Saigon during my time was divvied up into a dozen districts joined by multiple roundabouts. Growing up during the height of the Vietnam War, I came-of-age not without incidents. Those news events got out via News Bureau pouches and diplomatic pouches, but the personal stuff stayed in the vault of my memory. Sometimes, our alley…

It used to be someone else’s domain and responsibilities e.g. large-scale WW’s, large-scale energy outfits, large-scale media outlets, large-scale public health care…. Now, everything seems to splinter off, scattered around – distributed. What is newsworthy? what is real? (how many data points to make a proposition proof-positive?) Where to stop playing God with virus and…

The A isn’t in CAPS for a reason. It’s just my own, small “a” America which I know, being late in the game while still “Hail Mary” to get a decent final scores. I have no idea how it changes so quickly, right before my eyes (or in between my trips overseas). I first met…

Gretchen Rubin of Yale Law took a year off for her project. Turns out, she named her book, a bestseller, ” The Happiness Project”. Habit of Happiness seems untimely, given what we have put up with so far this year (10 straight months). According to some studies, a new habit can be acquired in 66…

You might have guessed, “Software will eat your lunch”. The unseen are important. Since before time. When I saw Poinsettia (seen), I miss my Mom (unseen). We have counted the votes, some places twice or thrice, looking for the Unseen while the Seen is staring at our faces. Decency and honor are important – Seen…

Emperors of the past wouldn’t secure their title and the land without being ruthless. Luckily we have since evolved i.e. less poverty and scarcity, more computing power. Yet, despite all those extra accessories from FWD to AWD, Skype to Zoom, we still have the same O/S: win-lose, 1% vs the 99%, US vs ROW. Why…

If there were another me, my lost twin, living in the US in parallel to the time I was growing up in Vietnam; wouldn’t it be interesting? (to show I was growing up quiet a lonely boy!?!) Like a childhood fantasy, perhaps I was adopted (hence all the mistreatment)? Every kid at one time thought…

Long time ago, but it seems like yesterday. I landed at Fort Indiantown Gap, PA with two sets of clothes, and an uncertain future. I saw an ad looking for a bi-lingual interpreter, only that it was a volunteer position. Oh well, those unaccompanied refugee children needed help. So I signed up and signed on…

You can’t do that! Yes, I can. How many times have we heard that over the past four years? America is an ensemble of people from all walks of life. Because of its heterogeneous make-up, the US of A doesn’t and couldn’t see itself under monarchy or tyranny without checks and balance. It allows for…

First, Harrisburg Airport. Then Indian Town Gap. Then State College. Then Mt Poconos. Then Scranton. Finally Philadelphia. My PA. Still on my mind and in my heart. Pennsylvania was my second home. My incubator. It carried me forward, one yard at a time (Push them back, push them back, way..back ) through those hills and…