I planned to drive to Mount Snow at 1 am on Saturday so we could get an extra skiing day, but it didn’t go too well. My wife was working until midnight and I wanted her to get some sleep. As a result we didn’t leave our house until 4 am. The rain was pouring almost the entire trip. As we were getting closer to Mount Snow, rain turned to icy rain.

Our Toyota Sienna LE couldn’t make it to the top of the hill. A local man drove by and offered to help. He reversed the minivan to the top then asked us where we were heading. He told us our car wouldn’t make it through the road we were on. He suggested that we headed back to the flatter road. We were doing fine until we had to take the small road to our rental place. Once again our minivan got stuck. A very nice couple helped us push through. I love Vermont people.

We arrived around 2:00 pm and checked in. Icy snow continued to fall; therefore, we didn’t go to Mount Snow. We just relaxed for the rest of the day. I was over-worried about our car. I hoped all that spinning and backward driving didn’t damage the transmission. I could barely sleep. I woke up around 2 am and tried to read about the transmission.

Around 7 am I tried to see if I could drive to Mount Snow, which is 1.5 miles away. I couldn’t back my car out. The front wheel kept spinning and rocked. I tried to press the gas slowly all the way, but the wheels were no longer spinning. I freaked out. Then again, my brother-in-law’s Honda Odyssey was also stuck. He said the TRAC system prevented the wheel from spinning.

I took my three older kids and their cousin to Mount Snow via the MOOver shuttle service. The conditions were great. We skied mostly blue and black trails. I snowboarded because I didn’t want to wear my heavy ski boots to the shuttle.

With a lack of sleep, shoveling snow in the morning, lack of food for lunch, and drinking some beer, I was exhausted after about 5 or 6 runs. We had a great time.

In the meantime, my wife, her sister, and her sister’s husband got both of our minivans out. I was so relieved. My mother had come through again with her hidden powers. I talked to her when we were stuck and both times people came to help. I also talked to her about the car being stuck and the transmission and we are OK now.

When it comes to content, I am pretty clueless. Content design is new to me. Even after reading this book, I don’t quite get it. I have always been a visual designer first. For content, I just want to blog. That’s it. I have no content strategy.

Nghe Thùy Dung hát Tình khúc nhạc Pháp khiến tôi tưởng nhớ đến Ngọc Lan. Như Ngọc Lạn, Thùy Dung phát âm tiếng Pháp nhỏ nhẹ và êm dịu nên nghe rất mát tai, đặt biệt là “Chàng (Lui)” và “Giọt sầu trong tim” (Quelque chose dans mon coeur)”. Khác là giọng hát của Ngọc Lan chín mùi hơn một tí. Chẳng hạn như “Chuyện phim buồn (Quand le film est triste)”, nghe Thùy Dung hát mà buồn dùng cho nàng. Còn nghe Ngọc Lan hát thì phải rơi nước mắt cho nàng. Tuy nhiên cả hai nàng thảm thương như nhau. Hơi ngạc nhiên một chút là phần trình bài của Thùy Dung qua ca khúc “Say tình (Méditerranéenne)”. Cô bốc cháy một cách rất dịu dàng chứ không thét gào. Tôi không thể hình dung được Ngọc Lan sẽ hát ca khúc này ra sao. Hơi tiếc là những tình khúc này không được hòa âm theo giai điệu jazz như những ca khúc cô đã trình bày. Tuy nhiên nghe vẫn phê.

Can you explain the migration process for the course catalog, course schedule and syllabi, working papers, clinics and externships, class notes, and student organizations?

The current course catalog has over 400 courses. The landing page is automatically populated from individual courses. The JD focus areas and concentrations are also automatically populated based on the filtering options on individual courses. The discontinued courses are also automatically populated from individual courses. As a result, we only need to maintain and update the individual course. Each course has robust form fields such as course attribute, course credits, semester taught, focus areas and concentrations, and prerequisites. If we lose all of the dynamic functionalities, updating these pages will be a nightmare, especially for those who don’t know HTML. We would need to manually update at least three different places.

Before each semester began, we received the course schedules in Excel from our academic admin. We converted the Excel files into CSV files then imported them into MODX. Then MODX would populate the course schedules. We would need similar functionality in Cascade.

The faculty working papers wouldn’t be any good if they are migrated over as static pages. They are tied with the faculty directories and the none-Mason author directory. This morning I checked, we have 1457 papers. Making changes manually would be a nightmare.

If the new CMS is making the updating process much more complicated than we are not doing it right.

Dear LDHV Cub Families,

I concurred that phở gà was off the hook. Thanks to everyone who lent a hand in making all the supercalifragilisticexpialidocious dishes.

Big props to all the leaders for creating all the wonderful experiences for the kids as well as unforgettable memories for the parents. Your dedication and commitment to the kids are appreciated.

Most important of all, kudos to all the kiddos. Without their presence and participation, the parents wouldn’t have the opportunity to bond. I am one of the younger parents, but I have been with the Cubs the longest. Many parents have moved on to the Troops, but I am still here—and will be here for a while. My advice to the new parents is to take advantage of the activities while your kids are still Cubbies—unless you have tons of kids like I do.

Have a great day and enjoy your spring break. We’ll be in Vermont skiing and snowboarding to Lệ Quyên’s ballad remixes. LOL!

Yours truly,
Donny Trương

Dear Tonkin Voyage,

My name is Donny Truong and I created the “Bonjour Vietnam” video you uploaded to your YouTube account. The video also includes the Tonkin Voyage logo. You never asked for my permission to use the video; therefore, I kindly request that you take down the video, which is already existed on my YouTube account.

Thank you and looking forward to hearing back from you.

