stlplace

Category: Fun

  • Bought a Book from Dangdang

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    I ordered a book from Dangdang.com, the China’s own Amazon.com. The process was fairly straight forward except the payment. There are lots of online payment options in China these days including the bank card. But I don’t have a special PIN from my bank, so I chose “cash payment on receipt” instead. The book came today (that was fast, consider I ordered on Monday?). Besides saving some money (dangdang gives 36% off, even adding 5 Yuan delivery fee, it’s still cheaper than buying at book store), I wanted to try the online shopping in China. So far so good.

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    By the way, the book “Road and Dream” was written by Wang Shi, the founder of Vankie, and the guy who climbed many mountains including Mount Everest, or Chomolungma.

  • Diplomat Luggage Case

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    My luggage case was broken, after travelling through so many international airports (STL, ORD, PVG, NRT, SPM, PEK,…), rolling on the Shanghai streets, in two and a half years. It lost one wheel. I thought about buying another one, but on second thought, I decided to ask if it can be repaired. I searched the company using baidu and gsuo, surprisingly their office is close to my apartment (it seems my apartment is near a lot of good places). I called them yesterday and send in the case this morning. They told me it’s going to cost 20 Yuan, which is much lower than I expected. Now I am waiting patiently for my old friend’s happy return. (more…)

  • Stock Symbols in China and US

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    One major difference between US and Chinese (including Hongkong) stocks are the stock ticker symbols. The US markets use the abbreviation of English names, e.g., MSFT for Microsoft, ADBE for Adobe, F for Ford, T for AT&T, etc. While Chinese use numbers 601398 for Industrial & Commerce Bank of China, 601988 for Bank of China, etc. Maybe Chinese really like the number better? While American don’t? I think China adopted the number system because they learned that from Hongkong. But why did Hongkong Stock Exchange use the numbers at the first place?

    I found a tip if you want to look for ticker when you can not type in Chinese. Using Yahoo Finance (Chinese version), try the first letters of the Chinese names, i.e, type “zgyh”, which stands for Zhong Guo Yin Hang, Bank of China. It will leads you to the BOC stock page. Sweet, huh?

  • Back to School

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    No I did not go back to school for MBA or something. Actually I went to a nearby school for lunch with my coworkers this noon. I have tried a few places inside the Cloud Nine building. They are not expensive but not cheap if we consider the 1:4 ratio I derived a while ago. And I need to keep the Ajisen Raman as my last choice so that I would not get tired of it as I did with Panera or Fazoli’s in St. Louis. My coworkers have similar feelings. So we went to the school cafeteria (or canteen) and I paid 9 Yuan for a very decent lunch.

    The school we went for lunch was very famous and has a western name before 1949. It is one of the top law schools in China nowadays. Maybe someone can guess its name? Hint: the school is near Zhong Shan Park. 

  • Harrah’s in Shanghai?

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    Harrah’s is a large gaming (a better word for gambling) company in the US. It has presence in St. Louis and many US cities. Note gambling is still illegal in China. For ordinary Chinese citizens, since they can not fly to the famous southern town starts with “M”, they go for the cheaper options. The lottery and (dare I say) the stocks. Here is a picture taken at a stock broker house (Zheng Quan Gong Si) during lunch break. Unlike US market, the Chinese stock market has a “one hour and a half” lunch break. Good for the seniors who could get exhausted by the ups and downs of stocks. I am not in day trading or tape reading but I know this is not an easy task 🙂

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  • United Adventures

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    I have taken United Arlines (UA) flights from St. Louis to Shanghai couple times. This one is probablly most adventurous. The main problem was caused by the weather in Chicago. I thought this newly created ORD to PVG routes by UA and AA would benifit people in the Midwest: save one stop, for instance, if we take Northwest, we will have to stop twice, at Detroit/Minneapolis and Tokyo. But on March 2nd Chicago got wind and light snow. The flight from STL to ORD got delayed for about 3 hours. When I looked at the TV screen after I got to Chicago at 10:30, I could not find the 10:15 ORD PVG flight. So I waited patiently in a “200 miles long” line at the United customer service. This “200 miles” is quoting a lady lined after me. I also called the United hot line on the phone, all I got was the computer response. I guess there were so many delays and cancellations, and UA don’t have enough people to take the calls.

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  • Buffett Berkshire Hathaway 2006 Annual Letter

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    Here is this year’s letter (in PDF). I read his letters a few years back. Recently I bought his book   (at right side bar, in blue), it’s essentially a collection of his annual shareholder letters. His letters are highly regarded in the investing community.

    I hope one day I could go to his annual shareholder meeting in Omaha. It was said he will meet some international shareholders during the meeting, don’t know if I could qualify for the event. May be buying a B Share (BRK-B, about $3500 a piece) will do it? 

  • Memorable Oscar Moment

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    It’s Oscar time again. The show starts at 7:30 PM central time on ABC, it’s 5:30 PM at Kodak theater in Hollywood. This is probablly one of the most highest rated TV show in the States, just like the CCTV Spring Festival Show in China. It’s a tradtion. And full of fashion, as you may notice the Red Carpet coverage before the show.

    I have watched this Oscar thing for a while. Being a Chinese, I hoped An Li would win the “best director” or “Crouching Tiger Hidden Draggon” would win the “best picture”. That did not happen. But last year his “Broke back Mountain” did win one of the award so I think most Chinese are happy now. Unless you are a die hard Zhang Yi Mou or Ziyi Zhuang’s fan, and want to see them win the academy. Speaking of Zhiyi, I was surprised by her well spoken English last year. I am sure she did not learn from New Oriental 🙂

    My most memorable moment, though, was Julia Roberts won the Oscar best actress for her role in “Erin Brockowich” in 2001. I watched her “Pretty Woman” many years ago (1994?) in Shanghai, the movie was in English without Chinese caption. And we all know Julia is “American Sweetheart” but she never got the Academy award by 2001. I remember she was almost speechless when she got to the podium: just like a little girl got a much better gift for her Christmas (than she expected). I think people liked her because she is such an authentic person.   

    julia roberts erin brokovich

  • Chinese New Year Celebration at Olin

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    Friday evening I attended the New Year celebration at Olin School of Business, Washington University. It was organized by Greater China Club. Very well orchestrated, although the party is a bit late since New Year was Feb 18.

    I remember a few months ago our friends Indian students celebrated their Dawali. I think both groups did well in showing the Olin and Wash U. community the Chinese and Indian culture. It seems to me the business students really know marketing in the States 🙂

  • Crocs Earning Call

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    I listened to Crocs earning call this evening. The numbers look good, it beats the Street expecation as I expected. They also raised Q1 2007 and 2007 full year guidance. Some of the interesting developments:

    1) Nascar cross licensing (cross sell). Since they started Disney relationship in summer 2006, they expanded to NFL, NCAA football, NHL (looking for Canada market).

    2) International: UK did very well, european is the main growth driver now; build up in Brazil now, expect good growth there (products match Brazilian life style well); China and India (may be significant in 2008). Disney relationship expanded from US to many international markets.

    3) New shoes and aquisitions. Less dependent on the Beach and Cayman shoes.