Upgrading My Life: iPad and SSD

There have been a couple major upgrades to my tech life lately. As it is, I'm sitting in my favorite cafe typing this on the newest generation of iPad (essentially the iPad 3). I don't have much to say about the product as much as I can speak on the way the product has affected my life even in the past few days. I like to sit on my deck every morning drink coffee, drink coffee and read the news in aggregate on my iPhone. There are some spectacular apps for news aggregation that work so well with a larger screen, such as News 360, Flipboard and Zite. These apps exist on the iPhone but their layouts for the iPad's larger screen is commendable. I have also downloaded Photoshop Touch and have rendered some shots of the river in downtown Yecheon into a neato kinda dealy (attached above). I finally decided to get an iPad because it seems as though it is coming into its own as a device for production, which is opposed to consumption. I wanted an iPad to be productive and not just read and watch movies and tv shows. There is a way to manipulate the USB camera connector into letting me use my MIDI Akai MPK mini keyboard with music production software. I can also use the iPad as a touch-based MIDI control panel for Ableton. There are so many possibilities.
I have also purchased an Intel 320 series SSD for my two year old white unibody MacBook. I now get a 24 second boot time. I can probably get another 2 years out of this thing. It is so snappy; applications launch in just two bounces versus the three minutes it took to launch iPhoto or iTunes. I even found a way to enable TRIM support for it via http://digitaldj.net/2011/07/21/trim-enabler-for-lion/
The beauty of having SSD's in everything now is twofold: the speed and durability. My old platter hard drive was starting to make some disconcerting sounds. Jostling HDD's too much is quite bad for them. One of the funny things to get used to is the fact that my laptop is completely quiet now aside from when the fans spins up every once in a while. It's like driving a hybrid car in low-gear...is this thing on?
Just had to kvell.

The Food I Couldn't Eat

I finally have been confronted with a food I could not eat. Faithful readers, meet 빙어 (bingeo).

The small minnow-like fish are eaten live, dipped in chili sauce and wrapped in a leaf.

It all started one afternoon my co-teacher took me and my friend Zach on a drive through the country and had asked if we wanted to eat some, what Zach and I heard as, "raw fish". We thought this wouldn't be a problem as we had eaten sushi with him in the past.

Anyway, after a series of hilarious and awkward circumstances detailed in Zach's excellently written blog, neither Zach nor I could eat the food. I have eaten some weird things in the past but I have finally met a food I could not eat. I've had hard-boiled duck fetus, pig brains out-of-the-skull, raw cow intestine, horse pot roast and a myriad of other exotic foods, I simply couldn't eat these little bastards. While squeamishness had the better of Zach, I couldn't fathom taking something's life inside my own mouth. Congrats, 빙어, you got the better of me.

As Zach so elequently wrote in his blog,

Since then I've sometimes regretted not eating it when I had the chance. Granted I could go back there sometime and try again, but if I went specifically to order it I know that I'd have to keep going until the bowl was pretty much empty this time, so I really don't think I will. It was that one time situation that passed me by and I wonder what I missed. I can't say I've actually eaten every unusual new food that's been offered to me now, and for that I am regretful. I hit my culinary wall, and just hope I'll get my second wind someday.

Another Semester, Another Day, Another Americano

I am two weeks into the new semester and it has come with some unique challenges as well as some really fun opportunities. I am teaching four D level classes, the lowest level of learners. Some of the students have a loose grasp on Korean, let alone any kind of command of English. This makes my job a little difficult, teaching English as a foreign language to low level learners. However, after spending two weeks with them, they have quickly become some of my favorite classes to teach. Let me explain.

The first week was a challenge. I knew that conventional teaching methods and lesson planning would not work for this class (Mr. Bean to the rescue!) and I had to come up with a way to teach varying degrees of low levels in the same class without isolating some kids or boring others. The first week I was terrified, especially since I taught the first class completely alone! Despite the low level of English, the students have a natural curiosity about me and a genuine sweetness that makes teaching them a pleasure. They do not talk and they try their damndest, which I absolutely cannot say about many of my higher level classes.

