Coming up with our own kid’s name isn’t as easy as I thought. Obviously we want a cool name for him. We don’t have much restriction except that we would like to give him a Vietnamese name to remind him of his root. Our first shot was Trương Công Đức, but Đức is too popular.

After many attempts, Dana and I didn’t come to an agreement, so we consulted my father-in-law for advice and he nailed it. Trương Công Đạo is just perfect. I am sure Đạo is not an uncommon name, but it is not often heard of, at least for me. I love the sound of Công Đạo and I hope that he will hold truth to his name—benevolent, honorable, and respectable—throughout his life.

I also would like to nickname him Duke after one of my favorite jazz geniuses Duke Ellington. But then again, nothing is set in stone. We still have a few more months until he comes out to lock in.

Biggie’s “Microphone Murderer” (he got an ill flow)
Eminem’s “Crack a Bottle” with Dr. Dre and 50 Cent
50 Cent’s “Get It In“

Benoit Denizet-Lewis confesses his sexual addiction.

Jennifer 8. Lee breaks down the mysteries of Chinese food that only exist in America such as beef with broccoli, egg rolls, General Tso chicken, fortune cookies and chop suey. Very interesting presentation.

Singing while in labor

A heart-wrecking clip of sexual trafficking in Cambodia. (Via Viet Vista)

I have been wearing my wedding ring on my middle finger instead of the appropriate finger. A guy at work once asked me why did I wear it on my middle finger as if it was my culture or something. I told him the stories that I almost lost it two times.

The first time was in Jamaica during our honeymoon. The other time was when I washed lettuces at home. The ring slipped off my finger and into the vegetable spinner. I didn’t notice it until I took a shower. Luckily I found the ring and to be safe, I put it on my middle finger temporarily until I get fatter. I have been eating much more these days to gain some weight on my finger, but it has yet to happen. Only my gut gets bigger.

I am going to need to go back to the shop and get it tightened up. It feels weird wearing it on my middle finger anyway. Until then, don’t be surprised to see my wedding ring on my middle finger.

Update: Dana reminded me to tightened up the ring yesterday while we were in Eden. It’s all good now.

Sleep more: Unlike my wife who could sleep until one o’clock in the afternoon on the weekend, I would be lucky if I could get eight hours of sleep a day. This might be hard to accomplish with the baby on the way.

Keep on running: I’ve been running a mile a day for about a year now and I hope to continue to do so. Running allows me to eat more without feeling guilty.

Start MBA: Hopefully I will get enough motivation to enroll my ass into an MBA program at GW. I might as well take advantage of it since the school will pay for 96% of my tuition. Like my boss always says, if you add the school benefit to your salary, you’re really making big bucks. She always encourages me to do so anyway.

Take on more freelance designs: Being overwhelm and just purely lazy made me turned down quite a couple gigs in 2008. if I could get more projects like TLeDC.com, I wouldn’t mind taking on work. The total creative freedom was all there.

Spend more time with family: Actually we didn’t do so bad last year juggling between my family and my in-law. Somehow I still don’t feel I spend enough time with my mom. It’s shameful to say that our relationship is in fact better that we don’t live together, but I do miss seeing her too often. She is now even committed to look after Samantha and Eric so there is no chance she will be moving in with us. However, my mother in-law has promised to look after our boy once he is born. I am looking forward to that. My mother in-law is pretty cool and we get along pretty well.

Blogging these days feel more an assignment than just free flowing. I am getting bored of trying to craft my view or trying to make my point. I try the don’t-write-anything-if-you-have-nothing-to-say method and it just doesn’t work. True that I don’t have much to write about, but it is better to write something than not to write anything at all.

The beauty of blogging is the informality and the ability to publish without constraint. I want to be able to start up a blank post and just spill out my thoughts. Obviously there are things that I can’t say on this blog now that I could say before, but I don’t want that to take away my ability to just write.

Does it matter if I write about mundane topics? Does it matter if I make no sense? Could I write with no audience in mind? I did in the past. But that when I didn’t have an audience. Do I have one now? According to Google Analytics, I have 11,298 visitors. Not a whole lot, but big enough. So what am I trying to say here? I am not sure exactly. See I really don’t have to make a point is the point I am trying to make.

A new theme for Lady Lan. Happy birthday!