Migration of this blog

Ok here is latest update:

I have decided again to move this blog to a new domain which is http://rickhoang.wordpress.com due to a better GUI and functions that Wordpress provides to the users.

Now by saying this does not mean that blogspot is bad or anything. However, as a person who yearns to learn new things and possesses an up to date mind, i tend to try new things all the time and this time is to switch blog.

The contents of this blog will be imported to the new one so everything is the same except the link now is as mentioned above. For those who are currently using Blogspot and love it, please stick to it. There is no reason for you to change if you still like it. But if you wish to change too then there is a function to import your contents of your blog to wordpress.

If you do not know how to do it, visit my new blog site then ask me.

See you there.

Morning coffee at Nice

Every morning in Vietnam has its own meaning to me since it has become productive in every way. Productive in the sense of getting up at 8 am and going out to get some fresh morning air and sitting my bottom at Nice coffee shop. It may sound so chilling to you but it is totally a whole new improvement to me due to me myself is not very much a morning person. Nuff said...I would not want to drag on too much about myself here because it might cause a bad publicity and that the last thing i would wanna see on my list. Trust me, the list goes on forever ;)

Now you would probably think of the popular franchise brand Starbucks Coffee. when i mention coffee.. Sad news is that Starbucks Coffee is nowhere to be found in Vietnam. One of the reasons that contributes to this is that probably they might find it hard here to compete since the coffee shop business in Vietnam generally and in Saigon particularly is booming at an amazingly fast rate and everyone knows that late-comer in the market do not tend to get appreciated very well. However, it is only my opinion, it could be that the market is not favorable for Starbucks to consider investing their time and money into it yet. Furthermore to add, Saigon may be small and outdated in infrastructure, road system but one thing about it that surely can beat any developed country, that is the coffee shop.

So enough of the coffee shop introduction, allow me to continue the journey. As i mentioned, the hobby of having a morning coffee at Nice is getting more and more like a routine. Located in the central of the city, this coffee shop has a nice view of its own, elegant design and friendly staff, all of these contribute to the success of the shop. The food is another plus point that has to be added here, the variety of food here can satisfy the most picky customer that comes in. Of course in comparison to a restaurant, it is still somehow fallen behind but at the coffee shop level, it is at the top knot. The picture below shows only a part of the shop.

One thing interesting about the life here is that no matter how busy and frustrated life can become, people always somehow manage to have sometime enjoying the coffee. It is like a tradition and cannot be forgotten. That answers to the question of why the coffee business is very desirable in Vietnam. If i had that much money, i would certainly consider to open one.

Random pictures in Vietnam

These are some pictures taken by my newly bought P1i phone in Vietnam:

Sony Ericssons P1i

Finally, i proudly announce to the public that i have upgraded to the very first Symbian phone, the first of its kind in my life. Some civilization at last some might say. Why? Because i never had anything up to a normal camera phone whose tasks simply are just for making phone calls or taking some lousy shots. Now with the new P1i, i confidently can say that things can pretty much be done faster and easier.

Integrated with the ability of surfing web, installing applications and 3G, this phone is such an ideal phone for tech people. I repeat, ONLY FOR THOSE WHO HAVE KNOWLEDGE AND PASSIONS IN TECHNOLOGY. If not, please stick to your current phone.

However, i would like to spend this moment to show some sympathies for anyone who have bought this phone before with a **** expensive price. May you learn this painful lesson later on that best phone does not mean it has to be expensive. By the way, i traded in my old Nokia 6270 and got the price of RM800 for this P1i, to me it is a good deal and surprisingly enough that Nokia phones are worth so much more than Sony Ericssons.

No more spending time searching for comps in campus nor waiting for the stupid labs to be free to use the turtle-speed internet and god knows why it's so slow, i finally can enjoy my peaceful time surfing the net whenever and wherever i desire. Sigh, i wish i were in Singapore but Malaysia is fine too.

