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.

   

Windows Movie Maker is a Pain

I have rediscovered that my Sony camcorder will not work with Windows Movie Maker.  For the last year, my Sony HDD worked perfectly with WMM; however, as you know, my PC hard drive broke, so I needed a new one and consequently needed to reinstall Windows.  I can't for the life of me remember how I got WMM to edit my Sony videos when I got this camera last year, and I've been looking for three days now.  Last year, somebody online gave me a lead/link to something that made WMM work great with my camcorder's videos.  Of course, I didn't write it down. This year, all I can get on the Net is that I need 'another program' in order to convert files to make WMM work.  I don't.  I know that.  I used WMM for a year without any additional program to convert files.  As you can imagine, it's frustrating.  I'm using the iSight on the Mac to make videos at my desk, so don't expect any videos "from the field" until I figure this out.

Ripping a new one

The other day I was riding along on my motorcycle, and I noticed that I had this HUGE rip down half the left side of my fairly new jacket! WTF? I still have no idea how that happened. As far as I could remember, there was a clothing repair shop in my neighborhood, but I couldn't find it. Maybe I just misremembered. So I rode around on my bike in and out of all the little streets looking for a clothing repair place, and all I could find was this laundry. The name in Korean translates "Laundry Village." What's a little funny, too, is the other sign sticking out perpendicular from the wall reads "Soju Village," soju being the national grain alcohol they drink a lot of... a lot. However, the laundry lady was sober, and she said she could fix the jacket, "If that's all right." I guess she had sensed my apprehension at having a mere laundry lady sewing up a rip in a jacket. Red-faced, I left the jacket with her, and yesterday I picked it up. It is so well done, I can't tell where the rip used to be! She carged me the equivalent of $3. That's another thing I like about Korea. Real people doing honest work are fair and honorable about what they charge.
For some reason, I woke up at 2 AM today. Isn't that a pain? Couldn't fall back to sleep, so at 4:00, I got up and gave the cats their breaky and made myself a cuppa tea. With my PC all back and running perfectly, I'm thinking of getting some speakers for it... nice speakers. Right now the PC is using some tinny pieces of plastic crap I had in a box in the closet. Yuck.

The Price is Right

This is a bad picture I took out the window of a train, but I have seen these fields of strange crops, and I have no idea what they are.  I've never seen plants like that.  These plants have a stalk about a half-meter tall, maybe more, with a round single leaf at the end.  If anyone knows what this plant is, please tell me.  It must be something edible, or the Koreans wouldn't grow it.

In other news, my PC came home from the repair shop today.  I was at the phone office trying to find a way to get my phone repaired (the screen is broken) when the delivery guy called.  So I told him when I'd be home, and he told me it'll be 4000 won.  The phone office didn't know why the Motorola shop couldn't repair the phone, so they called, and it turns out that they don't know when they'll get any replacement LCD screens in for that model.  You'd think they'd just order one, but this is Korea, and if it's sensible, it probably won't be the 'correct' way to do things. I can receive calls on the phone, but if I miss a call, there's no way for me to know about it. Anyway, the Motorola shop told me they'd call me when a screen came in.  Hope I don't miss the call.  Those folks don't seem like the redialing type.

My classes are getting better every day.  We're playing The Price is Right all week as well as watching some YouTube snippets of the TV game show.  It's fun, and even the rebel kids who just come in and plop down in a seat are getting into the game.

 

Right and Wrong

Anybody who knows me, knows that I distrust the nationalist party, what they call the "republican party," but I came across an interview with Newt Gingrich, a nationalist, that I agreed with.  Newt is socially unresponsive, but his ideas on this 700-billion dollar welfare cheque for Wall Street are right on, as far as I'm concerned.  You can see/hear the interview here.  My idea is, though, if you're going to give away 700 billion dollars, why not parcel out the money to each American household?  It's better than giving the money to Wall Street fat cats who already have most of the nation's money anyway.  Let those super-rich bastardos pool their own resources and bail out one another.  Can you imagine them dipping into their own savings to bail out their failing businesses?  I don't see it happening.  It's easier to mug the American public for quick cash.

Dies Horribilis

If you want to know where to do it, just read the sign.

