Boy, am I behind with blogging!  This is hard to keep up with full time job.  Anyway, here are some photos from family vacation at Niagara Falls (Canadian View) this past June. By the way if you're planning a trip for 10+ people, decide on how you'll split shared costs such as food, car rental, gasoline, etc. I ended up paying all, but was the family trip worth it?  Absolutely! We bonded and disagreed (sometimes). It was a great 'reconnection' opportunity. Even today, we talk about it. I might suggest that we make this into a family tradition.

American Falls (left) and Canadian Horseshoe Falls (right). To enjoy the Horseshoe Falls, climb the tower for couple of dollars. It's too foggy to see anything from land level.

This is Horseshoe Falls view standing right next to it on a ledge (left). I wanted to capture how "thick" the water is flowing. It flows roaring fast - literally. The water chops away about 8 ft. of cliff every year. Compare that with 8 ft. of glacier falling every day in Alaska.

The guide said a handful of people attempted to jump from it (why would anyone do that, I don't know) and only two survived - one of two being a little boy who fell by accident.

The photo on the right is up-close-and-personal view of Horseshoe Falls. We were on "Maid of the Mist" boat that took us about 100 ft. from the fall. It was so tall that it was painful to arch my neck and look up. The sheer amount of water falling down was just un-describable. Try taking a shower underneath, you'll be bald that instant.

A real vacation is one that gets you away from day to day life completely, not just physically but psychologically, no matter how long or short. I was fortunate to have one of those vacations thanks to a colleague (now my long time friend) who retired from corporate life to enjoy a rural life in Walla Walla.

It has been a long time since I last took a long drive (I used to love these long drives down the endless highway). Leaving behind cold, wet, cloudy home, I drove straight to what was expected to be warm, dry, sunny Walla Walla. What met me, however, was another cloud... but warm and dry temperature.

Ever since my friend retired, I began counting the months to see how long she'd last in the country. The moment I arrived, I could see how different her life is now and that its been keeping her quite busy. She has approximately 4 acre land and she wants to grow vegetables. Here's a snapshot of her kitchen view (yes, her kitchen has this picture perfect view), small part of land that she managed to plant vegetables, and the a grape vine that came with the house (apparently, it's normal to see a vine or two in a regular home in this region).

My friend and her husband showed me around town. Of course we had to stop by nearby wineries. Columbia-Crest is the biggest in town and one of the oldest in the state. It's visitor center looks like a mansion, and its vines are pretty old (I find it interesting that vines look like giant ginseng). Tagaris is a smaller winery, but their restaurant offers great food at reasonable prices.

After a great meal and a sip, we stopped by McNary dam. The triangular block weighs a ton, and hundreds of them were dropped in the river to form a base for the dam. The river divides Washington state from Oregon state.

Next to the McNary dam on Washington side is this long ridge with strange rock formations. They look like giant mushrooms growing on the land. If you look closely at the picture on the right, you'll see a flipped automobile. It seemed to have gone off the ridge.

Although I didn't get bright sun I was hoping for, the clouds gave me good contrast for a dramatic photo-shot. These are from McNary dam. Don't they look like some sacrificial site? The picture on right used to be homestead when they were building the dam.

These are from Umatilla National Wildlife Refugee. Umatilla is known for large chemical weapon storage. As you drive around, you'll find some white spring or mushroom looking poles here and there to detect any chemical leakage. Other than the horrible thought of what could happen, scenery is gorgeous!

I am counting on another visit in September -- a great "crush" time for wineries.

A week ago I read an article on WSJ about rice shortage and its impact to already skyrocketing crop price. I didn't think much of it until I ran out of rice yesterday and went to Costco... only to find no rice. I tried two Asian markets and found no rice there either. What's up?! After talking to the store manager, I learned that they're releasing limited number of rice bags per day per household, first come, first served. This is more serious than I thought! I called my friends and family nationwide to warn them but was shocked to learn that they have no trouble finding rice. It's all the Teriyaki store owners in my state who are hoarding the rice. I shall not be surprised if Teriyaki stores charged extra for rice. I suppose I could go on no-carb diet now...

ref: Rice shortage hits home in Seattle

Some relationships are just a weird mix of love and hate. My fanatic love (and sometimes hate) for my hometown NBA team is exactly that. My team? It's the Lakers. Don't tell me. I know... everyone hates Lakers; everyone hates L.A. The team (like its city) is known for its scandals, accidents, and theatrics more so than its talent. Perhaps that's why I've been ignoring it for the past couple of years or perhaps it was the losing streak.

