Gobble Gobble, Deepagiving.

Hey there, Chris here. Ever wondered what would happen

if you were to combine two major festivities together?

One from the East and one from the West?

Well, we did exactly just that. What resulted was not a balance

between the two celebrations but a typical Malaysian gathering.

It involved a lot of food, drink, laughter and a new must play when

Malaysians have a gathering in the University of Kansas, Mahjong.

I was not kidding when I said Mahjong, didn't I?

We went through a good number of rounds of Mahjong, on average fifteen games.

Minimum.

Pn. Sara, a representative from the EMC (Education Malaysia Chicago) decided to

visit our base of operations. She is a very nice and friendly lady. She offered 

to cook nasi lemak if we visit her in Chicago.

And here you can see Pn. Sara lecturing me about how bad my

tandoori tasted. (just kidding, she was asking me about my home in Malaysia).

Food was great as usual. I mean, it's Malaysian food. Who doesn't love

Malaysian food?

And here is everyone in one photo. Almost everyone anyways.

Watch out for more updates when we have other big events on this blog, stay tuned!!!!

Malaysians meet Bloomington Park

In remembrance of our home country's independence,

we did what we Malaysians were good at to remember

it, cooking, eating and being very good social creatures.

We had a barbecue at Bloomington park which is a

part of Clinton Lake. It was a good day so we even

 invited some of our Singaporean comrades. Beautiful 

people, definitely.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that we had the

badminton sports group join us for the barbecue

as well. Very good people and very good players,

so come on down to the University of Kansas,

and we'll definitely let you in on a game or two

if you're here on a Friday or a weekend.

Here are some of the highlights of the event on

Saturday.

That's all of us that were at the barbecue right there.

Now this isn't the whole gang. We have more Malaysians.

Somewhere.

Yep, doing what we Malaysians do best, waiting for food.

The food was excellent. Hats off to those who prepared

the food.

Yes, I kid you not. This is a fruit pizza, made for this

special event. I was looking for this thing but the only

time I got to see it was this photo.

I personally can't believe 55 years have gone by 

already since our independence. Makes you feel

old. hah. Although I do wonder, where did the

patriotism go? Just food for thought. I mean

nothing by that. Anyways, moving on.

Another highlight. Our Malaysian brother feeding his dog

a sausage. Lots of love shown here.

After all that we played volleyball. Men vs the Women.

The women were clearly winning. Then again it was

because there were about twelve girls and it was against

seven guys. So yeah.

After that was all said and done, some of us decided to

go to one of our houses to play Mahjong.

Two Chindians, one Chinese and one Indian.

Guess who is who?

After Mahjong...

This resulted. Full day well spent indeed.

This is just the beginning though (hopefully). We probably have more

 events coming up but we're just going with the flow. Malaysian style.

More to come soon (that's for sure).  Peace out.

GUIDE to cheap telecommunication in the US

So, we know, all of us want to save as much money as we can, this includes our phone calls and texting costs. Here is a tip and recommendation, disclaimer I do not profess that this is the best method for anyone, but if you find it helpful, then thanks. =) And yes, it is Android biased, but It should work on Iphones too.

PS: please create a google account, it is basically the what the whole android experience needs.

More disclaimers:

disadvantage: this is not for people who wants to have mobile data on their phone. If you want cheap mobile data as well as follow this guide's method, go for this:


http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-plans

advantages:
1) call back to malaysia using your GV number (provided you put money into the account) at 4 cents per minute. 


2) save save and save!!! 



So what's this business with the American Telco (telecommunication)???

CARRIERS

OK so basically, in Malaysia, we have carriers like DIGI, CELCOM, MAXIS and etc etc. 

Here in America, we have T-mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and etc etc

PLANS

Here in America, you can buy a phone that is tied to the carrier. Along with that phone you get to choose what kind of plan you want, be it prepaid, or monthly plan or etc etc. If you buy a phone with a plan from the carrier, you have to sign a certain contract that bounds you for 1 year or 2. 

Or, you could just by the plan, the (sim card) and use it with a phone that is UNLOCKED( not tied to any carrier) 

One thing you should take note: here in America, they charge BOTHWAYS.. which means if A calls or text B, not only A gets charged, B gets charged too. GASPPPP

     Okay so that's about it. Now we can move on to the actual guide...

