ShopSavvy Application

Wow!  Winner of Google’s “Android Developer Challenge” the ShopSaavy application allows smartphone users to employ the camera in their hand-held device to scan a bar code to find the best prices for online and local items.  This screen shot was captured at Starbuck’s (where else would we be?) for one of their music products.  The possibilities are endless—especially once the “review” section is populated with meaningful contributions from friends, family and other credible sources.  Paying too much for that bottle of wine, DVD, or sweater?  Find out with this free download.

Annyeong Haseyo!~
Dear rojak sisters, I’ve missed you alottt! Thank you for being patient with me being so slow in updating about myself here. ^_^ Wow, its my first entry in a blog.. haha.. im still quite clueless on how to use wordpress functions..lol Please pardon my English mistakes if there’s any..

Life in Inje University

Located in Kimhae, Gyeongsangnam-do, this private university is my home for 4 months and half. The dorm I’m staying at is called English Town Dormitory, where residents are encouraged to use English to converse.Living here, life has been very convenient, from doing laundry to getting food and supplies. Just 5 minutes walk outside of the university, I’ll be surrounded by restaurants, street snacks, cafes, 24 hour marts, karaoke rooms, drinking bars, telecommunication stores, bakeries, skincare shops, to name a few.Weather here was really cold and freezing for the first few weeks, but right now, it’s getting slightly warmer as spring is just around. It’s refreshing to experience the change of seasons here as I don’t get to back in home country.People here are very welcoming and friendly, and they are willing to help when you need some assistance. You probably heard it, but without knowing the basic Korean, it’s hard to survive here with English alone, as most of them are not able to understand English well.

Food here – awesome! Koreans are very particular about their food as they like to maintain a healthy balance in their meals. Less oil, less sugar, less salt, and no artificial flavorings and yet delicious! Kimchi comes in every meal but you could get used to their kimchi here Dorm residents are provided with breakfast and dinner daily at cafeteria. Each meals consists of rice, soup, 3 dishes and kimchi. Yes we do eat rice 3 meals a day, sometimes noodles for lunch, but that’s seldom.

Drinking is a popular culture here in Korea. It is a group activity and a chance to let loose with friends or colleagues. Popular drinks here are soju (Korean liquor) and maekju (beer). Alcoholic beverages here are extremely cheap. A bottle of soju here costs about RM2.80 in supermarkets after conversion, which would probably cost 4-5 times more back in Malaysia. The same goes for beer. You won’t see restaurants, marts or eating places without these 2 drinks. Drinking in group usually comes with games where one will have to drink if loses.

I’ve learned many drinking games here and it’s reallyyyy fun. I’d be glad to share with them when I get back. 

On weekdays, I have daily Korean language classes. Taekwondo, Korean movie, Korean culture and Korean music classes are held once per week. We also have English Classes with Korean students in the dormitory once per week, where we could have English related activities or discussions to improve English. On weekdays, we have free time and sometimes group outings.

Below are pictures of some of my activities, outings, and scenes from Korea which I’ve took ^_^

Memories from Korea

My classes will resume tomorrow after 1 week break. Last week, i went to Seoul for a week. On previous Friday,I went for a field trip at Geoje and Dinasour World Expo. Yesterday evening, i went to a small concert in Changwon which lasted for 1 and half hours. Artists included Lee Minwoo, Lyn, Shin Hyesung and Big Bang   (TOP from Big Bang is HOT!)It was really short but for the opportunity to get to see the performance live even for once, its worth it imo.

I heard from Saz that she and Lubs are now on a break after exam.. What about you Pai? Peils, ive yet to have the chance to visit your in-laws, but im making plans to go there sometime in June that time, i will have more free time and wont need to rush Will do my best i can to meet them on your behalf Girls, if you need anything from Korea, feel free to email me about it and I’ll check them out for you. End of May, i will be going on a 1 week trip to Jeju Island. The program will end sometime in  June, which i plan to go Seoul again and finish touring places i would like to visit before going back home ^_^ (finishing unfinished businesses) mwhahaha. My laptop is fixed but many programs are gone.. microsoft word, burner program etc…But as long as i can use it for basic purposes, its fine already ^_^ Will fix it better when i get back to Msia, where all my CDs and backup files are.. hehe Missing Rojak…*HUGS* Take care girls! See you online whenever we can~

