I picked up Peter Gasston’s The Book of CSS3 and read through it in almost five hours straight. I simply couldn’t put it down. CSS3 is, without a doubt, one of the core technologies that makes the web so exciting. From media queries to web fonts to transitions and animations, CSS3 brings quite a bit of flavor to not only the presentation but also the interaction to the web.

Through Gasston’s clear explanations and easy-to-follow examples, you’ll see the power of CSS3 in action, which can be used today in contemporary browsers. The last two chapters on “Template Layout” and “The Future of CSS” are intriguing to see where CSS is heading. Definitely a must-read for web designers and developers. Don’t take my word for it. Check out Gasston’s article on “The Future of CSS Layouts” to get a glimpse of you’ll get from The Book of CSS3.

It’s 10:42p.m. and Dao finally went to sleep. He napped almost four hours today in the stroller at the mall. Dung went shopping and I read a whole book. I was so happy that when he woke up I wanted to take him to play some golf, but the rain was pouring. We took him golfing last weekend and he loved it even though he was having a hard time getting the ball in.

On Saturday we went to a friend’s cookout. One of Dung’s old friend has a six-year-old boy. She told us that her son keeps asking her why he doesn’t have a brother to play with. So they are working hard to fulfill his request. The poor guy was bored at the party because most of the kids were girl. Dao is too young for him. So he just stayed with him mom the whole time.

Soon Dao will have a brother to play with so he won’t be a loner. Last night we asked him, “Em cua Dao dau [Where is your lil brother]?” He responded, “Day ne [here]” and pointed to his belly. We corrected him so now he’s pointing to his mommy’s belly.

Speaking of the new baby, he didn’t seem to like pho today, probably because of too much MSG at Pho 75. I have been thinking about the boy’s name, but the only one came to mind is “Duc.” I told my wife that we will named the following kid “Gia” so that we’ll have “Dao Duc Gia [fake morals].”

In a serious note, I would love a Vietnamese name that would be easy to say in both Vietnamese and English. Dao turns out be quite an easy name to say in both languages. Even his friends and his teachers could say his name correctly. His nickname, Duke, is now rarely used. He even refers to himself as Dao like, “Dao is smart,” which is his new compliment to himself.

Hu Tieu Mi La Cay Cho Lon opened for a while now and bluntly scooped up customers from Hai Ky Mi Gia. I tried the house noodle soup a couple weeks after its grand opening, but was not impressed with it. I prefer Hai Ky’s broth over La Cay’s for the noodle soup.

A couple weeks ago we went back to La Cay and I decided to try the curry goat noodle. The curry is a bit salty, but I was hooked. The noodle was near perfect (not too soft and not too gummy) and the goat was spicy and savory. Last week I reordered it one more time with a bottle of Vietnamese Beer 33 and I loved the combination.

If you’re at La Cay the next time, skip the typical noodle soup that everyone orders and give curry goat noodle a try. Squeeze in some lime if the curry is too salty for you. Other than that, the bowl is off the hook.

Just realize that I haven’t written much about food and haven’t taken photos for quite a while. I hope to get back to posting more photos again.

Every now and then I get an email asking me how to create a Flash slideshow. Rather than answering the same question over and over again, I just going to post it here and point people to it.

Although I still create a motion piece once in a while, Flash is no longer one of my professional tools. I stopped keeping up with Flash, particularly with ActionScript, many years ago. I use Flash mostly for animation because I am horrible with After Effects. Flash is much simpler for creating quick teasers.

So the frequent question has always been how to learn Flash. In my days there were many great tutorial sites and I am sure they are still many out there, but the only one I know still exist is Flashkit. Flashkit could be quite overwhelming for beginners. Flash was one of the most challenging programs for me to learn at the time and Flash didn’t even come with a whole scripting language then.

I used the Visual QuickStart Guide Series to help me started. Once you get a grip of Flash’s interface, timeline and how to move movie clips around the stage, you can create slideshows. From there on, it’s up to your patience (lots of) and imagination.

Ngoc Ha has a powerful voice for such a petite figure, but what makes her stands out is the versatility in her delivery. She could maneuver her way around traditional folks as effortless as pop standards. She even throws in some ballroom ballads every now and then just to prove that she can do it.

Her latest release, Mau Thoi Gian, is yet another album showing off her range and trying to cover all bases. The problem is that too many different flavors just slowing down the show. Mau Thoi Gian begins with an excellent version of Quoc Dung’s “Ru Toi Giac Mong,” courtesy of the semi-classical arrangement. The violin solo and the piano comping heightened Ngoc Ha’s vocals.

The second track fails flat comparing to the impressive opener. From the mechanical production to Ngoc Ha’s lack of personal interoperation, her cover of Lam Phuong’s “Cho Em Quen Tuoi Ngoc” is a huge letdown. The music arrangement gets worse on the third track, Thanh Trang’s “Duyen The.” It’s one of those Thuy Nga’s typical mass productions that could get you drowsy quickly.

On the fourth track, Pho Duc Phuong’s “Tren Dinh Phu Van,” the album takes a sharp turn to northern traditional folks. The arrangement here is a wonderful mix of old melodic strings and new electronic rhythm and spacious vibes. The fifth track takes yet another departure to a safe, constrained version of Nguyen Anh 9’s “Co Don.” The sixth track, Pham Manh Cuong’s “Thu Ca,” takes a dizzy route to the dance floor with the ballroom tango. Ngoc Ha even glides into Tung Duong’s territory with Luu Ha An’s “Con Co,” but she doesn’t have the chops to bend notes and mess around with the melodic lines like he does.

