I am back again in Gaithersburg, after having spent 11 days in Tampa Bay for some more work (while actually working only 5 of those days.). I had a bit of fun down in Florida, visiting Orlando on succeeding weekends, exploring Universal Studios and Sea World and Downtown Disney. It was a cheap trip, as me and my buddy Lem just skirted around the shops, restaurants, and other attractions outside the main theme parks. We just wanted to see how these places looked. There is a relative lack of amusement parks in the Philippines, well, a luxury we don't probably need.

We at least were able to get into Seaworld. Very nice place, nice collection of animals (the coolest, of course being, the sharks. Too bad there wasn't a Great White around.) And of course, Kraken, the parks other attraction (aside from Shamu). Pretty cool rollercoaster ride, the best I've been on, and I've only been on two. (Sorry Enchanted Kingdom Space Shuttle. I moved on to better things.)

The Florida experience was a nice little diversion from work. Living alone in a hotel room, out of a suitcase, takes a little bit more effort. It's hard living out of your comfort zone. It's hard knowing you're far from loved ones. But I can't discount the fact that I am here in the United States, with the oppurtunity to make a difference, and not everyone gets the chance that I've been given/ So I'm living this out, and I'm thankful for the oppurtunity.

The adventures aren't over yet. More pictures. More shtuff soon.

Mang Jose goes to DC.

I already posted an entry on my trip to DC. These are some of the pictures that were taken. There are some more on my Flickr page.

I haven't had time to blog because of, oh I don't know, work?






More adventures to come.

I dunno if you've been watching the news lately, but US Vice Prez Dick Cheney is all over it after he accidentaly shot his friend in the face while they were quail hunting last Saturday.

Of course, when every person in America with a wicked sense of humor jumped in and, well, as we so mildly put in Filipino -- ginawang pulutan.



American humor can be so brutal. But that's what I love about this country. Almost no censorship.

A lot of stuff happening down in the Middle East and in some parts of the world (9/11, The London Bombings, all the suicide bombings, car bombings, blah blah explosive stuff boom boom yada yada - or in a more political term, "radical behavior," are because of 70 virgins (Or in the words of a real terrorist, 'deflower 70 houris,' whose virginities, if there ever is such a word, is renewed when they deflower the 70th houri. Wicked sick!). You don't know them? They're the ones waiting for you in your own personal paradise if you agree to being strapped with 20 pounds of TNT all over your body, walk on a crowded street, and wait for the explosion that while scatter you along with hundreds of innocent people all over the pavement.

I just read this article about how these suicide bombers are convinced to take the last walk they'll ever take. 70 virgins waiting for you. Wow. Probably one of the last things these suicide bombers think of is "Wait, I hope some of my body parts still work when this is all over and I get to meet my 70 hot babes." It just shows you how so many people lack education, self-eestem, and common sense. It also shows you how vehemently evil others are. It also shows you how so many governments are screwed up right now that they cannot protect their own people from themselves. It is the most misguided shit I have ever heard of. You can drive a man to be so poor or so jaded or so sex-crazed, sooner or later he's going to walk into a mall and unload a whole clip on anything that moves. Really a waste of lives, and bullets.

I'd really like to break this down though. I mean, I know that many religions offer paradise in the afterlife that often transcends the physical plane. But isn't it plain obvious that what drives a person to want to spend afterlife with a multitude of ladies who submit to your whim is sexually driven? That drive doesn't transcend the physical plane, it in fact embodies it. What if the afterlife has a shortage of virgins? What if there's a shortage of Women? What if there was no afterlife? What if you didn't die in your attempt? You, the suicide bomber, might painfully go to jail at the literal cost of an arm and a leg and who knows what other body part you lost due to your stupidity

Some notes taken from the article --

It all boils down to poverty and the pursuit of happiness, taking the chase to the afterlife instead. If you're extremely hungry, go get something to eat. If you're sexually hungry, don't go loading your pockets with dynamite and walking into malls to blow yourself and others up.

