Khoi's Blog

Recently, I found a game called “BeamNG.drive”. The purpose of the game is to mainly drive your vehicle around, along with other vehicles powered by AI or in multiplayer, and even crash your car with realistic crash physics. I’ve been playing the game for around three weeks now, and I’d have to say that it’s a great game. It is resource intensive, however, the game is worth it. The game costs twenty dollars on STEAM, however, I circumvented that by torrenting it. Don’t call the cops on me! There is a large range of vehicles to drive, some made by community members and some made by official developers. One of my favorite vehicles in the game is the Thomas FS Bus, which handles very well and can go decently fast. The game has a multitude of maps to drive in. The two maps that I enjoy the most are “Utah, USA”, and “West Coast, USA (basically California w/ CHINATOWN?!?!)” I’ve tried to play on multiplayer, but it’s just too laggy for me, my computer isn’t too powerful anyway. Sometimes, I think that it’s better than ROBLOX, at least for the driving part. Overall, I rate it a whopping 10/10, from the graphics, to the vehicles, to the landscape, it wins it all. Thanks for reading my blog, and I’ll see you guys next time.

Arizona Trip

DAY 1

I just got released from school, we didn’t have much to learn since it was the end of the quarter anyway. We had two hours of free time when my sister and I got home. Our flight would depart at 7:45 PM, and we would head to the airport at around five. I began to pack up for the trip, I stuffed in three sets of clothes, my laptop with it’s charger, and my camcorder.

 

We ended up heading to the airport at 5:14 PM, and to make matters worse, there were a bunch of traffic jams on the highway, so it took us around an hour and twenty minutes to arrive, opposed to the normal fifty minute drive. Hallway through the drive, we got a notification that there was a delay with our flight, and it will depart at eight, which allowed my dad to relax a bit. However, it then changed back to the on time status, so we had to hurry again.

 

When we arrived, we breezed through security and headed for the gate F2, which made us sprint to the gate. We then realized that there was a gate change, so we had to sprint back. Some jackets even flew out of my backpack, and some strangers had to chase after us and hand it back to us, which I appreciate.

 

As soon as we got to the correct gate, the employees then announced that the flight was delayed again, basically making our wasted energy useless. After around ten minutes, the boarding process began and we got on the plane.

 

The flight was decent, and I got to eat some instant noodles with some pretzels. However, it was almost impossible to sleep. The plane would sometimes be jerked in the wind, and passengers would fly out of their seats. When we landed, it took half an hour to get to the gate because the airport was fully occupied by planes staying there overnight.

 

It was 69 Degrees outside 🤔, and the drive home also took around 20 minutes. We also got to see the “StateFarm” stadium, where the superbowl was held. When I got home, I changed, brushed my teeth, and slept for only about five hours.

 

DAY 2

 

Not much happened today, I was mainly browsing the internet on my computer, while my cousins were playing on their devices. We were near the StateFarm Stadium, and there was a Taylor Swift concert that was occurring. We didn’t attend the concert, though.

 

DAY 3

Today was roadtrip day, and our entire family will be traveling to El Paso, and we would be visiting a place called “White Sand”. The road trip was long, and we were mainly on backroads since the interstate highway didn’t go through our route much.

 

The trip would take roughly four hours, however it would take five to take account for the pit stops (e.g. lunch). We stopped at this resteraunt named “Kranberry’s Chatterbox” located in a rural town. The food was pretty good, and I would rate it a solid 8/10.

 

After about two hours, we finally arrived at the hotel in El Paso. Unfortunately, we had to cram everyone into one room since there was a problem with the booking process. The hotel was pretty large, it had a pool, dining area, and a small computer lab.

 

DAY 3

I woke up and headed down for breakfast. I didn’t get much, I just got some sausages and scrambled eggs. The sausages were a 7/10, and the eggs were a 2/10. I’m not sure why, but I think eggs from every hotel don’t live up to their standards.

We got into the car and drove to a place called “White Sand”. It’s litterly just a place with white sand in the middle of nowhere. There were dunes that were about sixty feet tall, and there was a winding road that went through ⅓ of the park.

 

After that, we began our drive home and we briefly stopped at another national park. The drive was uneventful, until when we were nearing the outskirts of Pheonix, AZ. Our car got pulled over because our registration was sixty days out-of-date.

 

DAYS 4-8

Not much happened on these days, as we didn’t go anywhere and I was mainly home. We did eat out a few times, though.

 

I also installed a surveillance system for my relatives home, it was five cameras and required four days of work since we were scrambling to find the necessary parts. Unfortunately, I didn’t get paid.

 

On the eigth day, Angel was supposed to fly over to AZ, however of course American Airlines decided to cancel the flight, forcing Angel to fly to AZ on Day 9.

 

DAY 9

Today was the day I would be flying home. Angel also arrived in AZ in the morning. We mainly went to a place called H-Mart for lunch, and we also went to a boba shop.

 

After going out for lunch, we drove to the airport and got on our long flight back home to Florida.

 

I would rate this trip a 7.5/10 since the road trip was pretty boring. Other than that this strip was decent. Thanks for reading my blog, and I’ll see you guys next time.

As of two weeks ago, Google Workspace was available to everyone in our family. Bien, Vien, Angel, and others have been using it to communicate with each other, save files, and more. If you would like to create an account, I’ve attached a link below. Google Workspace is a standard Google Account, however it has business features built in and extra storage (30GB) for Google Drive. You will have access to the main productivity tools such as Google Doc’s, and some other tools such as Google Meet (private/public meetings) and a custom e-mail (person@nguyenusa.com). Best of all, it’s free. Come register today!

