washington

I
LOVE
Washington.

I can really understand why americans (some) are so proud to be american. There's so much history and preservation of that history that you can't really do anything but be proud.

Museums are free.
All the memorials are free.
Metro is so cheap and based on how far you ride it.
No tax on clothes.
Tons of outlet malls with 75% off of clothes.
I don't know if it's just cuz I was a tourist but even the bookstores and cafes were much more enjoyable.

Honestly, if the states had less military, free healthcare, and a better housing market, I'd move there.

i know i'm amazed everytime i go to the states but really?
this is no medium.. this is like extra large

national press club where tons of famous people have been hehehe

there was also a guy who played the water glasses.. way too talented

at the lincoln memorial looking towards the washington monument

gettysburg address in the lincoln memorial

abraham lincoln

capitol hill... did NOT know it was this huge

korean war memorial - REALLY nicely made


union station

roof of the union station

off to washington

My gameplan:

Friday - drive down (8 hours) and have dinner at cousin's
Saturday - drive with cousins/aunt to Virginia to huge outlet mall (WHOOOOOO)
Sunday - tour washington DC on a bus with mom
Monday - morning: utilize awesome gym / pool at the hotel, read
night: fancy dinner paid for by mom's company, night tour bus
Tuesday - morning: NIH Library - world's largest biomedical library
night: watch movie with mom, maybe have some room service

I was kind of dreading this trip just because I find it awkward to be in the same room alone with one parent (today i had a silent lunch with my dad) and I think 8 hours driving in a car will be just as awkward.. maybe even worse (but thank god for cds).

But now, I'm kind of looking forward to it. I'm looking forward to getting to know my mom more between women and hopefully I'll get to open up to her and learn more about her and she'll learn more about me.

One thing i know.... company paid trips are dabong

study break 2 - stockholm

I finally got some time to going back and watching some TED videos. Except this time, I didnt really get that much out of TED. Instead, there was an ad at the end of one of the TED videos for IBM.



It was talking about how there is so much pollution being caused by traffic jams that they felt they had to do something. So they set up cameras at the 19 main entrances of the city and started charging a congestion fee. This, also, was all voted by the people.

The result? hehe you have to watch it to find out but its pretty amazing what a couple of high tech cameras (which technology we already have) can do for the environment.

Stockholm actually has a couple of really interesting things that they do. Ive actually never really read much about the city or really had any interest IN learning about them. But then I found some pretty cool things about Stockholm:

• it's built on 14 islands aka "Venice of the North"
  
• they have a public transit system that's linked throughout the country and uses one ticket system for the entire transit system
• the subway system is also "the world's longest art gallery"
  
• was ranked most innovative European city in 2006
• "top ten honest cities", "greenest" and "most livable city" by Reader's digest
• they also have no heavy industries which probably helps with the green part
  

Man.. I'd love to live here. They're also the people behind the "piano stairs"



What about their healthcare?

• one of the top systems
  
• public system (98% = gov't funded) with some fees applied for physicians
• governed by 21 county councils where 90% of their responsibility is in health care
• travel costs to clinic/hospital are all reimbursed by the state
• maximum wait: 3 days for physician, 14 days for dietician, 10 days for specialists

One more place for me to travel!

in the real world

You'd think that blogs like Wired, DVICE, or Gizmodo would focus on gadgets / technology? Yet there's a huge growing interest in architecture which I'm paying more attention to because of my brother and a couple of artsy friends that i have acquired over the past couple of years.

Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport

Istanbul was hit by a massive earthquake about 10 years ago, and I'm really glad to see that they're doing something about it. Designed with earthquake simulation programs, Istanbul is using the same technology used in San Francisco's hospitals to protect them from earthquakes.
Instead of built onto the ground, the terminal is built so that if an earthquake of up to magnitude 8.0 were to occur, the building would move so that the shaking of the ground wouldn't affect the building. (via Wired)


HOMErgent

"easily transportable, flat-packed, high-quality"
has water, electricity, cooking ability, lights
can operate OFF-GRID

Is this a possibility for relief work? Maybe.

