Taking a deep breath. . .

There's a great country & western song by Alabama called "I'm in a hurry." Yes, I've circled back around to my country roots and enjoy the twangy tunes again! Anyway, here's the first verse:

I'm in a hurry to get things done
Oh I rush and rush until life's no fun
All I really gotta do is live and die
But I'm in a hurry and don't know why

Sometimes out of nowhere I'll start humming this song and realize that I have been rushing around trying to accomplish things that, if I'm really honest with myself, are things that aren't really worth me stressing out over to get done. So, when I woke up early Saturday morning for my beach run with this song swirling around in my head, I decided to give myself a break. Even without an alarm, I'm an early-riser (comes from both sides of my family). I'm not one for laying around in bed once I'm awake, so even without an alarm clock to jump start my day, I usually end up getting an early start no matter what day it is. I jumped out of bed Saturday morning and proceeded through the motions of habit. . . start coffee brewing, pull on some workout clothes, check email, blah, blah, blah. I started the coffee then stopped in front of my dresser and just didn't feel like pulling out the running shorts. I went through a quick 30 second debate in my head about just getting it done without wasting too much thought over it, but decided that I just wasn't feeling a workout. I was still feeling the beach though, so I pulled on some jeans and a sweatshirt and strolled over to the beach where I sat on a bench and watched the early morning waves roll in through the misty fog. I sat out there long enough to watch the marine layer burn off to reveal a group of surfers whose territory was being dive-bombed for breakfast by a flock of pelicans. I never cease to be amazed by what's all around us if we just stop to take it in.

On a separate tangent, I got a random phone call from my dad Friday morning letting me know that a family friend was in my neck of the woods. Mr. Billy and my dad went to school together and the kids of each of the men have grown up around each other. I hadn't seen Nicole (Mr. Billy's first borne) in probably 15 years, so I was excited to get together with her and her husband Tim. Man, it's not everyday that I'm given to laugh that loud and that often! A few margaritas and some really good Mexican food mixed together with good company is a recipe for a great night! Nicole has the pictures on her camera, so I'll add one to this post when I get them from her. Hopefully they captured the fun and laughter of the evening better than I can describe with words!

Have a great week honey and come on back when ya'll git a chance (oh, that Cajun accent snuck back in after a few hours with my Bayou Blue connection!).

To the Springs and back

Well, it was a quick trip up to Colorado Springs this week. A couple of days of meetings and some beautiful weather. I did manage to scoot out one of the nights for dinner with Suzanne, no riding though :-( It's become a tradition for us to go out to Mirch Masala, my favorite Indian restaurant for dinner whenever I'm in town. I love Tikka Masala and nan bread!! And if I still have room for dessert, a mango lassi hits the spot.

Sorry that I have no new pictures to post, I've been laying pretty low other than the trip to the Springs. I'll be back out to the Colorado Springs OTC in early October and again later in the month. Everyone there loves to joke that they see me more now than they did when I actually lived and worked there!

Hope you had a great weekend and an even better week!

Hanging out

Even though my time in Asia was not particularly strenuous, I managed to accrue a few days of comp time for being away from home. For the last four days, I've pretty much done what I felt like doing. As you can tell from this picture, it involved being horizontal on the beach! California must've sensed that I wasn't ready for fall weather yet because the weather for the last couple of days has been warm and the skies clear. Not hot mind you, but warm enough to lounge on the beach and cruise around in shorts! One of the benefits of post-Labor Day is that the crowds on Coronado Beach have thinned out significantly. There were a few stretches of time when there was no one else around me on the beach and I could hear nothing but the waves rolling in and sea birds calling each other.

I took a couple of days to unpack and I still haven't done all my laundry yet. Of all the household chores that needed to be done upon my return, the one I was anxious to get to was my bike! Without a garage, my Harley spends way too much time exposed to the elements. I have a bike cover, but the wind whips up in our parking lot and it still gets dirty. Besides requiring a washing, I needed to do some maintenance to it too. One of my pipes busted right before I left, so I needed to pull them off and put the stock pipes back on. With the after market pipes off my bike, it's so quiet that the guys I ride with here were mocking the silence after I started it! My friend Ed was so disgusted with how dirty my bike was that he spent a whole afternoon helping me to wash and detail it. Living in close proximity to salt air and not cleaning it as often as I should has taken a toll on the chrome and aluminum. It's remarkable how good my bike looks after a lot of elbow grease, cleaning solvents, a power buffer and the assistance of a professional detailer- thanks Ed!!

