I started placing ads on this site back in the end of December. As of the end of April, I barely made a month’s cost of the server that hosts it. Most of that was made in the first month or so when I asked for people to click on ads. Since then, my revenue stream has dried up. I don’t blame you, the reader, as I almost never click on ads myself. I didn’t have terribly high hopes to make my millions by placing ads (unless you count in Won and not Dollars) so it’s just not a big deal. In fact, it was more of a hassle to make sure updates to the blog back-end software, scripts or my own changes didn’t disrupt the Google ad code I placed. In the end, it just isn’t worth it. Ergo, you now can view my blog ad-free. If I missed removing ads and some still exist, let me know.

Lately, there’s been some news regarding Lasik floating around. CNN had a story today on the horrors of the surgery itself, affecting perhaps 1% of those who undergo the procedure. I had no issues with my own surgery and for years everything was just fine. The last year or two, however, I’ve noticed some deterioration of my vision. I doubt it has anything to do with the surgery and it’s just another sign of aging. My eyes had continually gotten worse before Lasik, although sometimes quite slowly. That appears to be the case again; Just continued degradation.

I finally admitted that time was simply catching up to me and decided to act. I went and got a pair of glasses. I don’t need them indoors or watching TV, but driving was sometimes a problem, particularly when I had to read highway signs rapidly to find my way. I was getting awfully close to some street signs before deciding it was or wasn’t the right way to go. When I realized MyeongHee was reading signs a good 100  meters before I could I figured it would be better to admit my aging rather than stay in denial.

Since I live here in Korea, I’m limited to prevailing Korean eyeglass styles. I probably would not have chosen these back in the States, but here…what the hell. I may as well look like a Korean.

Total price for these glamorous specs? About $95, including examination. No insurance, no discounts, no appointment required and 20 minutes later I was examined and had them selected. One day later, I’m a four-eyes again. At least only occasionally.

Today my director told me how impressed she was with the 1st level kids in our early class. They are the beginners, the kids who come to learn English knowing little more than the alphabet, some not even that much. This latest class began just a month or two ago and she told me that they knew quite a bit. She asked them where and how they learned so much. Honest little tikes told that “Martin teacher taught us.”  It’s nice to be recognized by the customers sometimes.

The US and South Korea have just signed a memorandum of understanding on visa-waivers for Koreans wishing to come to the US. In my opinion, it could have come a lot sooner as US-Korea relations have been pretty good for years. Currently, Koreans must apply for a visa through US immigration and customs, which can take months or even years to get approved, if at all. Long lines form daily at the US embassy. Expect all that to end – and see quite a few more Koreans in the US beginning at the end of the year.

We plan to take advantage of that as well. During the summer, we’ve decided to forgo a vacation in order to save money for both MyeongHee and I to come to Texas next year. She wants to meet my family and see what America is all about.

Sunday was fabulous spring weather so we headed out to Munsu Mt for a day of rock climbing. When I was home in February, Teri and I only climbed for a couple of hours at an indoor gym.  That was the only climbing I’d done since early last fall and it was great to get out on the mountain again and work the muscles on some hard climbs.  We met my old friend Jacek and his girlfriend, JaeGyung, and we all had some good climbs. I only did four routes, but I led three of them, even skipping anchors on one. Hopefully the nice weather will continue for a few more weekends and I can build up my climbing strength again.

SaTang spent the afternoon running between groups of climbers who gave her either attention or snacks. An occasional squirrel would put her into a fit until it decided to find a quieter tree to climb. She loves running around without the leash and was generally happy just to be out in the woods.

Afterwards, we went into town for some excellent beef galbi and beer before heading home for the night.

Today, MyeongHee has sore arms and legs from all the exercise. I think even SaTang is worn out as she hasn’t even wanted to chase a ball today. I feel pretty good today, but the weekend’s fun was tempered by a lame-ass bank that can’t seem to process deposits. We’ll figure that one out later.