A week ago when NBA playoff began, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Lakers were back to their old form -- a championship quality form. Now they deserve my attention. 1 down 15 to go... hopefully it will be 2 down 14 to go.

Don't I sound like investors waiting for market to bottom and start rebounding? 

I put away my winter clothes this past weekend, and I had to bring them right back out again. It's April and almost May... are we to reach Summer without Spring this year?

Rome. What can I say about Rome after romantic Venice and historic Florence? Rome is on its own, and I don't think it can be compared to any other city.

Flood-lit Roman Night

I took a taxi ride through the city center. It was a bumpy ride, thanks to tiled road. I must say the Romans are quite fashionable. I haven't seen so many men and women with fur coats and knee high boots anywhere else - not even in London or New York City.

People Watching

Having grown up in tough L.A. neighborhood, I am not used to standing around and watching people pass by. If you do this too often in L.A., you either get run over or shot. I didn't have to worry about that in Rome.

Tiveri fountain is a great place for people watching. Both young & old hang out late at night. There is music, cafes, and sometimes annoying vendors trying to sell you cheap souvenirs. A gelato place across the street from Tiveri fountain is a great spot just to stand and absorb the whole scene.

You can't miss Spanish Steps if you watched "The Roman Holiday". This is another place where young and old hang out. Just sit on a step. No one will ask or wonder what you're doing. You'll just blend right in. If you look closely, you'll find yours truly sitting amongst the crowd :-)

In Rome, you don't need to go to museum to see sculptures. You'll find them everywhere in streets (although they're replicas of what's inside the museum). I was always impressed with real representation of human muscles on the sculptures. I didn't realize until I observed one closely that there are also veins. They seem so real that it almost looks like a real human being covered in flour and frozen in time. They're amazing to look at... just as fun as watching people.

The Vatican & St. Peters

This place was grand. Just take a look at the size of the people (what seems like rows of ant) and the building. It was awe inspiring to walk into St. Peters thinking that Peter's bones are buried somewhere underneath. The architecture and design is of course indescribable. It's best to see in person.

I was disappointed with Sistine Chapel, however. I guess all that hype over the painting on its ceiling got my expectations too high. The chapel was much smaller (and the painting too) than I had thought. It was the same disappoint that I felt when I saw Mona Lisa at the Louvre (much smaller & plain than I had imagined).

Roman Forum

The highlight of my trip to Rome is the Roman Forum. It's just ruins with tons and tons of rocks and pillars. But it's mesmerizing to stand in the center of ruins as you try to comprehend what it used to be like hundreds years ago. To avoid crowd and enjoy the expansive view of the forum in quiet moment, walk into Capitol Hill Museum. For a few euro, it's worth the visit.

What's commonly known as the Colosseum is really "Flavian Amphitheatre". It's a mouthful, isn't it? Probably that's why Colosseum is a better name. It's built to accommodate 50,000 men yet not a single men's room (so says the tour guide). Hmm...

If Venice is about romance, I'd say Florence is about history. There is less water (of course), and it's a little bigger and busier than Venice.

The Baptistery

First stop is the Baptistery. This is where John (the Baptist) baptized people so that they could enter church. Conveniently, this Baptistery is located right in front of the Duomo. Back then people had to be cleansed here before they were allowed in the Duomo. This picture came out very dark because there is no electricity inside, and I walked in after dusk.

This is a facade of the Baptistery. It is made of bronze and gives the illusion of receding distance on a basically flat surface. I learned that most facades depict a story, whether it be Biblical or historical, so that illiterate peasants (and there were many) could learn by looking at the pictures (almost like cartoon learning).

Duomo

This structure is Santa Maria del Fiore, commonly known as the "Duomo" because of its huge dome. This is the first dome to be built after the Roman times. The architect had to go and learn the Roman Pantheon before building this.

Giotto's Tower

This tower stands directly opposite the Duomo and provides a perfect view of Duomo rooftop and Florence cityscape. You have to climb more than 400 steps to get to the top. Yours truly did it without stopping. The key is to breath regularly and keep same pace.

Streets of Florence

As you walk around the streets of Florence, you'll often find 4 to 6 story building like this. Back then, Florence was wide open with scarce population. Florentines protected themselves by living in tall buildings such as this. They built kitchen on the top floor for ideal aeration. Middle floors were living quarters. When raided, they poured hot water or grease from the top floor. Height gave Florentines a great advantage even if they didn't know how to fight.

