When you’re married with two kids, what you get for Valentine is something really hot and it is not hot love. That’s right, I got a big hot pot and nothing complement it better than straight shots of Tequila. I am referring to Baluarte Tequila, not Tila Tequila. Now I am bloated, but I got my Cu Dao to keep me warm. Life can’t get any better than this.

Nathan Lee has a hush, handsome timbre, but he’s not making the most out of his voice. On M, a Valentine’s special release, his delivery is way too breathy. He needs to learn to control his breathing particularly on ballads. His rendition of “Cơn Mưa Hạ” is weak and lacking of confidence. All I feel is air blowing, not summer rain dropping.

If I were to produce his album, I would make him sing an octave lower, especially on “Dòng Sông Kỷ Niệm.” He should have concentrated more on his lower notes and not exceeded the mid range. His version of “Khi Người Yêu Tôi Khóc” would have been much more hipnotizing if he sang it in the bass tone.

I know I shouldn’t be so tough on the kid. For crying out loud, he’s making a Valentine’s special album. I am not sure if I would even recommend this album for Valentine’s Day, unless your love life is filled with “Tàn Tro,” “Tan Tác,” “Xa Em Kỷ Niệm,” and “Ngàn Năm Vẫn Đợi.” Sounds more like a heartbreak to me.

I have been lunching at Eden way too often lately. I am way too lazy to pack my salad, but I have no problem walking out to the freezing temperature and driving to Eden Center for food. Hai Ky Mi Gia’s bun mam (vermicelli with salted fish sauce) and bun bo hue (spicy beef noodle soup) for five dollars are bowl are just too damn irresistible.

Last Friday, I came back to the office and I smelled like, well, fermented fish sauce and durian. It had to be one of the worst combinations of Vietnamese best food and horrible smells. Luckily no one else was in the office.

Today I dropped by Rice Paper for a huge plate of com tam dac biet (broken rice special). It was not that great, but it sure filled me up. Should have headed straight back to work, but no, I have to have my durian smooth. So I went to Kim Phung Bakery to cop one. I told the lady what I wanted and she told her Mexican worker, “Uno sau rieng no bubble.” I was like, wow, she made an order in three languages.

I recieved an inquiry from a Vietnamese lady about a web design project last Thursday. On Friday I called her around 11am Eastern time to find out more about the project. She woke up to answer the phone. She saw my New York number and told me she didn’t realize that I am in the east coast. She thought I live in California. I explained to her that with web design she doesn’t need to work with someone locally. I have clients all over the States. One time I even had a client in China.

In any rate, I didn’t get a chance to ask her who refered me to her. I emailed her after the brief conversation over the phone, but she hasn’t responded. If you made the referral and are reading this post, I just want to say thank you.

Almost all of my clients are through referrals. The great thing about recommendation is that I know I have been trusted; therefore, it’s much easier to work with the referred clients. Most potential clients who come to my site would probably see the design I have done, but they probably don’t look under the hood to see how I coded my page.

I prize myself in giving the clients the most up-to-date technologies so that their site will be in good shape in years to come. Now every new project will include HTML5 Boilerplate and responsive design as a standard offering no matter how large or small the project is.

Whenever reading a book with Dao, I try to translate the texts into Vietnamese so that he could also pick the language. One of our bedtime stories for tonight was P.D. Eastman’s Go, Dog. Go!. I read to him, “Đi Chó Đi.” He repeated, “Đỉ Chó Đi.” My jaw dropped and I asked him, “What did you just say?” Then I quickly changed my mind, “Don’t repeat what you just say. Let’s read on in English.” I was laughing my head off and the poor kid didn’t know why. Sometimes just a slight tone could change the whole context in Vietnamese. An innocent word could turn into something quite pejorative.

You never know what being a parent is like until you become one. As a father of two sons, I appreciate and love my mom even more for what she had gone through. Every now and then, she would remind me how angry and worried she was when I came home late or didn’t come home at all when I was in high school. I didn’t do anything wild. I just stayed at my friend’s house and played tien len (Vietnamese card game) for dollar bills all night. At that time I didn’t think it was a big deal, but now I can see why my mom was terrified.

Our mom placed all of her hope and love on us. She chose her kids over her men. One of her legend stories is how she broke up with my sister’s father. She told him to watch his daughter and he covered her up with the blanket when she cried instead of trying to calm her down. She confronted him that he might suffocated her. He beat her up. She just let it go. Once she napped her daughter, she beat his ass and filed the divorce. This is just my mom’s side of the story; therefore, I am not sure how it all went down. Still don’t ever fuck with my mama’s babies.

With my father, she rather took up the opportunity to go to the States to give us a better life then stayed with him. When he came to the States with us and decided not to stay, she bought him one way ticket back to Vietnam. She let go of husband but never her kids even though rising kids is a tough challenge. My dad either couldn’t live up to the challenge or simply didn’t care. Now that I am a father, I can see why he couldn’t deal with it, but unlike him, I won’t run away from my responsibility.

Like my mom, being a parent trumps everything else. Even if my relationship with my wife turned sour, we still have our share of responsibility for life. Just that bonding alone should hold us together if everything else failed. Sure, we fell in love, but we can so fall out of love. We have gone through tough times, but we can no longer just think of our own lives once we have kids. We simply can’t throw the kids away if we don’t want them any more. No one put a gun to our head and said, “you two better make some fucking babies.”

Yes, I am a flawed father. Sometimes I felt like, “What the fuck had I gotten myself into?” I never prepared for this, but I will not give up. My mom is my best role model, but I also learned the experience of not having both parents. I am not saying that my mom didn’t do a heck of a job raising us, but still something felt missing. I definitely don’t want that missing piece to fall on my children.

Jane Mayer’s “Attack Dog” is an intriguing piece in the New Yorker profiling Larry McCarthy, a negative-ad master siding with Mitt Romney. She writes:

Romney, unlike the remaining Republican candidates, has served no time in Washington. Yet he’s relying on a media offensive managed by operatives who have long been at the heart of Washington’s Republican attack machine. One of the leaders of this advertising war is Larry McCarthy, a veteran media consultant best known for creating the racially charged “Willie Horton ad,” which, in 1988, helped sink Michael Dukakis, the Democratic nominee for President.

If Romney wins the primary and compete against Obama, negative ads will dominate the media. Whatever side you’re on, don’t let the ads influence your vote. If you see something isn’t seemed right, fact check it.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a post on “Carelessness Leads to Stressfulness” and I have tried my best to resolve the issue. After many phone passes, I thought I was not be able to clear the debts. I tried not to think about it, but today I decided to follow up to see where the issue is going. To my surprise, my debt has not only been cleared, but I might also get a big bonus. We’ll see if the check will arrive in my mailbox.

Roger Skalbeck published his annual report on the “Top 10 Law School Home Pages of 2011.” George Mason is #10 on the list. This is based on the older homepage from last year. I am wondering if responsive design will get a bonus for next year ranking.

This morning Dao’s classmates gathered around Ms. Julianne, one of his favorite teachers. They all sat on the floor interacting with the teacher. Dao came in and made his way to Ms. Julianne’s lap. He sat right on her thigh as if that special seat has been reserved for him.