Beyond the cities I have seen,
Beyond the wrack and din,
There is a wide and fair demesne
Where I have never been.

Away from desert wastes of greed,
Over the peaks of pride,
Across the seas of mortal need
Its citizens abide.

And through the distance though I see
How stern must be the fare,
My feet are ever fain to be
Upon the journey there.

In that far land the only school
The dwellers all attend
Is built upon the Golden Rule,
And man to man is friend.

No war is there nor war’s distress,
But truth and love increase—
It is a realm of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.

Leslie Pinckney Hill

My Dear Lil’ Xuânshine,

I can’t believe you turn seven today. My Lil’ Xuânshine is growing fast. You are so athletic at such a young age. If you keep up with the sports you’re interested in, you will live a healthy life. I didn’t see the value in sports when I was younger; therefore, I didn’t take good care of myself. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I did.

Thank you for accompanying me to the skatepark when your older brothers refused to go with us. I loved spending time skating together, especially during the nights when the lights turned on. I also enjoyed observing you doing your own things on your scooter. You are improving your skills everyday. Please don’t give up.

In addition to scootering, you are also doing great with swimming lessons. You can now swim on your own at the deep end. We don’t force you, but we give you the opportunity. Keep taking as many lessons as you can. Swimming is definitely a good skill to have.

Needless to say, you are an awesome skier. You have the speed and you can ski down double black diamond slopes with ease. I hope you will continue to ski and to learn new skills. Snowboarding requires a bit of patience and you are now too good with skiing, you don’t want to switch. That’s OK. At least you gave it a try. You can always come back to it later on if you want.

Taking piano lessons is no longer your priority or interest, just keep doing it. I hope one day something will spark and you will pick it up again like you did with scootering.

School is even more important than sports. You are a fast learner and you can learn anything when you put your mind to it. You are a good student when you want to. Don’t follow your classmates and get into trouble. I understand peer pressures, but you are a wonderful kid. Everyone loves you, especially in our family.

I am always here for you. You can count on me. I love you with all of my heart. Happy birthday, my Lil’ Xuânshine.

Love,
Dad

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Max Ehrmann

As you can see, the Visualgui wordmark gets a bit of an update. If you are reading this post in an RSS reader, make sure you visit my website. I still use David Jonathan Ross’s Megazoid as a starting point, but I modified the letters quite a bit. I was experimenting with connecting two letters together—like ligatures. Because of Megazoid’s geometric shapes, the letters fit together in an interesting way.

What is Visualgui anyway? Almost twenty years ago, I came up with the name because I loved the sound of the word “visual”. I was also starting out with visual design. GUI obviously stands for graphical user interface. It also means “gui” with the short i instead of the long y because I am short gui.

I must confess, I find Visualgui to be silly and sometimes embarrassing even to this day. I have thought of changing it, but it has stuck with me for so long, I might as well embrace it. Ever since I got the name, I struggled with creating my own wordmark. I was never satisfied with what I came up with. The previous version, which was set in Fit, also designed by David Jonathan Ross, was the longest I had used.

After five years, however, I wanted to make a change. The earlier version of the new wordmark was straightforward. The only modification was creating the lower a from the uppercase G. With the revision, I modified every letter.

I am loving the new wordmark. I hope you like it too. If you have any feedback, please drop me an email. I also sincerely hope that David doesn’t mind me modifying his typeface to make a somewhat unique brand for myself.

In Philomath, which means “love of learning,” Walker-Figueroa experiments with the forms of verse. I am still not getting used to the spacings. Am I still supposed to read from left to right and line by line? This collection is way over my head, but I love the typography, which sets in Adobe Jensen, designed by Robert Slimbach.

Sit down. Inhale. Exhale.
The gun will wait. The lake will wait.
The tall gall in the small seductive vial
will wait will wait:
will wait a week: will wait through April.
You do not have to die this certain day.
Death will abide, will pamper your postponement.
I assure you death will wait. Death has
a lot of time. Death can
attend to you tomorrow. Or next week. Death is
just down the street; is most obliging neighbor;
can meet you any moment.

You need not die today.
Stay here—through pout or pain or peskyness.
Stay here. See what the news is going to be tomorrow.

