Well, almost.  Still, it requires a great deal of foresight when you are preparing for an extended visit overseas.  Especially when one no longer has commissary privileges.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Korean delicacies as much as the next guy.  And truth be told, you can find just about everything you need in the larger grocery stores or if push comes to shove, Costco.  They even have “black market” markets where you can purchase purloined duty free imports at exorbitant prices.  One example:  A box of Jiffy corn bread mix sells for about 50 cents on the military base and it’s 4 bucks in the foreign market.

Last trip I could find cereal, but not my favorite brands.  Candy and snacks are available too, but there are just not as pleasing to my palate as I’d like.

So, I’ve got a fifty pound limit on each of my bags.  I’ve not weighed my purchases, but I’d reckon I’m pushing around 20 lbs.  Heck, who needs clothes anyway?

Comments (2) | Permalink

So, I was playing around on Google and came across this arbitration decision posted by the National Association of Letter Carries (NALC).  It was a sweet reminder of those long ago days when I represented the Postal Service in grievance hearings.  I never took joy in seeing someone lose their job (ok, I took much satisfaction in winning the case, but I maintained empathy for the plight of the individual involved) but it was a responsibility I took seriously.
I miss my working life.  But looking back on 34 years of government service, I can see it was mostly meaningless.  It sure did seem important at the time though.

Here’s hoping things turned out OK in your life Mr. Brooks.

Comments (3) | Permalink

Comments (2) | Permalink

I never get tired of watching and listening to this.

Comments (0) | Permalink

One of my favorite Korean dishes at my favorite Itaewon dining establishment.

Comments (0) | Permalink

The economy being what it is, you could a lot worse than this hole in the ground…

Comments (0) | Permalink

So last night at o’dark-thirty I wake up and hear a strange noise in the house.  I’m laying there deciding if I’m dreaming, and I hear it again.  It’s a loud “poooosh” sound, kinda like steam escaping from a pot.  I say out loud to Jee Yeun “are you cooking something”?  She responds: “poooosh”.

Never heard snoring like that before.

Comments (0) | Permalink

Charleston, South Carolina.

Comments (0) | Permalink

So, this is how I recycle here in Richland County:

Basically, paper, cans, and plastic.  Oddly enough, no glass.

In Korea, they take recycling to a whole ‘nother level:

We schlep a week’s worth of garbage down the elevator…

…and sort it into specifically designated bags.  Woe be to you if you use the wrong bag, as the “trash police” are there to keep a careful eye on things.

And once the trash boxes are empty, they go on the cardboard pile of course.  There’s even a place for food waste.  I’m pretty sure there is no such thing as a kitchen garbage disposal in the ROK.

Anyway, it’s a pretty efficient system and given the lack of landfill space on the peninsula, necessary.

I do confess that when I worked for USFK I’d take my trash to the dumpsters on base.  Supposedly, USFK would do the recycle piece off post.  At least that’s what it says on the side of the dumpster…

Comments (0) | Permalink

June 2009, Grand Hyatt Hotel, Seoul, Korea.

Pretty hot date, huh?

Comments (0) | Permalink

That I post something hear on my long dormant blog.  I’m living a boring mellow life these days, and what little I have to say about, I’ve been saying to my Facebook pals.

Still, I feel bad about not putting this domain to work.  So I’m thinking I’ll do something here, even if it is just sharing a favorite photo each day.  Who knows, maybe I’ll even come up with a brilliant insight now and again.  But to avoid disappointment in that regard you might ought to just come for the pictures.

So, I started blogging here back in December 2004.  That’s also the month I took a vacation in Istanbul (because I couldn’t Constantinople).  Yeah, my jokes are about as good as my photography skills.  But hey, that’s never stopped me, right?  Anyway, this photo is of the famous Hagia Sophia.

Comments (1) | Permalink

Well, just a quick check-in to let the faithful few know that we are still alive and kickin’.  Having some interesting times here in the Land of the Morning Calm, but also looking forward to getting back to my American life later this month.

You may have noticed that LTG was hijacked recently due to some malware that was in some old blog rolling code I used.  Got that fixed, so at least you can check in and see what I’m not posting about.  Although I do have good intentions to get back to posting one of these days…

Comments (1) | Permalink

Last night I had a pretty intense dream about Korea.  It involved a $600 parking ticket.  God only knows what that means…

Comments (0) | Permalink

Combine a new home security system and a concrete grinder (to even out the slab prior to hardwood installation) and what do you get?  Two firetrucks at your front door.  Seems the concrete dust triggered the fire alarm.  And when ADT couldn’t reach me (my cell phone was inexplicably in the “off” mode), the firetrucks rolled, sirens blaring.

Well, I’m just going to consider it the neighborhood welcoming committee.  And hope it never happens again.

On the plus side, the floors (bamboo) look bitchin’.

Comments (4) | Permalink

…I am simply taking care of my heart.

News Item: Staring at breasts improves heart health

Of course I’ve known for years that staring at asses is great for mental health.

