Posts about my personal life
January 3, 2015 It’s Saturday night, which means we’ve been back in Taichung for almost four days now. There’s a 7-11 around the corner from my parents’ condo here in Taichung. (Actually, for clarification, there’s a 7-11 pretty much on every other corner in Taiwan.) I went in there to grab a drink the other… Read More A Shiny (8.4-Ounce) Beacon
Wednesday, December 31, 2014 There’s a Tom Petty song I’ve been humming to myself quite a bit over the past week…. The waiting is the hardest part Every day you see one more card You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waaaaiting is the hardest part Okay, so the song… Read More The Waiting
Tuesday, December 30, 2014 There was an old man in the room next to us. He had to be in his 80s. At least. He kind of reminded me a real-life version of those two grouchy old men who sat in the balcony and heckled everyone on the Muppet Show. If you ever watched the… Read More Our Neighbor
Monday, December 29, 2014 Last night was a kind of a rough night. My dad was somewhat responsive Saturday morning. He opened his eyes when we called him, and when my mom pointed to me standing at the foot of the bed, he even looked towards me. It only lasted about a minute, but it seemed like… Read More Callous Irony
Monday, December 29, 2014 Twice a day, for four days now, we’ve been in the SICU to see my dad. During the first three days, his lucidity wavered from completely unconscious to opening his eyes when we called him and even looking in our direction, though with no reaction whatsoever. The fourth and fifth days, however,… Read More Love or Duty?
Sunday, December 28, 2014 My dad is a brilliant man. I don’t know why I’m using this as an example of his brilliance, when just the sheer volume of research he’s published says it all, but when we bought home our first Rubik’s cube when I was a little kid, he sat down on his… Read More A Brilliant Mind
Saturday, December 27, 2014 The Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Cheng Kung University Teaching Hospital has a strange ritual…. Twice a day, for half an hour each time, the SICU has open visiting hours. The entrance to the SICU is marked by a pair of sliding metal doors, at the end of a wide hallway.… Read More Cattle Call
Thursday, January 1, 2015 Aside from a few Australian friends, I think I win the race to 2015. I didn’t think Taiwan celebrated the western new year, but lo and behold, when midnight rolled around, Taichung went off in an explosion of fireworks. This was shot from my eighth-story window at around 12:08 AM National… Read More Happy New Year… from the Future
Friday, December 26, 2014 I freaked out yesterday, on just the first full day we’ve been here in Tainan. But I didn’t freak out for the obvious reason. I didn’t freak out upon seeing my dad. No, I freaked out when I found out that the house we’re staying at doesn’t have wi-fi. I need internet!… Read More Freaking Out
Thursday, December 25, 2014 The… uh, celebrity-type person. Not the drink. That would be weird. My dad works in Taiwan because 17 years ago, he got offered a prestigious position as a doctor/professor at one of the universities here. At that time, he had been a doctor at UC Irvine, and it was a tough… Read More My Dad is a Rockstar
Thursday, December 25, 2014 Got in my car and drove to Irvine, where my mom is. Slept in Irvine for the night. Got on a shuttle and rode to LAX. Met my sister in LAX. Flew from LAX to Taipei, Taiwan. Taipei is on the north end of the island. Got picked up by the… Read More Automobiles, Plane, Automobiles, Train, More Automobiles
In case you’re wondering why I’ve basically dropped off the face of the earth, it’s because I sort of have. For over a week now, I’ve been in Taiwan. I haven’t wanted to say anything about it publicly, because saying something about it publicly seemed like I would be turning this into a big deal.… Read More Disappearing Act
From my experience, most thrill ride operators will err on the side of caution and advise you to be more careful than you actually have to be. But in this case, the safety talk guy was definitely not kidding about needing to use the brake. I think I got about six seconds down the hill before I was sufficiently freaked out that I would fly off the track, and my sense of self-preservation convinced me to start pulling on the brake lever. Talk about holding your life in your hand.… Read More Holding Your Life in Your Hand
All last week, I was in Park City, Utah. I was there for Automattic’s Grand Meetup, the one time a year that the entire company sees each other in person. The Grand Meetup is a combination of both work and play, with the first half of the week leaning towards “work,” and the second half stumbling drunkenly towards “play.”… Read More The Party Suite was My Home for Seven Nights
Last week, I attended Techweek Chicago, as a Happiness Engineer for WordPress.com. Over the course of three days, we talked all things WordPress with the hundreds of people who stopped by. We even sat down with users and helped them with their sites….… Read More Representing WordPress at Techweek Chicago
We randomly passed by these guys as we were exploring Rome. They were pretty freaking awesome, and I ended up buying their CD. Here’s a quick clip….… Read More Hot Gypsy Jazz in the Streets of Rome
I’m not much of a photographer, nor am I a skilled Photoshopper by any means. Point being, these photos are totally unfiltered and unaltered….… Read More Sunset in Cefalù, Sicily
Last week, Automattic’s Store Team had a meet-up in Palermo, Sicily. Here, we are… ahem… hard at work….… Read More Working in Italy
Here I am, circa 1973. I guess I get my squirmy disposition from my dad….… Read More Jumping on the Throwback Thursday Bandwagon!
You end up with a lot of scowling.… Read More This is what happens when you hang out with a college buddy you haven’t seen in eight years ….
Dennis Hong's Attic 