The Function of Hair

I start to realize the function of hair when I don’thave it. The key function is

  • It helps to keep you warm. It is a raining day and I just cannot walk outside. I actually got cold a little bit. Is it relates to the hair?

I Got Shaven Head – Part II

Some interesting observation. After I got my head shaven, I realized that my world does not change at all. I cannot see any change from my eyes, unless I unintentionally glance into a mirror. Other than that, nothing.

But the world changes more for people around me. They have to get used to a new image of a person.

Isn’t it interesting enough? The change of a person does not has impact on him, but the world around it. I may have changed a lot in the last few years (lucky me. I can trace the change in very details in the 9 years of blogging, and I can see it), but I am totally unaware of it. It is people around me who felt the change. What I can feel is the interaction between me and my friend. Change of hair style (or in my case, with or without it) is more visible than the change in characters. There is no such a thing called personality mirror so my friends may be the only way to act as the mirror so you can discover the change.

I Got Shaven Head

Don’t be surprised, and Yes, I was serious. I had all the hair shaven today. This was a promise I made many months ago, that when the business of Baixing reaches certain level (I don’t disclose the amount here), I will have my head shaven, as a celebration ceremony. Obviously, the Baixing team got excited about my head shaving. They did it by themselves for me. I am happy to have a great team, that I can share my happiness with. Actually, I didn’t seriously think about it until we had celebration, and after I am home, and watch myself in the mirror. Ops! :-)

It takes some time for the hair to grow up a little bit. This is the first time in my life to get haven head, and what a fail it is that I didn’t try it in the first 30+ years!

Happy Birthday to Xiaoliang

Today is Xiaoliang’s birthday. Happy Birthday!

Hosting Students

I hosted some MBA students from Berkeley. I did it the last time for National University of Singapore. Talking with young smart students are always my favorite, and it helps me to keep thinking – they ask really good questions, and it keeps me younger (well, I am not old, but still older than university students). Thanks Emma for making it happen.

A Template Day

Today is a pretty good template for me as a CEO – to meet with different people from different world, and put them together. Hope I will refer to today as a template to transform my daily routine life.

Baixing’s TVC Created by Users

After Baixing’s first TVC were on air, hundreds of users started to create their version of TVC. Here are just a very small portion of the creation we collected. Click on the links to see the lovely users of Baixing community.

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/hr7dCp8rmMw/

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/wotQv–17Lo/

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY3OTcwNTYw.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDAzNDMy.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDE5ODEy.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDcyOTEy.html

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/O1Et4MKPowI/

http://www.56.com/u95/v_NjA2MTM5NTY.html

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/xQG95rzh6W4/

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDMzMzA0.html

http://js.tudouui.com/bin/player2/opn_3.swf?iid=83833355

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDY1ODgw.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDY0MTky.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDc3NTIw.html

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/NKNEP-oS9PM/

http://u.youku.com/user_show/uid_hbgdyjlz99

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Us1L3UecG-8/

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/w7dgeImx658/

http://www.56.com/u71/v_NjA2MTgwNjg.html

http://www.56.com/u94/v_NjA2MTg0NDM.html

http://boke.qq.com/play.html?v=7cTiFnQcyfz

http://images.56.com/flashApp/56.11.05.13.swf?vid=NjA2MTgyMDc&ref

http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/52626773-1805579555.html

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/L8bsZvLVRWQ/

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Ve_abg22BbE/

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MDczMDg0.html

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/Ve_abg22BbE/

http://www.56.com/u95/v_NjA2MTM5NTY.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjY4MTE0MzAw.html

http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/52679482-1096728725.html

Update about my Foot

This is the third day since my foot was wrapped gypsum and bandage. I have stayed at home for three days. Hopefully, I can get back to office Monday noon to have my regular lunch meeting, and the regular dinner with the team. There is actually not many things I can do except keeping my foot away from any additional shock.

