A Few Changes

Here's the short version:

I got a job and Horyon got her KS driver's license.

Getting the D.L. was a long process, involving driving back and forth to the D.M.V. many times. The first time, they told Horyon they needed her passport, for whatever reason. This was a bit of a surprise, as Horyon has an immigrant I.D. card that looks like something out of a sci-fi movie, with a little holographic picture of her head and a shiny strip on the back that probably has some encoding of her DNA to verify who she is. But we figured, hey, these guys call the shots, so we loaded back into the car and drove home to get her passport.

When we got back, there was still no line, as it was only 8:30 a.m. Yeah, we hustled ourselves out of bed bright and early, originally got there at 7:45. Thought we were cool. How little we knew.

So as Horyon is giving her info to the person behind the desk, she is asked for her Social Security Number. She has one, but not memorized. I knew that if I could access my email I would be able to find it, but we couldn't. Not there. So I packed up Maxine and left the cell phone with Horyon. Maxine and I went home, with her crying most of the way about how much it sucks to drive back and forth to the DMV so early in the morning (hoo-ray and up she rises!), and I spent most of the time trying to reassure her that it didn't really suck that much. Good chance to listen to some tunes on the car CD player, really.

So we got home and called Horyon to tell her that next time she should memorize her SSN, and to remind her of what it was. She told me that she would call back when she needed the car (for her driving test).

Less than 15 minutes later, I got the call. I piled Maxine in the car again (only calming her by promising that we were going to see Mommy), and we drove for the last 15 minutes stretch. When we got there, Horyon got into our car, and the driving test guy checked to make sure all of her signals were working. He then got in the passenger seat, and Maxine started to go nuts again. I calmed her down, and Horyon drove around for 15 minutes.

When she came back, they took her photo and gave her a piece of paper that functions as her license until the real one arrives in the mail. They don't give them to you at the DMV anymore, as the new ones are all Homeland Securitied Up, to keep terrorists from driving.

Horyon then drove us as a family to IHOP. Yes, that's right. The International House Of Pancakes. We had a lovely breakfast, and Maxine just put it away. I love a good American breakfast, especially when I don't have to cook it or clean up. The only thing that would make it better was if I didn't have to pay for it.

Mmmmmm... pancakes, biscuits and gravy, sausage, fried eggs (sunny-side-up, thank you) and hash browns. All for a very reasonable price. Good stuff.

And so now Horyon can drive around by herself. I think she'll drive us to church tomorrow.

For me, today marks the end of my first week working at Wal-Mart.

I have to admit, it feels a bit like I've gone back to a Hogwan job. My Korean references have not proven to be helpful in getting a job here. Fortunately, Wal-Mart was more trusting in my resume. I am working in the jewelry department, selling items of gold and silver, as well as the occasional diamond.

And I get to pierce ears. Two days ago I did my Computer Based Learning (CBL) unit on ear piercing, and passed with flying colors. So when a lady showed up with her four-year-old daughter and asked me if it hurt to get one's ears pierced, I answered, in my most confident voice, "We poke a hole in your head. Yes, it hurts. But it's a relatively unimportant part of your head with very few nerves, so it doesn't hurt much or for long."

OK, those weren't my exact words. My exact words were much more customer-friendly.

So one of my coworkers did the right ear, and I did the left. The mother held on to her little girl, the one voice of reassurance in this confusing situation that would soon end in pain. And let me tell you, as a fan of irony, I kind of enjoyed that aspect of it.

But actually poking a hole in a little girl's ear was not enjoyable. I did it, and I could do it again, but it wasn't much fun. Oh well, as my Dad always says, "If it was fun, they wouldn't call it work."

Fortunately, that kind of thing doesn't come up much. Mostly I change watch batteries and take links out of watch bands. I've only been doing it for a few days, but I'm getting to be pretty good at it. I'm already working on the flexible bands that most of my coworkers won't touch.

Another facet of my jewelry position (sorry, couldn't resist) is stocking shelves and making sure that everything is in its place (what they call 'zoning'). Zoning isn't too bad on most items, but comparing the UPC numbers is a bit tiring on the eyes.

I'm working 4 days a week at Wal-Mart. Enough to bring in some money to buy stuff. I picked up my first paycheck today. It was for one nine-hour day. After taxes, it came up to $52. My usual days are going to be 6.5 hours.

