Honeymoon Part 1

Well, the wedding is over and the honeymoon has passed. Both were great.

The honeymoon was amazing though. If any of you have a chance to scoot down to the Philippines do it. The people are its selling point and they go beyond any words that I might use to describe them.

Before leaving Seoul, we had a nice two hour wait in the JAL Business lounge that Harry and David got us into. It was a nice closer for a fun week with them. The time came, we said goodbye (mom cried) and we headed to our plane and started the quick three hour flight down to Manila. You know that you can play games on planes now? They have a handheld controller and you can challenge other passengers to games. We played Battleship. I did not win.

We exited the plane and walked through the old and highly inefficient airport. I mean this place was a mess. Everything was out of order: security, luggage, customs and then immigration. It made no sense.

After changing money and counting the massive amount of peso's we just received, we realized that we had no flight info for our next leg to Boracay. We didn't even know where the exit was. We asked many people and were surprised that they all spoke English, but we still got nothing concrete. Finally, I spotted a person holding a sign with our names on it. She was Korean. Typical.

She got us to the next airport. This one was awful. 30 flights, no set gate numbers or times, just announcements 10 minutes before you were to board. The room was so packed and no AC.

Luckily, they did have one of these...

Unfortunately, it provided no comfort outside of crowded and old toilets. We boarded the super cool plane, and were given the Filipino version of Lays and Capre Sun.

Look at the enthusiasm Mr. Chips has for their product.

"Triangular shaped corn chips loaded with mucho NACHO CHEESE that spell a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of goodness. You don't just bite Mr. Chips chip. You got all out and gobble them all up." So what's in Mr. Chip's chip? It's excitement in a chip."
That kind of enthusiasm was just was I want to see. I was super pumped about the rest of the trip now.

The flight was only thirty minutes. 고 slept, but I spent most of my time gobbling down the excitement of Mr. Chips, looking at the islands and the bright blue water below. We started the descent and we got our first glimpse of Boracay. I took an airplane shot which never turns out, but this one was okay.
We landed and were immediately swept away by the pack of friendly "helpers" there to take our luggage and walk us the 15 meters to where we were to meet our new guide. We got our dollars ready for tipping. We were told that one dollar was more than enough, but I'm the guy who tipped Cambodian tuk-tuk drivers three dollars on a twenty-five cent fare. We gave him three bucks. We were finally there, with luggage, smiles and Peso's, and now we had to find our guide. We walked outside the very small "airport" if you could call a small strip of cement and an open-face building an airport.

We saw name signs for all the guests. I knew there were a lot of Koreans heading to Boracay, but this was too much. Every name was Korean. If you look close, you can see ours.
We met our guide. He was a very tan Filipino named Phol. He had a leaf on his left cheek that we later discovered was easing the pain of a rotting tooth. Phol spoke English and Korean on top of his native tongue. He tied a drinking straw around our bag for id, called a few goons to take them away and then we were put on a tuk-tuk. I love tuks.
We arrived at our boat that would take us to Boracay.
Finally we arrived on Boracay Island. It was a little later than planned since we had to wait for our plane for two hours rather then the presumed twenty minutes. The sun was setting and the clouds on a nearby island we smothering the small green mountains.
We waited there for a few minutes before boarding another tuk-tuk which would take us to our hotel. We drove through the island center which I guess would be the city of Boracay. It was old, dirty and just what we expected to see. We arrived at the Seraph Hotel and were greeted by another Korean guide named Ali (pronounced like the boxer). We put our stuff down in our amazing hotel room and hurried back to meet Ali so we could have our package-tour-provided dinner. We walked into the restaurant (which was Korean) and sat down with our tour group. It was then that we decided that we would not be participating in the part of tour that involves moving as a group with the Koreans. They were boring and the entire dinner was quiet outside of 고 and I goofing around. We kindly said good-bye and no thanks to the beach tour that followed dinner and ventured out to the beach on our own. We had a few drinks, bought some jewelry and walked around the beach. We were tired and wanted to jump on the bed anyways, so we headed back to the hotel and turned on the TV. We were a little surprised with what we found.
The next morning we woke up early and headed to the beach for some amazing drinks at beach front bars. These bars were literally ON THE BEACH.
After that we kind of walked around from place to place and drank, talked and bought little trinkets and island jewelry. I spent mostly on drinks and 고 bought jewelry. It was a win-win situation too because everything was so cheap. Here are a few pics from that day...
This is what the main drag looked like. It was a small sand walkway lined with trees and bars.
Man, it was nice.
I swam out to these rocks. On the first rock, there is a statue of the Virgin Mary. Odd placement, but since the Spanish had such a impact on all facets of Filipino culture during their rule I was not surprised.

