John,  

I had hoped to see you at the Academy meeting and deliver these pictures in person but with the cancellation of the meeting I decided to resort to mail (and please excuse the enormous mail file!).  

After you gave me a Sam's Stone at CTRE I took it with me to Seoul, Korea.  I was fortunate that the Bongeunsa Buddhist Monastery, one of the oldest in Korea, was right across the street from our hotel.  The afternoon when we arrived we took the stone on a tour of the beautiful grounds of the monastery looking for the perfect spot.  I have a load of pictures of the tour and will save them for the next time we see each other.  One of the main feature of the grounds was this standing Buddha

 I tried this first spot but decided it wasn't quite what I wanted….

Then I noticed a stack of stones on the opposite side of the courtyard…..after scrambling through the bushes, I found a spot that I liked….and it looked like a few others liked it as well….

There were numerous stacks of stones throughout the grounds.

When I asked about them, I was told that they represent prayers for good things.

Right after placing the stone, we started back toward the front entrance to head back to the hotel.  On the way, the temple drums started playing.  They were perfectly timed, I thought, and it was amazing to be able to stand and watch and listen to them.  I have 3 videos that capture most of it – something more to share!

I'm not quite as accomplished with MySpace and such as you are so haven't quite figured out how to get the rest of the pictures out for viewing.  It will give me something to do while I'm out recuperating from knee surgery next month!  When I'm successful I'll send you a link.

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Julie Schuneman
Technical Sales Executive
IT Optimization
Executive IT Architect, Senior Certified
Open Group Certified Master Architect
Member, IBM Academy of Technology
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4423 Richmond Park Court, Jacksonville, FL 32224
jaschune@us.ibm.com
904-608-0930  
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“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

“In any situation the best thing you can do is the right thing; the worst thing you can do is nothing." Theodore Roosevelt