Heresy

Well, this is obviously going to cost me the recommendation of the Met . . .
My mp3 player, a 1GB Samsung Yepp, had been acting up a bit lately. After more than a year of very hard use, the metal inside where the headphones connect seems to have become slightly corroded in spots. It's still perfectly usable, but you have to be careful not to bounce it around to much or the sound isn't very good. My original thought was to see if a good cleaning would fix it, or if that failed see if they could replace the receptor.
A few words about my Yepp: I bought it to replace a Creative Zen, my very first mp3 player. I liked the Zen well enough, but it didn't rock my world and I shopped around before I decided on the Yepp. I feel motion-sickness easily, and I primarily used my mp3 player on my commute, so for obvious reasons I didn't have much interest in upgrading to a player with video. Watching anything on a 1" screen seemed like a recipe for ill. Originally I wanted another player that like the Zen would take AAA batteries. I travel a lot, and finding a place to connect and charge a specialized battery in whatever podunk town I am in didn't seem as attractive as being able to just buy a new battery. The Yepp had a rechargeable battery, but the clerk at the store said that one charge should keep me good for about 15 hours. I was skeptical, but in subsequent use I've actually gotten better than that. The USB connector you need to charge and connect is also built in, so there was no need to carry a cord with me. There was no need to download anything, either, so I could just plug that puppy in, drag the songs I wanted on, and go. Being about the size and weight of a small pack of gum, it was pretty easy, too. My little bright green friend (it's available in a range of colors, and you can also buy cute stickers and whatnot now to accessorize) cost me about 80,000 won, if memory serves me correctly.
So, a checklist:
tiny
easy to use
inexpensive
convenient
Yeah, the Yepp is basic, but it works and has kept me happy during many a long commute. I would recommend them strongly to anybody looking for an mp3 player that just plain works and won't give you a hassle.
But I'd used that puppy hard. While it still works, that one bit was getting annoying and I knew I'd have to replace it eventually . . .. Ah, and there was the Met and all my friends, whispering honeyed words in my ear about the iPod and all it's glories. "Ah, Gomushin Girl,' they said, "Join us, and together we will rule the galaxy! Buy an apple gadget, and you'll never go back. Discover the joy of iTunes, download all your favorite podcasts, and see the ease with which all your life will now fall into place." Undoubtedly they all went back and had a toast together, and speculated gleefully about how I'll be buying a Macbook Air next.
So I did it. It was a impulse buy, but I went ahead and got the basic Nano.
I hate the damn thing already.
Oh, I'll admit, it's a beautiful design. Isn't it pretty? But I'm going to slug the next Mac fan who tells me how Apple crap is easy to use. Intuitive, my ass.
First of all, it was NOT just stick the damn thing in place and watch my computer and iPod start doing a mystical dance of love. Remember my Yepp? That was was true ease. I stuck the USB in the port, opened my music file, and dragged stuff on. This time, I was running around downloading iTunes. The same iTunes that is taking hours and hours and hours to convert my files. At the rate things are going, I'll actually be able to listen to my music sometime in, say, the next millennium. My computer is a reasonably fast machine, so this is unreasonably pissing me off. There was a file from a friend with an iPod, so I went ahead and loaded that to take a listen. Almost the first thing I did was destroy my hearing. Apple has made the default adjustment vito volume. Scroll while a song is playing, and prepare for eardrum assault. As a nearly pathologically song skipper, what I really wanted to do was easily skip through part of a song. It took me the better part of five minutes to figure out how to do this, and even now it's a damn annoying process that involved clicking several times and then scrolling and then clicking. If you screw up at all, you'll end up fiddling with the volume again. Also, it isn't anywhere near as precise as the same process on either of my old players. A minor issue to some, but a major annoyance to me.
For all the talk about how good Apple design is, and how intuitive it all is supposed to be, I'm left feeling remarkably frustrated. I still have a hard time navigating through iTunes, and I'm down to slogging through the Korean instruction manual to figure out the nitty-gritty of how my machine works. Yes, my Nano has way more bells and whistles than my Yepp, but for sheer ease and practicality? Meh. It has video and whatnot, and it's very pretty, but it's also larger, has less battery life, and is overall less convenient. I'm torn on the price . . . I still agree that the price is really quite fair for what it is. There's 3 more gigabytes on the Nano than on my Yepp (there is a 2GB model, too) and it does more stuff . . .but . . .still, it was double the price.
Normally, fascination and the fun of playing with a new toy take over, and I end up singing the praises of the newer, better machine pretty quickly. But in this case, I'm pretty underwhelmed. My Yepp was a really good purchase that I would recommend still. I'll probably adjust and start using the Nano as my principal machine eventually, but somehow I don't think it's going to actually replace the Yepp in many aspects. I love my Yepp, and when push comes to shove I'll probably still try and get my current one fixed. If it can't be fixed, I may just buy another.
Ouch.
In the meantime, when I step out the door today, the Yepp will be what's in my bag.

