Events and grass root marketing
This weekend we lived in the city for most of it and found this little place with a few cars to rent and it is called zipcar.com, I went online to check them out (that is what everybody does now a days), and the price is very reasonable.
What women bring to us
Is the peace. Sometime, a glimps from a girl can make all the world seems irrelevant, make me feel safe, cared. She does not have to be safe looking, she can look edgy, but still she will convey that feeling. That is strange is not it?
I guess this time is this little yoko looking French girl sitting among all these colllege aged French guys, I was looking for power outlet since my battery was about to die. I was walking around and passing the long table where all Frogs were sitting, a very speedy glimpse exchange between she and I assured my feeling. That was some high points of Nov, I should be Thankful. As I was just writing, she was there, all in red, like some gigantic red shirt her much bigger brother gave to her. She looks actually cute, with a hat. I still heard someone speak, I guess that was her...she makes me feel safe.
Listening to Madonna's music through the HI hostel's wireless internet, it feels cool and poetry, every time.
House of Nanking
It was a long drive around union area. Finally we decided to dine at this place called House of Nanking at China town of San Francisco, why, because I am from Nanking (or Nanjing) and my friend's white co-workers went there for "team building": that is definetely special given the repuation of noisy and lowkey Chinese resturant. People described as a hole in the wall: what I guess is it's so small (acutally not that tiny) and always so packed (really really). We are guided to a two people seat where we had a three really fat people sitting next to us to make it almost impossible to sit without touching elbows.
Boss's daughter (I think so) is a laid back looking Chinese girl, you know, Chinese girl is normally stuck up if they ever have some looks. We told her that we are from Nanking and she said Peter Fang will take our order and stepped away, after a few minutes, this white haired laid back looking guy in his 60s came close to us and once we told him that we are from Nanking (not really after all these years living in the States), he nodded briefly and left. I was not sure what is going on until the girl told us the order has been taken and we just need to wait for a few. I thought it was a special for us from Nanking, and later, we knew that is not the case, he does that all the time and that is why white folks like this place, indeed, we looked around the crowd is really 95% white and good looking, hip generation. What is going on? I can't help to ask since that is normally not the case for a Chinese resturant at SF Chinatown.
Then I came to learn that it's all about marketing, word of mouth, the look and feel.
To be continued...
From communist party to dance girl
news.com had an article today about "a party girl leads China's online revolution": she said like this: "I don't know if I can be counted as a successful Web cam dance girl," that early post continued. "But I'm sure that looking around the world, if I am not the one with the highest diploma, I am definitely the dance babe who reads the most and thinks the deepest, and I'm most likely the only party member among them."
She also said :"I'm fortunate to live in a transitional society, from a highly political one to a commercial one," she wrote, "and this allows me to enjoy private pleasures, like blogging."
Since when, blogging became a "private pleasure"?
Graphics of google v.s. yahoo
Google's is just so many notches above Yahoo's. Just look at their Thanksgiving homepages.
Escort's hot tip
It's not just about the sex, it's about the mind.
11/23 San Francisco Chronicle published an article with above title. It's a short story about Veronica Monet, a retired escort who slept with 1800 men so you don't have to.
She has found that many men tend to be more intimate, emotional and trusting after sex. I actually agree with that, as a man.
Something about Daniel
Daniel is the pretty receptionist girl. She is probably in her early 20s, obviously loves her baby and her latino husband. She does a lot of things besides answering phones, she has to manage/track the time card for all temp workers and other admistrative job. She was still working the Wed night before Thanksgiving till after 6pm when I bounced off the office. She said that was her first time working beyond the normal 8 hours and she seemed to like her job a lot. She was very excited to tell me that she will turn perm (from temp) soon and have all the benefit and maybe a raise. I said "congradulations" to her and wished her a very good Thanksgiving. She is a very pretty girl with beautiful smile and she could have better life than feeling lucky to turn perm. I started to realize how little people like her are expecting out of their life: a perm job, a benefit package, an on-time pay, none of these are what I care. Why the differences?