Today I had a brilliant idea.  They say you can put Windows on a Mac if you use the Boot Camp program that comes with Mac.  Well, sure enough, Boot Camp partitioned the drive, and Windows had 32 gig all to itself.  It started out fine as I began installation, but then Windows asked where I wanted to install it.  I chose the 32 gig partition that was set aside by Boot Camp, and Windows said, "I can't go there!  It isn't NTFS formatted!"  So installing Windows on my Mac came to a screeching halt until I could figure out how to make the partition NTFS formatted so Windows would load on it.  Couldn't find out, because I couldn't get the other side of the drive, the Mac partition, to start up again so I could get online!  What a nightmare.  So I let it all sit idle while I went to Busan to see if I could find a good laptop computer as a back-up so this will never happen again. My students send their homework through the internet, so I need a working computer.  Couldn't find any of the laptops CNET recommended, but I'm thinking the Samsungs probably aren't too horrible... pricey, though.  Didn't buy one, because Joel sent me a text message on how to get the Mac up again:  hold the "c" key during start-up.  Easy peasy.  But I still have the apparently unusable Boot Camp partition on my Mac drive to deal with.  Online I've found that if I shell out money for a program, I can get the partition to accept Windows.  Isn't that always the case with Macs?  You have to pay for this, then for that, then something else before you have everything you need to use the damn thing.

Anyway, had lunch with Rob at McD's at the Mega Mart in Dongnae in Busan, then went to his place to try to find the control panel on his computer.  His wife insists the computer use the Korean version of Windows, and it was impossible to find the control panel.  I told him just to install the XP I had given him and let her gripe, because she can read English IF she needs to.  All she does is go to Korean websites, and you don't need a Korean version of the OS for that.  Men, on the other hand, need to work with the computer and do stuff on it, important stuff. ㅋㅋ 

My cell phone somehow got crushed while in my front pants pocket.  The screen is broken.  I can use the phone, but the screen is unusable, which basically means I can't see to read texts, to dial, or any of the other uses of the cell phone screen.  Ugh.  This phone has been cursed from day one.  I doubt they'll fix this bit for free, however, since it must be my fault, though I can't think of anything I did that would cause the screen to break.

Poor Baby Went Boom

This is my PC in the shop.  Before the Mac crowd starts nodding and getting that superior look on their faces, this was a hardware malfunction, not software.  The guy checked my storage hard drive, and it's OK, but the main drive is broken.  Samsung isn't open on weekends, so he can't get a replacement hard drive until Monday.  The guy will ship me back my computer on Tuesday.  That's something I like about Korea.  You don't have to run around to stores, you can have things picked up and delivered for pennies.

While I was at the electronics market, I decided to look around at laptops.  I'd like to have a portable computer to carry back and forth to work, traveling, and so forth.  Since Macs can run Windows, I might consider the MacBook and install Windows on it.  The only drawback is, you can't share Windows between two computers.  Microsoft requires you buy a separate copy of Windows for both of your computers.  That really isn't fair.  You should be allowed to install it on two computers and that be the cut-off on what you can register.  A lot of people have a desktop and a laptop, and Windows is damn expensive to have to buy two copies when really your laptop is just a portable extension of your desktop.  That's my take on it, though, and what do I know?  I'm not smart or rich like those guys.

  

The Keys Errant

I was reading an article in the International Herald Tribune about the North Korean dictator's illness, and it mentioned Imjingak, which is where I was on Saturday.  So this is the closest South Koreans can get to North Korea.  I didn't know that.  The rest of the DMZ is fairly wide, about 4 klicks they say.

I lost my keys while on this trip.  When I left town, they were in my bag, because I remember tossing them in there in the office.  Anyway, the liaison in the departmental office let me in my office yesterday, and he said he'd get a key made for me (for 2000 won).  So today he still hadn't got a key for me.  I was in no mood for bullshit games, so I took matters into my own hands and borrowed a key from the security desk, went to a key shop, and voila!  I have two copies of my office key now.  I had a spare key for my bicycle lock, so that's all right for now, though having only one key won't do in the long run.  The memory stick that was on my lost key ring didn't have anything important or embarrassing on it.  I'll just get a new one.  We'll see if Joel finds my keyring in his car.  That's the only logical place left to look of all the places I was last weekend.  Simon said it wasn't at his place.

Can you believe the week is half over already?  That's the good and bad of working for a uni here in Korea, time marches apace.

I'm devouring the book Wolf of the Plains by Iggulden.  Very good book; I highly recommend it.

The Big Bike Ride

This weekend is the Korean version of "harvest home" or what North Americans might call Thanksgiving: Chuseok.  Saturday morning a bunch of us got together at our friend Vaughan's place where he had rented us some motorcycles to make a day-long tour.  Above, you can see me on the Harley Sportster 883cc he got for me.  More on that son of a bitch later (the bike, not Vaughan).

