Smitty and SuperE has moved. Click here for the new site.

Posted by Nimble Jack at Saturday, April 28, 2007 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Nimble Jack at Saturday, April 21, 2007 | Permalink | Comments

These were both taken a few weeks ago from our 9th story window. The lens is not dirty. There was no glass or screen in front of the camera. I didn't add any tinting or special effects. That's just straight up yellow dust, and the pictures don't do it justice. Apparently this has been the worst 황색 먼지 they've ever had. And with the increasing spread of the Gobi desert to the west (spurred on by deforestation and overgrazing and intensified by industrial pollution), every Spring for some time into the future will probably be able to claim that distinction.

But back to the delight, of which there is still plenty. Elisa's job has come to involve regular excursions with her students (occaisionally I get to tag along). One of her classes recently took her to Asan, the city just south of Cheonan, for a look at the Cherry Blossoms. She got some nice photos out of the deal. (Recall last year's pictures of the blossoms we're fortunate enough to have right here on campus.)






























This last Sunday we'd planned on hiking in Wonju with Dan & Angela, but Elisa was down with a cold, and the weather wasn't looking too hot anyway, so we decided to stay home. However, since we really wanted to go on a little hike, and since we'd already let them know we wouldn't be at church, we ended up spending Sabaath morning with some books and a packed lunch up on the little mountain across the road. You might remember some pictures from this same mountain that were posted last year, when we were just discovering the conveniently situated escape it provides from all the endless asphalt and sun-obscuring apartment towers.



Today brought a very rare and special sort of delight when I took a bite of the fresh bread that SuperE made in our little oven with the yeast that finally appeared on the shelves of Lotte Mart. I believe I was immediately transported to heaven, where for a time I communed blissfully with St. Home-Cooked-Goodness, patron to all those starving Americans stuck in countries where words like "cake" and "bread" have yet to be fully linked to words like "delicious" and "soul-satisfying," and are instead stuck with adjectives like "bland" and "blah" and "how did you ruin this?" and "who puts cherry tomatoes on a birthday cake?!"

Posted by Nimble Jack at Wednesday, April 18, 2007 | Permalink | Comments

Posted by Nimble Jack at Tuesday, April 17, 2007 | Permalink | Comments

A few weeks ago we were asked to plan this year's Easter Sunday service. The result is what you see below. I think it went pretty well (though since I was at the piano, I couldn't experience it from the congregation's perspective). The text is my own, though obviously it incorporates or flat-out quotes a lot of scripture. Images are from various artists. (Unfortunately many of them are missing, because I negelcted to save them, and searching the internet for them all over again doesn't appeal to me. Originally there was an image for each story.) There was a lot of music as well, including Sufjan Stevens' "For the Widows in Paradise," with Betsy on guitar, Houston on violin, Robb on vocals, and Smitty on piano. That was pretty exciting.

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On the morning of the first of days, before the dawn that was to come, Mary Magdalene went down to his tomb. With a small and doubtful hope, she and her friends brought spices for his broken body. Between him and them there lay a stone they could not move, for their arms were weak, and they had no tools. They knew no way around this rock, yet still they came, treading the deep dark of a graveyard with no certainty that they would find anything but a sealed and guarded sepulchre, home to a dead messiah.

But when they came to the place, and the first light fell across the grass, they saw that no tools were needed, that no strength would help them - the rock had rolled away.  With what they had brought they entered the cave - but there they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. They were very perplexed, not knowing how to explain it. And then two men appeared, shining white while morning broke the last of darkness.

Mary stood crying in their presence, and through her sorrow and confusion heard a voice asking,

“Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?”



In the beginning was the Word, and the Word created the heavens and the earth. For in the Word was life, and the life was light in the darkness, though the darkness did not comprehend it. In the light of the first days of the world, all things came into being through the Word - skies and seas, fields and forests, suns and stars, fish and fowl, cattle and creeping things, men and women and children. And the Word saw all that was made, and behold, it was very good.

