Articles by mgedwards

Travel plans and overcommitment

I talked to my wife tonight about our potential travel plans this year.  We really haven’t had a real vacation since we went to the Middle East on tour in late 2001.  (We traveled to the Middle East just before the Afghan War started in 2002.  Fortunately, the trip was relatively incident-free.)  I spent a couple of years pursuing my MBA, and my son was born just before I graduated.  We were homebound during his first year of life.  After I graduated, I briefly worked as a consultant and was on the road frequently.  I had no time for a vacation.  Then in early 2004 I started this job, and I haven’t had a vacation in over a year on the job.  We did spend a few days in Hawai in mid-February before arriving in Seoul.  However, my family was ill with the flu, and I had to work for a couple days in Honolulu.  Alas, Hawaii was not much of a vacation aside from spending quality time with my brother and wife and some sweet moments at the Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki.  We’ve been out and about in Seoul, but we haven’t taken any vacations since we arrived.  Unfortunately, the summer months will be extremely busy, and in the fall I’ll be preoccupied with the upcoming APEC Conference in Busan.  It doesn’t leave us much time for vacation.  Next December we will return to the U.S. for some rest and recuperation, and during the spring or summer we want to take a mini-trip somewhere in Korea or Asia.  My wife did some research and discovered, much to my surprise, that it costs almost as much to travel to Jeju Island as it does to go to Phuket, Thailand.  Jeju Island is one of Korea’s greatest treasures.  It’s a beautiful island off the south coast of Korea, a must-see for anyone traveling to Korea.  Phuket is an especially popular destination for Koreans.  Phuket/Bangkok tour packages are relatively cheap right now.  Phuket sustained significant damage from the Tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia, and tour packages there are cheap because Thailand is trying to rebuild its tourist industry.  Our biggest challenge is finding the time go on vacation.  U.S.’ Memorial Day would be the best time for us to go because Koreans celebrate their own Memorial Day is one week later.  Unfortunately, I have some job commitments to fulfill around Memorial Day.  Traveling on Korean Memorial Day is a possibility, but traveling in Korea during a Korean holiday is a nightmare.  We may not have an opportunity to go on vacation until Christmastime.

I did it again.  I overcommitted myself during the next two weeks.  It wasn’t my intention.  I told myself I wouldn’t overcommit anymore myself because I almost killed myself volunteering for everything during my MBA program.  I tend to say “yes” when given an opportunity to volunteer.  I’ve wanted to reach out to the local community through a speaking engagement, so I inadvertently volunteered myself to speak twice in the next two weeks.  I signed up for the talent show next week and will sing a couple of songs.  I have to report out to the section head on a key operations management project I’ve been working on for the past two months.  I volunteered to help with the company picnic as grill master and arrange transportation.  I move to a new assignment on June 1st and have to wrap up my current job by the end of the month.  If I can get through the next two weeks without incident, I will be very happy.  It’s going to be quite a challenge.  The public speaking opportunities will be particularly nerve wracking, because I don’t particularly enjoy speaking publicly.  It’s something I have to do, though.  Public speaking is a critical skill I need to nurture.  Communication is key.

Morningstar is born

Morningstar’s initial public offering concluded successfully last Tuesday.  I was allocated 100 shares at $18.50 per share, 50 fewer than I submitted in my Dutch auction  bid.  MORN is now up to $20.40 per share.  While not spectacular, the IPO is considered successful because the stock price never slid below its initial asking price.  Usually stocks that go IPO slide after the first couple days of trading.  Morningstar never broke it initial price threshold.  My next challenge is to figure out when to sell MORN.  Do I sell quickly, or do I hold it?  I thought about setting a target price to sell at $25/share, a one-third price gain.  IPOs are typically volatile at the outset, so it is possible it might make such a gain in the short term during a bull market.  Because I purchased shares with cash, I will pay capital gains when I sell.  If I wait one year to sell the shares, the capital gains rate will decline.  If I believe that MORN is a good investment for the long term, I would prefer to keep them over the long term.  My own feeling is that Morningstar will flourish as an independent investment research firm, but in the long term it might be a takeover target by a large financial services firm such as Merrill Lynch or Charles Schwab.  That would be a boon to the stock price.  I’m not sure yet what I will do, but I am glad that–at least for the time being–I was again successful in securing IPO shares of a promising company through Dutch auction. 