-From Tex-

Commentary

By: Jose Montoya

Being a first generation immigrant, I often feel that people don’t see me for what I am. There are times I feel like I don’t belong. I am Mexican, I know I’m Mexican but I just don’t feel Mexican. When I’m at school people often tell me that I’m Mexican or that I act hella Mexican. When I think about being hella Mexican I think about Mexican dancing, and listening to Mexican music. When I go to Mexico it seems I’m the opposite of what they tell me I am at school. In Mexico, they say I’m an American and they always seem like they’re mad at me. They ask me questions about America, like why we spend so much money on clothes. They think I’m a show off and that I’m ignorant. I really don’t know why America does things, because I’m just another person living in America.

I love where I’m from and I love my culture but I’m living the American lifestyle. I feel that first generation kids are losing their culture because I know I am. My house doesn’t look like a typical Mexican house. It looks like a house straight out of Ikea or a Martha Stewart magazine. Spanish and the food I eat are the only reasons I still feel connected to my culture. Your culture is your roots and what you are, and very important to have. Living the American lifestyle is cool because you get to express yourself by the way you dress and you get to throw your own style in it, and you get to do what you want. As a Chicano I understand I am a Mexican and American. I represent my Mexican heritage while living my American lifestyle.

How many connections do you have on Facebook or LinkedIn?

How many do you actually keep up with?  Five?  Ten?

It may not be your time management skills that prevent you from keeping up with more of your connections. It may be your brain.

A recent article in The Economist examined the number of meaningful interactions / relationships that an individual can have on a social networking sites based on our brain’s ability to maintain relationships.

A digest version of the article is below.  What is perhaps most interesting is how each click or keystroke on a social networking site can be aggregated and examined to deliver a larger understanding of how people interact.

The real value of Facebook or LinkedIn may not be in the audience they  deliver to advertisers, but in the insights they provide regarding that audience.  Could social networking sites become the next focus group?

“Several years ago, … Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist … concluded that the cognitive power of the brain limits the size of the social network that an individual of any given species can develop. Extrapolating from the brain sizes and social networks of apes, Dr Dunbar suggested that the size of the human brain allows stable networks of about 148. Rounded to 150, this has become famous as “the Dunbar number”.

The rise of online social networks, with their troves of data, might shed some light on these matters. So The Economist asked Cameron Marlow, the “in-house sociologist” at Facebook, to crunch some numbers. Dr Marlow found that the average number of “friends” in a Facebook network is 120, consistent with Dr Dunbar’s hypothesis, and that women tend to have somewhat more than men. But the range is large, and some people have networks numbering more than 500, so the hypothesis cannot yet be regarded as proven.

What also struck Dr Marlow, however, was that the number of people on an individual’s friend list with whom he (or she) frequently interacts is remarkably small and stable. The more “active” or intimate the interaction, the smaller and more stable the group.

Thus an average man—one with 120 friends—generally responds to the postings of only seven of those friends by leaving comments on the posting individual’s photos, status messages or “wall”. An average woman is slightly more sociable, responding to ten. When it comes to two-way communication such as e-mails or chats, the average man interacts with only four people and the average woman with six. Among those Facebook users with 500 friends, these numbers are somewhat higher, but not hugely so. Men leave comments for 17 friends, women for 26. Men communicate with ten, women with 16.

What mainly goes up, therefore, is not the core network but the number of casual contacts that people track more passively. This corroborates Dr Marsden’s ideas about core networks, since even those Facebook users with the most friends communicate only with a relatively small number of them.

Put differently, people who are members of online social networks are not so much “networking” as they are “broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances who aren’t necessarily inside the Dunbar circle,” says Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a polling organisation. Humans may be advertising themselves more efficiently. But they still have the same small circles of intimacy as ever.”

the complete article is available here.

Hey there. This is Peils and this is my first official post. I’ve noticed that Lubs had posted a Test entry (It is not counted as a proper one. And why don’t I see anyone else here? Come on girls! It’s been nearly three weeks since we established this blog. A simple ‘Hello, First official entry albeit a very short one’ would be great. ) So since no one else has posted, I might as well do the honors and be first. Yay!

So as my title says, I had a weekend escapade with a girlfriend, doing typical girly things like shopping, sleep-over and clubbing, or to be technical, ‘Pub-bing’. As you all know me, I’m not the kind for such outings so this would be like the second time I’ve done this.