2000 years ago a little boy was born into this same good world, a world of blue skies and deep forests and a blazing sun warming the skins of all people, just and unjust alike. But it was also a  terribly different world, and in a cattle stall his memory of its good beginning met the moment of its present suffering. Now the earth was corrupt in his sight, and filled with violence, for all had
corrupted their way upon the earth. Floods and babel towers, murders and
betrayals, rapes and assassinations, wars and endless conquests, infanticides and dismemberments, tortures and destructions, exhiles and genocides, lust and adulteries, greed and injustices, fanatic exclusivity and desperate idolatry - all were afflicted, all were victims, all were culprits, and the whole creation was groaning, and we ourselves were groaning within ourselves, grasping like Mary Magdalene at small and desperate hopes.


In those days, when Mary and Joseph took shelter in a Bethlehem barn and saw all our hopes fulfilled, Caesar Augustus was lord of the earth. His armies flooded all the lands and silenced babbling foreign tongues with swords and crucifixions. From Rome there came a decree that all the world should be taxed - accounted for, registered with the system, officially reminded of who was master. All were made to return to their city of origin, even Mary, who was great with child. And so she went, and found no room in the inn, and gave birth to baby Jesus - the Lord of the earth. He would be called wonderful, counselor, the prince of peace, the mighty God, the everlasting father. He came to save us from our sin. He came eating and drinking, healing lepers, lame and blind men, casting demons from their victims, befriending prostitutes and Ceasar’s hated tax collectors, exposing pharisees, telling stories, dividing brothers from
fathers and mothers from daughters and inviting all of us to walk with him in his good kingdom.

This Jesus then is the one you seek, you weeping beside an empty tomb for all the sorrows of your world. He believed against all evidence that the kingdom of our world had and would become the kingdom of our God, and he died to make it true. He called friends from out of fishing boats and taxing booths to live with him in this hope. They left everything behind, and got up and began to
follow him.

These are some of the things they heard him say and saw him do - this is how they learned from Jesus to live their lives anew, and to make the world anew, in the Way of the Kingdom of God. This is the mind of Christ and the gospel of the kingdom; let it be in you.



Jesus had begun to travel his country, inviting people to become disciples of the way of the kingdom. Andrew heard and followed, and brought his brother Peter. Philip heard and followed, and brought his friend Nathanael. This is how it was to be; all who heard him tell of the kingdom went right away to their friends and neighbors and invited them to listen, too. Whenever they came, he asked them “What do you seek?” He knew they sought the kingdom, as all of us do, and so he gave a hard and simple promise: “Come, and you will see.” And as he walked through Palestine, long occupied by Caesar’s law, he would gather more and more, showing them signs of life in the midst of death, taking
health to the sickly crowds, and offering all a cup of living water, water that flowed like deep red wine from a bottomless cask.

Three days after he began this long, long walk, he and his friends were invited to a wedding in a town called Cana. They were all enjoying themselves, but too soon the wine ran out. Jesus’ mother, who had helped plan the party and wanted very much for all the guests to be happy, was distraught. She told her son about the problem, and though he seemed reluctant, she had hope enough to believe he would help with even this little lacking of abundance. She said to the servants, “Whatever he says to you, do it.”

Nearby there were six stone waterpots, set aside for the guests to use in their purification rituals. Jesus told the servants to fill these pots with water. So they filled them to the brim, wondering how this would give them what they needed. Without explaining anything, he told them to draw a drink from one of the pots and take it to the head waiter.

When the head waiter tasted the water, which had become wine, and did not know where it came from, he called the bridegroom and said “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people have drunk freely and won’t know the difference, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine for last!”

This - a little overflowing of abundance, a little miracle for the simple sake of joy and celebration - this was the beginning of his signs and wonders. This was the first of many parables of the kingdom, signs tracing its shape in the world, wonders setting its print on the earth - restorations of the “very good” of God, as it was in the beginning and will be in the future.



