Welcome to 3-D

Here are some of my students before a class the weekend I got the new TV, I got 2 free battery-powered 3-D goggles with the home theater system..and 2 more pairs with the TV...so I'm up to 4 pairs now!! You're always welcome to come join in for a viewing of Monster vs. Aliens...tickets are available for all screening times...discounts after 11pm and before 9am when I'm actually home...

Farming Update

Was really inspired to read dad's post the other day about all his crops...thought I should share a brief update of my plot(s) over here. With the extreme heat of Korean summers, we had to do a scorched-earth policy and rip out everything down to the roots last weekend. Basically nothing survives all the way through August here...I still had some eggplant flowering, and looking like peppers and tomatoes might grow a few new veggies...but everyone here rips out everything, turns over their plot, and this time of year everyone is planting cabbage and radish in preparation for kimchi making season, which is usually in the winter, late November to December. So I cajoled Jihye into joining me, she REALLY didn't want to...but we got out there this past Sunday, and after about 3 hours of me nearly over-heating, and incredibly as the first drop of a fierce thunderstorm fell, we put the finishing touches on planting 46 heads of kimchi-making cabbage. Wow...really a strenuous workout...I had to stop and sit down for about 15 minutes during it out of sheer exhaustion and some fears I might pass out. It's still hot here, and the ground is wet from all the heavy rain, so it was like ripping out veggies, shoveling and turning over, and creating planting beds out of modeling clay. Thanks for the blisters Mother Earth...I owe you one...or 4!!

Here are a couple photos of some of the last veggies we harvested before ripping it all out. Excited for next year already, to get an earlier start, to know what the hell we are doing, and to experiment with organic fertilizers and perhaps some different and new veggies. We lost all our spinach to the heat this year, missed harvesting them by a week...so, next year could be much more bountiful. Happy growing!! And welcome to the self-sustenance way of life April...hope we can trade some notes on what works and doesn't...it really is a wonderful hobby.

New Home Goodies...

I finally had my 18 year old man tech. orgy recently....as you may or may not know, mom was kind enough to buy me a new computer and large monitor on her final day here. I didn't know we weren't suppossed to share when someone did something so nice for someone else..I'll have to remember that...or not! Anyhow, her gift got me to thinking, what else could someone who has ground away and lived on floors and in closets for six years without spending a penny do for himself....the obvious choice was a new home theater system. So I bought Samsung's top-of-the-line 7.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound home theater system. (Funny, Samsung sells different products in Korea that they do in the US...and Korean-made products are much more expensive here than they are there...odd...but something to do with the ABSOLUTE monopoly they have on the market here...)

Anyways...so I had my home theater for a week and let me just say that having 7 full-powered speakers and a giant sub-woofer in a small one-bedroom apartment makes for some AWESOME sound. I joked with Jihye about getting a big-screen TV to round off my new home entertainment system, but bagged the idea. I was feeling internally guilty for having bought a new top of the line bed, getting a new state of the art computer w/ 27" HD monitor, and now a cutting edge home theater system...I should cool off for about a year and get a nice big screen next year. But of course, I was bit by the bug and splurged. I ended up getting a Samsung 50" HDTV with 3-D!!! There is not much content available in 3-D yet, but even watching the one movie that is produced Monster vs. Aliens is breathtakingly gorgeous!! Also, Samsung's 3-D TV's allow me to turn any HD content on regular broadcast into 3-D with the simple press of a button. So HD soccer games, 'click'...3-D!! HD movies on TV, 'click'...3-D!! They're not as good as content originally produced in 3-D...but still adds some depth to the viewing.

So..I finally caught my breath this morning, and will try a couple blog posts...but thought I should lead off with my bragging...err...sharing report of my new home entertainment system...felt nice to drop $$$ and not really have to sweat it at all. What an odd, well-deserved sensation to enjoy...

Oh, I almost forgot...but as a cherry on top..I bought myself a Nintendo Wii and 4 games...really cool to golf, joust, and play Mario Kart on 50 inches...wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii.....

Keep getting up...and finish strong!

When things get you down...Keep getting up!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZuKF3dxCY&feature=related

Red Miata

Dad...taking his last spin in the Miata before Terry took it back to Michigan with her.  I've had to console him every night as he falls to sleep crying. :-)  That will probably be his next big purchase.

Typhoon Kompasu

Survived my first direct hit from a typhoon in the wee hours of early Thursday morning...not everyone or everything was so lucky. I can attest to its strength, never before have I seen a flag ripped from its pole, had wind move a ceiling tile in my bathroom (air pressure changed so much it created a vacuum above my ceiling I'm guessing), or had to put dumbbells inside my house so the cabinet doors don't fly open. I watched police men lowering the Korean flag atop a police station out of fears it would rip and fly off...and then they tied the flag poles to a wall so the poles didn't go flying.

I've also only ever heard of wind measured in 'miles per hour' or 'kilometers per hour'...this storm had Koreans measuring in meters per SECOND!! As in, the winds gusted at 52.4 meters per SECOND!!! Some trees down in the neighborhood...and all above ground subway trains were out of service...but, I taught as usual, as the typhoon made landfall to my west and past over the country in about 4 hours flat....nearly as fast as a high speed bullet train...

Read the article for some more info. if you're so inclined:
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2010/09/02/27/0302000000AEN20100902007900315F.HTML

Garden update

This years garden is coming into the home stretch as you can feel fall in the air here.

Some notes;

Potato - wonderful. Still pulling a few out and making fried potatoes on the weekends.

Strawberry - I've never been a strawberry fan but there is nothing like picking, rinsing and popping a fresh strawberry in your mouth. Wish we had more!

Zucchini - Cori made zucchini bread this weekend. It's amazing!

Basil - After a slow start, the basil is going wild. Last weekend we got fresh dough (thanks to our friends at Vick's!) and made pizza on the grill. Basil, mozzarella and tomato sauce. That's it!

Sooo good.

Lettuce - The Romaine is the way to go. Some of the other types grow wild and are pretty spicy.

Spinach - After a slow start it's coming in now. Adding to tonight's salad.

Peas - What grew was good fresh off the vine. Not enough though.

Pepper - The first red pepper is going into the salad with dinner tonight.

Herbs - Need to find a way to use all the herbs. The oregano grows like crazy and we can't eat it that fast.

Garlic and Shallots - So much, we need to find a way to store it for winter eating. Cori made lasagna and added a bunch of shallots...wow!

Overall, after a slow start due to a cool and wet spring, the garden is where we head every night to see what's available to go with dinner.

Tonight we're having a salad from the garden to go with warmed up lasagna, The lasagna was made with shallots and basil from the garden.

And, so far, no deer have invaded!

What should we add to next year's garden?!?

daddy-o