I heart Planet Earth

I am addicted to the BBC / Discovery Channel series, Planet Earth -- I think it's one of the most beautifully filmed documentaries I've ever seen (even better than The Blue Planet). Of course, they had some help from state-of-the-art HD photography, but nevertheless, the images will take your breath away. Everything from the polar bear cubs to the snow leopard hunt to the underground caves...I guarantee that you will be mesmerized. It's almost worth upgrading to a 1080p TV and HD-DVD player! ;-)

Get cultured...courtesy of BofA

Bank of America is sponsoring a free month of museum visits in many cities across the country. Show your BoA bank/ATM/credit card and you and a guest get in for free during the month of May -- sweet! http://www.bankofamericapromotions.com/museums/

For SF dwellers, that means SFMoMA, California Academy of Arts & Sciences, de Young, Legion of Honour, Asian Art Museum and more!!

Countdown to Earth Day

Earth Day is April 22nd. While being "green" is definitely en vogue these days, are you really doing your part to help out? Or perhaps you just need to learn more before you know how to make a difference? Here's a shortlist on how to get started:

-Play the Planet Green Game

-Visit the Global Green website

-Check out "green" businesses in your local area using Greenopia

-Watch Robert Redford's new show, The Green, on the Sundance Channel

-Shop "green" with Loomstate for Barneys Green at Barneys New York

-Change your regular light bulbs into compact fluorescents. I know a place that sells them for cheap. ;-)

Blog your way to a job...

...so says the Wall Street Journal. Maybe I should be better about keeping my blog up to date! ;-)

Soundtrack of life: I hate American Idol...

Okay, not really. It's just that the ones that win (or don't, in this case) always end up releasing syrup-y songs that get so addictive. Or maybe they're so addictive because they don't try to be too smart and get straight to the point. Like this one.

Better Off Alone - Katharine McPhee

One thing I'm wonderin'
When you run out of friends
Will you be coming back home?

Let's think this through again
Let's take a different spin
Why can't I leave you alone?

...

Cause baby I'm tired, tired of the fight
I'm tired of the lonely days and the dark endless nights
It's taken some time, cause I didn't know
If I could ever let you go
You helped me figure it out
I'm better off alone
I'm better off alone

I may be found, somewhere tonight
Cursing the day you walked into my life
What's done is done, I can't change time
But I'll be damned if I'm not gonna try
Oh I'm gonna try

Baby I'm tired, tired of the fight
I'm tired of the lonely days and the dark endless nights
It's taken some time, cause I didn't know
If I could ever let you go
You helped me figure it out
I'm better off alone

But every now and then, my heart gives in
To the hope that someday you'll change
Then alone I'll wake, to my own mistakes
That it's just a foolish game

I'm tired, tired of the fight
I'm tired of the lonely lonely lonely days and the dark endless nights
You didn't think, cause you didn't know
That I'd find the strength to let, let you go
I finally figured it out
I'm better off alone
I'm better off alone

One thing before I go
Something I've got to know
Boy, did you ever love me?

Reminiscing: 2006 cities in 10 words or less

Wow...has it been a year already? I remember I started this blog in December 2005 with a retrospective on that year. I figured it's a good idea to keep the tradition going, so here's my travel retrospective for 2006. However, I did notice that I'm about, oh, four months late on this little mini-memoir, so I've decided to shorten it by keeping the really high highlights. So thus I present: 2006 cities in 10 words or less (each, of course). And in a free form, verbal-diarrhea-esque fashion...

Preamble
So if 2005 was the year of 40+ flights, 2006 was the year of way-too-many-to-remember flights. I had at least 46 "qualifying" flights on United and its partners, but that doesn't include the countless of other award flights, American flights, as well as my very first flight on Southwest--all amounting to around 120,000 miles, *flown*. In any case, I think I was away for every other weekend in 2006 (if you were to even out the travel)...which as I said, is too many to remember.

2006 cities, in no particular order:

• Las Vegas - fabulous Wynn huge suites Tao club restaurant lychee martinis scandalous
• Seoul - ginseng chicken soup work play karaoke has identity crisis
• Tokyo - Grand Hyatt spa peaceful Ten-Ichi Tsukiji market best sushi period
• Hong Kong - family food flu Landmark Mandarin Oriental round bathtub rocks
• Kuala Lumpur - mosques Malaysian airlines scary milo Petronas Towers
• Buenos Aires - 11pm dinner European sexy great beef hotel room with bar
• Sao Paulo - worst airport ever.
• Munich - stopover bad food don't remember much no green gummy bears
  
• Zermatt - Matterhorn amazing hotel cute fondue raclette chocolates no snow
• Lausanne - my French sucks cute town Blondel's room service closes early
• Geneva - small airport duty-free watches
• Singapore - amazing food airline lost camera stupid cab Ritz amazing views
• Langkawi - private beach Four Seasons villa spa food bliss
• Beijing - even dirtier? Starbucks Beard Papa foreigners taking over
• Chicago - hidden gem Park Hyatt Millennium Park Japonais juice pairings
• Indianapolis - different time zone WHAT? missed wedding P.F. Chang's takeout
• New York - there are no words Big Apple
• Dallas - everything big Hummer Tex-Mex BBQ restaurants
• Miami - Nobu wannabe humid redeye flights suck
• Philadelphia - Pat's diBruno Penang college friends upgraded suites are sweet
• Playa del Carmen - Basico sexy beaches Chitchen-Itza mini-car tummy troubles
• Sonoma - Fairmont Girl and Fig co-ed spa hotel no wineries no time
• Santa Barbara - ice cream pier Spanish style ocean quaint
• San Luis Obispo - Big Sky Cafe Big Sur beignets California coast mind-blowing
• Carmel - Park Hyatt ocean views Point Lobos drive walk hike
• Monterey - aquarium fish cute seaside
• Lake Tahoe - company ski trip no ski party all night no sleep
• Vancouver - home sweet home.
  

Can't wait til next year ;-)

Not an April Fool's Joke: It's April already...

How the heck did we get to April already? More than one quarter of the way through 2007??!?! Boggles the mind I tell you!

Just got back from an amazing belated birthday weekend getaway to Cambria and the sunny Central Coast of California. The dramatic coastlines never fail to amaze me; and this time, we even got to see lazy elephant seals hanging out on the beaches near Piedras Blancas! And then it was time for a tour of the very lavish, very over-the-top Hearst Castle -- you really have to see it to believe it!

Anyway, busy week of work coming up ahead, so that means I better get back to it...*sigh*