Gloria's Blog

I got to know Ed Sheeran when I was in a friend's car. He was playing Ed Sheeran's radio. The song I heard at the time was "How would you feel". I didn't know. I asked Siri. I am not sure if it’s the especially good audio in his car, or it's the song. It just stuck with me. After I came back home, I searched him online, and realized so many songs I like are by him. I listened to more of his songs. And then, I came across a particular one. It's called "Perfect". I watched the MV on YouTube . I don't know how to perfectly describe the feeling. I am addicted and overwhelmed, by it and all the things it brought to me. (Yes it is a love song. But no I am not thinking about my love stories) And, this is what happened when I listen to a song for over 30 times in a single night. I mean, do nothing but just staring at the screen and listen. 1 The first thing I was wondering was, what has this guy been through to be able to write a song li...

Today's post is not going to be nutritious or insightful or meaningful in any ways. --- I've heard people say, a lot of their memories are associated with food. I am not a foodie. To be honest, I'm probably the opposite. I mostly treat eating as an intake of calories, to support daily function of my body and brain. I can eat exactly the same meal everyday for months. But I do agree, that some of my memories are deeply associated with food. I've been to Vegas three times now. And there are two foods, that are still so vivid in my memory, that I decided to dedicate a blog for them. About 1.5 years ago, we had a MBA mixer party in Vegas. Hundreds of MBAs across all the major schools flooded into Vegas. I do not like party, especially this type of large scale, Vegas based party with a LOT of alcohol and crazy people. I party only because I want to push myself to try different things. So, to some extent, the Vegas MBA mixer is a 'work' for me. I remember vivi...

During one of the core note speeches in Microsoft Digital Transformation Academy in Vegas, David Kidder, Co-founder of Bionic, mentioned a quote from the book "The Start-up Playbook": "Customers don’t tell the truth. See what they do, not what they say." It is not really a ground breaking line - I guess you may have heard about it before. But it indeed resonated with me right on the spot. That is so true. It reminded me of the experience with Citibank. I became a customer to Citibank when I moved to Chicago in 2015. Citi does a good job in basic debit and credit card services. But when things get wrong, going through customer service was such a pain. I switched to another bank recently, part of the reason being their customer service. There is always a "Please rate your experience with your customer service" at the end of the call. If I was lucky that day, I would rate, maybe 8 or 10. If the experience was bad, I would not bother staying online for an ext...

In October 2017, Microsoft US Subsidiary hosted the first Digital Transformation Academy (DTA) in Vegas. It is a training, workshop, and networking event for all sales and marketing professionals. It is also the first big conference I have attended in Microsoft, when I really get to know about the company on a larger scale. I want to share two stories from DTA. ~ Story One ~ After we arrived at the hotel, I lined up in the check-in line in front of the hotel with my manager. When I first realized Microsoft flies 5000 employees and partners down to Vegas for a week-long conference, especially after I saw the price of hotel room per night when checking in, I was very shocked. It is A LOT OF EXPENSE. I chatted with my friend, "Wow the way this company spends money is mind blowing..." I even doubted whether it's a right way to spend the profits - should we do things more relevant to customers? I was until the end of the first day, I realized why. It...

I've been a blogger for over a decade. In the recent two to three years, I mostly post on Wechat moments, which is pretty much the equivalence of Facebook used by the Chinese community. Very often if a non-Chinese friend asks "So where is your blog?" I have to awkwardly say oh that's on a Chinese social media. Yesterday I had dinner with a friend. He asked me two difficult but necessary questions. I was inspired, and moved a selection of blog posts on Wechat here. His name is Chris. - Chris: So Why don't you post on a platform that we all can read? - Me: Because I am not familiar with the value system in the US. I am afraid of being judged. - Chris: Wow. Is China's culture very judgmental? that makes you afraid of being judged? - Me: I don't know. (It makes me reflect where my fear comes from) - Chris: Then what specifically are you afraid of being judged? - Me: My point of view and it takes time to make it sound "safe"; my imperfect Eng...

【扫地僧】Just now, I went downstairs of my apartment MPP to get a parcel. Met Sam, the doorman. Sam: "Gloria, haven't seen you for a while, how's going." Me: "Good, just finished midterm." Sam: "How's your mid term?" Me: "It's ok. Got 100." Sam: "Jez...why do you think that's only ok?" Me: "Because it's not the priority here." Sam: "So priority is understanding and applying?" Me: "No priority is getting a job." Sam: "Right. That's can be true. But Gloria, I have one thing to tell you. People out of your school get decent jobs, make decent money. Remember when you become one of them, make sure you spend and invest wisely. Paper money is not real money..." Then Sam talks about the debt between China and US, how much money evaporated in the crisis in 2008, the comparison of economy in Chicago and Bay Area... I was impressed.... and am more worri...

【一场成功的盲婚】 我和Emma是去年四月份认识的。但直到我们住在一起才第一次见面。 今年三月，我拿到Booth的offer之后写了一篇文章，申请过程回顾和三条经验分享。她看到了以后就在微信加我，一分钟后我们便决定做室友。第一次见到她，我觉得她是个萌妹子。黑框眼镜和黑白篮球鞋。像阿拉蕾。 直到今年九月住进MPP，我们才第一次见面。发现我们的房子没有打扫干净。Emma有理有据不卑不亢收放自如地和MPP管事儿的人进行了一场精彩的理论。MPP offer了很多条件弥补我们的精神损失。各种霸气侧漏。我觉得我被其外表的萌彻底欺骗了。不过那天我在想，什么时候我也能用英文不带一个脏字地和native speaker吵架，那真是太帅气了。 有一天早晨我正要出门，不知道她看到了什么文章，突然说，每个人的童年都有一个叫大头的小伙伴。你的童年有大头吗。我穿上了左脚的鞋，撩起头发看着她淡定地说：我就是那个大头。她毫无掩饰的浮夸的笑声洒了一地。从此以后Emma就叫我大头。 Emma以前喜欢的写字台前吃饭。但可恶的是她的卧室没有窗不通风，所以她每天都在客厅吃饭。由于这样一个bug，我们有机会进行了很多谈话，从睡觉应该钻进叠好的被子口还是掀开平铺的被子到是否应该帮助别人成长，从YouTube各种化妆视频极其影射的日益丰厚的女性消费市场到科技进步是否在使人类文明倒退，从北京的城市规划问题到在线教育的未来，从MBA admission office招人的思路到人类该不该把火星作为back up plan。 Emma说，人生中发生的所有事只有两种目的，要么直接让你变得更好，要么提醒你要变得更好。 09在荷兰待了半年之后，我就我特喜欢吃面包。经常只吃面包苹果牛奶就能过好几天。Emma经常在家做饭，各种汤啊粥啊面啊，有时候叫我一起吃。有一天，她说，大头，你吃的太简单了。让人挺心疼的。 通常我们的对话都非常interlectually intensive，看电影的时候也一样。在全程无尿点的电影中间她会问诸如，此事女主已经成为team的liability，请问大头，此刻大家应该怎么办？我说，credit她！她说，错，是debit！ Sanctum和Gravity。那两个电影都是灾难片。里面有些尸体的画面。当我们看到恐怖画面，我的反应是高分贝的尖叫然后紧紧抓住身边最近的人（所...