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.

Bây giờ chữ thường xuyên của Cu Đán là “đi”. Sáng mở mắt ra là đòi đi cho đến lúc đi ngủ. Hôm nay đi chơi cả ngày mệt quá nên đang ngủ sai sưa.

Cuối tuần này đi thăm bà nội. Cả gia đình đi ăn sáng ở diner rồi đi chợ nông dân mua trái cây và râu. Rồi đi thăm người bạn của bà nội mới ở bệnh viện về. Bà bị mổ vì bị ba cái xương cá trông ruộc. Nếu đưa đi nhà thương chậm trể thì chắc là bà đã không kịp thời cứu chửa. Thấy bà ốm đi rất nhiều sau khi mổ. Bà lại cảm xúc khi thấy cả gia đình của má đến thăm. Thật cảm động.

Sick, stressed, sleepless and secluded. Those are the four words describing my state of mind. I don’t want to be trapped inside these moods, but I can’t seem to emancipate. Each day I feel the deterioration in my strength. Each day I feel extremely exhausted, lack of motivations and guilty. I no longer have the desire to communicate. Writing down these words is my only therapy.

For a while now my wife has been telling me that my RSS feeds take almost twelve hours later (from the time I posted on my site) to arrive to her email. I knew something’s up with FeedBurner, but I didn’t want to let it go because I have 113 subscribers. Now’s the time to make the move because FeedBurner APIs will be shut down next month. FeedBurner is redirecting back to my WordPress’s original feed for 30 days. So if 112 of my loyal readers would like to continue to subscribe to my feed, please update to this address: http://www.visualgui.com/feed/

Thank you for reading.

These past few weeks had been crazy. I am back to 3-5 hours of sleep. The kids were sick over the weekend and throwing up all over the house. Dao got Croup and Dan got a little cold. My graduate classes are exhausting. My days had been going to work, going to class, eating dinner, putting the kids to sleep, doing homework until 1 or 2 in the morning. I feel bad that Dana had to look after both kids while I attended classes and had to do most of the work around the house while I spent time on the computer all the time.

I talked to my mom yesterday and I apologized that I haven’t called much or visited much on weekends because of my workload. Her first respond was “If you can’t handle school just quit. You have two kids and a full time job. Besides, what is that degree going to benefit your career? You’ll still do the same thing you do now.” I was like, “Thanks for the encouragement, mom.”

In the Advanced Typography class tonight, we presented a bunched of existing restaurant menus for a redesign project. One of the menus I selected was from Hủ Tiếu Mì Lacay Chợ Lớn. The professor looked at the menu and said “Lacay Cho Lồn.” Me and another Vietnamese girl laughed our ass off. The professor looked at me and said, “What did I say?” I told him, “You don’t want to know.” But he insisted so I told him, “You said, ‘give me pussy.'” The entire class laughed. He asked me to say the proper name as well as the one he pronounced. He couldn’t believe just a slight change of sound could change the entire meaning.