Two weeks ago, Ðán, my second son, wanted to try Dave’s Hot Chicken. He ordered extra-hot chicken tenders. I ordered a reaper chicken sandwich to see how hot it was. The cashier made me sign the weaver. As soon as I paid for our food, he told the staff that someone ordered a reaper. The entire staff in the kitchen chanted, danced, and cheered. I knew I was in trouble.

When the food came out, I took a bite of the sandwich. The heat quietly took over my body. I drank water and ate fries and pickles. Sweat started to pour from my head. The flare lasted about 5 minutes. I could have taken another bite, but I didn’t want to risk internal bleeding.

Ðán wanted to try. I advised him not to, but he picked up my sandwich and took a small bite. He said, “Not bad.” Then the reaper kicked in. He asked me to get him lots of water, which I complied. I was glad he made it through.

It was definitely an experience. The reaper was no joke!

Today marks my fourteenth anniversary with Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. One of the major changes of last year was launching a brand new website and switching to a new content management system. Nevertheless, my role hasn’t changed. I am still Director of Design and Web Services who is responsible for the law school websites.

In my fourteen years at the law school, I worked under three supervisors and three deans. The current dean will conclude his term in the summer of 2026. My supervisor will also retire around the same time. I don’t know what the future will hold. I’ll just have to go with the flow.

I am grateful that I am still here making ends meet to raise my family. I am content with my career choice. I still enjoy the work and the people I work with everyday. I appreciate the flexibility. As long as I take care of my business, I can do other things such as spending time with my family, teaching snowboarding and skiing in the winter, and pursuing different creative works outside the law school. I only take on small projects that I want to do. Having that option is a privilege.

It’s hard to believe I will reach a decade and a half next year. Maybe I will make it to 2 decades and then retire. Who knows. For now, I am thankful that I still have a job while the government is still in a shutdown. I can’t ask for more than that. Thank you, Mason.

I loved 2pac and I didn’t think there would be any Vietnamese fellow who would know more about him than I did until I read Words for My Comrades. Beyond music, Dean Văn Nguyễn, an Irish-Vietnamese music critic, dived deep into the political history of 2pac. In the first 128 pages, Nguyễn takes readers all the way back to the Black Panther movement and the involvement of 2pac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, in the party.

Along with 2pac’s extraordinary life, Nguyễn writes eloquently about his music. He makes me revisit all of Pac’s album starting with 2Pacalypse Now. Lyrically, my personal favorite has to be Me Against the World. Right after the news report intro, 2pac kicks off the first track, “If I Die 2Nite” with : “They say pussy and paper is poetry, power and pistols / Plotting on murdering motherfuckers ’fore they get you.” Nguyễn favorite album is The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory. Interestingly, the opening of “Hail Mary” has a similar concept. Makaveli aks 2pac rhymed, “I ain’t a killer, but don’t push me / Revenge is like the sweetest joy next to gettin’ pussy / Picture paragraphs unloaded, wise words bein’ quoted / Peeped the weakness in the rap game and sewed it.”

After the murder of 2pac, Nguyễn wrapped up the book with capitalism in hip-hop. He covers big names including Master P, Dr. Dre, Biggie Smalls, and Jay-Z. Even though it felt off-topic, I enjoyed his cultural criticism. His writing takes me all the way back to high school, which was more than 30 years ago. After hearing the news about 2pac got shot and killed, I was fucked up. Even though I didn’t know much English, I could understand songs like “Trapped,” “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” and “Keep Ya Head Up.” Of course “Dear Mama” touched me heart deeply. Even though my mother was not single, but she raised my sister and me on her own while my dad was still in Việt Nam. She was on welfare too. I could relate to many rhymes in that song, but these lines in particular had helped me tremendously: “I wish I could take the pain away / If you can make it through the night, there’s a brighter day / Everything will be alright if you hold on / It’s a struggle every day, gotta roll on.” These words summed up my early life in America.

Thanks Nguyễn for the reminiscent of the good old time through his excellent book on 2pac. If loved 2pac like we did, I highly recommend this book to you.

I have been looking forward to reading weekly update from our manager at Whitetail Resort as we are getting closer to the winter. Here’s a little except in which he teases us:

As I sit here this morning looking over at the bottom of Northern Lights, I can’t help but get excited knowing that before we know it. The guns will be running, the lifts will be turning and all of us in blue jackets will be getting ready to circle up and have our morning meeting. I can’t wait to see all of your smiling faces and the smiles that you all put on the faces of our guests.

I just can’t wait!

