Lounge

I'm sitting in the airport lounge at the Seoul Incheon International Airport. This is a fairly new lounge in the new A-Concourse. Apparently Delta flights will be served from this new concourse, as this is my second flight from here.



You can see my plane out the window (with the Delta tail), and another JAL plane as well.

Recycling Claws

I stumbled upon this scene this morning, which is the morning after recycling day. I posted a photo before of all the bags of recycled material, but this was the first time I've seen the next step. He picks up several bags at one time and drops them into this huge truck.

BTW, I've noticed that the recycling consists of probably 60% plastic. There's probably dozens of scientific papers written about this, but I wonder why there are fewer jars and cans?

Angus

Met up with Trevor this afternoon, and MY and Angus were there also. Here are the happy mother and son:

Legend

During the seminar we had a break and took a walk around the nearby park. The park, indeed the whole area of the city, appeared completely deserted! I felt like Will Smith in the recent movie "I Am Legend". In fact, this huge park we were wandering around in was built years ago for an international technology world's fair called the Expo 93. Here are few shots of the deserted area, including one of a hippo I made for The Stumbling Mother.

Day Trip

CH and I took a day trip to the city of Daejeon on Monday to attend a seminar. We took the KTX bullet train (pictured above) which took about 50 minutes. The ride was just as comfortable as the Japanese Shinkansen which I've ridden many times. The train runs normally at 300 km/hr, or 185 mph for my American friends. That's really fast!

Arrived at the South Daejeon Station:



Then to the seminar which was held at the convention center.





After the seminar, they offered a full dinner buffet spread for all the participants. Here we all after dinner, and I was steaking strawberries from CH's plate:



We departed from the main Daejeon train station



taking the regular Korail train which took 1 hour 40 minutes, but was not actually too much longer since the station in Seoul was quite a bit closer to our office.

It was tiring, but fun.

Laughing Cow

My latest addiction:





As I'm busily watching a baseball game and eating Laughing Cow cheese cubes and crackers, I was too lazy to photograph these myself - instead I stole these photos from Korean online shopping sites.

Scandinavian Man?

Had dinner last night with some friends, and I was asked the most unusual question twice, by two separate people, in different situations. One was a taxi driver, and the other was a retired cellist. The taxi driver asked me if I was a Swedish man. The cellist asked if I was from Norway, or another Scandinavian country! No one has ever asked me that before, certainly not twice in one night.

I also received an interesting voice mail on my USA cell phone. It was a nice performance of "Let It Be" by some piano player/singer, apparently in a night club. I listened through the whole song, trying to identify some voices in the crowd. After the song ended, there was applause, and a second song began. I gave up after that - I have no idea how long the message was, nor who sent it. This might be someone joking with me, or it could be an example of what I've heard called "butt dialing".

Towel Spin

On the return trip to Korea, I flew to Los Angeles for a side business trip. I drove a couple hours on the Ventura Highway (although it should be more properly called the Ventura Parking Lot) to a small town near Santa Barbara called Carpinteria. Stayed at a Holiday Inn, and couldn't resist taking a photo of this sign in the bathroom:

DEAR GUEST:

Due to the popularity of our guest room Amenities, our Housekeeping Department now offers these items for sale (price list follows).

Each guest room attendant is responsible for maintaining the guest room items. Should you decide to take these articles from your room, instead of obtaining them from the Executive Housekeeper, we will assume you approve a corresponding charge to your account.

THANK YOU

They have very cleverly re-worded what should have been "don't steal the towels, or we'll charge you". Talk about spin! For creativity above and beyond the call, this sign writer should be given an extra bonus, or at least a bath towel.

By the way, Carpinteria, or what I experienced of it in a short overnight stay, is a very pleasant small town. Quite a contrast from the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles.

Handsome

Young Stumbler #2 has come up with his own, new look. Wool pea coat and fedora hat. Very handsome. Look for The Stumbler to copy his style sometime soon...

Birthday

Young Stumbler #3 had a birthday yesterday, which I both missed and completely forgot. Here you can see her about to enjoy a large birthday cookie...

Hasty Dinner

On the return journey Sunday night, we met up with The Stumbling Brother and a Stumbling Friend from my school days. Had a delicious BBQ dinner, but our meeting was much too quick. I had to leave at 5:30am the next morning, so I had to rush away after dinner. I hope we can get together again soon.



Background is The Stumbling Brother, The Stumbler, and The Stumbling Friend. In front is The Stumbling Nephew, and if you look closely I think that is Young Stumbler #4's hand...

Beach Trip

We went to visit Young Stumbler #1 at the beach this weekend. Above you can see The Stumbler's feet getting freezing cold in the water.

Here is YS#4 playing in the sand:





And a few views from the condo where we stayed:







Sunday we went over to visit YS#1's new apartment. I also delivered an old bulletin board from my office, and installed it over her desk.



This is her kitchen:



Here we are enjoying some hot tea:



She asked me to take of my shoes in her home. I felt like I was back in Korea again:



A good time was had by all. I was very happy to see YS#1 again, and am glad she is well situated in her new place.

Beauty

The Stumbling Daughter participated in a "lame beauty pageant" (her words, not mine). Apparently each organization at school nominates one girl to be in the pageant. While I was so busy trying to take a decent photo (which I clearly failed), I didn't get a very good look at her walking and posing on the stage. All I can say is (a) that she didn't Stumble, and (b) didn't seem to be awkward like a few of the girls. However, I will agree with her assessment that it was pretty lame.









