Letter to My Sons #34

My Dearest Children,

As someone who witnesses what your mother does for you everyday, I can’t even tell you the unconditional love she has for each of you.

Since the day you were conceived, she carried you in her womb for 9 months. Since the day you were born, she has not even for one second stopped loving you. She stayed up when you cried in the middle of the night. She fed you with her own milk and soothed you back to sleep.

As you are growing up, she is still doing everything in her power for you. She treasures your lives and I can guarantee you that she would put your lives over her own. I am telling you this because your lives are invaluable to her.

She brought you into this world. She does everything she can to give you fulfilling lives. She doesn’t ask anything from you. In return, I am not asking you to fulfill your filial piety. All that I am asking from you is to treasure your lives. Just that alone is enough to show your love for your mother.

Believe me, your lives are way better than mine. When I was growing up, it was just me and my mother. We were poor, but I knew my mother loved me unconditionally. When I was becoming a teenager, I had moments when I felt my life was boring, but never worthless. I didn’t have many opportunities, but I knew the only way to move up was focusing on my education.

If you think your lives suck, you have not experienced the world out there. If you walk out of our door, you will see it for yourself. Don’t take what we have built as a family for granted. I may sound like a broken record; therefore, I am writing this letter to you so you will be able to refer back to it later on.

Just remember this. I might not be a good father to you, but your mother’s love for you is unquestionable, unmatchable, and unbreakable. All a mother is asking for is to see a smile on her children’s faces. Her happiness is to see you happy. I hope you know or will understand what I am telling you.

Love,
Dad

A Few Updates

I added SLS Network to my case studies.

I redesigned the lock-up for the 24th Annual Judicial & Legislative Reception. I reduced the typeface to Minion Display.

I revealed the beautiful designer behind Simplexpression.

I created a new Vietnamese typography sample.

I made the logo much bigger at the bottom. I also added a red bow on top of it.

The Liftgate Issue

In May 2021, I took my 2018 Toyota Sienna to Ourisman Toyota Collision Center to repair after being rear ended. Replacing the bumper and the liftgate took damn near three weeks. The liftgate was still having issues such as a pop noise when it was closing or the gate would slam hard to shut. I ignored the issues simply because I didn’t want to bother bringing them back to the shop.

Gradually the issues got worse. A few weeks ago, I noticed a piece of metal sticking out of the panel every time the gate closed. Almost three years had passed, I didn’t think the Collision Center would warranty it. I took the long shot.

Last Wednesday, I brought my minivan back to them and explained the issues. Of course they denied any wrongdoing on their part. It was so long ago anyway, I was not faulting them. When the rep took the panel off, the metal part that was sticking out had no screw to hold it in place, which caused the popping sound. I suspected when they installed the piece, they forgot to put the screw back on.

The rep told me that he would have the technician take a look. If it was not their fault, they would still fix it and I would pay for the parts. I agreed. I left the car there. Later that Wednesday evening I called them back to check on the progress. The rep told me that they had ordered the parts and they would take care of everything with no further charges. I was so grateful that they would do that. They didn’t have to.

Thursday evening, I called back and the parts didn’t come. Friday evening, I called back and the parts still didn’t come. I needed to pick the car up for the weekend. I dropped the car back again this morning hoping the parts would arrive. Thankfully it did.

I hope this will be permanently fixed. The Ourisman Toyota Collision Center took responsibility for their work, which I really appreciated, but the wait was just so long.

Letter to My Sons #33

Dear Xuân,

Thank you for informing me about your week. From science to math to PE to music, you had a busy week. I am enjoying these Friday letters between us. Mr. Leonato came up with such a wonderful assignment for us to connect. I look forward to reading your words every Friday.

As you had mentioned in your letter, March is here already. I am a bit torn about it. The weather is getting a lot warmer, which is nice, but that also means skiing season is coming to an end. I want to spend more time with you on the slopes. You are a fantastic skier, but I also hoped that you would pick up snowboarding as well.

It’s a challenge to try something new. When I switched from skiing to snowboarding, I was having a very tough time. The snowboarding learning curve is steep, but it opens up a whole new level on the mountains once you get a hang of the board. If I can do it, you can too. You just need a little bit of patience.

It is so much fun when you can switch from skiing to snowboarding and vice versa. I enjoy both sports and I am sure you will too. We’ll work on your snowboarding skills next season.

Love,
Dad!