P.S. Hey Met! You know what else? Next time I buy a camera, I'm gonna get a Nikon! SNAP!

바보들

stole this pretty pic from the 조선일보

All right, dear protesters:
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! It is time to cut it out!
Why? Because you don't know what you're talking about or protesting against.
Is this protest about US beef imports? I won't even bother going over the science. I've already spent too much time explaining that project other places, along with everybody from the FDA and US Ambassador on down. Basically, if this is your reason for protesting, you are ignoring scientific fact, logic, and basic reason. That makes you an idiot. Idiots are free to protest, but I don't think the government or anybody else is obliged to listen to them.
If you're doing it to protect the Korean beef industry, well, that's too bad because the agricultural industry in Korea is not going to survive in its present form, no matter how many protectionist measures people take. Hear that? Korea is no longer an agrarian nation.
In the meantime, if you'd like to keep paying three to eight times as much as you need to for beef, well, importing US beef is not going to stop you from that kind of conspicuous consumption. If anything it will make your luxury consumption of 한우 more conspicuous, because in the meantime, I'll be shopping in the bargain bin for US beef. We can both feel good because you'll be supporting a local industry you believe in, and I will be back to enjoying delicious, nutritious and affordable protein. But don't pretend this is about choice. The only thing protesting US beef is doing is denying people the choice of affordable beef. And that's not noble, it's dumb.
Are you there to protest the "arrogance" of 2MB? The man that was democratically elected in a landslide just a few months ago? I'd like to think that I have a fair idea of democracy. I vote. I've been a protester before against my own government and for causes I believe in - but here's the trick: I protested only when I thought there was a real, SOLID reason to believe a law was being broken or a firm moral principal being ignored. In the meantime, I'm free to write my congressman and elected officials to express my views in the meantime, and change how I vote in the next election. I pick the person who I best think will represent me, and as long as they a) do what they said they were going to do to the best of their ability b) make reasonable compromises then I figure I've done well with my vote.
As far as I can tell, Lee has been exactly the kind of president he said he was going to be. I don't see how anyone can act surprised at what he's done or how he's handled things. There wasn't some big misrepresentation. Lee's a "bulldozer"? Sweetlings, it's not like that nickname was coined for him yesterday. He's corrupt? Only since he could walk. It's not like these were things you didn't know about him before you decided he was your man. He was the pick of a bad lot, but a lot of you picked him. And now he's doing exactly what he said he would, and not so long ago that you shouldn't remember.
Lee hasn't done anything illegal. He hasn't done anything he said he wouldn't do. Heck, he hasn't had time to do much of anything yet, except ratify a deal negotiated by somebody else entirely. If you think he should step down already . . . well, what will you do then? Who is the replacement? Sounds like somebody hasn't thought this one all the way through.
It's not a pro-democracy rally if you're trying to get rid of a democratically elected official who has done nothing illegal. Tyranny of the majority is not democracy. It's just dumb.
As for the "arrogance" of the US, trying to cram this bad deal down the throats of the poor, weak Korean people? The American government and beef industry have, near as I can tell, bent over backward to accommodate the current hissy fit. Whatever happens though, from giving Korea the right to immediately halt imports if a new BSE case emerges to voluntarily agreeing not to import meat from cows slaughtered after 30 months of age (despite virtually no scientific evidence of its danger, but hey! we've already determined that you're not listening to scientific evidence) but whenever something is agreed to, the Korean side keeps moving the goal post. Renegotiation? Why? The Korean government, acting as the elected agents of the Korean people signed a deal that was overall good for most Koreans. Now you want the US to redo everything and give into all your demands because some two-bit piece of yellow-rag journalism made a blatantly false report? Dumb.
Along with your media. Don't give me that line about how I should only read the 한겨레/주앙일보/조선일보/동아일보/OhMyNews! whatever rag that you read as opposed to the 한겨레/중앙일보/조선일보/동아일보/OhMyNews! that you think I'm reading. I spend a good chunk of my day reading from a wide variety of foreign and local papers, in two languages. After I've read an article, I think it over. If I think the writer was wrong or biased or somehow unreliable or I just don't quite understand this issue or it's interesting, I go do some research. Trade deals, comment boards, newspaper articles, scientific articles that have been peer reviewed and published in reputable journals . . . it takes time, but it's worth it to not be fooled into whatever line is being spouted by an irresponsible press. If you believe the stuff you're reading in the local papers now . . .well, you're being dumb. Believing rumors on daum cafe and stuff your 선배 told you at lunch that they read on the internet or whatever strange message shows up by 문자? You guessed it: Dumb.
If you're out protesting some other cause like the proposed Grand Canal, English education reform, or some other cause . . . well, no matter how good your cause, protesting now is dumb. Why? Because it's totally getting lost in the mass of anti-beef, anti-2MB voices being raised in disharmony. Save it for a time and venue where people will listen to you.
Oh and on your way out, would you please stop blocking traffic? In the US, even with right of assembly pretty much any public spot we damn well please, we're NOT allowed to cause havoc, interfere with the police, and make a nuisance of ourself to the entire downtown area. If we do, the police arrest us and nobody has much sympathy. A person's right to protest does not equal the right to make life a pain in the ass for everybody else.
My biggest problem is this: There's no clear goal, no clear argument, and no clear audience. It's just a feel-good party, with people trying to pretend they're on the cutting edge of democracy, part of the drive for a better Korea. That's fine, but stop kidding yourself that this is The Cause. If you missed the great pro-democracy movements of the past, that's too bad. In the meantime, it's just a noisy, pointless, stupid picnic.

