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Loyal Reader OGM left a comment a few posts ago asking what my forecast might be for the rest of the baseball season in the American League East. Well, as I see it, it’s going to be a 3-way dogfight (minus Michael Vick) between New York, Boston and Tampa. The AL Wild Card spot will definitely go to the team finishing 2nd behind the Yanks. :laugh:
Actually, I have some big worries about the New York Nine. They’ve been playing exceptional ball since A-Rod returned from hip surgery, going something like 44 or 45 wins against only 22 losses, the best record in baseball, by far, in that time span. However, down the line, like in September, during the heat of the pennant chase, problems loom with the starting pitching.
For one, it looks like Chien-ming Wang’s season might be over. Second, despite his stellar pitching of late, Joba Chamberlain’s starts might be curtailed because of a possible leash put on the amount of innings the team wants him to pitch, thus limiting his playing time. Next, Andy Pettitte’s durability, at age 37, is questionable. Finally, A.J. Burnett has a history of injury problems. Overall, the starting pitching seems to be in doubt. That really worries me as the season winds its way thru the dog days of summer. (The glass is half empty.)
On a brighter note, the bullpen has been spectacular, led by the super-human presence of Mariano Rivera and augmented by great performances by the likes of Phil Hughes, Phil Coke, Alfredo Aceves, et. al. (The glass is half full.)
Hopefully, all will be ok. I think in the long run, if the pitching holds up, this very well could be one of the great Yankee teams, harking back to the glorious champions of the late 90s and satisfying all of their fans worldwide by returning to and winning the ’09 World Series. The chemistry is there and the late inning heroics are a thing of joy. The one dark cloud is the starting pitching . . . and, oh yeah, one other thing . . . they’re only 0-8 against the Red Sox this season. That either means they’re due or the Sox have their number. (Half full or half empty?) Whaddya think, OGM? More later.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, there’s a solar eclipse that will be seen in most parts of Asia, including South Korea. Here in Yeosu, we’ll experience about 90% totality, definitely not enough to look at the Sun with the naked eye. Here’s where the eclipse will be seen, courtesy of the Sky and Telescope website.
But, that could be a moot point. So far overnight we’ve gotten about an inch and a half of rain, according to the KMA website, with more falling right now. It’s supposed to last through noon, but the forecast for tomorrow is for partly cloudy skies. We’ll see (hopefully).
Yesterday, about 11:30 a.m., I went jogging for the first time in 5 weeks and did I ever feel it! Besides being a bit out of shape, I was also drenched in sweat after 30 minutes–the humidity and heat were almost too much. I don’t remember ever feeling the humidity in the Dominican Republic like I do here. I think one reason is that in the DR there was an almost constant ocean breeze. Here, despite being close to the sea, there are many mountains that serve to block the wind at times. Yesterday, there was no cooling breeze. Sure made it seem hotter than it was. More later.
The rain has let up in Yeosu and the southern part of the Korean peninsula. While we got somewhere between 4 and 5 inches the past few days, areas east of us, near Busan, were inundated with 26 centimeters, more than 10 inches. Around Korea, 5 people died in rain-related fatalities. Sure, it’s the rainy season, but that’s a lot of rain. We have more coming after midnight tonight and through noon tomorrow and again on Monday, hopefully not too much.
Here’s an interesting article on the use of barn owls in Laos to squelch the rat population that is destroying harvests in the rural areas in the northern provinces of the country. It seems that hungry villagers have been eating the rodents’ natural predators, owls, snakes and other wild animals. The U.N. is breeding the owls and educating the populace about their importance in keeping the rat numbers down. Let’s hope the program succeeds.
It was 3:13 a.m. on my clock when I was awakened this morning by a loud crack of thunder and then another and another. The rain began to fall and as I looked out my window, it was really cascading down, the drops backlit by a streetlight. It was one of those lightning storms wherein you can almost read a book in the dark by the light of the all the continuing flashes.
I knew that the forecast had called for lightning, so I unplugged my computer before going to bed. The KMA (see previous post) has a good radar map that shows how heavily the current rainfall is per hour. I got up and plugged the computer in and navigated to the website. The radar showed that it was raining about 50 millimeters per hour, which is 5 centimeters, which is about 2 inches (2.5 cm = 1 inch). That’s a pretty good rate. The storm lasted about half an hour or so, and when I got up a few hours later, I went to the website again and found that Yeosu had received 32 mm since midnight, with most of that coming down during the storm, I assume. Quite a downpour in such a short time.
We had 70 mm yesterday and rain is in the forecast through tomorrow morning. It’s feeling quite wet here.
I watched the All-Star game and was happy to see that the AL beat the NL team, again. It’s great that the Yanks will have home-field advantage in the World Series. (I suppose I just jinxed them, again.)
