Posted 8:00 PM by Andy
It's the eve of another holiday break, so I'll take some time to record some thoughts.

Work. We will complete a major internal milestone today and release a pre-alpha version of our new platform. The process has been grueling at times with some features getting axed and others in mutated forms due to programmer time constraints. I've been given new responsibilities to define a seller ad and billing system. Wing joined the PM team from Tencent. Our team now consists of 6 female product managers besides myself. I've also conducted a few exploratory conversations with firms both in the US and here to plan my next steps after the public release. The funniest call was with a headhunter representing a firm in the online travel industry. They missed earnings forecast last quarter and just replaced their CEO. Their performance and reputation has been hammered. Since they are based in Beijing, I didn't want to relocate in addition to all the other risks. The more I disparaged the firm, the more the headhunter wanted to lure me to join. I'm just too comfortable right now in Shanghai to move for a shaky opportunity like that.

Play. The last couple of months have been relatively routine, meeting a few visitors and new friends to puncture the monotony. Annie celebrated her 30th birthday by buying a Wii. I knocked her out in the boxing game without mercy. Recently we attended a talk by the president of the Grameen Foundation. Microfinance has finally gone main-stream as more people and organizations are practicing it here. It's not often you have a decade-long friend that you can hang with on a regular basis, so I treasure our bond. I met Edward on his way through town. He's contemplating a stint in China after he completes his consulting gig. It's between Tudou, a video-sharing site in Shanghai or a glass manufacturer in Xiamen. I met Erica C at a mixer recently. She's an Olgilvy PR rep from Taiwan via New York. We share many similarities. I'm quite envious of her pad at Shimao Riviera. I met Jenny W at the first Caribbean Association dinner organized by Earl. I hope to hang out with her this week. I emceed Siao and Vivian's wedding reception a couple weekends ago with Ivan. I translated for Ivan on the fly, and handled his off-the-cuff jokes without a hitch. The most difficult part was reading off all the honorable guests' names without mangling them. I met some new expat guys who like to play ball so we've been organizing some runs. Among them is Colin Pine, Yao Ming's personal translator. He's about 5'9'', 165 lbs with a good jumpshot with range. In the full-court game, I played with him and fed him for a couple of assists. He returned the favor by giving me the rock when I hit the game-winner. In the half-court game, Jeff, Mike, and I swept all comers until Mike took a break and Colin heated up and nailed 4 treys on Jeff. I didn't want to embarrass Jeff by switching him out and guarding Colin myself. They told us some stories of when the Rockets visited China last year, they took T-Mac and other players out to KTV. T-Mac was bored and left after half an hour. The others, who shall remain nameless, had a good time. In poker, I'm up over 1200 RMB for the month playing low stakes including a tournament victory against 10 other guys. That's not bad considering a couple of bad beats I endured on big hands. I came in second in my fantasy basketball league. Note to self: stop trading players like stocks in '99. I'm getting better in salsa, although I'm still not smooth enough and the repertoire is not expansive enough to give girls a good time yet.

Random thoughts. I'm fascinated by the idea of the black swan, or the anomaly that is highly improbable but catastrophic when it occurs. The Russian default that caused the crash of Long Term Capital, 9/11, the Cho massacre are all examples. You can plan your life and live with such prudence and precision, but at any moment, your world and life may be altered irreparably by forces beyond your control. Be forewarned.

Next time: Holiday in Xiamen.