2009 May / June
ML helped Alan celebrate his 40th birthday in style. She
coordinated with Alan's father to make sure he came for the weekend from Taiwan.
We
enjoyed a delicious dinner at the new
Vargas
Grill, and ML totally surprised Alan with a
full-sized coach bus waiting outside the restaurant to take us barhopping.
We first went to
Red Beat
on Tongren Lu - the street doesn't have the best reputation in Shanghai, but
the club was actually free of professional company that night, and we enjoyed a
live 80's set where Alan riffed on guitar hero.
The bus then moved on to
Boxing
Cat Brewery where we played silly drinking
games. We got more sophisticated and pulled into
Pavillon
Costes - "Opulent, exclusive, secretive Parisian Hotel Costes sneaks into
Shanghai with this luxury lounge and restaurant in Xintiandi." 4 expensive
floors of nobody - sure to shut down in 6 months, but we enjoyed a few rounds on
the penthouse - and Alan felt like the playboy.
Of course, we ended up at M1NT where Alan had to pull some strings to
dance on stage (new rule - only women allowed
up there - I generally support the rule, but hey, it's my 40th!).
Speaking of M1NT, we were there for the
Geeks on a Plane Shanghai
stop, hanging out with our dear friend Dave McClure.
We
were also there for Shanghai's Film Festival awards ceremony, where we saw
Halle Berry, and ML was pals with with
Quincy Jones (in case you're clueless like
me, Quincy "is best
known as the producer of the album
Thriller, by the late (OMG!)
Michael Jackson, which has sold 104 million copies
worldwide,
and as the producer and conductor of the charity song “We
Are the World.”). ML also chatted with
Andie MacDowell on the rooftop. ML also enjoyed the
weekend BBQ on the rooftop with friends -
Alan had to miss the wonderful meal, rushing to Singapore.
ML also helped coordinate a
Grameen
event, organized a "Summer Book Swap & Tea
Social," and Father's Day luncheon, all
at the Hilton. When not planning her own events, ML joined in the fun
created by our creative friends, like Jack's laser tag birthday party and
Karen's "blush" birthday party. We said farewell to Rob and Arlene - we
will miss Arlene's incredible energy planning as many events as ML in Shanghai!
Alan has been traveling a ton for work - in the last 2.5 months,
he's been in the US twice, Singapore twice, HK, and Wenzhou. Alan
presented
Effective E-Commerce For China SMEs at Amcham and was the last stop for UC
Berkeley MBA's China tour.
Kyle is finishing up first grade at YK Pao. He did the
Weather Report at the public
assembly.
