So I've been in Korea for just about a week and a half now and I'm waiting on a few things to go through here so that I can have an Alien Registration Card. This important little piece of plastic has the ablility to make my life a whole lot easier but I'm not sure what exactly it is I'm waiting for to complete the paperwork.
Until then I have no internet access of my own (I'm using the school's right now), no cell phone/home phone, and no bank account for the school to pay me at. As you can imagine this makes some parts of the process of being here frustrating.
And sometime soon I'm supposed to get a washing machine in my apartment. However there isn't a laundromat in the mean time to make my clothes clean so I'll just have to hope that nobody notices when I'm being a little bit dirty.
That isn't to say that everything is bad but one does need to get the complaining out of the way to get to the good stuff.
First my classes which start next week will have no more than 15 students and I believe the average will be about 8 which means I should be able to handle them pretty well.
Next I'm in a city where there are many different food options and I'm starting to believe that I could go the rest of my stay here without ever having the same meal twice if I didn't want to. Their is always korean food, a pretty good Vietnamese restuarant and if I'm in a hurry to wake up at least three coffee shops on the two block walk to work including a Dunkin Donuts.
Their are lots of bars around as well and I've gone to a few and haven't had the same drink twice yet either. One of the bars is a self serve bar and all you have to do is take your empty bottles to the cashier when you leave to pay for them. In the mean time I'm starting to be able to read Korean, however many of the signs have an
English cheat sheet so my practice keeps getting messed up since I always look at that before I've puzzled out the place names.
I start work next week and I'm replacing an Englishman named Kevin whose family is Korean. So he was fluent in both languages before coming here. In the mean time I'm trying to figure out a way to learn the language, either via class or maybe a english speaking barista, I think that will be the hardest part of this year.
I'm still not quite sure on my address in this place but I'll get it soon.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Korea, an update on my life in the last 8 months
So I've made it to Seoul South Korea, and I'm feeling pretty good. Which is definitely a change from yesterday. Yesterday I was sitting on a plane for 14 hours next to an elderly Korean man watching movies. Despite being surprised that the movie Arthur was an excellent movie, i was kinda sad. Today however I was spending time with recently graduated women who like to travel. My mood improved. Though it might have been the Cat Cafe, where you could pet a cat or the one random pig that the cafe had. And the coffee was great.
Anyhow I'll be in training for the next week learning how to make children love me, and then I'll use that love against them to make them learn English, and be productive citizens. Since we all know that nobody wants to do those things on their own anyway.
Anyway back to the last 8 months,
I spent a lot of time learning to be a better gamer. Specifically in StarCraft II where I learned to play an alien race and destroy humans. It seems when you are waiting for things to arrive, like background checks, passports and other paperwork.
Other things that occured in the last 8 months
I learned that the proper name for mushroom soup is Methodist Binder.
Sudoku in the paper can keep you stuck on the funny pages longer than is proper for an adult male.
I learned how to make a dog love you or hate you in 15 minutes or less.
I can now make pie crusts, apparently the key is lard.
I've picked blueberries for the first time. and even though a gallon seems like a lot of blueberries when the gallon is made into pies that don't go to you the blue berries seem to go a lot quicker.
I've visited Florida for the second time and while there learned I'm a lot more claustrophobic than I thought I was. Did you know that outside of Nevada things grow everywhere? They just don't seem to respect personal space. The trees made me feel like I was trapped in a box.
I saw the St Louis Arch. That is the type of public art I like, unlike the Omaha death trap statues.
Drove a boat for the first time. I'd driven a ship before but the ship wasn't half as fun as scaring the daylights out of my cousin and aunt while driving the boat. That was the last time that ever happened so I believe I must have perfected the art and that feeling that no one could ever top that feat the boat had to be retired.
I became slightly more tolerant of country music. Steel guitars no longer set my teeth on edge.
Also St Patricks day and stairs will forever be linked in my mind. (and that's all I have to say about that.)
On a related note Alcoholic pies exist, and the world is a better place for them.
Well now I think I've covered the highlights of my year so far and I'll try and post a little more often so that all may find out the meaning of life as told by Michael Mills.
Anyhow I'll be in training for the next week learning how to make children love me, and then I'll use that love against them to make them learn English, and be productive citizens. Since we all know that nobody wants to do those things on their own anyway.
