Leglessbird Newsletter Dec 2014
If this page isn't displayed properly, please visit http://leglessbird.com/newsletter.html
Dear Family and Friends,
2014 has been the most exciting year (yet) for the Leglessbirds, we welcome a new addition to the family, our son Jin was born in August 2014. We finally published our travel book in June. Also we bought a second flat anitcipating an expanding family. We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary in July, and we couldn't ask for a better gift than "Jin". We have always maintained a free and caring lifestyle, we enjoy our freedom in terms of time, location and spirit. We seem to have surprised many of our friends because during the past 24 months, we bought two flats and decided it was time to have a baby. Life certainly won't be the same again, we now enjoy very much spending our time at home with Jin. We are blessed with a healthy and happy child. We are constantly thinking how we can continue to explore the world and bring Jin with us. We published our travel book 夢想"侶"遊(Dream Journey For 2) in June, it was really great to see so many friends at the book launch party. Dominic is already working on his third book. Since our Leglessbird Sharing 2013, we have only travelled to South Korea, South Africa, Macau, Singapore and UK as we were expecting our baby. To earn some money for baby's diaper, formula, clothes, toys and future education (because we already spent all his education fund on our exotic trips, it is called SKI Spending Kids Inheritance. So happy skiing, parents! ) , Dominic continues to work hard on business consulting projects, corporate training and also various programmes related to entrepreneurship with CUHK, PolyU, Hong Kong Science and Technology Park, Cyberport and Hong Kong Design Centre. During 2014, Dominic is reading Full Spectrum Dominance, Nudge, The invisible gorilla, How to think like a freak, The Art of Strategy, Thinking fast and slow, and of course plenty of parenting books Dominic made a number of appearance on a TV show "I am Boss", he was covered in the press as the acting centre manager of Pre-incubation centre of CUHK, and spoke at various conferences. Jin is enjoying his first Christmas while Irene and Dominic enjoys their first Christmas in Hong Kong since they became a couple in 1999. (Irene's update to come soon...watch this space) Please drop us a few lines when you have time, we would like to hear how you are getting on. We wish you and your family happiness, good health and a prosperous year ahead! Love,Jin, Irene and DominicDecember 2014 (Follow us "@About.Me" Dominic Chan, Irene Sin)
Travel (Dec 2013 - Dec 2014) For list of albums, click here
Cambridge related (Dec 2013 - Dec 2014) For list of albums, click here Other Fun Events
Public engagements
|
Happy New Year (Click for larger image)
Leglessbird Newsletter Dec 2013
If this page isn't displayed properly, please visit http://leglessbird.com/blog/blogs/newsletter.php
Dear Family and Friends,
2013 has passed by so quickly, we almost wish time can slow down. We bought a flat last Oct and finally moved in the new place in Feb, thanks to a dear friend who did the interior design as well as project managed the process of a total overhaul of the place, as a result, we had a completely trouble-free renovation experience (something almost unheard of in Hong Kong or elsewhere). We are enjoying the new flat very much. Dominic has found himself drawn more and more towards reading books on life philosophy, titles like Justice (what's the right thing to do) ; What money can't buy (what money shouldn't buy) ; The Grand Design; How will you measure your life ; how much is enough (to live a good life); and Many lives many masters. Combined with what he learned from Harmonious Life and Life Academy, he becomes more and more philosophical about life and behavour! This year, Dominic got more involved in the entrepreneurship scene in Hong Kong, more engagement with the Centre for Entrepreneurship of Chinese University Hong Kong (CUHK) providing training, consulting services, as a judge on some overseas competition, as well as screening committee on incubation programme and startups. He was involved in a number of consulting projects including strategy for insuranace company and FMCG in China. also did a number of corporate training on creative problem solving, decision making, project management, risk management. Irene is finding it harder to balance work and leisure and she is feeling bad that her time spent with her friends has significantly reduced this year. There are many lunches that she is just lazy to plan ahead and ending up eating alone. However there are still many blessings to count: - insist painting even she is already exhausted after work and completed 3 paintings
- still able to travel to interesting places with excitement and her parents are travelling more than her
- her brother and his wife are expecting a baby, so her title will be "upgraded" soon
- launched a mentorship programme for University of Warwick undergraduates this summer with a few buddies
- have a few more knowledgeable colleagues whom she could work closely and share openly, thus quality services is enhanced. her team is expanding :)
she look forward to next year and wish to have a reliable personal assistant taking up administration, so she could go out to have lunch with her friends.
This year we have kept ourselves overly busy that we only visited our favourite organic farm once in 2013 :-(. That has not stopped us from visiting some interesting places, since Dec 2012, we went to Ecuador (incl. Galapagos Islands), Peru (incl. Machu Pichu, Amazon jungle); Chiang Mai (Three and a half day fasting surviving on drinking clear vegetable soup and juice only.), Bangkok; Bhutan (we joined our first Hong Kong private group to Bhutan不丹 and had a great time in this happiest country in the world.); UK/Croatia/Bonsia; Seoul. This Dec/Jan, we will be going to South Africa and we'll share with you our photos in Jan 2014. Finally, after much delayed, our travel book is really going to be published in Jan 2014.
Please drop us a few lines when you have time, we would like to hear how you are getting on. We wish you and your family happiness, good health and a prosperous year ahead! Love,Irene and DominicDecember 2013 (Follow us "@About.Me" Dominic Chan, Irene Sin) Travel (Dec 2012 - Dec 2013) For list of albums, click here
Irene's paintings 2013
Cambridge related (Dec 2012 - Dec 2013) For list of albums, click here
Public engagements
|
End of Year Party at China Club
Bjelasnica Bosnian Mountains, Bosnia,
Leglessbird sharing Dec 2012
If this page isn't displayed properly, please visit http://leglessbird.com/blog/blogs/newsletter.php
Dear Family and Friends,
Time really flies, another 12 months have passed too quickly. So much is going on that we couldn't keep up with writing biannual update, we are going to stick with just one Leglessbird sharing a year. So in the last 12 months: We finally did something that we thought was not very leglessbird-like, we bought a flat after careful considerations. We discussed with a number of wise learned friends, We think it is the right decision given our future plans, being property market neutral, having a place that we can truely call "nest", though the price now is not low but the market is of less speculative nature. We believe it won't affect our financial flexibility and sense of freedom that we always treasure very much. Rennovation work is now underway which is quite fun(!??). (Irene: the funniest part is to work with a designer friend and sometimes he rejects our ideas. It's truely a blessing to have him to look after the renovation. The worst part is to have visited 60+ units in 6+ different areas by myself before finding a home where we'd like to live in and it is in fact where we are currently in).
