Today is the day, Koreans remember those who have fallen defending their country.
So what did I do on this sacred day? Shopping!
I went to Busan, watched the new Dreamworks movie “Over the Hedge” which was OK, but it is not Toy Story by any means.
And I then got my Mac Mini upgraded to 2GB for 144,000 won. It is worth every cent.
I can now switch between Windows XP and OS X with no delay !
Today is Election Day in South Korea. I discovered yesterday, that it is a Holiday, so I can sleep in and relax.
I just got of the phone from Apple Busan and Apple Seoul. I wanted to upgrade my RAM from 512 MB (2 x 256mb) to either 1GB or 2GB
In an ideal world I would have told Apple to do this when I ordered the Mac Mini. But Apple Korea won’t let you do this, unless you buy directly from a store. I got my Mac by mail order.
The prices at the Australian and American sites for RAM are:
Apple Australia prices
1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM $155
2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM $465
Apple USA prices
1GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM $100
2GB 667 DDR2 SDRAM $300
As you can see the 2 GB price is high!
Apple Korea do not offer 2 GB … what the @#$%@#$%@#$
Their 1 GB price is 144,000 won or about $144 USD.
I can live with that, but I would hate to know what the 2 GB price is.
As you can see, the prices are much higher then Amercia or Australia.
So on Saturday I am going to Busan to get my Mac upgraded.
Busan store 02-6002-1620
The Mac mini is an interesting product compared to my big ugly pc.
The CPU on my pc runs at about 45 degrees celsius. The Mac Mini idle temperature is 53 c !
When I ran a DVD ripping program it averages 68 degrees with a maximum of 72 degrees!
Pretty hot. The pc in the midst of DVD ripping hits about 58 degrees.
My Mac at the moment only has 512 memory which is worse then running Windows XP with 256 mb of RAM.
But the Core Dual and Mac OS X are pretty impressive. I was running the DVD rip program at 100% on both CPUs and I decided to watch the DVD I was ripping! It actually worked!
The important thing being not the CPU utilisation but the amount of free memory. The dvd ripping program dropped to 150% cpu, ( one and a half of the dual cores)
Unfortunately for me I just saw the specs for the New Mac Powerbooks, or Macbooks as they call them now.
Basically it is a Mac Mini with a screen + an isight camera.
Perhaps I should have been more patient and waited for the macbooks to come out as I knew they were coming. But I don’t think so. It will probably take months for them to arrive in Korea. When they do arrive there will be no options to upgrade the harddrive or RAM which is extremely frustrating.
My little Mac Mini has arrived and I have to work ….. 🙁
I have two lessons with an hour break in between, so I know what I shall be doing on my break.
Update: It works and I am pretty happy with it.
As to OS,X I am not that excited because I have seen it before on my G3 ibook. But a glacier is faster then the G3 so it will be nice to have a machine which can run OS X properly.
It will be even better when I upgrade the RAM
So the order of events for tonight is
1. Order pizza
2. Get Coke, and not that girly diet crap, the real man’s coke with sugar
3. Transfer my photos over to iphoto
4. Transfer my music over to the Mac
5. Stay up to the sun rises and think “Why did I do that?”
Repeat the above, sans coke and pizza
Yesterday I rang Apple in Seoul and ordered a New Mac Mini Duo for 845,000 won.
I then started downloading shareware and freeware apps for the Mac. So far I have 9 gb worth!
In Australia, Japan and the US (and probably the rest of the world), but not Korea there is a thing called Build to Order.
What this means is when you order a computer you can upgrade the RAM, put in a bigger harddrive, etc
So In Australia you can upgrade the hardrive from 80gb to 100 or 120gb!
More importantly you can upgrade the memory to 2gb so when it arrives it has everything you want in it. In Korea if I want to upgrade the RAM on the Mini I have to go the the Busan Apple store and pay them to install the RAM. This sucks!
This is why I will never buy a laptop from Apple Korea, because I always want the biggest harddrive on the cheapest laptop Apple offers. This is not possible in Korea.
I would have to go to Japan to get what I want!
The Mac Mine should arrive tomorrow and then I can begin playing with it. I will probably blow the entire weekend on it.
I want to use iDVD and iMovie to make a DVD about my life in Korea so I can send it home to my mum and dad.
In the next month I will probably upgrade the memory to 2gb and start running Windows XP on the Mac Mini as well.
On Tuesday I have a grading or test for Haidong Gumdo.
I have to perform
Gyukgum 1 through 8
and
Ssangsoo GumBup 1 through 11
In Taekwondo terms, Gyukgums are basically two step sparring, but with an imaginery partner.
Ssangsoo Gumpups are poomse or Kata.
I think I should do all right except:
1. I have trouble remembering which Ssangsoo Gumbup is which. I can perform them, but sometimes I might do no 10 when the instructor says no 9, oops. Worse yet, when I am stressed I might mix up two gumbups.
More practise will solve the first problem.
2. I am too heavy
This makes it very hard to perform techniques properly because it puts so much stress on your body. Which in turn makes you tired quicker leading to more mistakes and possibly injury.
This is a much more serious problem. I think with another year of practise I could get my weight down and improve my technique dramatically, but unfortunally I am only in Korea until September 1st, a mere four months.
If I pass this test I have only one more test and I will be a black belt!
This test would consist of
Shimsang Gumbup and Ssangsoo GumBup 12.
The later is relatively easy because I learnt it last year and it is not too stressful on the body. Shimsang Gumbup on the other hand is very involved.
If I manage to pass both tests and become a black belt I don’t think I would be comfortable calling myself a black belt. Back home in Australia at my Hapkido dojang it can take up to four years to get your black belt. The standard of 1st dan black belt is much higher than in Korea.
I would only feel comfortable saying I am a black belt when I pass and have another six months or so of study “under my belt”.
I am currently working on an essay about martial arts in Australia and Korea. It is taking a bit of time because I want the grammar and prose to be of a much higher standard then what you are reading now.
The one thing I have settled on is the title “MacDojangs” which is a reference to McDonalds and Dojangs (Training Hall)
Like McDonalds, Korean Dojangs have very quick service, i.e a black belt in 12 – 18 months
and a lot of them are franchises like McDonalds.
The situation in Australia is very different.
This article is an update of
https://www.stephenhucker.com/blog/2006/04/09/sword-ownership-in-australia/
Summary
To import and legally own a sword in Victoria Australia the cheapest and easiest way is:
1. Join the AUSTRALASIAN KNIFE COLLECTORS (AKC)
2. When importing the sword into Australia tell Customs you are a member of the Australasian Knife Collectors club. Customs will let the sword through as long as you have an exemption with the Victorian Police. Being a member of the club is a valid exemption.
3. Check out the storage requirements for swords. Make sure you comply with them.
4. Thank the Victorian government for protecting the public from the likes of you
Today we had our science day at school.
The students made gliders and plastic water bottle rockets. All in all, it was quite fun.
See all the pictures on flickr at:
