Author: Frank

I first played with Lego bricks as a child in Puerto Rico in the 1970s.  My father owned a restaurant, and I rarely got to play with him during the day.  I have cherished memories of building wild and whimsical structures from brightly colored bricks as we sat on our cold tile floor late at night.  He passed away shortly after that when I was nine.  To this day, those little plastic bricks remain my ethereal line to a father I barely knew.

Over four years ago in 2020, I purchased a set that tickled my fancy.  This is no surprise; I have many Lego sets.  However, this set was one for The White House.  Though I might have built it whenever I wanted, the notion of building it during the Trump presidency filled me with profound sadness.  I refused; I set it aside.  On January 20, 2021, shortly after President Biden’s inauguration, I finally opened the roughly 1500-piece set and started building it.  I finished by evening, but still on Inauguration Day.

Continue reading “Dismantling my White House” →

I connected a Wacom drawing tablet to my home computer many years ago.  I used it with drawing programs on the computer rather than a conventional mouse.  While it worked well, my next dilemma was the need to switch back and forth between the mouse and the drawing pen.  To streamline the use of both devices, I did what made sense at the time.  I started to use one of these left-handed; I chose to move the mouse.

Having about half a dozen computers between home and work, I changed all the mice to be left-handed.  I reversed the function of the two mouse buttons and moved the mouse to the other side.  I endured the first week with excruciating futility; by the end of the second week, I could accomplish most tasks without much struggle.  However, this little activity taught me more than mere muscle memory, it gave me a new perspective on my biases.

Continue reading “The myth around racial guilt” →

A friend once chatted me out of the blue with an accusation like, “Stop making me look like an asshole!”  This is a friend with whom I had no recent interactions, so my mind naturally raced to find the offending reference to him; I found none.  However, I didn’t deny that I did it, I don’t remember doing it.  My disposition leaned towards the apologetic while I continued to chat to determine the source of the offense.

As it happens, the post that offended my friend did not refer to him directly.  It didn’t even refer to a particular political party or even group.  It simply referred to a behavior.  I posted a link to this article, with the following comment:

This is the definition of homophobia:
“dislike of or prejudice against homosexual people.”

Here’s an idea, if you don’t like being labeled homophobic, maybe you shouldn’t pass laws that are prejudiced against homosexual people.

It’s quite literally what it means. Either own the fact that you are homophobic or repeal the law; I’d prefer the latter.

Continue reading “The Ambiguity of Mind Reading” →

On a lazy Sunday evening, I channel surfed and came upon an episode of This is Life with Lisa Ling.  I’ve watched several episodes before, and I found them to be deeply interesting.  Lisa Ling does an amazing job of covering the topics objectively, without judgement.  Somehow her compassion and humanity permeate each episode, independent of topic.  She presents the topics in a way that we see and empathize with the people, not merely flatten them and bucket them into a particular category.

This particular episode, “Interracial Love” (Season 9, Episode 2) talks about the stigma and challenges of couples of different races.  I, a Chinese man, coupled with a Caucasian woman, found this episode especially interesting.  Naturally, one story covered how a father broke ties with his son, because he married and had children with a Black woman.  It showed this relationship open up over the course of years.  I found this story both deeply distressing and quietly optimistic.

Continue reading “Freedom to practice your faith” →

In high school, I once asked a potential math teacher if I may double up Algebra 2 and Trigonometry in order to take Calculus on my senior year.  She responded with “I wouldn’t do it unless you’re a mathematical genius.”  Her mere skepticism sufficiently discouraged me from attempting that feat.  While tethering on the edge of humility and confidence, I backed down.  Though in retrospect, I participated in math contests and regularly scored among the top of my class in each subject; I then went on to engineering school.  While I wouldn’t have worded it precisely that way, I was a mathematical genius.

That said, I don’t practice classical electrical engineering for a living, which is the degree I earned when I graduated.  I don’t spend my professional time solving third order differential equations using Laplace transforms.  As a software engineer, I spend most of my time thinking through either discrete mathematics problems or even statistics.  My mind naturally visualizes spatial problems, which makes me especially good at certain activities, like designing parts for 3d printing.