We traveled first up to the Imjin River, famous for many battles during the Korean civil war in the early 50's.
Here you can see the new railway trestle over the river going into North Korea.  This is the first time I have seen part of North Korea.  You can see a guard tower on our side and one on the North Korean side.  There are guard towers all along the river. They sell some North Korean stuff here, but it was all alcohol of one kind or another.  Apparently alcohol production and consumption are popular on both sides of the DMZ.

I was happy with the bike tour for the first few hours, but after this stop at the Imjin River, the "big boys" (avid and experienced riders) led us off in the wrong direction into the neighboring province, and the whole trip was almost 12 hours long, 90% of it riding.  My ass hurt like hell, and I still (literally, I am not joking or exaggerating) have only partial use of my right hand.  I still cannot hold chopsticks or tie my shoes.  (If you could see how I'm struggling now trying to type this, you'd be laughing your asses off!)

The Harley had the stiffest clutch release I have ever manipulated.  After 6 hours of stop-n-go traffic, my left had could barely stand to pull it in and hold it, even for a few seconds.  My boot toe wouldn't fit under the clutch lever, so I was constantly having to wiggle my foot in sideways to change gears, which in the heavy traffic we were in was a lot of gear changing.  I couldn't leave my foot resting there, either, as the gear lever would start moving down and literally pinch my foot to the footrest!  Ouch!  But it was holding the twist throttle that was the killer.  I now know why big bikes have cruise control!  It's been almost 27 hours since we came back, and my hand is only slightly improved in functionality.  I hope I regain full use before I have to teach tomorrow.  I can't write yet, and I write a lot on the board in class!

Though the trip wasn't what I had envisioned or wanted, there were aspects that were good.  I got to ride a big bike for the first time ever, and I think I would enjoy touring on bikes, but ON MY TERMS, not some alpha males' hyperactive need for danger.  (Yes, I'm glancing at Alex and Bart).  If I do this again, I'll go with people who just want to ride somewhere, do something fun like a picnic or some beach cricket/softball and then ride home... a good time resulting in good feelings and happiness all around.  Am I right?  My hand is hurting from typing, so I'm gonna shut up now.

YouTube: The Love-Hate Relationship

I have trouble all the time getting YouTube to show in English, so I went online for help, and the guy told me that next to the YouTube logo, there's a choice between the local language (determined by IP address) and ENGLISH.  Well, in Korea, if you can read Korean, you can see that my choices are:  KOREA and KOREAN.  No 'English' option for YouTube here.  I clicked every button that says "English" when I signed up; I have lied and said I live in the States, all to no avail.  YouTube, I guess, insists that if you don't live in America, you don't speak English!

It's such a pain that YouTube is inflexible for users.  This is what I deal with.  I'm an English speaker who happens to be in Korea, but if by some miracle I get YouTube to display in English, it won't stay there for long.  Just click a link to an AMERICAN video, and it's back to Korean!

Today I only had one class.  Some girl sat in on my class, because she wants me to let her join the class so she can be with her friend.  It might be possible, though I don't like adding students.  I much prefer dropping them! heh heh

Laura told me there's a computer shop over near the ghetto where the other English teachers live.  I'm taking my poor widdle sick PC over there to see if the hard drive can be fixed.  If not, I'll get a new one.  I've heard of hardware failing, but if this is broken, it'll be the first time I've had a piece of hardware break on me.  The noise I heard from it just before it crashed was disturbing, so I'm not holding out much hope.  My problem is, I animate personal possessions... so it's hard to deal with "losing" a thing that has been a part of my life.

Tomorrow I start special tutoring "Mr. Pak" whom I should have failed last semester.He came to me and begged me in Korean to let him pass, and since he's majoring in Buddhist studies, I didn't see any reason to fuck up his life over English class. Reaping the whirlwind now, though.  He can't even read the simplest words or say the simplest things in English, so I told him to come see me on Thursdays for special lessons and not go to the regular class.  Hope something good comes of this.

This is a still from the video I made of my bike ride today.  Went out some county road I found and explored a little.  It was impromptu, so I didn't carry any water and had to come back early. 

My PC main drive is whacked, and I think, from the sound it's making, that it's physically broken.  So I'm working on the Mac for a while.  My bike ride video is a series of clips, so when I put it on iMovie, it made a nice seamless video, but the audio doesn't come across on iMovie from my Sony camera.  I'll keep playing with it.  Macs are just the most stubborn, difficult things to work with since they are incompatible with almost every piece of hardware on the market.