Anyway back to the last 8 months,
I spent a lot of time learning to be a better gamer. Specifically in StarCraft II where I learned to play an alien race and destroy humans. It seems when you are waiting for things to arrive, like background checks, passports and other paperwork.
Other things that occured in the last 8 months
I learned that the proper name for mushroom soup is Methodist Binder.
Sudoku in the paper can keep you stuck on the funny pages longer than is proper for an adult male.
I learned how to make a dog love you or hate you in 15 minutes or less.
I can now make pie crusts, apparently the key is lard.
I've picked blueberries for the first time. and even though a gallon seems like a lot of blueberries when the gallon is made into pies that don't go to you the blue berries seem to go a lot quicker.
I've visited Florida for the second time and while there learned I'm a lot more claustrophobic than I thought I was. Did you know that outside of Nevada things grow everywhere? They just don't seem to respect personal space. The trees made me feel like I was trapped in a box.
I saw the St Louis Arch. That is the type of public art I like, unlike the Omaha death trap statues.
Drove a boat for the first time. I'd driven a ship before but the ship wasn't half as fun as scaring the daylights out of my cousin and aunt while driving the boat. That was the last time that ever happened so I believe I must have perfected the art and that feeling that no one could ever top that feat the boat had to be retired.
I became slightly more tolerant of country music. Steel guitars no longer set my teeth on edge.
Also St Patricks day and stairs will forever be linked in my mind. (and that's all I have to say about that.)
On a related note Alcoholic pies exist, and the world is a better place for them.
Well now I think I've covered the highlights of my year so far and I'll try and post a little more often so that all may find out the meaning of life as told by Michael Mills.
Thursday, May 5, 2011
When searching for a job and you need to vent.
So I applied to a job from the craigslist board.
I'm tired of applying online and never seeing anything back
I figure this will be more of the same so here's 3 hours of work for one job application
-------------
------------------
The Email:
This Application is worth your time,
Dynamic, fast growing, fun loving cloud computing Help Desk Man. This Desktop Support Technician has a balance of knowledge, ingenuity and the ability to solve problems effectively and efficiently. Researching, troubleshooting and humor are key tools I've gotten from life. I have, the skills to successfully and effectively interact with internal and external clients and IT personnel Yes, it’s a lot of buzzword bingo but, I thought I should add it.
You can contact me at (775) 397-3305.
There is no reason not to.
Call now.
-Michael Mills
---------------
Cover Page One
(There is an image here in case facebook doesn't show this in it's notes section)
---------------
Cover page two
Hello small laid back company representative,
Do you see that handsome guy on cover page one?
The one with the Sunglasses?
That guy just spent two hours on a mac going from a photo to illustrator and back again to make sure you'll know how good a candidate you'll be getting if you decide to hire him.
I'll skip past the buzzword bingo since you were told to add it. I'm sure that you'll appreciate some problems solving.
Now looking at your description:
Talented tier 1 help desk. I've got talent I can dress up in a suit and tie my own tie, and you'll have a first class professional in minutes.
You want someone who'll make your customers feel like the greatest people on earth. If they're helped buy a guy in sunglasses they'll know they're cool since only cool people get talked to by the sunglasses crowd.
Solving the issue, will always depend on the issue. I can't help with relationship problems those are personal, but if you're internet is down, printer prints in greek, your computer makes a grinding noise or for some reason you just can't install that program then I'm your man.
Filling out tickets is easy no problem.
Fitting 5 hats on my head is a rather hard requirement and previously I've only gotten up to 2. This particular 2 however were:
1. A Jester's motley hat which ought to count as 3 with all the bells and points
2. A Zebra striped safari hat that counts as 2 as c'mon zebra stripes, and safari it's just too cool for school. The principal wouldn't even let me wear it there, it might just explode the brains of the other students when they tried to fit it in with all the rest that they were learning.
Juggling two support calls is only an issue if the support calls are on fire. I can juggle.
The standard number of beansacks that I'll juggle is three but calls are much easier as they require less dexterity and more talking. I also am wary about juggling sharp things I like my hands too much to juggle those.
As for the experience you offer and duties afterward those are standard job fair. Interview me and we'll be able to see how much I meet your needs.
- Michael Mills
--------------
Followed by salary requirements and my resume.
It probably won't lead to much but ah does that feel good.
