Being the self professed technology "geek" that I am... I have found South Korea's lack of free wifi quiet saddening. Seoul in particular, if jam packed with coffee shops galore. There are literally dozens stacked on top of each other, while major chains such as Starbucks and TOMNTOMS have upwards of 6 or 7 within a few mins walking distance.

The challenge is, many of these major chains don't offer free wifi, and many of the littler chains that do offer free wifi also serve beer. Have you ever tried to read a book or study in a packed coffee shop that serves beer? (maybe something for law schools to consider!)

Either way, yesterday I was told by a friend that Starbucks and Google, the infamous search giant have teamed up to offer free wifi Korea's Starbucks. (Wonder why Google would do such a thing? 4% market share). Anyways, I haven't tried it out yet, but you'd better believe I will...

Here's a link to the story

From flickr

So I was watching TV the other day and ran across a documentary. There was a person interviewing a 6 year old chinese kid who looked like a miniature Mr. Olympia, obviously I paused to watch a moment. It appears that this kid is somehow related to superman... The interviewer has the kid flex a few times and then has the boy start doing pushups. Let me tell you, when the counter hit 100, I was impressed. 200, I was speachless. 500, I thought, this has to be a joke. 1000, Yea... at 2200 push ups (all of which, mind you, are being video taped and counted on a hand held counter by the interviewer) the interviewer asks the child if he'd like to stop because he looks tired. The child insists he's fine, the interviewer tells the child there's nothing more to show, everyone's impressed and he could quit. The child hesitantly states that he will simply do a few more and then stop. When the interviewer asks "well how many more?" The child responds, "maybe 1000?" The child went on to do over 3500 total push ups. So I googled around and found an article about the child. Now while the article might give rise to skepticism, I know that the boy can do at least 3500 in just over an hour. There's gotta be a video of this online somewhere... the documentary was in Korean... So I'll continue scouring the Korean video sites... If you find it let me know!

The article:

Lu Di, 6, flexes his muscles as other young kungfu students watch at a kungfu school in Central China's Henan Province July 26, 2006. According to school president Shi Yongdi, Lu did 10,000 pushups in three hours and twenty minutes four days ago. Since he shows so much promise, Shi says the school will waive his tuition for ten years.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200607/28/eng20060728_287677.html

So I mentioned before that I was interested in taking pictures... Got a few.. Not a whole lot worth seeing, but I'm practicing. A good friend of mine said you have to snap over 100 to get one "money shot." Money shot or not.. it's fun.. and I'm getting weird looks.

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So it's been a pretty exciting week here in Seoul, with the olympic spirit in full swing, Koreans are practically glued to their television sets. At the top of the list might be Korean swimmer Tae-Hwan Park who nabbed Korea's first ever Olympic gold in swimming.
Next you've got the crazy soccer games (two of which I've caught). It seems like every discussion I've had with my debate students ends up a conversation about the olympics.

For those of you who can't keep your faces glued to the tube, here are a couple of medal count links you might find helpful:

This first one is courtesy of the infamous Yahoo, whose board of directors is still in tact btw. It ranks based on total number of medals.

This one is the official count by the Beijing Olympic Website and ranks based on number of gold medals.

Finally, I just wanted to throw down an excerpt of a pretty interesting article I read on ESPN.com

No way met no quit.

"I changed," he said. "I thought, 'That's ridiculous. I'm at the Olympic Games, I'm here for the United States of America. I don't care how bad it hurts, I'm going after it.'

"I just got a super charge."

What transpired during the final 50 meters was the stuff of Disney movies. It was the kind of thing that should land Lezak a co-starring role with Phelps on cereal boxes and network morning shows. And if Phelps does complete the great eight and pocket a $1 million Speedo bonus, he should cut a check for one-eighth of that total to the guy who kept the quest alive: Jason Lezak.

It's a great piece to give you a jolt of patriotism... ESPN ARTICLE

And last but not least... I'm going to be kick'n it with Scholar Jon and Big EZ this weekend. Should make for a good time.. I'll also get the new camera I ordered.. so hopefully I'll have some very amateur pictures to throw up on my newly created flickr account... See you soon!

Just a quick post today.. I went into the gym this morning to do a little iron pumping, since rockstars guns are bigger than mine. And and as I checked in at the front desk I could faintly hear the music coming from the mens locker room... Hmm, that' interesting I thought. I know I've heard that melody somewhere.. Well, as I made my way into the locker room the song was unmistakable.. It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls. What I wasn't prepared for were the 5 undressed men standing around the locker room all singing the song. Welcome to Korea!