After few days using it, allow me to point out some of the pros and cons just in case any one of you are planning to get one:

Pros:

1. Beautiful design, sleek look.
2. Sensitive touchscreen that could detect almost any movements that happen on the surface on the screen.
3. Nice package which comes along when purchasing the phone: charger, charger stand, usb cable, headset and extra point pen
4. Widely supported by the community which means you can find almost anywhere on the web topics related to this phone and that also means good troubleshooting.
5. 3.2 mp camera is a non-complaint part. I could never ask for more. Auto-focus is another plus.
   
6. Good at taking video.
7. Operated under Symbian OS.
8. Supported by a wide range of 3rd party application. Java supported.
9. Wifi implemented.
10. 1Gb memory stick
    

Cons:

1. The size is quite big.
2. No protection for camera lens
   
3. QWERTY keyboard which has never been in the list of my favorite things about mobile phone
4. Can be very complicated for the first time user
5. Music player is hard to use.
6. Cannot view some languages namely Vietnamese unless a specified application is installed.

There you go, i wanna stop here since i like this phone and do not want people to think that this is bad phone. In fact, it is way good enough for me. So go ahead, get one and be amazed.

Chu Bar

First few days back in Vietnam, everything is brought back to me. The smells, the dust, the environment and people... you would not be mistaken for anything else. Things are so unique in here that even if i travel around world, i doubt that i would find the same experience while i am here. No matter how much i hate and love it, in the end it is still the place i call home. There is a saying from an unknown author "No place else like home" or "Home sweet home" which are very common nowadays among all of us. Forgive me if my knowledge in idioms is limited, if anyone knows a correct version, feel free to fix me.

My first social activity is in a bar call Chu Bar. Apparently, i was not aware of going there at all nor had any intention of having a night life here. However, i got a phone call from dad telling me to pick him up due to he got a lift from a friend to that bar and had no transportation back. Besides, he was 30% drunk and nobody would want him to ride home alone. You probably wonder why i use "ride" instead of "drive". For those who know, we use bikes here and i am a very good biker, ask Drew. So i reached the place, walked in. It's a small bar surrounded by people, the drinking bar is in the middle of the bar and people sat around it. Bartenders, mostly girls, served drinks with the smile on their faces, unlike Barcelona. Plus, they were smoking hot, Barcelona's girl promoters are only 50% of what those girls could be in terms of beauty. I especially laid eyes on the lady sitting at the corner of the bar alone, full with makeup, lovely figure that could melt any gentleman's heart. I guess she was there for a reason: waiting for someone, looking for someone or just be there for the sake of showing off. She looked at me and i looked at her, i smiled she smiled and i saw my dad waving at me so i walked to his table. Sigh... i had like few bucks in my wallet, could not even offer her a drink and besides, i was wearing SHORT and SLIPPERS, thanks to my dad. If i had known it earlier, i would have had worn something a bit more manly. Tough luck...

His usual gang were there whom i call uncles. They are nice people, dad's good old friends. I grabbed a chair then had a bit of Hennessy whiskey. The environment was cozy and filled with laughter, it somehow made me feel more like home than ever. Then we met an American lawyer friend, business associate with my dad 14 years ago and he still remembered me. Amazingly, he approached me and said hi which left me blank there for a moment. Good American accent, time for a change, reminded me of how English was supposed to be like. He commented me on my Aussie accent and wondered how come a Vietnamese had such an accent.

After 2 hours, we called it a night and headed home, had a few bumps on the road along the way but we reached home safe and sound. No pictures were taken due to me myself is in the process of getting a new camera phone. Hopefully, there will be more pictures in the next post.

Barcelona experience

I have never thought that i could be pretty much of a blogger like now. The feeling of wanting to write down something is burning within me. Plus, i have more time now to go around to see things, play some of my favorite games without being worried assignments due on the next day, clubbing my butt off just to get back some youth part within me. Thus, that is exactly what i did yesterday night.

