right now i´m in the most southern city of the world, punta arenas. though it´s not as charming as ushuaia, there are some westernized influences around here as i´ve seen some westernized shops around here. yesterday, i got to see some cool glaciers, though they weren´t huge as i expected, but i was told that there are many glaciers around that area and i´d have to hike or take a smaller boat to bigger glaciers. today i got to go to a remote, natural reserve island called magellanic island (i´m not sure if the spelling is correct) and saw many penguins burrows. there we step on the island and there are practically penguins everywhere as there aren´t much of natural vegetations to be seen. just full of earthy soil and of course, the white droppings. this spot is definitely much better than i saw at punta tomba, argentina where they had many bushes which hid many penguins. it was very surrealing experience to hang out with these adorable dressed tuxedo creatures.

as for the raiders comments, most of the people on the ship were able to watch the super bowl via satellite. i just had the feelings before the game that tampa bay was gonna win because the raiders haven´t seen a team that has speedy defense like the bucs. 3 defensive tds?? that´s something unreal! anyway, i guess the magical moments of ushuaia definitely made me forget about the super bowl.

as for the boulders comment, patagonia has still many untapped areas so i´m sure that there are still some around there only if i can find some local guides to take me there. i definitely want to spend a couple of weeks here in patagonia. definitely not too many people know about this area as there aren´t many backpackers flocking to this vast area.

well, i´ll be spending a week stopping at a few ports in chile before heading home. i´m somewhat homesick right because i really can´t stand being in a tour group where indepedence is somewhat limited.

oh yeah one more thing, i noticed that chile´s definitely not a cheap place to shop compared to argentina´s! (so much for argentina´s 21% of unemployment rate!)

i´m in the beautiful ´end of the world´ port, ushuaia, argentina. it has many breathtaking natural sceneries around as i took a catamaran and bus ride around this spot. i would love to come back here again someday soon. yesterday, i just passed cape horn, the most southern point of the world except for antaractia, of course. cape horn is practically dead island as there´s only a monument and a weather station there. anyway, ushuaia is where the 'america' highway ends. a few months ago, a couple of bikers rode from alaska alllll the way to here!!! in an hour, zenith will be taking off and we will see a few glaciers in chile which is nearby. should be an interesting sightseeing. sadly, i looked around here for boulders and they are nowhere to be found plus this spot isn´t good spot to climb as i heard that ushuaia gets only about 15 full sunshine days every year and we were lucky to get some sun today!!! now, i have to get going and get some stuff here before the ship leaves soon!

i'm on the ship, zenith, right now typing from the library room. we just left a nice, small town called puerto madyrn, argentina. from the port, we took a long bus ride to punta tombo penguin rockery where my dad and i actually saw adorable creatures : magallanic penguins! my mom didn't go as she got seasick and was under the ship's doc's orders to stay in the room for three days. but my dad and i filmed some of the penguins and showed the clips of them on my powerbook to my mom. it definitely made her day. puerto madyrn is not definitely a tourist trap, so it was actually nice to see this argentinan town being infested with many locals. its countryside does remind me alike of the trip that i took back in november through california's mojave desert as they were many 'desert-like' vegetation. anyway, back to punta tombo, the highlight of that trip was catching a couple of penquins mating in doggy style. it seems like all animals do this style and my dad actually caught this x-rated stuff on the video. when the penquins saw us, the male one seems to be somewhat embarrassed by it that he was trying to cover his mate with his body. i'll definitely post this brief clip online once i get back home! next stop: cape horn, the most southern tip of america!

now i´m at the port of montvideo, uruguay. this morning i took a bus tour around montvideo. it has a nice mixture of old town and modern atmosphere. the houses along the beach here are very glamourous! well, i really don´t have much to say about montvideo plus i have to get off here soon as my time is up soon. i hope to type some more soon once i am able to see more of argentina on the south side! i´m outta of here!

i´m trying to finish my shopping and looking for laundromat around here as the laundry on the ship´s very expensive. $1.25 for just ONE pair of brief. how outrageous is that? i wish that the ship has its own laundromat where i could throw a {bacardi} foam party from the washin´machines! there arent many young peepos on the ship. i dont think ill be posting much here during the cruise as it´s 50 cents per minute for using internet on the ship! so im trying to buy many clothes as many as i can while here in buenos aires because everything here is sooo cheap! i hope to snag a nice suit here soon today after i can find laundomat around here!

