Universal Studio

Oh! The Universal Studio is a very great place to visit. I already got the conclusion after spending a whole day with all of the friends. It is very fun with the rides (all the rides include stories from their movies too). There are also shows about special effects which are funny and exciting too. 

Timestamp: December 25, 2007

Hollywood & Long beach

Hollywood~ yes, we are going to Hollywood today. With hope to find the big "HOLLY WOOD" word. However, it is very far from the place we got out of the train. But that's fine, we walk through the Hollywood avenue which has all the stars' names on the footpath. The weather is very hot today, so different from Las Vegas which was very cold. 

After walking and getting tired, we decide to go to another favorite place of LA. It's called North Beach. Hmm...sounds good. We reach there a bit late in the evening, so we can just see the sunset. Because it's getting colder, we stay there for just a while and go back home.

Timestamp: Decembe 24, 2007

Go to Los Angeles

After staying in Vegas for 2 nights (and spent some money), we needed to move again. And it was a very long trip because we were going to Los Angeles. The view during the drive to LA was not impressive. We crossed Nevada into California. Most of the side views we saw were mountains. It took us about a day to reach Los Angeles and stayed at Sand's aunt's, Pah' Mint's, house.

Timestamp: December 23, 2007

Las Vegas Night

Sin city may be the best word to describe this "Las Vegas"! We arrived here at late evening because of some traffic jam (and we still don't know what's the cause!). We lived at the Stratosphere hotel which was pretty cheap for the price ($49 per night). The main point was the casino at the lobby floor. There were a lot of games (roulettes, pokers, etc..). I just tried one game of roulettes (and lost $20 T.T). 

Another attraction of Vegas was the panoramic view of all the hotel at night. It seemed like they are all competing with each other in making their hotel look the best. Many hotels had shows. Mirage had a fire water fall, Bellagio had the dancing fountain which was really nice. We also went there on the Christmas Day... so the song was the Christmas song. 

Timestamp: December 22, 2007

Hoover Dam

"Do you know Hoover Dam?", my friend asked me.

"No, never heard of it.", I replied.

"OK, have you watched 'Transformers'?"

"Oh! yeah I have."

"That's the damn dam in the movie! It's the place that Megatron is kept!"

Hoover Dam used to be the largest dam in the world. It resides exactly between Nevada and Arizona. So, I can walk across 2 time zones (Mountain & Pacific). It's huge and it was very cold when I was there.

Time-stamp: December 21, 2007

More pictures: Andy's Picasa

Wow! I already on my trip!

Yeah! I did it! I already finished my exams and presentations. On December 18, I depart Pittsburgh to Denver, where Benz (Pinn's brother) lives. We go to US Air Force Academy on the next day (Dec 19, 2007). The cadet school is very nice because it resides exactly in the middle of the Rocky mountain. The view are incredible! Moreover, the school has another attractive building which is called "Cadet Chapel." It's a modern-designed chapel. We also go inside to see the state-of-the-art architecture. And the next day we will depart from Denver to Las Vegas ~ Wow!

Faces (from left to right): ?, Andy, Pinn, Benz, Bymn, Pong+, and Nut

Time-stamp: Dec 19, 2007

P.S. We go to "The Garden of the Gods" which is a place that have a lot of beautiful mountains as well. See the pictures from here: http://picasaweb.google.com/cragkhit/Dec18192007Denver02

Final Exam Period

Finally, the final exam has come. It's so scary for me because I have a lot of work to do. I have 3 projects due (Software Engineering, Privacy, and Applied Information Assurance). I rarely sleep during this time. That's so bad .... :-(((

The final exam takes place since from Dec 5 (SE) to Dec 14 (VLIS) and I also have the PPLT final project presentation on Dec 17. I hope to finish all my work soon because I will be on my trip to west coast. -_-"

Time-stamp: Dec 10, 2007