Over Thanksgiving break, I spent some time browsing through George Mason’s programs of study to see if I could take advantage of the tuition benefit. I found a few that would not only enhance my job performance, but also further my career interest. For instance, the Server Administration and Management certificate program would be very beneficial to my current job even I have requested a training on Red Hat and my supervisor already signed me up for the end of February 2012. I am also would like to enroll into Web Design and Developer just to have the certificate listed on my resume.

The one that really caught my interest, however, is the Master of Arts in Graphic Design. The courses that stood out to me are Advanced Web Design, Brand Identity Design and Advanced Typography. My job nowadays involves more technical than design; therefore, this program will balance out the two. Although I have always been a self-taught in design, I also believe in academic so this would be a great opportunity.

I am so excited about the program that the first step I did was pull together a portfolio, which is one of the requirements for the program. I selected twenty pieces that showcase my web design and development, motion and graphic design, brand and identity. Tomorrow I’ll schedule an interview with a design faculty to see where I’ll go from here.

Update: The certificate programs aren’t covered by tuition benefit, but 50% off for full-time employee. Not only to take them unless really necessary. MA in Graphic Design is still on.

After her groundbreaking Khu Vườn Yên Tĩnh released almost seven years ago, she retreated to the safe territory covering Trinh Cong Son’s songs and collaborating with her platonic pal Quang Dũng. The new release Vòng Tròn is an attempt to reinvent her style.

The title track and “Nghịch Nắng” start off promising. With spacious, mid tempo, electronic arrangments courtesy of Quốc Trung, the two tracks pick up where Khu Vườn Yên Tĩnh left off. Just when we’re about to get into the zone, the third track kicks us right back out and let us down all the way through. The production on “Danh Vọng” is just robotic and so is Hồng Nhung’s English singing. Even though her enunciation has been improved over the years, clarity is still an issue, which further proved on “Papa” and “Anh Đừng Đi.”

As for the rest of the tracks, Hồng Nhung is drowned out by the trunk-rattle bass and soft-rave productions. Her modern view of “Sài Gòn” is damn near unrecognizable as if the city is all about partying, popping E and chilling out. The use of Auto-Tune on “Bống Bống Bang Bang” testifies that Hồng Nhung is indeed trying to hard to stay young. Even though she is good at hiding her age—she looks as if she is getting younger as the years gone by—the change in her music reveals the desperation of trying to be ageless. Would you rather see Bống in a quiet garden or in the club grooving in circles? I rather see the former because I am a grown-ass man who isn’t pretending that I am still belong to the club.

I am thankful for the great new job and a fantastic new boss. I am thankful that my mom made it through a life-threaten situation and recovering. I am thankful that my sisters were looking out for mom when I am not around. I am thankful that my in-laws are helping us out. I am thankful that Cu Dao continues to surprise us with new words and new skills and be himself. I am thankful that my lovely wife is carrying our love that is growing inside of her. He is getting quite big now. With less than four weeks to go and we’re very anxious to see him. Lastly, I am thankful to those who come here to read my thoughts. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving time with your love ones.

I hate coughing. I am sure every does as well. It is extremely irritating. Sometimes I just feel like ripping my throat out. I took over-the-counter medications like Robitussin, NyQuil, Delsym and nothing worked.

A few years ago, my mother gave me the syrup medication that her doctor prescribed to her. I was hesitated at first because it was a prescription drug, but coughing was already worse than hell so what do I had to lose? I took a table spoon, got knocked out, woke up and the cough was gone. Holy smoke, it was like magic potion. So whenever I was coughing that syrup was all that I needed.

Then my mom lost the medication and she couldn’t remember the name. I had to call her previous doctor to track it down. The last time I called the record keeper gave me the wrong one. I finally got it today after speaking to the nurse. The cough killer is Phenergan with Codeine. According to Drugs.com:

Codeine is a narcotic. It is a pain reliever and a cough suppressant.

Promethazine is an antihistamine. It blocks the effects of the naturally occurring chemical histamine in your body.

The combination of codeine and promethazine is used to treat cold or allergy symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, and cough.

Now I am not going to let the cough ruin my day and night anymore.

When it comes to responsive web design, most experts suggest mobile first. As a designer, I am having a hard time visualizing the layout with the content-out approach, especially for large, complex sites.

I am in the the process of redesigning George Mason Law site and facing a few challenges. The new design has to work with and response to the existing contents, which being added and updated through MODX. The navigation and the drop-down menus need to stay intact. If I started out with just the structure, the menus would get in the way and the image slideshow has to be left out as well. I simply can’t see how the site look from the bottom to the top, particularly if I wanted to design the layout on the grid.

I began the design based a 960 grid. I drop in the slideshow, which will be handled by responsive image approach later, and style the page as closed to the finish site on a large screen. The next step is to save a copy of the stylesheet and create a blank one. I am using HTML5 Boilerplate; therefore, I just need to remove the primary styles.