Vespos became popular after the World War; it was a convenient and economic way to get around. It is still popular, and you'll find them lined up neatly in the alley. Be careful as you cross street; a vespo could zip by you before you know it!

Every major city in Europe seems to have a river of their own. London has Thames, Paris has Seine, and Florence has Arno. There are several bridges over the Arno river, but this one is meaningful in that it's the only surviving bridge from the World War. It's currently a marketplace. There are many gold/silver shops and some cheap souvenir booths. I think it would've been more interesting had they lined it with bakeries and dessert shops. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful scene!

Santa Croce Church

Florence is most famous for Michelangelo's David in Accademia. It was most impressive and I wish I could share the photos (only if the museum allowed photo taking)... Next best thing is Santa Croce Church for tomb watching. I found tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, and Dante. Their works are so old that it's easy to dismiss them as if they're mythical characters. Standing in front of their tomb, realization struck me hard that they're indeed real (dead but real). What would today be without their contribution to our culture? BTW, you can see Galileo's finger in the Science Museum. His students cut off his middle finger when he died and stored it away. Now it's displayed in the Science Museum (prominently pointing upwards).

You'll often hear that red wine is for men and white wine is for women, reason being that red wine has meaty & chunky taste while white wine has floral & fruity taste. I am a 99% red wine person. I am biased not because of taste but because of how my body handles white wine. For some reason, I get more drunk or get headache when I drink white wine. A colleague gave me a bottle of Naked Chardonnay for X-mas, and I almost gave it away. Then I learned about wine cocktail. I mixed 2 part concentrated pomegranate juice with 1 part Naked Chardonnay. The combination was perfect with spicy spring roll. Naked Chardonnay's clean-cut, citrus taste hid pomegranate juice's bitter aftertaste, and pomegranate fragrance overtook alcoholic smell often found in white wine. I think this is how I'll manage the remaining Chardonnay in the next couple of days.

I went to Italy several months ago. I meant to blog about it earlier but didn't get a chance until now. Venice is one of the three cities I visited. Venice was exactly what I have heard and seen in photos everywhere, so I won't bother to post the same, boring (and probably lower quality) photos here. Instead, I'll talk about the new things I learned in Venice.

Spaghetti with Black Ink Sauce

I was told that seafood is good in Venice since it's a harbor city. One of its delicacy is "Spaghetti with Squid Ink Sauce". Locals partly dared me and partly scared me by saying that the black ink will stain my teeth. My American friends seemed to be more concerned about the fishy taste than cosmetics. Well, I took the dare of both Venetians and Americans and tried "Spaghetti with Squid Ink Sauce". To my surprise, the sauce was not fishy at all. It had salty taste and was perfect with plain Italian bread and red wine. The bread was moist and soft unlike French bread. And no, my teeth didn't stain :-) The spaghetti noodle was very chewy. I didn't find this dish anywhere else in Italy, so I recommend you try it while in Venice.

St. Mark's Basilica

Unlike other Western European churches, this one resembles an Islamic mosque. Venetians designed this way intentionally to distinguish itself from Roman Catholic dominion and build ties with Byzantine Empire. Supposedly, there exists remains of Mark (one of the twelve disciples of Jesus) that were smuggled in by Venetian merchants from Egypt. I say "supposedly" because this story is not proven true or false. Anyway, Venetians used this story to strengthen the pride of its city.

Doge's Palace

Venetians called Duke a "Doge". The palace is decorated with what's called a Venetian column (with clover design). You might have seen them if you ever been to The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas. I learned of Doric and Ionic columns in Art History class in college. I didn't know about Venetian column until now.

Doge's Palace is turned to museum. I couldn't take photo inside so I cannot show you the world map that was created in 1500s. I was impressed with the detailed coverage of Far East. It even had "Korea" (most old maps just show China and Japan). North America was drawn as outline only since it was a new world then. What's interesting is the title: "The Land of the Savages".

The Clock Tower

Locals told me that the clock on this tower is the first ever built digital clock in the world. The clock shows 24 hours, Zodiac signs, and Moon phases. The clock changes every 5 minutes instead of every minute. This is pretty high tech considering the period when it was built.

Gondola Ride

What's Venice without a Gondola ride?! I took a ride after dusk. It turned out to be a very relaxing ride after a long day. All the tourists were in the bistro or bar somewhere. Hardly anyone was out in the street except for a few locals walking their dogs (someone told me that locals walk their dogs in order to show off that they're not tourists). As the Gondola snaked between the buildings, I couldn't help but feel serenity from peaceful and dead quiet alleys... despite the stinking water :-)

Last Christmas, I splurged with lavish gifts. For example, I got myself a new car and got my parents a car of their dream also. This Christmas, I promised myself that I'd keep things reasonable. So here I am - eight days before Christmas. No gifts yet, and all my relatives are coming for this holiday! What brave soul I am (you must think).

