Matt Carter Octet: Read Between the Lines

The Matt Carter Octet brings back the big band swing on Read Between the Lines. The reinvigoration from the Great American Songbook of “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” is just refreshing. From the corresponding horns to the swinging rhythm section to Carter’s exhilarating solo, the band knows the classic well. While “Fighting Talk” demonstrates their post-bop thrive, “Duke’s Mood” displays the opposite: slow-burn emotions. An impressive debut.

Viết vội

Chủ nhật vừa rồi đưa Vương đi phòng cắp cứu, tôi xin mẹ che chở cho nó. Không biết nó bị gì mà bị sốt và ói mửa hơn cả tuần mà chưa hết. Kết quả mọi xét nghiệm đều tốt cả. Hy vọng nó sẽ hết trong tuần này để đi họp mặt gia đình.

Từ Chủ nhật này đến thứ Bảy tuần sau sẽ gặp gỡ gia đình bên vợ rồi thứ Bảy là lần đầu tiên gia đình bên mẹ sẽ có một cuộc họp mặt tưởng niệm các các dì cậu đã ra đi. Đấy là lần gặp mặt đầy ý nghĩa. Tôi rất mong đợi.

Gần đây tôi có một ít suy nghĩ về trang nhật ký cá nhân này. Dĩ nhiên là tôi không thiếu đề tài để viết nhưng nên viết những gì và nên chia sẻ những gì. Nhiều lúc viết chỉ thỏa mãn cho chính mình nên không để ý đến đã viết những gì. Chỉ có cảm giác rằng nếu không thể bộc lộ được hay không thể viết xuống được những gì muốn viết thì trang này không còn ý nghĩa gì nữa. Thà điếc không sợ súng, chứ không thể ngập ngừng. Dĩ nhiên tôi hiểu được hậu quả của nó nhưng dám chơi dám chịu. Tới đâu hay tới đó.

Tôi biết chính bản thân mình có nhiều điều cần phải sửa chữa. Nhiều lúc viết xuống những suy nghĩ xấu xa của mình để giúp mình vượt qua nó.

Cindy Bradley: Promise

Kicking off my morning commute with some smooth-jazz vibes. No crime in that. In fact, Cindy Bradley’s Promise is the type of smooth-jazz album I don’t mind listening to. Whether playing a flugelhorn or a muted horn, Bradley has some of the Miles Davis qualities, such as clear, concise, and captivating. She breaks no sweat blowing with hip-hop beats (“For the Cool In You”), Latin grooves (“Cinco”), or slow soothing tempos (“Evening Zen”)—a promising album.

Vương Visited the ER

Eleven days ago (Friday, July 21, 2023), Vương came down with high fevers and vomited while we were out camping at First Landing. Five days later, his symptoms hadn’t gone away; therefore, we took him to the pediatrician. He was tested negative for Covid and flu. Two days later, he still didn’t get better. I wanted to take him to the ER, but the on-call nurse advised taking him to PM Pediatric Care. He tested negative for strep and urinary tract infection.

Earlier today, he still had high fevers and still threw up. Worse, he was lethargic. I couldn’t just wait around anymore. My wife and I took him to the ER around 5 pm. He had a chest x-ray. His lungs were cleared. They drew three tubes of blood from him for testing. They also swapped his nose for more tests.

More results will be confirmed tomorrow, but he is not in any immediate danger. He was discharged. I hope the doctors were correct that his viral infection is lasting longer than expected, but will go away.

Seeing him being sick breaks my heart. I hope he will recover quickly.

Joel Harrison: Anthem of Unity

With Anthem of Unity, guitarist Joel Harrison invited Jack DeJohnette who played drums for Miles Davis to join him along with saxophonist Greg Tardy and keyboardist Gary Versace. Together they formed an outstanding quartet. They give Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A-Changin” a soulful, waltzing interpretation, especially Harrison’s emotional solo. They way he accompanies Tardy is just too damn beautiful. Tardy and Versace were blazing on “Today Is Tomorrow’s Yesterday” and DeJohnette’s opening improvisation on “Parvati” is captivating. The album is a beauty of unity.

