My roommate said I should write a book about commented on my ‘talent of cooking’…not because I’m a Michelin star chef but because I cook everything with only 2 appliances: a rice cooker and a toaster oven. Anything wet goes into the rice cooker, e.g. soup, stew, and steam. Anything dry comes from the oven, …
Category Archives: Creativity
What’s New?
I love fall, beautiful weather and colors. It’s too nice to stay indoor. I don’t have a back yard or patio so I head out to search for a spot…i found it in a nearby park, under 2 large trees and on top of the little hill…Sun shines through the leaves warm without burning, birds …
Transformation
A friend invited me to join her toastmaster club meeting. I received a private message from the chat during the meeting ‘is that you?’ from an old friend who quitted his job as an software engineer from a tech company to become a coach and speaker and travel around the world. Last time I heard …
It’ll be All Right
It’s my first time to be the toastmaster (host) of my home club’s meeting and on zoom. I checked in with the club president and our ‘tech guru’ 2 weeks prior. I reached out to the members the weekend (5 days) prior to the meeting to start the preparation (ask for speaker intro, coordinate with …
Mentality Creates Reality
I’m visiting Naledi-Polokwane Toastmaster club (virtual) meeting in South Africa. I volunteered at table topic (impromptu speaking) and was given the topic: ‘Yes, we’re back to reality’… For a split seconds, I wondered what it meant. Don’t we ‘always’ live in the reality? Or the topic meant that life is back to ‘normal’ (pre-Covid)? This …
Delegate and Grow
With tech team focusing on a large project with long development cycle, we need to do things differently. I asked non-tech teams to choose/ form task forces to work on the discovery, planning works of a few key areas. I then asked the product manager to lead the task force while I support it. He …
Survive => Thrive
I visited Boston Toastmaster club meeting. At table topic (impromptu speaking), I was asked to talk about ‘not only survive but thrive’… Two recent Toastmaster experiences were great examples and thanks to Covid-19: (1) Many clubs have brought their meetings online so I ‘could’ join tonight’s meeting. I couldn’t make the meeting in person with …
Always Making Progress
Over the past two weeks, a colleague and I have been calling sales to get buy-in and prepare for customer interviews. Most sales and ops teams were enthusiastic about product/ UX team’s interest in getting customer feedback even if it may not be the right time or circumstance to talk with customers now. What we …
Tea Time
My roommate and I have been working from home since mid March due to Covid. We’re busy during the week, barely talk with each other, and usually work late. Today for the first time, we decided to have a tea in the late afternoon. I love Indian Chai masala tea, hot and comforting, just the …
Alternative
I got up at 7AM on a Sunday morning to watch Toastmaster International’s panel discussion about the partnership of Toastmaster and Rotary Club. Somehow, the link didn’t work. I tried several times and waiting, nothing happened…I was a bit annoyed of wasting time and sleep. Then I reminded myself that I ‘gained’ some time to …