Can you spot the white guy? The bar that 고 took this picture from was owned by a British ex-pat. He has lived on Boracay for 14 years. He was there before electricity was. I mention him because when we first came up to his bar/hotel, he took one look at me and said, "You're American. I can tell by your bellybutton. You're also a teacher in Korea and this is your Korean wife and you're on your honeymoon." I was impressed.

We had a little Mexican food and washed them down the tepid Sam Miguel's (Filipino brew).
The man is real, the baby is not. Look how big I am compared to this guy. I mean big, not fat.
We needed some more cash too, so we went to the bank. No shoes, no shirt, no problem.

That night, we went decided that we should go on a hour-long sunset sailboat ride. The best part of the sailboats was that they were just as one would think of a SE Asian sailboat. You know, with a middle part, two nets for sitting and bamboo serving as a balance on either side. The whole island was full of locals trying to get you to take a ride on some sort of boat. These "vendors" did not own the boats, but they got some sort of commission. We decided to go with Allen, B-Boy and Glen. So, we met them around 5:30 and waited for our boat to come in.




Allen, 고 and B-Boy. B-Boy had a crush on 고. He reminded me of my friend Danz at home.

We waited for about ten minutes and the boat pulled up. We noticed that a rain storm seemed to be approaching and we continually told the "captain" that it looked like rain, but they insisted that it was not and decided that we should head that direction. We did not care and I was in a great mood because we just bought a big bottle of tequila for two bucks. We (I) was ready to get wet. Fine form, huh?



Double chin?


Of course, our captain was not heading this way. He preferred the rain.

This is what we saw BEFORE we headed out.

It was pretty, but come on. Twenty minutes later, reality set in and the captain had to turn around. And by turn around, I mean haul ass. We were locked in a race with storm.


He was determined.
We won. We beat the rain. In fact, by the time we made it back to the beach, the storm changed directions and the sunset couldn't have been better.



We headed back to the room and showered to get ready for another night out. We weren't sure where we wanted to go, but we knew there was a fun nightclub, so we thought we'd give it a try. By the way, I love dancing to LIVE MUSIC, but the club scene is so lame. 고 likes it though. So, we agreed that we would end up there...maybe.

Part 2 gives you the scoop...

Wedding Photo's

We took our wedding photo's last week and we got them back. They have not been touched up yet, but we need to choose some for the album and what not. They are pretty good.

Am I not the luckiest man in the world? Just look at this woman.



And here are a couple of the two of us.






Here's that lucky guy!




Reminder: I have another TV debate tonight and next week the family arrives from a trip in Japan. Ten days until the day!

Televised Debate

No, not the amazing PA debate. This is the debate that Glen and I were in.


The debate can be watched here.

After you click the link, you need to select "Face to Face #7 If You Were Born Again, Would You Prefer to Be a Man or Woman?"

id: morningcalm
password: debate

This might not work. If it does not, let me know and I will figure something out.

Bottom of the Barrel

As you saw, I posted the video of Obama's speech that he made in NC that dealt with the debate from the night before. I watched the speech a few times and did not see anything that seemed real bad. I liked his hand motions when refering to "twisting the knife" and dusting of the insults. However, Clinton surragtes did find something that they think was wrong.



Here are some lines from a few pro-Hillary blogs...

Seriously everyone, I don't even know what to say. I obviously prefer Sen Clinton, and have thought Sen Obama was a little inexperienced and lacking in real life understanding. But this. WTF.
How can we back and try to elect someone who is engaging in juvenile behavior, regardless of who its aimed at. How have we come so far backing someone like this as a viable nominee without anyone noticing? What happens if he is the President and things aren't going well.

What does it say about his judgement if he does in the PUBLIC?

I need to drink lots and go to sleep.

it doesn't matter because it is all over the place, ABC News, Th Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun. The ABC News video has the best shot. He scratches twice. First with the pinky and then just as he mentions Senator Clinton he turns slightly and there comes the gesture. The women in the back row definitely caught it.
My first reaction was incredulous. My second was anger. Now I just want to cry. I pity him. I really do. I have long thought him duplicitous. I can now add pitiful.

Lord how did we ever arrive at this juncture?

