Sick Day, Blog Name

Last night I felt a little sick, and kept waking up with headache and a little stomach ache. This morning, only headache, stuffy head, and sore throat, and a general feeling of sickness. I tried working, but could not concentrate nor think. So, besides eating breakfast and making a few phone calls to confirm my next travels, I have been sleeping, drinking hot green tea, and taking Vitamin C. I feel somewhat better, maybe I can be productive this afternoon.

I should explain the blog name, "technobar". A couple of months ago, we were in the process of establishing a company and needed a name. We were provided a list of candidate names that were "available" and related to our line of work. There was one name on the list that I liked, but our Korean colleage rejected it. The name was "TECHNOVA", which had been made from the two words "Technology" and "Innovation". What's wrong with this word, you might ask? Well, when you spell it in Korean, you get 택노바. The issue here is with the "va" syllable. You see, in Hangul the same letter ㅂ can be used for the English sounds B, P, V, F! The problem is that this word, 택노바, is already "taken" in the Korean language. It is actually a Western "loan word", and would be translated as "Techno Bar", and is used to describe a certain type of bar (surprisingly, the Stumbler has not been to a Techno Bar to my recollection). Unless our company were operaring a high-tech drinking establishment, this name was inappropriate. Since I love puns, and cross-lingual puns are even better, I was enthralled with this name. I wanted to use it for something, and as I started my blog I realized it was the perfect name. Now you know.

A Pile of Rocks Near Gumi City 

I feel bad to post without a photo, so here is a completely unrelated picture of a rock pile we found on the side of a mountain near Gumi City one afternoon recently. We had finished our business early, and went to do what is a popular pastime in Korea, go hiking up a mountain. I confess that I did not hike as far as my colleagues, since at that time I was not the example of fine health that I am today. Also, my ankle was recovering from a bad sprain, and the terrain was really rocky - I was sure I was going to re-sprain my ankle if I kept going, and truly live up to my name as the Stumbling Engineer.