Last Thursday we took our boy to ER when his temperature skyrocketed to 105.6F. After about half an hour waiting (pretty short for an ER patient), a strong, African-American nurse took us in. The first she did was giving him acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

As we tried to get him to cooperate, she knew that we were new parents. She showed Dana how to hold him down by placing one of his arm under hers so she can squeeze the medication into his mouth. Dao knows how to make himself throw up when he doesn’t want to take something, so the trick was to point the syringe to one side of his mouth near his cheek.

After the nurse gave him the medication, she told us that she has two boys and it is perfectly ok to force him to take the medication. Babies are stronger than we think so using a bit of strength is ok. She stressed the important of giving him medication in order to prevent him from getting seizure.

At times I felt horrible for holding him down, locking his feet with my leg and stick a toothbrush into his mouth to brush his teeth, something he really hates. Even though he likes to do it himself, he doesn’t know how to do it correctly yet, but he wouldn’t let us help him. So every time I brushed his teeth, it looked as if we were wrestling. He would scream his lung out, but when I finished and let him go, he would get up and complimented himself, “Dao gioi” (Dao’s good). I don’t know about that, but it’s kind of hilarious.

So now I don’t feel so bad anymore after what the nurse has told me. As long as I am doing good things for him, a little force is perfectly fine. The funny thing was yesterday he figured out how to get his arm around Dana’s arm and tried to yank the syringe away as I pumped medication into his mouth.

One of the good things about Dao is that he thinks before he speaks. I have to learn that from him as well. For instance when he hit his head against the door, he paused a little, said “dau dau” (head hurts), and then let out a big scream. So when he pointed at something, he would pause for a second to find the word before he would say it. So what I have been doing is that if I could sense that he was about to say something in English, I would cut him off first in Vietnamese. So let say that he was pointing to the keys and before he could say the word, I would cut in and say “chia khoa.” So he would begins with “k…” for keys, but quickly switch to “chia khoa.”

I do that with the words that he already knew in English. The drawback is that he might think it’s ok to cut someone off simply because daddy does it. I remember my grandma used to tell me, “khong co duoc an com hot,” which means “do not scoop the top layer of the rice” or cutting somebody off. Hopefully, I could straighten up his manner later on. I have to say, I really enjoy hearing him speaks Vietnamese. For instance, when he farted, he would say “Dao dich” with the “ch” pronounced at the end.

The heat is rising; therefore, it is time to switch to iced coffee. Although, I am not an expert on coffee, I like to rank on the ones I have access to on a regular basis. So here is my list:

1. Banh Mi D.C. Iced Coffee is number one on my list because I love the French-style brew. While there are tons of them around Eden Center, Banh Mi D.C.’s stands out for me for its strong, dark roast. I have to have a cup when I am on the road. It does a great job of keeping me up. If I have it my way, a bit less condense milk would be perfect.
2. Iced Seattle’s Best Coffee from BK is my second choice. I prefer the plain one for less sweet. I can drink this at one in the morning and still be able to go to sleep because the coffee is light.
3. Saxbys Iced Coffee would be my third for its dark and strong taste. I like its hazelnut-flavored brew. It has a nice, lasting after taste.
4. Starbucks Iced Coffee isn’t so high on my list simply because I drink it almost every day. The flavor has become plain and ordinary. I just need it to get my caffeine fix.
5. Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Coffee used to be my favorite, but it is feeling light for me as well. Still a nice summer drink once in a while
6. McDonald’s Iced Coffee would be my last resort if nothing’s around. It tastes more like cream and sugar with coffee flavor than the other way around.

At 23 months, Dao is very picky about his taste. He would try something in small amount first before he decided to like or dislike. The other day, I let him taste Naked juice through a straw. He took a sip, nodded his head lightly and said, “Nice.” Dana and I were very surprised. How did he come up with that? Naked juice tastes “nice?” He finished a 10-oz bottle after that and Naked juice has become one of his favorite drinks. His compliment now stuck with me. Every time I look at a bottle of Naked juice, “nice” is the first word that comes to mind. If Naked juice were to run this commercial, I am sure it would stuck in viewers’ mind as well.

The past couple of days had been quite a drama. It all started on Wednesday around 3:30pm when I received a call from Dao’s daycare telling me to pick him up. His temperature went up to 103F. I immediately took the Metro over to Dana’s workplace to get the car. Unfortunately a sick person boarded the train at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and passed out. The train had to return to Crystal City to unload all the passengers. Half an hour later, we were allowed to board again after the Metro staff took the sick person off the train. I kept trying call Dana, but she didn’t pick up the phone because somebody left her home at home. We came and picked him up around 5 and he was playing around and seemed fine.