I think this problem must be disscussed in offline. Or ICQ....

my digicam broke!!! it seems like my zipper lock bag didn´t even prevent my camera from getting wet after i went on a super cool boat ride on the river enroute to iguazu falls where i got completely soaked by the roaring, heavy showers of waterfalls. there were just four of guys on the boat and it was getting close to closing time, so we asked the driver if we could go through the waterfalls again, and we did it THREE times!!! that was totally awesome! now, i´ll have to see if i can find a good digicam in buenos aires tmw. i´ll be flying out there tonight. also, my stomach´s been acting weird lately. (i hope it´s not that tainted hamburger that i ate in rio!!!) also i´ve been getting some headache due my head accident when i hit a low branch while hiking and it just hit on my bridge of my nose, so i have this prominent red spot on my bridge of the nose :( but iguazu is pretty cool with lots of boulders along the river, though they´re completely CHOSSED and WET from the mist of waterfalls.

now i´m in iguazu falls, argentina and i just got back from walking around the waterfall. it´s fricking huge and the mist there is pretty awesome! also the waterfall itself is very breathtaking sight too. i am on a break for a while here at the hotel. this afternoon, my dad and i are gonna take a nice boat ride on the base of the river to see the waterfall upclose. guaranteed, we´re gonna get soaked but it´s such a perfect, ideal weather outside to get soaked! tomorrow, i´ll be heading to buenos aires for a few days before getting on board for a 2 week cruise.

if you ever get the chance to be in rio, don't ever miss the chance for a cool ride on sugar loaf! its view from there are absolutely stunning and breath-taking! also i noticed a few climbers climbing on this rock. i'll say it's like maybe a half day to climb this nice rock. kinda reminds me of el captain in yosemite but small version. well, i'm off to explore some more rio's active streets!

just got here this am and i'm already enjoying rio despite its lousy weather - gloomy densed clouds that is hovering low enough to cover the "christ" statue on the top of the hill. i just went to this wonderful restaurant where the dishes are mouth waterin' delightful enough to make your tummy roar loud enuff. the rock around rio de janeiro looks very glass-like smooth slabs. i've been meaning to look around for the small boulders so i can boulder just for once, but because of the weather, i'll have to take a rain check for the next two days before i head off to NE argentina to see the huge waterfall. i'm already fed up with these old farts. i'm the only dude who's under 50s as most of these peepos are retired. i just hope that i can keep up with these slow pokes for a few weeks. it's funny that the tour bus took us a few blocks to the restaurant from the hotel. i guess the bus is now called 'senior citizen mobile bus' anyway, rio de janeiro kinda resembles to miami's south beach in a way because of the deco buildings on the beach though the ones in miami are more prominent. i would love to come back to rio again someday soon, but this time with FRIENDS!!! i think it's gonna be my LAST trip with the old farts.

i don't mean to diss new yorkers, but i think it's nice that nyc's starting to be a smokeless environment soon now that nyc has passed an ordinance where no one can smoke in the bars. it'll start soon in march, a perfect timing for my move in to nyc! i'm off to miami in a few hours!

yesterday suz and i took a LONG stroll around manhattan as we swung through soho, greenwich village, and east village. here are a few observations that i've made:

there's a nice marlbaro price sign that said, "$6.66" a nice sign from the hell. (i'll post the pix here soon)

there's a pile of stashed old apple/pc hardwares stacked together in the bathroom in a local coffeehouse

there's an actual person dressed up like a scuba diver with loaded gears passing out flyers

well, i guess that's new york and that's something i've been looking forward to. suz acted about these stuff like it was a norm thing.

