Thank you for an awesome DevHouse!

[Elliot]

Hello fellow hackers,

I hope you had a wonderful New Year's with friends and/or family!

Personally, I had a pleasant trip to Cambodia, where I saw lots of
temples, met many CouchSurfers, and ate amok and lok lak.
Unfortunately, I picked up a fever and cough while there, and I'm
still trying to get over it. I apologize if I'm less active than
usual.

Last month, we held our first event at the Saigon Hackspace:
SuperHappyDevHouse! SHDH is a regular event in many other cities
around the world, but this was the first one in Ho Chi Minh City. It
was a great success thanks to the the efforts of many volunteers. I
definitely could not have done it without your terrific help.

I would especially like to recognize these heroes:

HUỲNH Thảo Angela - for helping tremendously with organization.
Thanh-Cong Vo - for setting up the excellent fiber internet connection
and assisting in purchasing the refrigerator.
Trí Nhân Vu - for assisting in purchasing the air conditioner: very
important in the Saigon heat!
Pedro Hernández - for huge support of the Saigon Hackspace and always
attending our meetings.
Thuy Thanh Truong - for assisting with renting the house, and enabling
the delicious Parallel Frozen Yogurt.

And a big thank-you to everyone who attended! I believe we had about
20 people, which is fantastic for our first event. And the Hackspace
isn't even open yet :)

Now for a status update:

- Parallel Frozen Yogurt is still doing construction on the first
floor of the building, so it is noisy and messy for the time being.
They will hopefully finish within the next few days.

- Meanwhile, we're making major progress on improving the space. We
brought in a whiteboard today, and we'll be getting stools to sit on
soon. If you'd like to help with improving the space, let me know!

- When Parallel is open, and we have some basic furniture, we'll
organize a parts party to invite inventors and tinkerers to bring
stuff to fill the space. If you'd like to help organize the Parts
Party, let me know!

- We are still short on funds. If you'd like to make a contribution,
let me know. I'm committed to opening the Hackspace regardless, so
please come and make use of the space :)

- A little off-topic: here's an awesome project we could do: a low-
cost video chat robot! http://procrastineering.blogspot.com/2011/02/low-cost-video-chat-robot.html

Any questions or comments?

Thanks again for your support!
Elliot