Want to prevent H1NI? Wear Red Underwear

Back in 1993, I knew this one Korean woman quite well who had just gotten a job. One night, not long after she had just started working, she stopped over my apartment with a small gift for me: red underwear.
“What’s with the red underwear?” I asked her.
Actually, they were red long johns, but underwear just [...]

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How to Get Rid of Man Boobs

How to Get Rid of Man Boobs.
 
That’s right, Man Boobs–nature’s way of telling a man that gravity works–at least when it comes to one’s pectorals.
If you are inflicted with man boobs, you know that it isn’t any laughing matter. Before you fret and run out to see if there is such a thing as a [...]

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Swine Flu Paranoia in Korea: Alert Status

It was just a matter of time in South Korea when the Swine Flu paranoia reached a new high prompting authorities to raise the alert status to a “red level” the highest level.
 
There’s been at least one or two articles a day in the Korea Times—the newspaper that I read daily—about Swine Flu [...]

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Papa Sparks by the numbers

Days until I am with Aon, Jeremy Aaron and Bia:  50
 
Pages I’ve completed on my novel about Korea:  98
 
Kilometers I ran at the gym on the treadmill in one hour: 10
 
Kilograms I have lost since May 1st:  25
 
Slices of pizza I can eat while watching a “pizza movie” (a movie that goes well with an [...]

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Papa Sparks by the numbers

Papa Sparks by the numbers for Monday October 26, 2009:
56 more days until I am with Aon, Jeremy Aaron and Bia; 97 pages of my novel completed; 10 kilometers in 60 minutes on the treadmill today.

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Captain Carl’s Swine Flu Tip of the Day

Ever since the swine flu paranoia gripped Korea, I’ve been seeing all these posters and stickers in public restrooms showing people how to wash their hands. It’s a good idea to educate the public on hygiene, even though it’s the kind of hygiene that you’d think people should have been practicing in the first place.
Not [...]

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Losing weight while working out

Okay, so Billy Idol’s “Dancing with Myself” has nothing to do with working out or losing weight other than the line repeated over and over, “and I’ll sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat, sweat…” which brings me to today’s fitness question: is it possible to lose weight while working out by sweating? For [...]

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What’s wrong with this picture?

What’s wrong with this picture? I’ll get to that later.
In the meantime…
Almost every day since Swine Flu paranoia has gripped South Korea there’s been at least one article in the Korea Times that’s Swine Flu-related.
Just today there was one about an entertainer who got the flu while performing in Japan and had to [...]

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DMZ Water: What’s in a name?

Well, if you happen to enjoy drinking a bottle of DMZ water, it’s history.
I spotted this latest entry on the bottle water market in Korea and thought, “I’m surprised someone hasn’t come up this before.” Sure, drinking mineral water from Cheju Island might sound a bit more romantic and exotic, or mysterious like Icis from [...]

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Sanitized for your protection

Remember when you went to a motel or hotel and saw that tissue-thin “sanitized for your protection” notice across the toilet seat?
No doubt it made you feel safe and secure knowing that hopefully you weren’t going to catch anything when you parked your bum on the seat.
Nowadays, at least in Korea with Swine Flu paranoia [...]

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