Articles by mgedwards

A really hectic day

As expect, today was very hectic for me (it still is). It was my first day back to work this year, and I had to accomplish a number of tasks related to our move to Korea. I received my official travel authorization, giving me the authority to apply for Korean visas, prepare for our pack out, and apply for some travel allowances. I don’t have much time to write today, so I’ll keep this entry short. Needless to say, with all the Korean I need to learn I had a very busy day today.

The Seattle Sonics beat the Miami Heat tonight 98-96, breaking the Heat’s 14-game win streak. The Sonics are now 23-6. They were a bit shaky early last week with losses to the sub-.500 Celtics and Sixers, and they lost to the red-hot Suns. Their win over Miami tonight might mean they’re back on track. Go Sonics!

The end of the break

What do you do at the end of a long break?  Do you scramble to do everything you didn’t accomplish during the break?  Do you take it easy and soak up the last bit of freedom before returning to work?  Is it steady as it goes?  For me, it’s usually the former.  I look at everything I didn’t do or procrastinated about and try to cram as much as possible into the last few hours before heading to bed.  Do I work on move logistics?  Study Korean?  Spend time with my family?  I usually end up completing a potpourri of tasks on my last day of break.  The night before I took time out to watch "Shrek 2", one of the best animated films of all time (in my humble opinion).  Of course, I also own some DreamWorks Animation stock so I’m a bit biased.  On the second-to-last day of a long break I usually play around and then spend the last day catching up.  I’m just thankful to have had the opportunity for a breather before work starts again.

New Year’s Day and the day after are usually given to College Bowls and the end of the NFL season.  I usually don’t watch college bowl games unless my alma mater, the University of Washington is one of the participants.  This year they had a lousy season and were out of the bowl sweepstakes.  I didn’t even know who was in the BCS final until I surfed to ESPN.com and saw that USC (1) and Oklahoma (2) will duke it out for the championship in the Orange Bowl on January 4th.  As a Washington Husky I cannot root for the Trojans, even if they represent the Pac-10 for the championship.  It’s a matter of pride.  In addition, one of their former alumni, Rick Neuheisel, absolutely decimated the Husky football program as head football coach and was fired for illegally a couple of years ago for participating in a college betting pool.  His assistant Keith Gilbertson did even worse and was fired after 1 1/2 years on the job.  The Huskies hired former Notre Dame coach Tyrone Willingham to coach the football; we’ll have to see how he does.  Interestingly, the Huskies basketball team is fabulous, now ranked #13 in the most recent AP poll.  It may be a long time before the Huskies regain their dominance in football because very few colleges and universities excel at both basketball and football.  Unless you’re a Florida team, that is.  It must be the water.

What a beautiful day

Happy New Year!  Last night I stayed up long enough to witness the New Year, and then I headed for bed.  No big parties for me.  I watched a bit of TV, but otherwise I celebrated quietly.  This is the first year in ages that Dick Clark did not usher in the new year on ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”, a New Year’s staple.  Regis Philbin sat in for him.  The show was pretty much dedicated to Dick this year.  I only watched for about 10 minutes.  When I was young I remember faithfully watching the ABC, NBC and CBS New Year’s Eve TV celebrations every year.  Now I have very little interest in watching network television.  I must be getting old.  At 12:00 a.m. some people set off some firecrackers near our apartment building.  At first I wondered whether I heard gunfire (you never know in a big city!) but then I realized the calendar had turned to 2005 and people were celebrating outside.  Welcome to the New Year!

This break has done wonders for me.  Life slowed down tremendously during the time between Christmas and New Year.  I needed that.  Even though I went in to work to study Korean each day, it still felt like a vacation to me.  I was able to spend the day with my wife and son.  The weather was gorgeous.  It is January 1st, but today felt like mid-September just before fall hits.  It was clear and sunny but not cold at all.  I heard that it may have hit 60+ degrees today.  I’m glad…although I grew up in cold climates I don’t really like snow.  People do crazy things in the snow, and it makes life a lot more inconvenient.  I do enjoy winter sports like skiing, but as long as the snow stays in the mountains I’m happy.  Today we headed to the mall to do a little New Year’s shopping.  The mall was packed with shoppers.  We ate at a little hole-in-the-wall Philly-style Greek-Italian restaurant.  It was greasy but delicious.  I doubt we’ll have many of those in Korea.  American restaurants abound–so I hear–but there aren’t too many mom-and-pop American style restaurants in Seoul.  We’ll see.

The break is over soon, and I am sad.  I really enjoy having time to work and study and play at my leisure.  On Monday the grind will start again.