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.

Burrito for Breakfast

Burritos aren't so bad for breakfast. I made another batch this week, this time using Red Kidney Beans, a slightly different style of spicy chopped tomatoes, and fresh chopped pork meat. I remember now why I had that pork meat - I had bought some for making Curry Rice (not Korean soup). You tell the butcher that you want it for Curry Rice, and he'll chop it up into small cubes for you. I think next time I want to make it with beef or chicken. Or (gasp) vegetarian with just the beans and sauce.

Homemade Burrito

I had a chance to eat at Dos Tacos last night, and tonight I was still in the mood for more Mexican food. So I decided to try to make a burrito. I should point out that this was facilitated by the recent change-over of our local Homever shopping mart to the new Home Plus mart (Home Plus having bought all the Homever stores). This is good because, in my experience, Home Plus has a larger selection of products. Including beans!!!!



Those are Chili Beans with spices from Home Plus on the right, and on the left a can of seasoned tomatoes that I found in an import store last month. I also had some diced pork meat in the freezer, left over from a Korean soup that I made. Mix them all together and you get an acceptable burrito sauce:



Let me confess here that I have no idea what really should go into a burrito sauce. But this came out pretty good.

Next you need rice (available in every Korean home), tortilla (available at Costco), shredded cheese (commonly available as "pizza cheese" in most stores)








Finally put on the sauce, cheese, and roll up the burrito (I sprinkled a little hot sauce over the top before rolling).







You can see my tortilla tore a little bit. Probably because I over-stuffed it. I ended up eating it with a fork. But by overstuffing, I was so full I could only eat one. Not bad for a meal with no advance planning at all. It was only missing sour cream and salsa sauce, neither of which I had. But still I'll give it an Stumbling A minus.

Wellington

Well, after missing the special menu during my Thanksgiving trip to Outback, I was sure to ask for it last night when I went there again for Christmas. Steak Wellington was a steak cooked with a layer of bread around the outside. It was really delicious. The sauce was surprisingly good, since in my previous Outback experiences their sauces weren't very good. This one had a hint of red wine taste, but a gravy texture. To my surprise, I could only eat about half of it!



I must say that the longer I live in Korea, the more I prefer the Korean-style of grilling your beef at the table, usually in small bite-sized pieces. Not that I go very often, but I don't think I'll be going back to Outback much anymore.

I must comment that this is the first photo I've posted of me with my beard. This started on a whim a few months ago, as I was getting tired of shaving. The first time I went to get my haircut after that, the lady didn't spare me her feelings. She said it looked really bad on me. Made me look dirty and like a homeless man! But at that time it was fairly new, so we made a deal. After 6 weeks, she would tell me her honest opinion and I would keep it or shave it accordingly. Well, after 6 weeks I changed from homeless-looking to "normal" looking I guess, and she told me that to her surprise, it now looked good on me. I've kept it, but it turns out that having a beard is no less work than shaving every day. I have to trim it every week with an electric trimmer. I still have to shave around the edges of the beard (especially my neck), although I can do it every other day instead of daily. But basically it as much or more of a pain than shaving daily. I decided to keep it until Christmas, in the hopes of getting invited to lots of Christmas parties as Santa (good idea, but it didn't happen). Therefore I'll be shaving it off tonight.

Here are a few more bearded photos I have for reference...


You can see that my beard grew in two colors. My natural hair color, which used to be a very dark brown, and my new hair color, gray! The whole effect reminds me of a dalmation!



A few weeks ago my Korean friend "Gee" invited me to his birthday party, which concluded singing Karaoke. Here we are giving the Korean photo mandantory "V" sign. Here you can see the dalmation effect more clearly.


Here is my beard in profile, and you can also see my broken nose profile as well. Usually I'm embarassed about my nose, but there was something about this photo that made me proud instead.


Making an intelligent retort to something Trevor asked me. (Thanks to Trevor for taking the above two photos.)

Anyway, that's all for Christmas. The Stumbler will be clean shaven from now on.

Pitiful Pine

I remembered suddenly that we have a small artificial Christmas tree. John bought this back in 2004 when we first came here. It's been sitting in a box for a couple years. I'd forgot I had it until this afternoon (Chrismas Eve) when I saw it sitting on top of a cabinet at the office. So, for one night I have a small taste of Christmas:

International Party

I found a notice on my door the other evening. I was invited to an Christmas Party for the International Residents of my building! Since I only know of one other foreigner here, I was surprised there were enough to make up a party! But it turns out there are four homes with foreigners here, two from Canada, me from the United States, and one family from Columbia! Plus at the part, a friend of the host was from The Netherlands.

I thought it was just going to be snacks, but we were also served a delicious meal as well. Hungarian Goulash. My neighbor told me he calls it Western Kimchi Stew.

Anyway, I had a fun time, and it was nice to meet the neighbors.









This reminds me of a story from a Korean I know who was essentially raised in the USA. He is back in Korea now, and I need to point out is reportedly an excellent cook. He told me he would opened his doors to the neighbors when he moved in, and cooked a huge dinner for them. He said these neighbors had lived on the same floor for years but had never actually met each other!

Fire Gawker

As I went to bed last night, I saw a lot of smoke coming from a small building, and the fire trucks were all there with their flashing lights and spraying water on the fire. Well, this morning I had to to walk by and see what had burned. It was a small warehouse structure, with an electronics shop in the front (which seemed to have taken most of the damage).







Somehow these images turned up to bright. To my surprise, all the various image processing software I have can easily brighten an image, but there are no options to darken an image. That's really strange.

Fajitas for Breakfast!

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.