I came to the United States with just $50 in my pocket and ended up becoming a college professor after completing my B.A. in two years, my M.A. in 18 months, and my Ph.D. in 19 months.

Over the past 30 years I've taught scores of journalists how to gather information about social trends and issues and how to analyze the data. I’ll put those skills to work to identify and address areas where our community can be improved.

I’m also a trained statistician and have considerable experience in dealing with large budget and finance issues. As a retired college professor, I’m an experienced communicator and I’ll use my communication skills to facilitate the exchange of ideas between Village residents and the Third Mutual Board.

We had unseasonably cool weather in June, with highs in the upper 70s and lows in 50s in our area while the Midwest and East Coast were tormented by heavy rain and sizzling temperatures. I played more golf during the month of June than any other month in the past and discovered that the major cause of my mistakes was my wearing of eyeglasses for the first time. My doctor had found a distortion of my right eye and prescribed glasses so I could see the ball more clearly. I’m pleased to say that after a period of adjustment, I’m hitting the little white ball straighter and longer.

We have great news from Dr. Joseph Lee, who is relocating from his work with NIH to BioReliance (a branch of Avista Capital) as a senior scientist. Joe says, “This is a great thing for my career, since being promoted within five years is a necessity in today's biotech/pharmacology world.” Joe will be biking to work from his nearby home. Joe and Eunhee are going to take a vacation to the Grand Canyon for some camping and to Las Vegas for some gambling and entertainment the week of July 15–22. Congratulations!

I was invited to give a speech to the Women’s Club of Beauty Supply during their annual conference in Los Angeles on June 28. The topic they chose was “Women and the Work Force,” which wasn’t really in my field. However, I had been the keynote speaker on a one-hour MBC television program in Korea in 1998 on how “women can change the world” after the great financial fiasco that year.

My presentation focused on information technology as a potentially important area for women in the workplace and on the family as a critical factor for both working men and women. I used anecdotes and episodes from my own experience that made the audience laugh and cheer. The club is an amazing organization, and I enjoyed sharing my thoughts with them.

We were honored to be invited to lunch at the Gogooryo restaurant by Dean and Sue Mills, who were spending the holiday in their resort home in Oceanside. Their first son, Dr. Jason Mills, and his charming eleven-year-old daughter also joined with us. Dean, the dean of MU’s journalism school, is thinking about retiring after 22 years and many historical achievements, such as like creating the Reinhold Journalism Institute and celebrating the centennial of the first journalism school in the world. We wish them all the best.

Amazon.com has been selling more copies of my Destiny book after a very nice book review and an article about the background of my writing on the Korea Daily in Los Angeles, which is a branch of the JoongAng Ilbo in Korea. That book review can be found on the Internet at: http://www.koreadaily.com/news/read.asp?art_id=1209062  

The following statement will be printed on the ballot. I would like to have your comment or suggestion for my election in September.

 I am willing to make devoting my efforts toward the betterment of the community the top priority of my “retirement without retiring.”

I’m a hard-working person, as proved by my lifetime of achievements, including completing my BA in two years, my MA in 18 months, and my PhD in 19 months after coming to the United States from Korea with just $50 in my pocket. I’ve also written three books since moving to the Village.

I am a researcher, and over the past 30 years I’ve taught scores of journalists how to gather information about social trends and issues and how to analyze that data. I’ll put those skills to work to identify and address areas where our community can be improved. I’m also a numbers person and have considerable experience in dealing with large budget and finance issues.

As a retired college professor, I’m an experienced communicator and I’ll use my communication skills to facilitate the exchange of ideas between Village residents and the Third Mutual Board.

I’m a team player who possesses the patience and humility to look for—and find—solutions. At the University of Missouri, I chaired a committee with 50 doctoral faculty members, all of whom had their own ideas concerning any one issue.

April 2011

My “2011 New Year Resolution” and my report of a cruise to “Latino Tango Countries” were posted in the web site of the Seoul National University Medical Alumni Association in the United States by the help of Steven Kim(김성수), a retired surgeon and my golf partner. The articles were presented beautifully, and I hope you would visit the sites:

http://www.snucmaa.us/snumc1965/bbs/zboard.php?id=freeboard&page=1&page_num=30&select_arrange=headnum&desc=&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&keyword=&no=5561http://www.snucmaa.us/snumc1965/bbs/zboard.php?id=freeboard&no=5912I told you in my March note that my recent book, “Destiny of a Running Horse,” was published by the createspace.com, which would sell the book. I was wrong. The on-line publishing company sells the book to the author, and distribution of the book will be handled by the Amazon.com in the near future. An E-file copy also will be available from the Amazon with color pictures. The book is listed as follow:

Destiny of a Running Horse

Authored by Dr. Won Ho Chang List Price: $10.63

6" x 9" (15.24 x 22.86 cm)

Black & White on White paper

256 pages

ISBN-13: 978-1453767405

ISBN-10: 1453767401

Please let me know if you would like to receive a copy from me at a lower cost of ten dollars including delivery in the States. I may be able to establish such a delivery system in Seoul, later.

My home partner will leave for the far eastern region next weeks for three weeks with her sisters and brothers, and I decided to visit to the Normans in Vancouver for a week just to avoid staying in an empty nest alone. April is known as aeration month, and greens of our golf course as well as other courses will be punctured in small holes and filled with sands. We, then, have rough greens for a couple of weeks, and this is the month to visit grand children for this community.

 I also wrote another column for our local paper about golf.

“Playing golf might be fun, I suppose, but it doesn’t do enough to give you the physical exercise you need,” sneered a friend of mine who is still an avid tennis player.

I just smiled and replied,” Playing golf offers me a great way to stay active without getting overexerted and it also provides me with incredible benefits—like a longer and healthier life.”

Steven Kim, a surgeon who retired from his practice in Kentucky before moving to the Village, recently told me some of the benefits of playing golf: stronger bones, reduced joint and muscle pain, improved mobility and balance, lower risk of falls and serious injuries (such as hip fractures), reduced loss of muscle mass, and increased intake of Vitamin D from sunlight, which is essential for strong bones and cell growth and strengthens the immune system.

That’s all well and good, of course, but the best part of playing golf for me is the walking. It takes about five hours and about 14,000 steps to play a round of golf on our Laguna Woods course—about 7,000 steps if you ride in a golf cart. I don’t carry my golf bag on my shoulder anymore since my retirement, but I still try to walk as much as I can in order to achieve my daily requirement of 10,000 steps.

To help me keep track of my progress, I was given a gift of a small belt attachment, known as “10,000 step machine,” that provides me with strong incentive to meet my daily minimum. The machine was given to me by the former speaker of the Korean National Assembly (the Korean Congress) who lived a healthy life for eighty-eight years by walking every day.

My dear friend and mentor, the late William H. Taft of the University of Missouri, also walked more than 10,000 steps every day after suffering a minor stroke at the age of sixty, and he maintained his walking as part of his healthy lifestyle program until his death last month—at ninety-five.

Golf is a wonderful game that provides me with great mental benefits as well as physical exercise. The golf course is a wonderful place to relax and spend time with family and friends, enjoying fresh air and beautiful scenery. So do I feel the need to play tennis? Absolutely not!