Chris brought back the black-background hipness for Media Studies at Vassar College.

Of Ming Tan’s How to Attract Asian Women from Amazon:

The tips in this book work on only one woman – the author, Ming Tan.

College Relations’ Christmas party last night was a blast. Charlie, the department’s funniest man, brought down the house once again with his nuttiness. Cathy, the new addition, added quite a lively vibe to the scene as well. Jeff, the Santa, had done a witty job of handing out the presents. I am glad that my secret gift was well received. I had a great time and will definitely miss it; therefore, I have requested a web cast of next year’s party. I also found out that the senior writer had resigned to move on with her own thing. I wish her all the best and hope will get a chance to read her book in the near future.

As I arrived Martha’s house for the party, I ran into her neighbor who happened to be a security guard at Vassar’s Art Center. I got to know Dom a couple months ago in the parking lot. Every morning, Dom sits in his car strumming his guitar before getting to his job. I said hi to him a couple of times and we had mini conversations in the morning. Dom is such a sweet fellow who appreciates the simplicity of nature like watching the patterns of the falling leaves in autumn. So he invited me into his house to check out the model train track in the basement that took him two years to build. It looked amazing so I pulled out my camera to take a few snaps of it. Unfortunately, I won’t get a chance to get to know more about this new friend.

NPR profiles Fletcher Henderson:

Henderson’s orchestra included a brilliant array of musicians, from trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge to saxophonists Coleman Hawkins and Benny Carter. The band reached new heights of popularity and could be heard everywhere — on radio and touring coast to coast.

Download the program.

Yesterday farewell lunch with the department and Christmas party with the employees, today department’s Christmas party at Martha’s house, and tomorrow lunch with the web group at the Artist’s Palate, Vassar is making it impossible for me to depart. Instead of leaving tomorrow, I’ll return after New Year for three more days. I hope to wrap up my last project before I go.

First of all I wanna thank my connect
The folks at College Relations with all due respect.
Thanks to all the work the skills I possessed
The web group, you guys are the best.

Alright, I ain’t no Jay-Z so let me just get straight to the point. Many thanks to the fantastic folks at College Relations for a very special farewell lunch. Thanks to Carolyn and Tim for their wonderful speech. Thanks to Julia for a beautiful pot and Tamar for the gorgeous photo of Main Building. Thanks everyone for the thoughtful words on the card: “Go with all your heart, but know that you go with all our hearts too.” I am delighted.

Zeldman:

Key decision makers within the W3C intend to do much more, but they need to get their colleagues on board, and consensus-building is a bitch. A slow bitch.

An eleventh-grade student was issued a detention for using Firefox in class. He told the teacher that Firefox is a “better” browser, but the teacher didn’t believe him. Teachers should learn to listen to their students sometimes.

An admission promotion for Simpson College. A closer look at the site can be read at cdeVision.

The last time I talked to an old high school buddy was more than a year ago. Called him last night and found out that he will be flying out to Afghanistan on Monday for a year on military assignment. Our conversations in the past had been about career, life and girls. The topic, however, had changed this time. I wish him all the best.

The last time I saw my old man was more than six years ago. Spoke to him this morning and he said he’s getting weak, even though his tone is still clear and powerful. The man is in his early 70s. Hope he still can come and join us.