I did not set my New Year’s resolution because I knew I wouldn’t be able to live up to it. I am already failing at exercising. It is too damn cold outside for jogging or walking. I have not been able to control my eating habit. Other than beef, which gives me serious gout attack, I have been eating pretty much anything that suits my taste. I drink wine almost everyday. Beer and har liquor are on special occasions. As long as I stay off beef, my gout is under control. I am still not getting full eight hours of sleep. I still want my own time to read. I need to make that change as well.

On the positive side, I spend tons of time with my sons. We played in the snow and Monopoly. iPads are still allowed on weekends. They got me into Beyblade. It is so much fun and competitive. I am so glad that my current job allows me the time to be with them. I sympathize parents who have to work faraway and only get to see their kids on the weekends. I don’t think I can do that. They are changing almost everyday. Our little Vương is three months now and he is different everyday. His movements, his smiles, his stares, his rollovers, his lovely cheeks, I am so blessed to witness everyday. Xuân’s verbal skills, Đán’s reading improvements, and Đạo’s creative thinking, I am so glad to be there with them even though at times I wish I can get a break.

My wife and I are on great term. She is still amazing (at everything). We worked out our differences. We talked more and argued less. For the most part, we love each other deeply (at least from my part) and we know we have tons of work ahead of us with four active boys. I don’t think life can get any better than this. So 2019 started out good even though I have not done anything to improve my damn self.

Kyle Chayka writes in the Nation:

The worst thing that a reader can do, we now know, is to consume whatever pops up at the top of a Facebook feed or Google search—the pond scum floating on the surface of the Internet. What we need is a digital-media version of organic food or a local farmers’ market: ethically sourced, sustainably funded, and integrity-certified, all the way from CMS up.

Right on!

DHH explains the reasons “Signal v Noise exits Medium”:

Writing for us is not a business, in any direct sense of the word. We write because we have something to say, not to make money off page views, advertisements, or subscriptions. If some readers end up signing up for Basecamp, that’s great. But if they just like to read and not buy, that’s also great.

Beyond that, though, we’ve grown ever more aware of the problems with centralizing the internet. Traditional blogs might have swung out of favor, as we all discovered the benefits of social media and aggregating platforms, but we think they’re about to swing back in style, as we all discover the real costs and problems brought by such centralization.

When SvN moved to Medium, I was disappointed to see a small, independent company moves its blog to Medium. Glad to see it is moving back out. I have not read an article in Medium for years.

Sinclair Target writes in Motherboard:

Regular people never felt comfortable using RSS; it hadn’t really been designed as a consumer-facing technology and involved too many hurdles; people jumped ship as soon as something better came along.

RSS might have been able to overcome some of these limitations if it had been further developed. Maybe RSS could have been extended somehow so that friends subscribed to the same channel could syndicate their thoughts about an article to each other. Maybe browser support could have been improved. But whereas a company like Facebook was able to “move fast and break things,” the RSS developer community was stuck trying to achieve consensus. When they failed to agree on a single standard, effort that could have gone into improving RSS was instead squandered on duplicating work that had already been done.

I still prefer RSS reader over social media for online reading. It is quieter and more focused. I do hope blogs will be coming back after people get sick and tired of Twitter and Facebook.

Zoe Tillman reports in BuzzFeed News:

In pieces reviewed by BuzzFeed News that Rao wrote between 1994 and 1996 — she graduated from Yale University in 1995 — she described race as a “hot, money-making issue,” affirmative action as the “anointed dragon of liberal excess,” welfare as being for “for the indigent and lazy,” and LGBT issues as part of “trendy” political movements. On date rape, Rao wrote that if a woman “drinks to the point where she can no longer choose, well, getting to that point was part of her choice.”

Yes, she is one of our finest faculty members. Then again, it will be sexist if she won’t get the nomination for the DC Circuit because the guy who she’s going to replace had done worse and still got the seat on the Supreme Court.

In her beautiful, poignant memoir, Brennan-Jobs recounts her experiences of living with a caring, depressing mother and a cold, cruel father who happened to be Steve Jobs. Despite all the turmoils between the two parents, Brennan-Jobs turned out to be a resilient individual. Even in her young age, she was smart and compassionate. She can also write. Although the book is almost 400 pages, it is such a breezy read. Not only we get to know Steve through the intimate lens of his daughter, but we also get to know his wife Laurene. Small Fry is a page-turner. I definitely recommend it. In addition, the book is set in Adobe Caslon Pro, by Carol Twombly. It is georgous and highly readable.

