Dear Xuân,

Thank you for informing me about your week. From science to math to PE to music, you had a busy week. I am enjoying these Friday letters between us. Mr. Leonato came up with such a wonderful assignment for us to connect. I look forward to reading your words every Friday.

As you had mentioned in your letter, March is here already. I am a bit torn about it. The weather is getting a lot warmer, which is nice, but that also means skiing season is coming to an end. I want to spend more time with you on the slopes. You are a fantastic skier, but I also hoped that you would pick up snowboarding as well.

It’s a challenge to try something new. When I switched from skiing to snowboarding, I was having a very tough time. The snowboarding learning curve is steep, but it opens up a whole new level on the mountains once you get a hang of the board. If I can do it, you can too. You just need a little bit of patience.

It is so much fun when you can switch from skiing to snowboarding and vice versa. I enjoy both sports and I am sure you will too. We’ll work on your snowboarding skills next season.

Love,
Dad!

Our whole family went to Roundtop this morning. The weather was in the mid 60s. The conditions weren’t too bad. There was no crowd as if people were done for the season. I skied with Vương and my nephew on the green trails.

After lunch I switched to snowboarding with Xuân and another nephew on the backside. The warm weather wore me out quickly. At 2 pm the kids wanted to go home. They have school tomorrow.

I am not sure if the three resorts in PA will last until next week. It looks like the season is coming to an end. I am not even sure if we will be able to ski in Vermont the last week of March when the kids are on spring break. Just have keep our hopes alive.

I headed to Liberty this morning and snowboarded. The conditions were still good. I tried to carve after watching this excellent 45-minute video. I am still learning to carve. I hope to go back to Liberty tomorrow morning, but I am not so sure with the heavy rain and warm weather. We’ll see!

Anh Cầm Fact’s Lì Quá Để Nói Quài is a pocket-size book filled with Vietnamese quips and wordplays. I enjoyed the prose so much that I had to create a sample page with my personal favorite quotes. The page is typeset in Bricolage Grotesque, by Mathieu Triay. Enjoy the quotes!

I have been searching for a portable speaker so I could sing karaccoustic with and carry it around. The size has to be small enough to put in my backpack and the sound quality has be great to output recorded acoustic picking guitar sound.

I had two choices to make: the Sonos Move ($300) and the Bose SoundLink Flex SE ($130). I have never owned a Sonos product before and I wanted to make a move, but the Sonos is large. It is not too convenience, but still portable. When I tested it, the trembles were muffled and drowned by the heavy bass.

On the other hand, the Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth speaker is perfect in size. Furthermore, the Bose has exceptional crystal-clear trembles, which is perfect for the acoustic guitar sound. The lower price is also a bonus. I found exactly what I was looking for in the Bose SoundLink Flex SE Bluetooth speaker.

Cross-Cultural Design isn’t about typography, but Senongo Akpem draws our attention to stereotypography, which is a perception of typefaces we should be aware of. For example, Neuland is associated with Africa or Mandarin Regular is associated with Asian. We shouldn’t be using these typefaces to represent a culture. This book has much more to offer for those who care about reaching across cultures. It provides principles of design that embrace cultural diversity.

This is the fifth design iteration of my blog. As skiing-snowboarding season coming to an end, I want to remove the vibrant graphics and focus on the typography. I have been wanting to use Lang, designed by Stephen Nixon, for a while, but the quirky yet beautiful semi-slab type family is not intended for reading text.

Lang might not work at small size, but it looks great at large size. I dialed the body text up a notch and I loved how it took up the space. I am also getting old; therefore, larger font size works for me.

To complement Lang, I tried Lang Gothic, which is Lang’s cousin. I did not realize that Lang Gothic has no support for Vietnamese yet. I am not sure when Stephen will add Vietnamese diacritics for Lang Gothic; therefore, I went with Name Sans, which is also designed by Stephen.

As I was already using Stephen’s two typefaces, I might as well add Recursive Mono, another typeface of his, to the mix. I used Recursive Mono primary for code samples.

As for the colors, I went with the dark mode to fit my mood at this time. I am going through a dark time. I hope I can pull through it.

Dear Đán,

Congratulations on the good grades for the second quarter. I am very proud of your accomplishment. You have proven that you can do anything to keep your PC. I still worry deeply that you have grown too attached to your machine.

As a father, I am responsible for your well-being. I want to improve your life, not ruin it. I am lost for words. I can’t tell what is on your mind anymore. I don’t know how we get to this point. I am struggled to understand what is going on.

If helping you is hurting you than I am failing miserable as your father. Please tell me what I can do for you. If you want me to back off and leave you to your own devices, then just let me know. I need you to help me to help you make your life better.

You are a talented kid. I would love to have your rollerblading and snowboarding skills. It’s so hard for me to watch you not taking up interests in these sports, but I can no longer make you. It’s even more heartbreaking for me to see you glue to your PC, but I can no longer do anything about it. You have made up your mind.

You don’t need to stress out anymore. No more bans. No more restrictions. No more expectations. I trust you to make the right decision for your life. I’m not mad you. I have nothing but love for you. Do your thing, boy.

Love,
Dad

Went to Liberty this morning for the last time before the warm weather and rain wash away all the snow. The next 10 days or so will determine if the resorts in Pennsylvania will stay open.

I snowboarded first then switched to ski. Had about a dozen of runs and left at noon. The warm temperatures started to turn the snow slushy.

I am still hoping for the March miracles. We’ll see!

Dear Xuân,

Congratulations on acing the Pueblo test. When you studied hard, the result showed. Keep up the great work. I learned about the Pueblo people as well from studying with you. If you need help with school work, I am here for you.

I am glad that we had finally getting into our reading routine. I noticed the improvement in your reading with just 10 minutes a day. You will discover so many wonderful stories through reading. So please keep on reading.

I enjoyed your special Spanish performance on “Pin Pon.” Your whole class did a wonderful job. I loved the part where you interacted with your classmate. I would love to hear you sing more Spanish songs.

I know you wanted to ski with your cousin Hân and today we made it happened. We had a great time skiing and snowboarding at Roundtop. You are a skillful skier. Keep up the good work!

Love,
Dad