Dreams Again

This summer I had a possible client with a possible project here in Korea. The work continued to be delayed and delayed, and the final form of the project in the end was just unworkable. I sent a very polite letter declining the project, and never heard anything from them (this was about 3 or 4 weeks ago). Yesterday, over lunch, I just happened to mention to my colleague CH, "I wonder what happened with that company? I wonder why they didn't even reply or confirm my letter?"

Well, last night I had a dream. I was in a large hotel ball room, where dinner was being served. Over in one corner, there was a group of people from this very company conducting a training class! I went over to talk to them, and then my dream ended and I woke up.

This morning, after my breakfast, my cell phone rang with a strange number. I answered, and it was someone from this very same company, asking if I was possibly interested in a different project!

Just too weird. Don't know if this project will pan out or not, there are very few and sketchy details right now, but who knows...

HAND UPDATE: As of Saturday, I could really tell it was healing well. My strength was slowly returning, and I could almost make a complete fist without any pain. However, Sunday I had a couple days setback. I went shopping at Costco, and no matter how careful I was to only use my left hand, I think I hurt it some lifting the shopping "box". Also Saturday and Sunday evening I installed an auxiliary audio power amplifier for Trevor on their terrace. I was so careful, made other people do any lifting or wire pulling. But just once or twice, I slipped up and ended up holding the entire power amplifier in my right hand. Just now, Tuesday morning, I feel almost back to the point I was Saturday before I over-exerted it.

ELBOW UPDATE: The swelling is getting smaller each day, although I think slower than the doctor had suggested. It is still quite warm to the touch, however. It has gone from the painful stage to the numb/itchy stage. But if it doesn't improve remarkably in the next couple days I'll go back.

Medieval Torture

Yesterday the doctor asked me to return today to have another look at the elbow. We finished at the factory in time, so I stopped by after work. He said the swelling was going down, gave me one more antibiotic shot, and said to keep taking the oral antibiotics. If it was still warm and swollen on Friday come by again, if not, it's all over and no reason to come back.

As I was leaving, I asked him about my formerly broken hand, which is still weak and a bit painful. I asked if they had a hot whirlpool tub I could soak my hand in for a short while. He said that they don't use hot water, but instead would give me a "paraffin treatment"! It was either no extra cost or $2 extra, I'm not sure.

This was something I would imagine they used to torture people in days gone by. A heated bowl of hot wax. Dip your hands in repeatedly, and layers build up on your hands. After 5 layers, let it all cool, peel off the wax, and repeat 4 times! It was painfully hot. Several times I wondered if I wasn't actually giving myself burns. Especially the first dip, when it was my bare hand. After that, the subsequent dips in the wax were a little less painful.



I have no idea why this is used instead of water. My hand does feel a little better, but that might just be because it has cooled down from being steamed like a crab. I had the nurse photograph my hands immediately after the procedure. Can you guess which one was treated?



And the one positive side effect: there is absolutely no residual smell from the cast. Now my entire hand smells like a crayon!

Elbow Grease

Well, not grease, but rather medicine:




About two weeks ago, as my hand was healing up, the elbow on my other arm began to hurt. I didn't recall hitting it or anything. My best guess was that it was some delayed pain from the sidewalk fall which broke my hand. However, I did NOT mention this to the doctor. I thought it was just a sprain and would heal on its own. I just couldn't face the thought of having a cast on my hand AND my elbow.

But where my hand has been healing just fine, this elbow hasn't gotten any better, and the swelling was getting larger and it felt very warm to the touch. Finally I went to the doctor today and showed him the elbow. He immediately said that it wasn't the bone nor a sprain, but instead I had an infection! Just like when I thought I had a sprain, I have no idea what caused it. So I was given an antibiotic shot, a 3-day course of oral antibiotics, and told to check back tomorrow. He said something about aspirating the infection with a needle if it didn't get better soon!