one more day till tropical sunbath time.

a male stranger just approached me in the park and asked me if i cud use the web to find the currency for russian rubles as he found a 500 ruble bill. so i went to check out the current exchange rate's website and it was only 3 cents for each russian ruble, thus 500 rubles for measly 15.70 dollars. he looked little bit of disappointed when i told him this news. now, if this is part of 'wireless' culture, then it's something i'd have to get used to once i move to nyc soon!

i'm sitting outside in a nice park in east village. lots of wireless shit going on here so i was able to retrieve web here. suz's office is real close to here. i don't mind living around here as it kinda reminds me of wicker park in a way but less prominent than greenwich village. we're gonna stay at a nice hotel in manhattan this weekend as we found a great deal on a fancy hotel. hotel's just across the street from MSG. it'll be a fun full weekend before i zoom to a tropical area soon!

ok... i've finally figured out my itinerary starting tomrrow:

jan. 9th - 13th: nyc
13th: depart for miami, then to rio de janeiro, brazil
14th-15th: rio de janeiro
16th-17th: iguazzu falls
18th-19th: buenos aires, argentina
19th: board for a cruise from buenos aires
20th: punta del este, uruguay
21st: at sea
22nd: puerto madyrn, argentina
23rd: at sea
24th: port stanley, falkland islands
25th: at sea
26th: cape horn - tierra del fuego
27th: ushuaia, argentina
28th: punta arenas, chile
29th: strait of magellan
30th: chilean fjords
31st: puerto montt, chile
feb 1st: at sea
2nd: valparaiso, chile
2nd: depart for miami - nyc.

feb. 5th: depart for chicago

boy, when you look at this itinerary, you do think, wow it does look good, but then again you think again, what the heck are sooo great about these places?? well, i guess i will let you know once i visit these places!

now, i'm packing here at such a last minute. a pair of shirts are even in dry cleaners right now. my jeep isn't EVEN ready... dayum it! i hope that the shop will have it ready by tomorrow am so i can pick it up right away before going to the airport.

i will be bringing my mandala powerbook with me for the trip, so i will try to keep up with my blogs with my trip reports!

here i come, south america, land of coffee beans, cocaine, string thongs, samba, and tropical forests!

it's like around 50s outside, just wearing a sweater on the way to lunch. i better enjoy this day by staying outdoor today as i heard that a cold front's gonna hit chicago soon tonight.

a friend just imed me asking me if i felt cheated... at first i thought he was referring to the niners-giants game in which NFL just announced that the refs blew a call.

but we were on the different wavelengths as he said that new 17" powerbook had been out just after i got my powerbook last month but after reading all the features on the new powerbook, it was too fancy for my taste so i'm happy with what i have right now for the next few years! one more pound, and 2 inches bigger? it'd be a pain in the butt to haul it around the busy streets of nyc! but that 12" looks sooo appealing that i might even ask my gf to sell her ibook and get that pb for herself!

ugh.. got a letter from chicago court district summonin' me to be on standby jury duty.. but luckily, i will be out in south america baskin' in the sun on that date and just like that, via phone, i was being excused out for it ;-)

yay!

hope the court doesn't summon me again soon before i move out of nyc!

finally finished painting the kitchen! here are the pixes:

soooo what do you think of the kitchen's new looks???

