I watched Richard Peck to become toastmaster international president at this year’s international convention. Time goes fast. We met 9 years ago at a district 53 conference. I newly joined toastmaster then and attended the conference for the first time by the encouragement of my mentor. I remembered Rich, tall, slim man in suit, standing …
Category Archives: Kindness
Customer Interview
My boss asked me to work with the product and UX/ research teams in designing and preparing customer interviews of a customer portal. Learning a new system (totally different from the one I’m leading and the opposite end of user journey) and about customers are very exciting to me. However, for several team members, interviewing …
Let’s Try
The product manager proposed 2 changes for communication: (1) instead of him doing the stakeholder demo bi-weekly on Monday for the new features, he wants the developers to do so after each sprint on Thursday. The benefits: stakeholders and tech team get to know each other and tech team could practice presentation, coached by the …
Shocking News
I heard shocking news at a previous company: a ‘powerful’ long-timer was removed due to harassment charges and two people ‘suddenly’ passed away; there were young, one under 60 and the other in 20s. There is a Chinese proverb:人做事天在看;善有善報,惡有惡報,不是不報,時機未到 (God/ higher force watch our action; good for good, bad for bad, if it doesn’t happen …
Love and Logic
Chinese pronounces eight as ‘Ba’, similar to Eight so Eight Eight (August 8) is Father’s Day. I called home to wish dad a Happy Father’s Day! Normally dad handed the phone to mom quickly, today we chatted. He spent most of time talking about a recent car repair and a fuel system cleaner. I know …
Empathy
I called the dentist office on late Friday afternoon as I started to feel pain in the back of tooth (gum?) but the office was closed. Fortunately, the situation didn’t worsen over the weekend. I called first thing this morning, Monday, and the front desk staff fit me into the schedule right away. 2 hours …
Mask of Love
I opened the box of masks that mom and dad sent. The box was first wrapped by paper then covered by tape. The box itself was also covered by tape. Inside, a neatly taped plastic bag contained 10 envelops of three disposable masks each. Mom and dad went to pharmacy every few days to buy …
There is Always Hope
Last summer I moved to Boston area and I was busy enjoying its variety of offerings, e.g. concerts, festivals, startup events while exploring restaurants and museums. This year, with Covid-19, a different summer, I’m finding alternatives online… I came across Honeyland, a documentary about Hatidže Muratova, a wild bee keeper’s life in the remote mountain …
Gift
I took a walk after dinner as usual in the neighborhood. I walked pass a garden while a man was working behind the vine with his wife standing by. I gave them a big smile and said hello (as I normally do with people) and complimented on their flourishing tomato, lettuce, etc. When I walked …
Story Worth Telling
I came across SheNYC Arts, showcasing women writers and theater artists across the country, out of curiosity and love/ support of art, I got the All-Access Pass. My first show is Fort Huachuca which featured five African American women enlisted in the army to train as nurses. Simple story with complex issues of racism and …