I had a chance with Drew, Leo and Jonsen; the unusual gang; to try out some night time experiences at Barcelona club. So as usual, Drew called me up and decided the time of pick up so that i could get ready by then. Quite often, we took a little bit longer than the expected time to show up downstairs. Fortunately, Drew brought along a friend in his old glory times (whenever that was). So weeeeee!!!! Finally, we got some girl to hang out with and she did not disappoint any of us. Serene was a very outgoing girl with a cute personality. Good choice in friends Drew, i give you that. We had a good laugh, everything was pretty fun except the 2 hour wait til peak time due to our early arrival at the club. That is the least i could do to save up some entry fee which i was tipped by a friend that it could be RM60 per head. We would have to pay that amount if we had arrived late there.

The club was nice decorated fashionably and biologically if you know what i mean. 80% of the time, me and the guys just could not stop turning our heads around looking for some "spotlights" of the night and quite a number of them showed up. I did not manage to take any photos inside the club thanks to my lovely outdated camera phone. The word "packed" can be used to perfectly describe the scenery in there, people walked around, white smoke all over the place, music beats could beat your heart out and some crazy dancers shook their booties off. The peak time is the worst, Barcelona was overloaded by people. I do not know why it is so famous or Malaysia is that lack of clubs or something but i certainly had the feeling that 20 millions people of Malaysia were stacked into this bar yesterday night. We could not even barely move, leave alone the dancing and shaking.

It was fun and exciting but too crowded and that ceased the fun after a while being squeezed inside there. So we called it a night, have some late supper and headed home. Tired but meaningful, this is what i have been looking for in my life. Sometimes, it needs to be filled with excitement rather than worries about assignments and some unnecessary stuff.

Liberation

People say summer holiday is the best around the year and yet here i am sitting alone in the library waiting for the judgement time to come. Yes, i am having my Web3d exam in another 2 hours or so. Since i am not having the mood to even stack anything else into my brain, i've decided to kill time by writing down a few lines here. Do not take it wrongly here, i had quite a revision last night and so unconditionally deserved a well-earned quiet time in library writing blog before exam.

Hearth thumbing but also excited, this kind of feeling you only get when you are about to reach to the end of something horrible that you have been preparing to face it but not enough confidence to finalize it and doubt your ability to finish it perfectly. However, none of that does matter anyway due to the fact i am having a month holiday after 5pm today and unlike other years, i can finally be able to go back to Vietnam during mid year. Please do have some sympathies for my miserable life and if some of you asks me, i would gladly say that this is first time ever that i am allowed to go back in mid year. Not that i am feeling bad for not being able to go back that often anyway. It is again a mixture of emotions, i both want to go back and not want to go back if that makes any sense.

Going back is not always a first choice for me because that means i have to face even more pressures while i am there. Sometimes, i wonder whether i should choose the free life i have here or the one i have back there with more frustration. Tough choice...However, there's always a third choice for me to get back to Sydney if i can afford it myself. If somehow, i could contact my old colleages back there and get some connections, a clear path will present itself before me.

Next semester will be the last one and i firmly believe that it is time for me to decide where i should go and where i can go.

Tagged by Justin, Lily and Jan

Sorry guys, i've been tagged by several people. So i just do it in one shot. Here it goes!!!

1)At what age do you want to get married?

Another tough question, at the moment things don't really go that smooth to even think of marriage but if possible, 30 would be a good time.

2)Where do you go if someone sponsors you a tour ticket?

First choice: USA since i would like to see the lifestyle there. Sometimes i do have feelings that i belong there.

3)What's your favorite thing to do?

Most of the time, i like to sit in front of my comp even that does not benefit me in anyway.

4)Do you think money can buy happiness?

I am not too sure about the old times when the life was not so materialistic but at present i am certain that without money, the only thing you can get is sadness. If not, then why the hell do i have to study anyway?

5)Do you believe you can survive without money?

If someone sponsors me food and living cost. I hope it would be a girl though (beautiful and single).

