Spring is coming

Spring is coming... :)
Even though exams are here (and are here to stay for awhile...) the weather seems to make everyone feel a little better. Not too hot, not too cold; a bit moist for the perfect weather :) Too bad this isn't the weather that we get when we go to school. Lets enjoy it while it's here :D

Lens For Sale

CANON EF 28-135 F/3.5-5.6 IS USM

Bought this on July 15th 2008. It was my first lens upgrade from the kit. I got bored of it. Theres nothing wrong with it, I just want a longer lens (70-300mm) and need to sell this to buy another one. It comes with a Canon 72mm Haze UV-1 Glass Filter and a non-Canon lens hood. The hood isn't authentic Canon but fits perfectly. I don't ever buy authentic Canon hood because these work just fine I guess. Canon hoods are around $50 if you really want to get one. I think I have all the paper work if you really want it. I do have all the boxes even for the hood and the filter. The filter was bought with the lens and it was on the lens since it was taken out of the box. Haven't even really traveled with this lens so it's basically new. I mostly use my other lens Canon EF 50 f/1.4 USM because I really like wide aperture. If you really want to see photos of it I can take them and send them to you.

Broadway Camera is where I think they sell this lens at the cheapest price in Vancouver and its for $705.58 ($629.99 before tax):
http://www.bccamera.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13_17&products_id=90&zenid=20hitkbictsnq9nv64gisj4124

Hoods: http://www.bccamera.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=234_247&products_id=1480&zenid=20hitkbictsnq9nv64gisj4124

I can't find a camera store website that has this Canon filter but Broadway Camera has what seems to be the closest thing to what I have a Canon UV Protector Filter 58mm. Mine is 72mm is a haze UV-1 Glass filter:
http://www.bccamera.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=234_240&products_id=3314&zenid=20hitkbictsnq9nv64gisj4124

I bought these things in USA before I moved here.


Price is $400 firm. It's actually firm so please don't bother. FIRM!!!!!!! <----- people don't seem to understand that sometimes.

Only cash deals by meeting up. All electronic money deals will be ignored so don't bother please. No money order, bank transfer, paypal, etc...
Please please dont contact me if you are trying pay by these means.

St.Valentine's Day :)

Valentine's Day! I haven't done a blog post two days in a row in so long. It's a special occasion today so I decided to be more productive on my blog. It was great day. Camila and I met up this afternoon and we exchanged our Valentine's Day gifts. We then went out to get our groceries for our dinner that we planned to cook together. Our Menu For Tonight:
Appetizer: Broccoli soup with onion and carrots
Main: Meatball Pasta
Desert: Fondue

It seems simple but making all these from scratch was quite chaotic in the kitchen. I've never really made meatball for pasta before. Meatball with parmesan and parsley really added some flavor to the meat. The broccoli soup was just so good because we're just that good I guess. The dessert fondue was made with the fondue kit that Camila bought me for Valentine's Day. A great success!

The People

Its been a while since I got back from Mexico and I've put this last part of my Mexico blog posts off for long enough. The people were quite interesting in Mexico. By interesting I mean unexpected. I know how cliche it may sound but I was amazed by how "Americanized" the country became. I must however admit that I was in a very touristy area of the country (Cancun). I guess I kept comparing Mexico to Ecuador where Americans have yet to reach out as their winter get-away destination. I expected to see artisan markets, people struggling to communicate with tourists, and maybe even small Mexican tiendas and restaurants where they sell weird shit that you never really see in U.S.and.A in their "MEXICAN" burrito drive-thrus. When I got there, Spanish is unnecessary, all souvenirs, food, and other merchandises are sold in big department stores just like the ones in Vancouver. Nothing was really authentic; downtown Cancun was just full of clubs, pubs/bars, and department stores surrounded by gigantic hotels. People in the hotel were all fairly fluent in English and nothing was really "Mexico" except the heat.

I cannot fail to mention the street vendors selling bracelets at night downtown. I walked past them without noticing anything significant but Jiwon, Jin, and Sunny seemed to have had their attention focused on these two girls helping their mother sell bracelets at night.