The democratic party has clearly been hijacked by the extreme leftwing. For left-leaning independents, this is very frustrating. The extreme righwing nuts of the Republican party took control of the party and they gave us George W. Bush. The democratic party is in danger of repeating the same mistake---not electing the most capable person into the white house. Our country needs Clinton NOW. There is no time for the empty "hope" talks. In Wednesday debate, it was obvious that while Hillary has provided detailed and substantive proposals, Obama spent most of his time describing this country's problems that we already know. He provided little insight on the solutions to these problems. Obama, I am afraid, is quite hollow in terms of his plan to lead this country to a better future. We need to alarm the democratic party that many independent voters could turn to McCain if Obama is nominated. I think this scenario is quite real and it has not been talked about enough in the main stream media. Take a look. http://ivotemccainifobamaisnominated.blogspot.com/ (I vote for McCain if Obama is nominated)

Talk about flipping rocks. Pathetic. Could the Dems cost themselves another election?

Well played Senator

Instead of doing what Hillary did and most people would do, Obama decided to turn last nights debate into a campaign issue. He highlights the problems with "News" and takes some funny and thoughtful jabs at Wahsington, Hillary and MSM.

Well-played, Senator.

Bittersweet

I think Jon Stewart delivers a bittersweet end to the "debacle" know as Bittergate. Again, comedy news rises above ther fray and not only produces hilarious satire, but offers real and honest incite into a contest that is nothing short of ridiculous.

Calming...

I'm really glad that Biden is a Dem. He knows his stuff better than most and always has a calming demeanor to him.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Thanks For the Tip...

China is angry at CNN's Jack Cafferty for calling the Chinese people "goons and thugs" and refering to their imports as "junk". I think that the comment has some truth, but perhaps it simply is not the right time to critisize China. They are a little testy that their Olympic Games aren't panning out so well, although I didn't realize that they were watching CNN so closely, looking for any mention of them.

What struck me is their response to Cafferty.

"Cafferty used the microphone in his hands to slander China and the Chinese people (and) seriously violated professional ethics of journalism and human conscience," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said Tuesday, according to China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

She continued.

"This reflected his arrogance, ignorance and hostility towards the Chinese people, ignited indignation of Chinese (at) home and abroad and will be condemned by those who safeguard justice around the world."

Who do the Chinese think they are? Are they qualified to discuss the "professional ethics of journalism and human conscience" with anyone? And what about the comment about "those who safeguard justice around the world" should condemn this.

I would never say that America is even close to perfect, but China needs to realize where they are in line.

Grand Ol' Party (of Asia)

I was sent an article the other day by my uncle that was arguing how much Asia prefers the GOP compared to Europe's heavy Dem leaning.

First of all, the Asian in this family is a liberal Dem, so no worries there.

Second of all, I would dispute the article in the sense that Asia as a whole is pro-GOP.

But let's take the article as truth and we can see why this is a pretty easy one to understand. Europe's political system is heavily based on established democracy where, in many cases, the underdog liberal-leaning candidate is propped by the people. The key word there is "people" and in no way do they have to be from a certain strata of society to get to the top. The countries are old (for the most part), small (57 countries in Europe with a fraction of the landmass and population that Asia boasts) and Europe is much wealthier per capita.

I mention those facts because when comparing those main facets of European politics to Asia's, you can see the glaring differences. Asia does not have many established democratic nations. I live in one of a handful. Asia does not prop up the "people's person". They prop up big names and military leaders. The countries are old in age, but not politically immature. It is this political immaturity that seems to hinder Asia's own ability to recognize that superceding the good of the people by fanatically pursuing policies that benefit the government (which is the leaders) that produces these Asian GOP-leaning nations.

If we look at the characteristics of dictatorships and GOP governing styles, many similarities arise. Bush's GOP was right in line with these goons. BushCo spied, falsely arrested, covered-up, purged, suppressed voting rights, ignored international laws, executed, extradited, invaded, propagated and lied, lied, lied. Sounds like Asia as well. Actually, it sounds like many newly budding democracies that are led by people who never cared for their country, but only for the sweet nectar of power.

The GOP is also more willing to trade with some of the these rogue nations if not build them up and support them. That is, of course, until it is time to attack them and start the cycle all over again.

Bottom line:

Europe = Human Rights = Democrats

Asia = Power Struggle = GOP

It's simple...

Question: Does Africa support Gravel?

More Proof...

This is an excellent example of what this country needs. Forget the ridiculus threats of "socialized medicine" will hurt the country. Forget the GOP talking points that this "forces" people to use specific doctors. Forget it because what matters is people taking care of people.



