New Year Greeting - 2019

Happy New Year! We want to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for our friends. We are now living in Pasadena. While Facebook/Instagram is great for sharing moments, we also enjoy sharing our thoughts in writing. We love to hear from you as well in addition to seeing your social media feeds. When you visit LA, let us know!

Over the holiday, I read Dr. Kai-Fu Lee's latest book on artificial intelligence. Kai-Fu was formerly the Head of Google China. At first, I thought this book is all about technology. On the contrary, it is a book about humanity in addition to tech. A few years prior, Kai-fu was diagnosed with stage IV Lymphoma. Fortunately, he survived to write about his experience and how it transformed his perspective. He is no longer the quintessential optimizer like many of us in Silicon Valley. In tech, we grew up with a culture where we are constantly optimizing everything, including people. As we optimize, we end up not spending as much time with others. After his diagnosis, Kia-fu acknowledged how hollow it was. To quote Bronnie Ware, a palliative care nurse, who has written extensively on the most common regrets that her terminally ill patients expressed in their final weeks, “It all comes down to love and relationships in the end.”

Happiness is the one thing that we all seek in life. Based on the research done by Jonathan Haidt, author of Happiness Hypothesis, and the latest longevity study conducted by Harvard researchers, connectedness is one of the keys to happiness. I believe we are instinctively wired to seek for happiness because we are fundamentally connected. 

I want to start the new year with a quote from Marc Benioff, “are we all connected? isn't that the point?” We are grateful for every connection and every moment. 

Wish you all a great 2019! Stay connected!