Sue's Korean Embroidery Project

Cabinet, originally uploaded by tgolamb.

Sue has finally completed what turned out to be a four year project. She has been working on some Korean embroidery panels to be built into four especially designed wood cabinets since she first came to America in 2001. The one you see above is the largest of the four.

I am especially proud of her efforts on this, because this kind of embroidery is painstaking work of weaving one silk thread at a time into the pictures on silk material for each panel section. All of the shading on each of the pictures is done with different color silk thread, giving the images a 3-dimensional look. Once finished, each panel must be sealed on the back in preparation for the cabinet work.

Because we are about to return to the USA, it was important for her to complete all of her embroidery work before we left. Now that all of the panels were completed, we took the finished work to a local business that specialized in this kind of Korean art form, where he cut up the embroidry into the individual panels and built them into the cabinet you see.

Embroidery, originally uploaded by tgolamb.

Here is a closeup of Sue's embroidery handiwork. It is much more beautiful in person than in this photo, and you can get a better appreciation of the thousands of hours it took her to do it all. Even though this was more of a hobby project and a personal goal to accomplish, the woman at the business that specializes in this kind of art form gave Sue high compliments for the professionalism of her ability. This added an extra exclamation point to the completion of this job for her, and I am thrilled at her dedication to getting it all done.

Christmas in Korea

Christmas in Korea, originally uploaded by tgolamb.

A few people have asked me if we are doing anything for Christmas here... if we are decorating, etc. So I thought I would answer that question for everyone. The answer is no.

If we were planning to stay here longer (which we had originally), we might be going to some lengths to spruce up our humble apartment with some holiday cheer. We didn't bring any sort of Christmas decor with us, so this would mean we would have to make some purchases here. Now that we have decided to leave Korea, and are actually in the process of packing everything up in preparation for our departure right after the first of the year, the appearance of decorations for the Christmas holiday is entirely absent.

The picture you see above happens to be the sum total of our obvious Christmas cheer, and this was purely by accident. Sue and I needed some tissues to assist us in recovering from our colds, and this box was the only single one she could find in the store. It does add a curious bit of color to an otherwise spartanly festooned apartment.

It does feel quite strange though. I have always had some degree of Christmas adornment, including a Christmas tree, in wherever I lived in the USA, even when living alone. I remember even having an oddly decorated tree on the aircraft carrier Coral Sea, while I served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

Just as Thanksgiving had passed us by here without even so much as a whimper, I’m afraid so will Christmas. I have already promised myself that 2005 will usher in a new spirit of Christmas for us, and we will make up for what we have sacrificed in 2004.

Thursday at the movies

BigFish, originally uploaded by tgolamb.

TV here has gotten to be a real drag. I've probably mentioned this before, so I won't rehash the point too much. Even our favorites like CSI are being shown for the umpteenth time, making our evenings a challenge to find something interesting and certainly within the law to do.

Anyway, we wandered over to the little video store down the block to see if there was anything of interest. As we reviewed the selection of English films, which can take all of three minutes (anyone desiring anything in the adult movie category would find their selection more than adequate), we ran across a movie I didn't know much about. Tim Burton's Big Fish was one I had heard of, but avoided for some reason. I don't know why. Well, since it was about the only one we hadn't seen, we brought it home to give it a look.

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a blockbuster type of movie, but it was fun entertainment... kind of a silly, fantasy, romantic-comedy, with an interesting blend of characters (I happen to like Albert Finney). It was a nice change from the cop, mystery, conspiracy, heavy CGI, things blowing up kind of movie, and I'm glad we took the chance to give it a try.

Ultimate Solitaire

ecstatic, originally uploaded by tgolamb.

My previous comments about Eric's Ultimate Solitaire, and the discovery of Ambrosia's upgrade of Apeiron to Mac OS X got me thinking... "I wonder..."

So I did a quick search and to my (almost) surprise found that Eric's Ultimate Solitaire is currently in upgrade mode to Mac OS X as well. It has some interesting small enhancements if you poke around a little. This is another great little time waster, and I have owned the original version for just about ten years. You can get the OS X version of this is in an Alpha test version at Delta Tao Software.

The download of this is only good until Feb. 2005, but I'm guessing they plan to have the final version ready for purchase by that time. This should be plenty of time for you to get hooked on it. They also have Eric's Ultimate Solitaire for PC too.

Apeiron for Mac OS X

Ambrosia has put out some great software for many years. I you aren't acquainted with them, I encourage you to give them a look. They put out some terrific games and utilities, some of which I have been playing for a long time.

Apeiron is one of these. It is similar to the old classic Centipede game, and although I never played that, when I first downloaded the Shareware version of Apeiron some years back, I was hooked. High scores became a family feud, which I was often on the losing end when facing off with my two sons, but I always had a great time with it.

When I upgraded my software to Mac OS X, I was a little disappointed in how Apeiron worked in OS 9. Ambrosia was continuing to develop new software, but I still liked the old classics.

ApeironX, originally uploaded by tgolamb.

I was thrilled when Ambrosia just announced that they had released the OS X version of Apeiron. I immediately went out and upgraded my old version, which was a bargain at $5. The initial price of $15 is still a great buy for this game. It is addictiive and a fantastic way to waste a little time (or in some people's case, a lot). The new version also includes links to add your high scores to the internet base, and also lets you view others who have made it their mission to put up scores so high that it will be several lifetimes, before I'll accumulate enough points to be their equal. However, this has not stopped me from giving it my best. Sue also has found it necessary to take a break from Ultimate Solitaire to satisfy her closet addiction to Apeiron. It's frustrating, unforgiving, and lots of fun. I hope Ambrosia continues the upgrading of their other classic games and makes them also OS X worthy. I'll be waiting.