I've taken this (hopefully unbiased) stance because of the current debate going in one of the mailing lists I subscribe to. My friends on the list all have valid points, and we all have Muslim friends of our own. This post is not an attack on Islam. It's just unfortunate that many terrorists are using Islam the wrong way to further their cause. This is, however, against the violent path one chooses to take to further himself for a promise. And in this case, a promise of 70 virgins. It's just so wrong. Through whatever religion you look at it.

It has been one full week since I left Manila and headed over here to Gaithersburg, Maryland to do some work at our main office. Those seven days were a blur, as I tried to let the whole experience of traveling to another country (particularly America!) sink in, I couldn't find the time to fit everything I wanted to help enrich my experience. Plus the fact that I don't have my Philippine driver's license with me and that we only have one car (there are 3 of us). It kinda ties you down.

A few nights during the weekdays, and finally over the weekend, I (or we) finally found the time to act like tourists. With cameras in hand and ignorant appetites for the sights and sounds of the US, we headed for the tourist spots. On Saturday we visited Udway-Hazey Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, which was interesting at the least. Displays ranged from old World War II planes, missiles, stuff on aviation history, and Space Shuttle Enterprise (which wasn't really used in space).

Sunday saw us headed for Washington D.C., with the weather finally relenting a bit, calling off the rain. We found ourselves visiting Lincoln Memorial, which was the most significant site that I ever found myself visiting. Here's the guy who fought for the belief that all men are free and abolished slavery in the United States. I found myself trying to soak up the significance of what Abe Lincoln did. It was a great experience by itself. We also visited other significant sites -- The Vietnam War Memorial, Korean War Memorial, World War II Memorial, and the Washington Monument. The wind was blowing something fierce, and it was too cold to continue on to the other sites in the area. We had a quick 4pm lunch on hotdogs and egg rolls and called it a day.

Unfortunately (or fortunately), my Sunday wasn't over. I, B2, and Lem headed over to our friend Corey's house to watch the Super Bowl. I was quite psyched to be taking part of one of the great American traditions -- watching the game with friends while drinking beer. The Pittsburgh-Seattle game wasn't a pretty one, but it was good enough to keep me awake (I was pretty tired after our long field trip downtown). Pittsburgh won (yeah!), and we finally (finally!) called it a night. I slept in the car on the way home.

More adventures to come.

Take that Wikipedia! Here's a more colorful way to get information. Uncyclopedia puts salt on the bland facts of life. This definitely beats looking at an encyclopedia and the anemic pictures stuck in between the entries. I get a kick reading stuff on here, as the facts are actually still in the articles, they're given a different spin.

(check out this entry on Japan --

So if you're looking for "un"formation, this is the place to get it all.

Make it a part of your daily reading and you'll never be bored, or boring, again.

One of the blogs that I religiously followed since I started this whole blogging thing is this blog by Jeff. It's a well-written story about a guy in love with a girl (frankly, it seems that all stories start with somebody being in love with somebody, but I digress.) Anyway, Jeff chronicles his rants, misgivings, and broken-hearted, angst-driven stories about how Marga (the girl in his story) pisses him off every day, and he can't do anything about it because they're not a couple. He's just a "Kuya" figure. So he updates his blog with all these adventures which has the makings of a Hollywood movie. I've been told that a book and a script are in the works right now.

And so the story, or more specifically, the blog, has come to the end of its purpose. After all the gut-wrenching, tear-inducing stories, someone has finally slapped Marga in the face to and made her realize that Jeff was just waiting in the wings like a real gentleman, not taking advantage of his "Kuya" status, and has decided that she loves him too. Awwwww. Very cute. They are now finally a couple.

So after a looooong wait by his blog fans, all the hair-pulling and nail-biting can be laid to rest. The couple themselves have posted a single he-said she-said entry that explains the whole fiasco. Pretty cute knowing that Jeff showed Marga the blog that was brought to life because of their story. And thus I find it very fitting that they ended it together.

So I want to say thank you to Jeff for a, uhm, entertaining, blog experience. YOu should win some blog award or something. Even if you are a complete and utter stranger. Good luck to ya and to Marga.

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And yet another happy ending. Good to see some of those stories still end that way.