Dan: Daddy, what [are] you doing?
Dad: Sleeping.
Dan: I’m sleeping too.
Dad: You’re so cute.
Dan: No, I’m not cute. I’m a baby!
Dad: Your pee pee is yellow.
Dao: Because I drink a lot of orange juice.
Dad: What does Dan’s poop smell like? (Changing Dan’s diaper)
Dao: Gym socks.
Last night after giving Dan a bath and trying to put a diaper on him, he pointed to his thing and said, “My tadpole.” I was shocked. I had to ask him again to make sure if I heard him correctly, “Your what?” He replied, “My tadpole.” I do not know where he got that from, but I thought it was quite imaginative.
At bedtime, Dao picked up a Dr. Seuss’s book and said, “Can we read this book. It’s my favorite book called Close Your Eyes When You Read.” When he handed the book to me and the actual title is I Can Read With My Eyes Shut.
Being a parent is such a challenge. I didn’t expect it to be so stressful. I had no idea what I got myself into. I am not a good or a perfect parent. I still don’t have a clue what I am doing, but I am glad and thankful for to be a father.
When Dao turned terrible two, I was being very uptight with him. I didn’t want him to be disobedient. I didn’t want him to embarrass me. I didn’t want him to push me to the edge. I failed all three. There were times I just didn’t know what to do with him. I would let him scratched me, screamed or threw whatever tantrum. I was just being unresponsive. My only solution was that he would grow out of it and I am so glad that he had. He is much more reasonable and he’s no longer jealous of his little brother, expect for when they fought over toys. He’s being a really good brother. Dan picked up his speaking skills from interacting with his other brother.
Now that Dan is in his terrible-two state and he is much tougher than Dao, but he is not like Dao used to be. For my part, I am taking on a more relaxing approach. Because they can now play together, I let them enjoy themselves and just keep an eye on them from a distance. If they break into a fight, I could see who started the trouble. Again I don’t claim to be a good father and I am usually shy away from that compliment. I am just doing the best I can.
This mock interview is an assignment for my graduate course on professional design practices.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Mr. Jim Van Meer who is a creative services manager at the American Petroleum Institute (API) for a web design position. Even though I prepared a portfolio presentation to showcase my expertise in responsive web design, I didn’t talk about my work. Mr. Van Meer had something else in mind.
Right off the bat, he asked me whether I would be the survival of the fittest or the survival of the cooperative. I answered the latter. I do the best work in a team environment and I provided an example of how I collaborated with the talented designers and developers at Vassar college to not only meet deadlines, but also used the best individual skills for the job.
One of the most intriguing questions he asked me was on standards and how I would present complex information in a simple manor. Without much time to think, I gave an example of web standards. I often had to explain to clients, supervisors and novice web designers the important of web standards. My analogy to help them understand web standards was the example of a dishwasher. Let’s say that your dishwasher broke and you need a replacement. A standard size would allow you to pick out a new dishwasher without worrying if it would fit in your kitchen. If you design your site with web standards, you’ll make your life easier as well as those whose responsible for maintaining the site that you designed.
The last question he asked me was why manhole covers are rounded. I knew that the rounded shape would prevent the covers from dropping into the hole, but I couldn’t articulate the reasons for it. Sometimes when I think hard about a logical reason, I get blank out.
When it was my turn for questions, I asked Mr. Van Meer what he enjoyed most working here and he replied the trust the boss gave him, the flexibility as well as the creative freedom. In term of digital products and services, Mr. Van Meer would like to see API to be 100% web base, which includes online training, various devices and apps, in the next two years. The skillsets that Mr. Van Meer is looking to fill with a new hire are the ability to design and turning designs into web, app and digital medium.
After our interview, Mr. Van Meer explained that the questions he asked were to get to know the candidate. He wanted to see the candidate’s quick reaction as well as his ability to work in a creative yet demanding environment. The reason he didn’t want me to present my portfolio was that he already knew what I was capable of doing through my web site and portfolio. He said, “If I didn’t think you could do what we were looking for, I wouldn’t bring you in for an interview.”
I had learn a great deal through our interview and I hope I did well.
For the second assignment in professional design practices, I rewrote my entire resume, particularly the descriptions in the experience section. I also focused on the typographic details and settled on two typefaces: Lora and Lato.