Tonight I visited a friend’s house to demo some karaoke songs for the upcoming community talent show.  The talent show was a hit last year.  We plan to sing a duet together.  We narrowed our options down to either "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross, or "When I Fall in Love," the theme song from the movie "Sleepless in Seattle" popularized by Celine Dion.  I’m partial to the second song, perhaps because I’m from Seattle.  I think that song better showcases our voices.  I can pull off a good rendition of Lionel Richie, but I sing more like Clive Griffen, the one who performed the duet with Celine.  (I also plan to sing my signature song, "Oh Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, solo at the talent show.)  After we settle on a song, we need to work out the logistics at the talent show so that we can sing on stage.  We need two microphones and accompanying music on CD or tape.  I thought that we could use her karaoke machine, but it’s not portable and needs to be hooked up to a television.  We’ll figure it out. 

Catching up on old news

I did not have much time last week to update you on recent goings-on here in Seoul, so I thought I would backtrack a bit and talk about what has happened since last Thursday.  Last Thursday was Children’s Day, a national holiday in Korea.  (I’m fortunate to have time off during most Korean holidays.)  Many American parents would exclaim, "What, why do children need a holiday?  Their special day is everyday!" To that I answer, "Why not?"  After all, we are all children.  Children are a joy and are worth celebrating, even grown-up children.  Of course, many children receive special treatment on an ongoing basis as long as they’re under the care of loving parents.  However, if your child is absent from you like mine was until last week, you too might look favorably on Children’s Day.  I spent most of the day Thursday with my friends, helping them with the 100-day celebration and then joining them in the evening for dinner.  I probably spent too much time at their home while I was a pseudo-bachelor.  They don’t mind at all.  I don’t live far away, and I definitely don’t mind the food, fun, and fellowship. 

On Friday I went back to work.  I spent the morning trying to resolve two difficult issues, and in the afternoon I went to Yeouido, Seoul’s financial district, to serve as a judge for the International Youth Fellowship‘s 5th Annual English Speech Contest.  The contest pits some of the best and brightest English-speaking Korean students against one another in a very competitive speech contest.  I was one of several judges.  I enjoyed serving as a dignitary for the competition as well as reaching out to the local community.  The speeches were excellent, although of course some were better than others.  Unfortunately, I had to leave early for another pre-arranged engagement and departed before the awards banquet began.  In the future, I’ll make sure my schedule is clear before agreeing to another outreach event.  The speech contest was a welcome departure from my normal duties.  On Friday evening, I met up with a group of friends and colleagues for dinner and noraebang.  It was fun, but I felt bad because I arrived late even though I left the speech contest early.  I was the one who originally arranged this get together, and yet I arrived very late.  Again, in hindsight I should have postponed the get together to focus on the speech contest.  As it turned out, I left the speech contest 1.5 hours later than expected.  If it had concluded on time, I would have arrived for the next event on time.  Apologies from me were heard by all.

On Saturday morning I spent the morning straightening up the house before my family came home.  I went to buy Mother’s Day flowers for my wife as a way to thank her for all she’s done for our son and to welcome her home.  After that, I drove to Incheon to pick up my family.  The trip to Incheon International Airport did not take long, but the return trip was horrendous.  It took us almost three hours to drive home once we approached Seoul.  It’s some of the worst traffic I’ve ever seen.  I know that traffic can be really bad in other cities such as Bangkok and Cairo, but Seoul has to rank as one of the world’s most congested cities.  It’s legendary.  Someone once told me it took them 11 hours to drive back from Seorak Mountain in eastern Korea to Seoul.  It take 3.5-4 hours on a good day to drive to Seorak Mountain. 

We spent Sunday, Mother’s Day, at church with our friends and joined another family for some delicious Chinese food.  It would have been nice to listen to the pastor’s message, but we were much too preoccupied with our son.  He is so active that I had to take him out of church and let him wander around the alleyways of Seoul.  He is not at all interested in joining other children in the small children’s play area.  He’s an explorer like his parents.  It’s eerie sometimes to see how much he takes after his parents.  It’s like seeing a miniature version of yourself.  You can look at this little person and ask yourself, "So, that’s what I’m like?  Do I like myself?"  Most of the time you end up deciding that you do, unless your child is throwing a temper tantrum like my son did tonight.

Note to BJJ:  I found out that a good friend of mine at work was given the coveted, highly-visible job I mentioned in an earlier entry.  I am very happy for him.  It was not the outcome I expected, and I was overjoyed.  I will move into his current job soon, much sooner than I expected.  I did not anticipate that the move would happen so fast, but the job I will do is a major coup.  I am very happy with the outcome.  I was wrong in my prediction.  Thanks for the kind words and positive outlook.