Author Archives: Tim

About Tim

I'm a Chinese/Taiwanese-American, born in Taiwan, raised on Long Island, went to college in Philadelphia, tried Wall Street and then moved to the California Bay Area to work in high tech in 1990. I'm a recent dad and husband. Other adjectives that describe me include: son, brother, geek, DIYer, manager, teacher, tinkerer, amateur horologist, gay, and occasional couch potato. I write for about 5 different blogs including 8Asians. When not doing anything else, I like to challenge people's preconceived notions of who I should be.

The 8Asians Writers Talk About: Dryers And Dishwashers

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Tim

Fellow blogger John, recently sent out an article to our internal mailing list on how clothes dryers are having a tough time in the Chinese marketplace. At first no one responded, maybe because most of us thought, “so what, that’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Lifestyles, Observations, TalkAbout | 2 Comments

Buy A Murder House During Ghost Month

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Tim

August 10 marked the start of Ghost Month, a Chinese and Taiwanese celebration based in superstition around wandering souls. There’s a belief that for one month out of the year, deceased souls can come out and visit the living. Because … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, Health, Real Estate, San Francisco Bay Area | 2 Comments

Archie Panjabi Wins Emmy

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Tim

Archie Panjabi won the Emmy for best supporting actress on Sunday night for her role as Kalinda Sharma on the show The Good Wife. She was born in West London to Sikh parents. This is the first Emmy win for … Continue reading →

Posted in (simple), Entertainment, Movies, TV | Leave a comment

Does Your Child Listen To You? Culture May Play A Part

Posted on August 19, 2010 by Tim

An interesting new study by Sheena S. Iyengar, a professor at the Columbia Business School and author of The Art of Choosing found that a culture’s views on choice affect task performance, decision-making, and happiness. Specifically Asian-American children perform best … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Family | 7 Comments

Asian Men Have the Highest Salaries: A Follow-Up

Posted on August 16, 2010 by Tim

Joz asked me to do a follow up to my recent blog post, Asian Men Have the Highest Salaries, partly because it was one of the most viewed articles on 8Asians recently and partly because its one of the most referenced, … Continue reading →

Posted in Discrimination, Lifestyles, Observations | 6 Comments

Take Action: Support Asian American Judicial Appointments

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Tim

According to Chris Santiago at Change.org, Republicans in the Senate have banded together to prevent the appointment of two Asian Americans to the federal bench. Goodwin Liu and Eric M. Chen have both cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee. By nominating … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, Politics | Tagged | Leave a comment

Prop 8 Ruled Unconstitutional

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Tim

With the amount of press coverage on Federal Judge Vaughn Walker’s ruling on California’s Proposition 8, you probably already know that he struck down Prop 8, California’s voter approved law against same-sex marriage as unconstitutional. What you may not know … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Discrimination, History, LGBT, Local, Politics, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Mineta Portrait To Hang In Smithsonian

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Tim

A portrait of the first Asian American to hold a presidential Cabinet post is being installed in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Former transportation and commerce secretary (and Bay Area native) Norman Mineta‘s portrait was added on July 27th, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Current Events, Local, Politics, San Francisco Bay Area, The Arts | 1 Comment

Asian Men Have The Highest Salary

Posted on August 1, 2010 by Tim

If you were looking for another reason to date an Asian male, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just came up with one. In their latest report on earnings in the 2nd quarter of 2010, Asian men topped the charts … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Current Events, Education | Tagged , | 42 Comments

Asian Pastries Go Mainstream (At Least In So Cal)

Posted on July 16, 2010 by Tim

June is the month of graduations, and this year I had 3 close relatives graduating from college. One of my cousins, Eric, was graduating from UC Irvine. I’ve known Eric since he was a six month old baby, so it … Continue reading →

Posted in Food & Drink, Southern California | Tagged | 2 Comments

Storytelling: Master Lee, Chink and Bruce Lee

Posted on July 15, 2010 by Tim

The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization sponsored a talk by Master Lee in 2008, newly available now as a podcast, titled Chink. I personally believe that title, Chink, remains as offensive today as it did to me in the early … Continue reading →

Posted in Comedy, Discrimination, Observations, The Arts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Dealing with Asian Parents When You’re Gay

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Tim

It’s inevitable when you’re gay and Asian. It’s almost guaranteed you’ll disappoint your parents when they find out you’re queer. The question for most gay Asian children is how to lessen the blow. This problem is universal, whether you’re gay … Continue reading →

Posted in Family, LGBT | 12 Comments