I found men's deodorant at HomePlus!  Nivea.  First time I have ever seen men's deodorant for sale at a Korean store.  Also found a can of Blue Sky organic ginger ale stuck on the top shelf of the drinks section.  Korean stores only sell colas, ciders (like Sprite/7UP), and Fanta orange and grape.  So when I saw the ginger ale, I grabbed it.  Once it's gone, they won't restock it, so it's nice to have a little ginger ale squirreled away for a special occasion.

Sushi Rolling

This is the statue of General Kim on the top of a hill over in the park near my place. Today was the first time I'd ever gone up the hill to see it, though it is lighted at night; I've seen it from afar before. I have a video, but haven't done any work to process it into anything yet.
Went looking to buy a new motorcycle helmet, but the shop is closed on Sundays apparently. There might be other shops, but advertising isn't really a Korean thing. You do see advertising, but not how you think it would (should) be. I'll check the motorcycle shop out tomorrow. I don't work Mondays... though I need to do some lesson prep. After meeting my students last week, I'm discouraged and need to alter my lesson some. Last spring when the semester ended, my students and I had a nice rapport, but now, only a few of this batch are my students from spring semester (freshmen take two semesters of English). They and I had a good time this past week, but the others who don't know me just sat there like dullards.
Had lunch at a 'kimbap' restaurant. (Kimbap is what they call a "sushi roll" back in the States, 'makizushi' in Japan. In Korea, sushi rolls usually don't have any fish in them unless you ask for it.) Anyway, I will eat kimbap if I'm dying of hunger, but that rarely happens, so today I ate spicy pork and rice instead. Good stuff.
It was a nice day out on my bicycle. Rode along the river mostly.

Rat on a String

I was running around town trying to find sheet music for Korean traditional songs (no luck, really), and I saw this "prize" in one of those arcade-type games where you pay 50 cents and have a few seconds to use a hook to grab something from inside the glass case. It's right out there on the street. Wonder if the kids know what it is.

I did find a book teaching a few traditional songs using the traditional bamboo flute. Eh, it'll do for now. I have a traditional flute, so maybe I'll learn something! heh heh
Sat on the edge of the run-off creek/drainage canal... whatever the hell it is... and made a little video for my YouTube site. Other than all that, I didn't do much... Washed ALL the dishes in my sink, though. Quite a feat. Had to rest afterward, but the sink is clean and smells good. Either tonight or in the morning, I'll be making banana nut muffins. My bananas never got eaten, and I can't let them go to waste, so I'll make them go to my waist instead. Oh, behave!
Got kitty litter and a ropey-thing toy for the cats... they don't like it, of course-- the toy, not the litter. They have been pestering me all evening to play "fake rat on a string" with them, which I did, but no matter how long I play, it isn't enough.

Party Poop

I was on a website this morning, and they asked me to type in some figures in order to weed out spammer programs. As you can see, I think I typed the correct numbers, but I got a specific rebuff saying I had entered the figures incorrectly! I never could get my information uploaded, so screw it. If they want to play games, they'll have to play without me. There is no website on the Internet that is so important or crucial to my life that I feel the need to keep trying to convince them to let me in.
I listened to some of the Nazionalist Party speeches from St. Paul. Exaggerations and outright lies for the most part. So far, they haven't addressed any of the specific things Barack Obama said at the Democratic Party convention. The Nazionalists had better start addressing the issues, because their convention ends soon! Obama outlined specific plans, but nothing like that has come from the St. Paul crowd. Nazionalists usually rely on scaring the shit out of the mostly ignorant American public. Effective on the nescient, but pathetic to those of us who can think for ourselves.
Beautiful day today. Oh, Vaughan wrote and invited me to join the gang on a motorcycle ride up in Gyeonggi-do a week from Saturday! Can't wait! It's Korean Thanksgiving that weekend, so it might end up being a pleasant ride since the Koreans will mostly be at their ancestral homes eating fancy food. My experience riding with others is... well, I have no experience riding with others, so this'll be a new thing under the sun for me. Might get a good video out of it.

