Recently in Miscellany Category

Let me summarize what I have done in 2008 to reflect what I have done well or wrongly, expect this year's outcome based on this reflection, and feed myself back toward additional and continual challenges which I will devote myself to this year. I might miss several events or happening to put on this post, though. I don't care because here is blog space where I can show whatever as they are. Let me make up those missing items next time or mention them in connection with future 2009's blog posts!

Well done

Japanese learning: I completed six months beginner's dialog courses beginning Japanese character writing in Hiragana and Katakana. I marked attendance ratio by 100%. Monthly step wise test scores marked high (sometimes great!) enough for me to move on to the next grade. I failed in accomplishing seventh class owing to yearend drinking session and personal affairs. However, I came to know how and what to study next. I've just got back from Japanese Chinese character lecture (Kanji). Good student, Hyok!

Blogging: Settlement in nexcess.net March enabled stable operations in running Movable Type with satisfactory quality of service that I wanted from a web hosting service. I got accustomed to manipulating movable type at my disposal. Apart from technical attainment for blogging, I posted 80 articles on this blog with topics ranging from blogging, voluntary services, donations, almanac to trace back important events in the future, meditations, and so on. In sum, stability made me concentrate on article contents itself without time consuming relocation from one hosting service to the others.

Office affairs: Insight, logical thinking, how to make a decision, how to assist manager's decision as a reporter; these are what I attained and got to understand as a company employee as well as a quality assurance engineer in practice not in theory. I will not leave more about this matter because disclosing details on what I have done 2008 at office can be violation of information security guideline at Siemens :-) Anyway, well done, too!

Friendship: There was no dramatic advance in the number of friends that I kept in touch with. My mobile phone now holds nearly 150 phone numbers with around 30 frequent contacts. Adding, modifying, and deleting contact information all through 2008 finally ended with that figure showing the same status in 2007. We say, "Making a foe is easy, however, keeping friendship is far more difficult." In this regard, I succeeded in doing so at the high expense of drinking day time after trekking and night time after work! :-)

Failure, undone, and/or done wrongly

Exams and tests: I marked worst grades and lower points in tests and examinations than I expected while preparation. I have nothing to excuse about the result though I have something. Let me take them as they were. Test is a glass clear transparent to all takers at test date; whoever got a good luck in marking only correct answers from random picking, whoever outperformed without in-depth preparation, whoever suffered from lower health condition even with fullest knowledge, and whoever.

Book keeping: Beginning 2008, one of my resolutions was to keep a book to make cash flows visible and tangible. However, I DID NOT (not "could not") with two excuses; one was because I was lazy (a little understandable) and other was because I could not find appropriate electronic double entry booking application (nerdy am I). GNU cash is now available at my hand. It's clear what I have to do in 2009.

Diary keeping: It's also from my laziness. The last diary article appeared at September 16. I have nothing more to say about this.

Roadmap establishment: Regardless of this summary of 2008, this is never ending task while I am alive. At this moment, I have no direction to approach, no clear picture about who I am and what I have (not financial meaning but potential standpoint), and no roadmap toward my future life as a result. The roadmap that I had established upon university entry made me who I was as of 2002 when I joined Siemens whereas there had been so many successes and failures altogether against short term plans in the middle of chasing the clear ward. Who I am and what I have now are, of course, dramatically far from what I had imagined. Nevertheless, that roadmap always played a critical role and mirror in spurring me whenever I became lazy and gauging whether I was deviated from proper track or not. What shall I have to follow this year? :-(

2009년 1월 1일 새해 벽두를 등산으로 열었다. 친구 놈의 꼬임에 넘어가 멀리 북쪽으로 목적지를 잡았다. 경기도 포천시 백운산. 해발 903미터. 하산 후 이동 갈비 시식으로 일정을 마무리했다.

백운산까지 버스를 이용했다. 동서울 터미널에 가서 사창리 가는 버스에 몸을 실었다. 등산로 시작점은 광덕고개 또는 흥룡사인데 우리 일행은 광덕고개에서 내렸다. 내리는 곳은 간이 정류소 형태로 기사님이 정차 때마다 소리를 치신다. 버스가 근처에 다다랐을 때 기사님께 내릴 곳을 미리 얘기해 놓으면 만사형통. 자고 있으면 깨워 주시겠지. ㅋㅋ

등산로는 광덕고개를 시작점으로 백운산 정상, 삼각봉, 도마치봉, 향적봉, 흥룡사를 거치는 경로를 택했다. 아래 사진의 4번 경로다. 원안은 5번이었는데, 추운 날씨와 쌓인 눈 때문에 휴식과 점심때를 길게 가지는 바람에 막판에 조금 단축된 코스를 선택하게 되었다. 여기를 누르면 확대된 등산로 사진을 상세하게 볼 수 있다.