Wheelchair

Wendy got a wheelchair on Baixing (link) at 300 RMB. Nice wheel chair but Shanghai is not a good place to use it.

Before dinner, we test-ran the wheelchair at the pedestrian. Terrible experience. The edge of the pedestrian and the road is still not well connected (I mean the slope designed to make wheelchair go on and off pedestrian easier), so I am always stuck there, with bikes and cars running to behind me.

Walking Stick

It seems the walking sticks I got from my team work much better. I believe I am the third person breaking the foot in recent years, so we share the same pair of walking stick. That is more nimble than wheelchair. I am thinking about selling out my wheelchair at 300 RMB again on Baixing.com. That is the beauty of second-hand trading – price does not drop when you buy and sell second-hand stuff.

Four Weeks

There are still four to six weeks to go before I get my foot out of the gypsum and bandage. Hmm…. Let me continue to report the life of a disabled person in Shanghai.

Gypsum is a Life Changer

Exactly as Carroll predicted, the unexpected loss of mobility changed my life a lot.

How Loss of Mobility Changed my Life

Waking up in the morning, and facing the reality that I cannot happily go to work, I told Wendy: if you really want a vacation, go to a hospital and put gypsum around your foot (eventhough nothing happens to it), and you get the peace you are longing for for many years.

The loss of mobility is a great thing. It does not make a lot of things impossible, it just made it inconvinient. Getting a cup of water? Easy! But you have to stand up slowly with the support of the chair and jump there, or you need to call Wendy to help. That type of inconvinience highly reduced what I want to do, and left enough time for me to watch the scene outside my window, and peaceful thought flows.

Happiness

In the book Stumble Upon Happiness, scientiest Daniel Gilbert found out that people who are blind, or cannot speak, or lose a leg are not neccessarily unhappier than normal people. We thought that to be able to walk is so important to our happiness, but actually, it is not.

Disabled people also enjoy the peace of mind, and thinking, and like myself today, blogging.

This morning, I started to really think aboug the matter of the reality that I have to sit down quietly for 4 weeks. Well. Need some basic planning.

Broke the Bone of my Foot

Interesting. I fell down at the edge of the road, and my right foot was hurt. I thought it was not a big deal but after visiting PLA 85 Hospital and did X-Ray exam, it turned out the fifth right small bone was broken – well, not a serious broken, just a leak at the end of the bone.

Anyway, it is a bone break, and the doctor put gypsum around my foot, and ask me to stay home without going anywhere, and don’t step out of the room. It makes 4 to 6 weeks to recover.

Well. Since it has to be that way, it has to be that way. I am not a patient. My middle school teacher joked: all patients are very patient. He is absolutely right. I am very patient now. There are long “vacation” waiting for me.

Anyway, I don’t expect to stay at home too long. I suspect that I will appear at office next Monday afternoon for the management meeting. I am going to get a 300 RMB wheelchair from Baixing.com, and Wendy has been kind enough to agree to send me to our office building. I never feel so happy about the fact that we choose a building with wheelchair access path. My type of work is OK with just a computer, but I would rather stay in the office surrounded with friends. Face to face connection is also much more productive than facing computer alone.

Yifan’s Reaction

My darling YIfan saw me jumped out of hospital with one leg. He was so amused that he laughed very happily. Then he kept repeatedly saying: “Daddy. Walk. Differently”. We asked him to tell us how daddy walks. He happily jump around…

The Road

Well. Since I have enough time to spend, I can start to write more blogs about the society, and write down a lot of thoughts, including the recent arrest of my friend Dr. Xu Zhiyong.

The reason I fell was, there is a small difference in height between the edge and the road – the bricks part and the dark asphalt part. According to the standard, these two should be exactly fit each other, as in every road in Shanghai.

What brought my attention was, the owner of the news stand where I fell told me, he saw at least tens of people falling here, and many are more serious then I was (I didn’t know I broken my bones, because I still cold walk). I am going to report it to related government agencies and media tomorrow to rise people’s awareness. But what I bitterly aware is, it won’t have any effect anyway, and I am generally laughed at to be naive in the current Chinese society. If I insist on improving the situation too much, as Xu Zhiyong did, I may cause a lot of trouble for myself.