Now I am back with a bare bone design then I worked on the print stylesheet second to get it out of the way. With two stylesheets side by side, I just cut and paste from the finished file to the new file as I see fit beginning from 320px and up.

One of the advantages of starting small first is that I don’t have to declare the max width. Even though I started out with 960px, I could go up further if I wanted to and the layout will response properly. I know it is a big extra step that I took, but it really does help me see the picture. Do designers feel the same way or is it just me?

The last few months has been tough dealing with Dao as he is going through his terrible-two phase. He would say no to everything as if his brain had been wired to do so. Do you want to brush your teeth? No. Do you want to change new clothes? No. Do you want to take a bath? No. Do you want to play with iPod? No. Then he changed his mind. Yes, I want iPod.

He fought back everything I do for him. At times, I just shut out and let him do whatever he wanted. I wouldn’t hold him in my arms to sleep and I wouldn’t read him a book. He would get frustrated and butted his head against my nose when I tried to closed my eyes pretending to sleep. Lucky I didn’t have a nose surgery or else it would have been broken so many times. When I just couldn’t take it anymore, I just walk away and let him scream.

I couldn’t take control of the situation and I ended up letting him gets his way. Then I realized that I am not fit to be a dad, but it’s a bit too late now since another boy is coming out soon. How am I going to handle the two of them?

Fortunately things are getting a bit better now. He still says no and still hates brushing, but he is more cooperative. Things are done much faster now and I get him out of the house by 8am and getting to bed by 9pm. I am not sure if he’s getting off his terrible-two state or I am getting accustomed to his rebellious.

From the opening title track to the closing “Hồn Việt,” (both written by Minh Châu), Chàng Trai Việt is indeed a patriotic album. With his charming, authoritative tenor, Công Lâm effortlessly navigated through epic-orchestrated pieces including Phạm Đình Chương’s “Tiếng dân chài” and Phạm Duy’s “Áo anh sứt chỉ đường tà.” Yet, the success of the album isn’t just his voice alone. It’s the combination of right song choices, strong supportive from backup vocal groups and excellent musical arrangements. Chàng Trai Việt is well-crafted and well-thoughtout. Definitely worth experiencing from start to finish.

Two new mix drinks I created this week I really dig. They both are simple to make and yet quite delightful.

Donny’s Limonata:
3oz Appleton White Jamaica Rum
6oz Sanpellegrino Limonata (sparkling lemon beverage)
1oz simple syrup

Pour rum into a highball filled with ice. Add sparkling lemon beverage. Stir. Garnish with some chopped fresh mint leaves. Voila.

Donny’s Peach Iced Tea:
4oz Popeye’s Cane Sweeeet™ Iced Tea
4oz Hiram Walker Peach Flavored Schnapps

Pour iced tea into a highball filled with ice. Add peach flavored Schnapps. Stir. Garnish with a slice of peach in the drink. Enjoy.

I felt in love with Stacey Kent a couple weeks ago and still do so with several more albums. Her clear enunciation combined with her no-nonsense phrasing makes her so damn pleasure to listen to during work and drive.

Raconte-Moi is my favorite album for the morning commute. Ms. Kent’s romantic French-singing and the tasty arrangements, particularly the bossa nova groove on the first two tracks (“Les Eaux De Mars” and “Jardin D’hiver”) are a perfect way to start the gorgeous autumn day.

The Lyric is a lovely collaboration with her husband, saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. The album kicks off with an instrumental cover of “Manha De Carnival.” While it is a beautiful, one would wish Ms. Kent lent her voice to the track because Mr. Tomlinson isn’t Paul Desmond nor Stan Getz. The ones featured Ks. Kent, including “I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face,” “If I were A Bell” and “My Heart Belongs To Daddy,” are sensational.

Breakfast On The Morning Tram truly showcases Ms. Kent as a gifted storyteller. From “The Ice Hotel” to “Landslide” to “I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again” and the title track, Ms. Kent brought novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s lyrics to life like she was narrating to a romantic film with simple picking guitar. The album strangely ends with her straightforward reading of “What a Wonderful World.”

I still have a few more albums of her to get through, but these three are pure pleasure.

One of the challanges of setting up the Admissions Office Intranet is that I had no content to work with. The Admissions Office needed a site that is limited to just incoming law students. My responsibility was to come up with the shell that would allow the staff to fill in the pages.

I had three choices of CMS. Drupal would be too complicated for the project. MODX was my selection, but designing an empty site from scatch was not an ideal solution. The effort was not worthwhile for a restricted site. I needed something that is well thought out to kick off with. WordPress is the perfect choice because its default theme, Twenty Eleven, had everything that is required. I just needed to jazz up the design a bit to comply with the school’s branding.

I decided to experiment with WordPress’s child theme based off Twenty Eleven and ended up loving the idea of customizing the design without touching the parent theme. With a bit of CSS knowledge, one can create a pretty decent site. The child theme turned out to be a perfect solution for this particular project. The site is obviously restricted, but you can still get a sneak peak of the homepage.