Thang Nguyen 555

Cultures on Collision Course

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With some short-term relief work in Asia/Africa and long stint in Telecom, Thang also earned a B.A. at Pennsylvania State University. M.A. in Communication at Wheaton Graduate School, M.A. in Cross-Cultural Communication at Gordon-Conwell Seminary, Boston. In addition, he earned a CELTA – classes taken in Hanoi for cultural re-immersion.

Author: Thang Nguyen 555

  • Time to take stock

    So this is Christmas, what have you done? Year-end review and future projection. Cloud strategy? Hiring and firing decision? Productivity squeeze and cost cutting? (female shoppers said they planned to spend 1% less as compared to last year). Time to take stock, at individual and institutional level. New calendar. Hollywood is going to Detroit (greener…

  • Time to reflect

    Year in review. A look back at the decade that was. We reflect so we don’t repeat the same mistakes. Our brain can play trick: stand aside or step back, then press rewind. I can still recall incidents when I was 4, or 7 and especially my first puppy love (in this case, the song…

  • Time to read

    There is a time to listen and a time to read. That time is now. At lunch or in line. The WSJ runs a a picture of an “early adopter” (old lady wrapped herself in a good book, digital that is). For her, what a lifetime that was: out of the house to go to…

  • Time to heal

    Of the 5 stages of grief, the first one goes away the quickest (denial). The last stage, acceptance, takes the longest (not without some relapses). I wass at my parent’s graves this past Thanksgiving. A bit of acceptance there. Trophies, college degrees and even old business cards showed our accomplishments. But they are not indicators…

  • supply chain dilemma

    First they outsourced to lower the cost of, let’s say, an I phone. The guy (Chinese farm-to-factory worker) if not jumped out of the window from a Foxconn‘s dorm, wished he had because there was no way he could afford one. Even his counterparts in NYC had to get in line just to hand carry the same…

  • All about finishing!

    How would you like to keep up at third place, just to have your legs give in at the last-minute? That’s what happened to SF track star, who managed to crawl to the finishing line. http://abcnews.go.com/US/injured-high-school-runner-crawls-finish-line-push/story?id=12298473 In the late 70’s, it’s all about running. Then we learned more about knee injuries. So we took up…

  • Maggie, I still have something to say

    Saw Rod Stewart on TV, mute out sound at the gym. Still with the spiked up hair, shiny suit and swaying. Staying power and loyal fan base. My daughter asked “what’s that word to mean someone who because of him/her, you model after”. I tried “influencer”, “role model“, “mentor” and hit the note with “idol”.…

  • Mars or marble

    Have you submitted your name to be shuttled up to Mars?  Space and sea travel or your names on Mars and not marble. This is to show our preference for progress over permanence  – technology over religion. While it’s good to sit on one of the benches with our parent’s names “in memory of…”, it’s…

  • Never too old to salivate

    I was there on Black Friday.  95 North. Wal-Mart stop. I saw shoppers pushing carts filled with wireless printers, Blu-ray players and flat screen TV’s. The only other time you see people taking stuff from the store in the dark was during the LA riot or Katrina. Just as soon as one comfortably sat back…

  • Mom’s Poinsettia

    It’s that time of the year again, when Poinsettia are everywhere, from Walgreen to Walmart. I saw it in my Mom’s assisted living back when she was still alive. That pair-association stuck with me: Mama-Poinsettia. We have buried in our CPUs millions of those pairings: white-blue/school uniform, fruit-cake/Christmas,  peanut butter/GI ration …( in Vietnam, it’s…