My phone rang. The area code was in Virginia and my phone didn’t flag it as a spam call. I picked it up just in case the call was from my kids’ school. The lady on the other line greeted me and said something about my home I didn’t understand. I asked her to clarify and she made me an offer on my property. I replied, “Sure, two million dollars.” She said, “Thank you, have a good day.” Then she hang up. I guess she was not interested in my property after all.

I republished selected projects I worked on during my time at George Washington School of Business. Good old memories. I am glad that I had kept many of them for posterity.

Văn của Thạch Lam đẹp, thơ mộng, truyền cảm, và rất Việt. Tôi thích cách diễn tả cảnh của ông qua “Dưới bóng hoàng lan” và mối tình nhẹ nhàng. Còn phần bút ký, “Quà Hà Nội – Hàng quà rong” khiến tôi thèm những món ăn ở Hà Nội. Nhưng rồi ông bổ sung hơi nhiều về những món ăn. Tuy nhiên đây là tập truyện ngắn dễ đọc, dễ gần, và dễ nhớ quê hương. Riêng về quyển sách (khổ 10,2 cm x 15,2 cm) chiều dài bằng cái điện thoại nên tôi có thể cất vào chiếc áo lạnh và mang theo đọc. Cả tuần nay nó thay thế cái iPhone Pro của tôi.

I launched a tiny website for Global Wealth Management in our WordPress Multisite network. I republished the case study for Le Mekong Cuisine even though I no longer worked on the website. I also republished the case study for I Love Ngọc Lan.

The purpose of a portfolio is to showcase your best work. For me, I want to keep an archive of all the designs I have done. Maybe I’ll trim it down when I need to find a job, but I’m not looking at the moment. I still have a few more projects I would like to republish.

In the last few days, I recollected screenshots of designs I had worked on during my time at Vassar (from 2002 to 2008). For posterity, check out homepage banners, homepage redesigns, and site designs. They brought back so much memories.

On Saturday, I went to 99 Ranch and spotted black sesame cereal. Memories of my mother rushed in. I bought a bag to drink in the morning so I could remember her. I can still recall those winter mornings when my mom made me a piping hot cup of black sesame cereal before I walked in the freezing cold to school. I almost wept thinking about her and her unconditional love for me.

My mother devoted her whole life to me, especially when we migrated to the United States. Without my father, her focus was solely on me. In retrospect, I wish she had lived her life and made me part of her life. Because she bet everything she had on me, I faced the pressure of not letting down. I knew I had to make her proud. I could see that she worried about my presence as well as my future. She put all of her hopes and dreams in me; therefore, failing wouldn’t be an option. I knew I had to get that college paper.

I carry the same mentality as a father now. I worry about my kids way too much. I am afraid that they are getting addicted to digital devices. Telling them why I don’t want them to spend too much time on their devices only backfires. They think I hate them and ruin their lives. It is much harder to reforge the rule if I am the only one to think they shouldn’t spend too much time on their devices.

My wife and I have different methods of parenting and we often clash. To make peace, I am backing off. At the same time, I don’t want to give them the pressure like my mother did for me. I don’t want to devote my entire life to them. I don’t want to love them unconditionally. I have to trust that they will figure it out on their own. Every opportunity I could give, I already offered to them. If they fail or succeed, they will have to own it. I can’t spend my whole life worrying them. I will accept however they will turn out.

I am not sure how they will do. I can’t predict the future. I just have to wait and see. For now, I just need to enjoy the time we spend on earth together. I don’t know when I will go given my current health condition. Even though I am not in great shape, I am feeling fine. I can still do many sports, but I just don’t know.

I am having a blast working with a high-level incompetence. I layed out all the issues so that later on I can say, “I told you so.” If we are not tackling the challenges now, they will come back and bite us later on. I have been in this game for so long that I can foresee what will go down. I offer my advice and expertise. Take it or leave it. Just don’t blame me for all the fuck-ups later on. I have spoken up and documented my concerns; therefore, I will not take responsibility for the decisions I didn’t make.

I have learned to play along. As far as I am concerned, I am fine if they pay me no mind, just pay me money. I am not in a position to make my case or to prove my skills. If my position is based on my level of competence, I am secured. Then again, nothing is secure and stable. I can’t spend my time worrying about the future. I just have to take it one day at a time. Que sera, sera.

I have many things else to keep me occupied. I am going to be alright. I won’t let anybody else or anything else hold me down. I just have to keep on moving. I have been around the block long enough to keep myself sane and focus. I don’t let all the distractions get in my way. I have a family to look after. That’s where I am at right now.

Thứ ba tuần trước chị tôi qua nhà chơi. Con của chị cũng qua tuy không đi cùng nhau. Lâu lắm rồi mới có dịp hai chị em và đứa cháu dành thời gian cho nhau. Ở Virginia tôi đưa chị và cháu đi tham quan những địa điểm danh lam thắng cảnh ở khu vùng này.

Sáng thứ năm tôi rủ vợ, mẹ vợ, chị và cháu đi ăn dim sum gần nhà. Ngồi trò chuyện thì hỏi thăm đứa cháu tình hình tìm công việc ra sao. Vợ tôi góp ý và động viên cháu học cao học ngành y. Chỉ thế thôi mà cháu nổi giận cho rằng ai cũng tạo áp lực cho nó. Thế là nó bỏ không chịu đi chơi với tôi và mẹ nó. Nó về lại nhà tôi dọn đồ bỏ qua nhà bạn nó.

Chị ở lại chơi với gia đình tôi đến trưa chủ nhật mới về. Thấy hoàn cảnh của chị tôi cũng chạnh lòng. Tưởng đâu con cái lớn khôn rồi đỡ phải lo lắng. Thương con, lo cho con, dặn dò con, dạy dỗ con, vậy mà con nó không hiểu được nỗi lòng của cha mẹ. Chị cũng thế. Tôi cũng thế.

Mấy hôm trước gõ “Viet Jazz” vào Amazon Music thì ra albums Jazz dân ca Việt Nam 1 & 2. Bấm vào nghe thử thì thích ngay. Những bài dân ca nằm lòng lần đầu tiên được nghe qua tiếng đàn dương cầm độc thoại như cách chơi của Bill Evans. Nhẹ nhàng, chậm rãi, và ứng khẩu theo phong cách jazz. Tiếc rằng tôi không biết ai chơi đàn dương cầm hoặc MSGproduction là nhà sản xuất nào. Tìm trên mạng cũng chả thấy. Thôi thì đành chỉ nghe và thưởng thức vậy.

Winnie Lim moved her sites from DigitalOcean to OpalStack. Winnie writes:

I decided I didn’t want to manage my own servers anymore – it got tiresome having to install updates every so often – so after some research I found out that some ex-employees from webfaction started opalstack, so that is where I moved her website to. I like that is is very much like webfaction, it is almost like a vps with ssh but it is managed.

I feel Winnie. It gets tiresome having updates my droplets every few months. Then again having to manage my own servers keeps me in the game. I need all the technical skills to do my full-time job in my position as a director. I don’t need to do it myself. I just need to know my shit. As far as moving off DigitalOcean, I don’t know where I want to move to.

Winnie is also concerned about the longevity of her site:

I am still concerned about what happens to my website after I am gone, and also the actual longevity of opalstack since it is a small friendly company. But well sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith.

I worried about my sites after I die as well, but I have come to accept that when I am gone my sites will be gone with me as well. If I lose my sites tomorrow, I will definitely be sad, but I will move on.