Anyway, you may expect more blog entries in the next few days before I get back to work.

P.S. I didn’t blog too much since I don’t have Internet access in the last few days, and after I leave office, I don’t have Internet access. The Internet service didn’t work and we called China Telecom four times, but no one came although every time they promise to come to fix it.

Writing Some Codes Tomorrow

During our code review today at office, I suddenly realize there are many technical dreams I have once had but didn’t fulfill it.

When I demonstrate the data-aware controls, and the architect, I recalled the time I started to learn C#, and all kinds of other language. I always wanted to

1. Write a language – I mean, some really productive language like PHP, or C#.

I thought I am not interested it any longer after my shift from technical field to business field in 2003, but today, I am re-assured that I want to do it. It brings me a lot of happiness.

2. Write some really cool applications.

Like the Web based IDE idea I described in my Chinese blog

Hands on CEO?

I have many roles in life. I know majority of the blog reader (some are 5 year long readers! Amazing! It is even more amazing than keep writing it) knows my role as a blogger – a blogger in Shanghai and broadcast what is happening here.

I also have another role – CEO of Kijiji, the eBay’s subsidiary in China. The other day, Chris (the great intern from Stanford, who has been very valuable for us) asked me: “Jian Shuo, I am just confused about why you are so hands on? I didn’t see a CEO, especially in the multinational companies who really write code.”.

My answer was a long answer. To be sure, I think I am growing more and more mature, and found some good balance between strategy, and execution. Before May this year, I really looks like a CEO – a personal whose full time job is thinking (or use the more fancy word – planning, creating strategies, read reports). However, many companies succeeds not only because of a good strategy, it is because of the right strategy combined with the right execution. I found I can still be helpful to develop the technical team because of my (luckily) technical background. So I did it. I am happy about the result so far. So I am back to the technical world – as long as I can be of help.

Very Tired Recently

Recently, I am very tired. There are many things to think about, and got cold a little bit. Let me take a short break tonight.

May holiday is approaching. May 1 to May 7 is the official holiday in China. All business closes. Don’t worry. It is the best season for hotels, shopping malls, airlines, and consumer businesses. They are still open.

BTW, I hope I have the equipment like Justin: It must be fun.

Did I Change in the Last Four Years?

In the last four years of blogging, did I change a lot? I believe so, but I just cannot tell what are the changes, and how much the change is. Reading my blog entries written 4 years ago, I still feel I am the same person, but I am very sure I am NOT from the readers’ perspective. What do you think?

I am an ENFP

According to my MBTI test result, I am an ENFP – Extraverted Intuition with Feeling (ENFP)

The test is very true. I feel the description exactly matches what I think I am. For example, ENFP s

See the need for and initiate change

Focus on possibilities, especially for people

Prefer to take charge of the start-up phase

Active, experimental and imaginative

May overlook relevant details and facts

May overextend and try to do too much

Update September 15, 2007

Here is the description of ENFP.

ENFP s are typically enthusiastic innovators, always seeing new possibilities and new ways of doing things.

Ha Ha. It is me. I like mashup and I like new things. That is true.

They have a lot of imagination and initiative for starting projects.

This may be problematic for people working with me because the speed of starting new projects may be too quick and new projects are endless until the team is fully burned out.

ENFP s’ energy comes from what is new and different, and they are spontaneous and enjoy action. They can become so interested in their current projects that they drop other things that are less exciting.Because they see so many possibilities, ENFP s sometimes have difficulty picking those with the greatest potential. They dislike routine and find it hard to apply themselves to the sometimes necessary details involved in finishing projects, easily becoming bored.

That explain the reason I like travel so much and quickly bored. I can start something quickly but, as the analysis reports, fail to pay attention attention to details involved in finishing a project. Wendy is just the opposite site of me – she is so patient and long-lasting for anything she started doing.

