As I was hanging with my kids on a beautiful Friday morning, my phone was beeping off the hook. There were over 30 messages about our kids’ scouting activities. I agreed to be part of this group text so that I can receive information from the Scout leaders reminding us about things we need to do for our kids. As I scrolled through the text, Trump Supporter #1 texted:

LoL … ghosts have no voting rights … well, unless you are a dems …

Trump Supporter #2 replied:

One thing is for sure. I cant be at [two places] at once as I have a sub and a regular scout … unless I voted for Biden … which I did nit…

This wasn’t the first time that these guys brought up politics into the Boy Scout activities. Since none of the leaders seemed to concern, I replied back:

Wow, tons of messages to catch up. I appreciate receiving information on our scouting activities, but please spare me from political banters and uninitiated sarcasms. Thank you!

Trump Supporter #1 responded:

🙂 Why should you be spare? Under socialism, everyone shares misery equally..

If America could survive four years under Trump, he can live eight years under Biden. Politics is a bitch and she bites. Don’t hate the players, hate the game.

I didn’t respond because I wanted to spare other parents from these political arguments. I also didn’t want to feed into these sore losers. I had been fed up with these Vietnamese Trump supporters. I had removed myself from the parents’ social exchange during the Scout meetings. I either went to the skatepark or just read a book alone while waiting for my kids. Now I have to deal with them through text messages. If these comments continue, I will request to be removed from the list.

It had been so peaceful since the Orange turd had gone. I really don’t want to hear anymore of his shit nor his supporters’ shit. Leave me out of it.

Out of our four kids, I haven’t hung out much with Vương, our youngest boy. He is not ready to skate yet. I tried to get him to rollerblade, but he refused. I tried to get him to ice skate twice and he didn’t even want to step into the rink. When I took his older brothers to skating, he stayed home with his mom and his grandma. Now that I am on vacation, I want to spend some time with him. My goal is to take him and Xuân to different playgrounds around our area. Here are the playgrounds that we have enjoyed.

Fairlington Park

We recently discovered the playground in Fairlington Park. It is located in Arlington, which is 25 minutes from our house. This park has a high bridge made of ropes and a long slide. Đạo, Đán, and Xuân can climb and slide themselves. Vương still needs my supervision. The smaller areas are better for him. He and Xuân like the sandbox. The park also has a nice trail for walking, biking, or rollerblading as well as an exercise area for adults.

Woodland Wonderland

This is a themed playground located in Walker Mill Regional Park in Maryland, which is about 40 minutes from us. It’s all about discovering nature. The playground is suitable for Vương (2.5 years old) and Xuân (5 years old). They enjoyed the slides. Xuân discovered an awesome skatepark separated from the playground by the basketball and tennis courts. I will definitely try out the skate park when my wife comes along to supervise Vương at the playground.

Clemyjonji Park

This playground is located inMcLean, which is about 25 minutes from our house. It is huge with different areas for different age groups. It also has a nice trail for walking or rollerblading. We visited this park quite often when Đạo and Đán were younger.

Chessie’s Big Backyard

This playground is located in Alexandria, which is about 25 minutes from our house. This playground is not huge, but good enough for Vương and Xuân to spend ours running around. There is also a walking trail in the woods. I haven’t ventured out there yet, but it looks like a fantastic place to be close to nature.

Chestnut Hills Park

This park is located in Arlington, which is about 25 minutes from our house. The playground is not that big, but it has a sizable sandbox and a water faucet for the kids to play with. It’s a nice place with gates to keep the kids from running into the street.

I started using my new figure skate today and it was horrible. I could not do anything other than just gliding forward and doing some crossovers. I couldn’t even do a plow stop. I thought the blades were not sharpened, but the expert from the pro shop said the blades have edges. I am going to need more time to make the transition.

Đạo is doing great with his group lessons. After class tonight, his instructor asked me if I would be interested in signing him up for private lessons. Since he picked up the techniques quickly and easily, his instructor thinks he would go further with private lessons. Of course, I will sign him up.

I signed Đán up for ice hockey. I hope he will enjoy it. He skates fast, but refuses to use figure skates. Now I can see why as I am struggle to make the transition myself. I am not going to give up though.

My wife also wants to sign Xuân up for private lessons. I am also thinking of taking private lessons myself now that my group lessons had canceled, but I need to get used to my figure skates first.

I am going to need to take on extra freelance projects to pay for these extracurriculars. If you need a professional website for your doctor office, nail salon, restaurant, or any business, hit me up. If you know someone who needs a website, let me know. My price is very reasonable.

The good news is that my Jackson Ultima Freestyle Fusion figure skates had arrived earlier today. My wife got a great deal on it from eBay. The skates look like new and they fit me perfectly. The bad news is that my group lessons for Delta were cancelled. I was the only student signed up. At least five students were needed to hold the class.

Then again, this is a good time for me to take a break from lessons and to give me time to break into my new figure skates. If nothing comes up in the next few weeks, I might consider taking private lessons. I am not sure what my goal is for taking lessons. Maybe I just wanted to find out how far my body can handle the techniques. Yesterday, I saw a man in his early 50s doing turns and spins. He started figure skating when he was 45. I was encouraged.

I still have so much to learn, but I am taking my time and taking each step at a time. Skating is my only form of exercise at the moment. Both ice skating and rollerblading make me sweat. They both keep me stay active.

With a curious mind, a sense of wonder, and a passion for narrative and storytelling, Jeff Bezos has become a true innovator. By connecting humanities, technology, and business, he has transformed the way we shop online.

Through his shareholder letters, which he wrote from 1997 to 2019, we get to see how Amazon had grown and dominated the online retails. He set out to build “the world’s most customer-centric company” on day one; therefore, the technologies (AWS) that they had developed, the Marketplace they had launched, and the Prime membership they had created were based on that core mission.