Today turned out to be another sunny day, so I rode around a bit this afternoon. I cruised out to Sunset Cliffs which is not far from where I live. Sunset Cliffs Park encompasses over 60 acres of bluffs and walking trails overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Sunset Blvd runs along the cliffs and has amazing views of several beaches below.

There are a few access points that allow you to climb a series of stairs to get down to the beaches. The steps are pretty steep and I was surprised to see so many surfers making the trek with surf boards in tow. I made my way down to the ocean and was intoxicated by the smell of salt air and the sound of water surging over rocks and sand. I sat there for a long time watching surfers and sailboats go by and various sea birds feeding along the shore. Although I had ridden out to the cliff overlooks before, I had never parked my bike and ventured down to the shore. The beaches are only accessible at low tide, so I'll have to time my next visit with Mother Nature!

My apologies to everyone I haven't gotten in touch with yet now that I'm back. I've been enjoying having my own space again and have been postponing my reentry into society! This will be a short week for me back home as I fly out to Colorado Springs on Wednesday for meetings. It's a quick trip though and I'll be back in Southern California Friday night.

Competitions in the Bird's Nest

I'm back on U.S. soil! I'm blogging this post from the San Francisco airport as I'm waiting for my connecting flight to San Diego. I'm actually feeling pretty good relative to my previous return flights from Beijing.

I figured that since I was at the Paralympic Games that I should do at least one post with pictures from a competition venue! This first picture is of the wheelchair 5K. For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you know that I don't post much about work. It's a TRAVEL blog after all, not a WORK blog!

Even though I don't like being in large crowds, I accepted the ticket given to me to attend a Track & Field event. It was pretty cool to be in the National Stadium (AKA Bird's Nest) to see our athletes compete. It was awesome to see a packed stadium for just about every session. Some of the races have gone our way and some haven't, but that's the nature of the beast. There may be favorites and underdogs going into each event, but you never know what the outcome will be once the drama has unfolded. Some dreams fulfilled, some dashed. Some will be back to try again, others won't. It's all part of the big show.

I had been running around so much since I got to Beijing, I hadn't taken the time to take pictures of the Bird's Nest and the "Cube", so I caught these pictures before I left. We could actually see the Bird's Nest from our hotel room we were so close. As the old saying goes "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I can appreciate the architectural marvel that the Bird's Nest represents and it is impressive all lit up at night, but I personally don't find the structure aesthetically appealing. To me, it just seems out of place in a city full of ancient and historical designs. I understand that it's meant to represent the modernization of Beijing, but when it blends in with the ever present pollution, it seems to represent the harmful consequences of China's economic growth instead of the benefits. Again, just my opinion.


It's hard to believe that all the planning and preparations for the Beijing Games are behind us and that I'm already scheduled for meetings to continue the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 planning. The Olympic calendar continues to progress, always moving towards the next Games.

Although this wasn't a particularly arduous trip, I'm looking forward to a few days off to catch up on laundry and household tasks before jumping back in full force at work. Although I'll be heading out to Colorado Springs next week to discuss plans for the next couple of Games, the Paralympics are still in full swing and I'll be following coverage on the internet. How big are the Paralympic Games in comparison to the Olympics? Well, it's all a matter of perspective. I heard the Olympics referred to as the "warm up" Games several times from Paralympic athletes, coaches and staff! The Paralympic Games will be televised in the U.S. sometime in October, so I hope you'll tune in!

Local living

After the great experience I had in Italy taking a cooking class between the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2006, I decided to try my luck again with a Google search of cooking classes- this time in Beijing! My colleague and friend Susie decided to accompany me on this foodie sightseeing experience. Although we couldn't spare enough time to take the full-blown cooking class, I was excited to find a market tour and seasoning lesson offered in a historic hutong in downtown Beijing.



A hutong is a narrow street (pretty much an alley really) that is lined with traditional courtyard residences. You can't really see the courtyards or residences because they are all behind stone walls with gates. Dating back centuries, these neighborhoods started disappearing in the late 1940s to make way for high rise buildings and wider boulevards. The cooking class I found was offered by a woman named Yi (http://www.hutongcuisine.com/) and was in the historic Shajing Hutong. As our tour/cultural guide, she escorted Susie and I through the hutong where we saw and heard evidence of this hutong's reputation for being "artsy." Drama schools lined the street and women on bicycles rode by singing in seemingly professional voices.