I'm tired of applying online and never seeing anything back
I figure this will be more of the same so here's 3 hours of work for one job application
-------------
------------------
The Email:
This Application is worth your time,
Dynamic, fast growing, fun loving cloud computing Help Desk Man. This Desktop Support Technician has a balance of knowledge, ingenuity and the ability to solve problems effectively and efficiently. Researching, troubleshooting and humor are key tools I've gotten from life. I have, the skills to successfully and effectively interact with internal and external clients and IT personnel Yes, it’s a lot of buzzword bingo but, I thought I should add it.
You can contact me at (775) 397-3305.
There is no reason not to.
Call now.
-Michael Mills
---------------
Cover Page One
(There is an image here in case facebook doesn't show this in it's notes section)
---------------
Cover page two
Hello small laid back company representative,
Do you see that handsome guy on cover page one?
The one with the Sunglasses?
That guy just spent two hours on a mac going from a photo to illustrator and back again to make sure you'll know how good a candidate you'll be getting if you decide to hire him.
I'll skip past the buzzword bingo since you were told to add it. I'm sure that you'll appreciate some problems solving.
Now looking at your description:
Talented tier 1 help desk. I've got talent I can dress up in a suit and tie my own tie, and you'll have a first class professional in minutes.
You want someone who'll make your customers feel like the greatest people on earth. If they're helped buy a guy in sunglasses they'll know they're cool since only cool people get talked to by the sunglasses crowd.
Solving the issue, will always depend on the issue. I can't help with relationship problems those are personal, but if you're internet is down, printer prints in greek, your computer makes a grinding noise or for some reason you just can't install that program then I'm your man.
Filling out tickets is easy no problem.
Fitting 5 hats on my head is a rather hard requirement and previously I've only gotten up to 2. This particular 2 however were:
1. A Jester's motley hat which ought to count as 3 with all the bells and points
2. A Zebra striped safari hat that counts as 2 as c'mon zebra stripes, and safari it's just too cool for school. The principal wouldn't even let me wear it there, it might just explode the brains of the other students when they tried to fit it in with all the rest that they were learning.
Juggling two support calls is only an issue if the support calls are on fire. I can juggle.
The standard number of beansacks that I'll juggle is three but calls are much easier as they require less dexterity and more talking. I also am wary about juggling sharp things I like my hands too much to juggle those.
As for the experience you offer and duties afterward those are standard job fair. Interview me and we'll be able to see how much I meet your needs.
- Michael Mills
--------------
Followed by salary requirements and my resume.
It probably won't lead to much but ah does that feel good.
Monday, May 2, 2011
A Deeper Understanding (How I think; very Self-centered)
I live a whole life as the day progresses. If you start me out in the morning all I really want to do is sit and watch cartoons. Around noon or so I'm ready to find something to work on but not very much of it, late afternoon comes and set me to a task and I'll do it while learning. I'll listen to a lecture by Richard Feynman, on physics while trying to solve the most pressing problem of the moment, be it world peace or laundry. Recently this has been job hunting. But I digress
After Dinner I'll become a cynic as the troubles of the world seem like too much to ever take on. Why would anyone try so hard when things get messed up. And sometime after 8 or 9 I'll think things aren't so bad after all and read something that lets me live the life of some hero or heroine for a while, and I start thinking of new things to amuse me.
Meanwhile I've been getting a sinking feeling lately that there is no way to really understand the world with any kind of meaning without understanding math. Problems of scale, how much something is worth and many other things seem to need a number assigned to them, and that number needs to be able to be explained.
I'm not opposed to math so much as I'm opposed to the work that it takes to know it intuitively. When I know something I want to be able to say quickly that a thing is follows or is evident and math doesn't allow me to do that easily. Mostly because I hate learning by route and most math is made simple by route learning and understanding later what it is that you're actually doing.
Which strikes me as the wrong way to do things. As a competitive person I like to understand the basic idea and work towards a better way of doing it. That is how it works for me.
I apply this to the games I play, I played chess for years until the yahoo program I used refuse to let me capture pieces on a certain square and made me lose games. I hated that.
I played Resident Evil 5 and loved that game, not for the story but for the competitive play. I got to be in the top 600 scores of hundreds of thousands of players. The ratings of fail C, B, A, S, and the elite SS appealed to my sense of progress and allowed me to compete with myself as well as others all by giving me numbers to shoot for via the process of trial and error.
