I had my first Korean lesson this weekend!  I have to admit that it was a little awkward being the only old broad in there along with three grade schoolers.  Evidently there's usually an older girl there too, but she's still...um... 10 years younger than me.

Oh well, better late than never, right?

I'm picking up the Hangul alphabet surprisingly fast thanks to a nifty little online tool and just writing the letters over and over in a notebook.  I'm able to somewhat sound out words at this point, which is exciting even though I don't know what the words mean.

Why wasn't junior high Spanish as exciting as this?  Oh, I bet it was because I wasn't paying for it. 

The goal is to learn enough to go to Korea and visit my family.  I've got a cousin who speaks passable English so I think that between the two of us we could make the trip work.  Even though that is years away from now, I'm SO excited about seeing all my aunts and uncles and cousins that I haven't seen in 20 years.   I regret that I wasn't able to see my grandparents again before they passed away.

Also exciting?  The thought of eating homecooked Korean food!  In Korea!  I swear I'll even work up the courage to try the roasted snails off one of the carts on the beach.  Ohhh... speaking of carts on the beach... fresh, warm dried cuttlefish and squid!  Yum! 

Holy crap I just got the hugest craving for chapchae.

I am a bread and butter addict.

Right this very moment I have sitting next to me on my desk three slices of D'Amico sourdough and one and a half Turtle Bread baguette halves. I had a toasted bagel with butter and marmalade for breakfast and one of the D'Amico slices with butter as a morning snack.  I had half of one of my baguette halves and butter with my soup for lunch.  (If you're into split pea soup I wouldn't recommend Turtle Bread's version.  It's kinda lacking in....something.)

I'm going to go home tonight and bake some more baguettes because fresh baguettes with butter are the key to happiness.

Suck it, Bobby Atkins.

It can't hurt, right?

http://www.thebreastcancersite.com 

According to Snopes, this is on the up and up.

I like what I do, but some days can be more of a challenge than others. Maybe I'm just overly sensitive today (re: PMS) but a recent experience has compelled me to write this. Here is your Basic Guide to Dealing With Your IT Support People, a.k.a. How To Be A Decent Human Being:

1. Eye contact. I realize that some members of the IT community aren't blessed with what the kids call "good looks," and a few of them may have dubious hygiene habits. However, as none of us are in fact pieces of furniture or part of your office wall, we would all appreciate just a little eye contact when we're speaking with you.

2. Get out of the way. You've explained what is going on. Now please move so that we can work. It's not fun for anyone when we have to bend over you and put various body parts in your facial proximity. Yes, thank you, we would like to sit down in your chair so we can reach the keyboard and see the monitor. Going to get a coffee refill? Even better.

3. Keep your attitude. We're here to fix your problem. We do not care to hear your dissertation on how much you hate computers, or how the company never spends any money on decent equipment, or how long you had to wait for us to arrive, or how clueless the help desk person was over the phone, or how stupid this software is, or how this problem just started happening all by itself and you didn't touch anything you swear.

4. We know. We know you aren't good with computers. There's no need to apologize 900 times. In fact, while you're chanting the hubris mantra, we're probably trying to teach you how not to have this problem in the future.

5. Please listen. We're actually trying to teach you some stuff, not flaunt our superior knowledge at you. Throwing up your hands in disgust and shutting off your brain is not an effective learning strategy. If you'd get over yourself for just a moment I'm sure you could pick up a pointer or two. Contrary to what you may think, you do actually need to know this stuff to do your job.

6. How about a thank you? Didn't your mother teach you that when you were a kid? Feeling generous? Chocolate is always an appropriate thank you gift. Thank you cards are highly prized and will earn a prominent spot on our desks forever.

P.S. We read your email.

Yarr! Today be th' tide t' let yer freak sea dog jolly roger fly. What be ye doin' t' celebrate?

http://www.talklikeapirate.com