Spring Skiing at Roundtop

Our whole family went to Roundtop this morning. The weather was in the mid 60s. The conditions weren’t too bad. There was no crowd as if people were done for the season. I skied with Vương and my nephew on the green trails.

After lunch I switched to snowboarding with Xuân and another nephew on the backside. The warm weather wore me out quickly. At 2 pm the kids wanted to go home. They have school tomorrow.

I am not sure if the three resorts in PA will last until next week. It looks like the season is coming to an end. I am not even sure if we will be able to ski in Vermont the last week of March when the kids are on spring break. Just have keep our hopes alive.

Quảng cáo trong cộng đồng DMV

Bạn nào có kinh doanh riêng (nhà hàng, tiệm nail, sửa xe, sửa nhà, văn phòng bác sĩ, văn phòng nha sĩ, vv.) và muốn một trang web riêng sang trọng với thương hiệu riêng không đụng hàng, hãy liên lạc với mình.

Tôi tên là Donny Trương với trên 20 năm kinh nghiệm trong ngành thiết kế trang web, đồ họa, và thương hiệu. Hiện tại tôi là giám đốc thiết kế và lập trình website cho trường luật Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University tại Virginia.

Mời bạn vào trang cá nhân của mình để xem những dự án mình đã thành lập: donnytruong.com.

Post thử chơi trong Facebook Group: Cộng Đồng Thủ Đô DMV

Ngô Thụy Miên: Tác giả và tác phẩm

Lâu rồi không nghe tin tức và cũng không theo giỏi gì về Trung tâm Asia. Có thể Asia đã mất nhưng âm thanh và ca sĩ của Asia vẫn còn tồn tại qua SBTN. Nghe những tác phẩm của Ngô Thụy Miên qua chương trình SBTN, những phần hòa âm phối khí vẫn không thay đổi dước tay của nhạc sĩ Trúc Hồ.

Dĩ nhiên 17 ca khúc của Ngô Thuỵ Miên thì không còn gì lạ nữa. Phần ca sĩ thì có người hát xuất sắc có người hát tạm được. Lâm Nhật Tiến trình bài “Dấu tình sầu” (hòa âm Trúc Hồ) đẹp và gọn gàng. Anh không dây dưa kéo dài. Ngược lại Nguyễn Hồng Nhung dùng chất rung nhiều trong “Riêng một góc trời” (hòa âm Trúc Sinh) nên chói tai. Tôi rất thích giọng ấm áp của Anh Tuấn nhưng anh cũng dùng chất rung quá nhiều trong “Áo lụa Hà Đông” (hòa âm Trúc Sinh) làm giảm đi phần trình bài của anh.

Nổi bật trong chương trình là những phần hòa âm phối khí của nhạc sĩ Bùi Công Nguyên như “Em còn nhớ mùa xuân” qua giọng hát bay cao của Bích Vân, “Paris có gì lạ không em” qua giọng hát êm dịu của Thái Hiền, “Bài tình ca cho em” qua giọng hát đầy trải nghiệm của cô Lê Uyên, và “Tuổi 13” qua giọng hát trẻ cao vời vợi của Kimberly Trương.

Tôi không có xem chương trình này chỉ thưởng thức nhạc mà thôi.

Liberty Friday

I headed to Liberty this morning and snowboarded. The conditions were still good. I tried to carve after watching this excellent 45-minute video. I am still learning to carve. I hope to go back to Liberty tomorrow morning, but I am not so sure with the heavy rain and warm weather. We’ll see!

New Sample: Lì Quá

Anh Cầm Fact’s Lì Quá Để Nói Quài is a pocket-size book filled with Vietnamese quips and wordplays. I enjoyed the prose so much that I had to create a sample page with my personal favorite quotes. The page is typeset in Bricolage Grotesque, by Mathieu Triay. Enjoy the quotes!

Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth Speaker

I have been searching for a portable speaker so I could sing karaccoustic with and carry it around. The size has to be small enough to put in my backpack and the sound quality has be great to output recorded acoustic picking guitar sound.

I had two choices to make: the Sonos Move ($300) and the Bose SoundLink Flex SE ($130). I have never owned a Sonos product before and I wanted to make a move, but the Sonos is large. It is not too convenience, but still portable. When I tested it, the trembles were muffled and drowned by the heavy bass.

On the other hand, the Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth speaker is perfect in size. Furthermore, the Bose has exceptional crystal-clear trembles, which is perfect for the acoustic guitar sound. The lower price is also a bonus. I found exactly what I was looking for in the Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth speaker.

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