Comments (0)

By Marty, February 1, 2010 11:51 am

I’m stopping new production on this blog. I’ve created a new blog which should do pretty much what the old one did. Don’t bother commenting here.

My new blog is here. Bookmark it.

Comments (1)

By Marty, January 31, 2010 8:58 pm

I’ve been using Wordpress as the backend software to this blog for over three years. There’s a lot of content here. It’s been great – until now. These days, wordpress is acting crotchety. I can’t edit an existing article without going through some hoops. I’m finding that making comments is failing as well. My friend Jacek tried and gets a blank screen. I do too.

I’ve tried to get some technical support through the wordpress forums, but that’s a dead end. Wordpress is free and open-source, which means that the good people who make it don’t charge for it. It also means you get what you pay for and if it breaks, well, you get that, too. I used to be a programmer. It’s way more fun to write new programs and features than it is to debug and fix problems, so the multiple attempts I’ve made to get help have gone unanswered.

This isn’t just a simple matter of reinstalling. The content is mixed in with the software files and the articles are within a database.

I’m not sure which way I’ll take it. I may open a new blog and just call this my archived Korean blog. I may try to fix it which means something might break. I may just hobble along until a clean solution appears.

Comments (1)

By Marty, August 27, 2009 11:46 am

My internet rocks, and yours doesn’t.  Something I’ve known since 2004 when I first came here – Korea’s internet kicks ass and America’s doesn’t.  Bizjournals has a brief article on how behind the US is compared to us here in Korea.

At the bottom of the article it mentioned the universal service payments on your phones. When’s the last time you paid the advertised price for your cell phone or landline? Never – it’s so laden with fees that are supposed to help pay for all that wonderful infrastructure that you don’t get.  My home phone here cost – $5/month.

OK. I’m done sticking my tongue out at you people in the US.  I’m going back to downloading more movies and music.

Comments (2)

By Marty, June 14, 2009 9:50 am

This is the Unholy Quartet. A fetid combination of animal, vegetable and mineral refuse and remains. I categorize it now as I do so many things that are just “different” here in Korea: “Korea Style.” That’s damn near anything that is just different from my home in the US. It’s been a while since I said things here were “weird” or “strange.”  It’s just “Korea Style.” Admittedly, some of the things they do are better than in the USA and of course, some are not as good. Many are just different. Like this, the unholy quartet.

This is the trash on our back veranda. Nothing new here. Everyone’s got (or should have) the recycling things: Paper and cardboard recycling, plastic and aluminium recyclables, and the non-recycling junk (I have to pay for the purple bag, the proceeds of which pay for the landfill) which has the soiled napkins, greasy foil, etc.  Sure, we’ve all got these.

But not everyone has the 4th and final final member of the unholy quartet. The coup de grace, if you will. The slop bucket:

This is where all of the food scraps go to die. Lettuce refuse, fish bones, carrot peels – anything organic get tossed into this slimy little bucket. When it’s full, I set it outside on the curb for the slop bucket truck to take. It’s costs me $0.10 each time to empty. Quite cheap, but given the vile smell, I’d rather just have a garbage disposal like nearly everyone in America has. Usually, we fill it up in a week. By then, the veggies have begun to liquify and putrify and it’s disgusting even to open the thing to add more.  Once the slop bucket truck empties it, it has to be vigorously cleaned, usually with strong bleach. It’s a real pain in the ass.

However, taking them all off my veranda to the curb is not simply the end of things. I wish it were. This week while riding my bike I got stuck behind the slop bucket truck who was making his rounds. The smell around it was a nearly visible cloud of funk. Although I stopped and waited for it to move along, the stench had already permeated my clothes. Yum. Korea Style.

And, of course, the paper/cardboard has it’s own army of cleaners, too.  The cardboard people. Almost always old men and women who gather the paper refuse and take it to points unknown. Korea Style.

Maybe it’s just a bit of my wanting to share this Korean lifestyle that makes me want to write about things like this. Only two visitors from America in 3.5 years and I guess the rest of you have to live it vicariously through this blog.

Comments (3)

By Marty, June 5, 2009 9:39 pm

That’s what Harry Eaddy, my former boss at SGI, used to say. When presented with what would appear to be a stiff challenge, he’d remind me of that little witticism. That’s me. I’m a stepper.

My biggest obstacle to getting Teri’s video uploaded has been time. I get to spend only a few hours dorking around with various solutions. Its lots of time just waiting. Waiting for uploads,  downloads, computer number-crunching as it creates video frames.  Then there’s trying out various incantations of software, each a series of waiting period. Last, there’s some brain power that takes some time, too.

But, as Peggy pointed out in her last comment, I’d figure it out. I nearly always do. I’m a geek. A guru. A computer nerd. And figuring out how to solve the problems become an obsession until it’s done. And now it’s done.

Briefly, for just an instant, I  thought that for all the work I’d put into it  just to get a frickin’ video up…but then I remembered. This is my daughter’s graduation!  This is Teri!  

 And the result is this:

Congraulations, Teri!

Love,
Dad

Comments (0)

By Marty, February 24, 2009 1:55 am

There are so many people on facebook these days it just makes sense.  I just included some code to connect my online newspaper’s restaurant guide with facebook to make it easier for people to interact with our reviews.  Seems like a nice little tool. With all the websites running around these days, each one requiring usernames and passwords to interact with, that reducing things just a little makes sense.