Donny Truong

Update: 12 minutes later I received a response from Tonkin Voyage:

Hello Trương,

I want to extend my sincerest apologies for the oversight in uploading your video. It has been removed now. Your video featured stunning imagery, and I truly appreciate your contribution. Thank you very much, and may you continue to find joy in your endeavors.

Thank you for the swift action. I appreciate it.

Tom Greenwood has demonstrated in his book that creating sustainable websites isn’t hard or impossible. In fact, it’s the opposite. If you have been following best practices in web design and development, such as prioritizing progressive enhancement, performance, security, and accessibility, you are already making sustainable webpages. Furthermore, Greenwood delves into the server side for sustainability including hosting, caching, and optimizing. Sustainable Web Design is an essential read for web professionals as well as web hobbyists.

Phong cách của Hà Trần là luôn đi đường lối riêng. Trong lúc phong trào bị lôi vào thế giới nhân tạo thì cô trở về với thiên nhiên qua album mới nhất mang tên Những con sông ngón tay, với sự cộng tác của nhạc sĩ Trần Đức Minh và nhà thơ Phan Lê Hà.

Được đệm bởi tiếng đàn guitar điện và dàn dây (orchestra), cô ca hát cùng với tiếng dế, tiếng ếch, và các động vật trong “Đêm hè cuối”. Trong “Đêm ngân” có “con ve nâu dưới đất hẹn bầu trời” để cùng nhau ca hát với tiếng đàn acoustic guitar, một chút chất funk, và cách hát luôn biến chuyển của cô.

Trong khi “Mộng” đưa chúng ta vào một buổi sáng vắng vẻ lắng đọng với thiên nhiên thì “Hà Nội chiều tháng ba” đưa chúng ta đến không gian nhộn nhịp của tiếng xe chạy và tiếng kèn inh ỏi (ở Việt Nam mà không dùng kèn xe chắc chịu không nỗi).

Dĩ nhiên Hà Trần không chỉ lúc nào cũng nhẹ nhàng và êm dịu. Cô rock lên trong hai ca khúc “Giấc mơ màu nâu” và “Ngã rẽ”. Và đương nhiên là có một chút lên đồng của Hà Trần ở trong đó.

Sau tám năm, sự trở lại của Hà Trần là một dự án đầy ý nghĩa. Nên nghe và trải nghiệm.

Dear Đạo,

Thank you for writing me a letter explaining your reasons for getting another phone to replace your broken one. I wanted you to write them down so that you will remember your own words so I won’t have to repeat myself over and over again.

The most challenging part of being a parent is worrying too much about your kids. On many occasions, my words had fallen on deaf ears. Many times, I just wanted to leave you to your own devices and not say a word. Can I still love you, but I don’t have to care? It is impossible for me to do. I have to care for you if I love you.

As an inexperienced parent, I had made too many mistakes. I thought being involved with your kids was all that I needed to do. I was so wrong. You have your own interests and they don’t align with mine. That should be fine. I have learned to accept it.

As a parent, my goal is for you to be proud of yourself, not for me to be proud of you. I am not pushing you to go the extra mile for your education. I just want you to complete your assignments and keep up your grades. In your letter, you indicate that you understand why I stress that school is your first priority.

Trust me, studying and earning good grades will pay off later in life. You only have three more years of high school left. Time will fly by and you will need to be prepared. You learn how to learn now so that later you will have a much easier time in college and your life.

You are a good reader and an excellent writer. These two essential skills will get you through anything in life. The only reason you were falling behind was that you didn’t put in the effort. You let your phone and your computer distract you. Again, the rules will apply if you don’t keep up your school work. So enjoy your new phone, but don’t forget your priorities.

Love,
Dad

Letter from Đạo

Dear Dad,

You requested that I write this letter, explanations for the use of a phone. This letter is also to explain the consequences if my grades slip. Here we go.

Use 1: Navigation. Phones with a GPS can be useful, to help me navigate around when we travel, an easily accessible map, compass, and other useful navigation tools, including letting you send me exact, pinpoint directions to you or places where you want me to go. I also need a device to call if I get into trouble and I need emergency services

Use 2: Communication. Assuming I have a sim card, and I have cell service, I can call and text you and mom. This can be useful when you want to find me, tell me something useful, or just need me to grab you something from downstairs. A phone will also let me talk to my friends, both through text and call. By being able to talk to my friends, we can make plans to hang out, bring stuff to events, help each other with homework, and keep up to date with things going on.

Use 3: Entertainment. Not really a “useful” thing, but a phone can keep me entertained, whether it be watching videos to playing games. I won’t do these most of the time, as they take a hit on battery and cellular data. I also like to use my phone as an audio player to listen to music.

Use 4: Writing. This has its own category, because you know I did this on my old phone a lot. Writing in the car is the main reason I have written over 200 pages of a story. The writing is also how I cure boredom in the car during long drives to Vermont.

Use 5: Memories. I don’t want to go somewhere I might never go again and not have something to say for it. A phone will let me take great photos and will allow me to store them for a few years, and to enjoy them later down the line.

I understand the consequences of bad grades, both in the present and in the future. In the present, grades mean you will ground me, take my laptop, and my phone. In the future, poor grades can limit my chances to get into a good college, a good job, and progressing in life. I understand that as my dad, you are concerned for my future, and want to make sure I turn out right.

Your Son,
Dao

Stephen Nixon just released a new version of Lang Gothic and it supports Vietnamese. As a result, I switched from Name Sans to Lang Gothic on this blog. I like the combination of Lang and Lang Gothic.

Yesterday I made some updates to Pro Web Type. I made some further changes by replacing Forma DJR. Chiaroscuro with Bild, both by David Jonathan Ross. Bild has a width variable axis that allows me to lock in the title of the book.