Greetings from Dynamic Korea: Hub of Asia.  That’s the new slogan that’s replaced ”Land of the Morning Calm,” to portray S Korea as a, well, dynamic country.  The mascot looks like a cross between a forest spirit from Princess Mononoke and a Pokemon Jigglypuff.  On crack.

At Incheon Airport, there was a big “Welcome to Dynamic Korea” poster on the way to baggage claim - it was a picture of four scientists happily working on a robot named Albert Hubo (hubo for ‘hub of asia,’ albert for the creepy plastic Einstein head). 

Anyways, I’m in my grandmother’s apartment in Gangdong-gu, Seoul.  My mom and I arrived at 4:30pm, after a 5 hour flight/layover in Dallas followed by a 13-hour flight from DFW to Seoul-Incheon Airport.   We flew on Korean Air, and the 13 hours really weren’t all that bad.  Some highlights:

• One of the films shown on the flight was “Monopoly,” a pretty good Korean thriller.  The other two films were Over the Hedge (I fell asleep) and The Sentinel (lost interest when I realized Michael Douglas was the main character). 
• More than half of the plane was Vietnamese.
• Korean Air has the best airline food.  Lunch was bibimbap - steamed rice with namul (mung bean sprouts, oyster mushrooms, radish, beef and something else I can’t remember), sweet/sour pickles, a packet of seasme oil, a tube of gochujang (red bean paste) and miyukgook (seaweed soup).  Dessert was fruit and green tea.  mmmm.  Dinner was chicken with pasta.  bleh.  But the cheery cheesecake was a winner. [photopress:Korea_20060921_02.JPG,thumb,alignleft]
• A few episodes of the Korean comedy “My Brother In Law” were part of the in-flight entertainment.  It was hilarious.  I’m adding it to my torrent wish list.
• Those inflatable neck pillows are awesome.  Best $8 I’ve spent in a long time.
• Wine (red and white) is free on Korean Air.
• Korean Air flight attendants are very pretty, very polite and very robotic.  They creeped me out.  The pale turquoise uniforms and the washed out makeup didn’t help.  There was one I nicknamed Lady Cyborg, and whenever she came by, I imagined her saying, “Hello, welcome to Korean Air.  Please take your seats, or I will gladly kill you with my bare hands.  Thank you.” 
• Korean Air started playing the graduation march theme song when they opened the door to let everyone off the plane.

It took us only 30 minutes to get our bags, go through customs and exchange money.  Four aunts met us at the airport, then we headed into Seoul for a yummy shabu shabu dinner with two more uncles and a cousin.   Seoul reminds me of NYC - except much, much cleaner. 

Tomorrow morning, my mom and I are going to a Korean spa/sauna. Then, we’re going to a wedding, then off to Chunnan where my dad’s oldest sister lives and where my grandmother’s nursing home is.  We’re spending 2 days there, then coming back to Seoul with grandma.  Other plans in the week include hiking up Namsan, buying jerseys of the Korean soccer team (the white ones they wear at home games), and spending time with grandma of course.  

[photopress:Korea_20060921_01.JPG,thumb,alignleft]  And lastly, I have to mention the Coffee Suitcase.  Giving gifts when you arrive/return on a big trip is very Korean, so my mom brough a suitcase filled with bags of coffee and nothing else (coffee beans are really expensive in Seoul).  She ended up liking the smell of the hundreds of bags of coffee so much that she started using extra bags as air fresheners.  She planted little bags of coffee all over the house….in the bathroom soap basket, in her closet, in the linen closet, on the coffee table, in my dad’s office, in her car, etc.  

Ok, off to try to sleep. 

No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth.  Though in a couple of days I’ll be on the other side of it.  I’m spending 2 weeks in Korea with my mom.  I’m really looking forward to seeing my grandma, our thousands of relatives and hanging out in Seoul.  Plus, I get to see Elaine!!! We have plans to find some good jjajjangmyun.  mmmm

Ok, random stuff:

• Dragon Boating:  Still managing the HoustonHeat.org website, though I’m spending much less time now that it’s up and running more smoothly now.  In August, we went to Tampa for the National Dragonboat Championships, and we did well enough in the 250m time trials to make it to the Gold division in the 500m finals - and finished Bronze in the Gold B division, and 7th overall!  Not bad, given that our team had only trained for 3 months, it was our first time competing and we kept up with experienced teams who’ve been around for years.  We’re still practicing on the water every Saturday & Sunday, with two land workouts each week.  Last week, one of the Coaches had us crawling backwards up a hill in Allen Parkway - seemed easy at first, but it was a serious workout for the arms, shoulders and abs.  I was sore for days. 
• Running:  I’ve been running with some DB people in the mornings at Memorial Park, and then a few long runs on the weekends.  Two of us are doing the Koala/Luke’s Half in October, and the others are training for the Chicago marathon.  We did 11 miles last Saturday, and there were definitely lots of runners out.  Marathon season has arrived.
• Project Runway:  This season is boring.  I still watch, but fourfour’s reviews are far better than the show itself.  I finally stopped by Chloe Dao’s Lot 8 store in the Village.  She was selling a mix of her own stuff, some Japanese labels and also some Emmet McCarthy dresses.  I’ll never understand why her final collection on the show was so fugly - the clothes she makes and sells in her store look really nice.
• Korean Dramas:  You know you’re addicted when it’s 2am, you’ve been crying from some weepy storyline, and you promise yourself…”just one more episode…then I’ll go to bed….”   I should watch more Korean movies, so I don’t get caught up in 16+ episodes.   I did finally see OldBoy and JSA recently - both pretty good movies.
• The Cats: Skokie & Blossom are still their happy, furry selves.  

