I heard from the radio that a single mom who was laid-off during Covid felt bad that she couldn’t buy presents to her children, actually, she couldn’t even afford a Christmas tree. I felt sad for her, not only the financial challenges but also the “holiday obligation”. I never had a Christmas tree or gifts …
Category Archives: Joy
湯圓Glutinous Rice Balls
Today is winter solstice or 冬至(pounced: Dongzhi), meaning the arrival of winter. Normally in Taiwan, family would get together and enjoy 湯圓(pronounced: tang yuan), glutinous rice balls together. Tang yuan are usually in two sizes: normal, slightly smaller than a plum comes in a variety of flavors. Sesame and peanuts are popular traditional flavors. The …
Take a Moment to Appreciate
Many people would say 2020 is a challenging year yet there is always bright side… I wrote an article called “Take a moment to appreciate” at work. We have made tremendous progress, including automation/ time saving for team, reduced outsourcing cost, enhanced community experience, and increased user adoption in 2020 (see “Cheers” post for more …
Cheers
3 great news today… We gave a successful executive steering review for the initiative I’m leading. Development team has completed a key software feature and cross-functional teams are preparing for the January rollout. We celebrated initiative’s 15 months anniversary and progress: we have built 2 new systems and enhanced 2, doubled the job processed (automation), …
燒餅油條 Biscuits Fritters
燒餅油條 (pronunciation: shao bing you tiao) biscuits fritters is very popular in traditional Taiwanese breakfast. It’s a crispy sandwich; 燒餅(shao bing) is a baked layered paddy and cut in half to put 油條(you tiao) a fried hallow sticks (usually come in pair, side by side). When you bite it, the you tiao melts in your …
Nice Work
Aunt texted me that the lights I put on her Christmas trees didn’t work and she doesn’t know what’s going on. I rode bike there to check as exercise. While I was slowly riding uphill, one paddle at a time…a lady running passed and said ‘Nice work’ to me, I was caught in surprise for …
Thanksliving
No shopping this Black Friday, instead, I ordered two things online. In the past, aunt’s banquet easily had 20+ people and 15+ dishes, today just 4 of us with 3 home-made dishes: rice cake stew, shrimp, string bean; plus roasted veggie pizza I brought from a local shop, simple and delicious. We ate on the …
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving! Last year I went home and spent the week with family. This year, due to Covid, I along with many stay wherever we are. I saw a friend’s text comparing last year she had a Thanksgiving dinner with friends in NYC then flew to Asia for class reunion trip, this year, she’ll have …
Gen Z
I contacted Skillers, a Toastmasters club in Lublin, Poland twice on its website expressing interest to join its meeting and requesting the virtual meeting link. I didn’t hear back. I messaged them on Facebook page, there was still no response, I posted on its board (less than 30 min before the meeting), last try…right at …
Staycation => Voluncation
Due to Covid, this holiday season will be staycation, no travel for me. I would enjoy reading, writing, and attending virtual activities yet I want to do something more and different. I read about Catch a Fire, a platform for skill-based volunteering, a while ago and decided to sign-up. I applied for two projects with …