"My Covid"

As I teased in my intro, I feel that I have been reborn, as it were, and I have lots to say. I will use this blog to do that. 

But this first post is about SARS CoV-2 (Covid 19). I will have several posts about this topic where I take the reader on the journey of "My Covid". It is true, it seems. Covid is different for each person. Mine was particularly devastating to me. I will recap what happened here, but later posts will have much more detail.

In early December of 2020 I was feeling a bit under the weather. There is only one place where I had been in the previous two weeks where I might have been subjected to Covid (more on that in a later post), but nonetheless I drove to the local hospital where they were doing drive-up covid PCR testing. Afterwards, still not feeling like I had Covid and at least 72 hours from having results, I went to a local restaurant and had had lunch. After getting back home, I did a lot of resting. Two days later I found myself weak, and upon returning from a trip to the restroom, fell in my bedroom floor. I found myself too weak to get up, but that didn't stop me from trying. I tried for hours (not sure how long, I lost track of time, but it was estimated by the doctors that it had to be between one and three hours). How did the doctors know that? All of my for-naught muscle activity to get my legs moving again caused rhabdomyolysis -- in turn the rhabdo sent my kidneys into overdrive and finally caused them to fail. So now I have kidney failure on top of Covid. During my stay at the hospital, I had lower intestine and colon failure (necrosis), a Kennedy ulcer (skin breakdown, think pressure ulcer of the sacrum), Covid associated pneumonia, and of course delirium. I was in a coma for almost twenty (20) days some fifteen (15) of which were spent on the ventilator.

Suffice it to say that a great team of doctors, my daughters acting as my medical advocates, and countless nurses and CNAs managed to bring me back to good health. I am still not fully recovered, but I am about 95% there. Covid took a year of my life!

So what is my message? I entered the hospital on December 5 of 2020. It was not until December 11 of 2020 that the Pfizer Covid vaccine EUA was approved by the FDA. Missed it by just that much!!! All jokes aside. For some, like me, Covid is no joke. I almost left my family without a breadwinner (I run my own business). I almost left my friends and colleagues with no good-byes. After all, my daughter was called twice by the hospital and told to prepare the family -- my death was imminent. I am glad I didn't get that message.

I work in the biotech field every day. I understand the intricacies of biotechnology. I know what it does and what it doesn't do. As soon as I could, I got the vaccine (Pfizer). Then the second dose. And then the booster. My message is simple. If you live in a country where the vaccine us available to you, take it! Without hesitation. It is one of the best tools we have to fight this pandemic. And it might save your life and save your family much anguish and grief. And, as we get back to normal, I will be able to get back to Korea so I can produce more Korea related stories!

OK. I am off of my soapbox. 

Hyundai 1st In the World to Launch LPG Hybrid

It probably is surprising to many in the West that Hyundai, of South Korea, is now the 5th largest automobile manufacter in the world. To those who do know this, it should come as no surprise that Hyundai and Kia (now one company under the Hyundai banner) have set some industry firsts along the way. However, the importance of these breakthroughs could be very significant on the world stage. One of the most important of these new introductions is the Hyundai Alante LPG hybrid and the Kia Forte LPG hybid. They both use liquified petroleum gas rather than gasoline or diesel fuel. In addition, South Korea's LG Chemical has supplied the lithium-ion polymer batteries for the new hybrid cars. These cars are the first-in-the-world LGP hybrids and the first-in-the-world hybrids to use lithium-ion polymer batteries.

Both the Kia Forte (shown above) and the Hyundai Alantra boast a 1.6 liter displacement LPG engine coupled to a 15KW electric engine powered by the lithium-ion polymer batteries. This combination gives the auto an impressive 70 MPG and an even better 102g CO2 per kilometer driven! These stats are indeed very impressive. According to autopress.co.uk, the continuosly variable transmission is not quite ready for prime time, but give the Koreans another few years and the I suspect all of the kinks will be ironed out putting Hyundai in the winning circle when it comes to "green" cars.

However, the idea for this post began when I heard the GM CEO say, the day after emerging from bankruptcy, that his car company needed to invest heavily in battery technology. Given the state-of-the-art in South Korea, it seems that the proverbial horse has already left the proberbial barn; closing the doors now is not meaningful. My thinking was simple, if the LG Chem batteries worked well, then GM should develop a significant relationship with LG Chem. However, after a quick search I found a number of articles on the selection of the battery supplier for the Chevy Volt (a GM product). It seems that, in January of 2009, LG Chem was chosen, but there are many people in the US who feel that a foriegn source of batteries is not good (don't want to re-create the whole oil dependancy problem with a different energy source).

The source of the batteries for the Forte and Alantra hybrids is LG Chemical, an offshoot of LG, one of Korea's largest conglomerates. LG Chemical's US battery subsidiary is Compact Power.

The lithium-ion polymer batteries uses the same technology originally designed for the cell phone and gadget market here in Korea.

So why re-invent the wheel? GM, if you want to invest in a new energy technology, look at developing something in which other significant players don't already have a lead. Look for something radical, industry changing. I can get behind that! Besides, as a US taxpayer, it is my money too!

South Korea and Technology

Many Americans, when they find out that I live and work in Korea, ask me "North or South"? I think that question shows the lack of understanding that many Westerners have about South Korea and its place in the world. While I am not going to address this issue generally, I will talk about technology, and to some degree, where South Korea fits into that picture. After all, I am a bit of a geek!

Over the years I have seen a number of technologies where South Korea has a leadership position in one way or another. However, I recently saw two technologies that I want to talk about. One has made the world stage in a few ways, the second is not as widely popular outside of South Korea.

I was at the YongSan electronics market last weekend. The market is a gathering of a very large number of electronics and gadget manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers where the general public can go to buy the latest gadgets, computers, electronic games, etc. I came across something called the KF WiBro Egg. More about WiBro later, but the KT WiBro Egg connects to the cellular network by WiBro but the egg is also capable of joining up to three computers, iPhone, iTouch, or anything with WiFi capability to the WiBro network. The Egg has a battery life of four hours but also has external power capabilities also. In essence, you have your own WiFi router attached to the fast WiBro network anywhere you go (in Korea of course). Out walking, riding in a car or train, anywhere the cellular network stretches (and in South Korea, that even includes subway systems). The Egg itself costs KRW 120 thousand (Korean won) (about US$94 at the time the blog was written) with a one year contract. The WiBro monthly cellular service costs range from KRW 19,800(US$15.50) for 30GB transfer per month to KRW 27,000 (US$21.10) for 50GB of transfer per month. Of course, for the budget conscious you can get 1GB of transfer per month for a mere KRW 10,000 (US$ 7.82).

There is a back story to this technology as well. South Korea developed WiBro and launched it in 2006. WiBro has an aggregate throughput of 30 ~ 50 MBits/sec! That is enough to put most fixed home internet connections in the US to shame! There is one limitation though -- 120 kph (or roughly 75 mph). Yes, you can stay connected with good network speed and quality in your car/train/bus while traveling at speeds up to 75 miles per hour! Amazing!

In the West, this technology is known more frequently as WiMax or 4G services. So how did South Korea launch these services in 2006 (of course significantly improved over the last few years) but we in the West are just now seeing them?

Next Blog will continue the technology theme with Lithium ion batteries (yes, South Korea is a technology leader in this critical technology as well!).