K Pop or Korean pop is a musical genre native to South Korean, it is characterized by audiovisual effects and comprised of all popular music in South Korean.

Samsung decided the best way to experience Korean music was to attended a K Pop Concert at KLive the world’s first dedicated K Pop hologram performance hall, which combines top K Pop hits and digital technologies.

Klive is located on the ninth floor of Lotte FITIN in the heart of  Dongdaemun.  From the theater’s balcony, you can see some awesome views of the Seoul.

There are several interesting pieces of art work in the theater’s lobby.

Klive even has it’s own mascot

Photography is not allowed during the actual concert, I was able to snap a quick shot of stage, while we waiting for the show to start.

Our show featured G-Dragon and I can definitely say this experience like no other.  Click below to watch a snipped of a show from Klive.

 

As part of the Global SSD Summit, Samsung takes those working and reviewing products out for a day to experience Korean cultural.   Samsung allowed me to tag along with the group; for which I owe Samsung a huge thanks!!! (Thank you Samsung!)

For the first stop of the day Samsung took us to the Korean Folk Village, which is about hour drive outside of Seoul in  Yogin, the province of Gyeongi.   Set in a natural setting and backed by the mountains visiting the village allow you step back in time, see traditional houses, heritage building and experience Korean traditions first hand.

The Korean War left many traditional houses and heritage building in devastation.   Today very few examples of traditional Korean houses and or heritage buildings exist. In 1974 the Korean Folk Village was established to expose local and tourists to traditional Korean life and culture. The village site is on 243 acres in a natural environment and contains more than 260 traditional houses of the different social classes – peasant, landowner, yangban – and various regions, from the Joseon Dynasty. The village also hosts a traditional street market, restaurants and demonstrations of traditional woodworking, metalworking, and farming techniques, as well as performances of traditional dances, ceremonies and recreational activities.

Samsung arranged for use to experience the Village with a tour guide, which gave us background on the different buildings and how they were used in Korean Culture.

Jangseung – Korean Totem Pole – guardians to the town.

Farming

Irrigation methods

Shrine of Prosperity

 

After a morning of being shown the village we had a traditional Korean lunch.

Then we had time to explore the village on own.

Even after spending a good part of the day at the KVF, we did not have time to see everything.   I hope to be able to return one day.  In addition to what we saw there are live shows, showing Korean Culture and tradition, exhibits, an amusement park, and tons of gardens to explore.

Photo Gallery for Korean Folk Village

Our whole trip to Seoul was made possible by Samsung.  For the past 4 years they have been inviting Allyn to their SSD Global Summit.  This years summit occurred when I was off on holiday, so we arrange for me to go with him and for us to spend an extra few days in Seoul.

First I want to give a huge thanks to Samsung, they were such great host.  They even welcomed me with open arms, allowed me to tag along to dinners and different cultural events. I felt like another reviewer or tech expert 🙂

At the 2015 Samsung SSD Global Summit, Samsung release A VNAND powered M.2 SSD.  I do not want to even try to explain it, but I will is the next generation storage.   If you want to know more I encourage you to read Allyn’s articles and review, which can be found below or by going to www.pcper.com :

Good Morning (Night) From Seoul! New Samsung SSDs Are Coming!

Samsung Announces New Branding and Future SSD Capacity Expansion with their New 48-Layer V-NAND

Samsung Launches 950 PRO – 300,000 IOPS and 2.5 GB/sec from a M.2 V-NAND SSD!

Samsung 950 PRO 256GB and 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD Review

I did not attend the Global Summit events where the new SSD was released but I attend the gala dinner, the various cultural emersion events and I was able to visit the Samsung headquarters and corporate store.

The Gala Dinner

The dinner was held the evening after the new SSD was release.  Samsung officials, reviewers, employees and special guest all were attendance.  The events of the day were recapped, then we enjoy dinner and entertainment.

Dinner was amazing and included 5 courses.

