Cu Dao is obsessed with train. He plays with train all day. Even when we took him shopping today, he looked for train. When he couldn’t find any, he looked for his best friend aka mommy. Now he’s watching train on my iPhone while his mom is surfing on the iPad. Dan is the only one sleeping right now.

We’re spending the last few days of 2012 in New Jersey with my in-laws. Cu Dan is now walking all over the house. He walks like a little drunk dude falling and tripping all over the place. Whenever he gets a hold of my iPhone somehow he manages to turn on Thanh Thao’s 2012 Remix and dances to it.

My days have been filled food and kids. I definitely need to change my eating habit next year. I am eating way too much and feeling like shit most of the time. When the kids go to bed, I stay up to work on a side project. Even though I turned down quite a bit of projects in the last few months, I can’t turn away one of my favorite clients. I love the clients who give me complete freedom to shape the site. I am very excited. The site is coming along well. I hope to launch it early next year.

I am rereading a few books on typography because I didn’t get to learn much in my Advanced Typography class. Sofie Beier’s Reading Letters: Designing for Legibility is such a pleasure read for such a technical topic. Ellen Lupton’s Thinking with Type (2nd edition) is a great preview. Jost Hochuli’s Detail In Typography is a little gem.

I’ve also learned that I have two very young, loyal readers. I have to be careful with my word choices. It was strange and a bit embarrassing to hear my nephew read out loud my posts on parenthood.

I came down with a cold in the past couple of days. I hate coughing; therefore, I try to prevent it as soon as possible. Been taking NyQuil to get rid of it. Tonight should be the last night taking it. My head is getting a bit heavy. The drug is kicking it. Goodnight everyone.

Spending the last few days of 2012 eating donuts, drinking coffee, watching the snow, being with family and reflecting on the past year. 2012 was rough. We lost our main man. We struggled emotionally, but we maintained. We stayed together to raise our lovely kids. They are growing up fast. We’re deeply thankful for the family support.

As for myself, I was busier than ever. In addition to holding a fulltime job, I started grad school despite having two toddlers. Now I could see why people can’t finish school when they have kids. The demands on both sides are impossible to keep up. I going to take it easy next semester.

For 2013, my goals are to manage my time and my appetite. I need to balance my time for work, school and family. I also need to balance my diet. Eat less and get back to jogging. That’s all. Happy New Year my lovely readers.

While the kids are sleeping, I am sitting on the blue sofa and looking out the rainy, snowy, dreary sky. I used to observe my father-in-law doing the same not so long ago. I miss the man.

Last night Cu Dan woke up every two hours and refused to go back to sleep. The only way to get him to settle down again was to lock ourselves in the bathroom with the fan turned on and rock him in my arms. In order to keep me energetic, I jammed Thanh Thao’s remix in my headphone and it felt like I was in a club again. The room was dark and the music was pumping. The only different is that I was getting my groove on with a baby instead of a chick.

Hôm nay là ngày cuối trong văn phòng của năm. Hai tuần đến phải dành trọn thời gian cho gia đình và ngủ bù. Không blog, xem email, Facebook hay Twitter nữa. Chúc các bạn một mùa Giáng Sinh vui tươi hạnh phúc.

So I made it through the first semester of my graduate program in graphic design. I took two classes. One is a graduate seminar, which is a one-credit course. The other is advanced typography, which is a four-credit course. The tuition benefit only allows me six credits max each semester. If I am going at this rate, it will take me at least four and a half years to complete. Man, that’s even worse than going through a four-year college.

The seminar class was manageable. I am glad that we ditched the textbook and worked on a real project. The killer one for me was advanced typography. The professor’s style of teaching was very tough. In each class we put up our work on the board for critique. He pushed so hard that some of my classmates were in tears. I spent hours working on a design and he spent 30 seconds ripping it apart. Although I understood his intention all along, it was very hard to deal with. Then again, if I could make it through his class, I could make through any other classes.

In retrospect, I picked the worse time to start school. In addition to holding a full-time job, I have two small children. Little Dan was not even one yet when I started. Then my father-in-law’s situation. About more than half way through the semester I was about to throw in the towel. Many nights I barely slept and the pressure drove me into depression. I am glad that my wife didn’t let me give up. She encouraged me to get through. At the end, I met some great design friends and I am also happy to be in school again.