Continue reading “Religious freedom versus discrimination” →

On a late one evening at work during my bachelor days, I converse with a friend.  We disagree on many issues, but we discuss the topics civilly.  On this particular evening, we talk about the US currency.  Here’s the issue, the first sentence in our first amendment outlines freedom of religion, specifically:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion

And much like zero is a number, freedom of religion must therefore include freedom of lack of religion.  In other words, US citizens are equally free to practice agnosticism, atheism, polytheism, and just for completeness Satanism.  If that is the case, doesn’t printing (or minting) the phrase “In God We Trust” on our currency, exclude the aforementioned groups?  And if that’s the case, should we remove it?

However, this post will not discuss that phrase in our currency.  The conversation turned late, and I wanted to leave for home.  Instead of simply telling my friend that it’s late and need to leave, I turn to one of my favorite phrases with which to finish my conversations with him, “You treat me this way, after we built your railroads?“

Continue reading “A history lesson, 140 years in the making” →

I worked through college, nearly every weekend.  I waited on tables in a number of Chinese restaurants.  Mostly, I allowed the customers enough time to browse through the menu and jotted down their orders.  Occasionally, I would answer their questions about particular menu items.  Every once in a while, they’d ask me to recommend an item or help them narrow it down.  After that it was about timing.

At a very basic level, waiting on tables simply involves getting people what they asked for.  Naturally, subtle differences will enhance the experience.  Timeliness matters, of course.  Good presentation gets you brownie points.  However, some exceptions exist; you can’t serve alcohol to underage drinkers.  Though generally, that’s close to it; you get people what they want.

Continue reading “And marriage for all” →

We moved to Florida from Puerto Rico in 1978, about a year after my father’s death.  I had just finished fourth grade in our Catholic school and transitioned into the Broward Country public school system.  During that first year in Florida, I attended a Spanish and English bilingual classroom.  Our convertible classroom sat in the corner of the school, and the few dozen students spanned all grades from the school.  My sister and I spent the entire school day in this room, except for recess.

David, a boy outside of our bilingual program, befriended me during recess.  We could barely communicate, but still he demonstrated a genuine interest in me.  As our friendship grew and the holidays approached, I asked him what his plans were for Christmas.  His face grew stern, and he responded, “I’m Jewish; I don’t celebrate Christmas.”

Continue reading “The paradox of tolerance” →

Gum in my hair.  Riding the 407-numbered school bus home from Parkway Middle School made me the target of a number of indignities; one of them was bullies spitting gum in my hair.  These boys sat immediately behind me and tormented me on the miles long ride to the bus stop.  On most days, they simply poked me or slapped my head repeatedly.  On one day, I could hear them plotting, “When the bus stops, let’s jump on the Chinaman.” and did precisely that.  I remember telling our bus driver, as tears streamed down my cheeks, that I wanted a different seat.

As I walked away from that bus with a wad of gum in my hair, I approached a friend’s house.  I didn’t endure the indignity of untangling the gum from my hair; I asked my friend’s mom to simply cut it away.  Did I ever believe that they threatened my life?  No.  Did I believe that I risked serious injury?  Not really.

Continue reading “To indeed make America great again” →

On a July morning in 2014, I haul a bag with me into my office; it weighs twenty-three pounds.  I participate in a long-standing tradition at Microsoft.  Upon your work anniversary, you bring in a pound of m&m’s for each year of tenure.  Today, I cross that threshold into 23 years.  Truthfully, I didn’t always participate, I started at 18 years (with 18 pounds) and have participated ever since.  I got the bulk of those at Costco; occasionally, I’d get custom printed m&m’s.

When I first floated the idea with my wife in the preceding months, she marveled, “How do you plan to dispense them?”  I simply responded with “a large bowl”.  This horrified her, and she insisted that I can’t do that.  Eventually, I landed on pouring them into a large plastic jug.  In order for you to get your candy fix, you’d need to pick it up and pour them into a cup.  How did I pour them into the jug?  I cut the bottom off a gallon jug, turned it upside down, and used it as a funnel.  It works well.

Continue reading “Why carry the weight?” →