Is this an Ent ??

Huu???!! What's that?!! I was wondering while I was cycling to Apple Store near my apartment. Is that Ent? (Ent is a character in The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers film. It's a tree which can walk and talk). This tree looks really like it has eyes, nose, and mouth!

It seems like the owner of the house of which the tree resides in front attached these stuffs to it. The materials are very realistic. I nearly fell off my bicycle when I saw it.

Can it talk? If 'yes', I'll be the first one to run away :P

What's on my door?

This is my apartment door. Believe me or not! Hei hei hei :p The text on the top is "TIGER ROOM", in the middle is the tiger picture, and the last sign is "Do not disturb."

However, this just for fun, and nothing more than that. My room is really welcome to everyone!

Google - Pittsburgh

I think everyone who uses Internet surely knows "Google", the best search engine in the world.

Carnegie Mellon University is another campus of Google. It's called "Google Pittsburgh", and located in the CIC building.

The most interesting thing in Google pittsburgh office is a LCD projector screen in front of the office. It shows real-time queries from all around the world! You can see query in Chinese, Korean, German, or even Thai! Moreover, it's also very fun to see what other people are searching for. :D

Tank - video

Today I recorded video of TANK!! Let see what he can do !! (sorry if the sound is not that good :( )

What does my program's name stand for?

I'm studying in MSIT - VLIS program. Yes, it is! But how many people know what does it stand for?

It stands for "Master of Science in Information Technology specialization in Very Large Information System." Wow! such a long name, isn't it?

However, after my classes start for a month, I think the accurate one should be:

MSIT - VLIS = Many Student are Intelligent in Thailand - (but I'm the) Very Least Intelligent Student !!!! 555+

Sleeping on the green grass

Since I came here I saw many American love sleeping on grass (especially in strong sunlight!) which is very different from Thailand. Maybe because Thailand is too hot to do like that. However, after I stayed here for a while, I found one reason for this. Grass fields here are very beautiful nearly every place. Americans take care their garden very well.

Now, I'm thinking about lying my back on green grass too !! zzzzzZZZZZ.....

How big is everything in the U.S!

Oh! (O_o) I found that many things in the U.S. are in bigger size than they are in Thailand. Especially this one, "chalk" in Carnegie Mellon University is very huge! From the picture, compare to the size of quarter coin, it's 4-5 times bigger! I'm curious how the teachers write on the blackboard using this chalk size. Its size is very close to the size of a big "UHU" glue in Thailand.

Another time I'll also show you the huge blackboard eraser!

The relation between books & RedBulls

Who knows that one of the most favorite drinks in U.S. originally comes from Thailand! Red Bull is a drink just for labors at my home country. Very different from here that it's a big brand supporting many X-games events.

So, today, I try the "U.S version" Red Bull. It is carbonated (contains gas inside) like Pepsi, Coke, or other soft drinks here. However, the taste is still the same.

Because I have a lot of reading assignments now, let see that U.S. Red Bull can help me or not. Ei Ei Ei. :p

The end of the trilogy: Resident Evil - Extinction

Finally, the day that I have been waiting for has come! Sept 21 is the release date of the last Resident Evil trilogy. The name of this episode is "Extinction."

[Following could be spoiled]
Synopsis:
Most of the people around the world are zombies. Only a few group of survivals are alive, and they wander around to find the remaining people, foods, and also find gas for their vehicles. Alice (Milla Jovovich) is in Nevada. The land that was very attractive in the past, known as Las Vegas. She meets other people who are survive and they have to try to find a place where is no zombie or T-virus to live.

Comment:
For me, the movie is very exciting and makes me startle all the time. Special effects and the action scenes is awesome. However, I think this movie deserve the rate "R" because there are many aggressive scenes.

4/5 for me :) It's a good movie for incoming Fall!

Happy Birthday Smiley !! :-D

Hey! 2 days ago is the birthday of SMILEY! :-D (sorry about my late response).

The inventor of smiley is Scott Fahlman. He invented it on Sept. 19, 1982. Scott Fahlman is a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. Its original came from trying to express humorous in the message. Just from the tiny beginning, it became the most used sign in the cyberspace nowadays.

By the way, Happy birth day!!