A friend of mine, who's a teacher showed me this... The writing assignment was to write about your perfect day:










*of note: The girls doesn't appear... or call.. she just shoots him a text message --> very Korean ^~

So I was studying the logic of sampling today and I ran across an intersting bit of information that made me think back to a converastion rockstar and I had about the infinitude of God.  Regarding sampling, statisticians assume that the population being sampled is  inifinitly large and therefore "every sample is 0% of the  of the whole.  This might be a stretch and It could just simply mean I need to take a break from listiening to this lecture, but I wonder if it has any implications for our conception of God? Consider that God by definition must be an infinite. While J.P. Moreland goes into great lengths to discuss the concept of an actual infinite which I will not go into (primarily because rockstar and I already discussed it until our heads hurt).
If God is an infinite being then all that we can ever know about Him is equal to 0% of Him.
If God is love, than all that we can ever know about Love is equal to 0%.
If God is mercy and grace, compassion, humility, faithfulness, we can only ever know... 0%.

I forget where I read/heard this, (maybe driscoll?) but I remember someone saying that the gap between God and man is infinitely great. And so whether you're Billy Graham or the serial murderer who repented moments before execution, we might as well be in the same place. My original thought on the aforementioned comparison was to use Billy Graham and Satan or Ted Bundy, except, according to much of theology, salvation through acceptance of Christ allows us to bridge that infinite gap between us and God. Upon writing that, my first thought is: "If the gap is infinite, how is it bridged?" Perhaps because Christ, being God is also infinite? Maybe this post is just an excuse for me to take a break... and proof that my mind is melting... or maybe I just needed to write it down so I could come back to it later?

btw: My good friend scholar jon arrived in Korea a couple of weeks ago... He's been throwing up some pretty interesting posts. I encourage you to drop him a visit and check out the mind of someone experiencing Korea and all it has to offer for the very first time! Jon's Emmaus Road Blog

So I'm back in Seoul after spending some much needed time away reflecting, contemplating, showing Louie the beauty of the 오토바이... and just taking some time to recover. As I got off the bus last night in Soul, I noticed a particular smell... not necessarily bad, but not exactly pleasant either. I was talking with my housemate this morning and told her about it, she commented, "Ahh the smell of metropolitan Korea." Hmmm.. Interesting. As I got back to my room and proceeded to take a shower the subtle scents took me back 11months ago to my first impression of the "mother land" as some refer to it... I remember the excitement, the anticipation, and then the shear exhaustion of my first transpacific flight in over 20 years. Anyways, it's amazing how the slightest scent or voice can take us back days, weeks, even years... translate us for a few breathes... I'm glad to be here another year. The opportunity to study, work, learn, teach, give, experience, I welcome them all.

Oh yea... I saw my other roommate just a few mins ago... His first words, "Nice to see you're back... you gained weight, ha ha ha" My response... yea 2lbs, thanks for noticing.. :P On vacation, all the comments were "wow, you're small" or "you look sick, you need to gain some weight" or "man, I don't even recognize you." Here, they're just the opposite, how a few miles can change people's perceptions so much... It's good to be back.

So I picked up a new book I've been wanting to read for a while, Humility by C.J. Mahaney. It comes highly recommended and endorsed. I first heard about it from Mark Driscoll... Of all the things I feel like I could work on, I feel like this may be the biggest. I've had a few realizations in the past few years, but I feel like there so much more I can learn, and so many ways I still need to grow... I'll keep you posted...

like i said.

So I saw Esther yesterday and the first thing she says is "omg... Your hair is big..." Translation: time for a hair cut. So I go to the hair place today and after cutting my hair, the gal asks me how I like it "styled." My first response was "sexy," but decided to just give the typical "you know.." guy response. So after throwing some wax in there and asking me to do my thing... She tells me that my hair is "pc" ? Huh? PC? Like Political Correctness? Yup. Just like that. She continues, "you know, some people want their hair all kinds of crazy, while other people go for the poindexter look. You on the other hand, you go a bit crazy but keep it within the limits... That's 'pc'" Hmmm.. the guy sitting across from me at starbucks, just ripped a nasty one. I glance up, and he gives me a wink... :\ I think this post is done now.