등산로는 무난했다. 수리산, 청계산 수준의 어렵지 않은 코스. 일기 예보에 눈이 오지 않는다고 해서 스파이크를 준비하지 않고 그냥 갔다. ㅋㅋ 도착해 보니 눈이 안 온 것은 맞는데 겨우내 쌓인 눈이 장난 아니었음. 주위 산세가 좋음. 오전 9시 30분 정도에 출발해 오후 5시 반쯤 하산. 점심 1시간에 휴식 시간이 길어서 그랬는지 오래 걸렸다. 눈밭을 헤쳐 오느라 그런 것도 있고...

흥룡사로 내려와 이동 갈비를 먹으러 갔다. 무식하면 용감하다고 거기까지 걸어갈 작정으로 그냥 걸었다. 중간에 포기하고 버스 탔다. 여러분은 버스를 꼭 타시라. 지나가는 버스를 잡아타고 이동이나 이동 갈비 타운 가자고 하면 된다. 타고 왔던 시외버스나, 시내버스를 만날 수 있다. 우리 일행이 탔던 지점에서 이동 갈비 타운까지 요금은 1,100원이었음. 무조건 현금!

아래와 같이 먹음직한 이동 갈비, 1인분에 24,000원이다. 호주산과 뉴질랜드산을 섞어서 만든다고 원산지 표시를 하고 있다. 막걸리 한잔하고 이동 갈비 타운 버스 정류장에서 동서울 터미널로 돌아옴.

Lobsters are staying under water in a cage as shown on the photo below. At the same time, you can, with care, look up outer compartment encompassing lobsters. This whole set of machine is called, crane game. I took this shot as I was on my way to a certain place in Korea.

A video below shows how this sort of crane will operate. Then, imagine what will happen to those lobsters above; it's an explicit maltreatment. :-(

2008년도 유급 휴가 23일, 거의 다 썼다. 연말에 잔여 휴가를 소진할 계획을 짜고 있었는데, 회사에서 선수를 쳤음. 크리스마스와 정초 징검다리 연휴를 고려하여 전사적으로 휴무하기로 함. 징검다리 연휴일 경우 중간 날은 휴무하는 관행이 이번에도 확인됨. 자기 유급 휴가에서 공제하지만, 회사 차원에서 노는 것이니 업무 부담도 없고 ㅋㅋ (굳이 이날 근무하여 유급 휴가를 공제하지 않겠다고 하면 인사부에 사유를 통보해야 함, 떱...) 19일까지만 출근하고 새해 들어 출근할까도 생각했는데, 무엇을 하고 놀아야 할지 감당이 되지 않아 포기. 돈도 없고! 내년 유급 휴가 24일. 매월 격주 4일 근무가 가능하겠네? 흠... 아무튼, 2008년은 다 가고 내년에는 무슨 일이 있을지...

One frame presented upon my return from Ethiopia hung on a wall for a long time. The frame was made from coarse materials showing Ethiopian lady performing coffee ceremony in front of incense pottery. Long time eroded it day by day; several characters attached on it fell down already. The color of photo has faded with the passing of time. The value priced in money is very low. However, it's unmovable evidence that I had been to Ethiopia and I got invaluable experience from there. Today, I made up my mind to put it in a safe place to protect it from damage.

I could realize that too many souvenirs took much space at home. They were from largely Japan, Ethiopia, USA, and other places I visited or friends did. Re-arranging them into appropriate slots took nearly all day. I could recollect beautiful memory linking a souvenir and whoever gave it to me. Fullest smile stayed with me all through the arrangement. What a virtue of travel and staying overseas!

Something requires, in most cases, enough time to make it what we expect to see or satisfy oneself with it.

