Well, the visit to the Soonchunhwang medical center today was a bit of a bust.  I did get reacquainted with my old pal Dr. Yu who said I looked much better than the last time we met.  Anyway, the whole medical well-being checkup was to be scheduled after my consultation with the good Dr. Yu.  And that will occur next Friday.  Endoscopy and everything.  HooRay!  Oh, I am wearing the blood pressure monitor which is recording my blood pressure every 30 minutes or so.  I was 140/90 this morning, but I always run a little borderline high.  So, we’ll see.

Anyway, since I had taken the whole day off work I decided to take a break from the treadmill and hike up Namsan (South Mountain) instead.  Let’s check the pictures…

Yobo Jee Yuen came along for the sunshine and fresh air…

And how could she resist an offer from a handsome guy like this?  Although she did laugh a little too long and a little too loud when she got a look at my hat and walking stick….what’s up with that?

Stuff like this in Korea never ceases to amaze me.  Not so much that it is assumed passerby’s will put out any brush fires they may encounter, but that no one would consider stealing the shovels and rakes.  Man, they wouldn’t last 24 hours left out like that in the USA.

This was either fresh spring water or the drain from the toilets…

Ah, the pause that refreshes…and yeah, it was clean water…

Ok, I’m not going to pretend that it is a difficult hike.  It’s not at all.  It’s like a stairway to heaven in fact…

Just call me the old stairmaster.  163 steps on this incline…

And at the top is this nice scenic overlook…

With views like this one…

So, our destination is Seoul Tower.  We’re about half way there at this point…

The wimp’s way to the top. (which is my normal method, well that was the old me).

Old fortifications…

And chimneys for the smoke signals to warn of invaders.  Which happened quite often in Korean history…

Objective achieved.  Now we’re hungry…

Hmm, last time I was up here this was a family style Korean restaurant.  Now it’s a hoity-toity Italian place.

But the view of Myeongdong is the same…

Quite a bit fancier on the inside than it used to be…

Jee Yuen’s hungry face…

We watched the cable cars while we waited (the restaurant is directly above the station).

Alas, this delicious seafood soup was just about gone before I remembered to use the camera (I told you Jee Yuen was hungry!)  But you can see the shells and stuff off to the side.  Mussels and prawns and other goodies.

This fried seafood dish was also quite tasty…

And the pizza was to die for…crust about as thick as a cracker…the way it should be!

So after gorging ourselves on that great food, we decided to ride the tram back down the mountain.  Jee Yuen has tickets in hand, but the tram that was supposed to depart at 10 minute intervals was somewhat delayed.  Suspiciously it seemed that the delay coincided with enough passengers showing up to fill the car….oh well, it was less than 30 minutes wait and that puts it within the range of “Korea time”.

Nice views on the ride down too…

And so ended my Namsan afternoon…

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Seriously, I am having a hard time keeping up with the falling dominoes.  Now it turns out the data from China was faked.

And where in the hell has Al Gore been?

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Bush was not the problem.  Obama is not the solution.  So says French news organ Le Monde.

This is of course shocking news for folks with BDS (Bush derangement syndrome), not so much for the rest of us.

Bush was not the problem. Obama is not the solution: one year after the arrival at the White House of a Democratic president, disenchantment is mutual on either side of the Atlantic. The Allies are discovering — if indeed they were unaware of it before — that misunderstandings go beyond individuals.

Having denounced Mr. Bush’s imperialism, Europeans are criticizing Mr. Obama for his impotence. They are complaining of his not being able to bend China at the Copenhagen summit on the fight against global warming. “We overestimated his room for maneuver,” said adviser to the French executive; “The Chinese were facing a weakling”, said a person close to Mr. Sarkozy.

Sad and scary.  And oddly hilarious.

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So, the LA Times takes some unfair shots at MSNBC icon Keith Olbermann.  And yeah, his ratings have been in a bit of a slump maybe, but why kick a guy when he is down?  I am not going to stand by and let this unwarranted attack go unanswered.  Don’t worry Keith, I’ve got your back!  To the article then:

Remember Keith Olbermann?

He was the one-time must-see anti-Bush ranter who helped rescue MSNBC (yes, it’s still on at night) from even worse oblivion years ago.