One my favorite places to go to in Korea is GyeongJu. There are so many places of interest in that city it’s hard to select just one. The city was the seat of the kingdom from the 600-700’s up until the 1400-1500s and historically significant spots are abundant. So, too, are the flowers. Typically in the spring GyeongJu is thick with tourists during “flower season” and this weekend was no exception. It wasn’t the best weekend for flowers as the cherry trees had peaked the week before and were dropping soft pink petals like a late winter snow storm. Still, many of the trees carried blooms and the azaleas were just beginning their colorful displays.

But it wasn’t just the flowers that attracted so many. With all the history and culture there, a number of reenactments and dances added to the natural beauty. Within just a few short hours, we toured ancient tombs, walked among magnificently manicured gardens, watched beautifully clad dancers and actors, took numerous pictures and, of course, did an awful lot of people watching. That works in reverse, too, as I often get stares from adults and exclamations from kids of “Ooo, look at the foreigner.”

I snapped tons of pictures and took the best and put them in a photo album.

I also took a few minutes of video of some of the dancers. This was in a forest just outside the walls of an ancient fortress. The forest itself is very old and some of the trees are ancient themselves, although merely a fraction of the fortress’ age. Behind the dancers you can clearly see some of the gnarled trees. The forest is also famous as the birthplace of the Kim clan, of which my wife is a member. The story behind that is a little strange, so I won’t bore you with it. Instead, I’ll let you watch the dancers.

I’ve mentioned often in the past how inexpensive things are here in Korea. Sometimes, its a really good deal. Food is cheap, but it’s also delicious and nutritious. They eat relatively healthy stuff and even a really good meal for two is often $20 or less. A good lunch is often less than $4.

Some things, however, are just freakin’ cheap. And cheaply made. Since I arrived here in January 2007 I’ve replaced a number of household items. This house is not even four years old, but I had to replace both the kitchen faucet and the bathroom shower fixture. Both had sprung leaks. The shower is likely to get changed again soon as the one I bought (a measly $6) just isn’t worth a damn and dribbles water like a cow peeing on a flat rock. I had to replace the keyboard on my computer twice because keys simply stopped working. Yesterday, I bought the third mouse of the  year because one of the buttons stopped working. Granted I put my computer parts through their paces as I am an avid user for more than a couple of hours each day. But less than a year’s worth of use is far less than the MTBF (mean time between failure) I’m used to getting on parts.  You get what you pay for, I suppose, because the replacements I bought were all around $10 each.

I had nose surgery last year to correct a diverted septum. Only a couple of hundred bucks – far cheaper than America. But it didn’t do nearly the good I thought it would. I have little recourse but to go to another Doctor. They don’t do medical malpractice suits here unless things are really bad and the expense doesn’t warrant the trouble.

That’s not to say all things that are cheap in Korea are cheap-assed, though. I bought my car last year for $400, and while I’ve had to put a few hundred in repairs into it over the year, that’s not extraordinary given that it’s 15 years old. It still runs well although it, too, is approaching its end of life.  Hyundai cars seem to be decently made and when mine dies I’ll probably get another.

Just thought I’d inject a little realism into things lest folks think its all good and cheap here.  Just mostly good. But always cheap.

I used to worry about how many miles per gallon my vehicles got. It was a measure of not just the efficiency and economy of the engine but continued measurement provided insight into the engine’s performance over time. As it got worse, it was time to get it tuned up and checked out. It was always just a simple matter of resetting the odometer at each filling and dividing the miles traveled by gallons purchased to refill.

These days, its not so important how well the engine is running. Its more important to understand how badly I need to travel by car. Given the rapidly rising price of fuel, it makes far more sense to calculate kilometers per dollar.  I don’t even care how many gallons (or, here in Korea, liters) I purchase, its how much I spend. These days, I can fill my tank for about $90 and run about 550 km. That figures out to about 6 km per dollar, or kpd.  For you American types, that’s about 3.6 mpd given the price of fuel here.

Looking at how much it costs me to travel, it makes me more conscious of how expensive its getting to drive. Figure in maintenance, wear and tear and driving my own vehicle may soon become too expensive.  In Korea, we’re paying about $1.70 per liter, or around $6.40 per gallon. My car is already 15 years old and going south rapidly. When it finally stops taking me from point A to B, I’ll have to seriously evaluate what, if anything, I replace it with.