After dinner we enjoyed listening to Korean jazz singer Youn Sun Nah.  Her voice was amazing.

 

 

Samsung Headquarters and Corporate Store

Our visit to the headquarters and corporate store the following day when we taken in Korean Culture. The headquarters building is located in Gingham in the Seocho District, which is south of the Han River. The location is known as Samsung Town (or Samsung Digital City) and is a complex of three office buildings of 32, 34 and 44 floors.

Located within one of the corporate buildings is Samsung d’light, an exhibition space that showcases all the latest consumer electronic products by Samsung Electronics. According to Samsung, the name d’light combines the words “digital” and “light” to correlate with their vision of being a “guiding light to the digital world” and leading consumers to a whole new lifestyle through digital technology. It is also meant to convey delight and excitement.

At Samsung d’ligh, you can create digital content with electronic consumer products boasting the latest technology. At the Capture Wall, you can have your picture taken and immediately projected on a media wall comprised of 82 LFD monitors.

You can also try out all of the electronic products on display including the latest laptops, tablet PCs, smartphones, and cameras. If trying out the products on display isn’t enough, the latest camcorders and digital cameras are available for rent and can be used freely within the d’light exhibition space. A quick journey upstairs will allow you to experience the latest products for the home.

The d’light Shop, which is on the lower level is where you can directly purchase the Samsung Electronics, various accessories and various Samsung logo items.

So I was up early one morning, while down in Tampa for my father in law’s funeral and I decided to go for a run through the Florida Everglades and an alligator started chasing me…

I would like to believe that is how the story starts that explains how I torn my meniscus but unfortunately that is not how the story goes.   My story is much simpler.

A week today, we were loading the last few things up and getting ready to head back from Tampa after my father in law’s sickness, passing, etc.   I was in the bedroom where we were staying in, picking things up. I got on my knees and lunged towards something I could not reach. The next thing I know I hear a loud crack and pop and feel something tearing in my knee.   My husband was standing in the door away and heard the same thing. I sat back for a while and tried to shake it off, but it just kept hurting worse, I finally gave in a let my husband taken me to ER. The x-rays showed no broken bones but the ER doctor was pretty sure my either my ACL had ruptured and or my meniscus was torn.   They set me up an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon back home. A few days later, I visited the surgeon and he confirmed what the ER doctor thought… a torn meniscus and possible ACL damage, but he could not confirm how bad the damage is without a special MRI where they would inject contrast dye, so until then he said use crutches and take it easy.

For anyone that knows me, taking it easy is not really in my language. I took it easy for a few days, but then things needed to get done so I made myself get more mobile.

This morning I was getting ready for work as normal, as I was making my way down the stairs, I missed a step with the crutches and jarred my knee; hearing the same tear crack and pop and feeling the same tear, all over again. So we headed back to the doctor and this time, I was told to stay off of it for at least 48 hours and ice it, as often as possible. I was also given a hinged knee brace, and my husband has basically grounded me to couch for the next week.

So now I am left with the question of what to do while grounded on the couch … I am going to try to catch up on photo editing, blogging, reading and stuff like that.

I have gone silent over the last couple of weeks.

Life changed in seconds when my father in law told us he had liver cancer on October 29^th.

He said that chemo was supposed to shrink it but chemo did not work; I honestly think chemo made him sicker. After his first chemo treatment his bilirubin levels started increasing; then after the second chemo treatment his hemoglobin level dropped resulting in him needing a blood and platelet transfusion. He came home and rallied for a few days but then his blood pressure started dropping. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving we met with the doctor, we learned that his bilirubin level were still high and that his liver and kidneys were starting to fail, thus hospice was our best options.

In the early morning hours on December 4^th he left us and went to his enteral rest in heaven.

I had a special connection with my father in law.  He loved me just like I was one of his own.

Aldo, # 1 Father In Law …. left us way too soon, but I know you are watching over us from above.   I love you and miss you tons!!!

