Thanksgiving Outback

As I have in the past for Thanksgiving in Seoul, I headed off to the Outback Steak House at Balsan. I usually have a Ribeye Steak, which is what I had last night.



Along with a salad and baked (jacket) potato:





I had been interested in a steak that I saw advertised on TV. It is a steak wrapped in a layer of bread. I didn't see it on the menu, so I ordered the Ribeye. But after I ordered, I saw a separate, special menu which showed this new item - Wellington Steak.

New Night View

Been meaning to update my night view. Since this post in March, the skyline has changed slightly. That is, the Samsung Tripalace has been completed, and is well illuminated at night. Looks pretty cool, much better in person that my camera can capture.

Uncle Oinkers

Ran into these new breath mints the other night. All I can say is unusual.

Beer O'Clock Break

Trevor and MY will be temporarily closing Beer O'Clock for three months. They had wanted to relocate, and were in the process of looking for new places. Suddenly someone came forward to buy the current place. I'm guessing it was a good offer, because they decided to sell and wait until after MY gives birth in January to open a new place. Saturday will be the last day at this current location. I went by Wednesday to say goodbye to both of them. I might avoid Saturday, since I guess it will be super crowded (but the beer prices will be slashed)...

Sad Saturday

I was going to meet my friend JI for dinner on Saturday, but his mother needed sudden heart surgery and understandably he couldn't join me. I decided to go by myself anyway, and get some Mexican food at "Dos Tacos". I have mentioned before about taxi drivers ignoring me, presumably because I am a foreigner. Well, this night I had a first - the BUS DRIVER refused to stop and let me on! I've never had that happen. I gave up and took a taxi, arrived at Dos Tacos just behind a large group of people who took the last seats in the place. So I decided to eat at the Subway next door, since they offer hot sandwiches. I carefully chose a sandwich from the "hot toasted" side of the menu, one whose name conveys heat - "Subway Melt". Well, the sandwich was delivered to me stone cold. I wasn't going to say anything, but the clerk came to me after my first couple bites and said they had forgotten to put the bacon on. I told her she also forgot to heat it up, and she said no, only the Italian-something sandwich came hot. All minor irritations in the scheme of things, especially compared to JI's mom. Get well soon.

Change

I've been delaying making a post, because my phone/camera seems to have gotten a virus! But by using photos that don't have to be rotated, I can proceed to make a post. We went back to the bank last week, on a Thursday, when the coin change counting machine would be operating. And it was.





You slowly pour the coins onto this small conveyor belt, and the coins are gobbled up by the machine. It makes all sorts of interesting noises. Clunks, clinks, rattles and clanks. On the computer display screen, you see a running tally of how many of each coin type has been counted. As fun as this was, it could have been a better experience - IF THE MACHINE WAS MADE FROM GLASS! Then you could watch all the coins being "processed" and counted.

EDIT: Anonymous "K" correctly pointed out that I omitted the amount of change in my two buckets. Roughly there was $203 worth of change. I had prevously guessed $250, so I was about 25% high. Yikes!

Brand Envy

I saw this car on the street last month. Ssang-Yong is a Korean automobile manufacturer that's been around a long time, although recently they were purchased by a Chinese company. The Musso is one of their popular SUV models. But this car has a Mercedes-Benz logo on the back! I thought this fellow just wanted a Benz, and stuck this logo on his car. But as I searched on the internet, apparently Ssang-Yong had a partnership with the Benz for awhile. Maybe this is a legitimate logo?

But regardless, this is a good marketing opportunity - sell luxury car emblems for consumers to install on their cars. Change that Kia into a Cadillac for only $15.95...hmmmm, good idea?

Coins Changed to Cash...

...NOT. I don't like coins. In Korea and in the USA, I empty my pockets into a box or container at the end of each day. In the USA, I used to get Young Stumbler #3 to sort, count and roll the coins, for which I would give her 10% of the total. In Korea, in the past I gave them to CH, who would take them to a special bank branch that had a automatic coin counting machine. In Korea, as best I can figure, they don't take the coins if you roll them yourself, nor do they take mixed coins at the bank.



Well, as you can see, I've been saving for quite a while this time (and I've finally found a good use for those empty sour cream buckets from Costco). CH and I had to go to a meeting on Friday, and he wanted to show me how to use the machine. We drove to this special bank on the way to our meeting, parked about a block away, and lugged these two heavy buckets of coins to the bank. When we got to the machine, it was turned off! We saw a sign that said this machine is only available on Tue, Wed, and Thu!!!! CH asked the teller why the machine was off. She said that the machine broke down too often when it was used 5 days a week, so they restrict it to three days per week! I dare anyone to try that with their boss!

So, I'm still the proud owner of two large buckets of coins. I'm guessing its about $250 - in the past 1 smaller bucket was about $90 worth. Maybe mid-week we'll try again.