Read more about smiley from the following websites: 

Smiley's site 

Scott Fahlman
Original of Smiley
Just between you and me (New York Times)

Sleepiness, Homework, and VIRUS !!! Arrgghhhhh

At the night of Sept 20, it's nearly 2.00 AM now. I am very sleepy, but I can't go to sleep. Why? There is only one reason: I HAVE TO FINISH MY PRIVACY CLASS HOMEWORK !!! (its due is before 10 AM, Sept 20). I've done about half of them, I think (I just realized after that I am wrong -_-". I've done only 1/4 of them)

While I am doing my task, someone ping me via Live Messenger (former name is MSN). It's P'Pond, who is a Thai scholarship student at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. His message is "Pictures from my vacation" and send me .zip file (something like IMGxxx.zip). I remember that I asked him before about sending me his pictures at U of Mich. So, I immediately accept the file, unzip it with WinRAR, and then I see there is only one file call "www.photouploader.exe." With my full stupidness, I double-click at the file without any hesitation. I think it should be a stand-alone presentation file (how stupid I am!). Then, BOOM!! my messenger starts opening all of my contacts who are online, and starts sending them the same file I received. At that moment, OH MY GOD!! I've just known it is VIRUS !! I tried to kill the messenger process with Task Manager. After trying for about 30 secs (and sending file to about 10 people), I eventually can close the program. Why McAfee 8.0 Enterprise do nothing about this? Yes! it's my false, but it could help me a little bit to prevent my computer after I open the file, doesn't it?

However, I can finally kill the virus with KasperSky and continue doing my homework from 2.30 AM until 8.00 AM in the morning! God Dammn..!! Arghhh T T

What's on my NOTES?

This is my notes in Software Engineering for Information Systems class. At first, I was very concentrated in the topic the teacher (Carolyn) says. However, when the time goes by, I missed one of the main point and were left behind.

Then, I started to draw her images instead. ^o^ My teacher used a lot of gestures and she is very energetic woman (see her actions from the picture). Even I didn't understand much in her class today, I got 4 of the drawing instead. It's a good note, isn't it? Ei ei ei. :D

Technical Opportunity Conference (TOC)

Today is the day of Technical Opportunity Conference (TOC, for short). Many companies are here to look for competent students to be their prospective employees. Microsoft, Apple, Google, Yahoo!, and many many other big company show their booth here.

I just applied for only 10 companies today, and all of them are for internship. However, I have ever had a chance to apply for a job at Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo!, Amazon, IBM!!! Oh! my god.

Tank, the roboreceptionist

Chaiyong Ragkhitwetsagul and Carnegie Mellon University proudly present "Tank, the roboreceptionist!"

This is a true story. In Newell Simon Hall, another building of computer science, there is a roboreceptionist stands near the entrance. He always say "Hello there" to people walking by. Some students stop by and type message to Tank. Yes! everyone can talk with Tank by typing the message using the keyboard in front of him. He will answer with his voice. Although, he doesn't know everything, he makes me surprise that he can interact with the real human.

Moreover, he can move his face (actually, it's a LCD screen) to follow the movement of man in front of him because he has a camera above his head.

This is another one innovation from the Robotic Institute here at CMU. Wow!

P.S. I posted this blog late again for today. -_-"

New AE shirt

Arrgghhh! I forgot to update my blog!! It's too late. Sept 17th now. Anyway, let count this as yesterday's blog.

I've just bought a new shirt from American Eagle at Waterfront Shopping center. It has many blue and white stripes. I really love it. This picture will be my new MSN display picture. Wow!

Swivel Chair

This chair is in front of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University. I took this picture because I think it's very nice idea. Sometimes people might want to move around in circle while they are thinking or resolving their math homework. Who knows!

Keepon ! I love it

Here is "Keepon." He is a robot built by Marek Michalowski & Hideki Kozima. (Michalowski is a Ph.D. student in Robotic Institute at CMU). He can dance along with the song, and he's very cute! I saw this video from the link of CMU homepage and I love it! Wanna buy one :D

I tried it !!

Yes! At last, I have tried using MetroNap (the machine I mentioned before). The semi-circle plate outside could be turned around to cover my face. I could control the position of the bed, and volume of songs.

