Seoul Day 2

Okay... so Seoul is the dirtiest city I have ever seen. It is the most densely populated, most traffic congested, most smoggy, most smelly city I have ever experienced. If it were not for the polution and actual garbage everywhere it would be beautiful. From inside the very (very) expensive hotel the views are amazing. I think the local food would be pretty unique, if I wasn't mostly terrified of leaving the hotel. The surrounding neighborhoods are very maze like. The city is spread over steep low mountains so a gentle stroll is quite impossible. Intensely areobic near verticle walking abounds...

English is definitely a challenge here. Even folks that are expected to work with the international public do not speak it well. Expect to do a lot of pointing, smiling and nodding. That is about all the communication you should expect.

Every man, woman and child has a cell phone. I swear to God. I think they must give you one at birth or something. Samsung is based out of Korea apparently. This may have something to do with it.

Despite language challenges, everyone so far has be very friendly (when they are not totally confused). Cab drivers do not seem to know how to get to places... and I don't blame them. The city is huge! It easily sprawls as far and wide as Dallas/Ft Worth only it is 5 times as populated. Massive apartment buildings are everywhere. A typical complex will have 10 high rise buildings of at least 20 stories if not 30 or more. They don't look spacious. Closet sized shops line every street. From small grocery stores to tailors. It is like "china town" covers the whole city. Which is not really surprise since it is almost in China, but I haven't seen anything like a Western mall or district.

Cya on Day 3... g'night.

Seoul Traveler

So I'm in Seoul... South Korea. For various non-interesting reasons, I have a conference here. But was is always interesting to me is the actual act of travelling. I only had 2 flights, the first one to Atlanta and the second from Atlanta to Seoul via the North Pole (I think).

The Atlanta flight was pretty interesting as I had the opportunity to sit next to a US soldier in full uniform. Not wanting to assume that he was going back to Iraq I started some light conversation. But as it turns out he was heading back. I've always respected soldiers. Whether it is right or wrong to use such force, I can not deny the admiration I have for their bravery and willingness to do what I would not do myself--or at least, I have choosen not to do. Put me in a room with a gun and several men out to kill my family and I'm sure I give one them a bad limp and another would be missing an eye. I don't know much about soldiers or what it takes to be one. It was good to talk with this man and hear what he has seen and why he does what he does. As it turns out it was a Colonel responsible for security is Southern Bagdad. I had to ask all my questions. There could be no better source in my circle to get first hand information without the CNN slant.

Surprisingly he felt they were "winning" in Iraq. I had expected to hear the opposite. He did complain about the lack of resources early on hampering their efforts, but felt they were really making progress now. He sited an order of magnitude reduction in violent incidents in his sector (the size of San Francisco). Plus he was gaining more trust from the Iraqi people. This I found particularly facinating. A very large percentage of his time is spent helping rebuild schools, power, sewage and other infrastructure. While we routinely hear about every checkpoint bombing, it was good to hear what the Army is doing at such great costs. Its hard to say if all the loss of life is worth it, but at least it is doing something. I was also surprised to hear how much he desired to negotiate with the "terrorists" in the area. His goal was to get them to stop shooting and start talking... This man.. a soldier, not a statesmen... is trying to work toward peace. He does not have the full diplomatic backing of the State Department, he's doing it on his own. He said his whole unit is behind him, that his men in most cases believe as strongly as he does that they are doing the right thing--a thing that should be done. Maybe it is easy to dismiss the opinions of one soldier. But I have never found a soldier that lied about they way he felt about the situation he was in. Regardless... I'm glad I got to talk to him. I feel better about my own ideas and much more confident in the information I recieved that what I've seen on the news.

The 2nd leg of the flight was 15 hours. It is still much a blur. I watched a lot of movies. I landed at 5 Pm local time which was about 4 AM my time. The cab ride was about an hour to the hotel. I'm staying in the Grand Hyatt in Seoul. I have to say it blows the doors off any other Hyatt I've seen. But in my very limited international travel I have to say that the "american chain" hotels are always better outside the US. This hotel is so fancy I feel self-conscious in my jeans in the lobby.

Seoul is hazy, hot and humid. It also has more city lights than I've seen anywhere. The general terrain and cityscape looks exactly like every 1970's Godzilla movie I've ever seen. Must eat... I'll post more later.