Last news: Horyon's parents are in America, even as I write this. Well, they may be in Canada. They're taking a tour through New York and Niagara Falls, then visiting Chaeryon for a few days. Then they're coming to stay with us. For a month. I am sure that they are looking forward to seeing Maxine in person. They've been chatting via internet videophone, but it's just not the same.

While they are here we will have the ultimate in child-care for Maxine. I think the hardest part will be when they leave. Impossible to explain to her.

My class is going well, I suppose. First test is in a couple of weeks, so I suppose I will know better after that. The material for Math 290 is just easier than that of 526, the class I took this summer. This class is all about Matricies. Undoubtedly you have already thought of some clever Matrix-the-movie one liner to insert here, so I will not do so myself, but rather allow you to chuckle quietly to yourself over your own clever witticism. Well done.

That's it for now. Sorry again about the infrequent updates. Once we get settled into this new job and class, I'm sure I'll do better.

Peace,

Rob

Check it out!

Go to your friendly neighborhood Google.

Type in "Rob Sack".

Hit "I'm feeling lucky."

Guess what. You are lucky.

Guest

Horyon's sister, Chaeryon, has been staying with us for the last week and a half. It's nice. She's a good house guest; she cleans up after herself, cooks from time to time, and keeps Maxine entertained with a constant stream of statistical data.

Just kidding.

However, Chaeryon is a statistician, studying to be a Dr. Statistician at UNC Chapel Hill, and we did talk a bit about the class I recently finished, which happened to be a statistics class. So there was a statistical connection.

But I think mostly Maxine was entertained by Chaeryon coloring with her, playing blocks with her, and watching Boohbah. And let me tell you, if you ain't seen Boohbah, you're missing out on a free trip of epic proportions. Check out the website I've just linked. Horyon and I agree that it is remarkably like the t.v. show. The basic, slightly pastel colors, the cutesy noises, and the lack of words are all trademarks of this PBS offering. Sound like the Teletubbies? Well, imagine the Teletubbies on perception-altering drugs, with an even stronger implication that the featured... um... performers are aliens. That's Boohbah. And it's easier for a 2-year-old to say "Boohbah" than "Teletubby." I think that's the clincher.

Unfortunately, I have no photos to post commemorating this visit. Our camera has been out of commission for some time now. I've found a place that might be able to repair it, but the place is in Kansas City, and we just need to make time for the drive back and forth. Chaeryon brought her camera, but the battery was not properly recharged, and she didn't bring the recharger because it's quite large. We have borrowed my parents' spare camera. It's four or five years old, practically a dinosaur. We needed to take pictures of some of Horyon's dresses before sending them to Korea.

I am fighting a cold right now. I went to bed Wednesday night at 10:30 and slept until 9:30 Thursday morning when Maxine came in to say hi. I got up, and Horyon made me some breakfast: fried eggs and toast. One of my eggs was a double-yolker. Some say that an egg with two yolks is an omen. For me, it signified that I would go back to bed and sleep until one p.m. I got up, had some lunch, and didn't go back to bed. Well, I went back to bed, just not back to sleep. I've been taking it easy all day, swigging Nyquil and reading a book.

It was nice having Chaeryon here, and not just because she entertained Maxine. Horyon was excited to have someone who shares her tastes in food (lots of Korean dishes, some more successful than others), comic books (cheesy romance comic books, blech), music (Korean pop, also a bit cheesy, but not as bad as the comic books), and t.v. shows. They watched the entire run of a Korean drama on DVD. It did not have English subtitles, but it did have many scenes involving sad piano music while people stared meaningfully into the distance. This, I felt, gave me a deep enough understanding to know that it was cheesy. Ironically, the food was the only non-cheesy thing that they like.

For the few days of Chaeryon's visit, I slept on our sofa bed in the living room so that the sisters could share our bed. Then I noticed a pattern: Horyon and Chaeryon were both staying up until three or four in the morning, talking, watching videos, eating ramyen noodles, whatever. And so it occurred to me that there was no real reason for my side of the bed to remain unused for the first half of the night while I slept on the sofa. (I tried it both as a sofa and as a bed, and found it fairly uncomfortable both ways.) So I moved back to the bed. I'm sorry, Chaeryon!

When she comes back around Christmas maybe we can trade off where we sleep.

Yes, Chaeryon will be here for Christmas. She can only stay about 10 days, but she will arrive before Christmas day. We're looking forward to that already.