                                                                                

                                                                                

                                                                                

  **** GUIDE TO CHEAP TELCO THROUGHOUT YOUR UNI YEARS ****

****USING GOOGLE VOICE AND GROOVE IP ****

 0.0 smartphone with 100 bucks prepaid plan every year 0.0

step 1 : Get a UNLOCKED Smartphone (Android Preferably). You can get in Malaysia before you come, or you could come here and search for it since I think most phones are cheaper here. And you can shop online here which makes things much simpler. You search for unlocked phones in sites like www.amazon.com (you will use this alot, it is an online shopping store). for eg: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=unlocked+smarphones

PS: get a good one that cost around 200 USD plus, think of it as an investment. I know you must be thinking: 200 USD WAH! so expensive ahh!!! canot canot lar!! 

But..but but.... you spend 200 once and 100 bucks every year after that. 100 bucks per year!! no kidding!! actually I have only used around 60 bucks per year.. still trying to figure out a cheaper way.. =DD

step 2 : I would recommend T-mobile, because I don't know the other plans with the other carrier. Get a 100 bucks prepaid plan from T-mobile, they will give you the sim card. 

step 3 : Download the google voice app. This app is basically used for texting, for free because it is like Whatsapp, the only thing it is different from Whatsapp is that you can text to anybody, including those who do not have google voice. Here's the link to the app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.googlevoice&hl=en

OR you could just go to play store on your phone and download it. 

step 4 : Set up your google voice account from a computer. Go to https://www.google.com/voice/?setup=1#setup/. Next you will be prompted by a dialog box asking you whether you want a new number or use your mobile number, I would recommend you to go ahead and get a new number, this will be your GV number that is different from the number your carrier gave you. Follow the steps shown on the dialog box to get your new number, and after you are satisfied with the one you want, just click continue. After you have set up your number, it's time to link your GV number to your carrier's number so that when you are not in WIFI regions, you could still be reached when people call your GV number.

step 5 : Follow the steps in the google voice website to add a fowarding number, your carrier number. 

image taken from xda forum. 

Be sure to tick both google chat and the your carrier prepaid plan as shown in the picture above.

After that, from your phone, open the app, and sign in using your google voice account. Once again follow the steps prompted by the app, and you should be good to go. 

PHEW... so that's that for the texting part. Now you can text anybody for free when you are connected to WIFI.. and you can reply messages from your GV account on the computer as well.. the only disadvantage is that you won't be able to receive your messages when you are outside, but but but.. don't forget you will be spending most of your time on campus, all of the buildings on campus has wifi services. And if someone do text you when your phone is not connected to the internet, when you get back to a place which has wifi, BOOM, your text will immediately show up. 

step 6 : GROOVE IP!!! that's the app that's going to help you save on calling costs =DDD. Like GV, it uses  the internet instead of the mobile network to make calls, so it is free whenever you are connected to WIFI, which is basically alot of times throughout the semester, as you will always be in some building on campus. 

Download the app from playstore or https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gvoip&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5ndm9pcCJd. It costs 4.99 USD but it is worth it, if you are so cheapskate that you don't want to spend 5 bucks, you could use the lite version. Obviously the paid version has advantages over the lite version. This app needs your GV account, as you will be using your GV number to make and receive calls open it on your phone sign in using your voice account, and follow the steps if prompted. BOOM, wala you all set, now you can call people, anybody for FREE. 

Wait wait... One more thing, go to your GV acocunt using a computer, go to settings, then click on the calls tab, turn "Call Screening" off, cause this will piss your friends off if you don't. 

PS: you will notice when you are signed in to Groove IP, and when people call you, your native phone app will ring too along with your Groove ip app. Not a real biggie, but if you want to avoid this, download AutoAP https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.geekherd.autoap&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsIm5ldC5nZWVraGVyZC5hdXRvYXAiXQ..

This will enable airplane mode when you are connected to WIFI, hence disabling your mobile cell, while keeping your WIFI on. 

Lastly, all you have to do is give people your GV number, and you are set. 

another PS. instead of Groove IP, you could also use Talkatone https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.talkatone.android&hl=en , which is free, but i prefer Groove IP. It's your choice. 

Hope this helps, again I do not claim that this will be suitable for everyone's needs, but it certainly worked fine for me and I saved alot! Do leave comments =DD

Conception and Greetings

Hello fellow Malaysians,

Here's to wishing everyone a prosperous new year, may peace and wisdom be with you.