While the imagery he uses is a bit much i.e., "the heavens opened up", I think that the overall point was right on. People really don't want to be told what they want, especially when they're told through empty and ignorant catch phrases.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Swinging

This is the kind of Obama I want to see. Let's face it, all sorts of negative things have come out about Obama. He's a pol and that is what happens. However, if he deals with things like this, then I don't see any reason to worry.




Question: Will Obama's new found balls continue to grow?

Image of the Week

First of all, I did not edit any of these images myself. I got them from Presumptuous Insect who posted them under their Kos diary. I saw them and simply could not resist.

Over the last few days, we have seen Hillary claim many new things that we did not know about her. Mt favorite part is how her supporters are acting like this is how she has always been. Right!

We heard her hunting story with her grandfather...



And her little, "I felt the Holy Spirit in me" on several occasions line.



Maybe we can get her on the televangelist cycle...



All in all, we can at least rest knowing that we will all be safe...



Seriously though, what will be next? The biggest issue is that TH has been so short-sighted in this election. She won't win this and she is making Obama look like damaged goods. Obama needs act like he has won and start focusing on McCain. It will work.

Question: What will Hillary's next line be?

1) "What would have happened if the dad in Hoosiers didn't say, 'Get outa my face!'"

2) "When I was a girl, my grandfather used to take me to Puerto Rico and say, 'Hill, one day they too will be a state.' I have always fought for you and continue to fight for you!"

3) "Together we can win Kentucky and together we can lower Kentucky's rate of adult tooth loss! I have long questioned the tooth-rating metric and will fight to make it based on race, not by state!"

4) "Together we can win North Carolina and... wait. North Carolina is not big enough to matter. Only the states that I won which have primaries count!

5) "I called Sen. Barack Obama today and congratulated him on his nomination and fully throw my support behind him!"

"Mountain out of a Molehill"

That was the quote from PA governor and Clinton supporter Ed Rendell.



This poorly made and lame attempt at taking advantage of Obama's gaffe is just another phase in the 'make Obama unelectable' campaign. However, I think that Obama made a great statement and should have stuck by it. Who cares if Clinton (who will not be the nominee) takes advantage of it. People have made up there mind. They know he is not "out of touch" and the people also know that Clinton is pandering more than she ever has.

New lows everyday.

Question: According to Hillary, what does Obama hate more?

1) Freedom

2) Grandmothers

3) Special Olympics

4) Children's laughter

Looking Beyond

Since I am not certain that BO will win the nomination, I have grown tired of writing about the same trends of this primary season. I want to look beyond a bit and start writing about things that matter. I have not forgot about my "Dissecting McCain" segment and there is so much ammo there, but I'd also like to feature clips from American news and C-Span with my spin on them.

And to start out, I'd like to show you this.



This guy has always been dead on. He raises some good points and they are the same that Obama raised when questioning Petraeus(although more focused). There are now more and more Dems (and Ron Paul) who are slowly backing off from their "the war was illegal" mantra and adjusting to this "the bar has been set too high!". I think both of them are fine, but I think that the latter is much more effective.

When is it time to go? How perfect does Iraq have to be before we can go?

What a Cross!

With the debate behind me now, my level of nervousness about being on television and debating a topic that I'm not too thrilled about has calmed down and I will get back to this blog.

The Debate: If you could be reborn, would you prefer to be a man or a woman?

Our position: We would prefer to be a woman. (That position was given to us, I promise.)

I did the opening statement and just nailed it. I know it went well and I set the tone of the debate with my argument. I was confident that we would sail past our opponents. Then came the cross and it was bad. Glen (my British bud) and I realized that not only had we not really prepped the debate, but we didn't even know the entire format. We had nothing prepared for the cross. When it was our turn to drill them, we just looked at each other and I went into the long-winded "question" about societal genderization that ultimately did not land. It was bad. Luckily, that gave Glen some time think about it. Then, we had to field questions from the audience (which consisted of mostly middle-eastern-ish grad students) and the two academics who served as commentators. And finally, Glen did the closer. I knew that we had dominated the opening, lost the cross and now it was all on Glen. He did a good job and I was confident that we had gained some ground back after that shaky cross.

The audience votes after each round and while the people on TV get to see the results after each round, we don't. In the end, the wacky yet insightful host got the results and started reading the scores. He didn't tell us who won each round, but in the end... WE WON!

It'll be on TV this weekend. I'll try to get a copy and post it on here.