So I was hanging out with Jane and Christine last night, it was good to see them and have some dinner. Nothing like a little naengmyeon and galbi to help catch up... Anyways, afterwards we went to this cool little place to have a drink and met up with some of their friends. As we're sitting around the table talking one of the girls next to me looks over and tells everyone (in Korean) that I look like this really famous actor from American movies. Visions of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li start running through my head.

For a moment I even had flashbacks to elementary school when kids would ask me to show them karate because I was asian, and obviously if we had smaller eyes, we should have learned karate from an old drunk war vet while growing up...anyways... Then she named the actor: I clench my teeth as I hear the name Tom Hanks. What? are you serious? Then it started to make sense... She was native Korean, so I suppose if i look a little bit like "whitey" (as my other friend describes it) then sure.. okay Tom Hanks.. "But which Tom Hanks?" I asked. To which Christine responded, "the younger one." Hmm.. Tom Hanks from Big? After a few mineutes of trying to imagine the implications of being told I look like the "Big" Tom Hanks, I felt I could accept it as a compliment. Nope, too late. The actor had changed, and a couple of the girls were describing another movie... really great acting, really handsome star... yup that who I look like.. that guy.. but what was the movie? Wait for it... The Shawshank Redemption. Yup, I've just been told I look like Morgan Freeman from Shawshank :\ (maybe Elliott and I are closer than I thought?) Now I can't help but laugh... Okay.. I look over that this girl and try to squeeze out a.. "thank you?" to which she replies that it's "the other guy." Tim Robbins? My response, "thank you?" and we should call her a cab, because she needs her sleep.




I'm thankful for ridiculous comparisons from both sides of the ocean regarding we "exotic blends" ;) including the awkward situations they bring and the laughs that follow.

So it's been a while since I last threw some thoughts up into this great cloud we call the blogosphere.. I know, I generally blog during midterms and finals when I should be studying.. but this time around I didn't get a chance to study too much for my finals, so I'll make up for lost time.

Earlier this week while teaching a contemporary issues course, I found myself presented with the age old question of "Is money necessary for happiness?" Needless to say, there were a variety of opinions on the topic and it was interesting to hear the different view points from Korean students, especially the ones that come from fairly affluent families. In the course of our discussion, I referred my students to an article that simply stated that people are generally "happier" when they journal. (or blog in our cases) Either way, the article said that people who journal/blog can go back and reflect on the things they're thankful for and see how their lives have, over time changed, had ups and downs and regardless of the difficulties, these "journalers" (or bloggers) tend to appreciate their lives more than people who don't.
One thing I'm at at fault for, is not taking enough time to stop and be thankful. To fully reflect on how many tens, if not hundreds or thousands of things I could be thankful for... So starting today, I'm going to work on making it a habit...

Today I'm thankful for friends: To top the list would be rockstar. It's amazing how in a world of 6 billion people, all of who have differing personalities, desires and goals, we can find someone and be able to share our entire life with them. Rockstar and I, on many levels, are pretty different. He's creative, I try... I'm tall, he tries... He sings, I try... By the way, did I mention I was tall? ;) Anyways, in the past several months, I've had the opportunity to give to him and receive from him more that I could have imagined. Sometimes I hear people talk about "divine appointments." If you're not familiar with the term, it refers to the crossing of two (or so) paths with a destiny set by God. I truly believe with all my heart rockstar and I have that. I'm still not quite sure what we'll accomplish or how else we're going to continue to help each other, but I'm confident that we will.

Of course I can't forget people like the one and only Mr. Farmer, The Good Doctor and soon to be Mrs. Good Doctor, LM3 and ToriM3, Matt Brunk whose brutal honesty is refreshing, Mentor Tracey Beal, and the slew of friends in Korea including the gyopo of all gyopos... and the countless others...

For you all I am grateful....

My friend just laughed at me for saying "I'm trucking along now! 8
pages down, only 86 more to go!" -- I don't get it. On a side note
I'm considering pursuing a joint masters degree at duke... Hmmmmmm

Back to hangul. ( just think joe, thus could be you! ;)

Ran across this story today while hitting up Drudge when I ran across this headline "Groomed eyebrows a headache at high school..." Hmmm... Interesting. My first thought was maybe someone got beat up for shaving their eyebrows? or maybe guys were being teased for plucking their eyebrows... not that I'm against that, I mean I don't do it, but to each his own (I suppose :\). Anyways... I click through to read the article and come to find out that kids are actually using their eyebrows as gang signs!

