Wow, so it’s been a very very long while. Lot’s of bloggers go through it. As a matter of fact, the hardest part of blogging is probably to consistently blog. But the creative spirit and urge to write is back in me and I feel the holy blogger spirit flowing through my fingers.

I’ve been extremely busy these days with my professional life. But to show you all that I’m back and that I mean it, I’ve grabbed this spiffy new design over from WordPress.

So be ready for frequent unadulterated banter from your favorite Asian blogger.

The following has nothing to do with the usual Asian-American race relations issues I like to bring up, but with the present economy, it’s hard to ignore the job cuts, plummeting stocks, and uncertainty. I came across the following list of major US companies and their job cuts in the first quarter of 2009 alone.

To everyone holding onto their current jobs or in search of one, I wish you the best of the luck, and want to assure you that challenges and struggle only strenthen us.

Best wishes from Chinese or Japanese.

Company Name            Date of      Number of      Percent
                       Announcement    Jobs Cut     Work Force

HSBC                    03/02/2009       6,100         N/A
GKN                     02/26/2009       2,400         N/A
RSA Insurance           02/26/2009       1,200          6%
Nortel Networks         02/25/2009       3,200         10%
Advantest Corp.         02/25/2009       1,200         25%
Lonmin PLC              02/24/2009       5,500         18%
Spansion Inc.           02/23/2009       3,000         35%
Micron Technology Inc.  02/23/2009       2,000        8.8%
Anglo American          02/20/2009      19,000         11%
Embraer                 02/19/2009       4,300         20%
Avon Products           02/19/2009   2,500-3,000       N/A
Goodyear Tire           02/18/2009       5,000          7%
Rockwood Holdings       02/18/2009         900          9%
General Motors Corp.    02/17/2009      47,000       18.7%
Chrysler LLC            02/17/2009       3,000         N/A
Smithfield Foods        02/17/2009       1,800        3.4%
Wal-Mart Stores         02/13/2009   1,100-1,200 -k    N/A
Pioneer Corp.           02/12/2009      10,000 -l      16% -l
ArcelorMittal           02/11/2009       9,000          3%
General Motors          02/10/2009      10,000         14% -g
Unisys                  02/10/2009       1,300         N/A
UBS                     02/10/2009       2,000        2.6%
FedEx Corp.             02/09/2209         900        2.6% -j
Anglo Platinum          02/09/2009      10,000         13%
Nissan Motor            02/08/2009      20,000          8%
International Rectifier 02/05/2009         850         18%
Power-One Inc.          02/05/2009       1,000         22%
Bombardier              02/05/2009       1,360        4.5%
Estee Lauder            02/05/2009       2,000          6%
Time Warner Cable       02/04/2009       1,250          3%
Harman International    02/04/2009       1,110        9.4%
Panasonic               02/04/2009      15,000          5%
Electronic Arts Inc.    02/03/2009       1,100         11%
PNC Financial Services  02/03/2009       5,800         10%
SAS                     02/03/2009       3,000         13% -h
Atlas Copco             02/02/2009       3,000          9%
Macy's                  02/02/2009       7,000          4%
NEC                     01/30/2009      20,000          7%
Hitachi                 01/30/2009       7,000          2%
Caterpillar             01/30/2009      22,110 -f      N/A
American Axle           01/30/2009       3,000         N/A
Chartered Semiconductor 01/29/2009         600          8%
Charles Schwab Corp.    01/29/2009     500-600       3.7%-4.5%
Black & Decker          01/29/2009       1,200          5%
Bon-Ton Stores Inc.     01/29/2009       1,150          3%
Eastman Kodak           01/29/2009       4,500         18%
AstraZeneca             01/29/2009       7,400         11%
Ford Motor Credit       01/28/2009       1,200         20%
Boeing Co.              01/28/2009      10,000          6% -d
Allstate Corp.          01/28/2009       1,000 -e     2.6%
Jabil Circuit           01/28/2009       3,000        4.9%
AOL                     01/28/2009         700         10%
Starbucks               01/28/2009       6,700          4%
SAP                     01/28/2009       3,000          6%
STMicroelectronics      01/28/2009       4,500          9%
Avery Dennison          01/27/2009         N/A         10%
Baker Hughes            01/27/2009       1,500          4%
Corning                 01/27/2009       3,500         13%
Cooper Industries       01/27/2009       2,200          7%
Clariant                01/27/2009       1,000          5%
Texas Instruments       01/26/2009       3,400         12%
Home Depot              01/26/2009       7,000          2%
Sprint Nextel           01/26/2009       8,000         13%
Pfizer                  01/26/2009       8,300         10%
ING                     01/26/2009       7,000          5%
Philips Electronics     01/26/2009       6,000          5%
Corus                   01/26/2009       3,500         10%
Harley-Davidson         01/23/2009       1,100         11%
Microsoft               01/22/2009       5,000          5%
Huntsman                01/22/2009       1,175          9%
Intel                   01/21/2009       6,000 -c       7%
UAL                     01/21/2009       1,000          2%
Eaton                   01/20/2009       5,200          6%
Bose                    01/20/2009       1,000         10%
Rohm & Haas             01/20/2009         900        5.7%
Clear Channel           01/20/2009       1,850          9%
ConocoPhillips          01/16/2009       1,300          4%
Circuit City            01/16/2009      34,000        100% -a
Pfizer                  01/16/2009       3,200 -b       3%
AMD                     01/16/2009       1,100          9%
Hertz Global Holdings   01/16/2009       4,000         13%
Wellpoint               01/16/2009       1,500        3.6%
Saks                    01/15/2009       1,100          9%
MeadWestvaco            01/15/2009       2,000         10%
Autodesk                01/15/2009         750         10%
Motorola                01/14/2009       4,000          6%
Barclays                01/14/2009       2,100        1.3%
Seagate Technology      01/12/2009         800         10%
Cessna                  01/12/2009       2,000         N/A
Walgreen                01/08/2009       1,000          9% -i
Lenovo Group            01/08/2009       2,500         11%
EMC                     01/07/2009       2,400          7%
Alcoa                   01/06/2009      15,000       14.5%
Cigna                   01/05/2009       1,100          4%

e. Reductions to come over the next two years
f. Includes 20,000 job cuts announced Jan. 26 and 2,110 announced Jan. 30
g. 14% of salaried work force.
h. The work force will be reduced by another 5,600 staff as divisions are

divested or outsourced.

i. The percentage represents cuts made to eligible corporate positions and
certain field-management positions

j. Percentage of work force reduced at FedEx Freight unit.

k. Cuts include corporate headquarters staff reduction announced Feb. 10 and
Georgia return center staff announced Feb 13.

l. Cutting 6,000 permanent jobs, or 16% of global work force, plus 4,000
temporary jobs.

Source: CNN Money

Last night, besides listening to Oakland’s typical street noise creep through my window – The usual scraper drudging down the street, the AC transit, or the occasional gun shot – I instead heard the lovely crackling of firecrackers. It took me a minute, but I soon realized the clock struck 12 and the lunar new year had begun.

Holding true to this blog’s message that not all Asians are simply Chinese or Japanese, Happy lunar new years to everyone who celebrates it! Happy Chinese New Years! Happy Vietnamese New Years! Happy Korean New Years! Happy Tibetan New Years! And Happy New Years to anyone I may have missed.

It’s the year of the Ox!

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

Yeah Yeah, I know, it wasn’t really necessary to post that, but it’s my zodiac year, let me enjoy the moment.