And next month, Horyon's parents will come to visit. They will stay for a month. If Maxine could conceptualize events that far in the future, she would seriously be looking forward to it.

That's it for now.

Peace,

Rob

Class Finished

My class finished last Friday, with the third test two weeks before. I got a disappointing 75%, smack dab between the 1st and 2nd test grades, and (it seemed to me) solidifying my C in the class. I still had an 89% average on homework, but that was worth only 20% of the total grade. We spent the last two weeks of class doing some pretty wacky statistics, comparing two different sets of data under different circumstances, mostly. The final exam had six questions instead of his usual five. I assumed that there would be enough time to do all of the problems if I worked steadily, because it had been true on all three previous tests. Not this time. I didn't finish #5, and didn't even look at #6. I thought I had done OK on the problems I worked on, a definite pass, but very, very unlikely to break me out of the C bracket in which I had been firmly planted.

When the prof called time, half of us were still scrambling to finish. I've been on the prof side of this one, so I wrote my name on the front page and got up to give him my test. By then he was calling a second time for tests, and I was getting a bit annoyed. By his third call he was also annoyed, and I was closer to pissed. Back in Korea, I had to make threats to make my students hand in tests at the same time. I just didn't figure to find that kind of behavior here. And I kind of figure that the prof hadn't, either. I'm sure that if he had seen this kind of thing too many times he would have a proper threat or two ready:

"All right, everyone, minus five percent if I don't have your test on this table in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." Of course, you accept anything from anyone standing by the end of the countdown, but you have to mark that -5% on anyone who is still sitting by "1". Threats have to be promises, even on the last day. Not so much because of what you will face from students in the future, but because you have to come away with a sense of integrity.

Anyway, I went to see Prof. Stall Monday afternoon (after taking a different test in the morning) to talk about my future courses in the math department. He basically told me that I don't need to audit or re-take Calculus I or II. He figured that if I managed this class (Statistics for Masochists) I could handle anything else on the list coming up. The biggest problems I am likely to face are the ones I've faced here: adjusting to being a student again after 13+ years of not being a student and juggling family and job with school.

While I was there another student came in to ask about his grade. Until that point I really hadn't thought about it. I figured I had my C unless I had really screwed up the final. He offered to give me my test, as he had returned my classmate's. Of course I took it. First I saw 86. Hey! Not too shabby! Then I realized that it was 86 out of 120. Ouch. 71%. I definitely got a C in the class. So when he told me I got a B, I thought he meant on the final. "No," he said. "Your course grade is a B."

I was a bit floored. I thanked him, but didn't ask about it. I wish I had, because I'm curious how he decided that I deserved a B.

And so my return to school has resulted in a very slight boost of my overall G.P.A. Not as much as I had hoped for going in. This fall I will take a 2-hour course. This time I think the A is within my grasp. Assuming work and family don't do me in.

I gotta get going. I'm putting Maxine to sleep these days (nights) and following up when she wakes up. It's only been two days so far, but it is taking a lot out of me. And it's after 10:30. Time for me to get busy with the baby.

Peace,

Rob

Business Card

Horyon is ready to be a business tycoon. We've got a couple hundred of these bad boys just waiting to be handed out. And you know what's on the back? Nuthin. Hopefully by the time we are ready for more there will be a website to add.

I finished my class today. Six-question exam. I finished four, did a big chunk of the fifth, and didn't even scratch the sixth. Still, I hold out hope that I may have gotten a B in the class. If I end up with a C I guess I won't cry or anything, but I will be a bit heavy-hearted. Either way, I have some of my time back, until I get myself a job. Maybe you'll see a bit more activity here on the Roblog in the next month.

How to Get in Touch with Me

I recently got comment on a post from a friend of mine who had lost track of my email address. It was submitted as a comment, but was really more of a getting-back-in-tough message, not really appropriate content for the whole world to read. Not that Rick's life of intrigue and romance doesn't make for some entertaining reading, but...

The point is this: There is only one way for someone to contact me through Roblog, and that is by posting a comment. And if you are like me, you don't want to put your email address up on an open-access site like Roblog. I don't put my email address here because there are programs that surf the internet looking for email addresses so that their evil overlords can send out more spam. They automatically home in on things that look like this:

myname@myhost.com

I've thought about posting my address in some clever way, like:

myname at(the symbol not the word) my host dot com (be sure to use a dot, don't write 'dot'!)

but this is not really necessary for either of us, because your comments do not automatically get posted to Roblog. They only go up after I have approved them (presumably after reading them). And so you don't see any comments on Roblog suggesting that you visit such-and-such a site to get a good price for Viagra, or go to that site to make friends with some single young woman and all of her buxom girlfriends.

