Long Nguyen

Oct 19 / 12:47pm

Pas de sorcières à Québec

La ville de Québec est plutôt amusante pour l'Halloween. Toutefois, à Montréal, il y a déjà des lumières de Noël.

Oct 13 / 9:51am

Dire merci à ceux qui sont (plus ou moins) proches de nous

Yesterday was Thanksgiving in Canada and I decided to do something I've never done before: celebrate the holiday (sort of) by thanking people.

Here's a short list of what I sent people, in alphabetical order, I think.

I want to thank you for giving me a chance to enhance my portfolio with your website.
Je vous remercie de faire les beaux projets que vous faîtes. Le web est un meilleur endroit avec vous et je suis bien heureux de vous connaître.
Merci d'être un ami.
Merci d'être si souriante et patiente.
Merci d'exister et d'être toi.
Merci de m'inclure dans tous tes projets.
Merci pour avoir eu confiance en moi sans même qu'on se connaisse vraiment.
Merci pour m'avoir donné la chance de faire ton poster.
Merci pour ta tolérance et toutes ces années d'amitié et celles à venir.
Merci pour ton ouverture d'esprit.

Indeed, I would find it strange to be on the receiving end of any of these messages. I concluded several things from the responses I received.

Everybody found it weird. It was out of the blue, nobody expected that I would do something like this. I am very good at going through with unexpected gestures.
That tells me that Thanksgiving isn't a very big deal in my circles.
Everybody felt good for receiving my thank you note. On this point, I refuse to be wrong. In all responses, I could feel a smile lurking on my recipient's face.

What did I get out of this experience/experiment? Simple. The satisfaction that I did something good, yet, it took so little effort.

The one thing I would like to know is the impact I created. This is something I can't figure out, but people, you, will have to tell me about it.

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Oct 12 / 9:18am

Photoshop for the iPhone is pretty good

I took a photo with my iPhone and the picture wasn't great, so it was
an opportunity to try Photoshop for the iPhone. The result is pretty
good considering that the iPhone camera produces very low quality
photos and that this is only a mobile version of Photoshop.

Filed under // Gadgets Technology

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Oct 9 / 4:54am

This is how my morning started

That tweet/compliment is one of the first things I read this morning. Now, I wonder how the rest of the day will be like and how it will end.

Filed under // Life

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Oct 2 / 6:51am

8.5 pounds in 2 weeks

The explanation of this weirdness on facebook is quite simple. Same amount of weight, same amount of time and same source of posting; both of these Facebook friends got their account hacked through their mobile devices.

You haven't seen any weird status updates from me, have you? If you have, then let me know!

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Sep 23 / 6:28pm

The beginning of my new website

Lately, I have been thinking of redesigning my website which serves as my online portfolio. The reason is because my current one isn't doing justice to what I can do as web designer. It lacks purpose and clarity. What it currently is, is a page with a series of links that point to websites I have created. In other words, all the link are making visitors leave which isn't really my objective.

So what's my objective? To get people to see that I can do a good job and to get people to hire me.

In order to reach that objective, I have thought of using words on the home page. For example, I could use an introductory paragraph that says something like: "I am a web designer experienced in building clean, simple and user-friendly websites for clients across the globe." It's a simple statement that lets visitors know what I do and who I do it for. It's also very clear and easy to read. Initially, I had a longer text, but I realized that it will be better suited for an About section.

In addition to an overhaul of the home page, I have also thought about the general structure of the website with a navigation that will contain these elements: Services, Portfolio, Blog, About, Contact. I have very clearly defined each of them as follows:

Services - The things I do
Portfolio - The things I've done
Blog - The things I write
About - The things I am
Contact - The things you want to tell me

I already figured out the content of each section, so now, I am thinking about how I can display all that information. This is the design stage.

Stay tuned for more details on this personal project.

Filed under // Design

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Sep 18 / 1:24pm

Someone among my Facebook friends passed away

I didn't know her very well. I met her at Montreal's monthly Yulblog event, we talked, we added each other on Facebook and that was it. Like I said, I didn't know her very well. Today, I learnt that she died.

People on Facebook could remove me from their friends list anytime and I wouldn't care, but death... Let's get real, death doesn't compare. Apparently, I care if somebody dies among my Facebook friends. I seem to care enough to write about it. Maybe it's because it wasn't a naturally death. Indeed, this lovely woman was killed by some punk ass junkie who probably did it, because he couldn't get a fix.

The death of someone you've met, even someone you don't really know, puts everything in perspective. It's not like having a fight with someone close or going through a bad break up. Death takes people away forever. You get to think about everyone alive. You get to think that you should enjoy their presence while they're still alive, even if they make your life miserable. You end up wishing that you were 10,000 kilometers away because that's where your dying grandmother is.

This sad event has reminded me of my greatest fear: the fear of loss. That's probably the main reason why I don't attach myself to people. Does that make me a coward? Possibly, without a doubt.

Enjoy people's presence while they're alive. Enjoy it even more if they're making your life miserable. Imagine how boring your life would be if no one was there.

Filed under // Life

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Sep 15 / 4:30pm

Anger made me create my own iPhone stand

I love anger. It's a great feeling, because it makes me creative and productive. No other feelings can make me as creative and productive as anger.

Today, I discovered the iPhone paper stand dock made by Julien Madérou and I got angry. I got angry because I didn't think of it. I originally wanted to reproduce it to use it myself, because I find his design very practical and simple, but I was too lazy to look for a knife to cut the paper properly. I'm also out of ink, so I can't print it.

Instead, I looked at objects around me to see if I could make my own iPhone stand without cutting anything. I saw some bookends that I wasn't using and I tried to somehow match them with my iPhone. I ended up folding two curves as you can see on the photo and my iPhone fits perfectly. What's great about this iPhone stand, in comparison with the paper version and even the real thing, is that I don't have to fear that it will fall off. I can lift it up violently and move it away without worrying that my phone would fall. I don't know why anyone would do that violently, but who knows what people do in this world.

This stand is also very cheap, you can buy bookends at the dollar store. As for folding, no precision is required, you can just fold using your bare hands.

Beware of anger. It can make you creative and productive, but it can also destroy. It's like alcohol, you can't let it control you.

Filed under // Design Gadgets

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Sep 14 / 4:51pm

Which movies made you cry?

10 Movies Guys Should Admit Made Them Cry is an article that lists a bunch of movies in which... Well, you read the title. I just don't get it. For most of the movies in the list, I don't even think the most sensitive girl in the world would cry. In fact, I can't remember any American movie that ever made me cry. Wait, this isn't true, there's The Lord of the Rings when Frodo and Sam realized that they might never go home. Seriously, "home" is important. Think of what you consider your home, the place that is better than any other. Now, imagine you could never go back there.

Another movie that did make me cry way more that any other was Journey From the Fall.

This is a movie that made me realize that our lives have begun long before we were even born. It's all about history. It's all about where we come from. It's all about what and who we are willing to suffer for. It's about what we want to share with the world. There are only two movies that ever hit my heart and Journey From the Fall is one of them.

We can't really know where we're going until we know where we've been.

Filed under // Movies

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