Thang Nguyen 555

That one word sums up what’s been happening this week: the Olympic bid, September job figures , David Letterman’s confession (loss of face) and automotive sales numbers .

By all indications, the US economy has just pulled through and is perhaps breaking out of the red (.73%  during Q2).

Just in time to celebrate Harvest Moon (October 4th).

Children in China and Vietnam are celebrating the Autumn Festival, their second most important holiday of the year.

Back when I was doing events for MCI, we used to give out mini Moon cakes, and decorate our booths with lanterns.

A taste of home away from home.

The US has been enriched by a mix of cultures. Imagine a world without the inventions we now took for granted (Kazaa, Skype, YouTube, Yahoo). Immigrants carry risk-takers’ DNA. Coming and contributing to the US  is not for the faint of heart.You have to set aside siesta, familiar food and ritual, and of course, Moon Festival.

That which you have always considered a norm, now a privilege (such as basil, a necessary ingredient for Pho).

I don’t know if the Irish and Italian counterparts had a hard time finding potatoes and sour cream in earlier century.

But in New York and Philadelphia, one can find pizza any where, not just in Little Italy.

Nowadays, in Los Angeles , one can find Thai town near Hollywood, or Little Tokyo/Korean town near downtown.

Multicultural society. Salad bowl.

Less boring, more fibers, diverse vitamins.

Brain drain there = brain gain here.

Bring it on. One thing for sure, it turns up the heat in Math and Science competition.

Among the first American friends I made was Professor Roy Rustum at Penn State Research Lab.

America should expect to see more people of that caliber if it plays its card right.

Like a VC firm, one will never know which start-up will break out and help it break even.

America has been an incubator in itself. And it certainly is not for the faint of heart.

I like America, and having been in sales for a decade and a half, I would shrug off  that speck of dust on my blue navy suit

and knock on the next  opportunity. Remember, Tokyo and Madrid were also faced with similar disappointment ( of the 2016 Olympic).

Be a cheerful loser. Thomas Edison kept testing one light bulb after another until blinded by the light. He did not “curse the dark” or forgot the self-invigorating Harvest Moon. Instead, he made sun light out of moon light, and made available  today’s 24/7 cycle of everything , least of which cable news and the Internet.