This blog gets a slight design update. I am getting rid of the multiple colors for each post. I also changed the typeface to Pliego, by Juanjo López. I really love this beautiful text face with lovely OpenType features. Pliego is one of my recent font purchases. I had the pleasure of reviewing Vietnamese diacritics for it.

With the end of Typekit’s standalone plans, I am changing the way I am using fonts. I no longer trust the subscription model if I have projects that I want to stay online for a long time like Vietnamese Typography and Professional Web Typography. Although Google Fonts seems to be doing well, I never know when Google will shut it down given the history of projects Google had abandoned. I also don’t want Google to track you. I respect your privacy.

I am now hosting the fonts myself as much as I can. As a result, I having buying fonts and it could be addictive. Like getting tattoos, you’ll want more typefaces once you started buying one. I never understood why people buying so many expensive handbags until I started buying fonts. Just to have the font files on your hand is such a pleasure.

David Jonathan Ross’s Font of the Month Club has been a good resource for experimenting with new typefaces. David also has a handful quality typefaces with affordable prices. If his typeface doesn’t have Vietnamese support yet, I can make a request to have it drawn. For me, I can’t purchase fonts that do not have Vietnamese diacritics. It’s a deal-breaker for me.

In addition to David’s fonts, I also purchase typefaces Juanjo López and Tobias Frere-Jones because their fonts have Vietnamese support from the get-go. If you are a type designer and need help with Vietnamese diacritics, please read my book. If you need further advise, please get in touch.

Đã lâu không nghe nhạc Lê Uyên Phương. Hôm nay thưởng thức tám tình khúc quen thuộc được giọng hát trầm và truyền cảm của Thái Thùy Linh bộc lộ qua phần hoà âm sang trọng và ấm cúng của Nguyễn Quang. Kết quả là rất phê, nhất là những giai điệu jazz như “Cho lần cuối” với chất blues nồng nàn, “Một ngày vui mùa đông” với nhiệp điệu bossa nova say sưa, và “Hãy ngồi xuống đây” với phong cách swing nhẹ nhàng. Đặc sắc là “Dạ khúc cho tình nhân” được soạn cho dàn nhạc classical thật tuyệt dịu. Như loài thú hoang ngắn gọn rất hợp để sưởi ấm tâm hồn trong những ngày mùa đông lạnh héo. Dĩ nhiên thêm vài ly rượu wine đỏ thì càng thấm thía hơn.

Sau ba tháng, cuối cùng cũng xin được tăng lương cho thằng lính. Nó làm khá lắm. Giúp tôi làm những công việc lặt vặt để tôi có thể tập trung vào những công việc cần nhiều thời gian hơn. Xếp của tôi cũng rất hài lòng khi giao phó công việc cho nó. Nó vừa làm vừa học nên có thể kéo dài đến hai năm. Sau đó thì tính sau.

Tôi làm ở trường này đã hơn bảy năm. Thời gian trôi qua mau quá. Công việc cũng đã ổn định. Giờ giấc cũng thoải mái. Muốn cầu tiến thì phải đi nhưng làm sau tìm được công việc mà có thể dành thời gian với con cái như bây giờ. Nghĩ đến đó thì đành phải ở lại cày tiếp. Chừng nào tụi nhỏ lớn tính sau.

Đã sang năm mới tôi vẫn không đống được Facebook. Đó vẫn là nơi để biết đến sinh hoạt của gia đình và bạn bè ở xa. Dĩ nhiên tôi vẫn lo ngại về vến đề riêng tư nhưng nếu đã dùng dến mạng rồi thì chạy đâu cho khỏi. Tôi đã bị ép vào Google và không thể nào tách ra được. Từ điện thoại đến email đến hình ảnh, và một số dịch vụ khác, tôi phải phụ thuộc vào Google. Vả lại trang blog này còn có gì mà tôi đã chưa từng nói đâu. Bỏ Facebook vẫn còn vướng vào thứ khác. Thôi thì điếc không sợ súng vậy. Chừng nào có chuyện tính sau.

Ừ thì vậy đi. Chuyện tương lai để tính sau. Bây giờ tính chuyện bây giờ.

After listening to an interview with Hillary Frank on her childbirth injury, I am glad that my wife went under C-Section when Vương was sunny-side up. Although Frank gave her child a natural birth, the episiotomy issue took three years to heal. I have profound respect for mothers who give birth to their children. The image of the C-Section still haunts me.