(via HOMErgent)

Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge

After visiting the Hoover Dam on our family road trip this summer, I don't think I'll ever see a dam as awesome as the hoover dam. Taking only 5 years to complete and having already paid off its 49 million dollar debt, you kind of wonder how they were so productive back then when they had a lot less than we did. Anyways, this bridge is going to be super useful since the main way to get to Las Vegas is through the Hoover Dam area, which is always packed by tourists and moves at the speed of the Don Valley Parkway. The bridge would be good if you don't want to stop to see the dam, but just want to go to Vegas.

Interesting fact: So Hoover Dam is on the border of Arizona and Nevada. But one side (i think it was nevada) had no life insurance for the workers - if someone died on the Nevada side, their families were given nothing. So what a lot of people did was if someone died, their friends would carry them to the Arizona side and proclaim them dead, thus allowing for life insurance to be secured.

Sleep Box

Japan has some pretty awesome stuff and i am in love with this sleep box for the airport(although i don't know how hygenic it is....) Sheets are changed on a roller system (it's like the doctor's office) and the boxes have wi-fi, luggage storage, and electricity.

united states green-ness

FAIL
Limited space for recycling was found on top of the garbage cans. But usually only garbage cans were found (without the recyclables extension).


PASS
To power the street lamps, they had solar AND wind pannels - quite smart!

beautiful life.

Where to start? I apologize for the lack of blogging.
I tried to blog during my trip - failed and will never try again.
I tried to blog right after my trip - failed.
I am determined to blog when i get all my photos onto my external - expect in the next month.

Fear not, however, as there are many other stories to tell!

I dreaded Hamilton - as in cried after I moved in because I had nothing to really do, and thought I'd die of boredom and loneliness. Who knew that within two days, I'd be extremely excited to live here because of my landlord!

Cherie (pronounced Sherry) is my extremely carefree, hilarious landlord who has done a fair bit of traveling, partying (still does), and looks a whole lot younger than 40 (which she turned just a couple days ago). Not only is this laid back woman one of the most hospitable people I've met (she'll bring random friends home to cook for them), she's also one of the most opinionated yet encouraging people I've met.

Yesterday, she brought home a guy friend who was planning on spending his birthday alone. Ribs fed my stomach that night while we got to talk to Graham about what he does, etc. He's a boatbuilder - he says he can make a simple boat in 8 hours - and does the odd carpentry job these days as his job. Although, people think he does everything since he's a boatbuilder to which he replied once, "How many roof tiles do you see on a boat? I don't do roofs."

Along with political perspectives on gambling and government sponsorship, the most comfortable sandals in the world, the best martinis, as well as where to find the most beautiful gay men in the world, we talked a ton about his travels as well as Cherie's.

Oh. Em. Gee

How I would love to travel as much as either of them. From Indonesia to Korea to Mongolia to Iraq to Kenya to South Africa to pretty much anywhere in Holland, the States, or South America, I felt so.... what's the opposite of cultured? I felt so naiive and ignorant of how big and diverse the world is. For hours I couldn't get enough of the stories!

He told us a story of how he had found a meadow in Scotland and thought he was thrown into a Lord of the Rings setting only to find that it was a buffalo mating field and was chased out of the field. He was stopped by Palestinians during the war with Israel because he had wanted to tell a group of kids who were following him and asking for money to f*** off. He thought to ask them what each of the two words meant but after asking if they knew what the first one meant, he was met with the answer, "Yea, he will!"

Even after retelling his stories I feel embarrassed. What does God think about traveling? Does He think it's something to do after you establish your career and when you can afford it? Does He think that there are more important things that "experiencing" the world? Does He see it as a worldly desire?

After last night, I want to experience life so much more. I want to see the world a million times more. I'm not scared that I won't get into med school because there's so much more to life and it's not like right after undergrad, your future needs to be set in stone.

Am I thinking a little too liberally?