Expression of Interest

The very first step of the official paperwork... fill out an online form called an Expression of Interest or EOI. A whopper of an online form too. I don't know how many pages it had... lots. But it is done and submitted. We'll have to wait about a week or so to be sent our application packet where we have to prove all the things we listed in the EOI form.

I will be in South Korea... I am attending a telecom conference about roaming in Seoul. I even have to present. The good news is that one my new colleagues from New Zealand will also be there. It will be good to chat about really living there with him.

Neal (the colleague) sent me a link to download Google Earth... it is the most amazing location/map software I've seen... you have to try it. Freaking awesome.

More news as it occurs to me...

Wellington, New Zealand

A while ago I was contacted by a professional colleague about multiple hiring opportunities at his company, Telecom New Zealand. Now the "New Zealand" part isn't just for marketing appeal... it really is in New Zealand. This is not a remote position in the US that somehow supports TNZ. These jobs were in New Zealand.

This was one of those moments where the Universe does something to show it really is listening--careful what you wish for! Just a week or so before (this back in July), my wife and I had decided there were only 2 places we really seriously consider relocating to (out of the US). Those were Ireland and New Zealand. So here it was, a chance to apply. I thought "ah heck, why not? No way they are hiring a dude 10,000 miles away." So I gave Neal my resume (they call it a CV... no idea why).

About a week later I asked Neal about it. He said, "I turned it in with my recommendation." And I thought that was pretty nice. Then he said, "I turned it in with my *highest* recommendation." And I thought, "Whoa! Neal is one of their Principal Engineers. He leads their design team and is highly respected around the world. Holy s**t! I'm getting an interview. It was about then I began to think this was more serious than a whim. The interview was about 2 weeks later. When the phone rang that night the Caller ID didn't know what to report. I answered the phone to here a crisp New Zealander woman's accent. "Is Curtis there?" It was a very surreal moment. This wasn't a call center calling me for some marketing survey... this wasn't a New Zealander working somewhere in the US. This was the hiring manager from TNZ calling from Wellington to check out her principal engineer's recommendation. Her name is, Faye.

Faye was very friendly and we must have chatted for an hour or more. After about 10 years in the teleco business, I have enough experience and exposure to, at least, be basically proficient in a wide spectrum of data technologies. I'm a principal engineer myself after all. In a couple of words I am "highly qualified." Now it is really getting real. While the interview went well I had to explain I'd need full relocation to afford the move and some basic salary requirements. About another week later, Faye called again and those details were confirmed. But I still needed to be interviewed by some of her peers in a more formal process.

That inteview was just about a week ago. This time there were two women, Faye and Rhonda. Faye was in Wellington and Rhonda in Auckland. Still very surreal. The first question of the "official interview" was, "Describe a time when your technical expertise was necessary to achieve a solution." At first I thought it was a joke. I'm a design engineer. I have been for about 10 years. There isn't a single day that goes by where my technical expertise isn't necessary for a solution. So I tried not to laugh and just answered the question with a few examples. The next question was, "Describe a time where you had to collaborate with a team to deliver a solution." Again... are you serious? My company can't even schedule a lunch without collaboration. My cup overfloweth with collaboration. In fact I spend a great deal of time imposing my collaboration on projects that have a direct impact on my teams for which we were not initially involved. So again without giggling I answered the question. The rest of the interview went basically like that. It was like they read my job description and a few of my project notes and only asked me questions about things even I would call myself an expert at (and I don't like calling myself an expert--cuz I know how much I don't know!)

This week Faye called with the offer. There are a few things I've learned about offers. They are never as much as you hope (aim high!). But in any case, it was well within what we can afford. I have relocation... I have adequate salary... I have a job offer in New Zealand... Am I moving to New Zealand??? I've always wanted to live out of the US one time for a few years. I just agreed with my wife about New Zealand being on the move for list. It may be crazy to go, but I also know that if I don't go... How could I live the rest of my life knowing I didn't go do something I wanted to do forever.