(‘Pub-bing’ being mostly drinking and less dancing, though there was some dancing . . . nevermind the technicalities).

The first time we went out, we had dinner at the Lecka Lecka Restaurant in the heart of town, across from The Pavilion and right outside Starhill. As you all know, its franchisees usually serve gelato ice-cream in shopping malls such as in OU. Here they serve typical Italian food, hence we ordered the cheese-chicken pizza, served in rectangular slices and a popular glutinous cheese-mushroom rice which looked like veg-porridge at first glance. Overall, great ambience (nevermind it’s right next to ongoing traffic, and you know how traffic is like in downtown KL) what with the red-lighting, palm trees, KL nightsky overhead; pretty good food if you are in the mood for Italian and the Shisha (didn’t try it though). The overall setting is romantic, so it’s an ideal place to have dinner with a date.

Last weekend, we had dinner right in Taman Tun itself at a pub-cum-restaurant owned by a Brit (I believe) called Sid’s Pub which is along the same row as Muhibbah. It’s a popular hangout for fellow Westerners and locals alike, most of whom (expecially the men) have an interest in rugby. We tried the Cod & Chips (real Cod at that) and a side order or snack of BBQ pork ribs (which was really too much to be a snack) which we had along with a glass of white wine each. Not only is it a great place for drinking – the set up of the pub is similar to what we see in British shows – but if you just want to enjoy dinner minus the drinks, there are seats available outside just for that. The amazing thing is that when our bill arrived, we didn’t expect to see the total to come up to less than RM 100, what with two glasses of wine (which amazingly only cost us RM25 all together); the Cod & Chips was RM35 and the BBQ pork ribs RM20. So for affordable good food with big portions or if you just want to hang out for drinks, I would definitely recommend Sid’s Pub.

For the previous outing, we first adjourned to a Lounge/Bar on the Explore (4th) Level of Starhill Gallery to chill out and enjoy the view of the city. According to my friend who has connections with the Manager (who is Italian and looks similar to Tom Cruise at different angles), both the Bar and the Lecka-Lecka Restaurant are owned by a Middle Easterner who travels down to Malaysia often. Here, we had a few drinks & chit-chatted a little before hitting Zeta Bar at Hilton KL.

Zeta Bar at Hilton KL is located on the 3 Floor of Hilton KL next to Chynna Restaurant. As it says in its info, they have a live band playing (for now is five-member female group, Acasia). We had a couple more drinks and danced like we have never danced before. The crowd is a mix of Locals and Foreigners (with an abundance of Hot White Men) all decked out to PART-aY! Let’s just say I had fun showing some slick moves and basked in the praises of those who thought I could really move what my mama gave me .

Of course when you’re out partying, you’re bound to be home by at least 3 a.m. earliest. We probably had about 6 hours of sleep and the following afternoon, we went shopping. There are many boutiques around the Damansara Utama Commercial Area and the one we went to was Walk-in-Closet which was opposite the Uptown Eatery and nearby (the older) Starbucks. Their styles are mostly Korean (cloth coming from there but stitching in Thailand). The dresses are considerably cheaper, mostly Rm50-Rm60 a piece. I bought 2 at discounts. We then head over to Little Black Book. There are two in DU so if you are looking for cheap tops (RM13.90 a piece), head over to the one above Guardian.

Our last stop was downtown KL because my friend was searching for some costumes for her belly-dancing classes. We found a few shops around Sungei Wang selling the scarves with those dangling trinklets (no idea what’s it called exactly) and I didn’t realise it costs a bomb (RM70 a piece =O . . . then again it’s KL)! She bought a black scarf and a matching black-sequiened skirt (RM 70). There was this shop in Low Yat which sells an array of costumes like the Japanese Yukata (A Kimono-like costume but with thinner material for the hot Summer weather), Maid Costumes and Cheongsams (which costs about RM300 + each).

And so that was the story for my little (mis)adventure and despite being a KL-lite, KL still amazes me to no end. Plus I’m a clubbing noob (hence making many faux pas in the last two times we went out *hides under rock*) but overall I had an interesting experience learning tips on fashion, makeup and even clubbing etiqutte (is there such a class available I wonder). Can’t wait for the next outing again.

Peils

(Afterword: Unfortunately no pictures from the last time. Hopefully I’ll remember my trusty camera the next time round. )