November Newsletter for my church

Attitude of Gratitude

At the October Women’s meeting, Diana, Betty, Shirley, Lillian, Eldora, Caryl, Linda, and I had a great time of fellowship. Our church is pretty famous for fellowship and eating. Once I heard Linda’s 3 year old grandson called our church, “The Restaurant Church”. Every time he came to church, he saw us eating. This time was no exception. Lots of donuts, breakfast cakes, deviled eggs, quiches, and all the sweet stuff that would cling to my waist were there. After we ate, we talked about business items such as collecting food for Golden Gate Seminary students, collecting winter coats for the homeless, and collecting children’s Christmas gifts for the Women’s Crisis Center.

We then had a time of sharing what God is doing in our lives. These were some of the reports: “I thank God for giving me patience to deal with family responsibilities”, “ I thank God for giving me a peace of mind”, “giving me wisdom to choose the right thing to do”, “giving me energy to do things I need to do”, “giving me insight to adjust my expectations”, “giving me an opportunity to help my grown daughter”, “I thank God for having a family and working with a good boss”.

As I listened to each person’s praise, I realized the power of gratitude. Our attitude of gratitude was like a sweet fragrance spreading in our midst and rising to the throne of God. We became tender toward one another. Is it my imagination or my wish? When we ask for prayer requests, we tend to focus on our own problems and disappointments, but when we share what God is doing in our lives, we tend to focus on God and His work in our lives. My point is this: Let’s praise God more and talk about ourselves less. Then a sweet fragrance will fill our life, an aroma that can transform our home and our church.

Eugene Lee, CEO of Socialtext

Eugene Lee, the CEO of Socialtext came to my class, and inspired us with so many great stories. He captured our attention, almost 2 hour without any break, I am talking about late night, 10 p.m. I can see he is passionate about what he is doing, and he made great points for being connected with others in the business world. Also his experience with Twitter convinced me to use Twitter, which I often thought why anybody in the world wants to know what I am doing, such as I am grading papers or I am eating my lunch. Out of all those Web 2.0 tools, Twitter was the least useful for me as a teacher. But Eugene inspired me to try to use it again. So I shall follow those who are having fun working, and you can follow me if you want to know what I am doing.

When Eugene came to the class last year, he was the new CEO to the Socialtext and he just got off from Adobe as a VP. By the way, when I met him when Adobe invited educational leaders to the conference from all over the world, everyone wanted to make a connection with him including myself, people were lining up to introduce themselves to Eugene. He looked little uncomfortable, at least to my eyes. He was little stiff. But boy, this time, he looked happy and relaxed, and he made jokes. He is actually very funny. I sense that he found the right work to use his talents, creativity, and his personality. Eugene is having way too much fun.

You have to watch this movie!

In my class, students are telling a story without words to demonstrate six senses of Danial Pinks book. Brian who is a movie producer did an excellent job to demonstrate six senses which we are discussing in ITEC 830. I think that a good piece of art brings out different emotions, evoking empathy, harmonizing different elements thus create a great symphony. I watched this movie several times, and my response to it was different each time (meaning). If he used words, it would not have the same effects on me. Also don't forget about "playfulness" of this piece. This movie got a five star rating from me. Here is Brian's blog site for more info. http://jipclass.blogspot.com/

Daniel Pink's book and video

We, ITEC 830, are reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink this week. The key points of the book is about using both sides of the brain to make successful living in the 21st century global economy. I found his commencement speech at MCAD is interesting and is a good summary of his book. I also think he is a great speaker whom I wish to learn from.

part I


The following video really describes the importance of design, story, empathy, symphony, play, and meaning.