So I guess I'm moving to Wellington. My tentative start date is January 8th. I have about 3 months to sell everything I own, pack up the stuff I'm keeping and ship it all (on an actual ship by the way) to New Zealand. All our tickets will be paid. Since it is the Southern Hemisphere, it will be mid to late Summer when we arrive. We'll get to see Fall and Winter again. Their school year will start in Feb. My office building is on that harbor above. I better tell my boss!

Here are some other links to pictures. (including the picture above which is copyrighted to Mark Tanner--legal stuff...)

http://marktanner.com/myself/wellington.htm

The USA entrapping the population?

**Alarm Bells** **Red Flags** **Spidey Sense Tingling**

There is an alarming set of conditions in the USA right now. Along with all the total infringements of personal privacy imposed by the Patriot's Act where you can be tapped without warrants and detained indefinitely without trial, did you know that securing a passport is becoming increasingly difficult? That "free" americans are being denied permission to leave the country. While it isn't widespread yet and the reasons are professed to be "administrative" it still has the same net effect. You can't leave the county. Hmmm...

Well... I guess who would want to leave, right? So lets all stay. After all the US would never use force on citizens to stay, right? Well... what if they just say "if you leave and you get sick, then when you return we'll just let you die (unless you're rich and pay all medical costs)." Is that the same thing as holding a gun to your head? Given that mortality is guaranteed even if somewhat delayable. If the US legally decided to let your children die untreated because you left the US work somewhere else... would you leave? Well guess what... that's exactly what the US has decided to do. Insurance companies are not required to cover any medical condition detect while outside a US group health insurance plan. That's the law that your Congressmen passed with HIPPA. Sorta iffy if you want to work abroad.

What is more insidous is this also means that if you don't participate in a group plan (because you are self employed or not employed), then they don't have to cover either... fun! So now we all have to have at least one member of the household working full-time for a large corporation or we get to die untreated. Sure you can carry a costly private (individual) health plan at 3 to 4 times the cost of a group plan, but when those plans cap out they are canceled.

I know we all assume we aren't going to get really sick. We think we're all okay... we exercise... etc. But you know what? It doesn't matter how healthy you are, eventually you get old/sick/injured. Even if you live in perfect health until the day you get hit by a bus and instantly killed... what about your wife, your kids, your kids' kids? Extend your view to the extended family around you. Which of them will be killed by the US government by not allowing them health care? Killed. Not "mistreated" or "legally violated", but killed as sure as if they hired a soldier to shoot them in the street.

I remember being taught in school that the US was forbidden to use propaganda tactics on the US population. I was lied to. Oh I'm sure it's a law somewhere, but it's not true today. We pound are chests and claim "we are the best." But are we? Are we really the best? If we hedge and say "well maybe not the best, but damn close to the top" well then where are we really?

Capitalism... pretty cool idea and arguably a good system. Sure it's a good system. But anytime you use a tool you should know what it is doing and how it works. You should be aware of its dangers as well as its strengths. I think we can look around and see its good points. But don't forget to acknowledge its shortfalls. The driving force behind capitalism is the building of wealth. People support capitalism because they believe eventually they are financially compensated for it and prosper. The problem with capitalism is that it has no natural check points. Its only mechanism is wealth and the generation of more wealth. If something doesn't generate wealth, it tends to die off. This arguably okay when the market is new cars for example. Strong products live and weaker products faulter. But what happens when the product is heart surgery? Who makes money from heart surgery? And further what happens if heart surgery doesn't make any money? In capitalism, supply must meet demand before the price of goods is established. In other words, the price of heart surgery continues to rise until the market can no longer afford it and the price stabilizes. But you can't decide not have heart surgery... so the price never stabilizes. People will pay any price.

This mixture is scary. Much of what is deperately wrong in the US is so enmeshed in policy, politics, legality and lethality, that the peaceful solutions may not be what people immediately turn to. When children die, parents get angry. They don't always just camp on the President's ranch in protest. In other countries wars start when people start dying. We may discover that violence abroad isn't our main concern... In the 1960's over 50,000 US citizens marched on Washington. Over 20,000 of those marched on the Pentegon. The army surrounded the building with armed US soldiers. Luckily none of those soldier's had been given ammunition and the crowd didn't explode to full blown riot. What would happen today?