For the work portion, I broke down into two separate pages. The work landing page now featured only eight selected projects. I don’t want to overwhelm visitors with everything I have done. The full list page has all the projects I have worked on. This page is more for me than for visitors, but it is available for the public if anyone is interested in the exhausted list.
I also moved some of my past work to Pinterest. Here are the boards: Graphic Design Portfolio, Visualgui past designs, Vassar homepage banner archive and Vassar homepage archive.
Two weeks ago (Feb. 17, 2o14), my Sienna windshield cracked. I called my insurance and the representative connected me with Perfection Glass, which is one of its vendor. We set up the next day for the replacement. The technician was supposed to call me in the morning to tell me what time he would come out.
The next day I heard nothing. Around 3 PM, I called Perfection Glass and the sale rep didn’t seem to have my record on file. After ten minutes verifying my info, she told me that they were waiting for the seal to arrive and they wouldn’t be able to come out in another three days. Why didn’t she called to let me know and let me waited a whole day? She didn’t know and didn’t seem to care.
On Feb. 20, 2014, I called the company in the morning to make sure that someone could come out. My wife was at home and a technician did come out to replace the glass. From what she told me, the technician seemed like a nice guy. The only problem was that there was a scratch on the glass and they made a deal to come back to replace a new one last Thursday.
He called me on the day it was rescheduled, but he never came and never called me back. In the evening I called him and he apologized for being behind so we have to reschedule for yesterday. Unfortunately, the snow was heavy so I didn’t expect him to come out. Now I am not even sure when they’ll come again to replace the glass.
It was such a frustrating experience. One lesson learned: never go with what your insurance company recommend.
Yesterday I received the following email from General Assembly:
Hey,
Just saw that you’re interested in learning more about our Front-End Web Development program. My name is Daniel and I handle Admissions for the FEWD course at General Assembly in Washington, D.C.
I’d love to learn more about your goals and program expectations. When’s a good time for a quick chat?
Cheers,
D
Then I realized that I was about a week ago, I was Googling for some front-end web development training in D.C. I know Google tracks me and all, but sharing my info to a third party is a bit too far. General Assembly has appeared in my Facebook feed as well. I guess this is the price I have to bay for using the Internet.
In his exceptional biography of Louis Armstrong, Terry Teachout pointed out that jazz was in everything that Pops recorded. Even his poppiest hits including “Hello, Dolly!” and “What a Wonderful World,” Pops incorporated jazz elements into them. Pops is an engaging read as Teachout unfolds of the controversy of Armstrong’s “old-fashioned way of mixing high art with low comedy” and the dark side behind his happy face.
Dan: Daddy, you! Get off my face (as I tried to rub Vaseline on his face)
Dan: Daddy, stop before police catch you (as we were driving home)
Dan: Daddy, the fries smell good (in the car).
Dad: When we go home, don’t tell your mom that I gave you fries.
Dao: Why?
Dad: She’ll yell at me.
Dao: Don’t worry. Her voice isn’t that loud.
Dad: Dao, we’re in Pennsylvania.
Dao: Yes, Pennsylvania looks like a pencil.
Dad: Huh?
Dao: Pencilvania.
Dad: Oh I get it. (LMAO)
Hồ Hoàng Yến is like a bird trapped in Asia’s cage. She can’t escape the production’s unimaginative direction even though she has so much potentials. Her third release, Dù Tình Yêu Đã Mất, is just another cover of ballads with recycled arrangements. From the opening title track to the closing “Yêu,” she interprets these standards like a copy machine. She sings right off the page and never deviates from the melodies. They are not bad by any means. They are just boring. It’s sad to witness such a sensuous of a voice being wasted. Fortunately, it is still not too later for her to break away from Asia and to take on a more challenging moves with her music career. If she keeps heading down this same path, however, she’ll be soon forgotten.
Dan: Donuts! (as we passed Dunkin’ Donuts)
Dad: Not this morning buddy.
Dao: That donut place was not there when I was a baby.
Dad: You’re right. It was built when Dan was a baby.
Dao: Yes. I went to the hospital to see mommy and Dan when he was a baby.
Dad: Do you want another baby brother or sister?
Dao: I want another baby brother.
Dad: You don’t want a baby girl?
Dao: No, I already have a girl?
Dad: Who?
Dao: Mommy!