바퀴벌리

I have a long and complex emotional history with cockroaches.
Actually, my history with the creepy-crawly parts of the animal kingdom has generally been pretty friendly. My father, an amateur naturalist, loved showing me the local "wildlife" that ran around our neighborhood. Thanks to him, I was never afraid of snakes, frogs, lizards, bats, toads, and most insects. The problem was more that my mother objected to my bringing the objects of scientific study inside the house for further examination. If I wanted to run around playing with beetles and spiders that was my business, but I'd damn well better not bring them into the living room.
When I was in high school I became a volunteer at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and was happily assigned to the biological sciences hall. One of my major duties was staffing the "bug cart": a mobile science unit that housed many of our arthropod exhibits including walking sticks (both Malaysian and Australian Giant Prickly), tarantulas, black widow spiders, wood beetles, and my personal favorites, Giant Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. From almost the first, the cockroaches were some of my most beloved animals. They were quiet, clean, charming, friendly, and endearing creatures to whom humans were some kind of large and benevolent fruit-bearing gods. Raised entirely in the aquariums of OMSI, they were sheltered but goodhearted insects. Our biggest problem with them was that since they were giant, hissing cockroaches, all the kids wanted to hear them hiss. Unfortunately, the hissing sound is part of a defense mechanism, and they won't make the noise unless they feel threatened. And why should they feel threatened by the lovely fruit-bearing gods? The only time I ever heard one his was when a kid maliciously dropped one - the poor thing was scared out of it's nervous system! I never had any qualms about handling them, and a surprising number of visitors were also willing to touch or hold them.
But you see, they don't fly.
A week ago, in the bathroom of my one-room I saw the most gigantic oriental cockroach. I mean HUGE, maybe 8-10cm. And those suckers, my dears, FLY. They also eat refuse and rot and leave trails of their own droppings like Hansel and Gretel left crumbs. In other words, nasty, dirty things that I don't mind outside, but don't suffer inside. My apartment is gifted with instant, blisteringly hot water that gushes out as if from a fire hydrant, which is how this one particular specimen met his/her doom. One part of me wanted to assume that it was a lone case, driven indoors by the beginnings of the 장마. The other part of me was screaming that the place was infested and untold millions were lurking inside my decrepit 싱크대. The screaming side won, and a few days later I bought bait traps. Unfortunately, I think this might actually be bringing them in with the ever-so alluring fragrance of roach feed, because I saw another gigantic sucker last night. He went after the bait behind the fridge and was not seen again.
There's some kinds of house guests you mind, and some you don't. These I mind (along with centipedes and millipedes . . .why? I don't know.)
I'd rather find a more . . . natural way to dispose of them. I don't like using poisoned traps in and around the area where I live. I'd rather have something that a) won't lure them inside if they're not already here b) won't potentially harm me and c) will be kind of cute.
I want geckos!
It turns out there's a few species of lizards native to Korea, and I'd like mightily to have a few take up residence in my apartment. In particular, I'd like the native Gekko japonicus to start hanging out in my place. Somehow, having geckos run all over my kitchen doesn't bother me in the least. In Hawaii, they're sort of tolerated as indoor wildlife, because they eat other pests. If the Hawaiians are cool with it, so am I.
God bless Google. I done stole that roach pic from here