Instead of giving PowerPoint presentations, Bezos prefers narrative writing. This book collects his own words on his personal life as well as his professional work. With a wonderful introduction from Walter Isaacson, this book gives readers a glimpse into Bezos’ mind, passion, and curiosity. I enjoyed it.

I worked on a freelance project until 3 am in the morning because I was in the zone and didn’t want to stop. As a result, I only had a few hours of sleep. I woke up to take Đạo and Đán to their Boy Scout meeting at the park. I dropped by Dunkin’ Donuts to pick up breakfast for the kids and iced coffee for me.

While the kids attended their Scout activities, I went to the skatepark to rollerblade. I got bored going down the straight ramps. I felt like I was not going anywhere with rollerblading. I was too nervous to take on the curved ramps like a half pipe. With my mind going berserk due to lack of sleep and the caffeine kicking in, I decided to just do it. I nervously put my left foot on the coping and dropped in with my right foot. I didn’t fall at all. I felt rejuvenated and kept on doing it for an hour. I even tried out a higher half pipe. After I showed Đán, he did it as well.

Later in the evening, I took Đạo and Xuân ice skating. Đán didn’t want to go. The arena was empty. I only picked the least busy time so I practiced. Xuân could do both the T-stop and the hockey stop simply from watching us. His form for the hockey stop looked so good. He is a natural skater. As we were having a great time, a teenage boy fell. He twisted his foot and cut his hand with the blade. His blood spilled all over the ice. With injuries occurring more frequently, I am getting a bit nervous.

I signed up for Delta, but no one else had signed up. It looks like the group lessons will have to be cancelled. I am attempting to sign up for private lessons, but I am still waiting for my figure skates to arrive. My wife bought me a used pair of Jackson Freestyle on eBay. The seller shipped over a week ago, but it is still somewhere in California. USPS sucks.

My 2011 Toyota Sienna’s windshield had a long crack along the wipers. I was not sure how or when it started to crack. I just noticed it a couple of days ago. I googled for an auto glass repair shop around my area. Windshield City caught my attention because of the positive reviews. I was still skeptical; therefore, I called Ourisman Toyota Collision Center for recommendation. The manager said they often contracted out to Windshield City.

I called Windshield City for an estimate and made an appointment for 3 pm today. I came into the shop, dropped off the car, rollerbladed around the blocks for a bit, came back, and got a brand new glass an hour later. I only interacted with Lindsay Rose, the office manager, and that was it.

The entire job cost $300, which included labor and after-market glass. I am very happy with the service and highly recommend it.

On April 15, 2021, I drove to my sister-in-law’s house to pick up her son to go ice skating with us. As I backed out of her driveway, I felt an impact. Her neighbor across the street also backed out and we collided. The edge of his bumper hit the side of my bumper. His car was fine, but my minivan was damaged. We called our insurance and settled the coverage.

I took my minivan to Ourisman Toyota Collision Center to get it fixed. They did a good job of replacing the bumper and the sliding gate in the back for $3,500 (covered by insurance). The downside was that they took almost three weeks. We didn’t have rental in our insurance policy. Fortunately, my wife and I both work from home; therefore, we could get by with our other minivan. Still, there were times that we both needed to be out.

In addition, I asked them to look at the scratches on the sliding door that were unrelated to the collision and to give me an estimate so I could pay out of my own pocket. They said that they would take care of them without additional cost. When I picked up my minivan, they did nothing to the scratches.

I talked to David Martin, the production manager, and he said that he would order the protectors and schedule a specialist to replace the projectors. He said that the cost would be less than $100. I agreed to the service. I am not sure if he would follow through with it or just an empty promise.

David Jonathan Ross writes about the expansion of his Forma DJR:

Ruggero also took the opportunity to add Vietnamese language support, bringing it in line with my other recent releases. Donny Truong, creator of the incredible Vietnamese Typography resource, advised us on the project, and was particularly helpful with the crucial diacritical horn.

We were nervous about using a straightened horn, which would be an unusual feature for a sans like this one, but we thought it vibed with Forma’s Modernist leanings. To our delight, Donny encouraged us to keep this more daring shape, and we took his pragmatic suggestion to provide a curved alternate for those who prefer it, especially in text.

I have always been opened about diacritics and I alway loved when type designers go beyond the convention for display typefaces. I am so happy to see the final result for Forma DJR. Congratulations to David and Ruggero Magrì for the superb expansion. I can’t wait to try out the variable font version.

I wrapped up my ice skating Gamma lessons last night. I scored 47/50 on the test even though my performance wasn’t that good. My 3-turns and hockey stops were good. My Mohawk combinations weren’t so good. I scored a nine on my left and an eight on my right. The points don’t matter, but they give me a sense of where I am at in this recreational journey.

I am exhausted and a bit burned out. The challenge gets steeper as we go to the next level. I am still debating about continuing to Delta. I have to switch to figure skates, which my wife had bought a used pair on eBay. They haven’t arrived yet. One of my classmates won’t continue because he is going into hockey. With just three students, they won’t have the class. The minimum requirement is five students. They would hold a class for four but not three. Maybe I’ll just watch YouTube and learn on my own. I could do private lessons, but I don’t want the coach to focus on me the entire time.

My sons are showing less enthusiasm in ice skating. Đán has not done much in Delta. He wants to play hockey, but I am not even sure if he does. Đạo is doing great in Gamma, but every time I asked him to go practice he got grumpy. Xuân is doing fine in Alpha, but he doesn’t like to practice either. Of course they would rather spend time on their computer and play video games.

My wife is right again. Without an end goal, they would get bored. We’ll see what happens once they are done with their lessons. They seem to be done with rollerblading.