I just saw on CNN that the northern part of the peninsula is getting hit hard by heavy rains, with more expected today and tomorrow, fueling some flooding that is taking place. Here’s a link describing the forecast. We’ve had quite a bit of rain here the last few days, and the Korean Meteorological Administration’s website is calling for us getting a lot more rain tomorrow night through Wednesday morning. While the high temperatures have only reached the mid- to high-70s, the humidity has been in the 90% range, so walking around the hilly terrain leaves me quite soaked, at times.
In a recent survey, the Mercer Company unveiled their list of the world’s most expensive cities. Surprisingly, Seoul wasn’t in the top 50. I’ve always thought that Seoul and, indeed, Yeosu, were very expensive, and I still think so. Some things here are cheap, but it seems like many, many items are way overpriced. Take red beans, one of my favorites, for example. I noticed in Thailand when I was there recently, that a 500 gram bag ( a little over a pound) of kidney beans costs around 80 cents. A similar bag in Yeosu goes for anywhere between $4-5, depending on the exchange rates. Ridiculous! I was going to go to the open air market this last weekend and check the price on loose red beans, but I stayed home because of the rain. I’ll probably plan on going next weekend. A few things are fairly cheap, though. Potatoes are currently going for around 60 cents a pound and tomatoes about 90 cents. After finishing off the Thai Chicken Curry, I was still hungry for something spicy, so I made good use of the beans by cooking up a big pot of chili yesterday. I should have leftovers for a few days.
Talking about prices, Loyal Reader OGM from the Boston area commented that she would be going to a game at Fenway Park later this summer. Question for OGM: about how much do you expect to spend for a day at the ballpark? Let’s say the price of the ticket, any beverages and food you buy, programs, etc. You can give me a ballpark figure! 
Speaking of baseball, I bragged up the Yankees in my last post. That’s the last time I do that. They were just swept in a 3-game series by the Angels and the only thing I can figure is that I jinxed ‘em. So, no more bragging. More later (not bragging).
After the round of attacks on websites around the ‘Net, including the White House, the Pentagon, and various other sites, the latest report is that personal computers will get hit next. So far, I’m up and running, and haven’t experienced any problems anywhere on the Internet at all. Moral: keep your computers up to date with the latest OS patches, run a good anti-virus and anti-spyware program and use a good firewall. At least, that works for me.
Speaking of viruses, the Red Sox strain has fallen to the latest Yankee immunization, to use a pretty bad metaphor. The Yanks have been relentless, going 33-17 over their last 50 games and have caught the Sox for first place in the AL East. Like I said in an earlier post, I’ve got a good feeling about this team–they’re loose, good in the clutch, have a decent rotation and are showing sparks of greatness in the bullpen. In addition, they seem to have an undefinable “togetherness,” a la the great team of ’98. There’s still half the season to go and anything can happen, but, right now, everything looks very positive.
I bought some great Thai curry paste while I was in Nong Khai, and I made a big batch of Chicken Curry With Rice today. Yummmmm, tastes great. Wish you were here to enjoy a bowl with me. Wanna join me for some? I’ve made enough to have even more later.
I made it back to Yeosu in good shape, not too much the worse for wear, though it took me a few days to recuperate. My best intention of keeping up a running commentary of my time in Laos and Thailand fell short of the mark (again).
I never did make it to Bangkok, for one reason or the other. The train strike lasted only a few days, but after staying more than a couple of days in Nong Khai, Thailand, time ran short, so I spent the last part of my trip in Laos.
On further reflection about Vang Vieng, though there weren’t nearly as many tourists there as in December, it was still like being in a huge fraternity or high school party. There were a very large number of backpacker-type travelers between the ages of 18-22 (estimate). Most seemed to party hard into the wee hours or take the float-and-get-blasted trip down the Nam Song river. One night, Nai decided to go to one of the island bars and have a few beers. I could hear the music blasting from our guesthouse room, and it didn’t stop until 3 a.m. Nai told me later that the Lao police visited all the bars still open at that time and ordered them to shut down, due to the late hour and all the noise. Good for them! I’m sure Vang Vieng used to be a peaceful, sleepy village, but no more. Construction of new guesthouses is rampant, as usual, and I’m sure the place will become even more of a party town for youngsters in the future. I’ll be rethinking about visiting there again. It’s just not that enjoyable, for me at least.
Back here in Yeosu, we had a LOT of rain yesterday, well over a couple inches, I would guess. It’s rainy season here, too, and it’s supposed to rain off and on into the weekend. It’s kind of nice, but I’m sure it will get old quickly and I’ll be yearning for the sun soon. I’m not worried about the wet weather cutting into my jogging time, though; I cut my foot a bit on a sharp edge in a hotel shower, and, while it’s nothing remotely serious, it’s just enough of an injury that I won’t be able to run for a little while. Hopefully, I’ll be back up to speed by the weekend or early next week.
I’ll try to get some photos posted soon, but I won’t promise anything. My schedule right now is pretty light, but the university begins holding English classes for young, promising local students next week, so I’ll start getting some extra hours in then. I’m also part of a team of teachers writing a textbook for a new university class starting in September that will focus on English for Tourism in Yeosu. More hours = more pay.  More later.
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