Articles by mgedwards

Bibimbap party and bumper stickers

Last night we went over to my colleagues’ apartment for a bibimbap party celebrating our imminent departure to Korea.  What’s bibimbap?  It’s a Korean dish featuring a potpourri of vegetables (meat optional) over rice with sesame seed oil and red pepper paste.  I uploaded a couple photos of bibimbap to the photos section.  My colleague’s mother prepared all the ingredients.  It really whet my appetite for Korean food.  Lately I’ve abstained from eating Korean food because I know we’re going to eat a heckuva lot while we’re in Seoul.  Our friends hosted a lovely party featuring bibimbap, seaweed soup, wine, and dessert.  They even printed up a nice menu for us!  The dinner was absolute delicious.  It was much better than other get togethers we’ve had at local places such as Rock Bottom Brewery.  I’m grateful for their hospitality.

This morning I saw an interesting sight.  I saw a Toyota Prius hybrid driving in the right lane, and right behind it I saw a Mercedes SUV.  While that was not unusual, what was ironic to me were the bumper stickers they each sported prominently on the back of their cars.  (It’s one of those moments when you wish you had a digital camera handy to take a quick photo to capture the memory.)  The Prius featured a "Kerry-Edwards" bumper sticker, and the Mercedes had a "W" George W. Bush campaign sticker.  I couldn’t help but catch a look at the cars’ inhabitants.  While I won’t go into detail on their physical features, I will say that it was very obvious from their appearance and attire what political party they supported.  You really are what you drive, I guess!  I would not have thought about their political leanings until I read their bumper stickers.  They invited me to think about it when they affixed those stickers.  A Prius is an environmentally-friendly vehicle with great gas mileage, while a Mercedes signifies affluency.  (I drive neither.)  I wonder sometimes why people leave campaign bumper stickers on their cars long after elections.  There’s still a noticeable number of "Kerry-Edwards" plastered on the backs of cars driving around Northern Virginia (and "W" stickers too, although not as many–the D.C. area is not "Bush" country).  I think many people are leaving them on their cars as a way to quietly protest the election result.  I still occasionally see Gore-Lieberman and other old campaign bumper stickers on cars driving around town.  I even saw a Reagan bumper sticker a few months ago.  Come on.  There comes a time when it’s time to scrape the bumper stickers off, I think, especially when they become faded or tattered.  And I wonder sometimes why people put more than 10 bumper stickers on their cars.  There’s a car parked in our apartment complex with perhaps 40 different bumper stickers plastered on the back and sides of the car, very obvious demonstrating what political affiliation the driver is.  There are stickers even plastered on the cars’ windows, something I think might be a bit dangerous because they create blind spots for the driver.  As for me, I try not to advertise my own beliefs on my vehicle.  I believe that Americans put entirely too many bumper stickers on their cars.  When you travel abroad or even go to Canada you don’t see nearly as many on vehicles as you do in the U.S.  It may be that Americans take politics too serious and do their best to assert their own beliefs or convert others to their own beliefs.  I wish people on both the Left and Right would temper their political views.  The recent presidential election was particularly decisive and blood pressure on both sides was very high.  I just hope they cool down…and put away the bumper stickers until the next election campaign.

Note:  The writer is not related to 2004 Vice-Presidential Nominee John Edwards.

 

In memory of a passing acquaintance

Yesterday I learned that a cashier at the cafeteria where I work and study had suddenly passed away over the weekend.  Flowers and a card at her register announced her passing.  I only met her from time to time when I visited the cafeteria, but now that she’s gone I miss her.  She was one of those people who had a small impact on my life that I didn’t notice until something happened to make me realize what an impact she had.  The first time I remember talking to her was when I handed her some money to pay for lunch and unwittingly told her how much change to give me.  I’m used to interacting with cashiers who sometimes have difficulty counting small change because they rely too heavily on the register to tell them how much change to give back.  I unintentionally insulted her by doing the same to her.  She was a veteran cashier.  I could see it in her eyes that she was put off by my observation and told me with raised eyebrows, "Yes, I KNOW how to count change."  Oops, my mistake.  I didn’t apologize and recused myself from the awkward situation, but I realized my error and afterwards went out of my way to go to her register and treat her with respect.  By Christmastime we exchanged holiday greetings and a smile.  I didn’t see her again.  She was one of those people who briefly pass through your life, people you may never know affected your life.  In her case I found out that she had passed away recently, although I don’t know what happened.  Out of respect for her I don’t want to know.  The flowers and card I saw at her register was touching.  I’m glad that the cafeteria management left her register vacant this week to honor her passing.  It’s the least that they could do.  If I could tell her I would tell her that at least in my case she touched my life in a small way, and for that I’m grateful.

