Like mama, Dan lets nothing get in between him and his sleep, even a pinched needle. Yesterday he needed to get blood test for his jaundice. The technician worried that she would wake him up when she pinched the needle into his foot. I reassured her that he wouldn’t. She was amazed that he made no sound as all even when she squeezed his foot to draw the blood. The day before that he didn’t cry at all in the hospital when another technician took his blood while he was sleeping. The first time when he was awake, however, he was bawling.

Big brother Dao shows mucho love for his little brother. As soon as he woke up, the first thing he wanted to do was to stand by the crib watching his brother sleep. He also helped be getting the Vaseline and diaper when I changed his brother’s diaper. He showed his brother his trains and his iPod.

The gap between the two of them seems to bridge well. If his little brother were to come out when Dao was around two, we would have more tough time with them both. We’re also very fortunate that Dan likes to sleep. He was been sleeping so much ever since he came home from the hostipal. His wait has dropped 10% because he rather be sleeping than taking his milk.

Thanks for all the tweets and comments on Facebook regarding to our new bundle of joy. We all went home yesterday. Lil Dan slept like a log in his own comfortable crib. Big brother Dao kept wanting to look and touch his baby brother. Dao is very gentle to Dan.

If Dao is a copy of me (that’s what most people said), Dan is a copy of Dana. Looking at him reminds me of Dana’s baby picture. Dan is doing great. Still, we’re very fortunate to have grandparents helping us out. It would be tough if we were to do it by ourselves. We’ll have a full schedule for tomorrow.

Dung, Dan and I are still in the hospital while Dao is staying home with grandparents. I was hoping we get to go home today because I really miss Dao. Holding Dan in my arms gives me nostalgia. I can’t believe two and a half years had gone by already.

With the new baby, I feel like I am reliving the moment even though the experience is completely different. I thought I was well prepared for the second baby, but Dan isn’t anything like his brother. As we have witnessed yesterday. When he wanted to come out, he waited for no one. I didn’t even get a chance to park the car in the parking garage. I didn’t want to miss the occasion so I just left the car right in front of the main door. I didn’t even have the time to grab the camera out of the car.

Today is only his second day in this world, yet he is already attaching to us. We placed him in his crib and he cried. I picked him up, held him closed to my chest and he slept without a sound. I placed him down and he started to fuss. He’s too adorable not to pick him back up. All the lessons we had learned about our first child had gone out the window. I feel like it’s a whole new journey again and we will have to navigate our ways around him as we had done so with Dao.

I am looking forward to going home tomorrow so that I can spend the rest of the week with my boys before heading back to work. Seeing them together and witnessing Dao showing his affective for his baby brother makes me feel blessed.

Of course my boys wouldn’t be here without the wonderful person who gave birth to them. She endured all the pain throughout the journeys. There is no word I can describe how grateful I am to have her in our lives. Loving her simply isn’t enough because her love for all of us is unsurpassable.

This morning my wife warmed me, “I think our boy wants to come out.” I joked with her, “Then you better start walking.” I was not expecting that he would want to come out two weeks earlier than his due date. I took Dao to daycare, stopped by Einstein Bros. Bagels to pick a cup of coffee, and drove to work listening to Eric Dolphy. I got to work, pulled in the parking lot and found out that I left my laptop at home. As I was about to head back home, my wife called and said, “You better get home. He’s coming out.”

I rushed back home around 10am, called the doctor, and headed straight to the hospital. While going through the registration process, Dana couldn’t endure the contraction. The nurse checked Dana and immediately rushed us into the delivery room. She called the doctor, but confirmed that he wouldn’t make it in on time. Another doctor in the hospital took over the delivery. After five our six hard pushes, our lovely boy came out.

Trương Công Đán was born on November 29, 2011 at 11:50am. He was 7bls and 3oz and 20in tall. His older brother called him “baby brother” and gave him kisses. We’re very happy that he’s now here with us for the rest of our lives.

Over Thanksgiving break, I spent some time browsing through George Mason’s programs of study to see if I could take advantage of the tuition benefit. I found a few that would not only enhance my job performance, but also further my career interest. For instance, the Server Administration and Management certificate program would be very beneficial to my current job even I have requested a training on Red Hat and my supervisor already signed me up for the end of February 2012. I am also would like to enroll into Web Design and Developer just to have the certificate listed on my resume.

The one that really caught my interest, however, is the Master of Arts in Graphic Design. The courses that stood out to me are Advanced Web Design, Brand Identity Design and Advanced Typography. My job nowadays involves more technical than design; therefore, this program will balance out the two. Although I have always been a self-taught in design, I also believe in academic so this would be a great opportunity.

I am so excited about the program that the first step I did was pull together a portfolio, which is one of the requirements for the program. I selected twenty pieces that showcase my web design and development, motion and graphic design, brand and identity. Tomorrow I’ll schedule an interview with a design faculty to see where I’ll go from here.

Update: The certificate programs aren’t covered by tuition benefit, but 50% off for full-time employee. Not only to take them unless really necessary. MA in Graphic Design is still on.

After her groundbreaking Khu Vườn Yên Tĩnh released almost seven years ago, she retreated to the safe territory covering Trinh Cong Son’s songs and collaborating with her platonic pal Quang Dũng. The new release Vòng Tròn is an attempt to reinvent her style.

