2006: Good Riddance

I am not so much looking forward to 2007 as glad to see 2006 go into the history books.

Why Is South Korea Soft On The North?

The WSJ ran an interesting editorial saying that the reason South Korea is soft on North Korea is because deep, deep down, it is all about nationalism and race :

The South Koreans have compromised their nationalist principles in a quest for wealth and modernity, and while they're glad they did, they feel a nagging sense of moral inferiority to their more orthodox brethren. They often disapprove of the North's actions, but never with indignation, and always with an effort to blame the outside world for having provoked them.

Having worked for a Korean company and still doing a lot of business there, I think there is a lot of truth in this article. I have had conversations with Koreans who are totally oblivious - or don't really care - to the danger just sixty miles north of their capital city. In fact, most young South Koreans view America as a bigger threat to their security than North Korea. And you can point to South Korea's economic might, improving living standards and fully functional democracy for hours, but it falls on deaf ears.

Update Dec 29 - Maybe I spoke too soon, or SK finally realizes what's going on: South Korea Calls North Korea a Threat

PEAS On Earth

The Christmas season is supposedly the time for stress, depression and anxiety (which is somewhat of an urban myth). But assuming you have one of these issues now, or at any time, there is a helpful acronym that can bring PEAS to your life:

Pleasure - Do things you enjoy
Exersize - In some studies it does better than medication to reduce depression
Achievement - Give yourself goals and work towards them, giving yourself purpose
Socialize - Spend time with friends, relatives and others; connect with other people

I think the only one missing here is religion, which gives people a framework to structure their lives.

Just Made It As A 2006 Darwin Award Candidate

13-Foot Pet Boa Strangles Owner in Ohio

Airline Miles: How Did I Do This Year?

One of the perks of air travel is that it is supposed to get better over time. As you accumulate miles on an airline you move up the pecking order for upgrades, early boarding, and other special accommodations.

While I did put in a lot of miles on the road this year, unfortunately it was spread out across multiple airlines. This is due to the fact that my company is smaller and has fewer people traveling. So instead of negotiating a package deal with one airline, my travel department just looks for the lowest cost, making it a bit of a crap shoot on which airline I might be on.

The net result to me is that instead of being Super Special Primo Magnum Platinum on one airline, I am just first or second rung on a bunch of them:

American - Gold - It used to be like the Olympics: bronze, silver, then gold. But now gold is the BOTTOM rung of the American Airlines system which goes Gold, Platinum, Executive Platinum (why not use another metal?). I will add that I got this one the hard way: using segments instead of miles (takes 30 of them).

United - Premier Executive - United got rid of metals all together and uses Premier, Premier Executive, then the elusive "1K", or 100,000 miles ("executive" makes its second appearance in these programs, so some consulting company must have come up with a reason for that). I managed to steer my travel department to United for overseas flights for the back half of the year and I am going to try to go for the 1K club in 2007.

Continental (and Northwest) - Gold - Continental stayed with three metals, but instead of staying with the Olympic standard they go with Silver, Gold, then Platinum. I guess this is to make the bottom rung feel better than they are, but the perks are what is important, not what it is called.


The interesting part next year is if something really happens with a United/Continental merger. As a business traveler this looks like a good deal for me.