6)What are you afraid to lose the most?

Sanity.

7)If you win $1 million dollar, what will you do?

Buy myself a big-ass entertainment system comes with a plasma TV at the size of a cinema screen plus a kick-ass gaming machine just for the sake of playing Window Solitaire games.

8) Dream jobs?

Be at best businessman with a salary of 10 digits.

9)List out 3 good points about the persons that tagged you?

Friendly, honest and ... chubby.

10)If you had only one wish, what would you wish for?

I would wish i could have been a god.

11)If you could rewind time, would you?

Hell yeah!!! People make mistakes, undoing those mistakes is all that we wish for.

12)What's your ambition?

Earn lots of money.

13)What's your favorite song at the moment?

I would say Ruppina - Freewill from One Piece ending theme song

14)If you could teleport now, where would you go?

New York

15)What do you think is the most important in your life?

Family

16) If you had a chance, which part of your character would you want to change?

I'd be more outgoing if i could.

17) What music have you been listening to recently?

Some Chinese instrumental songs. They really help in calming one's mind down.

18) What is the one thing you can't do and wish that you could do?

Be able to predict the future.

19) Would you do another tag?

I try not to. Man... It took ages for me to just type down everything. What on earth is it for anyway????

20) My personal question:

Between family and fame, which one do you choose?

I choose both.

RLSLOG

I do not really want to say "Sorry, I've been busy, haven't been blogging much" every time i start a post. I guess it is my role to say so so sorry... The fault is not mine though. If anyone wants to blame then blame Taylors for assigning so many tasks to a poor individual like me who is just trying to get by days by days.

So what's news is that the end of second last semester is approaching and somehow i do not feel like time flies since it is so freaking slow to me. Honestly, i cannot wait to get out of this so-called university (at least this is how they claim). Not anything personal though, i just feel like it is time for me to leave uni life and get a real life where people are killing each other literally out there for a penny. Maybe i am being a little bit pessimistic, but always good to be prepared for the worst.

However, i am not writing blog to update my daily life here. This blog is entitled for a total different content. For those who do torrenting a lot and sort of becoming a trend in your lives then it would not hurt to read this post. Rlslog does sound familiar to you? If not, here comes a brief review.

Bittorrent started out last few years ago, i do not know the exact time but i am sure it is one of the best ways to transfer files across the Internet. It has been excessively used by millions legally and illegally. However, not all torrent files are up to the standard. As the matter of fact, there is no standard. Therefore, a group of people agrees to come up with a standard and a set of rules for the uploaders out there. If someone wants some recognitions to their uploading files then rules need to be applied and followed. Rlslog.net is just a website that gathers all the good torrents that follow the standard and rules. I gotta say that they do it professionally as if it is their real job.

If you ask me personally, i do not do torrenting, i go for original software if i could (*cough*). Let's just say, i admire these people for doing such a good website. So if anyone is in need of games, software or movies then pay the site a visit, you will know what i am talking about. The link is www.rlslog.net

Iron man

Sniff... Thanks Lily and Jan for your great supports, i am so touched. I apologize for not blogging that often, i am not a free man who can earn money through blogging.

Anyway, get back to main point here. I believe that the term "Iron man" is pretty much familiar to you all by now. Hopefully, there will not be anyone commenting on my blog saying this movie sucks because that would be completely wrong and very offensive to all of big red metal's fans.

Another blast after the Transformer success? The answer is very likely due to the fact that every guy and girl nowadays is so fond of tech stuff and that includes me as well. Just imagine daily tasks becomes so easy, getting back from school and vice versa is just another second away and no big bullies in the street could do anything to you. Man... thinking of that, i wish i had one suit just like Tony Stark's.

Few things i would like to point out after watching the movie though. The degree of realistic in the movie seems low, with all that big rockets under the feet flying over those cars could have melted everything beneath and yet they still stood strong and solid, not to mention shiny!!! Second thing, owning one suit just like that would probably cost you another few millions just for the automatic robotic hands to assemble the suit for you. And i did not mention about maintenance costs. Or you could spend hours wearing the whole darn thing and hours to take it off.