Yi turned out to be a soft spoken yet knowledgeable cook who had migrated from the southern China countryside to Beijing for a more cosmopolitan lifestyle. We walked up to a local market where she took us section by section explaining the different foods and how they are traditionally prepared. China is a huge country and each province has its own tastes and food traditions. Just as those of us in the southern region of the U.S. eat differently than our countrymen in the northeast or west coast, those living in the south of China have different food preferences than those in the city of Beijing. Of course, preferences in each province is usually dictated by availability of ingredients. The market had a variety of spices catering to tastes from all around China. Seafood such as fish and eel was fresh and still alive in tanks built on the floor. Meat was hung from the ceiling out in the open and unrefrigerated just like I've seen it being sold in markets from Morrocco to Oman. There was an impressive array of noodles, rice, fresh produce along with soy and tofu products of every imaginable form.

Once our education at the market had concluded, Yi brought us back to her home in the hutong and prepared tea and an appetizer for us since we weren't staying for a cooking lesson afterwards. Susie and I were quite fascinated with long, fat tubes of clear gelatin that we saw at the market so Yi had bought a roll for 1 yuan for us to try (about 15 cents). The tube actually was a gelatinous form of soy that had been rolled into a tube shaped object. She sliced the tube and unrolled each slice to produce long, thick noodle-like strings. She then mixed light soy, rice vinegar, fresh chopped garlic and parsley, sugar and sesame oil with it. What you see in the picture was the result of her efforts and served as our snack as she explained basic Chinese food seasoning to us.

Yi explained the difference between dark and light soy, which has nothing to do with sodium content like it does in the States. She was slightly traumatized to hear that Japanese dark soy sauce (Kikkoman) was standard on Chinese food restaurant tables around the U.S. First of all it's Japanese, and second of all, dark soy sauce would never be used alone (always mixed with light) and third, it would never be used with food with such a light flavor as seafood! Next she explained the qualities of Chinese cooking wines and vinegars. We ended the lesson with different oils used in traditional Chinese cooking.

Although she seemed well informed about nutrition (she commented that chicken eggs are considered much more nutritious and tasty than duck eggs), she could not understand how anyone would chose nutritional value of a food product over taste. Susie and I chuckled as we recognized this as a common trait of chef's worldwide!! She thought chicken breast was bland and should never be chosen above the leg or wings and that chicken feet have excellent flavor. She told us how women are often encouraged to consume chicken and pigs feet after giving birth in order to regain their strength! Chicken feet are usually fried and eaten like chicken wings are in the U.S., you just eat the crispy skin off the bone. The pigs feet I saw by the butcher's block looked similar to those that can be found pickled and in a jar with boiled eggs in any corner store in South Louisiana! Having grown up with boucheries (social events where a hog or two is slaughtered and cooked) and a grandmother who kept a bucket of lard next to her stove for cooking, there weren't too many things I saw in the market that I would consider inedible. I'll admit though that some of the seafood I've seen on menus here in China would require a strong sense of adventure to consume (e.g. sea cucumbers!) by most Westerners, including myself!

That's it for now. A couple of Track & Field competition sessions are on tap for me so I'll fill ya'll in as soon as I can!

Forbidden City- Take 2

With today being Opening Ceremonies day for the Paralympic Games, security has tightened up significantly. Unless you're a credentialed athlete or coach, it's near impossible to get into the Paralympic Village. With lock-down in full swing, axillary staff like Kim and I are left on the outside. I've had full access to the Village up to this point, but today I had to run errands for Team USA outside the gates.

After the errands were completed, Kim and I made our way to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I had gone there on a previous trip to Beijing back in April 2006 and posted my adventure then.

We arrived in the Square and passed through the mag & bag (magnetic baggage screening) fairly quickly and took in the recently added landscaping. Although beautiful, the cranes in the background of just about every photo op and the heavy pollution made it hard to fully appreciate the scene. This picture overlooking the Forbidden City shows how thick the the pollution was; it was truly hard to enjoy the afternoon of sightseeing with my eyes and throat burning so much. We've heard that the even-odd license plate driving protocol is still in effect, but today was some of the worse pollution I've experienced in my four trips to Beijing.