Yeah, we remember him Mr. Smarty Pants Times reporter.  And if you had even half a clue you’d know that he is in fact still ranting against Bush, notwithstanding the fact that Bush is long gone.  You’ve got to marvel at (and admire) that kind of consistency!

Well, quietly last month while no one was looking, hardly anyone was watching Keith Olbermann anymore.

The guy, who’s even apparently tried to get some Sarah Palin-like eyeglasses, is now forced to leap over-the-top on ex-state senators like Scott Brown and Tuesday’s worst person, Fox News’ Glenn Beck. Beck is the successful talker with the perfect haircut for radio. Like most Americans, he wasn’t watching Keith.

Well, I’m not watching Olbermann either and neither is anyone I know.  But you just don’t get it.  Olbermann is a presence for crissakes, you don’t have to actually watch his show to get his vibe.  Besides, if you have seen one show you have seen them all.  And when did actually watching someone become the end-all be-all anyway?  Of course, Palin does look hot in those glasses, but she copied KO’s style, not the other way around.  Keith sets the trend, us lesser beings follow.  Gladly.

There are a couple of reasons for KO’s frustration and anger and volume and core meltdown over the Massachusetts election outcome, among other issues of galactic import. For one, lots more ranters around nowadays on all sides, including that colleague of Keith’s with the hugest head in TV. Please, no 3-D for him!

Also, Olbermann’s showboat is sinking. Listing in you-know-which direction.

It’s as if he thinks talking LOUDER will keep his low cell battery from dying.

Now that is a low blow.  Get your facts straight at least.  NO ONE on television has a head bigger than Keith Olbermann.  No one!  And you can use that cutesy “showboat sinking” metaphor to insinuate that KO lists to the left.  Ha! Ha!  As I am sure Keith would be the first to say, he does not list, lean, or otherwise slant to the left.  He is f’n off the charts.  As many have said countless times, Keith Olbermann may be many things, but he is never right.  And talking louder is a proven method of making your point when the facts are stacked against you.  Don’t compare his show to a cell phone with a dead battery just because he tends to rant angrily.  As the poet Dylan Thomas said “rage, rage against the dying of the light!”  You go Keith!

Worst, Olbermann’s network president, Phil Griffin, is publicly praising him, always an ominous sign in television. While referring to his host almost in the past tense. “Keith has been our tentpole,” Griffin says, adding later, “I’m pleased with where we are.”

See, now this Times guy is just playing with words to make things sound worse than they are.  Phil Griffin never said anything about past tense, he clearly referred to KO as a “has been”.  And that “tentpole” thing–so what?  Chris Matthews has had a tentpole in his pants for Obama since before the election (or was that a thrill running down his leg?  ah well, same same).  And anyway, Griffin gave much more than a mere vote of confidence when he said “I’m pleased with where we are”.  Where they are is last place.  And every baseball fan (including KO) knows the Leo Durocher maxim that “nice guys finish last”.  So, what we have is KO’s boss saying he is a nice guy.  You can take that and three bucks down to your local Starbucks and get a hot java.  Trust me on that.

In the most desirable TV demographic of 25-54, which Keith will soon outgrow himself, “Countdown” lost 44% of its audience from the beginning of President Obama’s term until this year. It could have been worse — say, 45%.

Oh ok, here we go.  You know the gloves are comin’ off when the critic starts throwin’ around numbers.  Let’s see, you got your lies, your damn lies, and your statistics.  So yeah, Keith is getting long in the tooth (aren’t we all?), but what are you gonna do lock him up with those “retards” Rahm was complaining about?  Wake up and smell the roses pal, this is America and that ain’t on the agenda.  So, yeah he lost 44% of his audience.  And yeah, it could have been worse.  But think about this–if it does get worse, that 44% ain’t gonna seem so bad after all, will it?  You want to play the numbers game with me?  Bring it on!

Olbermann averaged 268,000 viewers last month in that sector. That’s just several thousand sets of those eyes more than Campbell Brown over on CNN. According to one count, Keith even finished in that time slot behind Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace!

Hey, there is absolutely nothing wrong with finishing behind Nancy Grace.  That would be my preference.  Have you seen her face?  Oh. We’re talking about ratings?  Er, well. Never mind then.

On the bright side, which everyone knows KO is fond of spotting, his MSNBC audience was only 696,000 viewers 24-54 behind O’Reilly, whose audience has grown 55%, according to Bercovici. Of course, it might be worse this month.