Who pays the bill when you need some antibiotics isn't really the issue. But don't ignore healthcare in the US as something that congress will take care of. The wealthy and privledged of the US make nearly all policy decisions and they are not motivated to solve these issues. They are not affected, they have all the wealth they need to cover costs (and group insurance plans). But we can not ignore that millions of US citizens do not. If we ignore them, they will be forced to die or get our attention. Which do you think they will do? Which would you do?

The Nightmare

Sustis Ahl Akim, Grand Sultan of the Seven Valleys, woke from a nightmare. Strange since he never slept. At least, not since he died. But there it was just the same. His mind swimming with fog of half remembered images of places long gone... of things lost... of things long dead. He forced himself upright. He had been working on some particular problem and had developed a headache. Out of habit he laid down. While being undead generally meant few common ailments it also meant few common cures. His aides claimed the headaches were figments of his imagination and he should banish such notions. But what did they know of living? Demons and Shades had no memory of life. Not like he did. No one had his memory.

And then it struck him. The entirety of the dream flooded back all at once for it wasn't a dream at all. It was a memory. She sat with him on a cool summer night so many years ago. Her hair was a tangle of radiant copper curls. Her eyes sparkled and, as usual, her casual style disarmed him. For all his wealth, power and station this common girl had bewitched him. For indeed she was a witch and that made her even more enticing. She smiled and his heart had leapt. He was safe he thought. Then the smile faded slowly. The woman he had loved slowly disappeared and before his eyes she changed.

"I'm leaving you." She said.

The thought was so completely shattering he sat unable to speak.

"I'm sorry. Goodbye, love." And she walked away.

He watched her walk around the magnificent fountains of the courtyard. Watched her silloutte in the archway. Then watched nothing at all. The water flowed endlessly. His heart broke. It ached down to the depths of his soul. She was gone. Though they would meet again occassionally under flags of truce, he never saw her again.

Alone now in his study he looked around the darkened room. His eyes saw all in the blackness. What a change being undead had made. He tried to summon up the feelings for her and could not. He had silenced them all years ago. That very night he had performed the ritual that could not be performed. When he plunged the knife in to his very heart the pain was nothing compared to the knife she had wielded. The magic surged through him and all pain stopped... all pain. She was nothing more than a memory now. An image. A voice. A shadow.

He drew the cover off his reflecting pool and lightly stirred the water. In an instant it responded to his will and revealed what he desired. She was at one of her kettles. Her copper curls had not diminished after nearly 20 years. He watched the movement of her hands. The way she rested them on her hip while she focused on a book near the kettle. Her nose squinching to keep her reading glasses in position. She was beautiful. The same as she ever was. He imagined that if he spoke she would smile and turn to him and he would see her again as she was. But all that remained was the shadow and he did not speak and she did not turn... and any smile she may have shown would not be for him.

He felt nothing. But still he watched all night until she rested her curls on her modest bed. And then he still watched some more until the pool flickered out spent until he could recharge it. Sustis Ahl Akim, Grand Sultan of the Seven Valleys covered his reflecting pool and stepped out in to the night to seek some young copper haired girl to feed his unlife. Maybe that would cure headaches he thought.

A mild rain

Well as is often the case, the drama we build up to real life events turns out to be anti-climatic. Not at all like the movies where the male leads hangs up the phone and says "Baby, we're moving to Hollywood" and the next scene is a jet landing followed by the first day in the new house in the hills. Ah reality...

The interview went well. I have a few skills and they need them. They're hiring and I'm looking. I need a lot of money and they have a lot of money. They're going to see what they can offer and come back to me next week. So I have another week of pondering what that offer will be. Of course, they could still come back and say that my skills just are not in their strategic interests at this time. So who knows. I'll know more on Friday.

I'm in day 3 going on 4 of Amy's vacation so it has been just me and Gabe. He went to a baseball game tonight with his buddy Joe and really had a good time. Came back with a lot of loot. They didn't have a ticket for me so I stayed home with a pizza and a movie. Apparently Amy developed altitude sickness today and feels awful! I can't imagine a crummier vacation outcome. I was so excited that she'd finally get to do something fun and relaxing... bleh. Totally not fair.

So all our big events have sort of petered out for now in to a mild rain and not so much a storm. Oddly enough it really has been mildly raining here every morning. Just enough for us to enjoy nature's 24 hour sauna that is kansas.