I have come to realize that these students are not trying because they want or even need to speak English but because they want a chance to succeed. It would be presumptuous of me to assume that they seek my approval. Instead, it seems to me they are seeking the feeling of success, of being told that they did a good job, that they completed a language task, no matter how basic it may seem to a higher level learner, with confidence and pride.

My second week in the classroom, I wrote at the top of my daily calendar "today is a day I can actually make a difference by teaching English". I cannot tell you the confidence boost that gave me which was obviously reflected by the students. I now look forward to those classes; not only do the students want to be there, but I do too. That makes a huge difference.

I am also leading an English club of extremely bright students, nine all said and done. They are very enthusiastic about learning English and picking my brain for any snippet of culture they can. They're a blast. Today, I showed them a Korean subtitled version of Abbot and Costello's "Who's On First" routine, which they loved.

One of my students brushed off the clip before I had a chance to play it, saying, "it looks so old." I told him to wait and give it a chance. The clip was eliciting belly-laughs from otherwise jaded high school boys.

We meet every other Friday for about two hours in the afternoon.

Otherwise, my B and C classes are causing me a lot of stress. How Dae Chang got its reputation for being a respectable school in general is beyond me. I find new students this year to be aggrivating and disrespectful, far beyond even the worst headaches my students gave me last year. Every incoming year gets worse and worse. There is a lot of politics behind it and my blog is an inappropriate place to speculate on them.

In other news, I pre-ordered an iPad 3 which should be arriving at my Dad's work in less that 24 hour, according to FedEx. Pretty excited about that.

Teaching English as a Foreign Language Certificate

So I suppose I should get this beast up to date. I just returned from my China trip, but I'll get to that later. Before I went to China, I spent three weeks of Winter Vacation completing a teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) certificate. My buddy Zach recommended that I go through International TEFL and TESOL Training. I opted for the 120 hour tutored course. The course cost USD$290 but I'll make that back almost monthly with the pay raise for which it qualifies me. It also makes me quite competitive, along with my almost three and one half years of teaching experience, for future re-employment.

Anyway, I finally received my TEFL certificate, a considerable accomplishment in what I am realizing could be a long-term career path.

Moon Over Yecheon

The moon over Yecheon this evening. Took my camera and tripod out and after about 30 trial and error shots, this one finally came out.

Update Through December - Performances and a Novel

So hi! It's been a while since I blogged and there is good reason for it. I've been really busy since the beginning of November with various projects, performances, etc.

First, I want to take a moment to reflect on the passing of Kim Jong Il, the late dictator of my neighbors to my north, North Korea. I received a text from my friend Zach right before lunch that Kim had died. These kinds of rumors aren't exactly rare form so I hopped on the internet and sure enough, reports of his death were just minutes old, hot off the servers. It seemed as though the country as a whole felt a moment of elation, followed by dire concern. South Koreans, by and large, do not fear North Korea as much as they fear North Korean unpredictability. It is not known who will resume power and when nor is it known if North Korean, in a gesture of catharsis and loss, would sweep the peninsula once again. The country, at least on paper, is still technically at war. That said, I feel quite optimistic. North Korean media reported that Kim died reroute on an inspection trip from natural causes. North Korea has rarely missed an opportunity to justify loss or slight by blaming their favorite scapegoat, South Korea. The fact that the North didn't take this opportunity to blame Kim's death on an assassination attempt conspired by the South gives me hope. Hope in that they are not looking for a reason to instigate aggression. The North would never openly attack the South. Anything I can say about the situation, other than what I have already said, would entirely be speculation. The country has maintained its security system at DEFCON 4 and all public offices are being manned 24 hours. I'm optimistic that there will be a peaceful transition of power as far as the two Koreas are involved.

