The Founders is engaging and Jimmy Soni is an excellent storyteller. I was also curious about the story of PayPal since I have been using its service forever. Nevertheless, I could only get through half of the book. I am just tired of reading about fucking Elon Musk. This guy is taking up way too much space already.
Replacing the water heater has been on my mind for about a year now. I don’t want it to bottom out and flood our basement. A few months ago, I asked around for a few quotes and the price range was between $4,000 to $6,000. Thirteen years ago, I had a water heater replacement for $600 or $800. I can’t remember the exact number, but $4,000 to $6,000 is a bit too much.
When Ricardo came by last Wednesday to fix the dripping pipes, I asked him about our water heater. He told me it still looks good. A water heater could last 20 to 30 years, but if I wanted a peace of mind, he can replace it for me. I just need to buy the tank and he only charges the installation. I also asked him about flushing it, but he said it is OK since our water heater is electric.
After thirteen years, I finally flushed our water heater. I didn’t even know about it until recently when my brother-in-law casually mentioned to me and I started to look into it. This morning, I decided give it a shot after watching this helpful YouTube video from AmplifyDIY. I followed his steps closely and I flushed it about six or seven times. I saw rust coming out of the pipe as I drained the water. I wonder if it should be replaced. I’ll call more companies for estimates.
While waiting for the water to drain, I came across The Grumpy Plumber who suggests that we should not have to flush our water heater. If I came across this video before I started the job, I would have just said, “Fuck it, let’s just leave it the way it is after thirteen years.” The process was actually quite simple to do. I might as well just do it every year to maintain its lifespan. Yes, another job added to the growing list of owning a house.
Ocean Vương’s poetic intricacy is beyond my comprehension for literary. What the fuck is “black as god’s periods?” Did he mean what I thought he meant? I wish someone could sit down with me and break down his poems line by line. One of his lines reads, “Because everyone knows yellow pain, pressed into American letters, turns to gold.” Yes, everyone knows, but me. I like the analogy though. I do understand a few lines: “Nobody’s free without breaking open.” And these:
I’m on the cliff of myself & these aren’t wings, they’re futures.
For as long as I can remember my body was the mayor’s nightmare.
The second line strikes the political chord. Of course, I knew these lines:
In my language, the one I recall now only by closing my eyes, the word for love is Yêu.
And the word for weakness is Yếu.
I like that Vương incorporates Vietnamese into his poetry. Without diacritics those two lines wouldn’t have worked. He even has a Vietnamese title for his book. He translates Time is a Mother as Thời gian là một người mẹ. If I get a chance to meet him, I wanted to know how he would translate: Time is a motherfucker.
I need to re-read these poems again in order to understand everything he has written; therefore, I bought myself a copy. Gotta support our Vietnamese-American talents.
The following post is literally about pain in the ass. Stop reading now if you want to spare the details. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Last weekend, I started to feel a sharp pain in my ass while camping. I wondered if a bug bit my ass while I was sleeping in the woods. I thought it might be the hot sauce I ate that burned my ass. I don’t know. I just hope it will go away because taking a shit is just painful.
When I reached down my hand and touched it, I could feel a lump on my left cheek. I tried to take a selfie of my ass, but I couldn’t. I am thinking of paying my family physician a visit, but the thought of her looking into my ass is just too embarrassing.
I am just going to wait it out for a few more days to see if I get any better. I don’t think I ever had any symptoms like this before. What a pain in the fucking ass.
I only hit the ice rink once this week. I am still working on my loop jump. I am not making much progress. A three-or-four-year-old girl skated by and gave me a compliment. I felt both embarrassed and inspired. I need to get back to the rink at least three times a week to get the loop jump down.
I have been back to the skatepark almost everyday. My pumps are getting better. I realized that I had been doing it all wrong. To pump, I just need to extend my body and keep skating to the top of the pipe. I jumped instead and that what how I lost my momentum. After I found my groove, I spent an hour pumping yesterday and my body was aching afterward. In the evening, I felt like I had no bone left in my body, but it was a good feeling.