Yesterday morning, my wife introduced me to Đinh Hương. Since I had not heard of her before, I hesitated to listen to her latest release, The Best Song of Đinh Hương. Furthermore, I was skeptical of “The Best of” compilation for marketing purpose. Nevertheless, I gave it a shot.

The lead-off track, her rendition of Bart Howard’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” hooked me in immediately with her slightly smoky timbre. She has a sexy voice and her English pronunciation is flawless even though she was born and raised in Việt Nam. In addition, she can fucking swing. Anyone who can make Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” her own has my endorsement. She gives Jackson’s pop hit a bit of funk and a whole lot of soul.

She introduces John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary” as something “nice and easy.” She starts off the tune easy and bluesy, but rocks it up in the second half. The album closes out with Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York.” The jazzy, swingy arrangement gives me the winter holiday vibe and it’s only mid October. Đinh Hương has the chops to be a jazz singer.

This album is a good introduction to a young, talented singer. She writes her own songs as well and I’ll definitely check out her original works.

TJ is a dear friend of mine and an exceptional contractor who runs his own home-improvement business. He takes pride in getting things right and on time. He has a solid work ethic and the results of his outcomes speak for themselves. He transforms old places into dream spaces for his clients.

He showed me his projects on his phone and I suggested that he needed to put them on his website. He had a website, but it was outdated and he didn’t bother to renew it. His website went offline in May 2024 and I offered to reinvigorate it, but he declined. Then suddenly, several weeks ago, he took up my offer. Similar to what he had done for his clients’ homes, I gave his digital home a new life.

The goal for the website is to show off his projects. The homepage features a responsive slideshow that displays two sets of images. On small screens, only vertical photos are displayed. On large screens, only horizontal photos are displayed. This method, which uses the HTML Picture element, solves the issue of tiny landscape photos on small screens or large portrait photos on large screens.

For the showroom section, all photos are displayed for potential clients to scroll through at their own leisure to see how TJ helped his clients reimagine their dream homes—together.

One of his recent clients had written a genuine review of the project they worked on together. She even took photos, which look professional. To show their fruitful collaborative effort, I put together a page. It was indeed, “A Dream Kitchen Realized.”

TJ Home Improvements website is typeset in Colophon Foundry’s DM Sans, which was based on Indian Type Foundry’s Poppins, designed by Jonny Pinhorn. DM Sans is a low-contrast geometric sans serif family with a simple, modern vibe.

TJ wanted to keep his original logo, which he created himself, but he handed me a low-quantity JPG file. I redrew it based on a grid system and reset the type using Univers, designed by Adrian Frutiger.

TJ is thrilled with his new website. Even though he lands most of his contracts through word of mouth, the website showcases his body of work. If you live in the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia) area and would like to remodel your home, I highly recommend TJ Home Improvements. Don’t take my words for it, just take a look at the TJ Home Improvements website.

Buyer: Hello, how long have you been using this? Thank you

Me: 2 seasons

Buyer: May I know why do you have many skis?

Me: 2 reasons:

1. It’s my business.
2. It’s none of your fucking business.

Me: Are you still interested in buying the skis?

Needless to say, I didn’t make the sale.

Kristin Bair, my longest client of more than 16 years, will release her forth novel, Clementine Crane Prefers Not To, tomorrow, October 14, 2025. I pre-ordered my copy. I read all three of her previous books and can’t wait to read her new one soon. Check out her website designed by yours truly.

things got terribly ugly incredibly quickly
things got ugly embarrassingly quickly
actually things got ugly unbelievably quickly
honestly things got ugly seemingly infrequently
initially things got ugly ironically usually
awfully carefully things got ugly unsuccessfully
occasionally things got ugly mostly painstakingly
quietly seemingly things got ugly beautifully
infrequently things got ugly sadly especially
frequently unfortunately things got ugly
increasingly obviously things got ugly suddenly
embarrassingly forcefully things got really ugly
regularly truly quickly things got really incredibly
ugly things will get less ugly inevitably hopefully

Terrance Hayes

Tuning your gears are crucial for your skiing and snowboarding experience on the terrains. Without proper tuning, your equipment won’t perform well; therefore, you won’t enjoy your time on the trails.

Nevertheless, you don’t need to break your bank to get your gears ready for your trip to the slopes. My rate is 50% less than the ski shops’ rate.

I will try to finish the job within a day or two. I have been tuning skis and snowboards for over 5 years.

Ski and snowboard tuning include:

• Base fixes with P-Text
• Edge sharpen and bevel
• Custom hand wax

I am located near George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. If you need tuning services, contact me.

Here are the gears I have tuned.