Other than yesterday's big news, I have been quite busy with personal projects this last month or so. I have continued to play with Jonno and Ryan though we now call ourselves The Band from Out of Town. Here are a couple of songs we performed here in Yecheon at Yoger Presso, a local espresso bar.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpWP9ADgza0?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1Ze_QhzcU?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

Toward the end of the month, I was also asked to perform solo for the anniversary festival of my school. I played "Sydney (I'll Come Running)" by Brett Dennon and "Hotel Yorba" by The White Stripes.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlDQxfsWCLc?rel=0&w=480&h=360]

Most notably, I have written a novel! For the first time, I participated in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The goal of the project is to write 50,000 words in thirty days. My novel is called Maximum R&B and it clocks in at about 120 pages in Word. I have gone through on a five-hour editing spree and the novel should be readable but it still requires some tooling. It's about a Max Arenbee, a CD store clerk living in Minneapolis dealing with finding happiness in place and time. I have the current revision in Kindle, Nook and PDF formats if anyone is interested in reading it. I'm not interested in publishing it, just something I've always wanted to accomplish. 

My winter vacation is coming up and I just bought my tickets and visa for China to visit my brother, Colin. I cannot put into words how excited I am to see him. I sat in my apartment the other night, passport and tickets in-hand, unable to believe I was actually going. He and I plan on spending Chinese New Year in Hong Kong, going to Macau for some Portuguese food and then going to mainland China. We will stay a while in his city of Zhuhai, then going to see the terra-cotta warriors in Xi'an. There we will part ways and I will spend the remainder of my trip in Beijing, seeing the Great Wall and Forbidden City. Since I was a kid, looking at my Grandpa's collection of National Geographic magazines and gazing for what seemed like hours at the spread on the terra-cotta warriors, I have wanted to see them with my own eyes. I can't believe my fortune in not only going to China and seeing them, as well as my brother, but how full my passport actually is. The China visa is a full page in my passport and took up the second to last remaining page in it.

 

Rooting the South Korea Motorola Atrix

Gaining root (administrative) access to Android phones abroad can be difficult. Often a crack or break made for a device in one country is incompatible with the same model in others due to differences in firmware. For this reason, I have been apprehensive about rooting my South Korean Motorola Atrix. Today, I finally found a method which does not brick the phone and works splendidly on the South Korea model of Moto Atrix.

I have compiled all of the prerequisite software into one downloadable bundle here, tools for the job.

The following instructions worked wonders for me. The following instructions are taken from BriefMobile.com.

How To: Motorola Atrix 4G Root

Root method found and executed by Brandon15811, the2dcour, and of course eval-! Make sure to thank them over at the forums.

Prerequisites [see above link, tools for the job"]

• Drivers installed 32-bit or 64-bit
• ADB-Fastboot package
• Root image (Mirror)

Outline

1. Extract the ADB-Fastboot package and root image to your C: Drive under a new folder titled “root”
2. Put your device into Fastboot mode: – Turn off your device. – Hold down the power button and downward volume button until you see “Fastboot” on your screen – Push the upward volume button
3. Open your command prompt (Start >> run “cmd” >> enter)
4. Type the following commands
   
   • cd C:/root
   • fastboot flash preinstall root.img
   • fastboot reboot
5. Enable USB debugging (Settings >> Applications >> Debugging)
6. Type the following commands
   
   • adb shell
   • /preinstall/dosu [dosu is actually not correct. instead, use "/preinstall/su" but without the quotes]
7. Type the following commands
   
   • /bin/mount /system -o remount,rw
   • cp /preinstall/su /system/bin/su
   • chmod 6755 /system/bin/su
   • PATH=/system/bin:$PATH pm install /preinstall/Superuser.apk
8. Congratulations! You are rooted!

So why would I risk bricking my phone in order to root it? First of all, Motorola pre-installed Swype and I wanted the newest beta version, a huge improvement. Secondly, I wanted to install Market Enabler in order to shop the U.S. Android Market with access to apps such as Google Music beta, Wells Fargo, Google+, Netflix and other U.S.-only content. Here are instructions to uninstall the pre-installed Skype from a Motorola Atrix in order to install the latest beta version.