Sunday, January 15, 2017

Blur: a restrospective of 2015 and 2016


Blur: 2015 and 2016 speed by! 

Joshua and me on New Years Eve 2015

National Harbor, MD, Joshua, Peter, Alan More, Diane Ching

Uncle Kenny and me, Washington DC 2015

Oracle Women's Leadership (OWL) friends at the Professional Business Women's of California Conference, March 2015

Now 2016 has come to an end. So here is my biannual blog post of 2015 and 2016. Maybe I will get back to an annual missive in late 2017? BLUR pretty much describes how life sometimes feels. What with working, commuting, cooking, cleaning, shopping, homeschooling, and even squeezing in some time for writing.

Fortunately, we've enjoyed many vacations, weddings, and family gatherings in the last two years. And I still find plenty of challenges and interesting events through my friends, family, neighbors, church, and maintaining an old house and work at Oracle.
Oracle co-workers in Santa Clara doing our fitness challenge

Joshua's first catch: a salmon at Bass Lake, California, April 2015

Yosemite, April 2015


Gray's Hall, my freshman dorm at Harvard, for 35th reunion


Quick snapshot of 2015 and 2016:

I'm still working at Oracle, but transferred from the Systems (hardware) business unit in Santa Clara to Human Capital Mgt software (applications) business unit and work from home 3 days a week and then go to headquarters in Redwood Shores one day and the Pleasanton campus one day. I'm still an information development manager but with a global team with writers in India, England, and the U.S. I like the change and the challenge and I enjoy not commuting three work days a week.

Peter is helping with the many home projects that an old house seems to have from roof leaks to electrical issues. He also drives Joshua to Foothill College where he's taking Japanese classes and participates in the Japanese and Anime clubs.

Joshua is a freshman in high school, doing online classes, a microschool class in biology, and Japanese at Foothill. He's now the tallest person in the house and with his curly mop of hair, he dwarfs me for sure. He's enjoying video gaming, video editing, and school.

Vanessa spent most of the last two years in Kunming, China, teaching English, singing in clubs and songwriting. She created a wonderful CD called Limbs with a crew of musicians through a Kickstarter campaign. She's temporarily came back to California but is now off again in Guadalajara, Mexico. She may be able to continue part-time with her current role as business development manager for goboxsfbay.com, an eco products company.

In November 2016, my dad passed away at 93. We miss him and I'm grateful for the legacy he left us. More photos of 2015 and 2016:
Joshua at Harvard's Memorial Hall, May 2015

Harvard's Widener Library

SF Pride Parade 2015
Peter got to ride in the Oracle car 

Blake Chin-Lee and Gina Nam marry in San Diego, 2015

Vanessa at Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, 2015

Oakland smoothie place and the formula for life

Look carefully, Amelia to Zora en francais
Joshua at Obon Festival, San Jose 2015


Dad moves to Peter and El's home, Silver Spring, MD

Barbara Hardy and me, Women of Color STEM Conf.

Rainbow over Detroit Rennaisance Center
Halloween with Denise O'Dell, Santa Clara 2015

Joshua in Halo costume
Christmas 2015 in DC with cousins
Peter, Josh, Diane, Michael 2015
Home construction, new floors are done
Hardware to Software send-off at Oracle

Devin, Bruce, me, Ady Hom, Russ at film festival 2015
Operation Marriage plays at the San Diego Film Festival



Duckies at Oracle Santa Clara

Fall colors in Palo Alto (not DC!)
Amanda and Doug, 2015
Christmas 2015, Peter & Kai

Brittany and Alex Skinner, Feb. 2016

Vanessa and Rachael Hays

Joshua graduates 8th grade
Josh and classmate
A sleep study for Josh
Oracle colleagues in Pleasanton, CA & Pride Parade in SF, 2016

Santa Barbara, Family Vacation Ctr

Racquet ball, anyone?
More home construction, shelves done, 2016
Richard Wong and Rachael marry in DC, July 2016
My dream car: self-driving
I'm a Techwomen Cultural Mentor
Techwomen event in San Juan Bautista
Peter, Josh, me, Ruby Yang filmmaker, Vanessa, Luca
Happy techwomen, SF, 2016
At HRC gala in SF
William Chin-Lee, 1923-2016
Blake, Brittany, Alex, Vanessa, Doug at wake
Cyndi, Josh, Peter at Blake and Gina's wedding
Craig Wiesner, me, Quentin Lee filmmaker at CAAMfest, SF

UC Santa Barbara 2016

 OPEN: Oracle Pride Employee Network award 2016