When I was residing at the refugee camp in the Philippines, I witnessed the grossest scene ever: a mother sucked the mucus right out of her little daughter’s nose. The girl was around 12-month old and she had a running nose. Why did she do it? Out of love, of course. She even said that even though it was not a pleasant thing to do, she did what she had to do because that’s her child.

I kept saying to myself that I would never do that even when I have a kid. I was so dead wrong. Duke is incredibly sensitive when it comes to touching his nose. He had a running nose the other day and his nostril was all congested. He breathed heavily and we couldn’t get him to stay still to clean his nose. Q-tips, Kleenex, Little Nose, and even the nose suction couldn’t do the job. At that moment, the scene of the woman came to my mind, and out of desperation, I put my mouth to his nose and sucked up the boogers.

Seeing his nose all cleared and hearing he could breath better, it was not all that bad. Big thanks to the woman who gave me the encouragement.

Living closed by a sister-in-law who makes delicious desserts is very dangerous. It’s like having free access to a bakery. Her flans, cheesecakes and cream buffs are murderous. Knowing that those three sweets are my favorites, she always doubles up my serving. Everyone one else gets one piece, me and her husband, who is also a sweet lover, get two. Not only that, she would also make extra pie for me to take home.

A couple weeks ago, I was having flan everyday at 2:00pm. To stay in shape, I tried to run first before I eat. It was so painful because all I could think about was the rich, creamy, caramelized piece of flan while I was running. I just wanted to get the jogging done and over with so I could reward myself.

Her strawberry cheesecake is no less addictive, especially with a thick layer of whip cream on top complemented by a cup of tea. Her cream puffs are so packed that the cream oozes out every time I try to take a bite. One piece after another, my hands automatically reach for more.

Running doesn’t help keeping the weight down at all. My pants are getting mad tight and all I can think about is those desserts. I am so looking forward to the family’s Christmas parties.

Duke is the smallest guy, yet he takes up most of the space in the house. Over the weekend, we put in a futon mattress in one of our four bedrooms for Duke. So now he has a playroom, a bedroom, a crib in our room, and a whole living room to himself.

We only used the mattress in his room for the obvious reason: so he won’t fall off his bed. Cu Dao actually has been really smart about crawling off the bed. He would only come close to the edge of the bed and then would turn back no matter what I tried to get him to go further. Even with just the mattress, he wouldn’t go off it.

Now that Duke has his own bed. He should be able to sleep by himself, yet I am the one who ended up sleeping by myself because his mom can’t leave him alone. It’s nice though since I get a whole bed to myself and don’t have to get up in the middle of the night. Occasionally I do miss getting punch in the nose by Duke’s forehead.

Hoa Mi’s volume one, Mot Thoi Yeu Nhau, showed some promising return, but her follow-up volume two, Thu Tinh Khong Gui, and three, Trom Nhin Nhau, are huge disappointments. Even on a cold, rainy, gloomy Sunday morning, I felt no soul in her covering of sentimental ballads (nhac tru tinh). Her heart is just not into the songs. Her version of “Dung Xa Em Em Nay” is the blandest I have ever heard, as if she was reading off the music sheet. The mechanical productions aren’t doing her any favor either.

George Law, an exceptional graphic designer and typographer at Vassar College, said that Robert Bringhurst’s The Elements of Typographic Style is a book “to be read once a year.” I am taking his advice because Bringhurst packed so much useful information into this book that I discover something new every time I read it. Bringhurst is such a great writer that he makes words and letters “dance in their seats. Sometimes they rise and dance in the margins and aisles.” The Elements is not just for anyone who appreciates the art of typography, but also for anyone who appreciates the art of music and language. As he puts it: “Good typography is like bread: ready to be admired, appraised and dissected before it is consumed.”

Yes, I am now addicted to iPod Touch just a day of owning it. It is indeed “a great pocket computer.” Checking emails and surfing the web without even have to boot up my laptop. I was not crazy about iPods until the Touch, an advanced Christmas present from Dana. Why did she give it to me now?

