Yes, that’s how old I am today, I think. Time swings faster than Fats Waller on stride. For the past 31 years, I have always looked back and see what I had done. This year, I am proud to say that I made the biggest accomplishment so far. Waking up every morning next to two of the most precious people of my life keeps me going. Seeing them holding on to each other sleeping brighten up my day. At this point of my life, that is all that it takes to make me satisfied. And that’s how I live a happy life each day.

Tuan was very excited to return to his birthplace for the first time. He left the little town called Vinh Long in Viet Nam ten years ago when he was ten years old. Because of the language barrier and lack of friends in the United States, Tuan always yearned to his childhood memories and the good times he had before he left Viet Nam. Many times he wanted to go back, but he decided to hold off until he finishes his college degree. Right after his graduation, he booked his flight as a reward of all the years he had focused on studying.

Tuan had heard all great things about Viet Nam from the people around him. From the lavishing living to the authentic food to the lovely ladies, almost everyone that went back to Viet Nam had a great time. He was anxious to experience it for himself. As soon as he set his foot on the ground of Viet Nam, he could already sense the closeness and the vibe of “homeland” that he had missed all those years living in Connecticut.

His family came to the airport to welcome him back him. Everyone seemed to know him, but he could only recognize a few faces. He went back to the house he used to live in and it didn’t feel as big as when he was a child. Everything appeared to shrink after he left. Since it was his first trip back, he spent most of his time with his relatives. They cooked him home-style meals everyday including his favorites sour soup (canh chua) and caramelized fish in the claypot (ca kho to). He spent his morning chilling out at the coffee shop with his cousins and tried out different street foods.

Tuan liked the laid-back lifestyle even though he preferred the busy schedule in the States. He got to taste the food. He got to spent time with folks. What he was still missing was the loving ladies the men back in the States had always bragged about when they went to bia om, which is a place where man could have one beer in one hand and a lady in the other.

One day, Vu and Toan, husbands of two of Tuan’s cousins, decided to give him a special treat. They took him to bia om. He was thrilled, but also confused with any thoughts ran through his mind: “Why are these two taking me? Is it normal for a married man to go to bia om in Viet Nam? Am I betraying my cousins?” Tuan didn’t want to show that he was not a man so he went with the flow.

As they arrived, the girls at the front desk greeted Vu and Toan as if they were regular customers. One of the girls took them to a room to wait. Ten minutes later, three ladies in their mid 30s entered wearing traditional long dresses (ao dai). Although the light was dimmed, Tuan could see the girls’ under garment through their silky long dresses. Since the fellows already had dinner earlier, they ordered Heineken and some fruits like green mangos, grapefruits and pineapples.

The ladies poured out the beer and flirted a bit. Tuan sat still and didn’t say a word. Vu was the quiet type as well so he just kicked back. Toan, on the other hand, was the aggressive one. He pulled the girl next to him and kissed her while reached out to grab her tits. The girl laughed and screamed, “You fucking bastard.” She tried to pull away, but also played along.

As for Tuan, he just sat back and drank his beer. The girl sat next to Tuan could sense that he is not a local customer. To his surprise, the first thing she asked him was his age, as if he was not old enough to be at the place. He told her that he was thirty-five, which was thirteen years older than his actual age. When he asked her and her response was thirty-seven. She looked damn fine for her age, Tuan thought to himself. By that time, Vu was also already getting into the groove with his partner. Every man was now for himself.

Tuan just kept on drinking to calm his nervousness, but the cold beer didn’t help. He had to excuse himself to the restroom to release all that water inside his system. When he returned from the restroom, the girl was standing outside waiting for him. She said to him, “You didn’t look comfortable in there. Do you want to just take a walk?” He agreed and they stepped outside. The night was hot and humid. She handed him a cold, wet towel to wipe his face and neck.

“What’s your name?” He asked as they walked down the empty road.
“Lan,” she responded. “Yours?”

The conversation started mundane, but got more personal as Tuan opened himself up, as if he had been wanted to tell someone about his experience, but no one paid attention. He told her about his isolation in the States and how he became taciturn because of the language barrier. He didn’t know why he was telling her about his grief, but he sure felt great. Lan didn’t say much. She only listened.

An hour went by, the returned to the room. Toan immediately asked, “Where had you two been?”

Tuan winked at Lan and responded, “We were doing our things in the bush.” He went on, “You have to pay her extra for that, cuz.”

Toan laughed, “No problem. As long as you feel good.”

Tuan went back to the hotel that night, but he couldn’t put himself to sleep. Although it was just an hour conversation, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. He tossed and turned and couldn’t help imagine what would his life like with Lan, someone who shares nothing with him.

The next day, he went back to the place to ask for Lan. The girl at the front desk told him that Lan doesn’t work for another hour. He decided to sit at the coffee shop nearby to wait. Lan showed up an hour later on the motorbike. Tuan rushed over, grabbed her wrist and said, “I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Would you spend sometime with me?” Lan was shocked as if the guy she met yesterday had gone mad. In a way, she was kind of glad since she also had a feeling for him.

