I have been into green smoothie lately. Each morning, I made two glasses. I share one with Dan on the way to daycare. The other one for Dana. I do the same at dinner time. Here’s the recipe:
1 apple
1 banana
1 orange
1 cup pineapple
2 celery sticks
2 spoons of chia seeds
2 cups of baby spinach
4 large kale leaves

Pour one cup of water into the blender. Add chia seeds, stir and let them absolve for a few minutes. Add in the rest of the ingredients and six ice cubes. Once blended, you’ll get a beautiful, fresh green color.

Not sure how I managed to miss Erik Spiekermann & E.M. Ginger’s Stop Stealing Sheep & find out how type works. It’s a classic with exceptional materials and entertaining analogies. Just finished reading in a few hours and it’s instantly one of my favorite books on type. Preordered the third edition for rereads.

Michael Harkin’s Understanding Type is a short and sweet overview that provides the basic knowledge of typographic matter. With Harkin’s approachable language backed up by excellent examples, anyone who is new to type will learn the core foundation including history, terminology and technology. Recommended read for design students.

I asked Dao if he would like to have a baby sister and he replied, “Yes, I want a baby girl.” Then he asked his mom, “Mommy, can we have a baby girl tomorrow?” Not so sure how to response to that other than laughed out loud. Looking around our family, the chance of us having a baby girl is probably less than 10%. Still adding one more boy to the family is the merrier. The first kid was tough, especially a boy.

True, things do get a bit crazy sometimes with two boys, but they are quite enjoyable. Or maybe after the second kid, you realize that there’s no denial. You either enjoy the time with them or they’ll make you miserable. If you choose to go with the former, you might get to live your life. As a result, a third boy is not going to be any worse than what we have now.

As they always say, you’re already on the tiger’s back. Just ride her out. No pun intended. Tiger mom.

From a potential client:

Do you use Word Press as your open source to customize the website as per your client’s needs? Are you familiar with e-Commerce Zen Cart or Joomla? and what would the cost be using of any e-Commerce open source package with Content Management System? Can you finish the website within a few days? Pls advise.

Obviously I didn’t get the job. Although I replied to the request and wanted to learn more about the project, I couldn’t pull something like that in a few days. Even if I have a team of designers and developers, it would not be possible. The complexity of an e-commerce site needs time to work out. The user experience needs to be well-thought out and the security needs to be tight.

Truth be told, I have never missed the client’s deadline. The holdup is mostly from the client. From the beginning of the project, I try to get as much contents as I could, but that’s not always possible. Without contents, I can’t get the project rolling. If I don’t get anything after a three or four reminders, I have to put the project aside until the client is ready. When that happens, my passion for the project is somewhat weakening because I feel as though the client’s heart is not in it. A client should care about her project more than I do if not as much.

How fast I can work on a site depends on the client. I have a rule that I won’t start a project until I get at least 50% of the contents. Like most things in my life, I don’t follow my own rules from time to time.

We managed to miss Dan’s 18-month checkup. He’s 19 months now. With his good appetite, Dan is in the 75 percentile. He’s 34 inches tall, 27 pounds and 13 ounces with 19 1/4 HC. The poor kid got four shots today in both thighs. He cried for a bit.

He is outgrowing some allergies including whole milk, avocado and some seafood. He’s still not into certain things like Dao, but does seem to have some musical talent. He can jam when he hears the beat. He plays the keyboard with both hands and reaches out to every keys. Last night, he hummed the melody of “Con Chim Non” several times before going to bed.

His daycare is going well. He’s adjusting much quicker than Dao in the new environment. Dao started daycare at one and it took him almost a year to stop crying every time we dropped him off. Dan started at 18-month and he’s still crying when I dropped him off, but it only lasted for a minute.

Dan’s talking skill is good, but nowhere near Dao. It seems like Dao started to talk a very long time ago and has not been able to stop. Dao picked things up really fast and now he applies new words as much as he can. Before, he always told me that he saw a car with “no roof.” After I taught him the word “convertible,” he’s now saying, “Daddy, I saw a convertible.” Whenever we’re in the car, he would describe to me what he’s watching. For instance, he told me, “Daddy, Tom hits Jerry with a pan. Tom is not nice.”

I am sure Dan will pick up his communication skills as well very soon. I can’t wait to hear him talk in longer sentences.

Mới đó mà Đán đi nhà trẻ đã được ba tuần. Bây giờ nó cũng hơi quen quen. Sáng vô lớp khóc đúng một phút. Được cô đặt vào lòng ngồi thì nín liền. Chiều qua khi thấy ba và anh đến đón, nó mếu máo chạy ra cửa, vẫy tay chào các cô và bạn, nhặt đôi giầy mang vào, chạy đi lấy cập rồi cùng anh Đạo tung tăng ra về.

Trên xe Đán la lên không rỏ lý do gì. Anh Đạo bảo, “Baby don’t cry. Big brother’s here.” Rồi anh Đạo cho em ăn cereal. Hai anh em ngồi nhai nhai cho đến nhà. Phải chi lúc nào anh Đạo cũng dễ thương như thế thì đâu có gây gổ.

Sáng thì tôi đứa Đán đến trường trước vì cu Đạo ngủ trể. Ngày nào hai mẹ con cũng gần mười giờ sáng mới đến. Cũng mai là hai vợ chồng không có làm hãng xưởng. Vì nếu như cần phải đến đúng giờ mỗi ngày thì chắc mất công việc từ lây rồi. Sáng nay khi đặt Đán vào ghế nó chỉ qua ghế của anh nó rồi nói, “Anh Đạo.”

Đán không nói nhiều như anh Đạo lúc xưa như nói rỏ từng chữ một. Bây giờ chữ nó thường nói nhất là, “Daddy, ẩm.”

As a priest and a music lover, Jamie Howison takes on the challenge of examining the spirituality of John Coltrane’s music. He connects jazz and theology through extensive studies, researches, interviews as well as his own interpretation of Coltrane’s compositions including tracks from A Love Supreme, Ascension and My Favorite Things. Though Howison is not a musically trained, his detailed analysis makes God’s Mind in That Music an intriguing read.

Cunningham’s small, concise book makes a great checklist for making accessible web site. If you follow the guidelines presented in this book, your site would accommodate users with blindness, hearing impairment, physical disabilities and cognitive disorders. You can delve further into this subject, but this is a good start.

After several weeks of experimentation, I came up with a wicked green smoothie. Even my little Dan is loving it. Here’s the recipe:
1 Fuji apple
1 banana
1 cup of carrot juice (Bolthouse Farms)
1 bottle of Lala Cult (probiotic dairy drink)
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
2 celery sticks
2 cups of baby spinach
10 cherry tomatoes

Put all ingredients in and blend with ice. I am using a Blendtec and loving it.