Anger management
It was a lousy movie. However, David said one thing that is true:"I am angry, most of the time about myself, to let others treat me like trash without standing up for myself". I am doing the opposite: like what JESSICA SIMPSON and NICK LACHEY said to the media, that sometimes strong personalities can get in the way of marital negotiations. "There's people with pride involved," she says. "You have to back down sometime -- just a little bit." I guess it's more than must marital negotiations, it's about everything.
I am not built for my job, which requires endless compromise. My pride stands in the way, eventually for good. I need to get the hella this sucky job and do what I was born to do.
Widi, the middle aged mellow Indonisian Chinese guy who works as production supervisor by putting 70 hours a week, is the perfect example of people who stopped imagination and started to compromise. But what can he do: without a social network and good communication skill, with two school aged kids to raise and a wife working as an accountant, compromising is the only choice.
Lesson learned: do what you love to do and have to do, do not waste anytime.
Mock interview for management consulting
My friend has an interview coming up with Mckinsey soon, I was asked to do a mock interview with him. It turned out there are lots of materials to go through for an interview like that. While Stanford was losing badly to Cal, we were sitting in Jackson library to go through one step at a time. It recalls me those days I spent with another team of four one of which died in last year's Tsunami.
Trump
Practicality and creativity. You have to seek a balance of it.
Sucky boyfriends and the way blind people shake hands
You know what I am talking about! Dude, where is my car!
We are not guys, we are hot chicks with big boobs..
Can I touch your face?
The blind boy asked and reached out to the lead hot chick's face...
Yes, you are hot!
Then the boy slipped his hand down toward the hot chick's boobs...
Are they normal? The hot chick asked.
The boy continued saying:"yes, this is how blind people shake hands (by touching chicks' boobs)- that was hillarious
See you in galaxy!
Weapon of mass construction
Glancing through Guy Kawasaki's best of guy, here it is:
The Art of the Start (book)
When you get pregnant, you read What to Expect When You're Expecting. When you get laid off, you read What Color is Your Parachute?. When you get entrepreneurial, you read The Art of the Start.
This book is a weapon of mass construction. My goal was to provide the definitive guide for anyone starting anything. It builds upon my experience as an evangelist, entrepreneur, and most recently, as a venture capitalist who found, fixed, and funded startups.
The book is as relevant for two guys in a garage starting the next Google as social activists trying to save the world. GIST: cuts through the theoretical crap, theories and gets down to the real-world tactics of pitching, positioning, branding, recruiting, bootstrapping, and rainmaking
Top TV talents
Aaron Sorkin: writer of "west wing"
Mark Burnett: producer of "survivor", "the apprentice"
Larry David: creator of "Seinfield" and "Curb your enthusiasm"
Hiring
I have a tendancy to hire talented people. Whenever I see some great work of someones, I often choose to investigate a little further about the author and somehow come up with a project or a reason to hire her/him. Don't know what that means.
Today, Jim was drawing the floor plan for Meggan, his daughter who just moved out to San Francisco golden park area and who has just found a two beds room apartment which turns out to be cozy. Jim was a Cornell architect turned Stanford MBA, Susan, his wife, is Welslly(misspelled, I think) graduate turned interior designer. Of course Susan will take care of furnishing the apartment. Then I thought about our startup where we enable individuals pros like Jim and Susan to show case their talents. Maybe there is a reason for everything, including me being neighbor to them for 1 year and a half. Maybe a little bit of patience will pay off.
The slogan for our startup is:
No matter you are a pro,
or just an average Joe,
we have a stage for you,
to put up a wonderful show.
Autumn is here
Really really. Look out my window, I can see more trunks of the tree wall that is usually covered. Leaves have fallen, color has changed, only those squirrles are still cute as if last summer.
Whose fault
? Today I did not step, I abandonned B2, today I put other people to the frontline when I should have consulted them, I should not have done that. I did that because I took some "suggestions" from other team member telling me I should not do other's job. This was a lousy excuse, I realized. Today's apprentice episode is all about stepping up the game. I will step up, appologize, and get things done.
Major talent
It's major talent to get the bucks from the ladies, so as said in Tom Cruise early movie: the button is popping, the skirt is rising..
A week of online casino
I made $1000. Things I have always been thinking is how mathematics affects the output of these games, especially blackjack.
While I am thinking, I revisited "catch me if you can". Truely one of my most favorite movies.