Here is my lunch from this weekend. Hot dogs slit down the middle, filled with cheese. Banana slit down the middle, filled with peanut butter. Do you see a theme?

Vroom...

When visiting a service provider's warehouse last week, the owner mentioned that he had a custom chopper that put the "American Chopper" guys to shame. Turns out his chopper is a camper that sleeps four!!!



Chinese fast food from "China Taste" - Garlic Shrimp:

Kiddos

Here are some photos with The Stumbling Kids during my USA trip. Stumbling Daughter #1, being off a medical school, is not included. We'll visit her this weekend.





Not to neglect food photos, here is a delicious dinner I ate - steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, and lima beans.



Now, on this trip to the USA so far, I have driven up through the Smokey Mountains to Ashville, North Carolina. Then onto Greensboro, back to Ashville, then down to The Stumbling Parents on the North/South Carolina border. Finally back to Alabama after stopping for a meeting in Atlanta. I met many friends and family, business associates, and saw beautiful sights. My camera was with me at all times, and I have ZERO photos to show for it. I must do better in the future.

Road Warrior

I've been meaning to post the various gadgets that The Stumbling Engineer takes with him on travel as a Road Warrior.



From left to right, let me introduce each item and briefly discuss the merits and demerits of each.

First you will see my USA cell phone. It is a Samsung Katalyst slider phone, used with T-Mobile service. This phone is a little bit special because besides being a usual GSM cell phone, it also can operate over a Wi-Fi internet connection, using a new service called UMA that T-Mobile introduced last year. In theory, when everything is working correctly, when I am in Seoul I can use this phone over a Wi-Fi connection just as if I were in the USA, with no extra overseas charges. In practice, the service is still new and having growing pains, and is not 100% reliable. But when it works, it is amazing.

Next is my Korean cell phone. It is also a Samsung model, a flip phone. It has a few interesting features not found on normal USA cell phones. First of all, it is a TV receiver for the satellite DMB broadcasts so common in Korea. I can watch TV from my cell phone. One other very helpful feature is the built-in dictionary, Korean to English and English to Korean. Many Korean phones have this feature. On the downside, I think this phone has caught some type of virus - I can't download photos from it anymore. I've been too lazy to take it to the service center to be fixed. It also has a few cracks, and the external display is damaged.

I should point out that the cell phones in Korea are largely incompatible with those in the USA. It is possible with a few phones these days to roam in the other country. However, it is not quite possible to have just one phone, and pop in a SIM card depending on which country/account you are using. But I think this will be available within a year or two.

Next in the photo you will see my digital camera. This model, a Canon SD-550 was recommended a few years ago by our freelancer graphic designer. I've been pleased with it. It is simple to use, and the 7.1 megapixels seems to be good for the kinds of pictures I take. Usually I need it for documenting work-related things, such as photos of circuit boards, electronics assemblies, etc. Or else taking photos of things I see in and around Seoul.

The next item is my iRiver MP3 player. I've had this about 4 years now. It ws originally a 20MB model, but about a year ago I ran out of disk space. So, I did a little surgery on it and replaced the disk drive with a 75GB one! It holds my entire music collection, both Korean and Western music (and a few podcasts - I like to listen to Car Talk). It can also store photos and music videos, but they have to be converted. It has a radio and built-in voice recorder as well. It can also be used as a simple external USB disk drive. And it has great sound!

Finally you can see my PDA. This is an HP iPaq hx4705. It is a full featured general purpose PDA, although I have not been very happy with it over the few years I've had it. It frequently just dies completely, and I have to re-install all the software all over again. In fact, I just did this last week before this trip. And as I type this post, I tried to turn it on, and it was dead again! Sometimes, I can guess what happens - I noticed on the airplane that the memory card had accidentally popped out of the socket, which causes the unit to turn on, which in turn runs down the batteries. When it works, it synchronizes with my PC and stores all my contact information. I have a Korean <-> English dictionary for it, and also subway map software for Seoul (you can calculate the best route and time of travel). I can also watch Slingbox TV on it! If I could just keep it alive, it would be a pretty good device.

Will there ever be one device that can handle all these functions? In my lifetime?

On The Road Again

Actually, that should be IN THE AIR Again. I'm heading out today for a trip to the USA. Should be a fun and busy time. Here you can see my Happy Faces Tie I am wearing for the occassion, clean-shaven as well.



I'm taking the Delta non-stop flight from Seoul to Atlanta. Even though I prefer Korean Air, I have some free upgrade coupons to Business Class that can only be used on the Delta flights. Fourteen hours, but at least I can recline at a decent angle and will have some legroom. Last time I flew economy across the Pacific my knees continually scraped the seat in front of me, my seat didn't recline fully, and I had a backache for 1-1/2 weeks upon landing.

Here's one more photo of me, just before boarding the airplane. You can see I've changed into my flying clothes before getting on board...

Irritated Eyes

For the past few days my eyes have been irritated. I have had eye problems before, but this was a completely different feeling. It felt like I was about to start crying, and my eyes were teary (not actual tears, but moister than normal). Maybe slightly itchy, too. Finally I went to the drugstore today, using body language I explained I needed eyedrops. Using my cell phone's electronic dictionary, I showed her the word "irritated". She produced this bottle of eyedrops, 4 times per day. So far only one day and I don't notice any improvement or worsening. I'll give it a few more days before I start to panic.