Just like that, they left everything behind and took off together to Vung Tau beach. They let the waves pushed their worries away. They spent days tasting different foods and nights made passionate love. At times they just fucked like there was no tomorrow. Lan’s naked beauty attracted Tuan. She looked much younger without makeup. She had a slim figure, a bit too thin for his taste. Her breasts were nice and round with unusual large nipples. He loved sucking on those nipples and loved her soft moans and groans, especially when she slid down his pole.

Tuan felt like he was living in a fantasy world, but reality stuck every time he cummed. Privately she made him feel good, but he would be too ashamed to introducer her to friends and family. His parents will be disappointed in him once they found out about her profession. What will his friends think? One time, Tuan was having a bit too much drink and he told his friend, “I would never go back to Viet Nam to marry a girl. Only fucking losers do that.” He could hear the same words coming from his friends, “You married a fucking bia-om chick.”

Tuan had a dilemma. He could give a fuck what everyone else said and follows his heart or find someone else like a doctor or an engineer who could make the people around him proud of him. The choice was his to make.

Next week we will take a short vacation to visit Dana’s uncle in Toronto and to attend “Dem Nho Saigon” on Saturday, April 3 at the Living Arts Centre Mississauga. The concert will featured Tuan Ngoc, Khanh Ha and Bich Yen with the Canadian Jazz band, the group that helped Thu Phuong put together an unforgettable show three years ago. This will be my first time listening to Tuan Ngoc and Khanh Ha live on stage. As you can tell, I have been a fan of Tuan Ngoc for many years; therefore, I have a very high expectation of him. I hope that he won’t disappoint. Let me know if any of Visualgui.com readers will be at the show.

When we launched iLoveNgocLan.com seven years ago, WordPress didn’t exist. Instead of putting together an informational web site dedicated to Ngoc Lan, I wanted to create a place where fans could share their love for one of the most beloved Vietnamese pop singers. I used B2 for the interaction and managed everything else in HTML.

iLoveNgocLan.com site started off well and I never intended to use a blog software as a CMS. Fans allowed to create an account and write whatever they want as long as the contents are related to Ngoc Lan. Then B2 became WordPress so I upgraded the system with the help from PHP Princess.

In seven years, WordPress works great for the site. As of this writing, we have 2,589 members, 1,478 posts and over 8,252 comments. In my recent redesign of iLoveNgocLan.com, I imported all the pages into WordPress and cleaned up the codes. My partner who is the administrator of the site no longer needs to FTP in to make edits.

WordPress is so flexible that I could create a customized theme without messing up the system. I simplified the template and use only one page (no separate header or footer) to control the entire site. Simplicity is the reason I love WordPress. I could completely edit the template with just a bit of PHP knowledge.

I didn’t give any instructions on how to use the admin interface, yet all of the members have figured out themselves how to register and post to the homepage. WordPress rocks and mad props go out the the development team behind her.

An intriguing piece in the New York Times magazine on Human-flesh search engines in China:

Human-flesh search engines — renrou sousuo yinqing — have become a Chinese phenomenon: they are a form of online vigilante justice in which Internet users hunt down and punish people who have attracted their wrath. The goal is to get the targets of a search fired from their jobs, shamed in front of their neighbors, run out of town. It’s crowd-sourced detective work, pursued online — with offline results.

A mother ordered her young girl who is in her early teens a vanilla ice cream cone at a Dairy Queen takeout while I was waiting for my banana split. When my order came up the girl looked at it and told her mother, “I never have banana split before in my life.” The mother was shocked. I looked at her and smiled. She joked, “I must be a really bad parent.”

What I like about freelancing is the wide range of projects and the ability to work one on one with my clients. As a result, freelancing is always challenging yet rewarding at the same time. I get the freedom to design web sites that truly represent the client’s purpose.

My approach to design is very focused. Instead of giving my client two or three choices to choose from, I narrow down to just one even though I might have come up with severals. I also design the mockup as closed to the finish site as possible to help the clients see what the real site would like look like; therefore, contents are extremely important right up front.

Designing a web site is not too hard, but taking away unnecessary elements is quite a challenge. Take the homepage of Thirsty for an example. The author wants to give the site a dark feel but with a light touch of hope. The background is a powerful image of the steel mill. To convey hope and to stay true to the book, I started off with a few dozens of butterflies all over the page. Then I realized that the butterflies were taking over the dramatic feel. I reduced the number down to three, then two, then just one. Hope is very slim, but it is there.

Another instance is the site for Julie Tran Law. Initially on each page, I had a button to allow users to switch language. So if you’re reading the about page in English, there would be a button that would say “Doc Tieng Viet.” In contrast, if you’re on a Vietnamese page, you would see a button that would say “Read in English.” After clicking through the pages, the button began to bug me. It’s not only distracting contents, but also insulting the readers’ intelligent and that was not my intention at all. Users can still get to where they want to read using the English/Vietnamese navigation so I chucked the button.

Like I said, the beauty of freelancing is that I never know what kind of sites I will be designing. I have never done a book site before nor have I done a law site before. I wanted to work on a restaurant site for a while and Le Mekong was a perfect opportunity. Obviously my love for food and design play a huge part in my inspiration.

