Lack of oversight

Power cord next to the water overflow at work. Whoops. Either that or be careful if you are on HR's list, maybe they have a button. I swear on some mornings I do feel like big brother is watching you. They have security people to check your badge, check to see if your mp3 player has a sticker on it, etc. And I got in trouble the other morning, apparently I wanted to use the "wrong" security device to prevent me from transferring anything on to my mp3 player. That led to a call to one of my co-workers (even though I provided MY cell phone number).

Even if you win the rat race, you are still a rat

Ever wonder about the rat race? reading interesting stuff about humans pushing themselves as far away from nature as possible, and part of me wonders, WHY? why do we coop ourselves up in cubicles? It does provide me with envy about the coaches who are outside all day. And you know the funny thing, we make more money, why? so we can get in another totally unnatural thing (the airplane) to spend time in other air conditioned buildings...okay that is overly dramatic, but it is amazing how much time we spend away from nature. and at times you are reminded, life isn't about selling more of a product, or building the latest gadget, not life in the non-human sense...but it is our version of reality, and I am making the most of it (or so I am told ;)

Could have done without that

You know when you have a day where it seems like everything breaks? my knife broke while cutting a too frozen ham, my home theatre no longer works, and i still can't get reimbursed from my stupid insurance company!??! then the next day you manage to miss the elevator, miss the bus you want, and then show up a couple of minutes later than you want...not ideal. i managed to make the bus today, and then also managed to spill my tea all over my desk. thankfully very few casualties this time (not the case when it happened 4 months ago...)

Daily workouts, plus sauna, sooo needed!

Nice to go to the gym, my back and body has been sore. i am worried about getting older, since my body definitely has not healed, maybe the daily commute, the lack of concern for office chairs that are comfortable, etc isn't helping. korean buses aren't big enough, and people don't exactly provide much room with their shoulders...but all i know is that my back has had a few more spasms or pain recently. i need to find an acupuncturist around here (or get on my co-workers case about that...)

A weekend in Tokyo

It happened to be July 4th in the states (they don't celebrate that here), and Michelle flew in for the weekend (this was a long trip, and she gets massive props for flying that far!) The weekend was packed, with first hitting a nice sushi restaurant (where the chefs got REALLY into it, and would shout "Welcome!" and "Thank you!" to every person entering or leaving the restaurant. A nice romantic dinner this was not. But the food (Michelle had good sea urchin roe for the first time and loved it) and the atmosphere had their own charm. Definitely worth returning to.

At night was off to Roppongi, and just check out the scene. We walked down one alley, and I finally turned to Michelle, "should we be concerned that I have not seen ONE couple on this street? ALL men. Yeah, i think these weren't the right kind of establishments...

The next day we toured around Asakusa, where there is more of an older flavor of Tokyo (including a couple of nice temples). The weather became dramatically hot that weekend (and has stayed that way since), so we did our best to stay in the shade.

That afternoon we headed out to Isehara, where my host family lives (I stayed with them starting in 1995 and I hadn't seen my host parents in 11 years!) I saw my host sister's baby boy, who was adorable! When eating pudding, Michelle asked him if it was good in Japanese. We took his grunt to be postive. Then we went briefly to the Tanabata festival (or Star festival), filled with street food, banners, and games. Michelle managed to win a bunch of fish in a game (we left those in Japan with my host family). It was such a nice day, so great to see them and practice my Japanese, and they had traditional wear for both Michelle and I to wear (they gave her a kimono!)

That night was a fantastic restaurant with my host family, owned by the cousin of the director of Totoro (a famous Japanese movie for children, which is why I watched it about 2 months ago). We ate about 15 courses, and we also got to make Mochi, which involves pounding rice. They had a whole set of outfits to wear and drums in the background.

The last day flew by too quickly, more of a relaxing day wandering around our hotel (which was a fantastic place, Royal Park Shiodome). My host family had been really sweet by sending us fruit the first night we arrived. That fruit was actually a godsend, since I had my reservation on the wrong weekend (long story), and my host family informed me of that before I went on the trip!

We sampled some great lunch places around the hotel, I finally bough a Kendama (Japanese toy that I have been trying to find a new one for a while). There were plenty more adventures to be had in Tokyo, but not enough weekend. A great break though all told!

10:30 is an early night

...and i am running on a sleep deficit every day. It takes its toll, including a cold last week...I can't complain though, I might be tired at work, but there is more than enough to do that I barely notice when the day is over. Working until 7-7:30, of course the hour bus ride home is a little harder, but I like the similarities with advertising and realizing that i can't predict any given day and what will come up. I do miss sunlight (A LOT), Koreans on the whole I think like to keep window shades down. I don't get it, but it is the way it works (even in their college days i guess). I mean, if i am hungover i am all for no direct sunlight either, so maybe we can blame this on too many nights out with colleagues...

A gift for my "teaching"

Now this one is cool =) Every one of us that helped at the Samsung development center (learning institution for the best of the best of Samsung's next generation of leaders...) It is now my profile picture in the Samsung directory. Speaking of the directory, one of the funniest things that I have seen, anyone who was in my address book before but left the company is listed as "Retired" I wonder what that implies?