We attended a number of weddings as well as funerals, such is life. I spoke at a young couple's wedding (as an elderly brother figure and ex-boss) on marriage, to summaries my speech in one sentence, "Bring the best out of each other!". We went to a funeral to pay respect to someone whom we have not actually met, it was important to us to be there with our dear friend at his father's funeral. The organic farm in Lantau is still our favourite getaway place, we have brought many friends to enjoy nature and the produce from the farm. We continue to practice qi-gong but not persistent enough :-p Last year, we attended the "Harmony Life" training, this year, a mentor recommended to us "Life Academy", I have completed their level 1 course - "Power of Change" and have found it very inspiring, I will be a volunteer and hope we can bring more positive energy/thoughts to others. On the work side, we have both been very busy. (Irene: the increasing workload finally made us to recruit our first personal asisstant for sustainable personal and business growth, it's a new learning for us to look after someone as a team member. I gain more strength when my working buddies and partners went from 5 to 17 in 2012. I truely appreciate our group effort in perfecting our quality of work and services). I have been serving a number of consulting clients, conducting corporate trainings, speaking at conferences, adjudicating in a number of competitions and taking university students to Texas and Shanghai competing in business challenges.
With our work committment we are unable to travel as much. In the last 12 months, we went to Malaysia, UK, Norway, USA, Canada, Korea, Taiwan and Shanghai (China) (Irene: I was there spiritally for half of these trips). The Norway trip in April visiting the northern remote part was one of the best journeys yet. This Dec/Jan, we will be going to Amsterdam, Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), Machu Picchu (Peru), Amazon (Peru) and we'll share with you our photos in Jan 2013. Our travel book is scheduled to publish in Q1 2013! Please drop us a few lines when you have time, we would like to hear how you are getting on. We wish you and your family happiness, good health and a prosperous year ahead! Love,
|
Organic Farm
Beach Wedding
Catching King Crab Taipei |
 S Korea |
 USA |
 Canada |
 Norway |
 London |
 Cambridge |
 Penang |
 Kuala Lumpur |
 Macau |
Cambridge related (Dec 2011 - Nov 2012) For list of albums, click here
To be processed CJBS EMBA HK visit, Cambridge lecture day in Hong Kong, Global alumni conference.
Organic Farm
 28 Oct |
 01 Oct |
 15 July |
 22 Apr |
 12 Feb |
 CNY |
Public engagements
Leglessbird sharing Dec 2011
If this page isn't displayed properly, please visit http://leglessbird.com/blog/blogs/newsletter.php
Dear Family and Friends,
 Monet Garden, France |
We hope "all izz well" with you, 2011 has been another blessed year for us. We would like to share with you what has been keeping us active since our "Leglessbird sharing 2010" (2009, 2008, 2007, 2006).
Frequent travel is getting harder with our increasingly "non-flexible" work-load, we insist on maintaining the "Leglessbird" spirit and visited India, Cuba, Mexico, Bangkok, Shantou, Singapore, France, UK and Malta. While Dominic also taught or coached in various cities in China. The trips to India, Cuba and Mexico are most eye-opening and exciting! The wonderful family trip with mum, sister and nephew in Europe united family members from 4 continents. We'll be spending Christmas and New Year in Malaysia.
We have attended a multi-weekend awakening course called "Harmonious Life" 和谐生命 that aims to enhance our relationship with friends and family, bring out our potential, maintain our well beings of body and mind, and deal with, if any, difficult issues in life. We found it very enlightening and we experienced many moments of realization. (e.g. 一個小顿悟，一個心結的解開...A moment of realization)
The organic farm in Lantau island is our favourite getaway place, we are not going there nearly enough because we are learning qigong 氣功和推手 on the weekends, something we picked up since end of 2010, we are experiencing some progress.
Dominic's highlight
Business: Worked on a number of exciting strategic consulting projects (Decisive Consulting), and conducted more corporate training, and lecturing in universities, spoke at seminars and business associations. Made new and subsequent rounds of angel investment through Dark Horse Investment in promising technology startups. Became a founding screening committee of the newly established HK Business Angels Network (HKBAN) and Honourary Project Director of Centre for Entrepreneurship (CUHK). Writing his second book (on travelling)! Graduate University CAS, BJ
Cambridge University: Among many alumni events, organized the biennial dinner of The Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong (Jan), ran Mentorship Program (Jul-Aug), as the guest of honour at the CUCS HK dinner (Aug), and spoke at a lunch seminar at Judge Business School (Oct) in Cambridge! Helped organizing the Trinity event in HK in Dec. Cambridge CUCS HK Dinner
Helping in Made-A-Difference (MAD) award as one of the judges, participate as a mentor to the HKUST 2012 Entrepreneurship Competition. Continuing the role of the Honourary Secretary of the Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong. Spreading the social responsibility message through his talk titled "Reflecting on our social responsibility during world travel 從遊歷世界思考社會責任" 
Metropolitan Lions Club
Irene's highlight
Happy
Cocoa Fruit, Cuba
- Feel most blessed to work with my friends, care for them and their families with support from my work buddies. Something to look forward to :)
- Touched and tasted the fruit of cocoa in Cuba. Chocolate is one of my favourite snacks.
- Sleeping quality greatly improved, hence my overall energy level after applying my learnings from several teachers and classmates.
- Apart from precious family time in Europe, I also visited my classmates and ex-colleagues. I really miss them and many things in the UK and France.
Not so happy
Sadden by the passing away of a friend only in her 30s, it makes me feel that I have reached the stage where life cannot be taken for granted, treasure everything we have including friendship.Wishes for 2012
- More time at home and rest
- To focus on several important things
We wish you and your family good health and a prosperous year ahead!
Love,
Irene and Dominic
December 2011
Follow Dominic on 
Full Account of 2011
Travel:
Taj Mahal 201012 India: 2.5 week trip visiting 10 cities in India, I particularly like Taj Mahal in Agra.
