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.

I am taking a much-needed break from now until next year. I need to rejuvenate myself and spend time with my family, especially with little Duke. I feel that I have not spent enough time with him. On Christmas day, he will be eight months. Time is flying and Duke is growing up way too fast. I want to enjoy the time while he’s still young.

We will be traveling to New Jersey tonight to be with the in-law side until Friday night then head to Pennsylvania to be with my family. Somehow the schedule has been working out so perfectly that we always Christmas dinner at my in-law on Thursday night and another one at my big family gathering on Saturday night. When my big family (aunts, uncles cousins, nieces and nephews) gets together, the party never ends before 2am. We just eat and talk and eat some more and talk a lot more.

We’ll drive back to Virginia on Sunday because my wife has to go to work. I’ll get to spend more time with Duke then. My mom will also come to stay with us for a week. It’ll be nice to be with her as well.

In any rate, I wish you all a holiday season filled with joy, love, and food. See you all next year for lots of new, exciting stuffs.

Upon listening to Dumbfoundead’s “Bullets of Truth” prompted to cop his debut Fun With Dumb. The track shows this Asian rapper has some serious swag and he could push 100 bars without a pause. His lyricism is also top-notch. Unfortunately, Fun With Dumb is a dumb-down joke. Tracks like “Rapper-O’s,” “Cockblockers,” and “She Don’t Care” are cute, especially with coined terms like “choppy chaser” and “broke digger,” but you just can’t take them earnestly. I was expecting some sort of Eminem’s or Talib Kweli’s quality, but I was getting Ludacris’ comical rhymes instead. Maybe I would have a different expectation if I didn’t come across “Bullets of Truth” first.

After many repeats of watching Dumbfoundead Jet Li-ed his freestyle opponent right on the head during a battle, I went and check out his YouTube channel. Came across a video called “Bullets of Truth” and impressed with his lyrical skills and breathless delivery. The flow is flawless. Also worth checking out his battle with another Asian dude Tantrum (1, 2).

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.