Friday, April 27th, 2007 - Miami, Florida - ‘… Welcome to Miami, Buenvenidos a Miami’ I finally made it to Miami, albeit a typo error problem on the Delta Airlines’s e-ticket in spelling my name (apparently an ‘F’ sounds like an ‘S’ over a phone reservation, but it was permuted rather quickly, thanks to Dustin’s Delta Platinum Member program). Upon our smooth landing at the Miami International Airport, an unrecognized language greeted me; judging by its nasal sound similarities to French and the speakers’ colorful appearance, I would have to guess this had to be the Haitian Creole, the third official language of City of Miami after Spanish and English. Meanwhile, my own welcoming version of Will Smith’s big hit a decade ago was playing over and over again in my head: ‘… Welcome to ... read more

Sunday, March 25, 2007 - Atlanta Underground, Atlanta, GA I hardly can recall on how a marathon would do such harm to your body from my past Marine Corps Marathon, which took place six months ago (see ). A hostile reminder, however, was inevitably after completing another 26.2 mile course, noticeably when you were wobbling around the finishers ground, while your now stiffen legs, strained back muscle, shoulders and forearms were screaming in agony after a couple of hours worth of strenuous exercise, and trying to reach the snack table to nourish back your body and replace some nutrient loss with big heaps of fruits, water, yoghurt, cookies, bagels and some sweet goodies. Remind you, I’m only in my late twenties but I felt closer to a geriatric body of an eighty year old by only ... read more

Friday, January 19, 2007 - Viejo San Juan, Puerto Rico "So, you’re going upstairs later on?" Ricardo, my Hard Rock Café waiter asked me while delivering my second refill of cold Mt. Dew to my table. Meanwhile, I was struggling with my whole chicken, fried plantains and Spanish rice. "What’s upstairs?" I blinked. Surely he wasn’t talking about the deserted second floor of Hard Rock Café? "What?! You don’t know what’s going on? Why do you think people are packing up the streets of San Juan this weekend?" "Err … Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián?" Ah, of course. I put two and two together. He was talking about the biggest event of Puerto Rico, and Calle San Sebastián is relatively ‘upstairs’ from Calle Recinto Sur, where the HRC is located by the ferry docks. "Yeah, ... read more

Visiting Washington, D.C. is simply a journey that satisfies a history buff like myself. I’ve read and learned so much about DC, and I’m confident to say that almost every major US histories can be traced to the nation’s capital. Here, you will find countless monuments, memorials and grand architecture achivements, important sites and designs, including fine art collections, painting masterpieces, dirty political issues and hip urban town. In fact, Dee-Cee is not only for historian nerds, it is for everyone. There is always something in DC that fulfills every visitors and residents alike. In the late 1780s, feeling the pressure of relocating the newly established nation’s capital from Philadelphia to somewhere centralized between the northern and southern states, first president George Washington chose a difficult swampy area on Potomac River to be called ‘the Federal ... read more

A couple days ago, British intelligent raided the city of London and arrested about two dozen of its own citizens of plotting a series of terrorist attacks on about ten aircraft jets flying to the United States from Heathrow Airport in London. The plot is to use common items brought on-boards, to be filled with some chemical components to be mixed once they are in midair, creating an explosive device for a suicide mission and eventually kill thousands of people, plunge to the Atlantic. From what I’ve read from the Travel Advisory provided by the US Government, the US Department of Homeland Security banned from carry-on luggage all "beverages, shampoo, sun tan lotion, creams, toothpaste, hair gel, and other items of similar consistency." Hum. Whether it is coincidence with the fifth year anniversary of 9/11 attack ... read more