201101 Suzhou: Teaching a master module on e-commerce at PolyU/Xian Jiaotong University Joint College
201101 Shenzhen, we spent a number of weekends here for the Harmonious Life course
Feb/Mar 2011 Cuba, Mexico: An eye-opening trip to Cuba, one of the last true communist countries in the world and still ruled by its revolution leader. Also amazed by the rich ancient culture of Mexico.
201103-04 Bangkok, Thailand: A relaxing trip to refresh ourselves, also hang out with the teacher of the Harmonious Life course
201105 Shantou, China, Asia 汕頭: A fellowship trip of the Metropolitan Lions Club
201109 Singapore: Attending a Cambridge alumnus wedding
201109 Beijing: Teaching at Graduate University China Academy of Science (GUCAS)
201110-11 France, UK, Malta: Family reunion, visit my University & new adventures
201112 Malaysia: Christmas trip
Cuba
Mexico
Shantou
France
Malta
Singapore
Public Speaking:
Mar 2011 HKU, Entrepreneurship Academy: "Bootstrapping your business"
Mar 2011 CUHK Centre of Entrepreneurship Webinar series "Be your own boss! Yes you can! But are you ready? "
Apr 2011 HKUST: "Be your own boss"
May HKU SPACE, Social Welfare, Social Enterprise management
July 2011 Bayview SunShine Rotary Club, Travel sharing on "Antarctica"
July 2011 Croucher Foundation new scholars send-off dinner: sharing stories of my PhD days
Aug 2011 Cyberport, Micro Fund Shenzhen Hong Kong Entrepreneur Competition, Training program: "Business plan writing , Market/Financial analysis, Negotiation"
Aug 2011 Savantas Liberal Art Academy: "My Cambridge Days"
Aug 2011 Social Camp: Think Big, Act Big!: "Reflecting on our social responsibilities during world travel"
Nov 2011 Rotary Club Central: "Reflecting on our social responsibilities during world travel"
Dec 2011 Hong Kong IT Alliance, Federation of Hong Kong Industries: "Be your own boss"!
HKUST Be your own boss
HKU Entrepreneurship Academy
Savantas Liberal Art Academy
Social Camp:
Think Big, Act Big!
Rotary Club Central
Cyberport Young Entrepreneur Program Summer Camp
Lions Club:
15th Anniversary dinner
Lions Club Luncheon: Mr Bernard Chan, Prof David Faure, Mr Michael Ng, Dr Roy Chung, Ms Agnes Wu
Corporate Training:
Various Training: Trusted advisor, Negotiation, Media handling, Problem Solving, Project Management
CUHK/HAB: Social Enterprise Practical Training
HKU SPACE/HAB: Social Enterprise Management Training
FRIENDS OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY IN HONG KONG
Jan 2011: Biennial dinner, Guest of honour Mr Anthony Bolton
Mar 2011: PolyU + Cambridge alumni Entrepreneurship seminar
Apr 2011: Vice Chancellor's Visit
May 2011: Judge Business School seminar
July-Aug 2011: Mentorship Program
Aug 2011: HKCAS Reflection Conference
Aug 2011: CUCS dinner, HKCAS freshers dinner, Formal Hall, Prince Philip Scholarship Ceremony, 30th Anniversary of The Friends of Cambridge University in Hong Kong
Oct 2011: Lunch Seminar at Judge Business School
Dec 2011: Trinity College Event, Shenzhen Cambridge Event
Biennial Dinner
Prince Philip Scholarship
HK Formal hall
Trinity College Event
Cambridge CUCS HK Dinner
PolyU + Cambridge alumni Entrepreneurship
Mentorship Program
Halloween St Catz
Movie recommendation: 3 idiots (India 2009)
一個小顿悟，一個心結的解開...A moment of realization
最近參加了一個關於心靈健康的培訓課程， 在過程中我得到了一些顿悟。 這要從小時候的一件事情開始說起， 是一件童年的陰影...
記得我還是一個小孩子的時候， 我在我家樓下的超級市場滿心歡喜地準備買糖果, 到了糖果貨物架時， 發現地上有一堆自貨物架上掉下來的糖果， 我沒有理會， 只顧往貨架上拿東西， 可是站立在旁邊的一對成年男女却誤會了， 以為是我把物件弄翻了， 男的還開口罵我， 我說這不是我弄的， 我才剛到， 對方竟然說明明看到我把糖果弄得一地都是還要抵賴， 當時我心裡有百般鬱結無法與這不明真相的大人爭論， 悶悶不樂地， 心愛的糖果也沒有拿便氣沖沖的回家去了。 被冤枉的感受是非常難過的， 這件事情在我心裡留下了一個深深的記印， 不能磨滅， 直到成長後也未能忘懷。 每次回想起這事情心裡總是納悶的， 有時候會幻想一下如何跟那位男士理論一番， 以還我清白， 又有時候會希望那超級市場裝設了閉路電視， 看了錄影片段便真相大白， 還我公道。
可是這已經是不可能的事， 時光不能逆轉， 我已無法平反這事，我是這般想的...
在這個心靈的培訓課程中， 我列舉了這件事情為其中一件對我心靈上有影響的回憶，在回答問題的時候， 有一題問到這件事情對我的正面影響是甚麼？我不曾以這個角度來理解這事情， 我思考了好一會兒，忽然想到可能這事件發生後，我變得做事非常謹慎和仔細，沒有含糊的地方，不容易會被別人誤會。
把這件事用這角度來分析後，我得到了顿悟，心裡的鬱結解開了，再沒有難過的感覺，我還想親自向那位男士道謝呢！可能這正面影響的因果關係不是真的，但是那已經不重要，重要的是心結解開了！更重要的是我學會了事事以正面的角度來看待。
Dominic
July 2011
Newsletter Dec 2010
Dear Family and Friends,
 Sabah, Malaysia Sept 2010 |
Time passes too quickly, it is the end of the year again, we would like to share with you what we have been up to in 2010. (A full account of the year is given at the end of this letter). Here is the highlight.
We have not been travelling as much, with Irene settling in her new career as an independent advisor and Dominic committed to teach during semester.
