myself with a visit to the Thai restaurant, buy a book, see a movie, go to the mall... nice stuff.  

Life is good, because the alternative isn't.