Bước sang năm Quý Mão hy vọng mọi chuyện sẽ suôn sẻ và những nỗi phiền muộn sẽ tan biến. Đây là thời điểm và cơ hội cho tôi làm lại từ đầu. Tôi sẽ cố gắng không để những cảm xúc của mình làm tổn thương đến người khác.

Trong công việc tôi sẽ thận trọng hơn khi phải đối xử với những người làm chung. Làm việc cũng chỉ để kiếm sống. Không có gì phải tiếc nuối hay lo lắng. Đến đâu hay đến đó. Đi đến đường cùng thì tìm lối thoát.

Trong gia đình tôi sẽ dễ dãi hơn với con cái, nhất là với Đạo và Đán. Chúng nó đã lớn rồi, tôi không muốn rầy la bọn nó nữa. Nói thì dễ nhưng thực hiện thì không dễ chút nào.

Khó khăn nhất vẫn là tình cảm vợ chồng. Tôi sẽ cố gắng để sống hòa nhã với nhau. Tôi luôn yêu vợ và luôn biết ơn vợ với tất cả cả những gì vợ làm cho chồng con. Đôi khi tôi có cảm giác như vợ không hiểu được tôi cho dù đã cùng sống với nhau mười mấy năm qua. Và đôi lúc mặt cảm khiến tôi không thể tự kiềm chế được cảm xúc của chính mình.

Với người thân và bạn bè, tôi cũng sẽ kiểm soát lại cảm xúc của mình để tránh những xung đột không cần thiết. Tôi sẽ không để tình cảm hay tình bạn vượt quá xa. Vì mỗi khi tôi có cảm tình với ai, bạn thân hay người thân, tôi sẽ không dấu được những biểu lộ của mình. Và như thế tôi sẽ tự đem phiền phức cho chính mình và cho những người xung quanh. Tốt hơn hết là nên giữ một khoảng cách với mọi người.

Chloe Kim carried a stranded snowboarder on her back. Isn’t she just fucking awesome? This is another reason to love snowboarding. The community is fantastic.

Near the end of last year, I went to Bryce to learn snowboarding for the first time. I kept falling down even I was trying to stand on the snowboard. I got frustrated, but a young couple came and encouraged me. The guy told me that I was doing great and the only way to get better was to keep trying. I took his words and kept on trying.

Today I still have so much to learn, but I got past that frustrating stage. I can’t wait to hit the trails again tomorrow.

Li’s writing is clear and comprehensible. The pace is a bit slow though. After reading more than 100 pages, I started to lose interest in a 400-page novel. Maybe my interest isn’t in the sexual misconduct behind the film industry. It might be more suitable for relaxing beach reading. I might pick it up again over the summer.

Seventeen high schools in Virginia withheld National Merit awards impacting Asian-American students. According to Fairfax County Times, “an estimated 75 percent of National Merit Semifinalists—a notch above Commended Students—are of Asian heritage.” This is absurd. This type of shits makes me want to vote for Republicans and Youngkins.

Yesterday I noticed water coming out of the water heater and I knew we needed to replace the tank. I called Ricardo, but he is in Mexico partying with his girl and won’t be back to the States until early next month. I called a friend and asked for a plumbing recommendation. He told me to get the specs from the current tank then buy a new one with the same specs. We installed an A.O. Smith water heater when we first bought our house, which was almost 15 years ago. I went to Lowe’s and brought the same brand with the same specs.

My friend told me Tilo, a contractor, would come around 11 am to replace the tank. Then I watched a YouTube video from Lowe’s showing how to replace an electric water heater. The process didn’t seem to hard and I could pull it off, but I didn’t have the confidence to do it myself.

Tilo arrived around 11 am. We went to Lowe’s to pick up some SharkBite connectors. He cut out the copper pipes to take the old tank out and reconnected them using the SharkBite connectors. Unfortunately, one of the pipes was bent; therefore, he took it back out. As he tried to pull the SharkBite back out, he bursted the pipe that was connected to the tank.

We headed back to Lowe’s to pick up a SharkBite that would connect the pipe into the tank’s faucet and another SharkBite connector. He accidentally picked up the SharkBite Check Valve. When he installed it, the arrow on the SharkBite Check Valve was pointing up, which blocked the water from entering into the tank. When he turned the water back on, he didn’t realize that the water was not filling up. When he turned the power on, we heard a loud pop. We assumed that the coils were burned. He tested the top coil and it was fine, but the bottom coil had no current.

It was already 2 pm; therefore, we headed out to Chipotle for lunch and went back to Lowe’s to pick up another coil. After replacing the bottom coil and filling up the water, we waited for the water to heat up. Nothing happened. He decided to take everything out, return the tank to the store, and buy another one.

Seeing him struggle with the copper pipes, I suggested the flexible pipes based on the video I had watched. The flex pipes were a big time-saver. He connected the water pipes in less than half an hour. We waited and waited, but still no hot water. It was already around 8 pm. I told him to go home since the manual stated that it could take up two hours to heat up the water. He charged me $250, but I gave $300 since he already spent all day. We still didn’t have hot water.

The Diagnostic Scam

The next morning, January 19, 2022, I got anxious and googled for a plumbing company and came across an ad from My Plumber Plus for a $49 plumbing repair diagnostic. I called to make an appointment. The technician came, looked at the water heater, gave me two quotes: about $450 for repair and about $650 for repair and parts. The only things he did were turning on the hot water at the sink and scanning the power line with non-contact voltage tester. I asked for the diagnostic and he said he just had to fix it. I thanked him for coming in and paid $49 for nothing. What a scam. I would steer away from My Plumber Plus.