- Dec 2009, enjoyed a 14-day visit to Myanmar to get a first hand experience interacting with the people in different cities and appreciating their history and culture
- June 2010, thanks to the Savantas Policy Institute, we had a fruitful trip in Shanghai attending the Expo,a training course covering many aspects of modern China, and made many new friends
- Sept 2010, a relaxing trip to Sabah, Kota Kinabalu. We saw the Orang Utan, Proboscis (long nose) Monkey and fireflies. Thanks to our friend and her mum who showed us round their beautiful home town
- A getaway weekend in Macau in Nov was most refreshing
We'll be spending Christmas and New Year in India, more about that in our next sharing.
Since 2009
- Less meat, more vegetable diet. More meals at vegetarian restaurants
- Organic farming in Lantau, ploughing, planting, watering, harvesting
- Brought friends to the farm to appreciate the joy of growing your own food, back in touch with nature and see fireflies which are still found in the area
Dominic's 2010 highlight:
I have finally published my book 八載劍橋 (My Cambridge Days) in July this year, it has been my dream to share the experience gained during my 8 happy years at Cambridge University. In Nov, I had the pleasure of giving my book in person to the current and immediate past Vice Chancellors of Cambridge University. MyCambridgeDays.com
I enjoyed running as the chairman of the BEA International English Contest (HK chapter). I went with the 19 HK student representatives to compete in the 5-day national finals in Beijing. Our students had won many prizes including the championship in the junior and senior high division. Click to view album
This year, in addition to consulting work, I have been doing a lot of teaching, training and speaking at numerous universities/ conferences/ corporate/ business & social clubs in Hong Kong, Macau, Xi'an and Han Zhou. I must admit, I am a very talkative person who loves an audience :-)
Irene's 2010 highlight:
Making Turkish Coffee
- A wonderful year yet also filled with exciting challenges, sometimes poor sleeping quality; on the positive side, nice surprises, supportive friendship and many blessings.
- Most fortunate to encounter 2 mentors - one advising me on enhancing my professional and communication skills, the other teaching us Qigong(氣功)and wisdom to be applied to both health and life.
- Some new friends and co-workers sharing good practices in asset management, nutrition and organic farming, etc. Surrounded by all these smart people with good heart and commitment, I feel most encouraging that the 4 important pillars of my life are gaining more solid grounds: health, knowledge and experience, family and friends, resources.
I wish to share more on my personal blog, what do you want to hear from me?
Events for learning this year that I found very useful
1) Brain-based learning for children
2) Investing with WisdomNext year events may include story-telling communication skills, Turkish buffet, organic farming ... if you have any good idea for learning, please update me
Please drop us a few lines when you have a moment, we would love to hear how you are getting on.
(making Turkish coffee in the photo)
Have a great holiday and wish you a healthy and prosperous 2011!
Love,
Irene and Dominic
December 2010
Follow me on
FULL ACCOUNT on year 2010!
WORK
Consulting and Corporate Training highlights:
This year, my clients works are mostly on business development, feasiblity studies and restructuring. I continue to work with an international expert network GLG. I have also teamed up with an executive training company to provide a wide range of corporate training areas. For example, influencing skills workshop in Han Zhou for an MNC's offsite meeting; E-marketing techniques in Macau for an MNC regional meeting; "How to write and present a compelling business plan" for a local university; negotiation skills workshop in Shenzhen for a Chinese technology company; and trusted advisor workshop in Hong Kong.Angel investment (Early stage venture investment):
Teaching at universities
An MSc e-commerce module at Tonli College, Xi'an, China; a 14-week MSc module in Wireless Computing Systems and Applications (Mobile phone, Wireless LAN and Bluetooth) at PolyU; A 3-part series on "How to launch your independent career / business" for Entrepreneurship Centre, CUHK; A diploma on "High quality IT infrastructure on a limited budget" in Macau for HKU SPACE.
TRAVEL
200912 Myanmar
We visited Myanmar in December 2009 and had a great time visiting over 6 cities. Irene did an extensive search and managed to find a very good local travel agent that provides reasonable price for private tour, excellent ground trip planning and with nice and knowledgeable English speaking guides in every city, what more can we ask for? We did all our correspondence in English via email. Let us know if you want the contact info. It far exceeded our expectation, this is much more interesting than seeing through the narrow window of heavily biased Western media;
201003-201004 Silicon Valley, Ottawa
I went with the Savantas Science and Technology Delegation to Silicon Valley at the end of March. It was a very successful trip where many interesting and useful discussions/visits were conducted. Hopefully, the delegation collectively has learned the key factors that make Silicon Valley the most successful technology innovation place globally and apply them to Hong Kong. He also assisted one of his clients to settle into "Plug and Play Tech Center" in Sunnyvale. Above all, he enjoyed seeing many of his old friends in the area. Afterwards, he had a nice family reunion in Ottawa, Canada.
201006 Shanghai Expo, Training course and Suzhou
201007 Han Zhou
201009 Kota Kinabula, Sabah, Malaysia
201011 Macau
FRIENDS OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY IN HONG KONG
It has been my wish since 2002 to share the experience gained during my 8 happy years in Cambridge to fellow alumni, youngsters who have yet to explore their options, also friends and family. It took me 8 years to put everything together. Written in Chinese, a big surprise to my friends, since none of them have seen me write anything in Chinese ever since I went to boarding school in UK at 14. In November, I had the pleasure of giving my book in person to the current and immediate past Vice Chancellors of Cambridge University.
My Cambridge Days book launch
Prince Philip Scholarship award ceremony
Mentoring program
Current Vice Chancellor and immediate past Vice Chancellor's visitMovie on Cambridge: Bachelor of Hearts
27.jpg)
PUBLIC SPEAKING
MAD Conference (Make-A-Difference) http://www.m-a-d.asia/
In Jan 2010, Dominic helped moderated a session on "Entrereneurship" during the MAD conference (a great youth conference for promoting creativity and providing alternative career choices). It was great talking to 3 entrepreneurs and learning from them how they have each created their business from scratch and are of very different natures.
