tennis, life and a few things in between

Kathryn Gould is a ‘serious violinist, painter and pilot, and a frivolous boogie boarder’, in her own words. She’s best known for being one of the country’s most accomplished VCs – venture capitalists. She was the employee #10 in Oracle as its first vice president of marketing in 1982, said that “Every CEO I back has to have a little piece of Larry Ellison in him.”

Michael Lewis explained in a layman’s language the difference between VC and IB – investment banker (in 1997), he used Gould as an example, and tennis tournament too:

..
The third possible explanation for why Gould is paid tens of millions of dollars to do a job that lots of smart people would do for half as much is the most interesting. It explains equally well (or poorly) the outrageous salaries paid to CEOs and the vast bonuses earned by Wall Street bond traders. It grows out of work done over the past 15 years by a pair of professors at Stanford who live in the shadow of the venture capitalists. Their names are Edward Lazear and Sherwin Rosen. Their theory is called the “tournament theory.”

Put aside the usual question of whether someone is being paid what she is worth. The tournament theory holds that it is sometimes efficient, and in some sense right, to pay people far more than they are worth.

Start with the example of the professional tennis tournament. Players are paid not for their absolute value but for their relative value. If Pete Sampras plays better than Andre Agassi he wins, no matter whether both of them were playing well or playing poorly. So how do you use money to motivate a tennis player? The answer is obvious: Pay the winner more than the loser. The greater the difference between the loser’s paycheck and the winner’s paycheck, the harder the players will try. The only limit is that the loser’s paycheck must be big enough to guarantee that they both show up in the first place.
.. ..

Not sure how many pictures are for real .. but what’s the heck .. Anna K has never won a title on the court, but she beats out Maria Sharapova any given time – prettier and doesn’t grunt. Maria’s facial skin is uuuuuuhhhhhrrrrr …

A few pretty and strong women.

I’ve never heard of Liu Hairu 刘海若 till yesterday when DQ brought her up. Her Baidu profile is bit over kill and petty, but does provide a window into a promising life cut short. I admire her greatly over her will to live – decleared brained dead by the British docs after train accident but came back alive and strong – at the help of hospital in Beijing. An inspiring and remarkable woman and a story.

Lou forwarded this set of photos, a 27-year old Guangxi mountaineer 罗丽莉 Luo Lili who’s making her second attempt at 珠峰 the Mount Everest – not sure the news is recent or 2008. I thought about Sandy Hill Pittman, the socialite who’s part of Jon Krakauer and famed guide Rob Hall group. They assaulted the Mount Everest on May 10, 1996, the deadliest day in the mountain’s history when five climbers died. I remembered reading Krakauer’s account, in which he described the last call Hall made to his pregnant wife in New Zealand. It was just heart breaking. Also on Sandy Hill Pittman getting her glossy magazines and gourmet food to the base camp on the mountain. She was characterized in the media at the time as a spoiled, cappuccino-machine-toting socialite. However Krakauer gave hercredit for raising money.. Sandy who strikes me as totally American and totally unpretentious yet ambitious gave her first interview 12 years later, saying “.. others .. when their life is at a difficult spot, turn to drugs or drink or credit cards,” she told David Breashears. “I go to the mountains. That’s always worked for me.”
Sandy Hill is a survivor too, not just from death, but in life as well. After the failed attempt in May, few months later, she scaled the Mount Everest successfully, becoming handful people in the world who had ascended all Seven Summits. However her social life in New York was doomed. Her friends began to avoid her and her husband Bob Pittman just left without a forwarding address. Too big of target for her own good? Too much of being the Talk of Town? She never blinked. Dated Stephen Koch and then married Tom Ditmer in 2001.
Sandy’s ex Bob Pittman married climber and film-maker (trailer below) David Breashears’s estranged wife Veronique Choa in 1997.

Not sure about Luo who’s still too young, but Liu and Sandy Hill have strong purposes in life, in which I found them particularly beautiful. Their don’t live in their good looks, it’s just a complementary.

This morning I got to play with the girls after the normal battle with the boys – girls doubles. Image that.
Phyllis and I against Allison and Mrs. Chou. The entire morning as I was playing, I tried hard to think of her name but came up empty. It didn’t occur to me till the second set. I haven’t seen her in a long time. She looked the same and played the same. We were up 5:4 when Phyllis had to leave. Btw, I had winning record this AM. Phew.