Now I play StarCraft II and again there is a ranking system and ways to measure how you do. All of which lead me back to numbers and math. If you want to understand something math gives you a method of making sure that the logic works given your assumptions. Science lets you test it, to make sure the assumptions are right but math lets you know whether you're essentially correct. Neither explains the why of things. Just ask someone why there are elementary particles in the number that there are and they can't do it, but from playing games I rarely care about the why's and more about the hows anyway.
In any case learning when you are wrong about things is hard to take, because being wrong feels exactly like being right until the truth is told. And math seems like the way that I'll be learning I'm wrong more and more, but to stay competitive I'll have to deal with it.
After Dinner I'll become a cynic as the troubles of the world seem like too much to ever take on. Why would anyone try so hard when things get messed up. And sometime after 8 or 9 I'll think things aren't so bad after all and read something that lets me live the life of some hero or heroine for a while, and I start thinking of new things to amuse me.
Meanwhile I've been getting a sinking feeling lately that there is no way to really understand the world with any kind of meaning without understanding math. Problems of scale, how much something is worth and many other things seem to need a number assigned to them, and that number needs to be able to be explained.
I'm not opposed to math so much as I'm opposed to the work that it takes to know it intuitively. When I know something I want to be able to say quickly that a thing is follows or is evident and math doesn't allow me to do that easily. Mostly because I hate learning by route and most math is made simple by route learning and understanding later what it is that you're actually doing.
Which strikes me as the wrong way to do things. As a competitive person I like to understand the basic idea and work towards a better way of doing it. That is how it works for me.
I apply this to the games I play, I played chess for years until the yahoo program I used refuse to let me capture pieces on a certain square and made me lose games. I hated that.
I played Resident Evil 5 and loved that game, not for the story but for the competitive play. I got to be in the top 600 scores of hundreds of thousands of players. The ratings of fail C, B, A, S, and the elite SS appealed to my sense of progress and allowed me to compete with myself as well as others all by giving me numbers to shoot for via the process of trial and error.
Now I play StarCraft II and again there is a ranking system and ways to measure how you do. All of which lead me back to numbers and math. If you want to understand something math gives you a method of making sure that the logic works given your assumptions. Science lets you test it, to make sure the assumptions are right but math lets you know whether you're essentially correct. Neither explains the why of things. Just ask someone why there are elementary particles in the number that there are and they can't do it, but from playing games I rarely care about the why's and more about the hows anyway.
In any case learning when you are wrong about things is hard to take, because being wrong feels exactly like being right until the truth is told. And math seems like the way that I'll be learning I'm wrong more and more, but to stay competitive I'll have to deal with it.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
You're gonna have to pay for it.
A conversation I had with my aunt focusing around money and how the government uses it came up with the following lines:
Me: For a while this country managed to make everything cheap, toys, travel, and food.
Her: It time to have to pay for it and your generation will have to pay for it.
Now normally I try to avoid issues of "Fair" because I agree with Scar from the Lion King as he talks to a helpless mouse.
"Life's not fair is it? You see I will never get to be king, and you, you will never get to see the light of another day."
Now the fact that I've memorized most of the Lion king isn't the point here. But people thinking that I'll pay for their mistakes. That will not do. I've got enough of my own mistakes to pay for before I have to start paying for the mistakes of another. Not that it doesn't happen already. I can't help that I live everyday depending on the work of others right or wrong that they are. But if I'm to pay for a mistake that you made you'd better bet that you'll be right there in the mud with me.
On a similar note, I've always wanted to have a transformative experience. One that made me into an entirely different person than I am. Or rather an experience that made my virtues shine more and my failings less apparent. It seems like a movie trope that someone could see the light of reason and change immediately.
Mostly I say this because it seems obvious to me sometimes on how to solve other people's problems and not so obvious to them on how to solve mine. Of course my solutions to other peoples problems involve them doing something that they have a hard time trying to stomach. So they don't do it and seem to get along just fine having completely ignored me. Which means I probably didn't have the answer after all.
Anyway I don't want you to get the idea that I'm against paying for others. People have paid for me in the past and continue to do so. But I want to pay for improvements, not for detriments.
Me: For a while this country managed to make everything cheap, toys, travel, and food.
Her: It time to have to pay for it and your generation will have to pay for it.