Moderating at the Web 3.0 conference on "how to get funded" at Cyberport in November 2010
Speaking on startup venture investment at InnoAsia Conference in November 2010
Speaking at HKU on "how to setup your company with minimal resource" during the Entrepreneur Seminar Series in Dec 2010
Sharing travel experience on Antarctica and using Open Source Software at offlice club talks of iProA (Internet Professional Association)
Sharing with Leo Clubs on "My Cambridge Days" and "Exploring the world"
I enjoyed tremendously running as the chairman of the BEA International English Contest (HK chapter) and subsequently, I went with the 19 HK student representatives to compete in the 5-day national finals in Beijing. Our students had won many prizes including the championship in the junior and senior high division. We are very grateful to our sponsors Sir Dr. David Li, Bank of East Asia and Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong. After the competition, all the students and their family had a great time at the celebration dinner at China Club Beijing, thanks to Sir David (Tang).
LIONS CLUB
I'm the honourary secretary of Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong this year. We have many events including Magical Night and various luncheons featuring Mr. David Webb, Mr Cheah Cheng Hye, Prof. Tony Chan and Dr. Hui Siu Ping
Book review:
不去會死 Dying to go! (Review written by Irene)
Author: Yusuke Ishida 石田裕輔
Have you ever thought about where the most beautiful place is in the world according to your own definition? This Japanese author cycled around the world for 7+ years to search this place. His encounters reveal his emotions to different places and people, the beautiful and ugly side of humanity and "a world" that you probably do not have a chance to see during your life time.
I found the title echoes my inner voice as a passionate traveller. We travel as if we will die tomorrow. I truely admire his courage to embark on such an adventurious journey. It actually reactivates my travel DNA when feeling drained after work.
Dominic's comment: The title of the book reflects our view towards travelling! 不去會死
Book Launch Gathering 15 Aug 2010: My Cambridge Days
Dear Family and Friends,
You are cordially invited to my book launch gathering:
My Cambridge Days 八載劍橋
http://MyCambridgeDays.com
3-6pm, Sunday 15 August 2010
M-floor, Sun House, 90 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong; 香港中環干諾道中90號大新行 M樓
Map: http://www.leglessbird.com/events/maps/20100815.jpg
Dress code: Casual
Light refreshment included, welcome to bring your own drinks (NO alcohol)
To introduce my book on Cambridge University and a gathering to thank my friends and alumni for the support and friendship. More importantly, a good excuse to catch up with everyone.
Writing a book on Cambridge University has been my wish since 2002, it has finally come true in July this year. The book includes stories and lessons learned during my time there (1988-1997) and lots of photos.
Hope to catch up with you then!
Cheer,
Dominic
Leglessbird sharing May 2010
Newsletter May 2010
 Bagan, Myanmar Dec 2009 |
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a while since our last update in Dec 2009. We hope this sharing finds you well.
In the past 6 months, there seems to be endless disasters around the world with numerous devastating earthquakes, volcano eruption, oil spill in Mexican Gulf and Singapore; major international incidents Euro zone crisis, unrest in Thailand, escalated South/North Korea conflicts. Makes you wonder what the most important things in life are.
Highlight of our activities in the last 6 months:
Travel: Christmas trip to Myanmar and Easter trip to Silicon Valley and Ottawa (more details below)
Farming: We started sub-renting a small piece of farm land in Lantau and we are loving the planting, the harvests, and the taste and health benefits of eating freshly picked organic vegetables. We wish to spread this idea and more friends can appreciate the goodness of "back to basic" lifestyle. What we have harvested so far Chinese cabbage, lettuce, shark's fin melon, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, beans, potatoes and corn (菜心，生菜，芥菜， 魚翅瓜，車里茄， 紅蘿蔔， 青瓜， 豆角， 薯仔, 玉米).
Teaching: In addition to his consulting work and angel investment, Dominic has been doing more teaching, executive training and public speaking: Xi'an Jiaotong (China), PolyU, HKUST, CUHK, HKU SPACE, Independent Professional Association, MAD (Make a difference) conference and La Salle College
Irene's new career: Irene is happy with her lifelong career as an IFA (Independent Financial Advisor)
Networking: ushi.cn 优士网: Dominic becomes one of the charter members of a new online business network community that aspires to be the Chinese Linkedin. Follow this link, and become Dominic's direct contact on the network Connect with Dominic on ushi!
Community Work: International English Contest National Finals in Beijing and regional finals in Hong Kong
Protect the environment: (1) We have started to bring our own mugs, chopsticks, knifes and forks to fast food places (instead of using their paper cups and plastic); (2) We put a sticker on our mailbox that says
支持環保! 拒收無收件人姓名和地址的垃圾郵件。
Protect the environment! Refuse to accept junk mail without recipient's name and address.
Leglessbird: Leglessbird blogs have a new look and platform: Leglessbird, Restaurant, Movie, Book, Wealth, Independent Professional, Dominic
Upcoming talk: e-Presence/e-Profit workshop, Sat 12 June 2010, 3pm
"Want to maximize your online presence?"
"Want to make money online 24x7?"
http://www.ip-a.org/events.php
Please drop us a note when you have time, we would love to hear from you!
Cheers,
Irene and Dominic,
May 2010
Follow us on:
TRAVEL
Myanmar
We visited Myanmar in December 2009 and had a great time visiting over 6 cities. Irene did an extensive search and managed to find a very good local travel agent that provides reasonable price for private tour, excellent ground trip planning and with nice and knowledgeable English speaking guides in every city, what more can we ask for? We did all our correspondence in English via email. Let us know if you want the contact info.
 Golden Rock, Myanmar |  Lake Inle, Myanmar |
 Click to view album |
Silicon Valley, and Ottawa trip
Dominic went with the Savantas Science and Technology Delegation to Silicon Valley at the end of March. (External link), it was a very successful trip where many interesting and useful discussions/visits were conducted. Hopefully, the delegation collectively has learned the key factors that make Silicon Valley the most successful technology innovation place globally and apply them to Hong Kong. He also assisted one of his clients to settle into "Plug and Play Tech Center" in Sunnyvale. Above all, he enjoyed seeing many of his old friends in the area. Afterwards, he had a nice family reunion in Ottawa, Canada.
Irene's new career: Irene is happy with her new lifelong career direction.