Đạo is now taking over Đán’s Roces Aggressive Skates. He is breaking in and loving the skates. He can drop in with more confidence than before. He can also pump well. In contrast, Đán took over Đạo’s K2 Rollerblade. He is still a great skater. I am not sure if he wants to try skateboarding. I wanted to sign him up for a week-long skateboarding camp in the summer, but he is still unsure about it. He can if he wanted to, but I am not going to force him.
Đạo and Đán are willing to go to the skatepark with me and their reward would be a boba tea. I can accommodate that. I need to get Xuân back to the skatepark as well. He used to be good with the scooter, but he just stopped. The weather is so beautiful now and it would be awesome to be at the skatepark than to sit at home on their computers.
Tuy tôi và anh ít trò chuyện với nhau, tôi vẫn luôn kính trọng anh. Tôi không biết cái nhìn của anh về tôi ra sao, nhưng tôi vẫn xem anh như người anh lớn. Anh luôn đặc gia đình trước cả bản thân mình.
Là một người con trai, anh chăm sóc cho mẹ già rất chu đáo và lo lắng mọi điều cho bà. Nụ cười trên môi của mẹ anh chứng toả được lòng hiếu thảo của anh dành cho mẹ. Tôi hâm mộ việc làm này của anh.
Là một người cha, anh luôn yêu thương và chiều chuộng con cái. Anh cho con cái hết tất cả những gì anh có thể cho. Thậm chí anh luôn ăn đồ thừa của con mỗi khi chúng nó không chịu ăn nữa. Đáng tiếc rằng, tụi nó đã trở thành thói quen vì có người sẵn sàng ăn đồ thừa mà khỏi cần vứt thùng rác.
Là người chồng, anh luôn yêu vợ, chiều vợ, và làm mọi thứ cho vợ. Từ chuyện lớn đến chuyện nhỏ, vợ sai gì anh làm nấy vậy mà vẫn luôn bị cằn nhằn. Tôi cũng chướng mắt lắm nhưng chuyện gia đình anh tôi không thể xía vào. Đèn nhà ai nấy sáng.
Anh là một người kính đáo nên tôi cũng không dám tâm sự gì nhiều. Chúng ta quen biết nhau cũng chỉ bất đắc dĩ. Tôi nghĩ anh cũng sẽ không thân thiết gì với tôi nếu chúng ta không cùng chung một hoàn cảnh. Dù duyên hay ép buộc, tôi vẫn luôn quý mến anh như người anh cả.
After discovering water dripping from the copper pipe from the main water line yesterday, I called Ricardo, a handyman I had hired in the past. He came by at noon today to do the job. While having him here, I might as well hire him to not only fix the leaked pipe, but also to replace another pipe with black tape wrapped around, and two water valves for the washing machine.
He charged me $400 for the entire job, which seemed reasonable. It took him about three hours. I also bought the two valves for $16. I observed him while he worked. The job didn’t seem to be that difficult. I probably can do it next time if I don’t have to do the soldering, or I should just learn soldering.
We talked quite a bit and drank some hard coffee. He couldn’t resist the caffeinated drink with a kick. He told me that he is getting his citizenship tomorrow after living 22 years in the U.S. He also shared me his DUI story. He had to pay the lawyer 30 grants to keep him in the U.S. He’s a funny, hard-working man.
I didn’t sleep too well last night for the obvious reason. Even though I knew it was not the end of the world, I still worried. I can’t help it. I am a born worrier. I am glad things are fixed. I need to go to sleep early tonight.
A little over a year ago, I fixed the Samsung dryer’s noise and heat element. In the last few weeks, the noise returned. Last night, I opened it up again and replaced the wheels that hold the bowl. Problem solved.
