About Me – An overview

A native of California and the youngest of four siblings, I grew up on the San Francisco peninsula in the 1960’s and 70’s. My parents immigrated from China when they were young and met after WWII while attending UC Berkeley.

After graduating from high school, I served in the U.S. Navy on from 1980 through 1986. I was a volunteer for the Submarine Service, was a sonar technician and supervisor, and also became a Navy Diver.

In 1989, after a 3-year attempt to take on the mantle of my father’s family business, (long story short) I opted, rather, to enter the electrical engineering field as an IC (integrated circuit) Mask Designer.

Over the next several years, I further developed my technical and leadership skills as a designer and hiring manager. While through this same period was experiencing a renaissance period of diverse experiences on my leisure time.

Called to a more philanthropic occupation (long story short), from 1998 to 2002, I returned to school part time and over the next few years was very dynamic: I began dating my wife to be, got married, the company went public, I struggled to find a new direction occupationally, the market crashed, I discovered new influences in my life.

Moving forward, I believe myself as happily married, but I can tell you that getting married is hard work and more humbling than anything I’ve experienced prior to.

There is a saying among some fighting men (paraphrasing), “We don’t fight because we hate the enemy so much as we fight to protect the loved ones we left behind and we fight for our teammates.” That’s one way we are able to empty ourselves of ourselves and get stronger. Love IS powerful.

Inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)(long story short.. let’s call it “L-S-S”), I worked on my Master of TCM from 2004 through 2007. In Late 2007 I received by License to practice Acupuncture in California and Hawaii.

Coincidentally, 2004 and 2007, these are the birth years of our two children, a boy first then a girl. Yes, more gut wrenching humbling AND happy life situations, but ever fulfilling and inspiring (I say it’s like two steps backwards and three steps forwards, all the time. You can never fathom the depths of commitment and love).

In 2008 the Great Recession hit us hard and I made a decision to go back into the industry that I wanted to leave (L-S-S), working 50-100 hours per week for over a year in a start up company (going to work when my kids are asleep and coming home when they are gone back to sleep is no damned way for me to live). So when I was sought by another more mature private company to fill a position, I went for it, and in another half a year in 2010, unexpectedly, I was sought by even a better anymore stable position in an established public company. Weird how God moves.

2011 was another big year for me that marked change. Being inspired by others to change myself further and influenced by some world events (L-S-S), I started down a road of more intense learning, a refinement of who I understood myself to be (after all these years), and developing more clinical health knowledge and life skills.

Here I am in 2013, writing a blog even though not long ago I was almost 100% completely against my personal involvement in the contemporary wave of social media.

Putting experiences into words has often been my pleasure.

I appreciate the time you took to read this. Go on with the encouragement that the best journey is yet to come.