Frankly, I don't know what to get people. More frankly, I haven't put much thought about Christmas because I've been preoccupied until now. I had that 16 people dinner party on Thanksgiving (will never do that again) and then my Italy trip (oh yeah... you'll have to wait for this story after the holidays). And this past week, I had visitors at work so I was in all day meetings all week long. This weekend, I barely had enough senses to put up Christmas lights. Also I figured that I should stock up on food before the groceries become a battle ground (as they usually are during holiday season). I am counting on next weekend to clean up the house before the guests arrive. Thank God for another weekend!

If one thing lifts up my spirit this Christmas, it's the holiday music. C'mon, you can't hide your smile when you hear Jingle Bells or Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. Can you? Every Christmas, I enjoyed my spirit lift up as I buy gifts for others and imagine how happy they'll be. This time my spirit is lifted even without any gift to give -- thanks to the holiday music ♫ I suppose. I'll just have to give a gift of myself (and my hospitality) this time. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Traveling gives me what roller coaster ride gives to most people (but I cannot stand roller coaster ride!). Before travel, there is great expectations of fantasies and excitement. On the way to the destination, there is uncertainty of 'did I make the right choice?'. At the destination, I either like it or hate it but try to make the best of it (might as well since I paid for it). I am happiest on the way back home (back to familiarity and safety) and vow to do it again.

While each trip brings different perspectives depending on the location, events and people I travel with, I get the same feeling over and over again at the end of the trip -- 'there is no better place than home!' Even the pollution at home is better than the pollution in a foreign city. It's like saying,"I prefer my mold over yours" :-)

Perhaps this is why I travel, and why I strongly recommend people to travel. I learn to appreciate not only the treasures of diverse cultures, history, and people, I learn to appreciate today -- my culture, my people, and my home.

• Don't transfer balance from credit card to credit card. Even if the transfer is free, there is always some hidden cost such as finance charge.
• If you do transfer balance, always pay the full amount charged to the account. Even if you pay the total balance for current pay cycle, it's applied to purchases first. Transferred balance remains and incurs higher interest rate.
• Don't use credit card in foreign country for small amount. Foreign exchange fee plus the purchase amount is not worth it.
• Don't book theatre shows through travel service unless you can select your own seat; book directly with the theatre. Otherwise, you may end up sitting far left or far right for the same price.
• Always print a map to the hotel. Even if you have an address to the hotel, the taxi driver may pretend he doesn't know and give you an unwanted tour of town, jacking up the taxi fee.
• Don't book connection flight separate from your main flight itinerary. If the connection flight time changes or cancels, you're screwed.
• When traveling to Europe, think smaller. Use smaller bag for carry-on and lighter load than you'd normally do in the U.S. It's impossible to remember pound to kilogram conversion and everything is smaller in Europe, anyway.
• Stay fit if you want to travel abroad. There is a lot of walking and carrying involved. You can't expect to drive from place to place unless you can afford a butler to accompany you.
• Home sweet home... so true!

Most immigrants make their home the first city they land and spend most of their lives there. For my family, this is Los Angeles -- the city of angels. I didn't leave Southern California until after school. Then I began traveling abroad before I even had a chance to visit the other coast. Hence NYC visit last week was a great excitement for me until I experienced its noise and rude people. Well... my memory of it has faded a bit; I can now talk about the great experience I had in NYC.

I took an hour cruise around Manhattan island and had a close-up encounter with the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. To many people, these are just a monument and a site in a history book. On this day when my boat went-up close, it just dawned on me about my own roots as an immigrant. Growing up in the States and living in culturally diverse cities, I often forget that I was once a stranger to this country.

I wondered and wondered... what state of mind my parents were in when they had determined to immigrate to the States. My dad was 52 years old at the time and my mom, 43. With 3 young kids, they had just enough money to buy plane tickets, rent an apartment in LA downtown, and buy a Toyota Corolla (cheapest car at the time). I remember that my parents went to work the next day we arrived (we only had $100 left so they had to earn -- fast). We 3 kids stayed in the apartment all day. We were told never to go outside; otherwise, we'll get shot. In retrospect, I don't know how we survived. But we survived, and we are all at a more affluent position and safer environment than before.