On Thursday, I felt a little down so I stayed home with Dao. Around 10, Dao wanted to go to “table train.” So I took him out. I stopped by the ATM to get some cash. While waiting in line, our brand new Toyota Sienna (with 7,000) stalled. That was strange. On the busy traffic highway the mini-van stalled again several times. Instead of driving to the mall for “table train,” I made a detour to the dealership. The car is still being diagnosed because the computer couldn’t detect any problem. The dealer is working with Toyota on it and we can’t get it back until Monday or Tuesday.

I called Dana up to pick us up. After dropped her back to work, we headed home. It was around lunch time and Dao said “lunch.” So I warmed up the porridge Dana made for him. I tried to feed him and he said “Eat your lunch.” I suspect this is something he has learned in school. I gave him milk and put him to bed. His temperature was around 99-100F the whole day until he was napping, which shot up to 103. I called the pediatrician and the nurse suggested to call again if he reached 105F and didn’t act normal. After he woke up, I took him to a bookstore closed to Dana’s work so we could pick her up afterward. Dao refused to play his table train. I bought a raisin oatmeal cookie. I ate all the oatmeal and he ate some of the raisins.

We went over to my sister-in-law’s house for dinner and Dao didn’t act himself. He was not active or interactive. After we went home, he vomited and the temperature went up to 105.F. We immediately took him to ER, which is about two blocks from our house. The doctor gave him Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen to calm down his temperature. He also subscribed Amoxicillin for his ear infection.

Friday I stayed with him a whole day. We hang around the house watching Curious George, playing basketball and bowling. He napped quite a long time in the afternoon. I held him inside my arms and listened to Le Cat Trong Ly while the rain was pouring outside. After he woke up, we went to pick up Dana from work. He told her, “Xe moi bi hu. Phai di xua.” (New car broke down. We need to get it fixed.)

Saturday morning, his temperature was still high around 101F so we paid his pediatrician a visit. She examined him and said that his ears are getting better, but if his temperature won’t come down on Monday we have to bring him back in. We went to a friend’s kid birthday party for about two hours. He ate some food and played at the toy kitchen by himself until he pointed to the door and said “di ra.” We went home and went to bed around 9.

I woke up at 4 when Dao suddenly cried. I couldn’t go back to sleep feelig hungry. So went downstairs and to have s croissant and fried eggs. Now too full to go to sleep so I just write up this long post. Even though it was a very miserable week, the time we spent together were invaluable. I loved every moment of it. It hurts me more seeing him sick and forcing him to take his medication, but it is part of being a parent.

Le Cat Trong Ly and Esperanza Spalding share some similar characteristics: they are young and talented; they play a string instrument; they write and sing their original songs; they have their own musical style; best of all, they both rock out a pretty awesome perm. While Ms. Spalding leads her own path to breakout jazz and soul, Ms. Le carves out her own niche away from the mediocre Vietnamese pop scene.

Ms. Le’s self-titled debut begins with “Giac Mong Lon” that immediately sets her apart from the over-saturated pop singers in and out of Viet Nam. The lyrics are simple but thoughtful. The music is kept to the minimal with just an acoustic guitar from Cao Hong Ha and elegant keyboard from Vu Dang Quoc Viet. The interaction between these two young instrumentalists is quite alluring. Love the way Vu Dang comps behind Ms. Le’s sweet, luscious vocals.

“Mua Yeu” is a straightforward but playful piece written when she was 19, at the age she claims that she didn’t know anything about composing music, but loved Mozart and Pham Duy. “Huong Lac” (based on Tram Huong’s poem) is another tune composed in the same time that showcases Ms. Le’s love for northern folk melodies and her guitar-picking skills.

Composed at 22, “Chuyen Xe” shows the maturity in her writing. Right after the closing bars, “Biết em thôi những giấc mơ ngày xưa, ngày nay, ngày mai, ngày sau / Có khi là em chết hơn trăm lần,” Ms. Le glides into her intoxicating blues chords and picks away some soulful guitar lines on the upper register. This girl got some serious chops and let’s hope that she continues to move forward rather than getting sucked into the whirlwind of mainstream pop like Thuy Tien.