편두통: "All the fun of LSD, but legal"

Following the example of Expat Jane's excellent series on diabetes and treatment here in Korea, I'm going to spend a bit of time blogging about my most persistent health problem. Most Koreans I've talked to (like most Americans) have only a vague idea of how a 편두통 differs from a regular, ordinary 두통. Actually, I have yet to meet a Korean person who has been diagnosed as a migraineur. . .
In America, at least, approximate 15% of the population suffers from some kind of migraine headache, and at least 80% of those people have family members who also get them. In other words, this problem has a very strong genetic component. In my family, it's more unusual for someone to NOT have them - all of my immediate family get them, as well as my paternal grandparents, and my aunts on both the maternal and paternal side. They are also more common in women than in men (who are more likely to get cluster headaches, however)
There are several different kinds of migraines, but the two most common ones are classic migraines (i.e. migraines with auras), and common migraines (without). In a classic migraine, the headache may be proceeded by a brief period of visual disturbance. Common auras include seeing bright zigzag lines or moving points of light. My aunt describes them as "all the fun of lsd without the illegality." Usually the aura lasts for less than an hour, and is followed within the hour by the onset of the headache. Common migraines don't have any associated auras. Having the auras seems to me to be a good thing: it's an important and painless clue that a migraine is coming, and in many cases is means you can use medications that will prevent the painful headache phase. My grandfather carries medicine with him, and can take it at the first sign of the aura, and usually doesn't have to experience the actual headache anymore. My grandmother used to get only the aura, but not the headache phase (rather obviously named in medical terminology "headache-free migraines". DUH!) I, on the other hand, have experienced auras but mine are NOT reliably followed by the pain phase. Drat. I really don't mind the aura (usually small pinpoints of light that swim and dart around in my field of vision) but I wish it were more strongly connected with the pain phase.
Lots of people think the pain phase of a migraine is just a really, REALLY bad headache. It's not. They're a very distinct medical phenomena, and they feel totally different. A normal headache is a sense of tension and pain that spreads throughout most of the head. Sinus or cluster headaches can often show up in more confined parts of the head (usually around the eyes and sinus cavities) but the distinction of a migraine is a pounding, throbbing sensation on one side of the head only. When I get a migraine, usually the left side of my head feels completely normal. There's no pain at all. The right side of my head, on the other hand, will feel like there's a small elf in my brain trying to push my eyeball out by bracing his feet against the back of my head. My mother describes hers as someone running piano wire over one side of her skull and then playing "chopsticks." Badly.
Not all of mine are severe. For a long, long time mine were so mild that I barely noticed them. Heck, I taught classes of rowdy, noisy high school students during some of my headaches. But when they're bad, they're awful. The worst of them will basically leave me bedridden for a day or two. Luckily those are very, very rare for me.
The pain or headache phase is also usually accompanied by other problems: nausea, photophobia(sensitivity to light), and phonophobia (sensitivity to sound) are pretty common. I experience all three, and it's usually the nausea and photophobia rather than the headache that really cause my problems. One of the real tricks with medicating migraines is that because of nausea it can be hard to effectively use oral medication. By the time I know I'm getting the headache, my stomach has already shut down. That's one reason why when treating migraines caffeine is your friend.
Next time: Triggers and Treatments