We were invited to Dana’s friend for some banging chao long (Gut porridge). One of Dana’s friend’s friend happened to be one of my friends from high school. She has a daughter who is two weeks older than Cu Dao. Kathy and Duke met for the first time last night. When we sat them face to face, they stared at each other for about ten seconds before Duke made the first move. He pulled out his left arm and tried to grabbed her. Then he crawled over and kissed her. Then he head-butted her lightly, but enough to make the little girl cried. It was so cute. I wish I could have recorded it.

On a different note, Duke has been refusing milk for the past week. Today, I stop feeding him solid altogether to get him to drink milk again. Trying to put a bottle into his mouth and he would scream and spit it right back out. Both of us took turns trying to feed him, but with not so much success. I was finally abled to give two ounces before he took a nap. The battle continues when he wakes up.

No matter who covers Nguyen Anh 9’s “Mua Thu Canh Nau,” Hong Hanh always comes to mind. She owns that track like Tuan Ngoc owns Ngo Thuy Mien’s “Rieng Mot Goc Troi,” Phuong Thanh owns Quoc Hung’s “Trong Vang,” and Quang Dung owns Dieu Huong’s “Vi Do La Em.” So when she rerecords the song in her latest release, Ngo Dau Tinh Da…!, she’s competing with herself. The new version still remains jazzy, but with a bit of funk groove added. Her delivery is softer and the huskiness is lost in her phrasing. Although it sounds refreshing, I still root for the good old bluesy rendition. It still intoxicates me every time.

In addition to “Mua Thu Canh Nau,” the new album features a handful of jazz-arranged numbers that match up quite well with Hong Hanh’s slightly gruff vocals. Her version of Trinh Cong Son’s “Nhin Nhung Mua Thu Di” is soothing, relaxing and perfect for quiet nights. While Nguyen Nam’s “Tinh Ca Cho Em” gets a gorgeous, Brazilian-inspired rhythm, Le Huu Ha’s “Huyen Thoai Nguoi Con Gai” gets to swing with a hypnotic walking bass at the bottom.

On Nguyen Huu Thiet’s “Yeu Nhau Di,” Hong Hanh pours her heart and soul out over the crisp strumming guitar. It’s a perfect album closer that leaves you yearning for more, especially with the way she whispers the last few words. Even though Ngo Dau Tinh Da…! is not a true jazz record, the subtle, understated approach makes it an intimate pleasure to enjoy.

According to this post on trouble-sleeping baby: “In a gifted baby, this could mean he has a hard time dialing down on the stimulation so he can get some z’s.” I really hope so because Duke’s sleeping fussiness is a nightmare for us. He wears both of us out every night crying instead of sleeping. He could play forever if we allow him too. Last night, he put him to bed around 8:30, but he didn’t fall asleep until 9:45.

“Pretend play” is another sign of being gifted according to the article. If you look at this priceless moment, you can tell that he pretends to laugh at midpoint of the video. He’s either gifted or just being a good sport. Gifted or not, I am thankful and blessed to have him in our lives despite all the challenges he put us through.

Ladies, pour yourself a glass of Cosmo. Gentlemen, make yourself a glass of gin and tonic. Kick back with Ngoc Anh’s first U.S. release, Giet Nguoi Trong Mong, under Thuy Nga production, and I guarantee that you won’t kill each other. In fact, you will make luscious love to Ngoc Anh’s sultry voice paying homage to classic ballads.

Instead of reinventing familiar songs, she just lets her sexy timbre seduce you. Right off the opening title track, she makes you wish you were the one that she wanted to murder. If voice could kill, hers is a flying dagger straight to your heart. On Hoang Trong Thuy’s “Doan Khuc Cuoi Cho Em,” you could feel the quiet fire in her delivery and the warm intimacy in every breath she takes. She has no problem maneuvering her smoky, steamy vocals around Nguyen Anh 9’s bluesy “Mua Thu Canh Nau.”

It doesn’t hurt to have Tuan Ngoc and Bang Kieu show up next to her. Her duet with Bang Kieu on Do Le’s “Sang Ngang” is a better fit than with Tuan Ngoc on Hoang Thi Tho’s “Mot Lan Cuoi.” It would have been even better if Bang Kieu handled the female part and Ngoc Anh handled the male part, but that’s just me. Still, Giet Nguoi Trong Mong is a classic good taste that matches with a classy singer.

“A man ain’t cheat / A man ain’t me,” Gucci Mane declares on the Keyshia Cole-assisted “Bad Bad Bad.” What makes Gucci so damn entertaining is his sense of lyrical humor. On “Sex in Crazy Places” for instance, he raps: “Don’t compare me to your ex-man / Baby, he’s a local joker / I’ll take you to Six Flags / And drill you on the roller coaster.” In addition to his punch lines, Gucci’s gruff voice, effortless flow and wise choice for beats shine through on The State vs. Radric Davis. Listening to him gets “Stupid Wild” along with Weezy and Killa Cam is a pleasure. Still the most inventive track is the opening “Classical.” Backing up by operatic vocals chanting his name, he shows off his fluid flow over the savory Southern beat sprinkled with classical piano on top.