Armature

You can see here that I have made my first claymation armature! I followed what some guy did on YouTube, though I didn't have all the same stuff he had. I told the guy at the hardware store I needed wire to make a puppet. He just stared at me. I thought I had the wrong word for puppet, so I just repeated the Korean word for wire. He grunted and walked down the aisle and stuck his thumb out at the rolls of wire as he walked past them back to some crap he had apparently been sorting before I interrupted his day. I needed a vise, too, and lo! he had a nice little one just perfect for making armatures!
I have clay, but probably not enough for a claymation puppet. This weekend, I'll go look for more of the same type of clay.
Any ideas what I should make? I was thinking of a TVangelist so I can make fun of the christians and republicans. What about that convention, eh? Those republicans are just plain nuts, if you ask me. I guess people actually do buy into all that foolish nonsense after all.
My one class today went well, just another introductory class. Each of my classes only meets once a week, so I have to go through this intro crap six times. Next week we'll get into the lessons and some fun stuff.
I'm weighing options for the next academic year already. The semester will go quickly, as they always do, and I need a plan either to stay here or take another job up in Gyeonggi Province. This university doesn't seem to care whether we stay or not; they haven't thanked us for our service, offered incentives to stay or anything.

First Day

I went in to the university late in the morning to try to get ready for my first day of teaching in many weeks. The weather seemed unsettled, so I wore rain gear, but didn't really need it. My first class was at 3:00, and I had a little presentation as an introduction to the course, but it was made on OpenOffice, and the Microsoft Office on the classroom computer wouldn't open it. What a disaster! So I had to do it all from memory on the whiteboard... boring!
Between that class and the one at 6:00, I downloaded and installed OpenOffice in the classrooms I'll be using the rest of the week, plus we had a faculty meeting for just us English Conversation teachers. The university is hiring at least seven new teachers for next year, but they're really looking for people who are already in Korea. So in October they'll advertise, and in November they'll interview candidates.
I discovered that I missed the deadline for signing up for Fall classes at NAU. For some reason, I thought I had lots of time. I had agonized over and organized what I wanted to study, but all for naught, since I didn't read the webpage properly. Live and learn, though. Next time I will be a lot more on the ball.

A Kind of September

There's a nightclub in town called "Ho-bahk Nah-eet-uh". Ho-bahk means pumpkin, and "nah-eet-uh" is just the English word 'night' with a Korean twist. Anyway, they have a small fleet of these vehicles with the pumpkin on top, apparently just for advertisement. They'd be great at Halloween, but Koreans don't do Halloween unfortunately. Wonder if they rent them out... hmm.
Went to the university and picked up my class lists. They come with pictures already on them! Cool. Tomorrow I have two classes late in the afternoon and early evening. Never did get my syllabus translated into Korean, but I don't know anybody who can do that anyway. Not around here, that is. Eh, it's good practice for them to read English. Some of the teachers have such complex systems of grading and homework and what-not that they need to tell the kids in Korean what's what. My system is rather simple. I'm having them do homework online to save paper and hassle. Their weekly homework is just an email to me about a topic I assign, and they have to use the grammar and some of the new vocabulary of the week. They have until every Sunday to get me their week's homework. If it's late, they get a zero, but I will read it and comment on it all the same, for their edification... maybe. Depends on whether they're serious learners or not. Some of these kids could not care any less about learning to use English.
Rained most of the day. The humidity was oppressive even though it wasn't hot. My laundry is having a hard time drying on the rack.
Oh, have to make a jab: Focus on the Family, the radical religious group in the U.S., prayed for rain to ruin the Democratic Party convention last week, but it looks like God got all confused about whose convention to ruin. Too bad Louisiana has to suffer, though. Damned Republicans.

Busan

At Nopodong station in the suburbs of Busan, the cops were just standing at the top of the stairs and (randomly?) asking men for their IDs and writing information in little notebooks. There's a wanted poster for some guy posted all over the country in transportation centers... wonder if they're looking for him this way.
So I took this little trip to Busan. The trains between here and Busan didn't have a good schedule, so I opted for the express bus service. It only took 50 minutes to get to Nopodong subway station in Busan! Didn't realize the outskirts of Busan were so close! Might go down there more often now. Rob had to finish administering a test, then we got together for dinner at Outback, but not the Outback where we were. Apparently the local expat community has declared it a "bad" Outback. I get all confused when I go to Busan, so don't know where we ended up exactly, though the food was good... pricey, but good. I tried a bottle of Victoria Bitter which is a really nice-tasting beer. It won't replace my devotion to wheat beers, and it is no threat to Hoegaarden for my affections, but it is nice all the same.
I stayed overnight at Rob's place with his wife and son, then after a delicious breakfast at McDonalds down the street, we went to Hanaro Department Store, which is run by Nonghyup, a farmer's cooperative company. I needed a watch to wear while on my motorcycle, and after hemming and hawing over some $380 watches that could do everything but sing Dixie, I settled on a Von Dutch for $58. It has a large face, and when I'm driving, that's what I need. I'll post a photo of the new watch on my livevideo site.