Upgrades...yeah another one of those..

 I have changed my mind about tech as things change in this field. For example now that graphic cards are in short supply they are very expensive. Actually, too expensive. People are actually making a profit by reselling these items. So upgrades for our main rigs will be frozen until this nonsense subsides. With Bitcoin tanking perhaps miners will mass sell GPUs and the price might drop. 

Our boys are voracious readers. I need to limit their time when it comes to gaming. As I have done this I noticed that they are going back to reading. So I will be ordering ebook readers and downloading all sorts of books for them. For example I have a collection of over 200 sci fi novels. Ebooks are great because they do not take up physical space. You do need massive storage on the ebook reader. 32 giga bytes is huge as one book might be several megabytes. Of course I will not get a unit with only 32 gigs of space. Or..I might. Some ebook readers have storage expansion options with micro sd card slots. 

Ok time to go!

/tata

The couples who...

 I have been married for almost 21 years. One thing that I think is important to me is that if you do not LIKE your wife or husband it is harder to accept other annoying habits they have. I am not going to go into what annoys me or my wife. However, there are many things. BUT, I really like her. I really like her as well as love her. 

You see love is kinda painful, good, wonderful, sad, all mixed into one. 

When I met the lady of my dreams, I thought...Nah I'll never be able to get a chance to win her heart. Well, after over 21 years of mariage I am so happy I won her heart. She is loving, giving, forgiving, patient, super kind, extemely polite, and of course drop dead gorgous. She annoys me as well, as I also annoy her. But, when I am upset because she is annoying me, or not doings things the way I think she should...it feels normal.

We were very different people when we first married. Now we are an amalgamation of both of our personalities. 

I think couples should : talk a lot, merge entertainment (share each others interests), exercise together, if there are children be on the same team, do not argue about money (have an united idea of what your finacial goals are), and understand that the person next to you is a part of you.

I was talking to our sons on Monday night about how as we age we percieve time differently. I have been married for 21 years. Yet, I remember the first two times I saw her like it was yesterday!

Ok time to finish up the work day on this hump day!

/tata

No more holidays until September!!

 Holidays were cool pre-covid 19. Now I feel like the spread of infection will ebb. This means stability for us and others. Some people that I know have run into very hard times starting new businesses or seeing an existing one fail. I have seen eateries and drinking holes go under in our area, and others around the city. 

Holidays really sucked because numbers would would rise (new covid ininfections), and social distancing levels would rise. In turn private coaching schools would close. I would say this year and last we have lost out on 3 or 4,000 dollars. This has not hurt us alot though. Actually, we have saved more due to lockdowns. 

So for the next almost 20 weeks we will have no holidays that fall on a weekday. They won't even fall on a Saturday. So I am hoping for a stable middle of this year. After chuseok we will have no holidays until Decemeber. 

So lets get this Tuesday workday started then enjoy the evening walk! Last Saturday we walked for about 10kms! A new record for us! This week has started normally with about 6.4kms yesterday. Our shoes are falling apart as expected, so next month we will buy new pairs for us. Goerge might need a new pair in July as he is walking every evening. 

I think my next topic will be on the high end gaming laptops I will be getting this winter for Yogita and I. Also so updates on tech for our boys.

/Tata

Took a rest!

 It is so funny how things turn out. Instead of walking to the mountain we chilled at home. So this day we rested for two days. We took two dear friends of ours to our favorite Chinese resturant. It was very nice. Of course this means next week we will be back to our normal walking schedule. A famous youtuber posted a video earlier this week. He is morbidly obese. I do not know much about his private life. However, in his videos you can see that he is a very heavy man. 

He decided to make a lifestyle change like Yogi and I did last November. In his video you can see how on his first walk (perhaps 1 mile or 1.6kms) he was tiring. I hope he keeps it up. When we started I felt odd. We walked about 3.5kms. It felt nice but so strange. As we kept it up it became a normal part of our routine. In fact, it has become one thing we both look forward to. I hope it is the same for him and others who need to lose weight. Diabetes can kill in so many ways! 

/tata

Our second attempt!

 Just a sidenote my previous post might seem judgy. Korean mothers are only following the information THEY trust. Like all of us that information is flawed. More on this in a later post.

Well we have our sandwhich week part two this month. Tomorrow's weather forcast looks great! Partly cloudly and no rain! So this time we are going to prepare headware, sun screen, and see if we can find some fans that are wearable. I'll have my massive backpack filled with some supplies. I'll water, spare batteries, towels, raincoats (you never know), and energy drinks. 