Now normally I try to avoid issues of "Fair" because I agree with Scar from the Lion King as he talks to a helpless mouse.
"Life's not fair is it? You see I will never get to be king, and you, you will never get to see the light of another day."
Now the fact that I've memorized most of the Lion king isn't the point here. But people thinking that I'll pay for their mistakes. That will not do. I've got enough of my own mistakes to pay for before I have to start paying for the mistakes of another. Not that it doesn't happen already. I can't help that I live everyday depending on the work of others right or wrong that they are. But if I'm to pay for a mistake that you made you'd better bet that you'll be right there in the mud with me.
On a similar note, I've always wanted to have a transformative experience. One that made me into an entirely different person than I am. Or rather an experience that made my virtues shine more and my failings less apparent. It seems like a movie trope that someone could see the light of reason and change immediately.
Mostly I say this because it seems obvious to me sometimes on how to solve other people's problems and not so obvious to them on how to solve mine. Of course my solutions to other peoples problems involve them doing something that they have a hard time trying to stomach. So they don't do it and seem to get along just fine having completely ignored me. Which means I probably didn't have the answer after all.
Anyway I don't want you to get the idea that I'm against paying for others. People have paid for me in the past and continue to do so. But I want to pay for improvements, not for detriments.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
An update for all my fans... (uh anyone there?)
So I graduated December and moved everything into storage; storage being mostly my parents basement and what room I could find in the trunk of my car. I think I've reached a Zen state of mind, emptying myself of all I don't need. Well mostly anyway.
I enjoyed Christmas and New Years in Elko Nevada, after which I set off across the country in search of what, I'm not exactly sure yet. Certainly part of the search is a job, but there is more to it than just trying to find a place to work.
I traveled first to Denver to see my uncle Tim and make sure that he is alive and able to put people up for the night. Lucky for me both counts were affirmative.
Next I went to my brother's place. There I dropped off our TV that was a mutual gift for our birthdays from about 3 years ago. He showed me his job and his basement, it seems that graduating gets you all the perks.
Next I traveled to Florida. Again the overarching theme was find a job but this time I spent with my friend from the Navy. He's currently going to school and I learned a valuable lesson there. Sometimes the ground is a much better place to sleep than an air mattress. Mine kept deflating so I got used to not inflating it so that I'd get to sleep without waking up to the coldness of the floor reminding me that bedding should never deflate.
After staying for a few weeks, my friend left for a deployment as he's still in the reserves. Kinda like the Elton John song says, "Still in the Navy and probably will be for life." So I moved on to my aunt's home where the beds are a lot more comfortable.
I've had little luck with the job hunt so far but then I'm still not used to Georgia or Florida and all the rest. I'm going to see more family this weekend and I'm pretty sure that they'll be glad to see me and let me know how their lives are going. In the meantime I'll try and stay busy, and out of people's hair.
By the way if you know anyone in Georgia that needs a logo or business card put me in touch with them. I ought to be able to help them out.
I enjoyed Christmas and New Years in Elko Nevada, after which I set off across the country in search of what, I'm not exactly sure yet. Certainly part of the search is a job, but there is more to it than just trying to find a place to work.
I traveled first to Denver to see my uncle Tim and make sure that he is alive and able to put people up for the night. Lucky for me both counts were affirmative.
Next I went to my brother's place. There I dropped off our TV that was a mutual gift for our birthdays from about 3 years ago. He showed me his job and his basement, it seems that graduating gets you all the perks.
Next I traveled to Florida. Again the overarching theme was find a job but this time I spent with my friend from the Navy. He's currently going to school and I learned a valuable lesson there. Sometimes the ground is a much better place to sleep than an air mattress. Mine kept deflating so I got used to not inflating it so that I'd get to sleep without waking up to the coldness of the floor reminding me that bedding should never deflate.
After staying for a few weeks, my friend left for a deployment as he's still in the reserves. Kinda like the Elton John song says, "Still in the Navy and probably will be for life." So I moved on to my aunt's home where the beds are a lot more comfortable.
I've had little luck with the job hunt so far but then I'm still not used to Georgia or Florida and all the rest. I'm going to see more family this weekend and I'm pretty sure that they'll be glad to see me and let me know how their lives are going. In the meantime I'll try and stay busy, and out of people's hair.
By the way if you know anyone in Georgia that needs a logo or business card put me in touch with them. I ought to be able to help them out.
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