In the last few days, I recollected screenshots of designs I had worked on during my time at Vassar (from 2002 to 2008). For posterity, check out homepage banners, homepage redesigns, and site designs. They brought back so much memories.
On Saturday, I went to 99 Ranch and spotted black sesame cereal. Memories of my mother rushed in. I bought a bag to drink in the morning so I could remember her. I can still recall those winter mornings when my mom made me a piping hot cup of black sesame cereal before I walked in the freezing cold to school. I almost wept thinking about her and her unconditional love for me.
My mother devoted her whole life to me, especially when we migrated to the United States. Without my father, her focus was solely on me. In retrospect, I wish she had lived her life and made me part of her life. Because she bet everything she had on me, I faced the pressure of not letting down. I knew I had to make her proud. I could see that she worried about my presence as well as my future. She put all of her hopes and dreams in me; therefore, failing wouldn’t be an option. I knew I had to get that college paper.
I carry the same mentality as a father now. I worry about my kids way too much. I am afraid that they are getting addicted to digital devices. Telling them why I don’t want them to spend too much time on their devices only backfires. They think I hate them and ruin their lives. It is much harder to reforge the rule if I am the only one to think they shouldn’t spend too much time on their devices.
My wife and I have different methods of parenting and we often clash. To make peace, I am backing off. At the same time, I don’t want to give them the pressure like my mother did for me. I don’t want to devote my entire life to them. I don’t want to love them unconditionally. I have to trust that they will figure it out on their own. Every opportunity I could give, I already offered to them. If they fail or succeed, they will have to own it. I can’t spend my whole life worrying them. I will accept however they will turn out.
I am not sure how they will do. I can’t predict the future. I just have to wait and see. For now, I just need to enjoy the time we spend on earth together. I don’t know when I will go given my current health condition. Even though I am not in great shape, I am feeling fine. I can still do many sports, but I just don’t know.
I am having a blast working with a high-level incompetence. I layed out all the issues so that later on I can say, “I told you so.” If we are not tackling the challenges now, they will come back and bite us later on. I have been in this game for so long that I can foresee what will go down. I offer my advice and expertise. Take it or leave it. Just don’t blame me for all the fuck-ups later on. I have spoken up and documented my concerns; therefore, I will not take responsibility for the decisions I didn’t make.
I have learned to play along. As far as I am concerned, I am fine if they pay me no mind, just pay me money. I am not in a position to make my case or to prove my skills. If my position is based on my level of competence, I am secured. Then again, nothing is secure and stable. I can’t spend my time worrying about the future. I just have to take it one day at a time. Que sera, sera.
I have many things else to keep me occupied. I am going to be alright. I won’t let anybody else or anything else hold me down. I just have to keep on moving. I have been around the block long enough to keep myself sane and focus. I don’t let all the distractions get in my way. I have a family to look after. That’s where I am at right now.
Winnie Lim moved her sites from DigitalOcean to OpalStack. Winnie writes:
I decided I didn’t want to manage my own servers anymore – it got tiresome having to install updates every so often – so after some research I found out that some ex-employees from webfaction started opalstack, so that is where I moved her website to. I like that is is very much like webfaction, it is almost like a vps with ssh but it is managed.
I feel Winnie. It gets tiresome having updates my droplets every few months. Then again having to manage my own servers keeps me in the game. I need all the technical skills to do my full-time job in my position as a director. I don’t need to do it myself. I just need to know my shit. As far as moving off DigitalOcean, I don’t know where I want to move to.
Winnie is also concerned about the longevity of her site:
I am still concerned about what happens to my website after I am gone, and also the actual longevity of opalstack since it is a small friendly company. But well sometimes we just have to take a leap of faith.
I worried about my sites after I die as well, but I have come to accept that when I am gone my sites will be gone with me as well. If I lose my sites tomorrow, I will definitely be sad, but I will move on.
JAY-Z talks to Gayle King about his work, life, and The Book of HOV installation at Brooklyn Public Library. I want to check it out.