That's A Lot of Spam

My internet service provider has a spam filtering service. You can visit a website which allows you to search and review emails which have been identified as spam. This is necessary sometimes when an email gets accidentally flagged as spam. Well today I happened to notice this statistic counter on the site:



That says that 90% of all my incoming emails are spam! That's hard to believe!

Who is Ben Harper?

"Who is Ben Harper?" you might ask. I certainly did. Caught this song on the radio the other day, and let me warn you the tune will stick in you mind for days on end!

Steal My Kisses (YouTube Link)

I actually sent a text message to the radio station, asking for the singer. I received a prompt reply from the station with the answer, addressed to me personally. Kind of Big Brother-ish, since I didn't send my name in the message. I must investigate this further.

The above link is to a performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles from 2003. In addition to the song, we are treated to an excellent extended bass solo on a Fender 5-string bass.

Ben Harper seems to be one of several American musicians that I have learned of here in Korea, who have a larger following outside the USA than within. Again, listen at your own risk.

If you like his voice, and can get past the full-sleeve tatoos, listen to some of his gospel songs on YouTube with the "Blind Boys of Alabama" group. Good Stuff.

(Apologies to Young Stumbler #1's music blog. I don't intend to compete, this is just a one-time thing. I will return to normal, boring posts soon.)

Thumb's Back

Almost a week with this splint, and my hand itself is still swollen and hurting. Even though I was told to come back in 2 weeks, I went back to the doctor's today to ask if there was anything that could be done. I was thinking ice or heat therapy. Well, he was concerned about the swelling, and took another X-ray. Turns out the original bone near my thumb which was suspect before, is just fine now. But instead, my pinky finger is partially broken (not the finger itself, but way down in the palm part.

So I have a different splint, on the other side of my hand. My thumb is free, but my fingers are more restricted. He said usually he could use a waterproof cast, but my hand was too swollen. Instead I get the splint. Estimated healing time 3-4 weeks! Next visit 2 weeks.

Super Ultra King Klutz

Fell flat on my face last night, just walkin down the sidewalk minding my own business. Well, not my face, but rather I caught myself with my right hand. And boy it sure hurt this morning.



Went to the doctor, and got lucky. It was 5 minutes before lunch, so they rushed me through, no wait (that I was the only patient helped, of course). Doctor said it was probably just a sprain, but took an x-ray to be sure. After studying the film, he said my scaphoid bone (don't know it? click here) might be fractured, it wasn't clear. Fortunately (well, not so fortunately since I'm right handed) the treatment is the same - put it in a "splint". More like 1/2 of a cast held on by a long bandage. The splint material looks like these modern lightweight casts they use these days instead of plaster. It got really warm while it was setting.

Anyway, he says come back in 2 weeks, and a follow-up x-ray will show more clearly whether or not there is a fracture. I sure hope not, or else he'll have me in this splint for weeks more. In and out in about 10 minutes, total cost about $40! And the doctor spoke English...

Safe Recycling...

...or, how do you throw away a trash can?



I've noticed this iron safe located in our office building's recycling area.



Is the safe there to be recycled? Or is it store very expensive items to be recycled (gold teeth perhaps)?

Bar Zippo

This photo is for The Stumbling Brother. I'll take him here if he ever visits Seoul.

Back to Seoul

I made it back to Korea okay. It's interesting that during 1 month in the USA, I don't think that I heard one news report about the Swine Influenza. On the flight, they handed out an extra form to fill out, regarding the flu. We were told to turn it in when we deplaned. That was interesting - the took my form and I think checked my temperature. It looked like a thermometer that you use in your ear, except this on didn't actually go inside my ear. He just pointed it into my ear.

Then two days later, I got a phone call from someone in the government (health department?). She said they were following up on all passengers arriving from America, and wanted to check that I was not experiencing flu symptoms (I am not). My colleague CH reported that they also called him two weeks ago when he returned from the USA. They are taking this flu very seriously here.



