Creating an online website is not a simple thing. You have to consider a lot of things from the design to the lay-out. Before that you have to come up with a good site name and check with a domain registration website if nobody has come up with your unique idea. Coming up with a unique domain name makes you realize if there is really such a thing as a unique idea because it seems everybody has beaten you to it. Then there are the web hosting and other nitty gritty details to think about. Then when you have your website up and running, you have to find ways to get a lot of traffic to your site, so you sign up with thousands of directories that judge your website unworthy. Then you encounter terms like search engine optimization or conversion rate optimization and other similar jargons. What in the world are they talking about?! I guess it really pays to have a friend who knows about these things, if you don’t have the inclination to learn. Of course, in order to be really successful in the web sites and blogs game, you have to learn about the tricks of the trade. Nothing beats firsthand knowledge.
Ito ang 63 Building, ang pinakamataas na gusali sa Seoul. Kinuha ko ang litratong ito habang nasa barko at nilalakbay ang ilog Han.
(This is the 63 Building, the highest building in Seoul. I took this picture while aboard the river boat cruising the Han River.)
There are so many wonderful places to visit around the world. I guess my dream job is to become a professional tourist and get to see all the wonderful places, both the very well known tourist spots and those out of the way places that only very few people know about. While growing up, the only places I wanted to go to were the USA (surprise!), England, France and Switzerland because they were the only ones I heard a lot about. Now I realize that America is not only the Unite States of America. There are a lot of countries in South and Central America that have beautiful historical landmarks that are unique to their region. I think I will include an Argentina travel to my things to do list before I grow old. I want to see Buenos Aires, the national parks and the sea lions and elephant seals in their natural habitat. Another place I want to visit is Peru because I want to see the lost city of the Incas, Machu Picchu. I guess, I’ll never get rich because I will only save in order to spend it for travel. But, what wonderful experiences I will have.
Eto yung itsura ng hardin sa harap ng aming dormitoryo nung taglamig. Para patay na lahat ng mga halaman nya at di mo lubos maisip na magkakakulay sya ulit.
(This is what the garden in front of our dormitory looked like during winter. It looks like all the plants are dead and one cannot imagine that it will ever be colorfol again.)
Ngayong tagsibol, nabuhay na ulit ang mga halaman sa hardin at makulay na sya ulit.
(Now that spring is here, the garden comes alive again with plants of different colors.)
Las Vegas seems to be a very popular destination for tourists. Among its many nicknames are The Entertainment Capital of the World and Sin City. It is a great place for shopping, fine dining, entertainment, and of course, gambling. People are like moths attracted to the beautiful lights of Vegas and the chance of striking it rich in the casinos. However, Vegas vacations are not just about trying your luck at the slot machines; it is also about experiencing first class entertainment and great shopping. There are also places for families to visit like the zoo and the parks. This makes Las Vegas a great vacation destination.
My former officemate has been assigned here in Seoul for a year. He’s been working in New York for more than a couple of years now. He has recently become health conscious and from what he’s been telling us, New Yorkers are very health conscious people. I guess he was heavily influenced by his environment there. He mentioned that aside from prices, restaurants also indicate the number of calories in the food that they sell. These make people very conscious about what they eat. Also, he mentioned that people in New York walk a lot because they take the subway or the bus unlike in California where people find it more convenient to drive their car. They say that it is for this reason that there are more fat people in California. I guess Californians will depend more on diet pills like Lipovox if they want to lose weight unlike their more weight conscious counterparts in the East Coast.
Spring vacation is fast approaching. We have decided to go to Beijing for a week to see the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, Summer Palace and other tourist spots in the city. Before deciding on Beijing we wanted to go to Japan, particularly Kyoto but unfortunately, Japan embassy requires a bank certificate that says you have U$1,500 in your account as part of their visa requirements. Another place we would have wanted to visit would be the Big Apple. At least once there, we would not need hotel because there would be friends who could accommodate us. But just thinking about the price of the airline ticket makes it not feasible at this time. There are also the visa requirements, I’m sure they’ll be as stringent as or more so than Japan’s. So I guess it will be Beijing for us this Spring Break. We just hope we can still get a good price for the tickets and book a cheap but nice and clean hotel. Our friends say that Beijing is a very cheap place stay. I just hope they are right because we have very limited budget.
Ito ay ang Thinking Buddha na matatagpuan sa pinakamalaking museyo sa Seoul. Madilim ang silid kung saan sya matatagpuan at siya lang ang iniilawan.
(This is the Thinking Buddha, which can be found in the National Museum of Korea in Seoul. The room where the statue is located is very dark with the spotlight just focused on the statue.)
Yesterday I weighed myself and was depressed to see that I gained weight again. I really should start going back to the gym but when the school assignments started pouring in, I stopped going altogether. Some of our classmates still go regularly. I guess it’s really a matter of priority. Another alternative is to go on a diet. Unfortunately, my friends came for a visit and we ate out a lot. I guess that contributed a great deal to my weight gain. Well, another option is choosing the best diet supplements. There are a lot on the internet but one has to be careful. I read something last week about consumers complaining about a certain diet pill made from cranberry or something. I guess I will just have to start cutting down on my food intake, especially junkfood.
Itong mga sapatos nato ay isang klase lang sa mga souvenirs na binibenta sa isang stall sa Yongsan train station. Nung una akala ko Converse din ang nakalagay sa tatak ngunit hindi pala. Di ko saulo yung nakalagay kasi parang mahirap sya sya basahin.
(These shoes are souvenirs sold at the Yongsan train station. At first I thought the brand they’d put was Converse also but it was not so and I can’t remember what because it was a nonsense word that is hard to remember.)