After all the efforts, I finally enjoy working every day again. I felt so blessed when working with like-minded colleagues and delivering good values through my job or leisure activities. My mini crisis started from 2000, when I was confused what my purpose of work should be and felt that I was wasting my time. I went to study a Master degree at Warwick hoping to find my direction. An amazing year passed, but I was still lost. The past 4 years of being an independent professional has given me many chances to travel and discover myself. Gradually I realize that my goal is to do something that I can continue to learn and grow, at the same time I can enrich other people's life by sharing my knowledge or experience. This is what motivates me and makes myself most contented. Looking back, I consider our mindset, health, resources management (time & money etc) are the factors enabling Dominic and myself to enjoy our balanced and healthy lifestyle. Since 2002, we have engaged an independent financial advisor to guide us on our investment. My objective of working with our advisor is to assist others to pursue their ideal lifestyle and realize their dreams in life. Though education and sharing, more people are better off.
|
TEACHING AND TRAINING Dominic taught an e-commerce module (part of a master course) in Xi'an, China over a weekend in Jan 2010, which he enjoyed very much. He is also doing some talks at PolyU, CUHK and HKUST. |  Click to view album |
Executive training
We launched Independent Professional Association at the end of last year as a platform to promote independent work and support the independent professional community (consultants, translators, writers, trainers, designers and more). We did our first 3-part training series on "How to launch your independent career/business", the course is being adopted in Dominic's weekend teaching at CUHK's entrepreneurship centre.
Dominic has also teamed up with Simitri Group to provide consulting, training and coaching to corporate clients in Asia. He is also working with another corporate training company.
At the end of May 2010, he conducted lectures in Macau with HKU SPACE to help small medium enterprises and social enterprises to set up their low-cost high performance infrastructure for web domain, web applications (e.g. email, website, CMS), software (office, accounting), telecom (VoIP, e-fax) and mobile office.
|
MAD Conference (Make-A-Difference) http://www.m-a-d.asia/ In Jan 2010, Dominic helped moderated a session on "Entrereneurship" during the MAD conference (a great youth conference for promoting creativity and providing alternative career choices). It was great talking to 3 entrepreneurs and learning from them how they have each created their business from scratch and are of very different natures. |  Click to view album |
| International English Contest Beijing National final 17-22 Feb 2010. Glad to say that our Hong Kong representatives have won many prizes including the Championship of senior high and junior high schools. | Click to view album |
|
BEA International English Contest - Hong Kong finals 12 Dec 2009, 20 students were selected to represent Hong Kong to the Beijing Finals We are very grateful to all our sponsors including Bank of East Asia, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Cambridge University Press, Gowell Software, Dr. David Li, Mr. Fred To and all the judges including Sir Ti-Liang Yang. |  Click to view album |
CAMBRIDGE (The Friends of Cambridge)
Cambridge alumni Reception to meet Professor Alison Richard, Vice Chancellor of The University of Cambridge - 7 April 2010
Informal microfinance chat - 'a number of ways to make a difference' - 27 Feb 2010
ORGANIC FARMING - in Lantau
 Harvesting |  插秧, Transplant rice seedlings |
Antarctica talk at offline club of iProA, 6 Feb 2010 Photos album
| Reunion with the Hong Kong representatives of the International English Contest |  Click to view album |
BOOK REVIEW:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, PhD
I have got this book as a gift from a friend who bought this at Stanford University's book store during our visit.
This is an interesting book that talks about mindsets, specially, the author classified them into two types, namely, Fixed and Growth. The fixed mindset people cares more on preserving their current success (if any), or avoid anything that they may fail, especially in front of others, if so, they blame on others or circumstances instead of themselves. The growth mindset people love to learn, and get better, success and failure are all learning experience and they are hungry to get more.
RESTAURANT REVIEW: Fridge
48 Peel St, Soho, Central (walk up from Hollywood road, next to Makuba Bar)
+852 28101098
Western food in Central
READ MORE ...
| MOVIE REVIEW: This film imagines that not so far ahead in the future where earth has become inhabitable due to human activities in an unsustainable manner. The sole survivor looks back in time to inspect what the humans could have done to stop the disaster but failed to put their act together - The Age of Stupid - Fail to act to save ourselves while still could. The film put together a lots of clips of signs, events and try to look at how humans are so selfish and/or stupid in reacting to the threat... |  READ MORE |
APPLICATION: Online virtual file server solution 
Dropbox
Leglessbird sharing May 2010
Newsletter May 2010
| Bagan, Myanmar Dec 2009 |
Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a while since our last update in Dec 2009. We hope this sharing finds you well. In the past 6 months, there seems to be endless disasters around the world with numerous devastating earthquakes, volcano eruption, oil spill in Mexican Gulf and Singapore; major international incidents Euro zone crisis, unrest in Thailand, escalated South/North Korea conflicts. Makes you wonder what the most important things in life are. Highlight of our activities in the last 6 months: Travel: Christmas trip to Myanmar and Easter trip to Silicon Valley and Ottawa (more details below) Farming: We started sub-renting a small piece of farm land in Lantau and we are loving the planting, the harvests, and the taste and health benefits of eating freshly picked organic vegetables. We wish to spread this idea and more friends can appreciate the goodness of "back to basic" lifestyle. What we have harvested so far Chinese cabbage, lettuce, shark's fin melon, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, beans, potatoes and corn (菜心，生菜，芥菜， 魚翅瓜，車里茄， 紅蘿蔔， 青瓜， 豆角， 薯仔, 玉米). Teaching: In addition to his consulting work and angel investment, Dominic has been doing more teaching, executive training and public speaking: Xi'an Jiaotong (China), PolyU, HKUST, CUHK, HKU SPACE, Independent Professional Association, MAD (Make a difference) conference and La Salle College Irene's new career: Irene is happy with her lifelong career as an IFA (Independent Financial Advisor) Networking: ushi.cn 优士网: Dominic becomes one of the charter members of a new online business network community that aspires to be the Chinese Linkedin. Follow this link, and become Dominic's direct contact on the network Connect with Dominic on ushi! Community Work: International English Contest National Finals in Beijing and regional finals in Hong Kong Protect the environment: (1) We have started to bring our own mugs, chopsticks, knifes and forks to fast food places (instead of using their paper cups and plastic); (2) We put a sticker on our mailbox that says
支持環保! 拒收無收件人姓名和地址的垃圾郵件。 Protect the environment! Refuse to accept junk mail without recipient's name and address.