With that kind of a range Ngoc Ha could have crafted each experience with each album. I would love to hear a whole album of her interpretation of Pham Duy’s songbook or an entire work of folks flavor. Hell, I would even jam to her ballroom record if she cuts one. Let’s just hope that she gets it. Making an album requires more than just throwing a bunch of tunes together with various styles and arrangements.

Met up with an old buddy yesterday in Eden Center. He’s the only one from high school I still keep in touch with. He hasn’t changed much. Still the same guy I knew more than fifteen years ago. We caught up and reflected on the yesteryears.

Right after high school we took on our own path. We both went to college, but he also joined the US Army. Every time I hear something going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, I think of him. He turns out quite well. All cut and fit. I am now taking on the role of a married man and a father while he’s still enjoying his single life.

At this point of our lives, we seem to have nothing in common, but the thing that we both held on to from the past. No matter how far apart we have grown, I am glad the we still have something that bonded us together. Definitely looking forward to hanging out with my hommie again.

The ultrasound result is in. Dao will have a little brother by the end of the year. The little fellow is doing well, no anomalies observed. He’s weighing in at 11 oz (41%). Unlike his older brother who moved around constantly, he stayed calm during the ultrasound.

Dana is also doing well. Her cervix is about 3.7cm long and appears closed. The doctor wants her to gain at least one pound a week. That’s not going to be a problem. I already feed her a huge burrito at Chipotle. We’ll just have to hit Cheesecake Factory for some hamburgers and revisit Blue Pearl buffets more often.

When Dana was carrying Dao, we used to hit iHop in the middle of the night for stack of pancakes or hit the diners for some late-night chicken wings. Now that we have Dao, we won’t be able to do that with the second baby. Maybe I’ll just buy stuff home for us, but it won’t be the same as experiencing the night life.

The “sites” section is the most important part of Visualgui in showcasing work to potential clients. I like to keep it just to one page so client can see example of my projects without having to click around. The problem is that the screenshots are huge and the number of projects keep on growing. The two biggest issues are scrolling and loading. So I spent the last few nights researching and figuring out the best solution to solve the problem.

I experimented with two methods: lazy load and infinite scroll. I really like the method of lazy load because I can still keep everything on one page and only load up images the user see. Unfortunately, lazy load is not working the way it should. In Safari, the images are being loaded even though they don’t show up until users get to them.

Infinite scroll, on the other hand, requires breaking down several pages, which I don’t mind much. The biggest drawback is the break of the back button. Once user clicks on a link, they cannot go back to where they were on. The loading of further down contents seems to be very disorienting.

After getting them to work, I was not pleased with the end result; therefore, I didn’t use neither one. I went back to the basic approach of adding a second page. So the first page shows the last 10 projects and the second page shows all of the older projects. So that’s the temporary solution until I could find a better approach.

After my 2001 graduation from La Salle University, I thought that I would be done with school for good. Academia was never meant for me. I spent more time learning the things that I wanted to accomplish than sitting in class. Yet a decade later, I enrolled myself into the Master of Science in Information Systems Technology program this coming fall. In less then two months, I will be back in school again.

Is this the right time for schooling? I am not even sure myself since we will be expecting our second baby at the end of the year. I actually applied into the program over two years ago. I sent in my transcripts, letters of recommendation, statement of purpose and resume. I filled out my online application, but couldn’t submitted it. Something went wrong. Before I could go any further, Dao came into my world. I dropped it aside and focused on becoming a parent.

About a month or so ago, I was notified that if I don’t do anything with my application, it will be dropped out of the system. So I called the office to find out what else I needed to do to complete my application. It turned out that I just needed to paid $60 and hit the submit button.

I am actually very excited about MSIST program because it seems like a great enhancement to my professional career. After meeting with the wonderful advisor, I immediately got into two classes that run from 4pm to 6pm from Monday to Thursday. The problem is I won’t be able to pick up Dao from the daycare because he needs to be out by 6pm and it takes me at least an hour to get to his place. Once Dana gives birth to the next baby, she won’t be able to drive for a while so we’re now begging our father-in-law to come help us out as well since my mother-in-law will give us a hand with the new kid.

After we welcome our new baby, our plan is to have Dana stayed home at least three months, which means she won’t be paid. At that time, we’ll depend on just one income; therefore, I hope to pick up more freelance projects to cover the expenses.

The next few months will be quite intense for us, especially for Dana. That is the reason I am still unsure if this is the right time for schooling. Then again, when will it be the right time? If not now then when? So my thought it that: Let’s just do it. Then again, I only have to give up a few things, like blogging, Netflixing, dining out, spending time and money at Costco, sleeping and most importantly wasting time on the Web. I am sure I can handle it as long as I can still keep up with web design and development. I have nothing to lose.

My only thing that I feel extremely bad and discomfort about is that Dana will be carrying most of the burden even though she is very supportive of my decision. I definitely picked an awesome partner even though I take that for grant at times.

The news of Amy Winehouse passed away today at the age of only 27 is heartbreaking but hardly shocking. She had lived the life she sang in her award-winning Back to Black. While the album was blowing up, Winehouse was on the road to self-destruct with drugs and alcohol. In the title track she claimed, “You love blow and I love puff / and life is like a pipe.” Whenever I listened to that two bars, I can’t help thinking of Nas’s “Life’s a Bitch.” Nas was one of Winehouse’s musical heroes. Could Winehouse took Nas’s words a bit too her heart? Who knows, but the chorus seems to describe her troubled lifestyle: “Life’s a bitch and then you die; that’s why we get high / Cause you never know when you’re gonna go.”

Goodbye, Amy.