Perhaps Clarissa Peterson’s Learning Responsive Web Design comes a bit too late into the responsive movement. If you’re still new to the game, however, you might want to scoop this comprehensive guide for beginners. The chapters on responsive content and performance are highly recommended.
Several months ago, the cop pulled me over for doing 50 in the 35-mile zone. I had enough of these crap; therefore, I decided to fight back. Since I will be on the road for many years to come, I need to deal with this because it is inevitable. When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I had my share of tickets and I always paid up immediately because I just wanted to get them out of the way and moved on. I was young and stupid. I was lacking of confidence and scared. I am now a grown man and I know how the system works. The judges and the cops aren’t as intimidating as I thought. Besides, I was not breaking any law until the judge decide.
So when I got pulled over, I remained calmed and talked nicely to the officer. Once he handed me the ticket, I even thanked him and wished him a good day. The next day, I went back to the scene to see if I could make my case. The road was under construction so I pulled out my iPhone and took a few photos of the scene. Because of the construction, the road was bumpy; therefore, I couldn’t drive fast. I had my reason one. Then there is a park near the scene that held a farmer market every Thursday in the summer. People parked their cars nearby and took their kids to the market. As a father of two toddlers, I have always been extremely careful whenever kids around; therefore, I couldn’t be speeding. I had my reason two. There was a speed limit sign, but it was obscured by the bus stop sign and the electric pole. I took a picture of that too and had my reason three.
In the ticket, the officer clocked me in at 50 miles. I questioned the accuracy of his speed gun. Why I wasn’t doing 48, 48 or 15, but perfectly on 50? I had my reason four. For reason five, I was not sure if I wanted to bring up in court—the officer marked me as “W” for ethnicity—but I brought it up anyway.
For my court schedule, I dragged it out further by requesting a continuance. I wanted to buy more time so that the officer could forget about me or in case he wouldn’t show up. He did showed up after the reschedule. In court there about 120 people. The ones with the lawyer got done the quickest. Most people pleaded guilty and the judged reduced their fine to $50 or $100 with no points. The ones that pleaded not guilty had to wait to the end. The good thing was I brought the book along. I was in the court from 9:30 am to noon.
Lucky for me, the judge was very nice and he was on the people side. He was interested in what we have to say and not just the cops. In addition to all the reasons I listed above, I also pointed out to him that I haven’t have an accident for twenty years and I have four plus points in my driving record. Virginia rewards you a point each year for no violation and you can earn up to five points. After looking at my photos, the error on the ticket and the calibration date on the officer’s speed gun. He found me not guilty.
What have I learned from all this is that you always have to go to court. Don’t just paid up. Stay calm and be nice to the officer. Rather your evidences and ready to make your case. If you’re not fluent in English, request an interpreter. Most important of all, be confidence.
I haven’t have a drop of coffee in the past two months. I just stopped because I thought I was depending on coffee way too much. I thought it would be hard, but I was able to get off the hook easily. Instead of drinking coffee in the morning, I switched to coconut water with chia seed. They make a great combo for detox.
As for drinking I still do a bit of cocktail every now and then, especially when I get stressed out. Somehow the buzz of liquor has been making me happier when dealing with the kids. Dan gave me some hell yesterday when he didn’t take a nap time. When he finally was down for a nap, he woke up an hour later because he was coughing. He brought more hell when he woke up. I left the room and let his mom calmed him down.
When it was time for dinner, I made myself a drink. After that I was in such a good mood to give the kids a bath and brushed their teeth. The night ended well with a bit of margarita.
Dan is transitioning from terrible two to terrifying three and it is a stressful phase. He throws tantrum so easily when things don’t go his way. He’s strong, fearless and uncontrollable. He can scream to his lung get sore. If I try to hold him or to calm him down, his action gets worse. My approach is to let him get it all out. Once he’s done, he would come to me, give me hug and apologize.
It breaks my heart every time I see my kid that way, but I can’t give me. I have been through it before with Dao; therefore, I know how the game goes. Three is so terrifying because they can’t control their emotion. I am so glad that Dao has passed that stage. He is now much easier to interact with. Dan will be the same. This is just the phase that he’s going through. If he knows that I give in every time he starts tantrum, he will push it further. I made that mistake with Dao. I am not doing that again. It might seem cold and harsh for a three-year-old, but he needs to learn to control his behavior. The sooner he gets it, the better we’ll be.
I make sure that he understand that I am not ignoring him. I just can’t put up with that. Once he apologizes and gives me hug, I give him my full attention again. Being a parent is hard. I am still learning. I might need one more time to get things right.
Dao’s kindergarden teacher wrote in his report that he had been talking excessively in class. Isn’t that a good thing? He’s vocalizing and sharing whatever on his mind. For example, when he took off his clothes to take a bath yesterday, he pointed to his nipples and said, “Daddy, when I grow up I will have lots of milk for the baby to drink.” I almost fell into the bathtub laughing.
Not only Dao, Dan is also very chatty. When not fighting, the two of them sounded like non-stop firecrackers. Because Dan’s vocabulary is still limited, he stutters quite a bit when he couldn’t find the words to express himself. Two nights ago as we were about to sleep, he suddenly got up and asked me, “Daddy, is … is … is … mommy having a baby?” I replied, “Well, would you like to have a baby brother or baby sister?” He responded, “No, I already have baby Han [his little cousin].”
Even though their non-stop talking could be quite irritating at times, especially when I was sleepy as hell, I am glad that they are talking a lot than not saying a word. As a parent, what I have learned is that you can’t have it both ways.
Jeff Johnson, Designing with the Mind in Mind, (p.69):
- In alphabetic scripts, patterns of characters form morphemes, which we learn to recognize as packets of meaning—for example, “farm,” “tax,” “-ed,” and “-ing” are morphemes in English.
- Morphemes combine to form patterns that we recognize as words—for example, “farm,” “tax,” “-ed,” and “-ing” can be combined to form the words “farm,” “farmed,” “farming,” “tax,” “taxed,” and “taxing.” Even ideographic scripts include symbols that serve as morphemes or modifiers of meaning rather than as words or concepts.
An intriguing psychological introduction to user-interface design. The chapter on how we read alone is worth checking out. Although the design of the book could be better, real-world illustrations and practical guidelines make it an essential read for web and interactive designers.
Dao had his first tooth extracted on Friday. The process went surprising well thanks to the amazing pediatric dentist. She distracted him by talking about Ninjago, one of his current favorite shows. She gave him some numbing medication and yanked the tooth out in less than ten minutes. Dao cooperated the entire time, which was unexpected. His previous visits he wouldn’t even let the dentist look at his teeth. Somehow he trusted this one particular dentist. It was a relief.
He will have another major work on his teeth, in which he will be sedated in the hospital. Before committed to this project, we had gone through two pedestrians and consulted my cousin who is a dentist. They all agreed that it has to be done. He was scheduled to do it two weeks ago, but his pediatrician would’t approved because I have Vonwillebrands, which means that he could have it as well. He had to get his blood test, but the result didn’t come back before the schedule date. He does have a mild case of Vonwillebrands and we had to reschedule it two months later for his dental work.
A couple days before his original schedule, he had abscess in his gum and had to have antibiotic. After his tooth was taken out, I could see a big cavity eating up his tooth.
As a parent, this has been a sign of failure on my part. I have been worried and stressed out the entire time. I let this happened to him even though I have done my best to brush and floss him everyday day and night. I am now being very conscious of Dan’s teeth as well. I don’t want to make the same mistake twice.
The following note is taken from an UIE seminar presented by Steph Hay.
Using words people actually say
You’re real. People trust real.