The Fix

Tilo came back in the evening trying to figure out why the water heater was not heating up. He started with the power wires. One of the wires broke off inside the wire cap. He rewired it again and we could hear the coil working inside the tank. Luckily I didn’t pay $450 to My Plumber Plus for such a small fix. I should have kicked myself in the ass for not opening up the power wires to inspect, but I learned.

Learning Experience

From watching YouTube video, observing Tilo, and helping him installing the water heater, I gained valuable experience and gave me a peace of mind. I kept having the recurring fear that the old tank would just bottom out on me one day. Now I can be reassured that I can minimize that risk. Furthermore, I will be able to replace the tank myself in the future. Being a homeowner, I have to be responsible for so many things in the house. With the except for the HVAC unit, I can handle almost everything in the house. Being a handyman would cut down the cost of fixing and replacing things around the house, which make me enjoy living my house more and not having be in constant fear.

Parts

• A.O. Smith Signature 100 50-Gallons Tall 6-year Limited Warranty 4500-Watt Double Element Electric Water Heater: $560
• SharkBite 18-in 3/4-in Push-to-Connect Inlet x 3/4-in FIP Outlet Braided Stainless Steel Water Heater Connector: $36
• SharkBite 24-in 3/4-in Push-to-connect Inlet x 3/4-in Fip Outlet Corrugated Stainless Steel Water Heater Connector: $12
• SharkBite 3/4-in Push-to-Connect Coupling: $10
• SharkBite Brass 3/4-in Push-to-Connect Check Valve: $23
• EASTMAN 24-in x 24-in Plastic Water Heater Drain Pan with Fitting: $11

Labor

• Installer: $300

Total

$952

The lowest quote I had received from a dozen of plumbing company was $1,700. In addition to saving about $750 from hiring a company to install the water heater, I learned the hands-on experience.

I worked for a leader who valued talent over product. She chose an open-source product and invested in her employees to build out the platform we needed.

On the flip side, I worked for a leader who valued product over talent. He was willing to pay a shitload of money for a proprietary product, but he wouldn’t give an hourly employee a small raise. The differences in leadership styles were astounding.

Leadership plays an important role in our job. A great leader can make our work enjoyable, motivate us to push ourselves, and value our contributions. An incompetent leader can make your life a living hell, demoralize our spirit, and devalue our contributions.

I have been through it all and learned to navigate different terrains. Surviving is a must when you have to raise your family.

On Saturday, I snowboarded on the blue terrain learning to initiate my turns early. My toe turns are improving, but they are still not as effective as my heel turns. I am still trying to learn quick turns on steep terrains. I found this video useful in showing how to put pressure on my front foot and lift up my back foot to pivot the turn. I still haven’t accomplished this yet.

On Sunday, I snowboarded on the blue terrains at Liberty. I did well; therefore, I went on the black terrain. I was able to pull it off. I was happy about it. I want to spend more time learning the fast turns. In snowboarding, turns seem to be everything. Once you master your turns, you can enjoy your ride downhill. Learning tricks would be the next step.

Skiing and snowboarding have significant benefits for me. In addition to keeping myself active during the winter months, I haven’t had a gout attack even though I have been drinking quite a bit and consuming beef. Knock on wood, but I haven’t had any winter sickness like cold, cough, or congestion. When I ski or snowboard, I put all my stress behind. I don’t give a shit any more. I just go with the flow.

When I redesigned this blog in the past, I would share it on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. With Visualgui 2023, I didn’t share it on social media platforms. I just posted here. That was it.

I haven’t touched Twitter and LinkedIn in months and I haven’t missed them. I have returned to Facebook to post clips of my kids skiing and rollerblading. I am not sure why I am doing it. Part of me wished my mom was still here so she could see her grandsons. I will stop using Facebook in the near future.

I am getting tired of social media. I am not getting any benefits from them. I am going to just focus on this blog and that’s it. This is my little corner on the web where I can just drop whatever on my mind. I also enjoy reading personal blogs via RSS feeds. I hope to see blogging coming back this year.

The new design for 2023 is here. Unlike previous years, in which I came up with the new design a couple of weeks before the new year, Visualgui 2023 comes a bit late. I was catching the Designer’s Disease: “most of us catch it at one point or another but evolve & find a new formula—one that takes everything in you to make.” Yes, I stole that one from Nas’ King’s Disease 3. I didn’t know what to design for a while and then I overcame the disease.

As you can see, I have a new logo. After using the previous logo for five years, I just wanted to come up with a new one, which set in Megazoid, designed by David Jonathan Ross. I love this quirky typeface. Megazoid is chunky, raw, weird, and anything but boring.

For typography, I selected the two typefaces that I had the pleasure of contributing to the Vietnamese diacritics. The main body copy is set in Aneto, designed by Veronika Burian, José Scaglione, Azza Alameddine, and Roxane Gataud. I love the readability of Aneto. To accompany Aneto, I chose Change, designed by Alessio Leonardi, for large headings as well as secondary texts. The two complement each other nicely. For coding, I kept Input Mono, designed by David Jonathan Ross.

For the huge text on the homepage, I chose Aneto Skyline, which is part of the Aneto family. I will also use Change in the future. I hope you’ll like this new design.

We bring nothing into this world
except our gradual ability
to create it, out of all that vanishes
and all that will outlast us.

Les Murray