While sorting through my mail this weekend, I received a collection notice from Afni Inc. for a Verizon bill when I moved out of New York, which was about two years ago. I can still remember clearly that I shut off my home phone service before I moved and even received some credits back. I even called several times to make sure that I didn’t owe them anything.

Today I tried to call Verizon to verify the bill, but the damn representatives kept putting on one automated answer machine to the next. They couldn’t even pointed me to one person that I could talk to about the matter. Verizon’s fucking sucks and I am stuck with them because most of my family members are on Verizon.

I couldn’t reach Verizon so I called Afni Collections to ask for the creditor information. About two minutes into the conversation, the fucker from Afni was ready to bite my ear off. He stated that I owe Verizon and now he’s handling the collection not Verizon. I told him “I am done with this shit” and hung up the phone.

I went online and found that many people had been targeted with the same scam. Some people was hit with the collection even though they never were a Verizon customer.

I did what folks have suggested: dispute the claim and validation of the debt. I sent them a letter with certified mail. Let’s wait and see how things go.

Duke has been very fortunate to have such a loving grandma watching his every move. Since they spend most of the day together, the bond between them is transparent. No one can feed him more bottles than grandma. No one understands Duke better than grandma. He knows when it is time for a stroll. If the weather permits, they stroll around the block. If the weather doesn’t, they stroll around the house. Just watching them strolling around the tiny space inside the house warms my heart. Now that Cu Dao can crawl, he follows her wherever she goes.

When being asked how grandma feels about taking care of Cu Dao, her response was that she gets to know a child better even though she has three kids of her own. At that time, she was busy making ends meet; therefore, she didn’t get to see how her children grew. Now it’s a joy for her to witness every progress he makes.

Last month, grandparents went on a cruise vacation for ten days. Grandpa said that grandma missed Cu Dao so she opened up her cell phone and browse through the photos she had taken of him. In a few months, grandma will no longer take care of Cu Dao. She has to babysit someone else. I am sure they’ll miss each other, but I will remind him the time he spent with his grandma so he won’t forget.

I love this photo of them together.

With an authoritative baritone, conceptual rhyme patterns, and impeccable flows, Rakim is, without a doubt, one of hip-hop’s most influential lyricists of all time. So it is fitting to open his new album, The Seventh Seal, in a decade with “How to Emcee.” Aspiring rappers should take notes: “To be the true emcee, icon, or idol / The contents you put in your song are vital.”

Word wise, Rakim is still at the top of his game, but his choice of beats has kept him from making classic albums for years and The Seventh Seal is no exception. On most tracks, the production tends to overpower his voice. “Man Above” sounds like a Dr. Dre’s watered-down production. On “You & I,” you could hear the speaker-rattling bass more than his voice. The speed-up sample on “Message of the Song” gets in the way of the message. “Satisfaction Guaranteed” featured way too many bells and whistles including various drum tracks and irritating chipmunk effects. And what’s up with all the snoozing R&B hooks? Can’t believe he fell for that.

Getting through The Seventh Seal once again makes you realize how indispensable Eric B. was to Rakim’s success. Eric knew how to kept the beats to the minimal to let Rakim’s lyricism shined. After all, even the God Emcee needs the president by his side.

Because today is my sister-in-law’s birthday, her husband treated us to Izakaya Blue Ocean Japanese restaurant (its web site needs a serious redesign). The place was pretty dead for a Wednesday evening. We had some pork dumpling and fried baby octopus for started. They weren’t too bad. I ordered a seafood udon for dinner but ended up switching with Dana for Katsu Don. Dana tries to stay away from egg because Duke seems to get eczema every time she has eggs. I didn’t like Katsu Don that much because it had a sweet taste to it. I never liked my pork, rice and eggs sweet.

It sure felt like hell after shoving down a 10-ounce meat at Ray’s Hell-Burger. Two days ago, the weather was nice so I called up Dana for lunched. We decided to give the much-hyped burger joint (after the Obama visit) a try. We didn’t realized that Ray’s the Steak is now Ray’s Hell-Burger. I had the Soul Burger Number One cooked as recommended: warm red center. I mistakenly ordered B.I.G. POPPA for Dana instead of Big Punisher for Dana. The Soul Burger was big and juicy, which caused the bun to be soggy. It was good, but not extraordinary. I would prefer more greens to go with the big red meat. Dana didn’t like her POPPA too much because the blue cheese was too strong, which overpowered the meat. After lunch, I felt bloated the whole day even though I tried to ran it off.

Norah Jones has changed. She trimmed her hair, broke up with her boyfriend, dropped the keyboard and picked up the guitar. She even abandoned pop jazz for soft rock on her forth release The Fall. As for her singing, Norah remains Snorah. “It’s Gonna Be” is the only tune she sounds awake. Most of the time she rocks without getting out of bed. Even when the beats kick up a notch, she still lays back. “Light as a Feather” is best described her flow. That’s not a bad thing since she no longer sings about romance. Gone are the lyrics of “To not touch your skin is not why I sing.” On breakup tunes like “I Wouldn’t Need You,” “Waiting” and “Even Though,” her mood gets bleaker and she is unapologetic about thanking her ex’s father for raising him “so damn wrong.” Jones is slowly and consciously transforming her style.

Cung Tram is Quang Ly’s most personal record. “Xin Cam On” is an ode to his wife. “Me Oi Con Nho Me” is an eulogy to his mother. “Co Bao Gio Phoi Phai” and “Sai Gon Chieu Cuoi Nam” are his recollections of Hue’s drops of sunshine and Sai Gon’s peacefulness in the city’s hustling atmosphere. Accompanied by straightforward, mellow arrangements, provided by Hoai Sa, Viet Anh, Bao Phuc, and Vinh Tam, the eight tunes he has written lack the sweet melodies he had accustomed to, yet they are deeply intimate. Quang Ly claims that he made this album for himself. In that regard, he had succeeded.

Tim Brown, my former colleague at Vassar and the force behind Nice Web Type, has launched Web Font Specimen, “a handy (free) resource web designers and typographers can use to see how typefaces will look on the web.” Tim also contributed his first article, “Real Web Type in Real Web Context,” on A List Apart. Congrats on all the great works and thanks for the top-notch recommendation. You’re da type man!

Live and isolated, Keith Jarrett is masterful at improvising on the spot as if notes just rolled off his fingers. Testament, captured in Paris and London concerts at the end of last year, finds Jarrett once again moaning and groaning and displaying his spontaneous piano solos ranging from percussive to expressive, powerful to peaceful, and technicality to melancholy.

We converted our smallest bedroom into Duke’s playroom since we needed a space to put all the stuff animals his aunt and uncle gave him. They are his buddies. Dana got him a bead maze table. Although he’s still too young to move the beads around, he still likes to hold and spin them.

Yesterday, Dana and I were in Toys”R”Us and we found WordWorld characters on sale for $5 a pop. We went nuts and bought all the characters available in store. I had no idea what WordWorld was, but I was immediately hooked on the concept of combining typography with visual character. We posted them on one side of the wall so Cu Dao can choose which one he wants to take down to play. When I showed him the characters, he just looked and smiled. Dana has already looked into getting more characters.

Duke’s playroom is now becoming my favorite place to spend with my boy. I am sure we will accumulate more toys, but I am still missing a good stereo. We could kick back, play with the toys and listen to some jazz. Now that’s my ideal family quality time together.