i watched the first half of the niners-giants' playoff football game. i just sulked after the niners' poor performance and decided to ditch the tv and do other errands. by the time, i checked the game to see its latest score, it was 38-14, giants. the niners' run for the super bowl has been doomed ran in my head, but still i decided to stick on and watch the game with like 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. bang, 38-22, boom, 38-25... and then i had to meet two friends, amanda and debbie, at nearby soupbox for dinner. i asked 'em if we could make the soups to go so we could watch the game in my place, so we immediately got the soups and went back to my place, and whoa... it was already 38-39 with garcia throwing to streets, and i was filled with joy though there was about 60 precious seconds left in the game... as the time was ticking, the giants were moving the chains pretty quickly and then the ball got almost intercepted and i was just jumping up and down and slapping my hardwood floor being disappointed that the ball didn't get intercepted. now, with six seconds left... the giants' had a bad snap that sailed to wide left and the placekicker had to reach and tried to place the ball, but there was no time for it so he just immediately took off and tried to look for a receiver and just threw up in the air... there were like a few offensive linemen running down there to catch the ball... however they were not supposed to catch the ball and got the penalty sooooo GAME OVER!!!!!!!!! i was soooo RELIEVED!!! soooo since this was one of the greatest comeback playoff games, i think the credit card company, visa, should take some of those highlights and add them to visa's tv commerical (for you who watch tv often) where the san franciscians were reminiscing on the touchdown of garcia-streets in a regular game. bring it on, buccaneers!!!

anyway, i just finished painting primer in my kitchen. i'll apply the blue tone coatings by tomorrow! hopefully the kitchen will be sky bright blue! what's left is a new stove/microwave.

.... counting ... 7 more days until south america's sunny trip!

a few buddies were asking me about my resolutions and i told 'em that i haven't even thought about them until just now.

here's a few resolutions:

try to stay away from the real world as long as i can.

try not to overspend $$$ on food - eg. i just ordered $15 worth of sushi earlier for dinner when i could just spend 5 bucks on a burger with fries.

MUST try to keep myself refrained from climbing due to my busted baby finger. i think it will take a few months to cure it even though i haven't seen my doc yet about this finger!

MUST spruce up my portfolio site for a competitive-starved design world in nyc.

MUST finish my condo renovation (i just keep procastinating on my home projects... disconnecting my old stove from the gas pipe was a BIG step for me!)

MUST start my small project for my gf. (now, you must be wondering what is going on now...)

uh... i just realize that this is a long list of resolutions, as a matter of fact, it sounds like it's my mini-resolutions for the first few months. perhaps i should have mini-resolutions for every few months in order to keep yourself productive and high self esteemed.

now, for HUGE resolutions for 2003... i say just to f*ck 'em, because the long-term resolutions don't get me anything since i was born. i feel like that resolutions are for idiots who need a guide to lead them to the right path in the long run. i'm just fine where i am now and adjust my life to this already chaotic world.

finally this morning, i disconnected the gas pipe from my greased stove and dragged it out of the kitchen. it's sitting pretty right in the dining room. the sticky, yucky stove connected with a wacked out microwave is pretty outdated. i will get a lovely new stove and a much smaller microwave separately to give my kitchen a nice facelift. i will paint the kitchen with blue and white latex this weekend.

here's a photo of mr. stove on its enroute to a dump:

notice on how the microwave is almost the same size as the oven??? soo friggin' 80s!!! my mom still has that huge, old microwave sitting in her kitchen even with a built-in microwave installed already. guess she's not even ready to let the old one go.

ugh! i just called the shop for an update on my jeep. they've taken the parts off in the transmission and found the fuel pump to be faulty. luckily, it's being covered in the warranty, so i won't have to pay anything for this though the jeep won't be ready until tuesday or wednesday! so no driving around for me. i have to figure out on how to bring paint cans to home from home depot or so. it's time for me to paint kitchen and replace the stove and microwave. can you imagine that i've survived two years with a broken microwave, cooking all the leftovers on the stove? fun fun fun!!!

oh yeah, i've posted some pictures of nye's party in st. louis online:

http://www.imagestation.com/members/gamma888

my friend has a wireless router at her place, so it was nice to use my pb here while watching the notre dame gettin' its ass kicked by n.c. state.

i had a blast at velvet's and a friend's party and went to bed at around 630 this morning.

it was great to see some ol' friends whom i haven't seen in years.

my friend, paige, pointed this to me: tomorrow it'll be 01/02/03. that's something we won't be able to see it in another 100 years later.

again, happy new year and hope 2003 turns out to be a wonderful one for you.