I was assigned to sell the office’s Panasonic Camcorder on Craiglist. I listed the item on Monday and received two interested buyers with very similar purpose:

Rebecca Law:

Thanks for your mail,i am buying the item for my son who school in oversea.i will add $60 for shipping,i will have do it local transaction but i am out of town presently…so you can get me back with your paypal email account so i can pay now.hope to hear from you soon.
best regard

I wasted my time responded to her back and forth about how I can’t use my personal PayPal account for the school and dismantled the deal. Today I received another inquiry from Mon Wall:

Thanks for your reply… I’ll like to buy your item and pay you with cash through my PayPal account.. Currently I’m out of the State and won’t be available for pick up. moreover, I’m buying this item for my company agent located oversea as a gift, i’ll add the sum of $100.00 to the amount to cover the shipping expenses to him through (USPS) Global Express mail International 8-10 days business. i want you to send to me your PayPal account id, so that immediate payment can be done, and if you are new to PayPal, you can easily log on to http://www.paypal.com/us and set up an account with them with either your Bank account Information or your Credit/Debit Card details and its simple and easier, just in few secs; you get your account activated. PayPal is very secure and reliable.. anticipate a favorable response from you.

Thanks.
Get back to me immediately.

Thanks, but no thanks. Anyway, if you’re around Metro area and interested in the Camcorder, come by and see me.

Sure Susan Boyle stunned the audiences and the judges on Britain’s Got Talent with her gorgeous soprano and palpable phrasing. She can take a song and sing her heart out, but Ms Boyle is no interpreter. The twelve tracks on her her debut, I Dreamed a Dream, are the proof. From “Cry Me a River” to “Silent Night,” she never escapes the melodies. She is predictable on most string-orchestrated standards and gospel songs with the exception of “The End of the World.” Although her delivery is faithful, the simple strumming guitar allows her voice to carry the sentiment of the tune.

Last November, Dana’s brother gave her a copy of Ruth Yaron’s Super Baby Food for her birthday. Dana and I looked at the book and frowned: a baby food book with almost 600-page long and no photos to inspire us to cook. I was not impressed with the cover design and the book layout either so SBF ended up on our bookshelf.

During the holiday break, I took off work to spend time with Duke. While he was sleeping, I cracked the book open and started to read. To my surprise, I kept turning page after page. The first part of the book is packed with so much useful information that I had to start all over, even though I already reached 100 pages, to take notes. From the safety guides on how to buy a high chair to the best time to feed your baby to four-day waiting period to introduce new food, SBF is more than just a book on recipes. I picked up tips that I have not thought of before, like something as simple as cleaning baby teeth with Q-Tips after meals, not to make a disgusted face when changing his diaper, “which may teach him that his private parts are repulsive and lead him to believe that sex is ‘dirty’ when he gets older,” and, most important of all, never force him to eat.

SBF breaks down the advantages of home-cook from the quality of the food to the cost savings. For instance, she compares whole grains versus processed grains to contrast the lost of nutrients during the refinement. This is the book that I should have read before Duke turned 6-month, even though Dana has been doing a fabulous job of preparing healthy solid meals for our boy. I highly recommend SBF to new parents; however, consulting with a pediatrician is necessary when in doubts, like introducing yogurt after 6 months instead of 12 or introducing nuts at the early age.

GWbusiness is a print magazine that published twice a year by The George Washington University School of Business. Up until now, the only alternative version available online is a PDF file.

With the recent issue, we decided to offer a web-standards version for readability and accessibility. Furthermore, the main push is the ability to sell ads online as well. To meet those goals, I designed a simple, clean, organized and easy-to-use layout with an ad space that would be visible, but not distracting.

The focus of site is obviously the contents. I am very pleased with this direction and excited to announce the launch of the online version of GWbusiness Magazine.

“Open up your legs, girl / I wanna kiss you in your private part,” Mr. sexpert R. Kelly seduces with his authoritative baritone on “Whole Lotta Kisses.” When it comes to sex, Kelly doesn’t afraid to “Go Low” and say how he feels: “For instance, you look like food, I wanna put you on my plate / Suck you up with some biscuits and go on and eat you baby / Up until you make it rain, grab my ears and pull my face / Tonight I’ll be giving you brain.” As he claims on “Like I Do,” there’s only two things that he is best at in this world: music and rock your body. From the club to the bedrooms, Kelly sure lives up to his words. Untitled is another one of Kelly’s “sex sessions.”

