Posted 12:52 AM by Andy
It has been a hectic month and a half since I last blogged, so to regurgitate what I experienced for posterity, here are my impressions of the memorable occurrences.

Work. The landscape is evolving, the competition is relentless, and our team is undergoing internal change. From the highest levels of the firm, product is being reorganized to be more customer-centric, to operate more like a business, and to respond more quickly to the local market. My mentor and buddy Xiaodi will be joining the Zhangjiang office for a new startup to experiment with a community-driven site and we are looking to hire two new product managers into our group. I'm excited by the opportunity to step up and play a more active role after the reorg. My manager and VP asked me about my interests, and I answered with search (and its associated domain of finding) and community (interactivity, Web 2.0 social networking). This is what I've been working on to date, so I keep an out on this space regularly both domestically and back in Silicon Valley. What's fascinating is how algorithmic search is executed to find what you want with high relevance. There are whole sub-industries attached to the eBay business like search engine optimization and keyword auction management to play the other side of the game. I was in San Jose for two weeks courtesy of the firm on training. Although it was last-minute notice and the Bay Area was drenched in rain, I enjoyed my stay on Santana Row. This week I have a seven-day workweek in advance of the weeklong May holidays coming up. In theory, it's a grind but in reality, when work and play is integrated, it's not too bad.

Social Life. If last week is any indication, I enjoy mixing it up during my personal time. A quick summary of the last 9 days follows. Saturday night, Jing stood me up for dinner so I ate in isolation before meeting up with Coco, a fashion magazine editor for dessert. I met up with Angel, our executive administrator for a late-night karaoke set on the spur of the moment. Sunday I hung out with Florence, a Canadian who lived in Paris most recently, after international church service. Monday I met up with Linda and Cindy visiting from Bangkok and heard about their experiences in development work in Thailand over dinner and afterwards along the Bund. Tuesday night I attended small group with my local Chinese friends at SMIC. Wednesday I met a group of folks from GrX church on a strategic vision trip and reconnected with Andrea K who I haven't seen in a decade since college. Thursday night I played ball. Friday night I met up with Len, who runs his own export business, at Malone's and chatted up Wang Lu, a waitress from Jiangsu. Saturday I watched a Cirque-du-Soleil-style acrobat show before late-night hotpot and met Jen C. We have many common interests including background in Taiwan, ministry, business, and will be future colleagues, albeit at opposite ends of the world. Later that same night I chilled at Guandi where I ran into an acquaintance Roxanna, a tall and down-to-earth girl from Guangzhou. Sunday I had dinner with Andrea Z, an Italian model and freelance consultant to fashion houses on China-entry strategies. She is surprisingly friendly and articulate, dispelling my stereotype of chemically dependent waifs in the Kate Moss mold. In between socializing, I also moved over the weekend to a new apartment near Lujiazui. The most vexing part of that was setting up the router so I can share the Internet connection with my roommate. It took a few hours but we are now wired. The other problem right now is the mattress in my room is rock hard. I've had fitful sleep the last two nights as a result. I'll have to buy some padding to rest in comfort. This week things should revert back to normal as the visitors have left.

Easter. The God-Man enterred history and altered it forever. I'm aghast at the cruelty and brutishness of the cross. I'm more amazed by the strength in obedience Christ displayed by staying there while his scorners mocked him. I have no more to say except what Ravi Zacharias pointed out in a subtitle of one of his works, "Why I Still Believe." It's the only thing that makes sense in this post-modern world.

Ball and life. I've come to realize one thing recently with my play on the court. I'm losing my explosiveness in my old age. In matchups with a premier defender like Gideon, I'm frustrated. He is Bruce Bowen with his unorthodox jumpshot and blanket D, but with better offensive skills. I’m inevitably extremely worn out after playing against him for two straight hours. In the necessary evolution of my game, I’ve become more dependent on the jumpshot and my passing ability since my first step off the drive is not as devastating as it used to be. Another method is misdirection. Watch Mike Bibby play and you’ll appreciate a good ball-handler and the guile he exercises when he sets up an opponent. For aggressive defenders, you bait them into reaching for the ball when you dribble the rock in front of them. Once they swipe at the ball, you shake them with a cross-over and blow by into the lane. Actually, a lot of life’s success uses this tactic. In poker, you should act wild when you sit down at a table. The guru Skylanski actually advises burning a C-note when you sit down to drive home the impression you are a loose cannon. Then you tighten up and nobody can reconcile the difference between your play and the original image of you they have seared into their minds. The same principle applies in dating and romance. The guys who try too hard and appear over-eager are shut down while the miscreant or dandy who makes casual talk but freely floats around talking to many different girls is given a chance. Or so the players tell me. By the way, my new favorite player in the Association since T-Mac is perennially injured, LeBron is the golden child feted by the masses, and Wade has his legion of followers, is Arenas. Who? Number 0, the guy who was predicted to ride the pine at Arizona and whose own agent told him he would get zero burn in the league. The under-sized guard who is fourth in the NBA in scoring behind Kobe, LBJ, and AI. The guy who uses his travel per-diem to win poker money from his teammates and plays online during a game from the locker room. The guy who makes an appearance in the clubs but inevitably hits the gym afterwards at 2 a.m. to work on his game. I’m trying to incorporate his philosophy into my own life, that work and play are interchangeable. If you love what you do, it won’t seem like work. It also sheds light on why I do the things I do like play competitive sports or games (not so much for the exercise as much as a measure of my own improvement) or read hundreds of books a year on assorted topics because I want to know how something works.

Next time: May holidays.