Anyways, I couldn’t not blog about my trip to Korea, so here ends my 2-month hiatus/break/procrastination/avoidance/whatever from escapevelocity.   It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything here, I couldn’t remember how to log into the backend.   Then I spent a few minutes deleting over 2,000 spam comments.  geez.

Saturday, July 15th, marked my second year being a non-smoker. Yay! Thanks to a little freeware program that I keep running on my work/home computers, here are my smoke-free stats since July 15, 2004:

Quit Statistics: Two years, one day, 10 hours, 3 minutes and 21 seconds. 7314 cigarettes not smoked, saving $1,279.98. Life saved: 3 weeks, 4 days, 9 hours, 30 minutes.

This second year was as easy as the first. I still have fleeting moments of cigarrette cravings, but they last mere milliseconds and occur far less frequently. There was just one time where I actually thought, "A cig would be great right now" (it was after some spicy Thai food, I think), but that only lasted a few seconds, and I was more surprised by the thought than feeling tempted. Part of my love of smoking involved the whole cigarette ritual - taking a break during the day, stepping outside, lighting up and enjoying the 5-10 minutes of relaxation, contemplation, etc. Cigarette breaks were also an effective social tool, I used to say, because how often do you see smokers standing alone or ignoring other smokers? What better way to break the ice than asking, "Hey, do you have a light?" But today, I don't miss smoking at all. In fact, I hardly know any smokers anymore. If there's anything that's changed during this second year, it's my tolerance of cigarette smoke. I used to joke that the smell of cigarettes is nostalgic (which is still true, somewhat), but recently, I spent an evening in a smoky bar. The smoke didn't bother me while I was there, but after I got home I had a headache so bad my eyes were watering. The smell of smoke in my clothes and hair was making me woozy, so everything went into the washing machine while I took a shower. In terms of new addictions, I've developed a borderline unhealthy dependence on bubble tea and Pulmone brand jja jjang myun noodles. PS: Sorry things have been quiet here. My blogging time lately has been devoted to setting up & managing the Houston Heat website (which is kickin', if I say so myself. ) It's just a temporary lull in bloggerific activities, but my first half-marathon is coming up and I'll definitely be blogging about that.

[photopress:JDFarmsMap.jpg,thumb,alignleft] A few of you have asked about the blueberry farm, so here’s a map & directions.  It’s a great day trip out of Houston for some delicious berries.  If you’d like to meet the owner, he’s at the Urban Harvest farmer’s market on Richmond every Saturday morning.

Click here to download the map as a .jpg file.

 

 

Sorry, everyone, for the lack of updates. I'm still around, just caught up in stuff. I'm still running, though not as frequently - most of my running sessions have been replaced by time at the gym, and Saturday morning dragon boating on the Bayou. I've called uncle to the stifling Houston summer heat, and have moved my fitness activities indoors and onto the water. Running lesson: I did learn something interesting recently about my attitude to running in the heat. A couple of weeks ago, I met Alex after work for a run at Hermann Park. As I pulled into the parking lot, I realized to my horror, that I had forgotten my Amphipod bottle filled with its usual dose of Cytomax sports drink. "I forgot my water bottle so I might die, just to let you know," I joked to Alex. Well, to my surprise, the run went a lot better than expected, and I wasn't feeling uncomfortably dehydrated as I had expected. I realized that the water bottle - and specifically the Cytomax - were like a crutch. During our run, we stopped just 3 times for a quick 5 second sip of water - with my Amphipod and Cytomax, I would have been swigging every 5 minutes….and still feeling dehydrated. We ended up running about 4-5 miles, and it was much easier than I expected. John wondered if my dependence on sports drinks might be leftover from Marathon training, with the weekly loooong runs and emphasis on hydration, hydration, hydration. Sure, the sports drinks help during 10+ mile runs, and they definitely got me through the Marathon…..but just water works fine. Finishing that run with Alex was a good learning experience, and it was also a confidence boost with my running.

 
Going to Korea: I'm going to Korea with my mom at the end of September. My grandmother's health hasn't been great the past few years. We'll be in Seoul for 3 weeks from mid September to early October (right before Chusok). The last time I visited Korea was 1991.

Ok, I’m back. I think these two weeks have been the longest blogging break I’ve taken in a long time. Anyways, yeah, I’m back. Here’s a cliff notes update: Baseball Fireworks: Using our free Astros tickets from the Race for the Pennant 5K, a few of us went to watch the Astros beat the Cubs. The following week, Theresa got tickets through work for the Astros vs. Braves game. Her company sponsored the Friday night fireworks - the stadium roof was opened (why didn’t they open it during the game?) and the fireworks were great.
Blue Bayou: I went to the grand opening of the Sabine to Bagby Promenade. It was Houston from a whole new perspective - boats and kayaks on the Bayou, a floating cinema, etc. I posted a review at Metroblogging Houston. If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out the new park, I highly recommend it. It’s awesome. Check out a few photos.
Blueberries: We made our 2nd annual trip to J.D. Organic Farms to pick some fresh, organic blueberries. YUM. The owner had warned that this year’s crop was smaller due to the hail over the winter, but I couldn’t tell any difference. They were EXCELLENT. We picked three flats of blueberries (that’s 36 baskets). Everyone also got blackberries except me, since I’m not crazy about them. Anyways, it was a wonderfully sunny day, and ended with the traditional blueberry smoothies. YUM. More blueberry photos here.

According to a comment left by lak, one of the Smurfs at the Bay to Breakers race, 290 Smurfs showed up that day setting a world record for Most People Dressed as Smurfs. Apparently, there was also a contingent of Smurfs pushing a cottage-sized Magic Mushroom that housed Smurf beverages and a DJ dressed as Gargamel. Awesome.

Also, today is the first day of the 2006 Hurricane Season. Guess it’s time to stock up on duct tape and batteries again. woohoo.