We will of course take breaks. I am excited more for this attempt. It should be about 12 kms. We expect to burn about 1100 calories. So once we are done we will order some nice Korean food and watch a movie or two. George has started nightly walks and I feel that it is good for him mentally, and physically. He saw the changes in his parents and so he is doing the same.

I enjoy not only being with my wife, but the greenery. On the way we will walk through all kinds farms. The air is so fresh (although we will be wearing masks). 

So here it goes will we make it? I hope so!

/tata

Korean moms ... they have no clue...

 So many students are working hours longer most adults. The result? Kids that are stressed out learning things that are NOT useful for them. I think a lot of University students here in South Korea would be labeled alcoholics. I do not blame them for the super heavy drinking they do. I feel bad for them. Finally, they are in a system where they will pass (90%+ of Korean Uni students graduate). They can finally have more free time to just try to be themselves. 

I know all families are not like this. Others see this issue and send their kids to only English and Math academies. Then if they can afford a third that academy is something the student is interested in. 

However, some of my current and past students have described their studying routine to me. First they study for hours with no breaks. I do not mean those who go to study cafe's but are actually socializing and doing every BUT study. I am talking about the kids are monitored closely by parents, and teachers. It is grind for more than 12 hours a day. This includes several hours of school, several hours of academy classes, and finally followed by a few hours doing homework or studying at home. 

Middle and high school students have it really bad. They are getting close to the ONE test that will have a MAJOR impact on their lives. My friend my best friend of 16 years is so embarrassed that his son could not get into a top tier school we have lost contact. I'll send him a message and he replies with a wall of text about how his son will have to settle for being a pharmacist. Settle for being a pharmacists? What is wrong with that? Doctors are really married to their work. Yes they earn more money but it really isn't much more than normal unless you are in a highly specialized medical field. They have long training. A pharmacists is a job that will always be needed. His son will have more time for himself. 

This industry is dominated by powerful influential mothers. They are highly educated. Yet they do not trust experts to do thier jobs. Instead, we follow a select few that have released ESL books thar create parrots. Our school, and I have done this for over 20 years need to augment the textbook matierals. They are terrible! Yogita has gained ALOT of respect in another neighborhood because she takes the reins. She tells mothers that the regular cucciculm offered in academies are lacking key things. She is polite but very firm. In some cases blunt. I think it is refreshing to these parents to be told "sorry but your child does  not know how to read, they have memorized what words should sound like". One mom told Yogita that she suspected it all along. She pulled her kid out of that academy right away. 

Even though many of these moms have no clue I do not blame them. Cramming a large number of kids into a class (I have seen 12-13) for 30 minute classes with a native speaker, then 28 to 25 minutes with a Korean teacher in utter bullshit. You create parrots. Many see this as a norm, and kids can learn social skills. Huh? That is another topic all together. 

So Moms are misled by money hungry business models. These practices orginate in Seoul. Then trickle down to the lower provinces. 

Ok time to get the workday started!

/tata

Another tech update!

 Due to the shortage of semiconductor chips new gpus are more expensive. Some people have bought up large numbers of these limited gpus and are now offering them for very high prices. 

I am so lucky that I was able to get 2 gtx 1060 6gb cards. These cards are very different from the original 3gb version. The 6 gigabyte version is roughly 12% faster than the 3gb one. I think what is more important is the amount of vram. 6 gigabytes allows us to do much more  with these cards. 

Archeage takes about 2.5 gigabytes of vram. So we are able to run 2 accounts on one pc. Our systems both have more than enough system ram to run this game. 

So this is a very odd year. Even if I wanted to upgrade our gpus it would cost far more than the cards are actually worth. The one gpu that I am keeping an eye on is still the gtx 1080ti. This card will be what we will use for several maybe even 10 years. Today for the type of gaming that we do the 1080ti is over powered which means that yeah no upgrades in that department for years. MMO rpgs are memory hogs. They really do not stress gpus like triple A titles do. Large maps need lots of vram. Even in Eve system memory because more important in large battles (3-6000 players on one node). 

I am going to looking for cases for Yogita's pc upgrade, as well as a all in one water cooler. I also need a newer AIO water cooler. I am so glad that we are not in dire need of a GPU at this time. 

