Sunday, August 16, 2009

Coming to the end of an era.

For those of you who may not know, I'm in my last three weeks here in Korea. I'm moving to Taiwan on Sept. 7. Thus ends a nine year run in The Land Of The Morning Inconvenience. Those of you who follow this blog know that, for the most part, my experience here has been a positive one. However, it is definitely time for a change as, to paraphrase on of my favorite book titles, I've gone A Year too Far.

Korea is an interesting place to live to say the least. As with every other place in the world, it has its good points and its bad. For eight or the past nine years, I've been able to let the constant little annoyances, i.e.: the stares, the comments, the rudeness, and a few other things, wash off my back. However, this past year, all those things have been getting under my skin and pissing me off. So, rather than climbing to the top of the highest building I can find and taking pot shots at taxi drivers with a high-powered rifle, I've decided that moving is the more appropriate response.

The beauty of moving is, of course, that I will now have a whole new country and culture to explore. I'm sure there are things about Taiwan that I'll eventually find annoying (I'm becoming rather grumpy in my old age, lol), I expect my first year or so will be much like my first couple of years in Korea: excitement about all the new experiences I'll have and new people I'll meet.

I'm not really sure what I'll do with this blog once I get to Taiwan since the title is strictly tied to Korea, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Regardless, I'll be incommunicado from the end of August until I can get myself a new computer.

See y'all on the flipside!

Friday, August 07, 2009

How 'Bout Them Nats!!!

I haven't posted about the good old Nationals lately, but it's far past time. Why? Because the Nats are on a tear! The boys just completed a sweep of the Florida Marlins today to win their 5th straight game and have won nine of their last thirteen games. Since the All-Star break and a management change from Manny Acta to Jim Riggleman, the Nats are at .500. So long to the fear of breaking the dubious losing record of the '62 Mets.

Today was a fine example of the Nationals resilience. Craig Stammen, the Nats starting pitcher didn't even make it out of the 2nd inning before being pulled and by the 3rd, the Nats were down 6-0. However, the offense never let up. On a day where Ryan Zimmerman went 4-5 with a home run, a triple, 2 singles and a walk, the Nats battled back to win the game 12-8. The sweep is a minor miracle given that the Marlins have simply owned the Nats for the last two years.

So all-in-all, it's a good day!

GO NATS!!!