Oh so it is back to the numbers again huh?  Can’t even come up with something new and original?  Well Mr. Know-it-all critic let me ask you this: what precisely is the significance of O’Reilly’s audience growing by 55% and KO’s shrinking by 44%?  I mean seriously dude, what is your point?  And then you smugly say “it could be worse this month”.  Well guess what genius, it could also be a helluva lot worse this month.  I guess we will just have to wait and see, won’t we?

In the immortal words of Edward J. Smith, captain of the Titanic, “What iceberg?”

You just couldn’t resist getting one final cheap shot in before concluding your worthless article, could you?.  Well my friend, the joke is on you because if you had even half a brain you would know two things–one it was the CIA who sank the Titanic not an iceberg (I’m pretty sure EuroYank has a post on this somewhere) and two, if it was an iceberg, the famous words of Captain Smith were “damn the icebergs, full speed ahead”.  You can look it up in any history book dimwit.

Keith Olbermann, don’t let the haters get you down.  You just keep on doing what you’re doing.  The results speak for themselves.

UPDATE:  Wow, an Instalanche to my humble little blog.  Thanks, Glenn.  And welcome y’all.  Come on in, take your shoes off (this is Korea after all), sit a spell and have a look around (it’s the internet!). Glad you are here!

UPDATE 2:  Damn, I just realized that in the email I sent the Instapundit kinda sorta whoring for a link, I spelled Glenn’s name wrong.  And he still linked me.  What a guy!
Hat Tip: Instapundit

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But, I’ll give this guy props for not just complaining about illegal immigration, by god he’s doing something about it!

A Hemet man who passed himself off as a U.S. Marshal was able to enter the international airport in San Diego with a “prisoner” after convincing airport security officers he was a federal agent, a TSA spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.

Gregory R. Denny, 37, was booked last month and booked on suspicion of kidnapping, false imprisonment and impersonating a peace officer…Denny was wearing clothing with “Federal Agent” printed on it, had a badge around his neck, a gun belt, and displayed an apparent handgun. The witnesses at the home told investigators the suspect then handcuffed a female resident of the home and said he was detaining her and deporting the woman…

The victim was then taken to the suspect’s vehicle and then allegedly driven to the U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Wisehart said. Officials at the Border Patrol office told Denny he would not take Denny’s “prisoner” because there was no warrant in the computer system. Denny told Hemet investigators that officers at the Border Patrol office confirmed the woman was in the country illegally, Wisehart said, but they would not take her into custody.
Hemet investigators were then told that the suspect ultimately drove the female victim to the International Airport, where he escorted the handcuffed victim through the airport and to the gate of a departing flight, Wisehart said. At this point he un-handcuffed the victim and she boarded the plane that was headed to the Philippines.

You know, as funny as this guy’’s antics may sound, the real joke is our airport security.  What a bunch of clowns…

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But according to this I should be maintaining my sanity just fine thank you very much.  (And no, being a neo-con is not a mental illness!)

Individuals at extremely high risk of developing psychosis appear less likely to develop psychotic disorders following a 12-week course of fish oil capsules containing long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

“Early treatment in schizophrenia and other psychoses has been linked to better outcomes,” the authors write as background information in the article. “Given that subclinical psychotic symptoms may predict psychotic disorder and psychosis proneness in a population may be related to the rate of psychotic disorder, intervention in at-risk individuals holds the promise of even better outcomes, with the potential to prevent full-blown psychotic disorders.”

I am pleased to report that fish oil is part of my daily regimen.

My Grandma Pernie would be so proud…

And I’m doing this 5 days a week…

Don’t mock my black socks, I do this after work and don’t change into white ones.  It wouldn’t be energy-efficient to dirty two pair.  I mean, we all have to worship at the alter of do our part for Global Warming (praise be to thy name).

And this morning I’m going to the doctor for a physical examination.  Want to make sure it’s not too late.  I mean, if I already got the cancer or some other fatal illness (well, other than aging) I sure as hell don’t want to spend any of my remaining time on an f’n treadmill!

But I am feeling pretty good physically these days.  If I am able to cut the belly down to size, I should be looking mighty fine as well.

(oh, here’s a useful clue for you: if the post is tagged “me, me, me” you can expect this kind of self-absorbed crap.  Sorry, I should have warned you up top).

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