It’s Tuesday evening, and I’ve been in Panama City for 24 hours.  Raswan and I arrived at the airport at 9:30pm and took a taxi into the city.  After traveling for over 20 hours, we were SO tired.  Even more than being tired, we were hungry.  We walked down the street at 11pm and looked for a place to eat, passing a McDonald’s along the way. I was HUNGRY, but I knew that my first meal in Panama wasn’t going to be a Big Mac.  We found Cafe Monolo, and I had chicken croquettes, which tasted like a fish fillet, but with ground up chicken.

Today, we set the alarm for 10am, but were still so tired from the day before, we didn’t leave the hotel until 2pm.  Today was just a day of resting and doing errands.  Tomorrow we’re going to find a different place to stay and go so the Panama Canal.  I’ve posted some pictures in the photo album, so check them out.

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Monday
90?F (32?C) | 73?F (23?C)

That’s the weather forecast for tomorow, the day we arrive in Panama.  I’m actually looking forward to the 94% humidity.  The low today in Seoul is -7?C, which is making my face so dry. 

Last night after I met Ras at the bus terminal, we went out and met up with Rory, Ben, and four of Ras’ friends from the winter camp he worked at in Jinju.  Rory and Ben had just come from the Sting concert, and Rory was pretty wasted.  He took some fun pictures, and I’m sure he’ll post it on his website soon.

Tonight, we have dinner with some of the same friends from Jinju, and Philippe.  I’m making sure it’s not a 3am night like last night, since our flight is at 9:20 am tomorrow.

I’m leaving in 15 minutes for the bus terminal and going to Seoul to meet Ras.  Hopefully we’ll also see Rory, Ben, and Philippe tonight.  Today I deleted all the information on my phone for Reardon, who bought my phone.  I’m a sentimental person, and save funny and memorable text messages from friends.  One of the ones I found was from Renee, when she left Kangneung in July of 2003!  Yes, I still had that message!  My phone got shut off a couple days ago, so I wasn’t able to send anyone a good-bye text message.  Good-bye Kangneung!  On 2 Panama.  C U L8R!

Link: Bloggies >> Fifth Annual Weblog Awards.

The Bloggies nominees are here.  This is an annual award, in 30 categories, given to the best blogs online.  I like browsing the nominees just to get ideas for layouts and formats.  Voting is happening NOW and ends Thursday, February 3rd.  The winners will be announced between March 13 and 15.  Browsing the  nominees from the 2003 Bloggies, is what made me want to start blogging a year ago.  It’s really a great place to look, if you want to start one yourself. 

One of my favorite award categories, is "Best Tagline."  The nominees this year are:

1. Pesky’ Apostrophe: "Always better than an unexpected period"
2. Scaryduck: "Not scary, not a duck"
3. The Gospel According to Rhys: "Chronologically inept since 2060"
4. Dooce: "Not your average clenched-cheek sprint to the bathroom"
5. Random Acts of Reality: "Trying to kill as few people as possible…"

I’m voting for number one… but that’s because I’m a girl.  #4 would have been my second choice.

In December T-Mobile became the first domestic wireless provider to offer ringbacks, which they branded "CallerTunes."  It allows you to "replace the boring ‘ring-ring’ with your choice of the hottest song, celebrity voice, and comedy clips."  It didn’t take long for me to realize CallerTunes will confuse the shit out of anyone calling.  So I bought one just to hear everyone’s reaction. [Read more: stereogum: My Phone Drops It Like It's Hot.]

These ringbacks have been in Korea for awhile, and I remember the first couple of times I heard them.  It was a surprise at first, but wasn’t shocking.  It’s like you’re being put on hold at a doctor’s office.  Then Ras got one for his phone, which was some Outkast song.  Every time I called him, I’d be so startled but then enjoyed listening to the music while waiting for him to pick.  I haven’t heard any celebrity voices here yet.  I would be pretty confused if I called somebody, only to hear Snoop Dogg saying, "Dogg here.  Did you expect a ring?  I’m waiting for them to answer too.  Snoop."