My schedule involves me getting about 3 to 4 hours of sleep every Thursday night and I end up putting in a 12 hour day on Fridays due to other obligations, so when I decide to get up early on Saturdays, it is usually a struggle. I did end up getting up about 9:30 yesterday. JJ was a little curious as to why I would leave so early, but I just replied that I really wanted to spend all day taking photos. Having lied successfully, I made my way to Gangnam via 1550-2. I transferred buses and took another one to get me to Seoul Station. The female bus driver on my second bus was unbelievably kind. Not only did she help me with directions, but also woke me up when my stop came up. I was exhausted and had grabbed a quick power nap that could have turned into a round trip back to Gangnam. I got to Youngsan and headed straight into the electronics market to find the an Iriver P35.

I had spent all week trying to decide on which PMP to buy her. I knew that I wanted one that had a DMB player and WIFI. Well, there are not that many that have both and I found that the only one that matched what I wanted was the Iriver. Since we are only going to be in Korea for another 5 months, it would be pretty useless to shell out a lot of money for a DMB player that will not work in the States. I had no idea that DMB was really only used in Korea, until I read about it here.

I acutally had a couple of older students who spent their break time looking at all of the Korean specifications and breaking them down for me. They all said that it looked pretty cool and that JJ would love it.

It took me awhile to fine the exact model that I wanted. There are three different models. Basic/DMB/Wi-Fi with DMB. I was looking for the Wi-Fi with DMB. I got shuffled around by a few vendors.(Not that uncommon at Youngsan) I had already printed off a couple pages from Gmarket and Danawa, so I knew the price range and had some evidence to barter with. The few vendors that I wasted time with told me that they had every PMP made, but as usual the one that I wanted was out or they only had the 36GB model. I really would have preferred to buy it over the Internet, but really didn’t have the time to wait on delivery, but I did eventually find a guy whose English was great and was willing to negotiate on the price.

I made the purchase and then was getting ready to leave when I saw a promotion for a new media player that was happening outside. They were also using racing/promotion girls. I ended up taking a bunch of photos that I can’t post right now. My CF card has some kind of format error and it is not being read by my camera. My card reader is also broken, so I have been using my camera to directly upload my photos to my computer. I think that I can recover the photos if I go buy another multi reader.

I met up with my friends Troy and Joanne in Namdaemun where we went shopping for some gifts for their trip back to America. We had lunch at a great Sal-Gook-Su restaruant that was basically a two for one deal and we ended up ordering way too much food. The restaurant was a hole in the wall and I was actually nervous to drink the water. Apparently, it was a pretty famous place and had been featured on a bunch of different TV shows. We ended up heading back to the peace and quiet of Dongtan not long after having a late lunch. They had driven into Seoul for a wedding, so I was able to ride back with them. Public transportation is convenient in Korea, but riding back in the comfort of their car was nice.

I have a ton of things to do today:
1. Buy a card reader
2. US taxes
3. JJ visa work
4. New teacher interviews
5. Process some phtos

I would much rather do number 5 than 2,3, or 4…

Almost 4am. I am dead tired, but wanted to post a couple of photos of JJ’s gift. She mentioned a few weeks ago that she wanted a DMB/PMP player. Needless to say she was surprised. More Photos from my day out and the full story later.

Night Flower, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

I bought a SB26 and a cheapo flash trigger about a month ago. I have been experimenting and trying to read up on Strobist as much as I can. I keep waiting to buy umbrellas until I get back stateside. I took a bunch of photos tonight of my wife’s birthday flowers. I got a couple of keepers but I thought that this one came out nice.

JJ, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

Lazy day today…This was taken last week!

I follow about 20-30 photography sites through Google Reader. I don’t know which site I saw this on, but you should really check out The New York Times new feature “Lens” Photography, Video and Visual Journalism. From the New York Times:

I am a news junkie and love the set-up of this page. It reminds me of The Boston Globe’s Big Picture series, but with more content. I hope that they update more frequently than the Big Picture. I have already added it to my Reader and can’t wait to see what they post.

Sky Phone, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

Just one more shot that I took today. I took a couple more that I am going to process, but this is one of the better ones. I still wish I would have fixed the light on the right to get rid of the shadow. I am still trying to figure out how to use a two light system or rather any kind of light system.

JJ bought me this phone when my Shine phone crapped out on me.

Kimchi, originally uploaded by JR-Mississippi.

I woke up late today and decided that I wasn’t going to fight the rain or crowds in Seoul. I spent some time searching around Flickr looking at some awesome work.

I spent most of the afternoon making a little lightbox. I still can’t get the background the color that I would like, but am getting better. The Kimchi is from JJ’s mom. We have almost worked our way to the bottom of our supply, so we should be expecting a shipment from Jeju soon.

It seems like my mother has been reading my photography books!! She promised that she was going to get them in the mail this week. Maybe she will buy a camera and some good lenses. I need someone that I can borrow from!

I had a great interview tonight with a potential teacher. It is always funny when I find out that a potential employee has read my blog. It seems that I am one of the first blogs that pops up when you search for Dongtan, Korea or my school’s name

Tomorrow looks like it will be raining, so JJ and I will probably work on some visa/wedding stuff.

A, originally uploaded by nosaj100.

I am a couple of hours away from being up for 24 straight. I wonder how long it will take me to get back to a normal sleeping schedule when we move back home.

Today was Teacher’s Day. I didn’t get any apples, but I did get a few roses and a few bouquets of flowers. I also got some hand cream and was given a gift for JJ as well.

I spent most of the night going through Flickr looking at some great photos, trying to learn anything and everything I can.

It looks like I will probably take the bus into Gangnam tomorrow. I hope that the weather cooperates at least for a little while. I think I am just going to take my camera and a 50mm and see what I can stumble across.

I am trying to work on my CS 4 processing. I took this photo a few months ago.