John McWade’s How to Design Cool Stuff actually shows you how to design professional-looking print and web materials. The book is a quick read, but filled with useful tips and guides on using types, photographs and colors to enhance your design. The cool thing about this book is that John McWade makes the techniques easy and simple, but the results are stunning. Beginners will find How to Design Cool Stuff to be very beneficial. This is the first Before & After book I have read and I am looking forward to reading more from this series.

Jeffrey Zeldman once said that Jeremy Keith could write about cement and he could still make the subject interesting. As I was reading Jeremy Keith’s DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript and the Document Object Model, I couldn’t agree more. Keith has such an accessible approach in his explanation. Here’s an example of how he breaks down variables (JavaScript syntax):

In our everyday lives there are some things about us that are fixed and some things that are changeable. My name and my birthday are fixed. My mood and my age, on the other hand, will change over time. The things that are subject to change are called variables.

Can’t get any clearer than that. The second edition of DOM Scripting is filled with updated guidelines and best practices for applying unobtrusive JavaScript to enhance, rather than getting in the way of, the user experience.The book also introduces some new HTML features including canvas, video, audio and forms. A recommend read for web designers.

While working on Writerhead, I was thinking of designing a WordPress theme and just sell it. The idea was inspired by Khoi Vinh’s Basic Math and iA³ Template for WordPress and it would be a great way to learn the nuances of WordPress. Then again, I more of crafting a unique experience than creating something general. In addition, WordPress has over 1,300 themes to choose from.

As I was debating whether if it’s worthwhile to invest a tremendous amount of time in creating a general theme and make $30-$50 or only take on projects that let me concentrate on a specific theme that meets the client’s requirement, I had a potential client who asked me take on a project that I have not done before. The client wanted me to take a theme on Theme Forest and turn it into a site. Basically, the client wanted to cut out the design cost. After looking into Theme Forest, I refused to offer the service. As of this writing, Theme Forest has 930 themes for WordPress. Setting up WordPress and activating a theme is an easy part, getting the theme to meet the client’s requirements probably need tremendous editing and forking into the codes. I don’t mind doing the work, but I don’t feel that’s a good investment on the client part. Why paying for something that potentially look the same with other sites?

As stated in the info page: “We work directly with our clients to craft each web experience according to the needs of their users.” I will stick to that and only offer a unique experience. This also leads to my decision not to make a general WordPress theme for sale.

Here is a list of books I have read in my commuting trips and free time:

Stunning CSS3 by Zoe Mickley Gillenwater covers new CSS features, such as gradient, transition, rounded borders, through project-based demonstration. The last two chapters, “Different Screen Size, Different Design” and “Flexing Your Layout Muscles,” are particularly useful for those who would like to learn responsive web design.

HTML5: Up and Running by Mark Pilgrim is a short and concise read that gets you up and running with new markups in no time. Pilgrim’s Dive Into HTML5 is also a great resource.

Pro HTML5 Programming by Peter Lubbers, Brian Albers, Frank Salim takes you beyond the basic HTML5 markups and shows you the power of APIs including WebSockets, Geolocation and Web Storage, to create robust web applications.

Now that GW has announced the move toward Drupal as the University’s CMS, I am starting to read up on the open source system to get a feel for it. I installed Drupal 6 in the past and played around with it, but didn’t get very far because I didn’t have a real project to work with. I actually want to read up on Drupal 7, but haven’t founs a good book yet since the latest version came out not too long ago. Using Drupal by Angela Byron et al. published three years ago, but it is still a good read to see what you can do with Drupal without programming skills. Using existing modules and themes alone could get you up and running complex sites like job posting board, product reviews and Wiki.

For front-end developers and designers, Front End Drupal by Emma Hogbin Konstantin Kafer is very informative in learning how to customize the look and feel of Drupal. The thing to note about Drupal is that upgrading from version 6 to 7 is not as easy as clicking a button like WordPress, one of the features I live about WordPress. Themes are specific for each version.

Create Stunning HTML Email That Just Works by Mathew Patterson is what I needed when I had to create some HTML email templates for the School of Business. I have to admit that designing an HTML email was quite a challenge. In fact, I was struggling with it. I had to forget everything I have learned about HTML and CSS for the past ten years in order to make the design looked correct in mail applications. Patterson sounds convincing about the opportunities for web designers as he points out, “email is a low-cost, high-return medium that appeals to businesses.” I had clients who requested HTML newsletter design and I hesitated to take on. It’s really a pain, but I am changing my mind after reading this book.