In Historicity, jazz-piano virtuoso Vijay Iyer along with bassist Stephan Crump and drummer Marcus Gilmore rework, reconstruct and re-imagine a wide range of repertoire as well as the leader’s original compositions. The trio’s cover of M.I.A.’s “Galang” is an ingenious work of reinterpretation. Iyer flows his jagged melodic lines like Rakim rhyming over hip-hop hard-hitting beat. “Somewhere” is another masterpiece, in which the group completely revived Leonard Bernstein’s classic track from West Side Story with its own reharmonization and unconventional approach. When it comes to Iyer’s original pieces, such as the title track and “Helix,” the band is no less inventive in rhythmic and hormonic structures. Historicity is an artistic statement that sneaks listeners into an uncharted yet accessible territory. A must experience.

Mexican food-chain Chipotle has been our preferred alternative to McDonald’s and Burger King. We dig the taste as well as the quality of the food. My favorite is the Steak Fajita Burrito with all the fresh ingredients including guacamole and fresh tomato salsa. Of course, a glass of margarita is essential in complementing the meal. What I really like about Chipotle is how it takes simple materials and turn them into creative, delicious dishes catering toward each customer’s own preferences. From the architectural design to the menu layout, clean and simplicity reflect the concept behind its food.

The Clipse flips the scripts on the new release, Til The Casket Drops. On the opening track, “Freedom,” Pusha T warns, “Cocaine aside / All of the bloggers behoove / My critics finally have a verse of mine to jerk off to.” Gone are the coke rhymes and startling paranoia that made its critical-success Hell Hath No Fury such mesmerizing guilty pleasures. Back by “Popular Demand,” Malice and Pusha T trade in dark-tale lyricism for lighter, accessible wordplays. Like “Counseling,” which contains an interpolation of Laura Branigan’s “Self Control,” Clipse tries to take its cameo to the club with comical lines such as: “I used be to all about that fat ass / Then I found a cutie with a flat ass / Good hair, nice smile but a flat ass / Two out of three, sure, I couldn’t let that pass.” While Casket shows the less-serious side of the group, its lyrical verses worth listening to, not jerking off to.

What better way to start a New Year than with a new work? The good old folks at Triple Strength just launched Brand3, a blog that focuses on three components integral to creating brands: aesthetics, storytelling and functionality.

My role was lending a hand in turning their gorgeous design into a web blog. Powered by WordPress, I customized the layout according to the client’s mockup and functionalities to suit its needs. The site developed with HTML5 structure and CSS3 for some progressive enhancements. If you don’t see rounded corners, switch to the latest Firefox or Safari. The contents of the blog look promising so make sure to subscribe to its RSS feed.

Working on Brand3 gave me a chance to learn more about PHP and the flexibility of WordPress. Furthermore, it was a opportunity to rework with an agency that I had a great pleasure of working with briefly for before moving to Vassar. Though my time at Triple Strength was only three months, it was a very rewarding experience.

My last week of 2009 was spent entirely with Duke. It was a joyful experience learning how to feed him, how to lull him into sleep, and how to make him laugh. I love feeding him because Cu Dao loves to eat. From brown rice cereal, banana, avocado, apple, butter squash to chicken noodle, it was a great pleasure and accomplishment to see him opened up his mouth and took in every spoonful of nutrition. To my astonishment, Duke cleaned up every dish I cut out for him. I treasured every moment we walked together around the house listening to jazz as well as the quiet time we both fell asleep. Yet, nothing excited more than hearing him said “Ba ba ba…” all day long.

I also got to spend some time with my mom, which I don’t do much these days. The weather had been mostly cold and crappy so we only stayed in the house. I was glad that she played with Cu Dao and away from the kitchen. Every time we went to my sister’s house, we never saw her out of the kitchen. These days my mom and I have lots of differences, but I understand. She hasn’t changed for the last 60 plus years, so she’s not going to change any time soon. She is the hardest person to get a gift for. She would turn anything down cold. This year, I thought I had came up with the best Christmas present for her. I printed out a 30×20 poster with a close-up of her smiling face. I framed it up and everything. The day we got ready to get back to Virginia, she handed me the poster and told me to return it. I was in shock even though I knew she did it unintentionally. I accepted it and will hang it on my wall.

On the bright side, 2009 was quite a year for me. Dana and I owned a house in January. Duke came out in April and continues to rule our world. Despite the recession, I had done quite well in 2009. In addition to my full-time gig at The George Washington School of Business, I took on some contract works, notably the design for Thirsty. More sites will be launched early 2010 as well since I have done my part. It’s up the owner to get them up. I don’t want to set too much expectations for 2010 because I want to improvise as we go along; however, I hope to pick up more web design on the side, spend more time with Duke and maybe a little sibling for him.