Dear all,

Greetings from Korea! After what was an unusually balmy October (global warming is doing its best to convince us that it's real), the weather has gotten extremely chilly the past few days, as people are breaking out the goose down and padded jackets. I was personally grousing that it was way too warm for October, and now that November is here, I have gotten my wish.

Speaking of which, it's nearly the end of the year! The days are long but the months are short, or something along that line. I looked at my New Year's Resolutions after finding them while cleaning my room, and let me tell you, I am not hitting on many of them. Still, though I think I've done other things outside of those goals which were worthwhile. Hopefully this newsletter is one of them.

On to the news!

PACOM in Frankfurt

As we have been doing for many years, PACOM had a booth at the Frankfurt Buchmesse. Zoom calls and remote work notwithstanding, my second time at Frankfurt was eventful, as it truly serves a purpose to see what other people (especially those in further regions) are up to, what advancements are occurring, and meet those who we communicate digitally in the flesh. In addition, all the walking that you do in such a large event is good exercise, albeit an expensive one if you take into account the airplane and the lodging.

The PACOM team had a great fair, meeting clients both current and potential, and we also got to show off the products we had been working on over the past few years. Furthermore, I had some distinct personal pleasure when we met some of you who received this newsletter, and told me that in contrast to some other newsletters, this is one you actually read! While the newsletter can get a little erratic regarding its frequency and content, I do my best to relay what PACOM is doing with a human touch--so, to hear that affirmed in Frankfurt was a great personal bonus.

With that, please enjoy some pictures from the event. We are thinking about redoing the booth design for next year--if you have suggestions, I am all ears!

(If you notice a very distinct book in the pictures of the booth, let me tell you, you are not alone!)

Comings and goings

While the trip to Frankfurt was definitely a big deal for us, just as importantly, we had a flood of visitors come to PACOM now that restrictions are gone. Immediately after the Frankfurt trip, we were visited by one of our biggest clients from the US, and we had a very fruitful session regarding future production plans. We resolved some issues which came up this year, and we look forward to an even better year in 2024!

The day after that(!), we had another visit, this time from the UK. We have done work with these folks in previous times, and while we hadn't collaborated with them recently, we discussed some projects which could be very fruitful, maybe as immediately as next year! (And yes, that company does receive this newsletter)

Finally, we had a visitor on Monday, also from the UK. We'd met up in Frankfurt both last year and this year, and much like our previous guest, we discussed collaboration, and future projects.

While these sessions were focused on business (as they should be), discussions also spread to a WIDE variety of topics. Some topics discussed were:
- Tottenham Hotspur FC
- Squid Game
- The Korean education system
- The proliferation of coffee shops across Korea (seriously, we as a country are addicted to caffeine, I have no doubt)

As you can see, the topics of discussion are incredibly vast. Due to Korea's location, coming to Korea is not a physically easy task, airplane advancements notwithstanding. Talking only business is an easy way to burn oneself out on such a trip, so I'd like to think that we made our visitors' stays a bit more comfortable by talking on random topics that they were interested in. I personally enjoy it as well, so for those of you looking to visit, give us a heads-up and we'll be glad to chitchat after talking work! We already have a few more visitors lined up, so look forward to more updates!

That's all for this edition of PACOM Update. Stay warm, and if there isn't a newsletter before it, Happy Thanksgiving in advance to our US friends!