The One With Aldacron

It seems cellphone users in the United States are finally catching up with the rest of the world. People in Asia and Europe were using the data functions of their cellphones for some time before the iPhone and similar phones came around. In Korea and Japan (and I hear some places in Europe) they’ve been [...]

When I used to teach English at institutes here in Korea, I generally was allowed only one week of vacation in a year. The worst part was that there was no choice as to when I could take it. The school would shut down for a week in the summer and all employees were then [...]

Every time that I go back to the States, I’m often amazed by the amount of food served at some restaurants. On this last trip, the wife and I visited a BBQ place for lunch. They gave us so much that we ate it for dinner also and were stuffed after both meals. We took [...]

I knew of two Taco Bell locations in Seoul in the early 90s, but they were gone by ’94. I guess Korea wasn’t ready for it. In ’99, a Taco Bell opened up on the main US army base in Seoul about a month before I quit the part-time job that gave me base access. [...]

I have a shiny, new iPhone sitting on my desk, still cradled in its box. A complimentary case is parked right next to it, package unopened. The reason being that I don’t yet know if I get to keep it. After all of the rumors, confusion, and misinformation around about foreigners buying iPhones in Korea [...]

Back in the late 90′s, a girl K-Pop group call Fin.K.L came into popularity. All four members were quite young, but one in particular, Ock Joo Hyun, had an amazing, powerful voice. Since the group disbanded, Lee Hyori has been most prominently, and most consistently, in the limelight. Given that I mostly keep up with [...]

I wanted to post about this sooner, but a dead power supply and a lack of time to buy a replacement kept me offline for a few days. Green Day came to Seoul last Monday (Jan 18). I didn’t hesitate to get tickets. I’ve been a Green Day fan since Dookie, though I still don’t [...]

Last Tuesday I attempted to buy an iPhone in Seoul and failed. Even though I have an F-5 visa which, according to information released by Korea Telecom, makes me eligible to be treated the same as a Korean (and well it should, given that this visa even allows me to stand in the line for [...]

There’s an article up at the Joognang Daily that describes the difficulties foreigners have in getting an iPhone in Korea. The release of the device here has highlighted KT’s abhorrent policies more than any other product. In most cases, foreigners I know with cell phones registered in their name (myself included) opt for SK or [...]

It seems 2009 was, for me, the Year of Lost Devices. In early August, I lost my 8-month-old cell phone. In October, I threw my two-year-old iPod Classic in the washing machine. I still have the cell phone that I bought to replace the lost one, thankfully. But to close out 2009 on a low [...]