The Korea story
So, hey, I'm in Korea for a week for work. Everything being totally last minute, I've only just recently hammered out the business of having a place to live for every night that I'm here. The very last night that was hammered out was tonight, which was a little nerve wracking for the few hours where I was planning contingency after contingency. The final one was to take an all night bender an hour away in Seoul, and try to make it back to the hotel by 8:30am for the shuttle which takes me to where I'm going to be working this week. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
It all begins on the morning of this past Thursday. I woke up and checked the status of the delivery of my new toy Acer One. Out for delivery. Awesome. I decide that since I've been working pretty late for the whole week thus far, I'd indulge myself and stay at home for the morning waiting on the delivery. Around 10:30 I get a call from my boss asking if I can go to Korea, but in this particular tone that suggests that it's pretty much been decided already. I'm still pretty groggy and uncomposed at this point, so I thrash around verbally trying to find a way out of the trip. I head into work and get the skinny on the situation, which really sucks balls. Gonna be out there for a week, maybe two. So I guess I'm going. I grab some lunch and sulk at home till about 2. Actually, it was very distinctly 1:58pm that I went back to work. I start making arrangements for the trip and check delivery status. Delivery attempt at 2:14pm. Crap. I continue making arrangements for the flight out and back and realize that our anniversary is in two weeks. Now I'm actually upset, but I explain that I need to get back by next Friday, and the boss is cool with it.
Trying to book the hotel, I find out that there is virtually no mapping information on South Korea, which means I can't figure out where the facility is and what hotels are nearby. So I decide to book something near the hotel, and probably move. Our booking agent tells us that bookings are really tight and there is only one hotel available by the airport. They have a 72 hour cancellation policy. They only have one room with business accommodations (internet) left. Crap. Stress levels are really high right now, so I just tell him to book it for the week. In hindsight, that was the mistake that caused most of my subsequent grief.
I run home and grab my shipping tag off the door. Pickup at 6pm.
At around 5pm PST, our cohorts in Korea and Taiwan come online and we begin to plan who should relocate to the Korea facility for the week. That taken care of, I run out to FedEx and grab my package. I'm sortof frantic for something positive so I dig into the box right away. Packaging is very simple. Hello Acer One, henceforth known as OneTop. I head back to work and plug it in to charge and get it setup, which involved hitting enter three times and waiting for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I'm trying to root around and see if there's a magic bullet to this Korea problem. There is, sortof. I print out itineraries and hotel locations and emails to review. There's enough crap that I have to go through and organize it in order of chronologic need so that I can access everything easily.
I think I headed home around 8. I don't really remember. I just went home and started packing, maybe got something to eat. On the way home, I noted that there are now 6 laptops in the house between Slim and I. In order of acquisition, BrickTop, BigTop, ShortTop, WideTop, JunkTop, and OneTop. BlackTop and TouchTop are also in remote locations. This is mildly hilarious to us.
I finish packing, having to switch to a bigger gear bag, I'm wondering how much of my gadgets I'm really going to use. But a week without decent gear would probably kill me. I begin to pray to the gear gods, silently but fervently, that I will be able to charge all of this. I stay up till about 2 trying to make sure I have everything. I'm getting anxious and I go over my packing list like 4 times. I goto sleep.
I'm up at like, what, 6am? I check emails and continue threading correspondence. Our contact at the facility tells me that the hotel I booked is really far and inconvenient and can I move to their chartered hotel nearby? I have my admin do it for me. Slim drops me at the airport, and I wonder if this she is suffering as much from how sudden this is. She doesn't show it, but then, she never really does. I always forget how tough a cookie she can be.
In the air to SFO! At SFO, thankfully a bit early, I'm on the phone as soon as I can be, trying to hammer this hotel thing out. The agent called the hotel I originally booked and no one spoke enough english to figure out what we wanted. Still have no confirmation about when I'm going to transfer to the hotel by the facility. Great. I get carte blanche to take care of my hotel situation on the spot upon my arrival. I get carte blanche to purchase a functional phone upon my arrival. This could get interesting. I begin fantasizing about the Hyatt Grand Regency before I remember that it was included in the list of hotel that was booked solid.
I was off into the international terminal after another security check and about to exchange some currency for the taxi ride to the hotel when BH called. I dunno if he somehow subconsiously sensed the emergency, but by the end of our call, I was much calmer. I change like $60 into S.Korea Won. I head to my gate. My breathing begins to slow. I jump on the plane, take my seat. I can't sleep. I read for a bit. I watch Narnia2, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day, In Bruges, Leatherheads, Miss Pettigrew again, then it's almost time to land. This is a depressing fucking batch of movies to watch when you're on a trip you don't want to be on. I try to read but my eyes are too dry. I'm contemplating going into the overhead compartment to get my eyedrops when the fasten seatbelt light goes on. I doze off for a bit and wake up during our wobbly descent into Incheon International Airport. I grab my bags and deplane.