Although it's look very fascinating, it's not that good. From the advertisement, I shouldn't hear anything from outside, but the result is I still heard sound from outside. By the way, the dim light and slow classic songs could help a lot in making one sleep. My rating is only 3 stars from 5. :D

Do you think Bill Gates wanna buy iPhone?

As the header says, "Do you think Bill Gates wanna buy iPhone?" (or maybe he owns one already!). 555+ My opinion is he does. That's true because iPhone is the best innovation "ever"; and its customer "Just love it" (from Steves's speech :D). It's possible that a big guy in IT world like Bill Gates is being interested in the product of the rival.

By the way, I don't know what's the answer is, but all I know is "I WANNA BUY IPHONE !!!!!" \0/

Origami can help me make money $$$

Today, I get 10$ from just only doing origami !!

The story is I unintentionally be involved in a study about "teamwork". At first, only my friend who is going to join this study. However, there is one participant hasn't come. Then he comes to call me. My task is to make "cow" origami as much as possible in a team of three. The result is we can make 5 cows within only 15 minutes! Great!

Another great thing is I get 10 bucks from the study. Wow!

The instructions of origami could be found from this website: http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-cow.html

Reading Reading and READING !!!

Nothing to specifically post today. Just want to say that I have a lot of reading assignments to do! (Which are all in English). Because it's a master degree and I'm not a native speaker. I have to be well-prepared before the class (even I couldn't be most of the time :p)

Moreover, I don't know why I feel sleepy very easy nowadays, I think I never be like this when I was undergrad student. -_-"

"Great Power Comes With Great Responsibility" - Spider man

Fast Facts about CMU

Do you know where are "emoticons" from? Have you ever watch "The beautiful mind?" Do you know where Prof. John Nash earn his mathematics degree? If you say "No", please check this.
These are fast facts about Carnegie Mellon University:
Established: 1900
Type: Private research university
President: Jared L. Cohon
Faculty: 1,459
Undergraduates: 5,580
Master's students: 2,832
Doctoral students: 1,619
Alumni:70,491
Main campus: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
Campus: Urban (140 acres)
Athletics: 17 Division III athletic teams
Nickname: Tartans
Official Mascot: Scottie Dog
Motto: "My heart is in the work." - Andrew Carnegie

*** School of Computer Science research professor Scott Fahlman has long been credited for introducing emoticons (also called smileys) while posting to an online bulletin board in 1981. An emoticon is a series of ordinary printable characters, such as :-) , ;o) or :-(, intended to represent a human facial expression and convey an emotion.

*** In 2002, Universal Pictures released "A Beautiful Mind," an Academy award-winning film directed by Ron Howard about Carnegie Mellon alumnus John Nash Jr. and his 30-year battle with schizophrenia. Nash earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics in 1948 and won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science in 1994.

Reference: http://www.cmu.edu/about/fastfacts.shtml

CMU Thai Welcome Party

Today Thai students at Carnegie Mellon University has a big party. It's a welcome party for new students here either undergrad and grad students. The party is held at Newell Simon Hall in CMU.

This event happens every year when the fall semester starts. Its purpose is to welcome the newcomers to CMU.

There are many Thai foods include Grilled Beefs with Jaaw, Sticky Rice, Satae Pork, etc. (Oh! I love it).

Moreover, there are many fun games after lunch which organized by sophomore students here. I know more Thai people and I am very fun today, Thank you all! :D

Any One Can Cook

"Anyone can cook!" It's the word from the Disney Pixar's film called "Ratatouille (Rat-a-too-ee)." The story of a rat who wish to be a cook. With suggestions from an eminent cook and the word "anyone can cook", he becomes a great cook finally even he is a "RAT."

How about me? If the rat can cook, why not me! After I have been here for 3 weeks, I cooked myself nearly everyday. I feel very fun while cooking and invent a new menu everyday is very interesting for me.

Two dishes right here in the picture are "Kaeng Kai Ma Khue" and "Nuer Phad Ho Ra Pha" This is the first time I do "Kaeng" (one of a Thai food). Its taste is very (very very) good, or it's possibly because I did it myself. :D

Academic Books

Study is a way to success, and my class has been started for 2 weeks. Then I think it's my time to begin reading books now (although I want to do it or not :D ). Today I will talk about my books in this semester.