Graves grow no green that you can use.
Remember, green’s your color. You are Spring.

Gwendolyn Brooks

A couple of days ago, I pulled out the manual from the Rheem water heater tank I recently installed and came across the section about open vs. closed water systems. I believe we have an open water system because our previous tank didn’t have an expansion pressure tank and it worked fine for 14 years until it started to leak. The new tank I installed didn’t have an expansion tank either and it seems to be working fine. Nevertheless, I decided to add a 2-gallon expansion pressure tank after I did some more reading and a friend also recommended it.

The installation process was not too difficult, but I made a small error. After putting the expansion water tank and the pipes in place, I turned the cold water on. The pipe that connected to the cold water line on the water tank was leaking. In order to tighten it, I had to take the expansion pressure tank out. I forgot to shut off the water before unscrewing the expansion pressure tank. Water shot out before I could shut off the valve. I had to clean up all the water before reinstalling the expansion pressure tank. As a result, the installation took longer than I had expected.

Another valuable lesson learned. I hope the expansion pressure tank will give us peace of mind and I don’t have to worry about the heater water tank for at least 10 years.

Parts

• A.O. Smith 2-Gallon Expansion Pressure Tank: $45
• Watts Water Pressure Test-Gauge Brass 3/4-in Mght Pressure Relief Valve: $13 (Our current water pressure is 50 PSI)
• Apollo Tanktee Expansion Tank Fitting: $19
• SharkBite 3/4-in Push-to-Connect x 3/4-in MNPT Male Adapter: $10

Total: $87

Last week, I visited the internist for my annual physical exam. She asked me about my daily exercise. I told her that I rollerbladed almost everyday when the weather permitted. I also told her that I skied and snowboarded in the winter. She asked me about my alcohol consumption and I confessed that I drank almost daily (a beer a day) and whiskey on special occasions. She advised that I should keep up the the sports but drop the spirits. I thought to myself, “I can’t do the sports without the spirits.”

She ordered me a Tdap vaccine and blood tests. My result came back with a high LDL. She suggested lose weight, exercise, and follow low fat diet. My non HDL cholesterol and glucose are also high. Despite drinking and eating steaks, my uric acid is normal. I am glad that my gout is under control. I need to work on other areas, particularly my sugar consumption. I need to cut back drinking instant coffee with cream and sugar.

The annual physical exam gives me a moment of reflection to think about my lifestyle and the way I live. I need to take care of myself better. I am also trying to release my stress. The best way for me to do so is just not giving a fuck.

In Civil Service, Claire Schwartz sheds light onto the dark corner of the world run by power, profit, property, and prisons. Here’s a chilling excerpt from “Lecture on the History of the House”:

Inside the house, a man hits you.
Then you understand:
your body is the window.
Inside, you are already outside.

Next door, the Soloist domesticates a tune.

Poetry is a door without a house.

Theory is productive of the known.
Poetry is productive of the unknown.

How, then, do you know
what is true? These walls, this foundation,
in the pages of glossy magazines.
The newspapers scratch their heads.
Again, the hunters, budgeting.

At the end of the day, you return to what is not common.

It’s a beautiful, powerful collection with some simple line illustrations.

Before you know what kindness really is
you must lose things,
feel the future dissolve in a moment
like salt in a weakened broth.
What you held in what you your hand,
what you counted and carefully saved,
all this must go so you know
how desolate the landscape can be
between the regions of kindness.
How you ride and ride
thinking the bus will never stop,
the passengers eating maize and chicken
will stare out the window forever.

Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness
you must travel where the Indian in a white poncho
lies dead by the side of the road.
You must see how this could be you,
how he too was someone
who journeyed through the night with plans
and the simple breath that kept him alive.

Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
You must wake up with sorrow.

You must speak to it till your voice
catches the thread of all sorrows
and you see the size of the cloth.
Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore,
only kindness that ties your shoes
and sends you out into the day to gaze at bread,
only kindness that raises its head
from the crowd of the world to say
It is I you have been looking for,
and then goes with you everywhere
like a shadow or a friend.

Naomi Shihab Nye