Police say gangs have co-opted the trend for their own use, with one gang's members marking themselves by shaving one line into an eyebrow and three lines in the other to symbolize 13. (STORY)

That's AMAZING! Gone are the days of "slingin the deuces" and throwin up the "\\//\\//est Side!" Now we'll really see who all the posers are! ;)



You know I can't help but imagine all the fathers or "late 30 somethings" who are going to try to be "hip" and shave up their brows... Hmmm.. ran across this photo... poor guy, shaved a barcode into his brows... (shaking head)


...Yup it's definitely mid-terms week.. more nonsense to come as I try to avoid going crazy...

So I attend church at a pretty cool place called Yoido.  Heard about it while I was in the states and so I decided to attend while I'm in Korea (and it's only 10 mins from my house).  I try to mix it up from time to time and attend the Korean service, but recently I've found myself attending the English service.  It's amazing how many people from different countries come and attend this church.  Today the Nigerian Ambassador dropped by with his wife.  And while I was going to take one of those "Handshake and Smile" pictures... I didn't have my camera with me and I felt a bit ridiculous saying.. "Okay Mr. Ambassador, smile for the handphone." Anyways, I snapped a couple quick ones... The guy in the black suit behind him is either his body guard/driver or his man servant. (Not quite sure)

...still working on the blog.. sorry for the mess...

Reworking the blog over the next few... sorry about the mess.

Well I was looking back through my blogs and I noticed that around midterms and finals there was a spike in my blogging.. Hmmm.. Why stop now right?The article goes on to mention Korean web giants Naver.com (by far Korea's top search engine) and Cyworld (by far Korea's top social networking sight).  I've tried to use cyworld in the past, as a matter of fact cyworld did a US launch and as far as I can tell aren't having the success they hoped for.  For me cyworld was a little bit too involved.  Let me explain: You have to build a character, decorate your room, hang posters, buy clothes, add a tv, update your furnature... All sorts of "nonsense" that mimic daily life.  I don't know about you, but when I log onto facebook it's to get away from daily life.  Next, I use google.com as my primary search engine.  Why?  Because it's no frills search.  I love more the fact that the google search bar is built into my browser because then I don't have to look at anything.  I can just type my search terms in the little box and BOOM there are my results.  Today, for the first time, I decided to use Naver.com.  And instantly, I can tell you why these web giants are struggling.    The chosun.com article states that...

Experts say the foreign challengers have failed to understand the peculiarities of the South Korean market. Their quality suffers in comparison to local offerings in terms of Korean-language features, site design and sophistication of services, South Korean experts argue.

After using Naver.com for just 2 search terms, I immediately began to wonder if anyone from Google ever did research on Korea before launching google.kr?  Let me use a couple of photo examples.


References: 

So I spent some time a few weeks ago in the motherland.  Well not my motherland (although the majority of my caucasian friends wouldn't know) but Chinese peoples' motherland.  And better yet, in Beijing where it all happens.  Or will happen.. this summer... for the 2008 olympics... so long as Tiebet doesn't interfere, or is it China that's interfering with Tiebet? I'll leave that to those who are more familiar with the matter :\  Before I get too far off topic... here are some pictures:

Just thought I'd throw down a few words before my day gets started. First, I've met some new friends in the past couple of days, some really good people with a variety of backgrounds... I say that to say we were having a discussion yesterday over coffee... and I realized that I came to John's defense when the topic turned to his age of ~40. Hmmmm... I thought about it last night and I can honestly say that I don't believe 40 is old.. then again it's not to far from 30 right? :\

So I just got back from a week long trip to China.  You know visited The Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Tieneman Square.  (I took over 500 pictures!)  But that's not what I'm going to blog about right now, at this very moment, while I'm trying to fight off a cold, I'm going to blog about my experience with GoDaddy.com .  

Well, Yonsei's Intensive Korean Language level 2 is over, and it's on to level 3! Level 3 is different in several regards from the first two levels. First, in the first two levels, you switch instructors after midterms, in level 3 it's the same instructor all the way through. Next starting in level 3 you get to choose an elective. In level 3 there are four: reading, writing, speaking, listening. Beginning in level 4 you can choose to learn subjects like korean culture, food, and even hanja, Korea's ancient language and alphabet (this is the foundation of Chinese, Japanese and Korean).