Apparently our home association doesn’t include snow removal. The streets in our complex are filled with 17″ of snow. Dana and I spent about two hours last night shoving our driveway. Our neighbor, an old Chinese couple, were also cleaning their driveway. Actually, it was the first time that I saw the husband came out.

The wife does most of the things around the house including mowing the lawn, taking the trash out twice a week, and obviously shoving the snow. They only had one shovel so she was using a dusk pan plow. She was on her knees. My brother-in-law and I envied him. He sure has it made. His only task outside of the house is going to work and taking their thirteen-year-old girl to school. We hardly see her outside of the house. The wife is very friendly although she doesn’t speak much English.

As for this side of the house, we’re still stuck in, which gives us a chance to get some work done inside the house and get to spend time with Duke. On snow days like these, all that I really want to do is listening to some jazz and drink some cocktails. I just pull out a mixed drink book and start making anything that I have all the right ingredients. It sort of gives me an idea of what goes with what. Gin is favorite spirit right now. I just love the taste of her whether just mixing with tonic water or with Cointreau for some fruity flavor. I also made a Texas Tea last night and it was wonderful. I was suppose to put Duke to sleep, but I ended up snoring before him. I got up and screamed. Luckily he was with grandma in his playroom.

Sure, Lil Wayne lives up to his self-proclaimed title, “Best Rapper Alive,” but can he rock? The short answer is hell fucking yeah. With his new release, Rebirth, Weezy completely transformed himself from a rap luminary to a rock star.

Unlike his previous multimillion-selling Tha Carter III, which was all over the place, Rebirth is very focused. He either raps or sings (sometimes with the support of Auto-Tune) over hardcore, heavy rock riffs. With his gritty vocals, fluid flows, and lyrical wits, Wayne brings his idiosyncratic skills to a whole new level.

On “One Way Trip,” he once again turns nonsense rambling into genius rhyming: “Woke up this morning with my dick to the ceiling / Rather sleep with another chick from my building / Kick her ass out / have breakfast like a motherfucker / I am with another bitch by supper.” Aesthetically speaking, it’s really not what he says, but how he says it and his punch lines are hilarious: “You can act stupid, bitch I am just dumber” and “I am sick, very sicker than you / and when I play sick, I am Jordan with the flu.”

“Ground Zero” is a proof that Weezy can rhyme over any beat, even a boisterous one, and that he could turn noise into catharsis: “Kill them all, die in the spirit of the war / Thinking would a mind be in spiritual fall / Uh shit cause there ain’t no love / Die while America drank your blood.”

Unlike Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3, which filled with guest spots, Weezy has wisely kept his list to the minimal. Eminem shows up on “Drop Your Wall” and makes the track a dynamic duo. Both Em’s and Weezy’s eccentric styles are a perfect complement to one another. This is a much better collaboration than Jay and Weezy on “Mr. Carter.”

As for his singing, he should definitely drop the Auto-Tune clutch. Both “American Star” and “Prom Qeen” are horrendous due to the digital deterioration. Sure, Rebirth is a detour, but it’s a highly creative one. This is the way to rock. Norah Jones should take notes.

Despite the not-so-attractive cover, Jason Cranford Teague’s Fluid Web Typography is an informative crash course on designing Web sites with typefaces beyond Arial, Times, Verdana, Trebuchet MS, and Georgia. FWT touches on the fundamental elements of typography, provides the list of cross-OS Web fonts, and breaks down the three methods of using fonts: linking (@font-face), third-party services (Typekit, Kernest.com, Typotheque), and embedding with Javascript (Cufón). The resource section also included my man Tim Brown’s Nice Web Type.

Tonic is now my favorite burger joint at work. Once in a while I treat myself to a big, juicy burger. The first time I had the Sliders and they were banging, even though they were a bit dried. The second time I had the Hawaiian and I loved it. The pink patty combined with grilled pineapple and grilled ham were heaven-sent, even though I felt like hell after shoving down all that meat. The day before Thanksgiving, I went for the Foggy Bottom, which included roasted Cremini mushrooms, gruyere cheese, and garlic aioli. I also had a glass of gin and tonic to wash it down. Today I went back for the South West, which included grilled ham, pepper jack, pico de gallo, avocado and cilantro-jalapeno aioli. I just went for a Coke because I had to head back to work. I am now going to grab a cup of coffee now because I am feeling mad sleep with all that meat and tater tots and coke in my system. The service was very nice as well so I’ll be back every now and then for a different flavor of burgers.

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.