Today I made a short trip to Costco, and finally found a small George Foreman grill. It is a very small one, a good size for cooking for one. What kept me from buying one in the past is that the few such grills I've found here in Korea were all too large.

I noticed that Jackie Chan is now promoting the grill, along with George Foreman! There is an Asian recipie book entitled "Jackie Chan's 10 Favorite Recipes" included in the package. It is nice to have an owner's manual for a Korean appliance that includes text in English as well as Korean (in fact, there's Japanese and Chinese, too). I think I could do a lot more with my oven and rice machine if I could only read the instructions.



Finally, I want to thank the kind family that let me sit at their table in the Costco cafeteria (chicken bake and sweet pickle relish - yummmm). As usual, I made the mistake of visiting Costco on Sunday, the most crowded day of the week, and there were no free tables in the dining area. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard a voice in English ask if I would like a seat. My table mates were Korean Americans, living in both Korea and Virginia, back here in Seoul for summer vacation.

Fourth BBQ

We all stumbled to The Stumbling Parents' new home yesterday for a Fourth of July picnic. Let me count the food

• BBQ Pork Ribs
• Grilled Vegetables
• Squash
• Zuchinni
• Baby Red Peppers
• Mushrooms
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Salad
• Baked Beans
• Potato Chips
• Watermelon
• Pound Cake

We used their new BBQ grill:



I was given the job of grilling the ribs. There were three racks, having about 15 ribs each.



As you can see here, they were delicious. At least The Stumbler liked them (please ignore my grease-covered face and sauce-covered fingers):



Everyone else was more civilized eating their meal. Some folks actually used silverware!!!



We had a great time, and left fully stuffed.

The Stumbling Parents...

...have stumbled into town! They moved about 2 miles from our home, arriving last weekend. It has been a busy and fun week for them, unloading their trailer and shopping for lots of new things for the house. I have used these devices several times this week, as we moved a bed, refrigerator, washing machine and clothes dryer.



Hand truck and Dolly. My arms are still bruised from the refrigerator - boy, was that heavy. Anyway their home is slowly filling. A few more trailer loads and it will be full.

Unrelated to their move entirely... Young Stumber #3 and I went to see the summer blockbuster "Tranformers 2" the other day. We really enjoyed it, although we both agreed that the last hour could have easily been condensed to 15 minutes. As we left the theater, I noticed this unusual restaurant:





A restaurant that only serves Ketchup???? Surely not. We were in too much of a hurry to investigate further. It was really hot, we wanted to get to the air conditioned car as quickly as possible. Also, we've heard that almost every restaurant in this shopping center is over-priced. Maybe another time, after all, how much can a Ketchup meal cost?

Mish Mash

This is one of my favorite styles of road signs in Korea. This is not the most complicated, but it is a good example. You arrive at a crazy intersection, and are greeted by a crazier road sign trying to explain things. Surprisingly, the signs do a pretty good job, although they can look like a complex schematic drawing at times. Here is one I snapped from a taxi over near the Niagara Hotel a couple weeks ago - the focus is bad, but you get the idea.



Speaking of signs, I can't stop laughing at this Konglish sign (courtesy of, and shamelessly stolen from, Angelo Apostolakis' Facebook photo album). You can zoom in and read it yourself, but believe me when I tell you it says:

Please, Remove the color fork before taste the menu. (It might cause the safe problem)

Southern BBQ

During CH's visit, I introduced him to some true southern BBQ. It isn't Memphis, but this place is pretty good. We had the pork plate, complete with slaw, potatoes, and hush puppies. It was delicious, but filling.

Whiskey

After many years of just driving by, I finally scheduled a visit to the Jack Daniels Whiskey Distillery this week. My colleague CH was visiting for some business meetings, and we happened to be driving right by the factory. Here is CH in front of the visitor's center.



Here are some barrels of whiskey being aged:



It was a really interesting tour. Highly recommended. Now I need to find a bottle of Gentleman Jack...