Unless the wife or girlfriend catches you, in which case you will have a whole different kind of health issue to deal with…

Hat Tip: Instapundit

Comments (2) | Permalink

Leaving Korea proved to be harder in the end than I imagined it would be.  The New Year’s eve send off was tremendous and I will carry many happy memories of my Korea life wherever the future may lead me.

Had a long but uneventful New Year’s Day flight to the USA.  I was welcomed to America by a Thrifty car rental agent who made a big show of “doing me a favor” by allowing me to actually rent the car I had reserved.  Seems that if I rent a car using a debit card I am required to provide my return flight information.  Which since I have now made South Carolina my home I don’t possess.  She hemmed and hawed and finally made the comment that she would “do me a favor” and rent me the car.  I was tired and hungover and wanted to tell her to go fuck herself but my desire to get out of the airport and on my way overcame the impulse and the transaction was completed.  Her parting shot was “well, I’ve done my good deed for the day!”.  I shook my head and walked away but I was reminded of one of the reasons I’m dreading living in the USA.  Sanctimonious bitch!

I dropped off my bags at the house and went to visit my mom in the hospital.  Not good.  Not good at all.  I was shocked at how much she had deteriorated since my visit in November.  Things were much worse than I imagined and the doctor confirmed that they would not be getting better.  Since there was nothing more to be done medically (congestive heart failure) we were presented with two options–home hospice care or confinement to a nursing home.  We made the obvious choice of allowing her to die at home.

So, a hospital bed was delivered and set up in the living room (ironic name, eh?).  A hospice worker comes five days a week to bathe my mother.  A hospice nurse comes a couple of times a week.  A social worker also appears periodically.  The rest is up to us family members.  I never imagined I’d participate in changing my mother’s diapers, but that’s now part of my daily routine.  I’m doing my best to make her as comfortable as possible for as long as she may have left, but it somehow doesn’t feel like it is nearly enough.

Mom told me she loves me for coming home to her, so there’s that.

I spilled diet coke on my netbook keyboard on a drunken New Year’s morning.  The computer functioned fine except when I typed letters would randomly be numbers and vice-versa, which made logging on with passwords impossible.  Hence the lack of posting here.  I took it in for repairs and got a call yesterday that there was nothing wrong and I could pick it up.  Well, maybe the Vaio has a self-healing feature or I experienced a minor miracle.  Even more bizarrely the repair shop said “no charge”.

I bought a car, bought insurance for said car, and obtained a South Carolina driver’s license.  The last item was was touch and go.  Despite having my passport and birth certificate, the wanted my original social security card.  Well, when it was issued 40 years ago it was just a flimsy business card material that has long since disintegrated.  I didn’t think to bring my last pay stub but then I remembered that I had failed (intentionally) to return my Army ID card.  And since it won’t expire until 22 January and it showed my SSN, I was golden.  All I had to do now was demonstrate proof of residence.  Well, I’m staying with my parents, but my name is on the deed to the house.  In the state’s eyes, that doesn’t prove I live there (valid point, since my name has been on the deed for 6 years, and I’d been here 6 days).  Of course, the utility bills are in Dad’s name so it looked like I was in a classic catch-22 situation.  Then I remembered my proof of insurance certificate showing my living at this address.  Score!  I am now a licensed driver in SC for the second time in my life.

Thursday I drove my nephew Joshua (who had been staying with mom and was a tremendous help) to the airport in Raleigh.  It was an 8 hour round trip, but my new car handled well and provided a comfortable ride.

Jee Yeun has been an angel.  She’s a natural born caregiver and has really done everything possible to make mom comfortable (including pedicures).

Of course, despite our best efforts, mom is not comfortable at all.  She seems to be having an increasing difficulty breathing and she’s miserable staying in bed.  She begs us to let her up, but it is just not possible to move her in her current state of immobility.

I thought for awhile we were going to lose her last night, but she came around.

Her sisters are due in this afternoon and she’s looking forward to that.

And now we are just watching and waiting and hoping her suffering is not too great.

I hate everything about my new life.  And I’m glad to be here.  For whatever that’s worth.

Comments (5) | Permalink

Little by little I’m wrapping things up.  Meeting with the transportation office today and will be packed out next Tuesday.  It’s all getting real now.

Comments (0) | Permalink

If you can do a half-assed job of anything, you’re a one-eyed man in a kingdom of the blind.

I’m not sure the context for this quote by Kurt Vonnegut.  I mean, I have no reason to believe he was referring to those of us who have spent our working life in civil service.  I certainly am not saying it even remotely applies to me.  But still, I must admit to having had occasional encounters with individuals in positions of power and authority far beyond their level of skill and competence.  I mean, I’m pretty sure that Peter Principle was a government employee.  And so is the President.
Just sayin’.

Comments (0) | Permalink

…all because of those damn teabaggers…

Comments (2) | Permalink

Are you In the Mood?

Comments (0) | Permalink