As I was putting back the dryer, I noticed a wet spot on the floor. The water dripped from the copper pipe from the main water line. I am not going to mess with the soldering; therefore, I called a handyman. He replaced our main water shutoff valve in the past and he did a good job. I’ll ask him to replace the water pipe going into the washer as well. It looks bad too.
Then I have more things to do in the coming weeks:
See why I hate owning a house? I didn’t have to do any of these when I lived in an apartment. I didn’t have to worry about the water flooding my basement or the wind knocking out the trim of the roof. Once the kids moved out, I am going to go back to renting a small space for me and my wife and we just travel most of the time.
Hồi Tết Việt Nam vừa qua, tôi được một người bạn mời đi đám giỗ. Lâu ngày được ngồi nhậu với mấy đồng hương cũng vui. Ba của bạn cũng ngồi cùng bàn nhâm nhi ly rượu whiskey và nói chuyện vui vẻ. Còn bác gái và con dâu loay hoay trong bếp. Vợ anh niềm nở và cũng đùa giỡn với bạn bè trên bàn nhậu.
Tôi quen biết vợ chồng anh cũng đã ba năm qua hướng đạo nhưng không thân lắm. Tôi e ngại làm phiền tuy anh rất nhiệt tình. Anh là trưởng tụi nhỏ trong hướng đạo. Tôi thì chỉ đưa con đến rồi ngồi chờ tụi nó sinh hoạt. Rảnh rỗi tôi ngồi đọc sách hoặc đi rollerblading vòng quanh sân trường. Thỉnh thoảng cũng trò chuyện với phụ huynh khác.
Hai tuần trước tôi ngồi nói chuyện với chị. Tôi nhắc lại lần đó đến nhà anh chị ăn giỗ. Tôi khen chồng chị may mắn vì ở Mỹ mà vẫn có được cô con dâu ở chung với ông bà già chồng. Tôi chợt miệng nói, “Thấy hai bác vui vẻ nên chắc không có khó lắm”. Chị nhìn tôi với cặp mắt kinh ngạc và trả lời, “Cái cục lơ của em nó qua khỏi đầu rồi”. Tâm sự một chút chị rơm rớm nước mắt kể chị đã từng bị depressed.
Thì ra thấy vậy chứ không phải vậy. Tôi đã vô tình chạm đến nỗi đau của chị nên cũng thấy áy náy.
My Dearest Đạo,
I can’t believe our oldest son is turning thirteen today. It still feels like yesterday your mom and I brought you home from the hospital. I could never forget the feeling of how to take care of a tiny baby. What if I just slipped my hands and dropped you to the ground. If you got sick in the middle of the night, what would I do? Fortunately you were strong and resilient. You didn’t give me the anxiety that I had forecasted.
Being the oldest kid is not easy. You have to bear the responsibility of being an oldest brother. You used to complain that life was unfair, but now you seem to accept your role. I can see you are trying your best to care for your younger brothers even though they can get under your skin. No matter what goes on, no matter what happens, just always remember you guys are brothers for life.
Now that you are entering middle school, your academics mattered. My only goal is for you to be happy and for me the only path to happiness that I know of is to keep up your grades. Once you take full responsibility for your education, your mother and I will give you the freedom to be more independent. We don’t want you to screw up your life. With your voracious reading and fast learning, school work should not be too difficult for you. You just need to put in the efforts.
For sports, you love skiing and you are damn good at it. You’ve pushed me to a higher level: double-black diamonds. Today is your last day of the Learn to Play hockey program. You can join a hockey team after today, but I am not sure if hockey is the right sport for you. You are not the aggressive type of player. If you want to join the team, however, we will be more than happy to support you. I am also glad to see you picking up rollerblading again and joining me in aggressive skating.
Soon you will a like a bird flying free from home, but for now, you are still under our wings and we do all we can for you. I enjoyed every moment we spent together. I love you, son, and happy birthday!
Love,
Dad