First thing to know is I'm taking 4 courses this semester:
1. Very Large Information Systems (VLIS) - about database systems, and massive data collection.
2. Privacy, Policy, Law and Technology (PPLT) - mainly focus on privacy found on the Internet.
3. Software Engineering for Information Systems (SE for IS) - work in a team to create a piece of software using Unified Modeling Language (UML) and Use Cases (don't worry. They're terminologies in Computer Science field ;D)
4. Applied Information Assurance (AIA) - hands-on labs in building the harden computer network systems.

So, these are all of my books theis semester except one VLIS book that has not come yet (it's being delivered by Amazon). Two books on the most left are for AIA. They're lab sheet with the explanation. Two in the middle are for PPLT. The red one is about law (oh! very hard to read), and the other is about a protocol called P3P. Last, on the very right is the book for SE for IS class. It's the biggest book I have, but it's very great book after I read it for 3 chapters.

Hope I can read them all in this semester. God! Help me! :D

MetroNap:- the most creative invention

MetroNap! Yes, believe it or not. This is a new machine for helping student in CMU to take a NAP. What's the great!

Since the research found that taking a nap is good for reinforce the people's mind and memory, MetroNap was created for this purpose. Inside the MetroNap is cozy, darken nook which can keep the internal sound inside, and protect the external sound to go inside. This creates the most proper environments for a person who want to take a nap without disturbing other people around him.

I my opinion, that's very cool machine. If I have a chance, I am surely confident that I'll try once.

P.S. MetroNap is located in Hunt Library in CMU campus.
Reference: http://www.cmu.edu/homepage/beyond/2007/summer/need-a-nap.shtml

What's that?

Oops! while I was cycling back to my apartment, I found a traffic sign which didn't make any sense to me. "PED XING" was what the sign said. "What's that?." I was thinking and confused at the same time.
......
I've just known from the former student here that it was a short term for "Pedestrain Crossing." Oh! How creative Pittsburghese is!

P.S. Moreover, I also found a sign says "DEER XING." :D

Just Do (=Buy) it !

One of my most favorite sports is "Soccer" (or Football, it made me confused here because in the U.S. football means American football). Many Thai student here either from CMU or University of Pittsburgh always have a soccer match on Sunday evening. From that point, I am very glad that I will have a chance to play soccer which I haven't had a chance to play for a long time (maybe the last time is when I was an undergraduate student).

I went to Waterfront which is the big shopping plaza in Pittsburgh. Walking through only one existing shelf of soccer footwear didn't make me feel much impressed. However, that's all it had. At last, I found NIKE Men's Park series shoes which came in both blue and black. My decision to choose "blue" was just from asking a little kid who buying a soccer shoes as well. My question was "Which one do you like?" and he thought for a while and pointed to the blue one. "OK, I'll pick this one." Sometimes making decision is very (or too much) easy, isn't it? :D

What's on my DESK?

OK, my room has been filled in with furnitures, so it's not 'Zen' anymore (thank you one of my friend, Champ, who gave me this cool word). Let's see what's on my desk! Actually somethings are not exactly on my desk but it's nearby.

1. Cork board - bought from one professor here, just 4$. Used to pin pictures and notes.
2. CMU Calendar - 1.5$, used to find weekends, vacation, and no-class day. ;P
3. Declaration of Independence (copied) - bought from DC. Can't remember its price.
4. Lamp - From IKEA furniture center.
5. Book Shelf - IKEA also, haven't had many books now.
6. Dolls - from Cornell, and Hershey Park.
7. JBL Creative II Speaker - Just bought from the Internet (40$).
8. Water Bottle, Glasses - for drinking at night.
9. Comfortable Chair - IKEA as well (79$).
10. HP Pavillion dv2419us Laptop - webcam doesn't work well. Suck HP! :(
11. Gift from Note - Pictures of friends and messages.
12. Western Digital External Hard Drive - it's 500 GB! Wow! (129$) From Circuit City, DE.
13. Wallet, Phone, Watch, and Camera.
14. My Bag - Oakley (fake) from Thailand (1000B).

That's all I have on my desk. I try to arrange it and make it less messy. Let's see I can do it or not. :D