Saturday, December 21, 2013

2013 Holiday Greetings from the Ching-Chin-Lee-Pan Family


William and Nancy Chin-Lee

The folks

My mother,Nancy Wong Chin-Lee, passed from this world on October 21st (at age 85), but her spirit lives on. I miss her but I know she’s in a better place. Because of her Alzheimer’s, she had been unable to take care of herself the last few years and we were so fortunate to have two talented caregivers, Irene and Namukale.

My father continues to live in their condo in Washington, DC, with the help of our caregivers. I’m also happy that Douglass Chin-Lee, my nephew, is living with him and my niece Allyx Chin-Lee lives next door. We celebrated dad’s 90th birthday in April with a large gathering and a family reunion.

Peter's mom, Wanda Ching, has had several setbacks, including 4 surgeries this year, but maintains a sunny disposition. Luckily, Peter's siblings are nearby (she's in Arlington, VA) and they have been taking excellent care of her.

Sun/Oracle

Oracle x86 Engineering Office in Shanghai
I marked my 10th anniversary of working at Sun/Oracle in November, the longest time working at one place by a large margin. Thanks to my team, we've been able to do more work in animation and video as well as publications. This work gave me a reason to organize a panel on animation, video, and data visualization at the wonderful Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Minneapolis. 

Shanghai and Kunming

Oracle sent me to Shanghai to do leadership training for our office there. 
I took this chance to visit Vanessa, who has given up the corporate life for now and is teaching English in Kunming, Yunnan province.

Caitlin, Vanessa, Nancy (all expats) in Halloween costumes

Vanessa & Cyndi at Erhu Lake, Dali

Cyndi at Emerald Lake, Kunming

Joshua and Peter


Joshua is enjoying his last year (sigh!) as a fifth grader at Ohlone Elementary in Palo Alto. He posts to
his own YouTube channel where he shares his exploits in video gaming, likes collecting Pokemon cards, and singing sea shanties (his class did an overnight trip on the tall ship Balclutha in SF harbor). He’s had some difficulty this year, breaking his foot while playing kickball, but overall he is taking things in stride.
Peter and Josh at Lake Boronda, trying to fish

Joshua, actor, at Palo Alto Children's Theater

Derrick Kikuchi, Craig Wiesner, Cyndi, Josh, and Peter at Reach & Teach Store












Peter has been actively helping in Joshua’s class and indulging his photography and video interests. We had two relaxing vacations in Carlsbad, CA (near San Diego) and in Calistoga (in the Napa Valley) where Peter got respite from our cats (he has allergies). I think we’ve come up with a pretty good solution as they are now more outdoor (than indoor) cats and we’ve built them a small house with heat pad and electric lights!

We are fully converting to electronic communication and also trying to reduce our carbon footprint. We bought a plug-in hybrid car (Ford CMAX Energi) and after viewing the storyofstuff.org, trying to give experiences rather than stuff as gifts. The only exception, of course, is a good book!

Chimecho (the purrfect cat) and Cyndi


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