Also looking to get kindles for the boys as I am tired of books taking up so much space in our apartment. Might take a trip up to Seoul, or Saejong city to buy em. 

Time for a walk!

We have been averaging about 40 kms a week.

/tata

We did it!!!!!!!

 Tuesday it rained and we met with friends for some good food and drinks. We complied with the social distancing guidelines. Wednesday was a beautiful day. 

You see in February Yogi and I decided to set a challenge for ourselves. We were going to walk to the mountain here in Iksan. Miruk mountain is about 12 kilometers from our home. This would be a record for us. So daily we would increase our walking range up from 4.5 kilometers to 6 kilometers. We were building stamina and endurance. 

Well we set a target date to make an attempt on the holiday yesterday. Well once we were about 5-6 kilometers in we decided to keep going. We met a friend who regularly bikes on that road. The road is actually a bike trail. It winds through farmland and low hills. It was so nice to just walk and talk. 

Of course we stopped multiple times for Yogita to rest or take pictures. Surprisingly Yogita did not have empty her bladder. Usually we have to map a route that has clean public bathrooms. This time however she just soldiered on. 

We reached the mountain after a little over 3 hours. We looked around a bit, then hopped in a taxi ordering food as we got close to our home. 

Somethings I am going to prepare for making this mini trek again: Sunglasses, wide hats, sun cream (Yogi and I got mild sunburn), towels, water, portable wearable fans, back up battery packs x4 for our phones, and the fans. Of course I will be the pack mule for this. I also think we should wear knee braces. Anything to give protection for our joints. I'll look into it this Friday night.

So yes we walked 12km in one session and burned an estimated 1100 calories. I will document our next attempt. 

/tata

Rainy days and getting our walk in...

 These days our oldest George has been going on nightly walks / jogs for a couple of weeks. For Yogita and I this is a great time to talk, to communicate. To get to know each other better. We hash out problems. We make plans update and modify plans. 

Sometimes the weather does not cooperate. In the winter it meant walking very slowly. Yogita slipped sometimes, fortunately she did not get hurt. It was not as enjoyable due to having to map out each step. 

Now that we are in spring the issue is rain. One of the things I like about Iksan is that the weather is far tamer than that of Gunsan. Here it was drizzling when we left the house. However, as I got closer to the school I work at, it stopped. Gunsan it would have been drizzling, with heavy downpours all day. To that mix you have to add very strong winds too. This makes being out doors in Gunsan potentially dangerous. 

So we have a plan to deal with rain. In convenience stores in our area they sell one use rain coats. Of course they are not really one use. That is marketing. These raincoats are made of plastic. So if dried and stored in a dry area after use they can be reused. We have a couple of them in our "walking" backpack. We will use them tonight. It will look odd but who cares? 

We have been walking on average about 38 km a week. I have seen that now my pants literally hang on me. My shirts are oversized now. Yogita has seen remarkable weight lose. She looks like she is shrinking! LOL 

Ok I have to go and troll second hand car websites.

/tata

Making money....

 We are doing the best we have in years in the money-making department. However, what does it all really mean? A currency can be devalued at any time by the same ones who really control it. Putting money into land is the best policy today. However, I hear the powers that be will try to take even that. 

Money is important, it is what is running many systems on this planet. People give money power. Money allows us to buy things. These things can make our lives more enjoyable. I think that there is a certain point where even if you have millions of dollars, there is this need to get even more. 

As we are raising kids money makes things even easier. When Jeyo was sick well our money helped in that case. If we want to upgrade PC's (which I did recently). Money was not an issue. I was able to go out and get the things we needed. Now granted I knew the products I needed and did waste money on something overblown and overpowered. 

I think while money is important, that importance is finite. Once you have enough money where you are not worrying about it. I would say do not seek to get more and more. Keep things steady and focus your time on other things. Kids remember those special times talking, or doing things with mom and dad. The "stuff" they got as a kid often gets broken, or so outdated that they lose importance. Memories are the most important. They really are the sum of who we were, and where we might be going. 

I know that I need to make more money. However, it is not the most important thing in my life. My family is the most important thing. I hate covid-19 so much. I feel that some things as a family could have been dealt with sooner if we had more time to go camping and get away from it all. 

Anyways, tomorrow is a Tuesday / Friday because Wednesday is a holiday. We have 2 weeks like this in May. Oh yeah, May is here....summer is around the corner. I am so glad we have 2 air conditioners this year. 

/tata