Finnish Diver at Oh Hi

It can be really fun watching OTHER people make fools of themselves.

We were having a nightcap at a nice little place in this fantastic entertainment area with a lake and motorized, private paddleboats.

There was a sudden commotion and while I normally don't react to that type of thing, I couldn't resist going over to check it out.

Some Finnish guy (or he may have been British - he had made a pass at Nicole as we were to find out later) somehow fell off of the bridge and into the lake. Thankfully, the boat traffic had stopped.

The greatest part is that he wasn't hurt and was very entertaining in his efforts to get out of this canal. There were 6 cops, alternating between wanting to jump in and talking on the radio - but basically doing nothing.

It would seem that if you worked security in an entertainment area like this, you'd have trained for this eventuality. I mean there's a bridge connecting bars over a canal that has brick, vertical walls that are 10 feet high. Spells trouble to me.

Anyway, there were some random guys on the rooftop bar overlooking the canal were heckling this guy. Hilarious. I felt kind of bad for him because he was in water up to his neck.

Then he discovered he could stand up in the 3 feet of water.

The cops finally found a ladder that they tried to hold for the guy to climb, but that didn't work. Finally the drunk guy told them to let the ladder go so it would rest on the bottom of the canal and he could climb out.

And the crowd went wild!

I love a self-rescuer.

Thanks!

Chip, Garrett, Angela, David, Bill, Bill, Bill, Bob, Kevin, Betsy, Peggy, Leslie, Mary Beth, Cliff, Jonathan, Nicole, Alicia, Kathy, Jim, Bob, Jay T, Darryl, Lynn, Ira, Craig, Benn, Scotty, Heather, Ricky, Casey, Silvan, Cathy, Nathan, Rami, Carrie, Maggie, Brett, dining staff, Jo, Todd, Greg, Nicole, Lisa and anyone else I forgot.

Final evening

READER ADVISORY - I may get a little sappy with this one.

It's been a real learning experience for me on this trip - in so many ways.

I've met so many people, some that will remain friends and some I hope I don't ever run into again.

Beijing offered it's best to us. The folks were very friendly. Beijingers wanted us to have a good time and share the pride they have in both their city and country. I think they realize that there's a real disconnect between them and the rest of the world.

This will bring the world closer to them and vice versa, to what I hope will be a greater sense of understanding among all of us.

They sure are different though, so it's only natural that we will have misunderstandings and conflicting priorities. Anyway.....

The USOC Media Services folks - Bob, Kevin and Jo - aranged an incredible dinner last night. I'm glad I was there for it. About 30 of us descended on this very nice restaurant that was in a traditional courtyard setting -outside - and where all the service staff were dressed in very elaborate costumes.

I ended up joining a great group of folks at the self designated "fun table" and off we went with chopsticks and Great Wall Cabernet in hand. Imagine that.

Our menu served on a huge lazy susan:

• Some kind of fish with the head and tail still on
• Two types of venison
• Chinese Krystals (sesame rolls with spiced shredded beef)
• Duck hamburgers on what looked like oyster shell rolls
• Lightly fried rice
• Spicy chicken
• Sweet and sour prawns
• Sesame crusted almonds
• Cabbage
• Flowers - yes, flowers - with a tangy vinagarette
• Salad - with a dressing that snuck up on you and set your mouth on fire
• Something that looked like peanut butter fudge but really didn't taste like anything
• Birthday cake for Peggy

Toward the end, we all started talking about meaningful things that happened over the week. I have so many it's hard to single out one. If pressed, my top pick would be going to the masses I attended at the South Cathedral.

Darryl gave a little speach of thanks to us all, and said that this is something we'll tell our grandkids about. About when we were all a big part of an event that changed history. That we each owned a little piece of this event that will bring nations closer together. That every encounter we had with the Chinese, each smile, each friend, each kind word we shared with them says more about the United States than anything else. Really put this into perspective.

I'm going to miss Beijing. I'll probably never be back, and that's too bad.

I'm not staying, mind you, I gotta get home to my girls. Phone calls and emails, while nice, just don't cut it.

So, it's pack it up and head out to the airport 3 freaking hours early. But I don't mind. As I said, I gotta get back to my girls.

End of the road is near

The most asked questions are:

1. When are you leaving?
2. Do you have a ticket to the closing ceremonies - I am currently sans ticket myself

Things are getting packed up, notices are being posted on how to logistically get the hell out of Dodge and time is running short to see things and have that "beer before we get outta here".

Note the new slideshow - Leslie (USA Gymnastics) and I ran over to the Forbidden City this morning on a beautiful day. She caught a 4pm flight and had to leave by 11a to make all that happen.

Forbidden City is huge. Someone told me about a park across the street from there that overlooks the city, so I scaled that and got some pretty good photos of the entire skyline of Beijing - cool stuff.

This has been great, but I'm really ready to come home!

Another sad day at SORCP

Big time rain yesterday at Shunyi. It rained all over our semifinal parade.

Rami was not able to advance to the semis in the 1000m, but I thought their both moving to the 500m finals was in the bag. And it almost was - Carrie only missed by 0.51 seconds - what a letdown.

I feel so badly for Rami and Carrie. They've both worked so hard in training - all aspiring Olympians do. But they also had to overcome physical issues on top of all that effort and work.

I wish all of you could meet them and our slalom athletes as well. You'd gain a lot from it to see the fine athletes and people who represent our country.

Our competition is now over in China. We can now look to all the great competition over the next four years and to London in 2012.

Let's all try to remember our athletes during these next four years and the struggles they will go through to train, live and stay on the path for themselves and US!

It can sound a bit trite, but it's true - "It's not every four years, it's every day".

Support them as much as you can!

Gas

Our awesome Diplomatic Security guys, Chip (L)and Garrett (R-duh), have given me a lift to BNU over the last few days. It's been great. The ride is much better than the bus, and the company is fantastic. These guys are a lot of fun to hang out with and have shared lots of information on Beijing and China with me. And a few jokes too. Some of Chip's are actually funny.

Know what kind of car they drive? A minivan. A BUICK minivan (Note 8/11 post).

The best part? They have "Dip Tags". DipLOMATIC tags. Which means they can park almost anywhere.

Their boss (Shawn's a great guy!) has the coolest of cool car Olympic credentials. He can go anywhere, park anywhere and they cannot search his car. I bet that causes some confusion at security gates across the region!

What was I writing about? Gas.

The Buick was on fumes. Went to one station - closed. Went to another station and a conversation began. The attendant pumps the gas. Garrett speaks fluent Chinese. Chip speaks a bunch too. It still took forever to get them to pump the gas. There was concern that they were going to put diesel in the blue Buick. No worries in the end, and off we went.

This all with 2 Chinese speakers in the car.

Lesson here is don't rent a car in China. Or, if you do, hope you don't have to get gas.

PS - The station was on the OLD road. I've not seen any gas stations on the new main highway between here and Shunyi.

Oh, and the station that was open didn't sell beef jerky or Icees. We don't appreciate what we've got in the good old USA.

Where's Larry Sprinkle when you need him?

P-O-U-R-I-N-G today.

One forecast I saw said - not making this up - "tons of rain today". Did this guy get his weatherman degree by mail?

Shunyi local forecats is rain, cooler and less rain by 5pm.

I hope the semis are not delayed to tomorrow. I would suppose that would move the finals to Sunday? If not, we'd have them on back-to-back days.

Nothing would surprise me, though.

I'm kinda looking forward to the last BNU/MPC/Shunyi/MPC/BNU round trip.