Cars have been on my mind a lot recently. So far in the decade I’ve been licensed, I’ve owned three. My parents gave me an Eagle Vision when I was in college, and I bought a Saturn LS2 from them a few years later after returning from Japan. Both were sensible, practical, well-maintained sedans firmly [...]
I’ve been reading books about North Korea since I got here to the South. I think that by this point I’ve got a fair sense of what the nation is, and what it might do. Given that, I think that the US, S. Korea, and as many of the UN as we can convince should [...]
Last Friday I took a tour of the Blue House: Korea’s executive mansion and offices. It was a nice enough tour, though we were only allowed to take pictures from three designated locations. For the most part, the landscapes were beautiful and the architecture stately. There were two exceptions: two carefully manicured lawns which had [...]
Dropped off a packet today to apply to the FWMEQC. Fixed wing transitions used to be a perk available to old crusty warrant officers with over 20 years of service. Recently, someone high up decided that it’d be good to have some younger fixed-wing pilots as well. I have to admit, I’m kind of excited [...]
It’s that time of year again: the entire BN took the day off to attend mandatory seminars. Until lunch, it was the familiar parade of lectures that boil down to “It is better for you personally and for the Army if you are not a drunken boor.” After lunch, we had an interesting tour of [...]
Today I had an evening flight. I got about half an hour of day time, and one hour of night unaided. It’d be just another Saturday, except for one thing: tonight’s flight was in a Cessna 172. It’s a funny thing, flying a small reciprocating single-engine plane after becoming used to a dual turbine helicopter. [...]
Out and about in Songtan the other day visiting a friend from college who through pure coincidence is also currently stationed in Korea, we saw a truck open on an anonymous corner near his apartment containing lots of stage gear: lights, reflectors, etc. It generated a moment’s curiosity, as there is no nearby theatre, but [...]
It’s a new year again, for my readers in Korea and Japan at least*. (新年あけましておめでとうございます!) For my family and most of my friends, it’ll be another half day or so. In moving here I’ve cheated over twelve hours from both 2009 and the decade it was a part of; I think most people will agree [...]
Civilian Commercial: Seoul Incheon: not actually very remarkable. It’s a big modern airport very much like many other big modern airports. It’s not ideally designed: it requires walking maybe 1500 meters from one end to the other, for military arrivals at least. Still, its linear design means it is at least simple. Also, free internet [...]
My first contact with the program triggered all my phishing alerts: an unexpected email purporting to be from a trusted source asked for personal information. I’d have rejected it out of hand, but I do expect to fly as a passenger on commercial air soon and I’d rather not be turned back at the gate [...]