Jesus was in the middle of a long journey. To reach his destination, he had to pass through a country called Samaria. Jews hated Samaria, and they had no dealings with Samaritans, whose ancestors had mixed themselves with
heathens. Samaritans defiled the true religion and sought God on the
mountains, instead of obediently attending the temple of Jerusalem, as the law of God prescribed.

After a dusty day of walking, Jesus the Jew sat resting beside an ancient well in this little land of heretics and half-breeds. He was thirsty, but had nothing with which to draw the water, and so he was very glad to see a woman coming with her pots and pails. Jesus said to her, “give me a drink!”

The woman said to him, “How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who asks you for a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

She responded, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do you get that living water? Jesus answered:

“Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give her shall never thirst; but the water that I will give her will become in her a well of water springing up to eternal life.”

The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” But Jesus did not give her the water right away. He first told her to go and call her husband. Cautiously the woman explained that she had no husband. “You are being honest,” Jesus said, “since you have actually had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your
husband.”

The woman was startled to hear the truth about herself. She perceived that he was a prophet, and she wanted to know more. So she asked this teller of secret truths and giver of living water about the hatred between their peoples, about her fathers worshiping in the mountain the Jews worshiping in the temple. And then he said a beautiful thing:

“Woman, believe me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father. You worship what you do no know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the father in spirit and in truth; for such people the father seeks to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

The woman said to him, “what I know is that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ); when that one comes, he will declare all things to us.”

And Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you - I who turn your secrets into truth - I am that one.”



A lawyer, a good Jew who loved the law, stood up and asked Jesus about eternal life. Jesus asked him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?” The lawyer answered, “You shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength and with all your mind; and you shall love you neighbor as yourself.” Jesus rejoiced and said “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live!”

But the lawyer knew it was more complicated than this, and so he asked Jesus, “who is my neighbor?” And in reply, Jesus told him a beautiful story, a story about another Samaritan, the people hated by Jews who loved the law.

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among robbers, and they stripped him and beat him, and went away leaving him half dead. An by chance a priest was going down on that road, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, who was on a journey, came upon him; and when he saw him, he felt compassion, and came to him and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day he took out two danarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, “Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return I will repay you.

Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?” The lawyer answered, “The one who showed mercy toward him - the Samaritan.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”



Jesus had been saying bold things, offering from out of his own abundant life cups of living water to anyone who was thirsty. Some called him a prophet, but the Pharisees, the lovers of God’s law, sent men to seize him. But their men came back in silence, empty-handed. “Why did you not bring Him?!” they
demanded. The men answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” Disgusted, the pharisees wondered that even their own people had been led astray. “No one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he? But this crowd which does not know the Law is accursed.” And so, afraid for the purity of their religion and for all the straying souls, the lovers of God’s law went to their homes.

But Jesus went up to the Mount of Olives and spent the night alone. Early in the morning he came back down to the temple. When he arrived he found many people coming to him, so he sat down and told them more about the kingdom of God.

While he was talking, the Pharisees came back. They brought with them a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, they said to him:

“Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act.
Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what
then do You say?”

They were saying this, testing him, so that they might have grounds for
accusing him. But Jesus stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground.
When they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. When they heard his, they began to leave, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and he was finally left alone with the woman in the center of the court. Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And quietly Jesus said, “Then I do not condemn you, either. Go, and from now on, sin no more.”



Crowds of adulterous people - crowds of prostitutes, tax collectors,
drunkards, addicts, Samaritans, and criminals, along with zealots and
centurions and a few conflicted pharisees - went everywhere with Jesus. He ate heartily in their homes and seemed suspiciously comfortable in their company. Those who love the law of God and feared the stain of sin complained about his offensive lack of moral boundaries and religious scruples.

In response he told these grumblers a gospel story that made them brothers with the sinful crowd they loved so much to hate. It went like this:

"A man had two sons. "The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me ' So he divided his wealth between them.
"And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living.
 
"Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were
eating, and no one was giving anything to him.

But when he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men."

So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and (C)embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.' And they began to celebrate.

Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. But he answered and said to his father, 'Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.' And he said to him, 'Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.'"




These stories we have heard, stories from Jesus and about Jesus, are the stuff of the gospel. They show the shape of the kingdom of God, the reality and the hope in which we are invited to live our lives. And there are many other stories, stories we did not tell today, stories that were never told, and stories that are yet to happen - stories that will unfold as we make Christ’s mind our own, by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, uniting in the same spirit, intent on the same purpose.

Doing nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind
regarding one another as more important than ourselves. Not looking out merely for our own interests, but also for the interests of others. Believing what Jesus said on a mountaintop one day, when he spoke to crowds of sinners about the kingdom that was theirs, saying:

Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.

Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of
righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, because of me. Rejoice and be glad!



For saying these things on that mountaintop - for turning water into wine, for speaking with Samaritans, for loving his neighbor, for rescuing adulterers from the law, for forgiving prodigal sons and killing the fatted calf - for saying and doing all these things, for showing joy to the world, he was killed. He was betrayed by the fickle mob, condemned by the murderous priests and stiff-necked scribes and pharisees, and crucified by the imperial indifference of the empire’s weary executioners. He cried in his pain for God, but God too had forsaken him, and for a time the world became in fact as dark as it was in truth.

And then it was finished. The story was over. The dream was shattered. The kingdom of God was betrayed, and the kingdom of Roman rule and Jewish law and zealous revolutions was empowered by the point of the spear that pierced his side.

Did his friends look up and see him finding life in losing it? Did they see
abundant living water pouring from his wounds? Or did they see failure,
the vindication of the law, the righteous punishment of a blasphemer, the
invincibility of the powers that be?

His body broken, his blood shed, he looked up and spoke one last time about the kingdom he was making up there upon the cross:

“Remember my commandment, that you love one another? Greater love has no man than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. I have called you friends, brothers, sisters, mothers, sons, and daughters. Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And then looking round at his unsteady disciples, all afraid and in despair, he said “behold, you are my mother and my brothers!” And to his weeping mother Mary and his beloved companion John, he said “Mother, this is your son! John, this is your mother! You are what I leave
behind; your love for each other is the only boundary of the kingdom of God. I did everything for you - that is the kingdom. Go and do the same.”




So Mary through her tears heard a voice asking “Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing the man to be a gardener, she pleaded “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

And then Jesus - risen, resurrected, alive and living Jesus - said to her, “Mary!”

After that she came announcing the good news to the other disciples. And in the evening, when the disciples had gathered behind closed doors for fear of those who had put him on the cross, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you; as the father has sent me, I also send you.
Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been
forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they will be retained. Go now into all the world, loving your neighbor and sharing the gospel of the kingdom, looking for God’s very good everywhere you go, and living in the hope that in love, all things work together for good.”

He is not here now, for he is risen. But he left us with a feast, a shared meal eaten in remembrance of him and in celebration of the kingdom. All are invited, so if you will, come now and receive together the bread and wine of Christ, who did everything for us, and shows us how to do the same for each other.

--------------------------

For communion, I gave Josh a prayer from John Crysostom, the patriarch of ancient Constantinople. He said:

Let all pious men and all lovers of God rejoice in the splendor of this feast; let the wise servants blissfully enter into the joy of their Lord; let those who have borne the burden of Lent now receive their pay, and those who have toiled since the first hour, let them now receive their due reward; let any who came after the third hour be grateful to join in the feast, and those who may have come after the sixth, let them not be afraid of being too late; for the Lord is gracious and He receives the last even as the first. He gives rest to him who comes on the eleventh hour as well as to him who has toiled since the first: yes, He has pity on the last and He serves the first; He rewards the one and praises the effort.