Fun Facts: Not only did I have to wear heavy make-up, but I also had to have my hair straightened and waxed. Trying to avoid looking the camera is interesting. Never have I been more nervous then I was last night. Between the academics, educated audience, doing the opener, bright lights, camera's, being the center of attention to hundreds of people on set and the desire to not look like a douche to the thousands of people who watch the show, I was overwhelmed, but I think I kept my cool and we delivered a solid argument. So solid in fact, that we did not need to cross-examine. Ha!

They did ask us back, and I will be on the show again in the next few weeks.

I Like That...

I have no time to post because if the debate tomorrow, but I do hope you can watch this video...



Look at 2:03. It says 오바마!!! That's Korean for Obama!!!

SIMTOS 2008

I came across this video.




Whose voice was that?

Chess is not Checkers

Why do I even get surprised anymore? Why do I turn on the computer and read something that TH is doing and always seem to be baffled? Not only do I do that, but I continue to get in heated debates on blog forums and still come across the same ever-evolving methodology that TH use's to justify the campaign.

Today I came across this chart.



It is what many Clintonites are now using as their reasoning to stay in. Do you notice the problem? They are only primary totals and and it leaves out caucuses. This is insane. All we hear from TH is that every vote should count and the will of the people shuold be represented. Yet, when actually counting the total vote, they choose to leave out all the states who happened to have caucuses. If by winning the popular vote, TH means the votes you get while ignoring caucus states like Iowa, Maine, Washington, Nevada, and allocating votes in two primaries that were declared in advance not to count, one in which Obama wasn't even on the ballot, then yes I guess so.

I'm sure there are all sorts of ways we can count the vote in which one person wins or the other. But in the actual real world according to the system we have set up, what difference does it make? In that world, in that election, Obama is winning.
They want to sweep his wins under the rug and pretend like Hillary is the champion of voter enfranchisemnt.


The race isn't decided by the popular vote. If it was, presumably all the candidates would have campaigned very differently and it's impossible to know what the result would have been (leave alone the conundrums with the caucus sates and Michigan and Florida). It's as though we were playing a game of chess, and I was winning, and you said, you know. . .if we we're playing checkers, I'd be ahead. And I looked at the board, and yes you would be, but if we were playing checkers I don't think I would have played it this way.

I suppose the bottom line is, can arguments like this convince a large number of super-delegates to ignore delegate totals and switch over to Clinton giving her the race. If they were secretly looking for a way to give the nomination Clinton.

What's worse?

In it's most basic form, let's examine our three potential Presidents and their most obvious physical characteristic.

John Mcain: Old White Guy
Hillary Clinton: Middle-Aged White Woman
Barack Obama: Young African American Man


So, if I vote against McCain it could be considered ageist. And a vote against Hillary could construed as sexist. While a vote against my main man, Obama could be seen as racist.

So, which one is the worst?

Of course, this entire post is stupid, but I thought it was interesting that each candidate could be thrown into a damaging stereotyope.

Just for fun. Which one is worse (imo)?

I think that sexism and racism are tied. So sorry McCain, this "ageist" is voting for the spring chickens.

Question: Do you think that the media will end or change the nature of their love affair with John McCain as the race continues? If so, do you think that they will bring his age and cancerous background into it?

***Update: I think this answer's my question. While I don't like Dr. Gupta that much, this was interesting.




By the way, I thought that survey was useless!

Eye of the Tiger

In another lame attempt to appeal to movie fans and PA Dems alike, Hillary has really dug in with her official "underdog" status and has compared herself to the hero of the ring, Rocky. Hillary's fan base is especially riled up after weeks of top Dem officials calling for her step down "for the good of the party". While I agree that she should step down (especially if she can't win PA by more than ten points), she still thinks that she has a chance. She doesn't unless she stages a coup of SD's at the convention and somehow gets the majority on the Credentials committee (she won't) and swings them to seat ALL of the delegates and votes in FL and MI. Again, I still think that his lead will hold with those included.

So, she has summoned the god of underdogs and has compared herself to Rocky Balboa. Well, that's fun and all, but guess what: Rocky lost. He lost in the first one, tied in the second one, won in the third and fourth and lost in his last bout. That is a 2-2-1 record. Not too impressive.

Let's take Rocky 1. We have Rocky, who trains really hard for months and months. He has heart and a loyal base that really wants him to win, but in the end he is beaten fairly in a grueling fight. The best part is that he is beaten by Carl Weathers. Why do I mention Carl Weathers? Well, he's a black guy. Could Hillary have given us Obama supporters any better ammo? Next time you try to pander Hillary, look at the whole picture.

Of course, Obama could never mention this hilarious gaffe, but EVERYBODY is thinking it. So, in honor of Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa's first battle...



Man, just look at his confidence.