Leglessbird: Leglessbird blogs have a new look and platform: Leglessbird, Restaurant, Movie, Book, Wealth, Independent Professional, Dominic Upcoming talk: e-Presence/e-Profit workshop, Sat 12 June 2010, 3pm "Want to maximize your online presence?" "Want to make money online 24x7?" http://www.ip-a.org/events.php Please drop us a note when you have time, we would love to hear from you! Cheers,
Irene and Dominic,
May 2010 Follow us on:
TRAVEL MyanmarWe visited Myanmar in December 2009 and had a great time visiting over 6 cities. Irene did an extensive search and managed to find a very good local travel agent that provides reasonable price for private tour, excellent ground trip planning and with nice and knowledgeable English speaking guides in every city, what more can we ask for? We did all our correspondence in English via email. Let us know if you want the contact info.
| Golden Rock, Myanmar |
Lake Inle, Myanmar |
| Click to view album |
Silicon Valley, and Ottawa trip Dominic went with the Savantas Science and Technology Delegation to Silicon Valley at the end of March. (External link), it was a very successful trip where many interesting and useful discussions/visits were conducted. Hopefully, the delegation collectively has learned the key factors that make Silicon Valley the most successful technology innovation place globally and apply them to Hong Kong. He also assisted one of his clients to settle into "Plug and Play Tech Center" in Sunnyvale. Above all, he enjoyed seeing many of his old friends in the area. Afterwards, he had a nice family reunion in Ottawa, Canada. Irene's new career: Irene is happy with her new lifelong career direction. After all the efforts, I finally enjoy working every day again. I felt so blessed when working with like-minded colleagues and delivering good values through my job or leisure activities. My mini crisis started from 2000, when I was confused what my purpose of work should be and felt that I was wasting my time. I went to study a Master degree at Warwick hoping to find my direction. An amazing year passed, but I was still lost. The past 4 years of being an independent professional has given me many chances to travel and discover myself. Gradually I realize that my goal is to do something that I can continue to learn and grow, at the same time I can enrich other people's life by sharing my knowledge or experience. This is what motivates me and makes myself most contented. Looking back, I consider our mindset, health, resources management (time & money etc) are the factors enabling Dominic and myself to enjoy our balanced and healthy lifestyle. Since 2002, we have engaged an independent financial advisor to guide us on our investment. My objective of working with our advisor is to assist others to pursue their ideal lifestyle and realize their dreams in life. Though education and sharing, more people are better off.
| TEACHING AND TRAINING Dominic taught an e-commerce module (part of a master course) in Xi'an, China over a weekend in Jan 2010, which he enjoyed very much. He is also doing some talks at PolyU, CUHK and HKUST. | Click to view album |
Executive training We launched Independent Professional Associationat the end of last year as a platform to promote independent work and support the independent professional community (consultants, translators, writers, trainers, designers and more). We did our first 3-part training series on "How to launch your independent career/business", the course is being adopted in Dominic's weekend teaching at CUHK's entrepreneurship centre. Dominic has also teamed up with Simitri Group to provide consulting, training and coaching to corporate clients in Asia. He is also working with another corporate training company. At the end of May 2010, he conducted lectures in Macau with HKU SPACE to help small medium enterprises and social enterprises to set up their low-cost high performance infrastructure for web domain, web applications (e.g. email, website, CMS), software (office, accounting), telecom (VoIP, e-fax) and mobile office.
| MAD Conference (Make-A-Difference) http://www.m-a-d.asia/ In Jan 2010, Dominic helped moderated a session on "Entrereneurship" during the MAD conference (a great youth conference for promoting creativity and providing alternative career choices). It was great talking to 3 entrepreneurs and learning from them how they have each created their business from scratch and are of very different natures. | Click to view album |
| International English Contest Beijing National final 17-22 Feb 2010. Glad to say that our Hong Kong representatives have won many prizes including the Championship of senior high and junior high schools. | Click to view album |
| BEA International English Contest - Hong Kong finals 12 Dec 2009, 20 students were selected to represent Hong Kong to the Beijing Finals We are very grateful to all our sponsors including Bank of East Asia, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Cambridge University Press, Gowell Software, Dr. David Li, Mr. Fred To and all the judges including Sir Ti-Liang Yang. | Click to view album |
CAMBRIDGE (The Friends of Cambridge) Cambridge alumni Reception to meet Professor Alison Richard, Vice Chancellor of The University of Cambridge - 7 April 2010 Informal microfinance chat - 'a number of ways to make a difference' - 27 Feb 2010 ORGANIC FARMING - in Lantau
| Harvesting |
插秧, Transplant rice seedlings |
Antarctica talk at offline club of iProA, 6 Feb 2010 Photos album
| Reunion with the Hong Kong representatives of the International English Contest | Click to view album |
BOOK REVIEW: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, PhD I have got this book as a gift from a friend who bought this at Stanford University's book store during our visit. This is an interesting book that talks about mindsets, specially, the author classified them into two types, namely, Fixed and Growth. The fixed mindset people cares more on preserving their current success (if any), or avoid anything that they may fail, especially in front of others, if so, they blame on others or circumstances instead of themselves. The growth mindset people love to learn, and get better, success and failure are all learning experience and they are hungry to get more. Read more... RESTAURANT REVIEW: Fridge 48 Peel St, Soho, Central (walk up from Hollywood road, next to Makuba Bar) +852 28101098 Western food in Central READ MORE ...
| MOVIE REVIEW: This film imagines that not so far ahead in the future where earth has become inhabitable due to human activities in an unsustainable manner. The sole survivor looks back in time to inspect what the humans could have done to stop the disaster but failed to put their act together - The Age of Stupid - Fail to act to save ourselves while still could. The film put together a lots of clips of signs, events and try to look at how humans are so selfish and/or stupid in reacting to the threat... | READ MORE |
APPLICATION: Online virtual file server solution Dropbox
Newsletter Dec 2009
 St Petersburg Sept 2009 |
Dear Family and Friends,
We hope this sharing finds you well. It has been a while since we last wrote our update (May 2009). We would like to share with you what we have been up to in 2009, and as always, we also want to hear from you, what's been keeping you excited, busy, happy or sad, please drop us a few lines if you have time.