Beside designing web pages from the ground up, I also get to freelance on parts of the sites. For Brand3, I put my little PHP knowledge to good use. The good thing is that I have been using WordPress for a while and feel very comfortable with skinning it to fit my client’s needs.

I am also collaborating with a geeky-ass programmer who is also a visitor to Visualgui.com on a very simple but complex project. He handles all the back end and I am in charge of the design as well as front-end development. I pulled an all-nightner last Friday on the project, but the good thing was I was not alone. He was miles away, and at the same time he was right there in my phone.

Mad props to Dana and my mother-in-law for looking after Duke while I crank out these projects. I couldn’t do it without their help and support.

As a designer, I love to surf the web for inspirations and somehow I have been drawn to commercial web sites lately. Crate&Barrel for instance, the site makes great use of Helvetica. Although the logo is set in one of the most used typefaces, it has such a distinctive brand. The homepage is clean, organized and well-balance between texts and images. What I don’t like though are the drop-down menus. I know that many big sites need to have drop-down menus to cover all of its products, but I am still convinced that you can do without it. What annoys the hell out of me about Crate&Barrel web site is the anchored bottom. Even if I close it, the darn thing wouldn’t go any.

Target is another one of my favorite site designs. I love the homepage layout even though it is loaded with information. The drop-down menus once again turn me off.
Somehow the secondary pages are disconnected with the homepage. The main body content is strangely narrower than the header and footer.

There is one gorgeous web site that conquers all the issues above. If I were in an interview for a job and being asked what is my favorite web site. The first site would come to mind is Apple. The team behind this site has done an exceptional job of present this site in an elegant yet simple layout.

I love Apple’s informational architecture and it’s a perfect model for University’s sites that would like to unify its online presence. No matter where you go, the global navigation, which is simple and carefully designed, is always there. Although Apple has tons of products, it doesn’t need drop-down menus to get there. I am very curious to see how Apple would incorporate iPad into its global navigation.

What keeps me coming back to Apple again and again is the homepage. I love the way apple shows off its product. The latest showcase for the iPad is so big, bold and beautiful. I am sure Apple had made a conscious decision to use the homepage as an ad space as well. If you walk into an Apple store, you would see how the homepage is being served as a banner on its computer displays. That is just freaking awesome.

Thanks to the snowstorm, I am enjoying a wonderful time at home with my family. I get to play with Duke and get some work done as well. I really don’t need anywhere else to go and I don’t mind shoveling the snow at all even though it was twenty-something-inch high. With my iPod and my shovel, I can spend three or four hours digging and plowing.

In the past couple of days, Duke learned how to clap his hands and to give high five. He calls me “ba” all day long, except bed time. No matter how hard I try, I can’t get him to stop crying, but he would stop immediately as soon as his mom walks into the room. Night time is mommy’s time.

To celebrate the year of Tiger, Dana and grandma made about a dozen of sticky rice cakes (banh chung) to give to family and friends. We made seafood hotpot for dinner last night and played some Vietnamese New Year tunes. My sister-in-law and her husband jointed us for a hot, savory meal. We had some gin and tonic to complement the food.

Beside blogging and web design, my other passion is mix drink. Thanks to the iPod Touch apps, I can pull up any recipe anytime. I made a Lynchburg Tea the other day and loving it since, but gin is still my favorite spirit. She has such a fine, distinctive taste and she goes well with anything from Ginger Ale to 7 Up to tonic to cranberry juice to orange juice.

I made a shaker full of martini, which was three or four glasses, the other day to go with duck congee. I got wasted afterward due to lack of sleep. Next morning, I went out to plow the snow with a migraine. Almost fainted half way through the sidewalk. Went inside cooked up a really hot kimchi instant noodle. Blood shot off my nose, but the headache was gone. I knew I need to get some sleep and rest.

I am cutting back on my mix drink experimentation and trying to sleep more. Nas once rhymed, “I don’t sleep cuz sleep is the cousin of death.” I don’t know what death feel like, but lack of sleep sure feel like hell. The good thing about snow is I get to stay in bed a bit longer, but not too long before the little guy gets up.

The best part about finishing a project is to see my client’s testimony. Thank Ms. Tran for this:

My Declaration:

I hold these truths to be self-evident, that all web designers are not created equal, that they are not endowed by their Creator with certain equal skills, that among these are: Creativity, Expertise, and the pursuit of Professionalism.

Creativity, indeed, is clearly indicated by Donny’s design of my new law firm website. He came up with the solution to solve the mess of having two separate sets of navigation, instead he combined the two together and let the fonts set them apart. He desires to create a unique website for you that reflects what you want.

Donny knows enough to know that less is more. Often a reader will read what is on the website if it’s simple and catchy enough.

I truly appreciate Donny’s professionalism, his quick responses to all my emails and questions. He can get things done quickly and way ahead of the schedule even if it means that he has to pull an all-nightner to complete it.

I must, therefore declare that Donny was created with exceptional skills!