Come you all: enter into the joy of your Lord. You the first and you the last, receive alike your reward; you rich and you poor, dance together; you sober and you weaklings, celebrate the day; you who have kept the fast and you who have not, rejoice today. The table is richly loaded: enjoy its royal banquet. The calf is a fatted one: let no one go away hungry. All of you enjoy the banquet of faith; all of you receive the riches of his goodness. Let no one grieve over his poverty, for the universal kingdom has been revealed; let no one weep over his sins, for pardon has shone from the grave; let no one fear death, for the death of our Saviour has set us free: He has destroyed it by enduring it, He has despoiled Hades by going down into its kingdom, He has angered it by allowing it to taste of his flesh.

When Isaias foresaw all this, he cried out: "O Hades, you have been angered by encountering Him in the nether world." Hades is angered because frustrated, it is angered because it has been mocked, it is angered because it has been destroyed, it is angered because it has been reduced to naught, it is angered because it is now captive. It seized a body, and, lo! it encountered heaven; it seized the visible, and was overcome by the invisible.

O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory? Christ is risen and you are abolished. Christ is risen and the demons are cast down. Christ is risen and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen and life is freed. Christ is risen and the tomb is emptied of the dead: for Christ, being risen from the dead, has become the Leader and Reviver of those who had fallen asleep. To Him be glory and power for ever and ever. Amen.

Posted by Nimble Jack at Sunday, April 08, 2007 | Permalink | Comments

With our traveling companions gone, our weather less than ideal, and our motivation subsequently lacking, we've not done much outside of Cheonan since returning from Christmas vacation. Last Sunday we went to Songtan with Josh and Sarah and Emma, and had an amazing lunch at the Thai buffet (the chicken coconut milk curry thingy was . . . wow). After stocking up on oatmeal and stopping by the Coffee Tree for Korea' best cappucino, we came back to our little apartment and contentedly watched some House episodes. We've not done much more in the way of traveling besides - no overnight stays, nothing further than an hour or so on the train.

This weekend we did make a small effort to reassure ourselves and our many fans that we actually do like traveling and coming back with good stories and nice pictures - that we're not a couple of boring old people who like nothing better than relaxing together in their living room (though we're beginning to suspect that might be the truth, and that it's not half bad!). After SuperE's three-hour morning class, we went to the KTX station and got a train to Seoul, where we had booked a room at the Koreana Hotel. Our plan was to enjoy the hotel, visit a palace and a museum or two, and come back the next afternoon.

Cheonan on Friday was gorgeous, warm and sunny and enjoying relatively clear air - the best day in a long while. The train we wanted to take had been cancelled, so we had to wait an hour later than had been planned, but we relished the chance to sit on the outside steps drinking in the sun and some iced coffees. We were in high spirits and excited about our weekend getaway.



The train ride took unusually long, and we both fell asleep. Just before coming into Seoul we actually got stuck for a while in a tunnel. When we emerged from our naps and from the tunnel, the nice weather and clear air were gone, replaced with nasty clammy cold grey skies and some really terrible air pollution. It was a bit deflating, and would only get more so as we came up from the short subway hop and walked around in the haze looking for our hotel. Here are a few shots from our window, up on the fifteenth floor.




While the noisy, crowded city and its blighted sky may have rained on our parade, the hotel itself was quite nice. The surrounding area offered a nice "Italian" restaurant (which in turn offered some very non-Italian decor) called (what else?) Sorento's, where we had our evening meal, as well as a deceptively-named Gelatteria, which we thought would have the amazing gelatto ice cream, but instead had the unamazing freezer-burned frozen yogurt and bland Korean cake.



The evening was beautifully salvaged by a post-dinner walk through Deoksugong (Palace), next door to the Koreana. At 8:00 in the evening it was dark, nearly deserted, silent except for some surprisingly tasteful music playing quitely from well-placed speakers, and lit like a glowing candle. The darkness concealed the oppressive grey air, and a few raindrops were even starting to fall, promising to eventually clear out the dirt and at least bring a good clean grey to replace the mangy pseudo-color. It was an oasis in the urban waste, and made us glad again that we'd come, and almost glad again to be in Korea (where we've lately been feeling a whole new kind of homesickness).