Register Here:

https://forms.gle/FUgKTEGZRsZwsSLt9

So one morning after it rained, I went to check the security camera system, when I found out one of my cameras outside had this white cloud in the middle, I first assumption was that it was just small fog, so the next day I checked, it was still there. I went outside to check the camera and took a look, there was moisture behind the lens. I was a bit worried, since videos on YouTube said that if this happens, you might need to replace the camera. When I put it in rice so it could dry off, it got worse. A primary cause of condensation in security cameras is that they are not properly sealed. Often times with cheaper cameras, they do not offer the water-resistance rating they claim. These should be avoided as most times, they will quickly fail and you will spend more money replacing them with the proper equipment. To prevent security cameras from becoming foggy at night, another good solution is to put a small packet of silica gel inside the outdoor CCTV cameras. This problem has been going on every time it stops raining, and it basically renders the camera useless. I believe the reason why the camera is fogging up is because it was made with cheap materials from China, so I should’ve gotten an American brand. Such desiccant materials are capable of removing moisture and drying out the air and thus, avoiding CCTV camera condensation problems. Unfortunately, the only silica gel I have is from a seaweed packaging, plus, its almost impossible to stick the gel in and then take it out, since I cant disassemble the camera. I hope you enjoy this blog, and I will see you next time, bye.

Some of you may know about this already, however my home has a phone/intercom system where one room and call the other (such as a hotel). Today, I’ve been waiting for this new system update. There are three existing phones, the Polycom VVX 400 (buggy), the Cisco 7821 w/ Multiplatform Firmware, and the Yealink T31P. There will be four new Yealink T21P E2 IP Phones (refurbished from previous use). I will install these four phones in the master bedroom, my room, guest room, and kitchen. The Yealink T31P will be moved from my room to the office, and the Cisco 7821 will be moved from the master bedroom to the downstairs desk (currently at the laundry area). Unfortunately, the phones were locked to the previous owners PBX server, so I am currently waiting for the manufacture “Yealink” to remove the phones from the PBX. I’ve also transitioned to Multicast Paging, since its easier to use and doesn’t put a lot of stress on the server. Paging is when you make an announcement to multiple phones/speakers. However, there are some problems where the Yealink T31P IP Phone won’t be able to send multicast pages due to the weird networking configuration, so I might move back to standard paging. I’ve also created an IVR so I can play custom tones/audio files during paging announcements. I plan on releasing a system tour video on my YT Channel soon. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time!

So last week, we landed at Akron International Airport at around 10 or 11 PM. It was a 20 minute drive to the home, but it felt like 30 minutes. Thucquyen had also said that before we arrived, there were two power outages which lasted 4-5 hours. For the first two days, nothing much happened and we just hung around at home. I remember we had Duck for lunch, and it was not too appealing since some parts tasted rather interesting. It was also freezing because of the recent blizzards in the north. After the blizzards calmed down, a bunch of my cousins went skateboarding. I went with them however stayed in the lobby, and it was atrocious. Not only was it freezing inside, but since most snowboarders were coming in with their shoes logged with snows, it made the floors very wet. There was half-melted snow on the ground and it was extremely muddy. At the front entrance, there was even a large pool of mud-water. In fact, there wasn’t even a wet floor sign to begin with. The next day, me and another few cousins went to down-town. We had some boba and ate some cake. I got a strawberry sundae to share with my dad. We also got to eat at a pizza shop and rode the subway. Thanks for reading!

Hello everybody. A few months ago, Hurricane Ian hit the shared family home in Cape Coral. The area surrounding the home was flooded and badly damaged. Power lines, phone lines, and even restaurant signs were destroyed. No damage was found inside the home, however, the backyard was a complete mess. Somebody’s kayak and cooler was in our backyard, the pool was green with a trash can floating around with tree branches in the pool, and the pool net cage was also damaged. Even the boat, was knocked off the lift and actually drifted away into another canal. The boat lift canopy frame was also bent, meaning that having the lift retract out of the water was impossible without damage (the canopy frame was later partly removed). The first time we came to the home after the hurricane, there were traffic jams, in-operational traffic lights, long lines waiting for food, no power, and gas stations all packed since 95% of the gas stations were closed. It took us about 3.5 Hours to get to the house, opposed to the usual 2.5 hours. Over the next few weeks, there were many trips back and forth to the house to start repairs. Many insurance claims were also claimed, and it was hard to get a hold of a pool company, due to the high volume of customers the company’s were experiencing. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you next time.

The first day, we arrived late in the night into Cleveland, Ohio. Nothing much happened, but we went to sleep. The next day, Bien arrived. We played “Ghost” in the basement with the two radios we had. The next day, Angel arrived and we played some ROBLOX. Fast forward a few days, we were departing for Buffalo, NY. We rode in a white van that had seats. When we arrived in Buffalo, the AirBNB was decently sized, I say that because without the large basement below us with the bedroom, the house would’ve been small. The next day, we hopped back into the van and drove to Toronto and stayed there for two nights. The place was spacious, perfect for a game of “Ghost”. We also went downtown to go eat, and we explored a library. The last day in Toronto, we drove to Montreal. We stayed in a large house, however the basement was occupied by an unknown guest. The place also had an electric piano/keyboard. The next day, we drove to Niagara Falls and then back to Ohio for the last day. I played some ROBLOX with Bien and then we all went to the airport to fly home. I hope you enjoyed this blog and I will see you next time, bye guys!

This weekend my family is going here for Thanksgiving. We will eat a lot of turkey. My family is big. My cousin is called Khoi. He likes airplanes. He is annoying. My other cousin is called Y Vien. She cries too much. Y Vien is still crying.

 

Tomorrow I need to talk about the book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I hate it.

 

When it snows, I will go snowboarding with my friends. My cousins snowboard sometimes, but they are not good at snowboarding. I’m not strong in French. I hate the French because they love cheese.

 

I am bored.