The Beard (sneak preview)

Many people have been asking me why I haven't shaved this week. Here's the answer, a day early for all you blog watchers.

I grow a beard every December. There are two reasons for this: 1) my birthday is in December (16th to be exact) and 2) December marks the end of one year and beginning of the next. So, as I get older every December, I grow a beard to look even older.

Then, after wearing the beard for a month I become accustomed to seeing my reflection in the mirror with a beard. So when I shave it off at the end of December (just before the new year), I look younger when I look in the mirror. A kind of new and fresh start for the new year.

The picture with this post was taken in December 2003 at Suseong mot (수성못) in Daegu. 2003 was actually the last time that I grew the December beard b/c in 2004 I was living in Australia and decided to grow long hair instead of a beard.

Why Walter Likes Rhetoric

With the speech evaluations coming up and our recent discussions about rhetoric I thought I'd tell you about my experience running for Mayor of Saskatoon.

It was in 1994 when a combination of my cynicism and big mouth propelled me into Saskatoon's mayoralty race.

Saskatoon was in the midst of a labour dispute. With the exception of essential services like law enforcement and fire suppression, Saskatoon was at a standstill.

One night -- after more than that number of beers -- I was voicing my opinion of how Saskatoon city council, especially the Mayor, had been handling the situation.

The crux of my argument involved the office of Mayor and how any two-bit shoe salesman could do a better job of it. (I bet you didn't know that I used to sell shoes?)

A week or so later, when it was announced that an election had been called to elect a new Mayor, a friend of mine casually asked if, based on my earlier comments, I intended to run. To both our surprise, I said, "Yes".

And so there you have it; the story of how my cynicism and big mouth propelled me into Saskatoon's mayoralty race.

How did I fare in the competition? Well suffice it to say, I did not win. I did, however, meet my objective; I did not finish last. Out of eight candidates I came in sixth, not too far behind the fifth place finisher who had been a councilman for nine years!

I had more votes than I had family and friends. Complete strangers were voting for me, a twenty-three-year-old full-time university student, to run their city.

During the process I received a lot of support from local media. I learned a great deal about democracy, politics, and the democratic process. Most importantly, I raised awareness of issues that were close to my heart. It was the best $100.00 I've ever spent.

The picture attached to this post is the cover of my 'official' election brochure. To see more from this brochure, CLICK HERE, or on the picture above.

Spin Doctoring...Wag the Dog

The other day in reading class we looked at ways to change the tone of something from negative to positive. For an EXCELLENT (I mean REALLY excellent) example of this, visit the site www.AmericanRhetoric.com (CLICK HERE for direct LINK). The site has two examples of a particular event; one written in a negative tone, the other in a positive tone. Amazing!

A few years ago there was an excellent movie about this (spin doctoring) called "Wag the Dog". The movie starred a couple of well-known American actors, Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. It's an entertaining movie that will give you great insight into the art of spin doctoring and the power of the media. Check it out some time, if you like language (and media) you'll like the movie

You can get more information (in English) about the movie by visiting the Internet Movie Database (link)

Information in Korean can be found HERE

The Man in Black (Updated Nov 17, 2005)

I hope that you enjoyed listening to and learning about Johnny Cash in listening class today .

I had wanted to play the video in class too, however, the computer in my classroom was not being cooperative.

If you would like to watch the video for Johnny Cash's rendition of "Hurt", please CLICK HERE. ** UPDATE (If that direct link does not work, CLICK HERE instead) UPDATE **

The video is especially poignant and hauting. Especially the scenes showing his wife.

Check it out and let me know what you think...

Talent in the Global Market (updated)

Today in Group Discussion, we talked what skills are required to be successful in the global market. I brought in a story from the Korea Herald entitled, "English Fluency not Enough to be Successful at Global Firms". The story featured an interview with Cho Se-mi, author of 세계는 지금 이런 인재를 원한다

If you would like to watch a televised interview (in English) with Cho Se-mi, visit www.Arirang.co.kr (CLICK HERE for direct access. Look for the Nov. 10 episode). You'll need to register with Arirang before you'll be able to use their VOD service. I've made an account that you can use if you don't want to sign up for your own accout.

ID: knuetrainee
PW: walter

If you'd like to read the Herald article, CLICK HERE

Enjoy!

wf

Authentic MS Word listening material

If anyone is interested, here is the full text from Part 4 of yesterday's activity. If you would like to hear the piece again, CLICK HERE.

If you would like to visit the original source of the material, it's from Microsoft Office Training (http://office.microsoft.com); click on "training".

Microsoft offers free online for most of their office products, not just Word. In addition, the training is offered in several different language; click on "Office Worldwide" to move to a different language.

You can add two types of watermarks to a document: a picture or text. You insert both from the Printed Watermark dialog box (on the Format menu, Background submenu).

For pictures, you can choose from any image on your hard disk or from clip art in the Microsoft Clip Organizer. Once you've selected the image, you can optionally scale it and wash it out so that it's not as visible behind text.

For text, you can select the text you want from the drop-down list or type your own text, and select font, size, and color the same way you do with regular document text. You can also set transparency and diagonal or horizontal layout.

Once it's inserted, you can see your watermark in print layout view (click Print Layout on the View menu), or in the printed document.

My brush with fame

Here's a shot of me with Korean model, and television and movie star, Lee Sun-jin (이선진).

She's much taller than I, but was nice enough to crouch down while we had our picture taken. I'm also standing a foot or two closer to the camera which helps me look taller.

Sun-jin's film credits include, "Invisible Light" (그집앞), "A Moment to Remember" (내 머리 속의 지우개), and "Love House" (러브하우스).

Currently, she can be seen on SBS's Friday night drama, "Diamonds' Tears" (다이아몬드의 눈물)

My obtainable dreamcar...

The image on the monitor today was an Acura (Honda) NSX.

It is a hand-made, all aluminum supercar with a top speed of about 280 km/h. The car costs about $100,000 USD.

Compared to the McLaren F1 (read more here) shown in class the other day which costs over $1,000,000 the NSX is a bargin.

Although I am certain that I'll never be able to afford a McLaren F1 in my lifetime, I am certain that someday I'll have an NSX.