Ok .. had my Lychee martini and am having apple martini. The hot pot dinner is ready, waiting for my guests. All have great weekend. Cheers !!

Very good morning to you all..
*stretch*
*smile*
*yawn*

Phew, a little break from a book I’ve been working on since the New Year. The story dropped into my lap unexpectedly. How and when it’s going to be published is unknown but I’ve just done with the 2nd edition and sent to a friend who’s an honest critic and bookman.

Writing is the easiest component of a book.

Unlike the Last Concubine or few other titles that was so readily jumped at me, I haven’t had an ideal name for this book yet. Have a clue but haven’t come up with a neat title.

I met the bookman John B few years ago, online when I needed the precise year that Harvard and Yale awarded its first PhD, for my research. The Yalies quickly e-mailed me the scanned info but the H bomb lag behind. So I called again on that D-day and was being transferred the nth time, when a nice man John B the Bookman picked up the phone, I just lost it .. (you can fill the blank here). Our conversation was an act of something like petulance. He actually patiently and sympathetically listened to my frustrating rants.

Bookman is very into Tibet (still haven’t figure it out if he’s with me or against me on this issue .. .. I’m slow .. ) and wanted to go there. Not sure if my persuasion worked or he went without telling me – men always tell women lies, ha ha ha .. That was years ago. He became my Tibet guru and helped me a lot on research I conducted. Now he’s burdened with my raw scribble. I threatened him that if my book doesn’t get published or published but only sell one copy, he’ll be the DMW, dead man walking.
A piece of practical and good advice to all nice wo/men: when a lunatic calls, be aware .. .. don’t just walk away, run away fast 🙂

*stretch*
*smile*
*yawn*

.. Really, now I’ll get myself re-acquaintance and cozy up to the Concubine and work on her again.

Just now Larry called cause he’s short of warm body tomorrow. Thought I ready fulfilled my quota this week yesterday. He has a nickname as 五点半, or should it be Dancing Queen’s since she was the original one who got me up in the middle of the night. Golfer would smile, asking “5:30 again?” when my cell phone rings.

Now the DQ is sitting pretty and I’m going to bat, working hard day in and day out. I need to win a game or two!!

2011.09.25

• 2014.08.28, serving
• 2014.08.23, lol & the double chair
• 2011.10.16
• 2011.10.08, can I see your ID
• 2011.09.25, migration of birds
• 2006.08.05, basketballers

Great Neck North Middle School
77 Polo Road
Great Neck, NY 11024
..
The four tennis courts are located behind the oval running track accessible from the small unpaved parking lot, which is on the south side of Arrandale Ave by Polo Road.

2013-06-27:

I was mauled by two vicious victorious men William and Ding again. It was first time ever that Simon and I got bageled and egged. Sorry Simon. They were 来势汹汹 again: prepared and ready to roll. The weakest link Irene was pretty busy, getting all the balls but couldn’t do a thing. Simon quitted talking from game 3 – he wasn’t pleased the way I played. And the two went on to win 10 games straight: 6:0 and 6:1.

So William decided to take poor me as partner against them. We got two hot dogs – 1:6 & 1:6.

Holy smoke. So all those times they were playing nice with me, baby the shots, making Irene happy, being the perfect gentlemen. Thanks a lot guys. I need to go into hiding and horn my game in a cave 🙂 where is da Osama bin Laden – saw a syndicated carton on the Times where one Wall Streeet executive holding a bag of bonus $$ was looking for a cave to hide and being greeted by Mr. bin Laden who’s telling the master of the universe to “find your own cave ..”. Can you believe that the AIG executives are getting death threats .. .. how dumb can the public be .. read on:

FAIRFIELD, Conn. — The bus pulled to a stop, and a pastor whose sister-in-law was facing foreclosure, a laid-off steelworker with a wife and five children, and a few of their colleagues nervously stepped out, like sightseers in some exotic land.
The exotic land was a residential neighborhood here in one of the wealthiest places in America, Fairfield County, where, at the end of a cul-de-sac a short walk away, an A.I.G. executive lived. The pastor, the steelworker and about 40 others slowly made their way up the street, past the house with the four-car garage, as an international press corps numbering about 50 chronicled every step.
.. ..

Totally so UNAmerican.

Hi, people, stop that. This has gone way way too far. IF the executives did not steal or rub the bank, got their pay thought work, leave them alone. Direct your anger elsewhere, like toward the government who failed to regulate the mess in the first place, or those who agreed to their salary. This still is, a free market, correct?