Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Aimy’s birthday is this Friday. She was born in Burbank, while I was still trying to close a telephony deal (Centrex or “cloud telephony”). Phones get smaller (from brick phone to pocket phone) while Aimy grows bigger. She went with me to many direct sales events, Daddy and daughter…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: “the Network Effect of Nations”. Brazil, the “B” in BRIC, is on course to be number 5 by 2014 according to the Economist. http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=14845197&source=most_commented So, it’s not just the International Olympic Committee which noticed Brazil Rising. Nor is it seen only as the  corn basket of the world (When…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: I thought the USS New York was cool until I read about ex-refugee came back as US Naval Commander in China Beach. http://www.omantribune.com/index.php?page=news&id=58579&heading=Asia Same waters, similar vessels, but context and crew have changed. Just like what we read today about a school teacher walking students on a day field…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: A Canadian lady, on her insurance-paid leave for mental distress, walked into a bar. Not just any bar, but a male strip tease bar. And she posted her excursion in Facebook to share with “friends”. Among the uninvited  “friends” was the Insurance adjuster. So, her insurance checks stop coming.…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Sir Chaplin showed it best in “Modern Times”. Jacques Ellul took a step further to analyze all things “technique”. The 70’s OPEC oil embargo triggered  cost-cutting craze, starting with the elimination of gas station full-service to Smart cars and EVs. I took a trip this past Thanksgiving. At rest…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: OK, I took a picture standing next to the convertible SAAB I won, but I took the cash option ( for grad student loan). Now, this brand, along with Pontiac and Saturn, will soon be relics of the past. We have a lot of In’s/Out’s at the end of…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: When lunching near Dulles Airport  years ago, we ran into some Teleglobe colleagues who had gone over to AOL. Back then, I looked at those guys with a bit of envy. After all, we were just a voice backbone. Those guys were in their honeymoon with Time Warner, both…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Remember Nightline when it first debut? Satellite uplink made possible real-time, split-screen dialogue, with multi-continental guests and in-studio moderator. Safer than appearing on Jerry Springer (which need at least two or three bouncers). Now we have video upload from crowd source.  We have moved beyond “lonely girl” in front…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: ABC News last broadcast of 2009 featured some celebrities we have lost, among them, one of its own: Peter Jennings. Peter’s most memorable quote:: “when I look at a coin, instinctively, I want to flip it to see the other side”. He used to take a bunch of books…

Originally posted on Thang Nguyen 555: Train, plane or automobile, we all try to get somewhere, point A to point B. Far enough to be looked at as “foreigner”. The Economist has a piece on this subject to highlight the decade of globalization. http://www.economist.com/world/international/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15108690&source=hptextfeature I was surprised to find Vietnam, especially in HCMC and Hanoi,…