The Economist Group points out why “magazines make the move to responsive websites:”

Many of the publishers pointed out that responsive design doesn’t just make a better reading experience for consumers, it also streamlines editorial workflow on the back end. Instead of an editor having to push out content on multiple platforms, often requiring different types of coding and content management systems, editors can “publish once, update everywhere”. With diminishing resources at most magazines, this back-end efficiency is particularly appealing.

I recognized the move back in May 2011 when I realigned GWbusiness to be responsive.

Ngoài trời vẫn ưu ám. Tin thần vẫn ảm đạm. Nhưng trong lòng thì nhè nhàng. Lớp học tạm xong. Chỉ đợi đến thứ Tư nộp project cuối cùng. Đang nhờ bả xã làm thủ công dùm. Tôi thiết kế thì khá đẹp mà hế đụng đến cắt, dán hoặc làm production là không thể được. Nên tôi vẫn thích làm web hơn graphic design nhiều. Có làm graphic đi nữa thì chỉ thiết kế thôi còn phần production thì ai muốn làm gì thì làm.

Từ ngày ăn cari dê bệnh liên miên cho đến hôm nay. Không biết bị trúng thực hay trúng gió hay trúng cafe. Cũng sáng hôm đó được cái free drink của Starbucks. Vào order ly cối coffee frappaccino. Vậy thôi còn tham lam nên chơi thêm 3 shots expresso. Uống xong tinh thần như đang lên mây. Đã vậy thôi trưa còn thèm hủ tiếu mì cari dê ở La Cây Chợ Lớn. Có cari dê mà không có bia thì hơi thiếu thốn nên chơi thêm một chai bia Corrona lạnh. Ăn uống no nê thì có cảm giác như xuống địa ngục. Ngồi trong văn phòng mà ngủ gục nên đi bộ cho dê nó xuống. Đi bộ trời gió lại không chịu mặt áo ấm.

Có lẻ là ba thứ dồn vào nên mấy hôm nay bịnh gần chết. Nhờ vợ cạo gió cho ăn cháo trắng nên hôm nay mới khá lại được. Có lẻ bệnh nên tin thần khủng quảng nên viết ra tùm lum tùm la. Có cái blog là vậy đó. Nhiều lúc trúc hết tâm sự rồi mới thấy rằng có nên viết tất cả những gì trong đầu không? Bây giờ không còn comment nửa nên có cảm giác như là một mình viết một mình đọc. Cho nên muốn nhảm bao nhiêu thì nhảm chẳng ai để ý. Vả lại tôi viết tiếng Việt ngoài tôi ra còn ai mà hiểu được nửa?

This morning, I had a flashback of Vanilla Ice while driving to work. The memory is vivid. It was recess time at elementary school playground. White girls were jumping ropes and singing: “Lay down and boogie and play that funky music til you die.” I was watching and cheering, “Go white girl, go white girl, go!”

Dan and I were waiting outside of Thanh Son’s tofu while Dung and Dao went in to by some sweet treats. I witnessed once again the lady (in her 40s) who sells banh it scamming people. The victims where two young teenagers. The guy was carrying a flower pot and waking with a girl. The lady pulled the girl over and asked her to buy so banh it. The two teenagers appeared to speak very little Vietnamese. Out of sympathy, the girl asked how much for a buddle of banh it. The lady said $8, but sell for $5. The girl agreed to get $5 worth of banh it, but the lady demanded that the girl give her $20. The girl pulled $20 out of her purse. The lady took two more bundles of banh it and gave it to the girl without giving back her change. The girl said in Vietnamese, “The whole $20?” She replied yes and tried to change the conversation about the flower pot. Then the two kids walked away. I shook my head in disbelief.

The lady pulled this exact scam on me before. At first I was intending to help her out because the weather was cold and she was standing there all alone on a Wednesday evening. She caught me after I bought some hot, fried tofu from Thanh Son. Unlike the kids, I took my money back and walked away. Now she leaves me alone every time I go to Thanh Son.

Still I was upset that she tricked the two kids. Fortunately the kids brought back their aunts and mom and demanded the refund. The lady gave back everything. She could have made a $5 sell instead of scamming people and got nothing at the end. If you go to Eden Center, don’t fall for this scam. There are people who sells other things like hot peppers, vegetables and herbs. They are pretty decent. You can negotiate the price, but they don’t scam you like that one lady.

I kind of missed the lady who sells goodies outside of Hai Ky Mi Gia. Her goodies and prices were decent. She always played with Cu Dao when he was around one or so. She isn’t there any more.