They are concerned about people and understand others’ needs and aspirations. ENFPs readily communicate their enthusiasm, and this can be infectious. They often inspire others as well.

This is the reason I care about people more than the result. Good manager, but maybe not tough enough to fight in this market.

ENFP s are likely to be most satisfied in a work environment that is welcoming to people, innovative, and full of exciting new possibilities. Others can count on them to find new ways of helping people solve problems and overcome barriers.

A stable business is not that interesting for me, even though it is climbing so quickly. New things are the source of my energy. I agree. It sounds I am a child-like mood – like new toys, and quickly bored and interested in another one.

ENFP Careers

This page listed the ENFP possible careers.

* Consultant

* Psychologist

* Entrepreneur

* Actor

* Teacher

* Counselor

* Politician / Diplomat

* Writer / Journalist

* Television Reporter

* Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, or Computer Specialist

* Scientist

* Engineer

For me, I am especially interested in:

  • Consultant – Yes. I was a consultant, and always want to be one – even be an uninvited consultant.
  • Psychologist – I found psychology especially interesting for me, and I love to read books about this.
  • Entrepreneur – this is what I am doing now professionally
  • Teacher – teacher in a university or highschool is always my dream job.
  • Counselor, Politician, Piplomat – this is what I do with this blog, and the reason I enjoy YLF so much.
  • Writer / Journalist – again, look at what I am doing with this blog.
  • Television Reporter – for the third time, this blog. I want to be a reporter, and enjoy being involved in TV programs.
  • Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts, and Computer Specialist – exactly. It is my major, my past job, and something I am so interested in.
  • Scientist – very true. I love to read these kinds of books.
  • Engineers – my past job, and what I am doing

What a list – I would say from my point of view, it is very accurate descriptoin of me. Is there any other jobs in the world? I just found out all the jobs here are good one for me.

Look at the ISTJ careers?

* Business Executives, Administrators and Managers

* Accountants and Financial Officers

* Police and Detectives

* Judges

* Lawyers

* Medical Doctors / Dentists

* Computer Programmers, Systems Analysts, and Computer Specialists

* Military Leaders

I don’t like any of them except computer programers (maybe it is another type of computer programmer than ENFP type). I especially hate military leaders, judges, lawyers, and police, accountant jobs…

My Personality Test

I received an interesting test on personality, and here is my answer to some of the questions. It seems I am not an organized person.

When you go somewhere for the day, would you rather

[ ] plan what you will do and when, or

[X] just go?

If you were a teacher, would you rather teach

[ ] fact courses, or

[X] courses involving theory?

Do you prefer to

[ ] arrange dates, parties, etc., well in advance, or

[X] be free to do whatever looks like fun when the time comes?

Do you prefer to do many things

[X] on the spur of the moment, or

[ ] according to your plans?

Does following a schedule

[ ] appeal to you, or

[X] cramp you?

Does the idea of making a list of what you should get done over a weekend

[ ] appeal to you, or

[X] leave you cold?

In doing something that many other people do, does it appeal to you more to

[ ] do it in the accepted way, or

[X] invent a way of your own?

Why I Keep Losing Stuff

I kept losing stuff. It is wired.

One week ago, I even lost a shoe. I got onto the back seat of my car. Wendy drove the car to Xujiahui. When I left the car, I just couldn’t find one of my shoe. Till now, I have no idea about where my shoe went.

In Qingdao, I lost my glasses. I didn’t wear contact lens this time, and wore my normal glasses. The tide was strong. After one strong tide, I felt strange, and realized I didn’t have my glasses any more. It is not easy to find a glass in the sea. I gave up in 10 seconds.

I also lost some stuff, like t-shirts, grooves. That is the only explanation for why I have less and less t-shirts. I even didn’t realize when I lost them.

How strange. Is everyone the same, or just me too stupid? It is annoying.