The next morning we got up and enjoyed the rare treat of a real breakfast - ham, bacon, sausage, pancakes, and eggs. The Koreana offers a breakfast buffet, pricey but worth it, and that was the main reason we chose to stay there. Sometime we may go back again, with friends, just for breakfast. The food wasn't even that great, but the fact that it's breakfast food - i.e., not kimchi and rice - is enough in and of itself. After checking we out had a small lunch at an Evil Starbuck's, where SuperE noticed to her delight that the butter was from Wisconsin.


After our coffee and bagel we headed back onto the grounds of Deoksugung and toward the art gallery at the back. We spent a few hours with the Marino Marini sculpture exhibit, bought a great little Korean novel with both Korean and English text, and left footsore and hungry. After that we got a nice long walking tour of downtown Seoul, (where we dicovered this patch of real green grass!) which was something new as we've always taken taxis or the subway. We ate non-cajun "cajun chicken salad" at a restaurant near the big gate, walked through Dongdaemun Market, checked out an exhibit at the Bank of Korea Museum but decided against staying around, ate some spun honey candy (mmm) and tried some street sausage (blech), and eventually made our way back (after searching in vain for the Metropolitan Museum) to the KTX station. And from there, home sweet home, another episode of House, another bowl of cereal, another early night, and church the next morning.

Here are a few shots of Dongdaemun Market. What look like jars of aliens petrified in amber are actually jars of ginseng root.

Posted by Nimble Jack at Monday, March 26, 2007 | Permalink | Comments

Friends, just less than one year ago we acquired The Machine. Last week we traded Jack for Robb's nano (also christened Jack) and purchased a second (which we named Jill, of course) at Costco. All of this in anticipation of the arrival from Indiana of our Nike+iPod sensor chips and shoe pouchs. The Nike+iPod program is genious. A chip in a pouch attached to your shoe connects with a sensor attached to your iPod nano. The chip keeps a record of your run - speed, distance, pace, everything - and records it on the nano. The nano gives you verbal feedback in the middle of your music. When you get back home and hook up your nano, the info gets sent to the Nike+iPod website, where you have an account. You can watch yourself run the graph of your latest workout, challenge other runners, keep track of your progress, create maps - the possibilities created by this marriage of healthy living and cool technology are endless.

But to take full advantage of these possibilities requires some decent computing power. My laptop has been dead for some time, and SuperE's has all but kicked the bucket - it's nearly impossible to watch movies without the video getting stuck behind the audio every ten seconds or so. What to do?

Or, more precisely, what to do when some extra work has left you with some extra money? Why, buy a MacBook, of course! Two weeks ago, after a particularly frustrating attempt to watch the latest episode of House, we found ourselves visiting the well-appointed rooms of Houston Wanier. There in the middle of his bedroom/living room floor sat his black beauty of a computing device, and behold, it was awesome. Programs started with the greatest of ease. Internet pages loaded without crashing the universe. Music responded to the commands of a remote control! And so we were convinced.

It took some figuring, some searching, some hopeful efforts to discover whether this wonder was even for sale in the Land of the Morning Calm. Eventually we made our way to the COEX mall and the newly reopened Apple reseller, found the apparently lesser white version (the color makes a $200 difference?!) of our prize, and forked over the cash.

And now I'm writing to you on Jane (in keeping with our 'j' theme), which is breezily running seven different programs at the same time without even a hiccup. We watch movies now without fear of the terribly inopportune freezup, the maddening pause just before the killer's face is revealed. We listen to music while writing an email. We surf the net while skyping with our parents. Wonderful!

Posted by Nimble Jack at Monday, March 05, 2007 | Permalink | Comments