Halloween Message from Sophie the cat

Once a year my mommy and daddy put out a big bowl of candy and  it is my job to guard it  …

I look out the window and down the hallway to make sure no one is coming and then I help myself …

Halloween is my favorite day of the year. I must eat some more…

Happy Halloween!

I typically don’t say much about my job on here but today was a special day at the AJA, we dedicated the Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum Digital Collection.  The dedication coincided with the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II. Rabbi Tanenbaum was champion for interfaith relations and was an advocate during the Second Vatican Council and Nostra Aetate, a document which overturned the hostility of Jews and Judaism; additionally it helped change the course of Catholic-Jewish relations.

The AJA is the home to his papers.   Three years ago the AJA began the process of digitizing the collection.   When I started at the archives, well over a year ago the digitization of Tanenbaum Collection became one of my main projects. I spent months making sure documents were correctly digitized and linked to the online site; then there was the whole process of making the sure the collections website presence was just right.

Today members of Hebrew Union Collection, American Jewish Archives, members of the Tanenbaum family and others who were touch and/or intrigued by the life Rabbi Tanenbaum gathered to dedicate the digital collection and commemorate the 50^th anniversary of Vatican II.

The Dr. Gary Zola, the executive director of the AJA welcomed everyone and give his remarks on the collection and legacy left by Rabbi Tanenbaum.

Dr. Georgette Bennett, the widow of the late Rabbi Tanenbaum gave her thoughts and shared some stories with us.

Then Rabbi Michael Cook, Ph.D., Sol & Arlene Bronstein Professor of Judaeo-Christian Studies & Professor of Intertestamental & Early Christian Literatures lead a discussion on the contents of Rabbi Tanenbaum Collection and the contents of Vatican II and Nostra aetate in the collection.

Then Dr. James Buchanan from Xavier University, who is the Director of the Brueggeman Center for Dialogue gave a response where he discussed the impact the digital collection will have on others religious groups, the impact Tanenbaum had on Jewish – Christian relations and through the work of the Brueggeman Center how Cincinnati can become city of interfaith relations that could serve as an example for cities throughout the world.

Not only did the program give me a sense of accomplishment professionally but the topic was of great interest to me.   I was raised Catholic and the effects of Vactican II were often discussed by my parents, grandparents, and in school.   As I got older I became interested in other faiths and how we all seem to have same common belief just different views related to those beliefs.

While the Tanenbaum Collection is now digitized and I will be moving on to digitization other collections, I hope to continue to study Rabbi Tanenbaum’s work, especially in regards to his interfaith and inter race relations work. Either through research or volunteer work I actually hope I can get involved with the Brueggeman Center.

Be sure to check out the Tanenbaum Digital Collection at http://tanenbaum.americanjewisharchives.org

October 3, was Scott Kelby’s 8^th annual Worldwide Photo Walk.  This was the first year I was actually able to get into a group and not get put on the waiting list.   I was even lucky enough participated in two walks, one in Lexington, KY and the other in Cincinnati, OH; the two cities I live between.

The worldwide photowalk is social event started by photographer Scott Kelby to encourage photographers to get out explore a city, be social, take lots of pictures and make new friends. Afterwards there is a contest where an image from each walk is selected and added to the book made to commemorate photo walk event around the world.

The Cincinnati Photo Walk took place at the Cincinnati Zoo.

Photo: Nicholas Viltrakis

As luck would have it, it was the first cooler morning of the fall season; there was also light rain on and off.  Needless to say I was not overly pleased with my photos, but there was good ones:

 

  

The Photo Walk in Lexington took place in downtown, it started at Thoroughbred Park and ended at Triangle Park.  Like the Cincinnati walk, the weather was a little on cool side and a little misty.

Photo: Nithin Agarwal

Overall I was happier with my photos, albeit not much, but I think they were creative and unique than ones I took at the zoo.

 

It was a great experience and I loved meeting and getting know other photographers in both Lexington and Cincinnati.