Vinh Thuyen Kim’s “Teen Vong Co” is a typical mid-tempo tune with Chinese-inflected melody until she busts out two Vietnamese operatic bars at the bridge. This hilarious track is the only one that stands out from her new release 180 Do.

The last time I listened to Nhat Ha was about a decade ago. Back then I was more interested in her look than her singing. Has her voice always sounded slightly raspy or has time given her timbre some textures? Her dark, lush vocals particularly soar through in Quoc Dung’s “Trai Tim Toi Loi,” a mesmerizing track off her new record Nhu Chut Nang Hu Hao. She sings like a woman who has been through pain, love and lust as she curls her voice like smoke around the decent orchestration.

When covering well-know ballads, Nhat Ha sings with maturity and appreciation for the lyrics. On Le Uyen Phuong’s “Vung Lay Cua Hai Chung Ta,” her flow is mellow and her emotion is fragile yet poignant. On Lam Phuong’s “Mot Minh,” she could bring out the lonely sentiment of the song. When it comes to her own tunes, co-written with Huynh Thai Binh, Nhat Ha is no less impressive. The title track is slow, bittersweet and soothing as she takes her time to convey her personal lyricism. Her “Xa Cach” is gorgeously delivered by Tuan Ngoc whose unmatchable phrasing over Duy Cuong’s unmistakable arrangement brings the song to a higher level.

Duc Tuan and Quang Minh also appeared in the album, but Nhat Ha is still the main attraction. She closes out the record with a sensational cover of Pham Duy’s “Phuong Yeu” showing off her versatility in interpreting other people work as well as expression her own. Now I am more interested in her song choice than her look, but I must say she’s aging pretty well based on the album cover.

Last Friday, we decided to take Duke and grandma to Blue Pearl Buffet because we haven’t been to a Chinese buffet for a year. It turned out to be the first buffet I ended up eating instant noodle later on that night. The food was not so bad. I just didn’t get a chance to eat.

We put Duke in a high chair and fed him his food. Two spoons later he was no longer interested in eating. He was just screaming out of excitement and everyone in the restaurant could hear him. To calm him down, we gave him a some jello to play with. It was a bad idea even though he stayed quiet for about five minutes. He smashed the jello and smacked them all over the place including his face and head. Dana cleaned him up and held him for a bit while I was trying to gorge down some dishes.

There was a Vietnamese couple next to our table with a two-year-old boy. He was a very nice kid. He came over touched Cu Dao’s hand and feet. He liked it by smiling back, but as soon as the boy went back to his table, Cu Dao would scream again. He wanted to play with the big boy.

I didn’t want to disturb another patrons who went out and paid for a nice and calm meal at the restaurant with Duke’s yelling. He was not fussing or crying, just screaming out of excitement. Silly little boy. We probably won’t take him to a another buffet until he’s a bit older.

Two years ago, I left Vassar behind to join The George Washington University School of Business for personal reason. I couldn’t let go of someone who I knew I would spend the rest of my life with, even though we weren’t even engaged. It was a bold move for me because Vassar was the place I wanted to be professionally. I loved the folks I worked with and I got to design.

GWSB was quite a transition for me. I had to switch from being a web designer to a webmaster. I moved from designing original web sites to following a designed template and I hardly get to work on something from scratch. Furthermore, I am just a one-man shop since I don’t have a group of designers and developers to bounce ideas off with.

The different environment forces me to adapt to the new changes. Most of the time I have to come up with the solutions myself. Sometimes I have to take on more roles than just the web like print, marketing, coordinate, as well as research. In a way, it’s rewarding to learn different aspects of communication.

Although I don’t get to collaborate with my peer designers, I get to work with folks in different field like writer, videographer and advertiser. The trade off of not designing much allows me to focus on the contents and conserves my creative fuel to take on freelance projects. The new adjustments actually work out well for me. Adaptability challenges to grow and I am grateful for that.

Nguyen Khang launched a new site and he has been very enthusiastic about it. He posted on his Facebook page and sent out a blast email asking for feedback of his site. One of the site’s admins also asked me to weigh in on the new site. Since they sound so sincere about it, I’ll give them an honest critique in hoping that him and his team could improve the web experience.

The site opens with a flashy “Happy New Year” animation. It looks cute, but New Year is over. It’s time to take it down. The main page is simple, stark and dramatic, which is very fitting to Nguyen Khang’s dark, compelling style. The design is straightforward and beautiful until you look under the hood. Whoever put the site together is obviously not a web designer. While the visual is hip and cool, the code is at least 10 years old. The extremely unaccessible markups seemed as if they were exported straight from Photoshop with the images sliced up. If you were to turn off image in your browser, all you see is a blank black page with just the footer.

The site designed with tables instead of CSS for layout. The pictures take at least a minute to load. The blog is obviously coming from a free WordPress theme; therefore, you can see the drastic different from the rest of the pages. So there you have it my friend. You know I don’t bullshit. It’s now up to you to make the site function better.