Over Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt’s house, two of my nephews (a three and a four years old) have the Touch. It was mind-boggling to see children at that age with an iPod, but they were using it like a toy. My cousin’s reasoning is that instead of buying her kid toys, she just get the Touch and he can learn from it. Of course, when my cousin endorses something her siblings follow. That’s how the other kid also got an iPod. If my cousin doesn’t have to take care of my aunt who is suffering from a stroke, she would be a great marketer. She makes things sound so great whenever she likes them. Even my mom would take her advice on things.

In any rate, I was playing with the Touch a bit and impressed with the way Safari renders web pages. I told Dana and she broke the secret: “I got you one for Christmas.” Since she already told me what I am getting, I might was well get them now. I am now loving Apple iPod Touch 32GB.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been working like there’s no tomorrow. I am taking on a couple of very exciting projects for both GWSB and consulting. Lately, I have been very motivated to design and I have to thank Duke for it.

Watching him sleep every night somehow inspires me. After Dana nurses him to sleep in our bed, it’s my job to watch him in case he wakes up and crawls off the bed. He no longer sleeps in his crib. With a reading light, a stool to sit on, and the corner of the bed as a computer desk, I have been working way past midnight cranking out designs and codes for my consulting works.

The night is so quiet and the only sound I would hear is when Duke twists and turns. All I have to do is tapping his butt and he would go back to sleep. Sometimes I just look at him and so damn proud of myself.

My sister-in-law invited me and my wife to lunch at Pasara, a Thai restaurant located a block from USPTO. The place is a bit small, decorated with heavy wooden furniture and Asian arts. Even the menu cover is made out of wood. The food was not outstanding but savory enough for a revisit. We had fried calamari, which is my sister-in-law’s favorite appetizer and she could make it better. We also shared clay pot shrimp, chicken green curry and drunken noodles. The noodle was the best out of the three dishes. The service was not all that bad either.

Fuck Minh Tuyet and let’s make it official—Le Quyen is the new hooker. On the street, a hooker is someone who offers sex for money. In music, a hooker is a singer who lives by the hooks and makes luscious love to the hooks.

Le Quyen’s volume 3, Neu Nhu Ngay Do, is packed with catchy, contagious choruses. Right off the opening title track, she drips her thick, husky vocals over the banal lyrics like honey and ginger over plain, white tofu. On the Chinese-melodic “Tha Thu Cho Em,” she wraps her big-ass pipe around the hilariously-heartbreaking lines, “Neu em ra di bay gio thi nhieu nguoi se trach moc / vi da ben nhau bao ngay ma gio day doi thay,” as if girls these days really give a fuck what people say. With “Roi Mot Mai,” she brings out her rockability that is a reminiscent of Phuong Thanh.

Just when I give up on her for going down the trendy, poppy path, Le Quyen Acoustic pulls me back and gives me some hope again. Unlike Minh Tuyet, Le Quyen is not a mediocre singer at best. She has a dark, raucous, powerful voice with a bit of range. Her jazzy cover of Jimmy Nguyen’s “Mai Mai Ben Em” is intoxicating. She knows how curl her raspy, smoky vocals around the acoustic picking guitar and sentimental sawing violin. On Tran Le Huynh’s “Chan Tinh,” she completely erased Van Truong and intimately made it all her own. With Phu Quang’s “Noi Nho Mua Dong,” songbird Le Quyen trenches her soul into a bitter cold winter night and her delivery is a resemblance of the younger Thanh Lam who I truly missed.

Acoustic has its stale moments with tracks like Thanh Tung’s “Mua Ngau,” Duc Huy’s “Neu Xa Nhau” and Ngoc Le’s “Xa Roi Tuoi Tho.” Yet as long as Le Quyen doesn’t waste her voice with lollipop tunes, she remains one of my favorite Vietnamese vocalists.

Yesterday I went to the mall trying to do my Christmas shopping. Three hours later I ended up with a bunch of promotional designs I picked up from various stores. I really like the way Crate&Barrel incorporate photo into its gift cards so I took two of them. I also like Bloomingdale’s brown bag gift card concept. If you pull the bottom of the bag, the gift card pops on top. I was holding the bag in my hand and a salesman offered to ring me up. I told him I just wanted the card and he let me have it.

Being a designer, I have always picked up well design pieces I see laying around, but I never pull them together in a central location. After yesterday’s shopping, I decided to save a collection for design inspiration. Now I have a reason to go shopping even if I don’t need to buy anything.