Of Wild Geese and offerings

In Korean class we must put together a short briefing about "kirogi" (기러기), or "wild geese."  In Korean folklore wild geese, beautiful and graceful creatures, symbolize harmony in marriage.  In recent years however, the term has taken on an ominous meaning.  It now typically refers to Korean families living separate lives.  Some Korean families prefer to educate their children overseas, especially in the United States.  School-age Korean children cannot attend American public schools on their own; they must accompany adults who first immigrate to the U.S.  Unfortunately, many Korean fathers must remain behind in Korea in order to financially support their families.  Many of these fathers are too young to retire, and they are apprehensive to quitting good jobs in Korea to start over in the U.S.  The reasons that Korean families move overseas vary, but most kirogi believe that living and studying abroad will give their children better career opportunities and afford them the ability to develop their personal skills and interests beyond what they can in Korea.  Korean children focus exhaustively on passing Korea’s national college entrance exams (대입시), leaving them little time to develop their own personal interests.  Many kirogi parents believe that living abroad will allow their children to grow up with greater opportunity, apart the immense pressure of passing the augurous Korean entrance exams.  When families separate however, their relations are often strained because the husband/father remains apart from the family for extended periods of time.  The Washington Post recently published an article about kirogi (registration required).  It’s a sad story of one family in Maryland whose father will remain in Korea for the next nine years until he retires.  Although I have been separated from my family from time to time because of work commitments, I am grateful that we don’t have to be separated for long periods of time.  It puts too much strain on a family.  The benefit is usually not worth the huge cost. 

Yesterday Morningstar, an investment research firm, announced that it was planning an open Dutch-style auction for its initial public offering (IPO).  W.R. Hambrecht & Co. will be the lead underwriter.  I don’t know much about Morningstar other than that I like their investment ratings–they provide a good ratings system for small investors like me.  I would not normally be attracted to this IPO, but I had such a good experience with Google‘s Dutch auction IPO that I might just look into it.  To participate in this IPO you must open an account with W.R. Hambrecht.  Morningstar’s IPO will be the first Dutch auction since Google’s IPO.  Spurred by Google’s success, auctions seem to be gaining popularity.  However, it’s obvious that Wall Street is skeptical about open auction IPOs.  For one, Wall Street is a clubby world, and open auctions open up the game for everyone to participate in equally.  They eliminate back door deals between investment banks and large investors.  It is true that auctions are prone to overpricing.  For example, Google IPO’d at $85/share.  If it has debuted with a traditional IPO it may have listed at $30-$35/share.  The traditional closed IPO system freezes out small investors and penalizes participating companies by underestimating IPO pricings and minimizing their IPO proceeds.  I would love to see the Dutch auction method widely adopted because it’s a fairer way for all investors to participate, and shares are more apt to be fairly priced at opening.  I was happy to pick up Google at IPO against the advice of most analysts.  I particularly enjoyed watch the Wall Street fat cats resist buying Google until it was too late.  Once the price of Google skyrocketed from $85 at IPO to over $150 Wall Street firms realized their mistake and started accumulating shares, which boosted the price even higher.  For once the bigwigs were burned, benefitting small investors.  Do I think Morningstar’s IPO will be a hit like Google’s was?  I doubt it.  Morningstar doesn’t generate buzz like the upstart tech company does.  It’s a relatively staid and nondescript firm.  Still, many IPOs by well-known companies perform well in the long-run.  I remember wondering when boring ol’ UPS, the shipping company, went public a few years ago whether I should have purchased shares on the first day of trading.  Had I done so I would have made a great investment return.