An Ugly Divorce

VNCR interviewed a man who married some girl in Viet Nam and ended up in an ugly divorce over monthly remittance for her family back home.

Fire the Campaign

Wlliam Kristol said it’s time for John McCain to fire his campaign:

The McCain campaign, once merely problematic, is now close to being out-and-out dysfunctional. Its combination of strategic incoherence and operational incompetence has become toxic. If the race continues over the next three weeks to be a conventional one, McCain is doomed.

Seriously, if you hired a douchebag like Tucker Bounds to be your spokesperson, you are doomed.

An Investment You Can’t Lose

Last Friday, my boss took me to PINK magazine’s 4th annual conference, a panel discussion of with American’s most influential women. Although I was relieved that I was not the only guy at the conference, men were way out-numbered. One of the panelists stood out to me was Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of Children’s Defense Fund. Ms. Edelman was a humble, intelligent African-American woman who has her way with words. One of her advices during this crazy bailout time is to invest into the children. You simply can’t lose. I really like her advice. I am going to pull out of AIG and put my investment into my children (no punt intended).

Vitor Lourenco

A simple and elegant portfolio of Vitor Lourenco, the interface and visual designer behind Twitter. Gotta love the quote on the homepage: “No matter how cool your interface is, it would be better if there were less of it.” -Alan Cooper

Pho Binh Dan in Eden

Friday evening after work, Dana and I didn’t feel like cooking so we headed toward Eden for some Vietnamese food. We wanted to be a bit more adventurous, so we decided to check out a new place. We spotted a big yellow grand-opening banner with the words “Pho Binh Dan” and “50% off” next to it. We almost gave it a try.

As we walked toward the restaurant, we heard karaoke-singing blasting. Inside, the place was filled with cigarette smell. Although it said “Pho Binh Dan,” the restaurant felt more like a drinking (nhau) spot. We thought we went to a wrong restaurant, but the waiter already greeted us. There were only two tables filled with drinkers enjoying some sort of BBQ or hotpot. He gave us a signal that we could sit at any empty table. We tried to pick a table with minimal karaoke noise, but there was no escape. He asked us if we wanted Pho. I nodded my head while thinking isn’t this a pho place? He handed us the menu and told us that he had to check in the back and see if they still have Pho. I looked at the menu and they offered nothing but Pho. The guy went to the back to the kitchen, went back and sat at one of the drinking table without even confirming us that they still had pho or not.

Five minute went by, another waitress who would qualify for a Hooter chick come up to take our order. At this point, I couldn’t take the loud music any more so I told her we’re going to go somewhere else quieter. She said, “No problem, we ran out of Pho anyway.” Our little adventure was not a success, so we went to our usual Thanh Truc for Bun Bo Hue.

I am not sure how they could run a business under such a lousy management, but I am pretty sure if this is the way they run their business, the grand opening will turn into grand closing soon.

Palin Abused Power

This is a very bad news for the McCain campaign:

A legislative committee investigating Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has found she unlawfully abused her authority in firing the state’s public safety commissioner.

The investigative report concludes that a family grudge wasn’t the sole reason for firing Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan but says it likely was a contributing factor.

The Decent McCain

When his supporter accused Obama of an Arab, McCain cut her off and defended: “No, maam. He’s a decent family man and citizen.”

McCain finally shows some decency, but it’s a bit too late. He has gone way too low. If he were to stayed true himself, he wouldn’t have let his campaign hit bottom.

McCain’s Limbo Rock Bottom

What happen to the “respectful campaign” McCain said he would run early this year? He is now doing everything he said he wouldn’t do. But to be fair, you have to give the old guy a break. McCain is not perfect. He’s just a hypocrite.

Calm Down, Cindy

McCain brings out his last pawn to attack Obama. She sounds so dramatically pathetic: “I would suggest that senator Obama change shoes with me for just one day.” Shit, I’ll wear Cindy’s high heels anytime to be in her rich-ass position.

Then again, all these vicious attacks only boost up Obama’s lead. So keep them coming.