One shot taken today brought above example home to me showing astonishing difference in growth of her (fish) fins against old shot taken from the same object. I often would not stand long time to get a certain result from my actions or measures. When it comes to fish care, I used to administer medication and first aid with hot temper by applying much amount dosage and/or doing it by short intervals repeatedly. The outcome was largely disastrous. All dead within short time :(

Angel fish shown above had suffered so called fungus disease upon the first dive into my water tank. Then, I strictly obeyed instructions from pet shop; Sodium shower, medication to the point, temperature control, relatively higher aeration, and so on. While repeating the cycle, I did not measure the progress whether there is improvement in her health intentionally. I just awaited a result calming myself down. After a couple of months, the result turned out to be a success as you can enjoy beautiful fins. (You can peek what the fins looked like before from here)

Patience can make everything come true. Something on my both hands now, hopefully, may come true by the same lesson learned with my fish. :)

Life is, I think, the trace of facing something bad, good, wrong, or whatever in series or parallel day by day. Today, my fault made something spoiled in vain. I could expect difficulties in accomplishing it, however, never imagined the failure I faced in the morning. Pretending as if I were calm all through today, I revisited the point where critical fault in decision making happened one month ago. I came to admit my fault logically for sure. As clear as glass!

To be fair, I've got a message from a Japanese friend, saying that he was on business in Seoul, after a long interval since the last meeting a year ago. He is about to return back to Japan tomorrow. I just dropped reply with all my heart because I had an appointment tonight. Then, I've got a call from a friend, high school alumni, saying good news that he attained a supply contract with one of major information service providers in Korea. It was in six months that I received a call from him!

One bad thing and two pieces of good news balanced one another. This is life :)

거창하게 말하면 유럽풍 또는 문화적 다양성으로 알려진 분당 정자동에 로티(로띠?) 전문점이 들어섰다. 로티(roti)가 무엇인지 궁금하여 싱가폴 친구들과 위키를 동원하여 정체를 파악했음. 정자동에서 먹을 수 있는 로티는 정확히 roti prata로 파악됨. 기회가 되면 한번 시식을...

One newspaper featured that a UFO emerged at Suri Mountain, Gunpo over the sky. One UFO chaser captured its swift movement together with flashlight by called John Bro technique. The article added comment that Gunpo is one of famous spots where UFOs were videotaped relatively many times in Korea. Can I snatch another someday in the middle of trekking to Suri Mountain? :) Hm...

(올바른 국어 사용을 위해 맞춤법/문법 검사기를 사용했습니다.)

어항 내 魚적 청산 후, 혈앵무와 레드쥬얼 (씨클리드 일종) 각 한 마리로 새 출발 했다. 물 잡고 입수한 후 이틀 만에 펑거병 발병하여 혈앵무의 지느러미가 썩는 것이 확인됨. 이런 된장! 하나에 만원 주고 산 물고기가!

물 생활 5년차에 세 번째 겪는 펑거병. 처음에는 어리바리 아무것도 몰라서 어항 전역을 초토화 시켰다. 두 번째는 수족관 사장님 조언을 바탕으로 치료 시도하였으나 실패! 다행히 초토화되지는 않아 생존 魚를 중심으로 새 출발. 삼세번이라고 이번에는 성공한 것으로 보임.

펑거병 걸리면 물고기가 황천길 가는 것은 시간문제. 그냥 느낌이지만 지느러미가 썩어들어가는 속도는 상상을 초월해서 하루 정도만 내버려둬도 지느러미의 반이 날아간다. 상황과 환경에 따라 다르겠지만, 대부분 펑거가 출몰하면 치료를 포기하는 분위기이다. 이번 성공 결과에 비추어 최대한 잽싸게 조치를 취하는 것이 핵심인 것 같다.

소금과 치료약을 쓰는 일반적으로 알려진 방법을 사용했다. 펑거 발생 물고기를 격리하지 않은 채 어항 그대로 치료를 했다. 이전과 같은 실수를 반복하지 않으려고. 합사된 물고기가 소금이나 약품 때문인 치명적 영향이 없다면 있는 그대로 치료하는 것이 맞는 것 같다. 괜히 소금물/약품 목욕한답시고 이리저리 옮겨 스트레스 주는 것이 오히려 치유를 방해하는 것 같다. 대신 물갈이를 매일 하고 정량 준수해서 소금물, 약품 풀어주고... 무려 나흘을 꼬박! 집에 있는 양동이, 히터, 공기펌프 총동원됨 @_@

현재의 경과는 좋은 편이다. 지느러미 썩는 현상이 멈춘 후에 치료를 중단하고 매일 상태를 점검하고 있다. 지느러미가 새로 돋아나는 것이 관찰되나 썩어들어간 속도에 비하면 새 발의 피! 어디서 읽으니 완전 재생에는 한 달 정도가 걸린다고 함. 아래 사진에서 보는 것과 같이 원형 대비 소실된 지느러미의 면적을 생각하면 그럴 법도 하다. 꼭 클릭해 보세요! 여러분도 펑거병 조심하고 즐물!