The right (passenger) rear tired had 4 punctures. It was irrepairable. Since the tread reading for the tires was at 5/32, I went ahead and replace all four. The last time I replaced them was in December 2019. Thanks to this blog, I could pull up the information immediately. The tires were over 3 years; therefore, they needed to be replaced anyway. I ordered 4 new all-season Michelin Defenders at Costco. I needed new tires so I can go to the ski resorts this coming winter.
Tires, tax, and installation cost $880. I am going to need to an alignment as well. The cost of having a car.
Đã lâu rồi mới được thưởng thức một album nhạc Trịnh qua bầu không khí mộc mạc cùng tiếng hát nam trầm ấm. Đúng với tựa đề của album, Nhiên, Lân Nhã hát ca từ của người cố nhạc sĩ tài hoa rất hồn nhiên. Được đệm bởi tiếng đàn guitar acoustic, Lân Nhã hát nhẹ nhàng từng chữ một nên anh để lộ cách phát âm hơi điệu của mình. Tuy nhiên không điệu đến nỗi khiến người nghe rùng rợn. Chỉ cần vài shots whisky là album này nghe phê ngay.
Perform update and upgrade to the current Droplet.
List all the installed PHP version:
ls /etc/php/The latest version should appear on the list.
7.4 8.0 8.1 8.2If PHP 8.2 doesn’t exist, install it, but update the package lists first:
sudo apt-get updateRun the installation:
sudo apt-get install php8.2 php8.2-cli php8.2-commonInstall additional PHP modules
sudo apt-get install php8.2-mysql php8.2-soap php8.2-bcmath php8.2-xml php8.2-mbstring php8.2-gd php8.2-curlDisable PHP 8.0:
sudo a2dismod php8.0Enable PHP 8.2:
sudo a2enmod php8.2Restart Apache:
sudo systemctl restart apache2Source: Based on instructions by Bobby Iliev
Perform update and upgrade to the current Droplet.
List all the installed PHP version:
ls /etc/php/The latest version should appear on the list.
7.4 8.0 8.1 8.2If PHP 8.2 doesn’t exist, install it. If 8.2 exists, disable 8.0:
sudo a2dismod php8.0If the error message (ERROR: Module php8.0 does not exist!) occurred, install:
sudo apt install libapache2-mod-php8.0Enable version 8.2:
sudo a2enmod php8.2If the error message (ERROR: Module php8.2 does not exist!) occurred, install:
sudo apt install libapache2-mod-php8.2Restart Apache:
sudo service apache2 restartIf WordPress throws PHP MySQLi Extension error, install:
apt install php8.2-mysqlRestart Apache:
sudo service apache2 restartCheck WordPress’s Site Health. If the optional imagick module occurred, install:
sudo apt install php-imagickRestart Apache:
sudo systemctl reload apache2I woke up with a bit of a migraine. I was not sure if the culprit were the beer from last night, the falling incident at the skatepark, the lack of sleep, or the combination of all of them. Still, I woke up early to take Ðạo to school.
Then I met up with Xuân’s teachers for the parent conference. I was in shock to learn that he had been struggling academically. He doesn’t understand Spanish at all. Even though I was surprised, I was not mad at him. With Đạo and Đán, I didn’t see any value in learning Spanish, especially when neither my wife and I know the language. I would rather they focus on English. If they had to study another language, why not Vietnamese?
Xuân is also struggling with math, writing, and reading. He is having a hard time staying focused. He is easily distracted. He scored low his reading assessment.
I felt so guilty. I assumed he had been doing good. His behavior had been much better this year; therefore, I hadn’t heard anything from his teachers. While his social skills had improved, his learning had not.
After the meeting, my migraine dialed up a knot. Had going to the skatepark taken away his school work? I need to spent more time helping with his schoolwork.
I took my sister and her daughter to the Great Fall Park. The weather was beautiful. The scenes were stunning, but I couldn’t get Xuân off my mind.
By the time we got back home, my migraine kicked in. I had to pop in an Aleve and went for a late nap. I slept for a bit and my migraine had subsided.