The title track and “Nghịch Nắng” start off promising. With spacious, mid tempo, electronic arrangments courtesy of Quốc Trung, the two tracks pick up where Khu Vườn Yên Tĩnh left off. Just when we’re about to get into the zone, the third track kicks us right back out and let us down all the way through. The production on “Danh Vọng” is just robotic and so is Hồng Nhung’s English singing. Even though her enunciation has been improved over the years, clarity is still an issue, which further proved on “Papa” and “Anh Đừng Đi.”

As for the rest of the tracks, Hồng Nhung is drowned out by the trunk-rattle bass and soft-rave productions. Her modern view of “Sài Gòn” is damn near unrecognizable as if the city is all about partying, popping E and chilling out. The use of Auto-Tune on “Bống Bống Bang Bang” testifies that Hồng Nhung is indeed trying to hard to stay young. Even though she is good at hiding her age—she looks as if she is getting younger as the years gone by—the change in her music reveals the desperation of trying to be ageless. Would you rather see Bống in a quiet garden or in the club grooving in circles? I rather see the former because I am a grown-ass man who isn’t pretending that I am still belong to the club.

I am thankful for the great new job and a fantastic new boss. I am thankful that my mom made it through a life-threaten situation and recovering. I am thankful that my sisters were looking out for mom when I am not around. I am thankful that my in-laws are helping us out. I am thankful that Cu Dao continues to surprise us with new words and new skills and be himself. I am thankful that my lovely wife is carrying our love that is growing inside of her. He is getting quite big now. With less than four weeks to go and we’re very anxious to see him. Lastly, I am thankful to those who come here to read my thoughts. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving time with your love ones.

I hate coughing. I am sure every does as well. It is extremely irritating. Sometimes I just feel like ripping my throat out. I took over-the-counter medications like Robitussin, NyQuil, Delsym and nothing worked.

A few years ago, my mother gave me the syrup medication that her doctor prescribed to her. I was hesitated at first because it was a prescription drug, but coughing was already worse than hell so what do I had to lose? I took a table spoon, got knocked out, woke up and the cough was gone. Holy smoke, it was like magic potion. So whenever I was coughing that syrup was all that I needed.

Then my mom lost the medication and she couldn’t remember the name. I had to call her previous doctor to track it down. The last time I called the record keeper gave me the wrong one. I finally got it today after speaking to the nurse. The cough killer is Phenergan with Codeine. According to Drugs.com:

Codeine is a narcotic. It is a pain reliever and a cough suppressant.

Promethazine is an antihistamine. It blocks the effects of the naturally occurring chemical histamine in your body.

The combination of codeine and promethazine is used to treat cold or allergy symptoms such as runny nose, sneezing, and cough.

Now I am not going to let the cough ruin my day and night anymore.

When it comes to responsive web design, most experts suggest mobile first. As a designer, I am having a hard time visualizing the layout with the content-out approach, especially for large, complex sites.

I am in the the process of redesigning George Mason Law site and facing a few challenges. The new design has to work with and response to the existing contents, which being added and updated through MODX. The navigation and the drop-down menus need to stay intact. If I started out with just the structure, the menus would get in the way and the image slideshow has to be left out as well. I simply can’t see how the site look from the bottom to the top, particularly if I wanted to design the layout on the grid.

I began the design based a 960 grid. I drop in the slideshow, which will be handled by responsive image approach later, and style the page as closed to the finish site on a large screen. The next step is to save a copy of the stylesheet and create a blank one. I am using HTML5 Boilerplate; therefore, I just need to remove the primary styles.

Now I am back with a bare bone design then I worked on the print stylesheet second to get it out of the way. With two stylesheets side by side, I just cut and paste from the finished file to the new file as I see fit beginning from 320px and up.

One of the advantages of starting small first is that I don’t have to declare the max width. Even though I started out with 960px, I could go up further if I wanted to and the layout will response properly. I know it is a big extra step that I took, but it really does help me see the picture. Do designers feel the same way or is it just me?

The last few months has been tough dealing with Dao as he is going through his terrible-two phase. He would say no to everything as if his brain had been wired to do so. Do you want to brush your teeth? No. Do you want to change new clothes? No. Do you want to take a bath? No. Do you want to play with iPod? No. Then he changed his mind. Yes, I want iPod.

He fought back everything I do for him. At times, I just shut out and let him do whatever he wanted. I wouldn’t hold him in my arms to sleep and I wouldn’t read him a book. He would get frustrated and butted his head against my nose when I tried to closed my eyes pretending to sleep. Lucky I didn’t have a nose surgery or else it would have been broken so many times. When I just couldn’t take it anymore, I just walk away and let him scream.

I couldn’t take control of the situation and I ended up letting him gets his way. Then I realized that I am not fit to be a dad, but it’s a bit too late now since another boy is coming out soon. How am I going to handle the two of them?

Fortunately things are getting a bit better now. He still says no and still hates brushing, but he is more cooperative. Things are done much faster now and I get him out of the house by 8am and getting to bed by 9pm. I am not sure if he’s getting off his terrible-two state or I am getting accustomed to his rebellious.