It's A Breeze

I have made a temporary office in what used to be Young Stumber #2's room. One problem was the ceiling fan. On low speed, it vibrated. On medium speed, it shook the ceiling and made horrible sounds. High speed was forbidden. Well, we finally got a replacement fan and installed it.



The box advertised this fan would only take 5 minutes to install. It should be a breeze, right? Well, no breeze until almost 2 hours later (well, that did include a 1 hour nap while the battery power drill charged up). But finally there is a nice and QUIET breeze in the office.

Hyundai Sonata

We went used car shopping this weekend. Young Stumbler #3 needed a car, which she will share with me when I'm in town. We went to the "sell your own" car lot, and considered several models. There were Toyotas, Mazdas, Hyundais and something called a Ford Focus. We finally settled on this Hyundai Sonata. It was somewhat unusual, it had very low mileage for a good price. Either we got a good deal, or the car is a lemon. So far, so good.





Young Stumbler #3 reports that the car smells like an "old man" inside. Maybe I need some air freshner...

Scallops

We had a delicious dish last night, grilled scallops on the half shell. This was prepared "fushion" style - a spoon of sweet and sour sauce was put in each shell, then another spoon of shredded cheese was put over the top. Grill on a fire. Scoop it all on a spoon and eat. Delicious. I hope I can visit Young Stumbler #1 this month in New Orleans and have her cook this for me!

Odd Elevator

Literally. In the new office building, you see, there is an unusual elevator system. Going up from street level, or going down at all, you have to choose either the ODD or EVEN elevator car, depending on your destination or departure floor. There also is a third elevator shaft, serving the basement parking lots, which is really unusual. Coming UP from the basements, you can to directly to any desired floor, odd or even numbered. But going DOWN to the basement, you have to take the appropriate odd or even elevator to the first floor, then transfer to the basement elevator (the basement elevator serves ALL basement floors, whether odd or even). What a system!



Let's consider my colleague CH, and say he parks on the B4 level. Coming to work, he can just use one elevator, going from the basement directly to our office on the 5th floor. Going home, he must use the ODD elevator to take him to the first floor, then change to the basement elevator to go to B4. Got it?

At least the Korean words for ODD and EVEN have been forcibly driven into my brain now, after I unknowingly got on the wrong car. I'm pushing the 5-button, and wondering why it wouldn't light up. I was traveling well past my floor, when finally by pushing random buttons I got the elevator to stop. I got off, and had to take the stairs back down to the fifth floor.

Reminds me of a logic puzzle one of my friend's mother told us once in grade school. There is a man who takes the elevator from his 25th story apartment to the street level every day to go to work. But at night coming home, he takes the elevator to the 18th floor, gets off, and takes the stairs to the 25th floor. After a LONG session of asking only true/false questions to her, we learned that the apartment dweller was a midget who worked for a circus, and could only reach as high as the 18th floor button in the elevator.

Money Lost

T-Money, that is. I wrote about this special device that is used for subway and bus fares (some taxi's reportely will accept it, too) back two years ago. Well, yesterday this two-year old widget (it attaches to your cell phone) broke. It wasn't visibly broken, it just refused to work. I took it to the station clerk, and he tried it on his machines, and confirmed that it was dead.

You know what's coming... Engineer, broken electronics item... You guessed it. I dismantled the thing to see what's inside.



Here is the main brain. Attached to a wire loop antenna and what I'm guessing is an inductor used for impedance matching.



The cool thing is that I could see immediately what was wrong. One of the antenna wires had come unsoldered. I think I know why it broke, too. You'll notice there is a small pocket in the body of the plastic case, which is where the electronics should be located. In fact, it looks like there was some adhesive holding it down. I say was, because when I opened up this unit, the whole thing was rotated slightly, so that the electronics was at the edge, or slightly outside of that pocket. I believe the resulting stress broke off the antenna wire. I simply soldered it back, and hopefully it will work and I won't lose the $6 or so remaining value.


I'll test it tonight and report back.

EDIT: It works! All those years of Engineering school finally paid off!