When I agreed to design and develop the web book for The American Robin, I did not expect any payment. I wanted to help out my mentor who is a close friend of the author. Furthermore, I wanted to spread the idea of leaving a legacy that anyone around the world could access.

The web book version of The American Robin is a wonderful gift from the author because the website has no ad, no paywall, no popup, no gimmick, and no tracking. Because the web book was intended to be free, I did not want to charge for my contribution. Nevertheless, I took the project as if I was paid in full. I stayed up late on weekdays and spent my weekends working on the book.

When choosing Warbler, designed by David Jonathan Ross, to typeset the book, I used my own license from the Font of the Month Club. Even though DJR’s standard licensing agreement has no restrictions on how many websites can be used, clients should have their own font licensing. After I decided to use Warbler for the book, I contacted David about the font licensing and he was totally cool that I used my own licensing for the web book.

After the web book went live, I spread the word on my blog, portfolio, and social media. I even emailed my friends and family members who liked reading. My job was done and I thanked my mentor for the opportunity to work on the book. She informed me that the author loved the website and thy had been discussing about offering me an honorarium.

I must confess. This was the first time I heard of the term honorarium. I had to look it up in the dictionary. It was an honor to work on the website even without a payment, but I was more than glad to accept an honorarium. I was delighted that my mentor was still looking out for me.

As soon as I received the check for the honorarium, I purchased a license of Warbler. The web book now has its own font licensing. Since I got paid, the type designer should get paid as well. It just felt great doing the fair share.

Why am I revealing this information? It’s a proof how bad I am at doing business. I rather designed for free then getting paid. When not getting paid, I made no compromises in the design and development of the project. If I was getting paid, I had to get approval from the client. My best projects have always been not what my clients want, but what their audiences get out of the project. The ideal projects are when the client, the audience, and the designer are satisfied. This web book is an epitome of that ideal project.

Cuối tuần vừa rồi, tôi đưa gia đình đi xa. Phải lái xe bốn tiếng đồng hồ nên tôi cần một chút nhạc êm dịu. Tình cờ khám phá ra album Relaxing Music (Vol. 1) của nhạc sĩ dương cầm Khanh Nhi. Tuy chưa nghe qua tên anh lần nào nhưng cách chơi piano solo của anh lôi cuốn tôi ngay trong bài đầu “Khoảnh khắc” (Trương Quý Hải). Anh đánh nhẹ nhàng êm dịu lại có một chút chất jazz. Rồi “Riêng một góc trời” (Ngô Thụy Miên), “Tình thôi xót” (Bảo Chấn), “Nắng thủy tinh” (Trịnh Công Sơn), mỗi ca khúc đêm lại cho tôi những giây phút thư giãn nhưng không hề nhàm chán.

Tiếng đàn guitar của Phương Phạm thì tôi đã được nghe qua những bài acoustic anh đệm cho ca sĩ. Trong Relaxing Music (Vol. 2), Phương Phạm chơi cùng Khang Nhi qua các ca khúc quen thuộc như “Biển cạn” (Kim Tuấn), “Em ơi Hà Nội phố” (Phú Quang), “Hà Nội mùa này vắng những cơn mưa” (Trương Quý Hải), và đặc sắc là “Biển nhớ” (Trịnh Công Sơn) — tiếng guitar của Phương Phạm đệm cho tiếng piano của Khang Nhi hát.

Bây giờ trời đã trở lành lạnh, tôi chỉ muốn cuộn mình trong chăn như con sâu làm tổ và lắng nghe Relaxing Music.

We now have a ping pong table in our basement. It took me a minute to clear up the space. I simply moved everything to another room. My wife’s sister gave us a MD Sports Table Tennis Conversion Top. I used a 6-ft and two 4-ft folding tables from Costco to hold up the table. The full-size ping pong table turned out great.

Đán started to get into ping pong and asked for a table. He is getting pretty good at it. I hope he will stick with it for a long time, or at least until he can beat me. Xuân is also into it. He is already showing some improvements. I hope Đạo and Vương will join us as well.

Playing ping pong brings back my childhood memories at the refugee camp in the Philippines. There was a ping pong table at an open space near where we stayed for six months before we could come to America. The table had no net; therefore, a couple of kids my age and I stacked two bricks and placed a stick on top. We made paddles out of hardboards. All we needed was a ping pong ball. That all it was needed for us to pass the time and to hone our skills.

Now that I cleared one room for the ping pong table and another room for my ski-tuning station, we need to go through all the stuff we accumulated over the years. My wife wouldn’t let me sort them out because I would donate or trash whatever we don’t need. I am getting impatient waiting for her. It drives me crazy that our space isn’t as optimal as it could be. I had seen worse, but our space could have been tidier. I feel guilty that I couldn’t provide a clutter-free space for our kids. It stuck on my mind all the time. I wish I could just ignore it, but I couldn’t.

Once in a while, I like to pick up a writing guide to refresh my memory. Jeffrey Strausser’s Painless Writing will show you how to declutter your preposition, activate your active voice, and smooth out your prose. It’s a painless guide to improve your write, and a quick read too.