Last words, it is a good movie and a must watch, can't wait for the Dvdrip version to come out online.

Rush hour

It's been a while i have not posted anything up here. Rush hour sounds cool for a post's name. Unfortunately, you will not find no Jackie Chan or Chris Tucker but only Rick Hoang in this case. Memorize it people, you never know i might work my way to the big screen someday and whoever possesses my blog earns million bucks.

College occupies most of my time, with all the assignments and workloads i receive every week, the term "work like dog" would be a compliment. Currently, i have project which requires me to work in team of 5. I am glad enough that all my team members are very committing to their work and honestly, i admire all of them for their talents. I have been assigned a task called Webmaster which the meaning of it is just like how it sounds. For those who do not know anything about web or computing terms then i do you all favor, it is about me being a master of a web ;). Yes, i meant you Jan and Lily. I cannot believe there was once people asked me the meaning of this word. My role in the team is fun, exciting and sometimes i find it challenging as well. With all the committing members, my tasks become so much easier. As long as the road ahead is, i believe that i will do fine.

I have not been out recently due to my driver Andrew has disappeared for almost 3 weeks. I guess i just leave him alone for a while. I congrats him on his new job though . Hope that he earns good money to throw out something like a bachelor party which i find it rare around here. Sigh, the old glory time....

Meanwhile, allow me to get back to my old favorite movie I now pronounce you Chuck and Larry and my most favorite quote " Group hug in the shower tonight " weeeeeeee!!! Don't take me wrong, i'm not a gay who watches a gay movie. If i were gay, god knows what would happen to the world. Let's just say i love American comedy movies. Yeah yeah i know i said i was busy but can't a decent guy earn his once in a while peaceful time watching his favorite gay movie for a change? Besides, he's not even gay...sigh (Drew if you are reading, come and watch with me, i miss your company man...).

First meeting of Java Kills group happened to be at McDonald's

TGI Friday's

What if i told you that i had a driver who would love to pick me up and drive me around KL? It is actually true in this case. Last Sunday was a fun day filled with gunshots and grenade launchers. It does ring a bell, doesn't it? My sidekick Andrew whom you probably know very well from my previous post, did a good deed by taking the whole gang of IT students including me to TBun (internet cyber cafe) which is located in Damansara. The name sounds so cute that i could not stop saying I LOVE MALAYSIA with an exciting tone. The game we played was called The Call of Duty 4, a successful version of the series Call of Duty.

After a full 5 hours of playing non stop, we decided to call it a day since everyone started to see stars flying around. Me myself was fine but pissed due to bad gaming experience with some guy who thought he was tough. Drew took the whole gang home and planned to say bye but then we insisted to follow and ended up in restaurant which also happens to be my favorite place for Spaghetti. Man! The food was excellent that i cannot stop wanting to go there again next time. So far, that is the only place i somehow enjoyed the food in KL. Sigh! What a life...

As Drew happens to an energetic guy and bit of abnormal at times, offered to drive us around KL and we ended up visiting the Curve shopping center. Now i give it 10 for infrastructure since people here really know how to build and design. Jonsen and Leo as usual were quiet and left us talking non stop to each other in front.

TGI Friday was the last place we visited. The drink was fine, due to the practical sense of living style, i took a refillable drink so that i could keep adding on later just for the sake of saving some bucks. The place was nice and famous not in Malaysia but Australia too. Unfortunately, i did not really know much about it until today. Sigh, what was i doing back there anyway? Lol i guess that better be left untold again. One thing i know, i was not doing something totally boring.

This post is dedicated to Andrew, my sidekick, for being such a nice friend and also for his entertaining blog which is mainly about me. For some reasons, i do not feel like it at all after reading even though i look decent in the pictures.