I cannot imagine what it would've been like had my parents remained in S. Korea. One thing I know... my parents had great courage and conviction in order to make such move. All immigrants, for that matter, share the same courage and conviction/hope. I am grateful to my parents and appreciate deeply those who exercise such courage and conviction everyday!  

Have you heard how you become your job? The first thing a dentist looks at is your teeth regardless of place and purpose. The first thing a hair stylist looks at is your hair. Well... I guess I can't hide my job. I was walking along the Broadway street, and the first thing that caught my eyes amongst all fancy Broadway show bulletin boards is this "page not found" browser error.

My Chinese friends told me about stinking tofu. I never saw it, never had it and didn't even bother to try. I believe them totally when they said, "it smells like used socks".

Well, I found a wine that smells like cow dung. In my journey to becoming a wine connoisseur, I decided that I must get out of my comfort zone and try other varietal than Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot. So I ordered a glass of Italian Chianti at a restaurant the other night. The first round of swirl-sniff-swirl-taste turned out fine. I thought it was similar to Cabernet except it had more powerful fragrance. Then I let it sit until my dish arrived. When I sniffed again (out of habit, I guess), I smelled what I first thought of as "earth". Then it reminded me of my long drive down the Interstate-5 across Bakers Field, California --- cow dung!

Someone warned that some old world wines stink. The experts describe it as "earth" or "herbaceous". To me, this Chianti was truly cow dung!

A friend told me that NYC is a great if you don't sleep. I agree whole heartedly. My room was on 32nd floor (I think that's far enough from ground level), but I was able to hear the taxi honking and police sirens crying until midnight or so. Once the outside noise quieted down, I could hear the inside noise when people from the bar began returning to their rooms. By 3 am, all was quiet... however 3 am EST is 6 am PST, so I was wide awake by then. I was a walking zombie with bloodshot eyes during meetings. People must have thought that I stayed out late, partying too much...

~~~

I read an interesting article on New York Guides (sometimes the thick hotel magazine in your room is quite useful). A Los Angeles native visiting NYC wrote about New Yorkers and their attitude this way: "It's not that people here are nicer or ruder than anywhere else, they're just more efficient: being rude is a waste of energy, and residents conserve every drop. In a borough averaging 26,402 people per square mile (roughly 10,000 more people per square mile than the next densest American city, San Francisco), finely honed social skills are essential to survival."

This made sense, so I began demanding the next day... instead of asking.  "Sir, which way is ___?"  versus "Excuse me. I need to go ____. Could you tell me how I get there?" and "Please don't deliver newspaper to my room." versus "I called the other night that I don't want newspaper delivered to my room. Could you tell the delivery agent?" -- Worked a lot better!

I tell you...I don't do well with "near but far" places (read my earlier blog). I've been around the world with bigger time zone gap and had no problem adjusting because I just skip a night's sleep and make it up on the plane or the first night. But how do you make up 3 hours gap? 8 am EST meeting is practically 5 am PST. That means I need to wake up 3 am PST to get ready... <sigh!>

And what's up with New Yorkers? They're so rude! I mean the hotel receptionists are so rude; what side of bed did they wake up on?!

And the streets... I can handle the streets since I received enough training from growing up in L.A. But the endless honking and regular police sirens... I'm glad to stay in the meetings all day. So far, NY is yet to impress me :-(

I ran into an old friend the other day. We haven't seen each other for years so it was a serendipitous reunion. He told me that he landed a full time job 2 years ago and was excited that he is sort of "next-in-line" to his boss. I thought that's pretty impressive for someone who's been on the job only 2 years. Only later... I checked the company address book and found by standard job title that he has many, many ladders to climb before he can take his boss' position. Poor dude! He probably hasn't figured out yet how the corporate system works.

My good old friend reminded me, however, to reflect on what's important to me and my career.

Glory, honor, power -- they're hard to let go when you have them. That's human nature, but I wouldn't go out of my way to seek them. To me, they are by products of good, worthy job. But then... I worked long enough to know that's not how it works in corporate world and definitely not in politics.

Money, on the other hand, I don't mind having. Despite its poor reputation of being "dirty" or "the other master", money is a means or a useful thing to me. No more, no less. Good thing about my company is that I can still get a raise without the glory, honor, and power to some extent.

People is very important to me. I seriously believe that you rub off of each other in any given society. You might as well rub off of good quality people and help yourself to become as good or better that way. Working with good people can take loads off of your work.

Looking back in my childhood days, college years, and when I just began my career, I must say that these thoughts of mine haven't changed much. They must be my life-long values, so there you have it. I am now ready for any stones or tomatoes...