Articles by mgedwards

Let's Go

I was running some errands today, and I put in a CD I hadn’t listened to in quite some time–Mark Schultz‘ self-titled album.  I listened again to a song called "Let’s Go" that’s been an inspiration to me ever since I joined the service early last year (you can hear the song on Mark’s web site).  It reminded me of why I decided to let go of a comfortable suburban life in order to live and work abroad serving my country.  I love this song.  It’s really about missionaries serving overseas, but it describes the decisions you often make when you decide to make a drastic change in your life–like moving to another country.  It has such a great message, and it captures a lot of the thoughts and feelings I went through when I decided to join the service.  Here’s the lyrics (copyright Mark Schultz music):

"Let’s Go" by Mark Schultz

You gotta nice job in an office on the seventh floor
Oh but you’re looking out the window
And you’re thinking that there’s something more
You clear your head
You close your eyes
But something deep inside you cries

Chorus:
Let’s go, let’s go to the great unknown
Find the one that rolled away the stone
Let’s go to the foreign shore
Find a way to give like we never gave before
Let’s go, going far and wide
Pack your bag and leave it all behind
What are we waiting for
Let’s go

Back home through the middle of the parking lot
You give away the car
Give away the money that you’ve got
Neighbors will talk
And oh they should
Saying something ain’t right
In the neighborhood

Those darn Seahawks

It seems that the St. Louis Rams have the Seahawks’ number this year.  After beating the ‘Hawks twice during the NFL regular season, the 8-8 Rams just made football history by being the first .500 team to win a playoff game.  They beat the ‘Hawks today 27-20 in Seattle to advance to the divisional playoff round.  And for the sixth time since 1984 the Seahawks lost yet another playoff game in the first round.  The excitement and anticipation of a Superbowl that came when Coach Mike Holmgren arrived from Green Bay is long gone.  Soon too will Coach Holmgren, I imagine.  What a fall for a team that was a dark-horse favorite to win the NFC this year.  They barely made won the division and are out after one game.  It’s very likely that Mike will be gone soon and another veteran coach will try to patch together a broken team (Flores, Erickson, take a number).  The only Mike who will be left in town will be Mariners Manager Mike Hargrove.  Over the years the ‘Hawks primary obstacle to winning is a solid quarterback.  Meier, Salisbury, Kitna…all started out as princes who turned into toads.  Matt Hasselbeck showed sparks of brillance last season and during the beginning of this season, but like so many others he has also fizzled.  The team is also of victim of perpetual mediocrity.  They have hovered between 9-7 and 6-10 virtually every season since the heydays of the early 1980’s.  Perhaps they need a 1-15 season so they can win the QB sweepstakes for a change.  Granted, the Bengals have done that and more and still have not turned themselves into winners, but they’re the exception.  More often what happens is what happened when the hapless Chargers drafted Pursue QB Drew Brees and handily won the AFC West.  I don’t think ‘Hawks fans will be back in the seats in droves again at Qwest Field until they see a winner on the field.  Seattle fans just don’t have the dedication in the face of adversity and disappointment that Red Sox fans do.

Weather is again the topic du jour.  It was windy and cool here today in the D.C. area.  My wife checked the weather in Seoul just for kicks and saw that it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit with an average of 38 degrees during the entire winter.  For a marine climate dweller like myself, 14 degrees is cold!  Fortunately, we aren’t out west where the snow is falling in waves.  Dozens of motorists were stranded in the Sierra Nevada range in California, and it’s snowing across much of the west.  Ohio has been hard hit too.  Earlier this week the weather was balmy, almost summeresque here.  I personally hope it doesn’t snow again until we leave D.C.!  Still, I’m not looking forward to the Siberia Express that goes right through Seoul.  At least we get to enjoy Hawaii for a week before we arrive in Seoul.

I finished a bunch of miscellaneous tasks in anticipation of our move to Korea.  It feels great to check off a few more to-dos from my list.  I’m dragging my feet studying Korean of course, but everything I did today had to do with getting ready to go.  Writing this blog is my one free pass today.  Now that I’ve mentioned I guess I should get back to studying Korean.  *sigh*

A Rant against Cox Cable

I’m so busy right now that we decided to turn off our cable TV one month early because we’re not watching it enough to justify the cost. Our son watches all sorts of videos on DVD and VHS, and mommy watches mostly Korean dramas. I like to watch the news, some sports, and channel surf to find interesting programming, but it’s not enough to justify keeping our cable subscription. I can get a lot more information here on the Internet. Plus, with less than a month until my Korean exam I really don’t have much time to watch TV anymore. Still, in order to turn off our cable I first had to physically return our digital cable box. (We upgraded from analog so my in-laws could watch Chinese programming on the International Channel. Now that they’re gone though we no longer need digital cable.) I had to drive over 15 miles to drop the box off at the Cox Cable outlet in Neverneverland. It took me over an hour in traffic plus tolls on the Dulles Turnpike. Why doesn’t Cox have more retail outlets to serve customers? When I canceled Comcast it took me 10 minutes to drop off my box. I went to a huge building that looked like Cox’ company headquarters. Cox needs more retail outlets like Comcast does. I prefer Comcast over Cox, but unfortunately Comcast doesn’t serve our area. I was not impressed with Cox. I would have carried over our satellite TV subscription but we couldn’t physically set up a dish in our apartment. While I’m ranting, I also have to rant about something else–why do cable companies have to give 3 months of premium channels free in the hopes that customers will conveniently forget that they signed up for it and will pay extra once the free trial has ended? We paid for several months of HBO that I forgot I had previously signed up for as a freebie. Sure, it’s perfectly legal, but it’s frustrating because you know that the cable company is hoping customers won’t notice how much they’re paying for premium packages.