Therefore, if you have a facebook account, you can connect to my blog here quite easily. No more trying to remember your username and password if you can at least remember your facebook set, which should be slightly higher in importance in your internet world than just this simple blog.

See you online

Comments (0)

By Marty, February 10, 2009 2:56 am

Not uncommon in Korea is to just spread a bunch of newspapers on the floor, fire up a small grill and cook up a boatload of dead animal. We had one last Saturday and MyeongHee’s friends, all older broads, partied down on our veranda.

The Oni Dul crew, from left UnZung, ChingGyu, OkDong, SeoIn and MyeongHee

Oni is the Korean word for “older sister” whether you’re related or not. Dul (the ‘u’ is pronounced the same as in ‘put’) is the plural form, hence oni dul is MyeongHee’s way of saying her older sisters.

Kickin’ it, Korea Style

Comments (0)

By Marty, January 23, 2009 1:54 am

Have you been to Ulsan online yet? I’ve been speding lots of time lately on the site writing code, formatting, editing and even writing articles. I hope to write more articles, but lately its been down-and-dirty geek stuff. I’m not complaining, because as a geek, that’s fine for me.

The work I did for the Ulsan Pear and, briefly, for the Korea Sun, were all volunteer. This one has been, too, so far, but that may be about to change. We’ve reached the point where we have enough content to get some of the local businesses to pay for banner ads and other forms of advertising. I might actually make some coin in this venture. Not enough to get rich, but it might be enough to buy me a beer or two.

One perk I get so far is a discount on the bar at Benchwarmers, a local sports bar and one of our partners. I also get to advertise for MyeongHee’s hair shop, listed on the same page.

Check out the site and tell me what you think.  Should any of you actually want to visit me here, it might give you a decent idea of what living here is like. This blog has only my experiences, not the breadth of experiences of dozens of expats like me.

Comments (0)

By Marty, December 27, 2008 7:09 am

Probably one of the quieter ones – ever. MyeongHee has been hit hard with a nasty flu/cold and spent most of Christmas Eve and Christmas in bed. I entertained myself with a few movies and books and some lovely naps.

My grandaughters are doing well, although they are very tiny and premature. My daughter has done a fabulous job of taking care of herself throughout her pregnancy and, if that’s any indication, she’ll be a fabulous mommy, too.  The excitement of their early arrival has not settled into anticipation of meeting them when I return home in May.

I’m off work until January 5th and have no plans other than to relax and catch up on some writing I’ve been meaning to get back to. My second book, “The End of the Road” is not coming along as quickly as I would have liked. Things like the Korea Sun (now dead), a new Ulsan website for foreigners (some writing, editing and programming work) and a short story (writing) have taken up my time. There’s only two things I have planned this week: a trip to Daegu for some western grub and a day trip to Yangsan for a little skiing.

Comments (1)

By Marty, December 14, 2008 3:44 am

Way back in August, I mentioned that I was the new Editor-in-Chief of the ex-pat magazine “The Korea Sun.” I signed on, worked with the existing authors and photographers, recruited a few more and had put together a fine looking set of articles. It was all for naught, however.

The publisher had set up the magazine on a advertising-paid basis. The magazine, which was free, was distributed to many of the places foreigners and tourists go. The advertising never seemed to take off and he could not generate enough ad revenue to cover printing costs. I didn’t quite understand that since they had never approached any of the advertisers of the previous foreigner paper, the “Ulsan Pear.“  Regardless, with revenue off and costs high, publishing was put off for September and the October issue was targeted. Before that could even happen, it was then slated for a January release and meant to go quarterly. That never happened either and the publisher has since tried to sell the Sun to a Korean news tabloid that would charge around $2 an issue. The all English magazine would be relegated to the back pages of an otherwise all-Korean paper. I have no idea of the financial terms he was asking for the paper. But since all the writers and photographers and even the editor were volunteer staff whatever price he was asking must have been too high. It never sold and The Korea Sun has set.

Meanwhile, one of the former Ulsan Pear founders and rock-climbing buddy, Fin Madden, has started up an online foreigners magazine. I’ve joined him in the effort and have begun editing and writing articles. The new publication, is UlsanOnline.  I’ve already contacted the authors I worked with on the Sun and have been re appropriating the stories they wrote for print to online. Small now, but we hope it will grow.

The business model for going online is so much more compelling. We ship only electrons, not protons (there’s a geek-of-the-week explanation in there somewhere.) We needn’t cut trees for paper. There’s no printing costs. Deadlines are non-existent since we don’t have to publish on a regular basis. The only cost is computer hosting, which for a year’s service is a fraction of the cost of one month’s printing cost. The only drawback to online publication is that you can’t roll it up and take it with you. But even that is rapidly changing as more and more mobile phones and other gadgets have internet accessibility. Some even have a “read-it-later” feature that lets you download an article your iPhone. I don’t think print is dead, but there’s becoming more and more reasons not to use paper, especially for limited life-span articles and news.

So, check out UlsanOnline and see what the other foreigners (and me) do in our spare time.