According to early technical manuals,

R1-D8 was the humble predecessor to the R2, R4, and R5-series astromech droids. Lacking mobility of any kind, and consistently unable to compute the simplest mathematical problems, the R1 series was generally regarded as a low-point in astromechanical research and development and a stain on the record of all involved in the affair.

After the R1 project was scrapped (and all project managers subsequently fired), the few remaining relics were shipped to South Korea and employed as recepticles for common refuse.

Eeep! I’d better install Asian Languages so I can understand Vanessa’s posts!

Of course, the great news is that I managed to convince Vanessa to post some of her photos on the site, both while I’m away and while she gets her site up and running. I am unabashedly Van’s biggest fan. Her photos make me want to pack all my things and start a new life in Gun-ma prefecture.

While packing boxes around my room, I found this sketch in one of my notebooks. I love the way water dries.

This week marks the centennial of author, Graham Greene. That’s also worth mentioning.

This post was named after my great new pair of running shoes. I’ve already logged 17km in them in three days.

Chuseok is the Korean harvest moon festival. We celebrated with a hike up Bukhan Mountain, which is not far from where I live.

I’ve also updated the photos at my flickr.com account with shots from the hike and several Seoul excursions.

I note with great ambivalence that I have exactly one month left in Korea. This site is almost a year old!

After Korea, I’ll be embarking on what will probably be the longest over-land journey of my life: beginning with a 25 hour ferry from Incheon, Korea, to Tianjin, China followed by intended stays in Beijing; Ulaan Bataar (Mongolia); Ulaan Ulde (Russia); Irkutsk; Ekaterinaberg; Moscow; Minsk; Warsaw; Berlin; Frankfurt; Paris; Dublin; Shannon; a flight to New York City (I scored a Shannon – NYC flight for EU115 – Aer Lingus has finally got their act together!); and, finally, Toronto (somehow. Greyhound? Hitch-hike?).

I hope to use this site as a depot for photos and sketches (or scanners lacking – photos of sketches) I collect along the way. I’ve been warned that October/November is the worst time of year to travel the Trans-Siberian, but nothing can shake me now. I’ve been brooding over this trip for a year. I’ve even learned to read Cyrillic so I can purchase my own train tickets. (It’s very easy actually. Can be done in an hour. I recommend everyone learn it – if only to understand all that Russian spam).

Just got a new Wacom tablet. Bottom of the line Graphire job, but it’s gift for doing stuff like this. I’ve seen a few of these workspace photos around on blogs before and I’m completely fascinated by them. I catch myself looking at pictures of peoples’ desks for like 10 minutes; maybe it’s voyeurism, maybe I’m just bored; regardless, I was spurred on to do my own.

By contrast, my area is decidedly more spartan than most I’ve seen. No rare toys, no powerbooks, no extra keyboards or monitors, not even any really nice pens. Just a few Q-tips (keeping it real), a little wooden tuk-tuk I picked up in Thailand and some god-awful wallpaper. More about the wallpaper later, by the way.

Track of the Day: Wilco, The Late Greats