They came up to me and put their hands up to show me their large selection of hand-woven bracelets hoping that I would buy some; but what really startled me about these two girls was that they were not shy to approach strangers on the street. They came right up me without a smile or any sign of greeting gesture and displayed their bracelets. I picked out a bracelet, paid them a dollar, and snapped a few shots of them but they were not interested in anything but selling - I don't blame them but the lack of affect in the faces of such young children is so sad. They were out to sell and thats what they were doing. Altogether we bought about 5-6 bracelets and we took off.

All in all, there is a basic lack of respect to one another between the tourists and Mexicans all around. A typical American would go around shouting in English when shit don't get done the way they want in hopes that raising their voice would establish better communication. The Mexicans, being the service provider in most cases, would try to keep their composure throughout but obviously shake their heads in their mind and pity the tourists for their ignorance. The entertainers, waiters, and cleaning people were all extremely polite and respectful to you as long as you treat them with equal respect.


People are obviously not as well off as the people up here in Vancouver. Most of the ones we encounter are probably the more educated upper middle class citizens working hard for their life. One way to distinguish a higher ranking staff and a lower ranking staff in the hotel is by listening to their fluency in English. The housekeepers that come into our rooms when we all leave barely speak English and the more professional looking waiters and waitresses are quite fluent. For me, I learned a lot about the Mexicans in Cancun from this trip; their way of adapting to the flooding of tourists is quite interesting and sad at the same time. Must we always hate the Americans for such things? Perhaps not, I'm sure its similar in most poor countries where tourism is one of the highest national revenues.

Riu Palace Las Americas

The resort was excellent. Never been to a Riu franchise before but I really enjoyed the stay. Clean, friendly, and fun. We had some trouble with "Mario" from Orbitz Travel Agency and Jessica, the front desk girl, really helped us out. The bartenders just wont stop feeding you alcohol. "Mas tequila" is the most heard phrase wherever you go: at the pool, the restaurant, bay,...


The pool side entertainment crew were also very friendly. Although I didn't really participate in any of the activities, there seems to be something for everyone. Even dad and Sunny's dad had their fun at the pool.


If I were to pick a negative point for the hotel is its food and the lack of night entertainment. The hotel seems to be quite dead by 12:30. Even on Christmas Eve, after the grand fiesta, there seems to be nothing very exciting. I guess people just expect you to go out to the clubs in the city. Besides the daily night entertainment at 21:00, there seems to be very little excitement in the resort.



The food in the restaurants that we need to make reservations were not so bad. It was just typical fine dining in Vancouver but the regular meals at the buffet were quite redundant and plain. Besides these two semi-down-sides, the hotel pick was an asset to our trip experience and I would definitely go back to another Riu franchise if I ever had the chance to.

The Arrival

Dec.18th 2008



The four of us - Mom, Dad, Jiwon, and I - drove out of Birchwood Crescent at 4AM in the morning to head to YVR for our 8AM plane. Driving down the Heritage Mountain Ji-won attempts to justify the importance of her dress and that we should all agree to drive to our apartment to go pick it up. Fortunately we decide to just drive straight to the airport. We got there before Sunny's family did and the check-in was quick. The security, as always for planes into U.S.and.A, is extremely tedious.



We got on the plane extremely exhausted and in no time we were up in the air heading to Texas George-Fucking-Bush International Airport. I was glad that we were going to have a break in Houston because I hate plane rides. We arrived approximately 8 hours later in Cancun Mexico. I haven't had many chances to speak Spanish in awhile but I was surprised at the amount of the language I was able to recall.

It's that time of the year.

Every year we go around trying to get the most out of our used text books. Already feeling ripped off for buying over priced books, we are eager to rip other people off in return. Craigslist, TextbookExchange, and Facebook are some places we usually go to to search out those buyers and seller. Why not do all that and save the environment too? At TextCentral.ca, 25% of the profit from advertisers will be donated to tree planters. Hurry on now and list your old textbooks and buy new used ones from TextCentral.ca!