Some highlights of our year 2009:
- 2009 Travel: Reduced travel time (but not number of trips and countries visited)
- Rented a tiny piece of farm land to grow vegetables;
- Eat more vegetarian meals, more meals at home and vegetarian cooking class
- Joined 2 associations (Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Internet Professional Association - iProA) and founded 2 (Chinese Business Angel Network - Hong Kong, Independent Professional Association);
- Organized an English contest in Hong Kong (part of the national English contest);
- Deeply involved in Cambridge alumni matters as always;
- Despite the fact that most peers are married by now, still played Best man's role at some friends' wedding
- Becoming rather addicted to Facebook (and loving it! Look me up search "leglessbird")
- Made many new friends
- Advising an ISP/IDC/MSS company and a online affiliated marketing company
We are going to explore Myanmar (formerly Burma) in December and make a brief stop in Singapore.
Wishing you a happy and healthy 2010!
Best regards,
Irene and Dominic
What we have been up to in 2009
|
TRAVEL
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Russia, Latvia, Estonia and Finland - Sept - Oct 2009:We have always wanted to visit Russia and the Baltic States. Irene has been planning the itinerary for weeks but needed to find a 2-week window. That window came near the end of Sept, the weather was starting to get cold but still bearable, though some people would argue you have to visit during the winter to get the true taste of Russia, we preferred our first visit under more humane weather condition. We actually visited 4 countries on this trip, Russia (St Petereburg, Moscow), Latvia (Riga), Estonia (Tallinn) and Finland (Helsinki). Contrary to our prior impression, it was actually not difficult to get by in Russia on your own (no need to join group tour) and it was also generally quite safe to do so. The Baltic states are all very beautiful, the people are friendly and have a high living standard. While Helsinki is also very modern and beautiful, we didn't find it very exciting. This completes our visits to all five countries of FINDS (Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Sweden). Modern day Russia is not what I had expected from years of stereotyping by US production of films and "news" on Russia and former USSR, it was surprisingly easy to navigate our ways in the streets of Moscow, St Petersburg and their metro without knowing any Russians (though it would have been useful). |
|
FINE DINNING ASSOCIATIONS
|
|
and founded two |
 Chinese Business Angel Network (Hong Kong) - A network to provide early stage venture investment
|
|
CAMBRIDGE |
 
|
|
Vice Chancellor's visit and Cambridge/PolyU Joint seminar (click on photos to read more)
Cambridge conference:
|
 Prince Philip Scholarship:The Prince Philip Scholarship presentation took place at the beginning of Sept and I was invited as the guest of honour. We have one scholar this year going to Clare college to read Medicine. And I was happy to share about my time as a student in Cambridge and what I learned from that wonderful experience...Read more |
|
WORK |
 Bank of East Asia International English Contest (Hong Kong)I'm chairing an organizing committee of the Hong Kong chapter of The International English Contest, it is part of the China International English Contest supported by The ministry of foreign affairs of China and the British Embassy, and the Hong Kong competition is sponsored by Bank of East Asia, Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong, Cambridge University Press and many other supporting units. |
 The contest aims to motivate students to promote Chinese culture to foreigners, hence using English as the communication language to help friends from other countries to appreciate our country, our culture and our people's way of life. The winners from the Hong Kong contest will be competing in a national final in Beijing with other students from all over China and the winners of the national final will be going to Britain on a culture exchange program including visits to Cambridge and London.
|
|
Photo highlight: Press conference:21 Sept; Round 1: 7 Nov; Semi-Finals: 21 Nov and Finals: 12 Dec 2009 (photos to come). Dominic is advising a company in the ISP (Internet Service Provider), IDC (Internet Data Centre), MNS (Managed Network Service) and MSS (Managed Security Service) which has good infrastructure and relationship in Asia also a fast link connecting Europe and Asia. He is also advising another startup which is in the online affiliated marketing business, connecting advertisers, online merchants, customer survey to customers and target audience through an extensive network of online publishers, such performance based model is gaining momentum in Asia, and is preferred by advertisers over just exposure (as in banner) or click through. He also has been involved in starting a new diploma course with HKU Space.
|
 "Click on your business" Kornerstone training on IT cost saving (Photos and Read more)
|
 Tolo Harbour business support group is organized by Chinese University to provide a platform for ventures and investors to come together...Read More
|
|
LEISURE Due to the hot weather and occasional heavy rain on the weekends, we had not been doing any hiking at all...
|
 A dinner event hosted by the Bauhinia FoundationWe attended a dinner event at the Bankers' club hosted by Bauhinia Foundation targeting graduates and students from overseas universities...read more |
  Happy FarmWe rented a tiny piece of land within a farm to grow our own vegetable (with the help of the warm owner, of course!). We are very excited about this...read more |
Book recommendation Book: Four-hour work weekI really like this book! It is about attitude change towards the work-life balance and pursuing passions and life goals It is about time-management, do things efficiently and effectively, not do work for work sake. It is about freeing yourself from a lot of unneccessary constraint such as your boss, an office, even a particular location and a lot of the time-wasting/zero value generating activities. Read more |
 Restaurant recommendationo-veg 素苗 A nice vegetarian restaurant in Happy Valley 9 Shing Woo Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong 跑馬地成和道9號1樓 +852 2893 3037 Read More |
 Movie recommendationhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/ A revealing documentary about the food supply in the States (perhaps soon elsewhere too), highly concentrated food supply, genetically modified crops, hormone assisted growth in packed farm, the truth about processed food, packaged food on the shelves of Supermarket, control of seed supply. Read more |
UK, Greenland, Denmark and Sweden
Australia
Japan
Macau
A friend has recommended an excellent vegetarian restaurants in Happy Valley called "o veg" "素苗" and we like it so much that we now go there 2-3 times a week and even order extra for take-away. There is no menu, everyone gets the same 3-course set, it is western style cooking using vegetables of many different colours, the chef even grows some of the vegetables from his own farm. Good healty food at an affordable price.
Lions Club of Metropolitan Hong Kong
Internet Professional Association (iProA)
Independent Professional Association
Mentorship programs:
Freshers' dinner:
CUCS Hong Kong dinner:
The Hon. Sir Ti-Liang Yang kindly agreed to be our head of judge panel.
Travel talk: Discovering Nepal. October to April is the best period to visit Nepal, we held a travel sharing session on Nepal in August to show friends about our trip in Nepal and we invited Bonnie, a friend and a keen traveller who has lived in Nepal for over 4 years to share her experience of the exciting country. She also talked about Tibet, yet another interesting destination.