To be continued...
In Korea
--tJ
It all begins on the morning of this past Thursday. I woke up and checked the status of the delivery of my new toy Acer One. Out for delivery. Awesome. I decide that since I've been working pretty late for the whole week thus far, I'd indulge myself and stay at home for the morning waiting on the delivery. Around 10:30 I get a call from my boss asking if I can go to Korea, but in this particular tone that suggests that it's pretty much been decided already. I'm still pretty groggy and uncomposed at this point, so I thrash around verbally trying to find a way out of the trip. I head into work and get the skinny on the situation, which really sucks balls. Gonna be out there for a week, maybe two. So I guess I'm going. I grab some lunch and sulk at home till about 2. Actually, it was very distinctly 1:58pm that I went back to work. I start making arrangements for the trip and check delivery status. Delivery attempt at 2:14pm. Crap. I continue making arrangements for the flight out and back and realize that our anniversary is in two weeks. Now I'm actually upset, but I explain that I need to get back by next Friday, and the boss is cool with it.
Trying to book the hotel, I find out that there is virtually no mapping information on South Korea, which means I can't figure out where the facility is and what hotels are nearby. So I decide to book something near the hotel, and probably move. Our booking agent tells us that bookings are really tight and there is only one hotel available by the airport. They have a 72 hour cancellation policy. They only have one room with business accommodations (internet) left. Crap. Stress levels are really high right now, so I just tell him to book it for the week. In hindsight, that was the mistake that caused most of my subsequent grief.
I run home and grab my shipping tag off the door. Pickup at 6pm.
At around 5pm PST, our cohorts in Korea and Taiwan come online and we begin to plan who should relocate to the Korea facility for the week. That taken care of, I run out to FedEx and grab my package. I'm sortof frantic for something positive so I dig into the box right away. Packaging is very simple. Hello Acer One, henceforth known as OneTop. I head back to work and plug it in to charge and get it setup, which involved hitting enter three times and waiting for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, I'm trying to root around and see if there's a magic bullet to this Korea problem. There is, sortof. I print out itineraries and hotel locations and emails to review. There's enough crap that I have to go through and organize it in order of chronologic need so that I can access everything easily.
I think I headed home around 8. I don't really remember. I just went home and started packing, maybe got something to eat. On the way home, I noted that there are now 6 laptops in the house between Slim and I. In order of acquisition, BrickTop, BigTop, ShortTop, WideTop, JunkTop, and OneTop. BlackTop and TouchTop are also in remote locations. This is mildly hilarious to us.
I finish packing, having to switch to a bigger gear bag, I'm wondering how much of my gadgets I'm really going to use. But a week without decent gear would probably kill me. I begin to pray to the gear gods, silently but fervently, that I will be able to charge all of this. I stay up till about 2 trying to make sure I have everything. I'm getting anxious and I go over my packing list like 4 times. I goto sleep.
I'm up at like, what, 6am? I check emails and continue threading correspondence. Our contact at the facility tells me that the hotel I booked is really far and inconvenient and can I move to their chartered hotel nearby? I have my admin do it for me. Slim drops me at the airport, and I wonder if this she is suffering as much from how sudden this is. She doesn't show it, but then, she never really does. I always forget how tough a cookie she can be.
In the air to SFO! At SFO, thankfully a bit early, I'm on the phone as soon as I can be, trying to hammer this hotel thing out. The agent called the hotel I originally booked and no one spoke enough english to figure out what we wanted. Still have no confirmation about when I'm going to transfer to the hotel by the facility. Great. I get carte blanche to take care of my hotel situation on the spot upon my arrival. I get carte blanche to purchase a functional phone upon my arrival. This could get interesting. I begin fantasizing about the Hyatt Grand Regency before I remember that it was included in the list of hotel that was booked solid.
I was off into the international terminal after another security check and about to exchange some currency for the taxi ride to the hotel when BH called. I dunno if he somehow subconsiously sensed the emergency, but by the end of our call, I was much calmer. I change like $60 into S.Korea Won. I head to my gate. My breathing begins to slow. I jump on the plane, take my seat. I can't sleep. I read for a bit. I watch Narnia2, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a day, In Bruges, Leatherheads, Miss Pettigrew again, then it's almost time to land. This is a depressing fucking batch of movies to watch when you're on a trip you don't want to be on. I try to read but my eyes are too dry. I'm contemplating going into the overhead compartment to get my eyedrops when the fasten seatbelt light goes on. I doze off for a bit and wake up during our wobbly descent into Incheon International Airport. I grab my bags and deplane.
To be continued...
In Korea
--tJ