And so if you want me to send you an email, but you're not sure if I have your email address, or if you don't want me to have an excuse for not sending you an email, post a comment with your email address in it. I won't post it up on Roblog. Instead I'll just send you an email. Especially if you tell me that that's what you want me to do.

In closing, some Maxine pictures.

Talking on the remote with Uncle Don.

Posin' on the carpet.

Slip-slidin' away.

Sharing a laugh with Daddy.

Mmmm... Jajang-myeon. (Noodles in black-bean paste, tastes better than it sounds.)

2nd Test

Last Tuesday, July 3rd, I took my 2nd test in Math 526, Statistics for Engineers and Scientists. I got an 81, and was quite happy with that. Prof. Stahl doesn't rank us, but he does list how many students are in each 10% bracket: 3 in the 90's, and 4 in the 80's. So two students dropped below me compared to the first test, and I climbed from 2 points below the class average to 8 points above it. I still see little chance of getting an A in the class, but a B no longer looks like the long shot it appeared to be last week.

I went into this one feeling fairly positive and came out feeling a bit negative. I was still pretty sure about my basic 60%. I had finished 3 of the 5 problems without a hitch, assuming no silly mistakes. As it turned out, I made no silly mistakes, and all three of them were given full points. The other two were a bit tricky. One hearkened back to our first or second homework. I put together the framework, but wasn't sure about how to actually give him the answer he wanted. Fortunately, that framework was worth 16 out of 20 points. Not too shabby. And the last question hit me pretty hard. It was in two parts. Since the test I managed to figure out how to do the first part, but the second is still beyond me. I don't even know how to start. I did overhear a couple of students (sorry, I mean 'classmates'. Old habits die hard.) talking about it. One said that it involved a method that the professor said wouldn't be on the test. I still haven't looked into it. I'm planning to go talk to Prof. Stahl this coming week, since we have another test this coming Friday.

Maxine is getting closer and closer to that elusive structure we call a sentence. Two-word phrases are becoming very common, like "Amma drink" (mommy's drink), and "no poop" (I don't need to translate this, do I?), and the occasional three-word pops up, pleasing me to no end.

It brings to mind my friend Jay Giesler, who kept a list of three-word expressions that he found entertaining. It started as a list of words that just would go together, like "jumping or sauce", and worked its way into the bizarre, like "element oh pee." (You have to read it out loud to get the full effect.) Jay was a fascinating guy, one of the few I've met with a sense of humor that worked in the same direction as mine only further out. Some of his jokes I found funny in spite of myself, and some were just... out there, capable of making me laugh under the right circumstances (i.e. drunk as a skunk) but otherwise just... out there.

Back to Maxine: we've started using Time-Out as a punishment. We have a hard-wood bench in our living room that is boring and uncomfortable. When Maxine breaks rules that have been clearly spelled out for her, or disobeys after repeated being told to do or stop doing something, she gets two minutes in time out. Sometimes she sits through it quietly, looking as though she appreciates the chance to sit and have a rest. But sometimes she cries most pitifully, as though her dog had died and her man had left were with the bills due and four hungry mouths to feed. I make a point of ending T.O. with a reminder of why she was there, telling her I love her, and collecting a kiss. I also get her to say she's sorry if the situation warrants it.

Horyon accused me of enjoying it too much. I can't help it, sometimes. She acts as though it were the end of the world, when I would be happy to have a chance to just sit and do nothing for two minutes. When she was younger, I would occasionally spank her. The prime spanking offense was taking my glasses. I could think of no clearer way to make her understand that it was unacceptable behavior. Now she is older, and capable of some reasoning, I think that T.O. covers most situations.

I just don't want to raise her to think that hitting someone is a way to solve problems. I don't think that there are absolutely no situations in which a spanking is OK, though. If I catch Maxine doing something dangerous, like running into the street, I may spank her right there on the spot, together with explaining why. If any of you out there have opinions one way or the other on this, you are welcome to share them here. I promise to read all and scoff at none.

That's all for tonight.

Rob