Chuyện con cái

Sáng nay lau nhà nhờ thằng Đán quét trước. Nó lấy chổi quét vào trong kẹt. Đạo bắt quả tang và nói cho tôi biết. Ngày xưa Đán rất thật thà nhưng giờ đây mê chơi game quá nên trở thành lừa dối. Đúng với câu “Ăn thật làm dối”.

Xuân và Vương vẫn bị sốt và ói mửa mỗi lần ăn. Vượng bị chiều thứ Sáu tuần trước. Hôm nay là 7 ngày rồi mà vẫn chưa hết. Xuân chỉ bị hai ngày trước và hôm nay đã đỡ nhiều rồi.

Con cái bệnh ba mẹ cũng đau lòng. Thấy thằng Vương như thế. Tôi xót ruột lắm. Đi bác sĩ đã hai lần vẫn không biết nó bị gì. Không bị cúm. Không bị covid. Cũng không bị đau cổ họng. Hy vọng nay mai nó sẽ khoẻ lại.

Security Awareness Training

I just completed the “2023-2024 Mandatory IT Security Awareness Training” for work in less than 10 minutes . I took the pre-check test and scored 25/27. If you want to check your answers, visit Quizlet. Make sure that you do not close or refresh your browser or else Quizlet will blur out the answers.

Nas: Magic 2

On “Abracadabra” Nas rhymes, “2020 when we did the first one / Five album run, not a cursed one, it’s a blessed one / By the time y’all hear this, we be halfway through the next one.” Without a doubt, Nas is a prolific rapper, especially after he found his fruitful collaborator. Nas and Hit-Boy make more magic on this short, concise, compelling album. Only 50 Cent and 21 Savage get the guest spot on Magic 2. Nas continues to churn out dope rhymes himself. He has proven that his assets are his words. Almost 30 years after he released his classic Illmatic, he has not ran out of words. He is a wordsmith and that is how he gets to where he is today. At 49, Nas is a hip-hop living legend.

Questions for Design Review

Since the design mockups are secretive, I prepared questions to ask during the “unveil” meeting. These questions are strictly for the designer who doesn’t code.

Research

  • Had you conducted any research for the redesign? If yes, can you share something you had found?

Accessibility

  • Have you used an accessibility tool like WebAim to check your color contrast?

Navigation

  • Are we getting rid of the quick links, which is one of the most frequent use navigational item on the current site
  • How does the menu function on mobile devices?
  • Are repeated links in the footer necessary? The Nielsen Norman Group suggests, “Eliminate redundancy on webpages whenever possible to reduce cognitive overload. Each extra link makes your site harder to use.”

Fonts

  • How are you planning on hosting the fonts? Local or third-party?
  • Will we be using static or variable fonts?
  • Do the fonts support beyond English? Do they include diacritics? We have quite a few faculty and staff names with diacritics such as: Helen Alvaré, Seán O’Connor, and Tammy Trần

Mock-ups

  • We use tables for various tabular data such as course schedules. Do you have a mock-up for tables? How do tables respond to various devices? How do you sort each table column?
  • Do you have a mock-up for the faculty and staff bio page? How do you list their credentials and bio?
  • Do you have a mock-up for an emergency message at the top of the site?
  • Do you have a mock-up for a spotlight story? Are there options for including photos—algin left, align right, or full width?
  • Do you have a mock-up for the events section?
  • Do you have a mock-up for secondary pages?

Banners

  • Do we use responsive images for banners? How do they look on mobile vs. desktop?

Design System

Layout

  • What is the max width of the site?
  • Are there flexibilities for the layout?
  • Can we drop the sidebar for a full-width design?
  • Can we switch the columns around?
  • Is there a grid pattern we can choose?

Lil Uzi Vert: Pink Tape

With 26 tracks clocking in almost 90 minutes, Pink Tape is hard to get through, especially with Uzi’s Auto-Tune singing in the later numbers. Even his sexual braggadocio gets boring. There are some shining moments like “Suicide Doors” and “Mama, I’m So Sorry.” Uzi’s style is not my cup of tea.