In 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem, Nam Lê wrote a piece on Vietnamese diacritics titled “Dire Critical.” With lyrical prose, Lê explained the importance of tones. For example, ma has a completely different meaning depending on the accompanying diacritical mark (má, mà, mạ, mã, or mả). Since “Dire Critical” has some useful information, I decided to create a sample page to illustrate Vietnamese typography. Through HTML markups and CSS presentations, I designed the web page to resemble the printed page. The poem is typeset in Bono Nova, designed by Mateusz Machalski and Andrzej Heidrich. Read “Dire Critical” now.

In the past few days, I tried to upgrade from Ubuntu 22.04 to 24.04 twice for two different Droplets, but both failed. The upgrades went through, but I could not restart the servers. I will try again when I have more time, but I need to look for a new home for all of my websites for the long run.

I like the cloud hosting services at DigitalOcean. They are fast, reliable, and easy to manage—until they are not anymore. Management the Droplets is also the downside. Every few months I have to do updates and upgrades. Minor security updates are fine, but a major upgrade is not. I don’t want to manage these servers anymore. I feel the same way Winnie felt when she finally decided to move from DigitalOcean to Opalstack.

I can’t go back to shared hosting. I need cloud hostings like DigitalOcean, but fully managed. I am considering WP Engine for this blog, but then I would need another home for five other sites. I am not in any rush. I still have a bit of time to make the decision. If you have any hosting recommendations, please let me know.

Logo design has always been challenging yet rewarding. It’s not always easy to come up with an effective logo, but it just feels great when you hit the mark. In this book, logo designer George Bokhua presents simple-yet-practical principles to help you get there. It’s a short, informative read. The typesetting for the book is superb. The illustrations are beautiful too.

Bác Vinh viết thơ cho đứa cháu gái cưng:

Cháu biết đó, bác rất thương Doanh nên luôn luôn mong hai cháu sống thật hòa hợp và hạnh phúc. Doanh đơn giản và thành thật hợp tính bác, điều quí báu nhất là sống hòa hợp vui vẻ với gia đình mình.

Cháu xúc động và rất cảm ơn tình thương của bác dành cho cháu. Cháu may mắn không chỉ cưới vợ một người vợ giỏi giang, cảm thông, và tin tưởng, mà còn được sự quý mến của toàn thể gia đình.

Tôi không ngại bạn trêu tôi viết lên những lời lẽ sến súa nịnh vợ. Nếu bạn chứng kiến được những gì vợ làm cho tôi hay những tình cảm vợ dành cho tôi, bạn sẽ thấu hiểu được tâm trạng của tôi.

Dĩ nhiên tình cảm vợ chồng không cần phải nói ra mới bộc lộ được — như vợ tôi chẳng bao giờ nói với tôi một lời tỏ tình dễ thương nào. Ngược lại, tôi chỉ thổ lộ tâm tình của mình qua lời viết.

Thời gian đã chứng minh được vợ đến với tôi không phải vì tiền, càng không phải về nhan sắc. Có người đã đi qua đời tôi cũng chẳng yêu thương tôi gì, mà chỉ yêu một loài Hoa ly Kỳ. Ngày xưa tôi không mơ thành triệu phú nhưng mơ được cứu vớt gái chơ vơ. Những lần vấp ngã lúc còn non trẻ và nông cạn đã đánh thức tôi dậy sau những cơn mơ mộng. Sau những lần vỡ mộng, tôi cũng chẳng còn tin trong nhân gian có kẻ chung tình.

Khi tôi quen nàng, tôi cũng không tin gì về hạnh phúc trăm năm. Lúc mới yêu nhau, tôi cũng thú thật với nàng. Khi yêu, tôi chỉ biết yêu hết con tim và nàng đã khuyên nhủ lại tôi một câu thực tế, “Hãy yêu bằng con tim lẫn đầu óc.” Suy ngẫm lại thấy câu nói của nàng cũng có lý. Được yêu đến đâu thì hạnh phúc đến đó.

Thấp thoáng 15 năm đã trôi qua. Hơn một nửa thập niên không phải là dài — sống với nhau 20 hay 30 năm cũng có thể đổ vỡ — nhưng đủ để nhận ra được tình cảm chân thật và niềm tin vững vàng. Dù tương lai có ra sao, tôi vẫn sẽ giữ mãi kỷ niệm của những chuỗi ngày êm đềm bên nhau.

Anh vẫn còn yêu em vì em vẫn còn nợ anh. Đủ sến chưa?

In early July 2023, I was tapped to help redesign all the graphs for the fourth edition of Economic Analysis for Lawyers, by Henry N. Butler, Joanna Shepherd, and James C. Cooper. The book had over 60 graphs and I illustrated half of them. Another graphic designer did the other half.

I am thrilled to learn that the book is releasing soon. I can’t wait to hold a physical copy in my hands to see how our graphs turned out, but I am going to have to wait patiently for the complementary copy because it costs $172.