The lack of any color in the sky made for drab pictures, but you can still get a feel for the remarkable architecture and paint schemes. It was great to see all the disable access that has been added to this city due to the Paralympic Games being held here. All of the Olympic signage has been switched over to Paralympic and the city seems fully engaged in the upcoming competitions. In fact, the whole city seemed to be shutting down to get ready for Opening Ceremonies tonight.

Although I had the option of going to the Ceremonies tonight, I'm watching them on TV from the hotel room as I'm writing this post. I'm not a huge fan of large crowds, especially for such an extended period of time. I can see the "bird's nest" stadium from my hotel though and I'm excitedly awaiting the fireworks display that I know will be the finale.

That's it for tonight. I hope you will go to the IPC website (International Paralympic Committee) to watch live coverage and learn a little about Paralympic sport.

Duck and tea

For our second night in Beijing, a few of us took a cab to a Peking Duck restaurant recommended by our interpreter. I had done a post back in 2006 detailing the tradition of Peking Duck in more detail, but I have better pics this time!

The last time I had gone, it was an arranged organizational dinner, so the menu was preset. This time, we were presented menus and had to order a la carte! Thankfully, there was a menu with pictures for us to order from!

Ordering and eating this dish is quite the process. As you can see in the pic, the duck is carved right at your table so you're able to watch the whole process. The servers expertly wielded their knives to produce perfect bite-sized slices of duck with just enough skin to give flavor but not so much that it became greasy. We were also served a platter with the duck's head sliced in half and the choice meat from the back.

As you have probably guessed, I was quite curious with the head! The beak was removed, but the rest of the head cavity was intact and contained little separated compartments of meat/tissue. I inserted my chopsticks and tugged on a little nugget of meat. As soon as I realized it was the eyeball I had chosen, I picked another piece of the head cavity to try. You see, I'm not as adventurous as ya'll think! I tried a tiny piece of a different meat; it just tasted like the rest of the duck though.

The funnest part of eating Peking duck is that it comes with fixins kind of like a taco would. We got a little warmer dish with 6 inch "tortillas" that we were able to stuff with duck meat and the condiments of our choice. In this case, we chose sliced cucumber, a sweet soy paste, shallots, crushed garlic and sugar. We were all pleasantly surprised at how well the garlic and sugar went together, especially with all the other fixins too!

From the duck restaurant, we strolled up the street to hail a cab. At first I wasn't sure in which part of the city we were since I'm so easily turned around (with or without a map!). Once we walked about a block though, I recognized a tea shop that I had visited on my trip in March. Kim and Toby were curious, so we ducked in to take a quick look.

Long story short, the quick look turned into about an hour tea tasting session! We were seated and were given a demonstration and tasting of some really nice jasmine tea.

That bulb with a flower on it you see in the picture is actually a ball of green tea leaves, jasmine pedals and a "thousand days" flower. When put into a small glass vase and combined with boiling water, the bulb blooms into what you see in the last pic. The pic with the flower is actually of a bulb that contained a jasmine flower instead of the "thousand days" flower. The aroma was quite pleasant and the flavor even better. I'm a die hard coffee drinker and have never been one much for tea, but even I have to admit that this stuff was pretty good!

We hailed a cab and returned to the hotel satisfied with our little adventure for the evening. Our days are quite busy, filled with many errands and tasks to keep the finely-tuned machine of the American Paralympic delegation running. The pollution has gotten to my sinuses (I'll do a separate pot later about the air quality) but I'm still managing to enjoy my time here. Thanks for checking in and stay tuned. . .

Leaving Okinawa

In another well-executed exercise by our military friends at Kadena AFB we loaded up our 100+ athletes and staff and made the 3.5 hour flight to Beijing. After having already experiencing the downloading procedure, we reloaded athletes and gear in no time at all (relatively speaking!). As the ambulatory folks climbed the stairs to the aft section of the aircraft, the "wheelies" rolled onto a huge loader that lifted them up to the forward access door. Each athlete was assisted to their seats, as a bunch of us staff took their wheelchairs and passed them out the opposite door outside to another huge loader. We had already loaded all the luggage and gear prior to the athletes arriving at the aircraft, so all we had to do was load their wheelchairs and we were on our way.

Due to a tremendous show of support through volunteer workers, we had all the luggage tagged, transported from lodging and loaded into the aircraft in an hour and a half! That's Dave and Kim on the loader as we're riding it down to load the chairs into the cargo hold.

It was a bitter-sweet departure for the athletes. The training camp was a huge success in terms of Paralympic Games preparation. Everyone's training continued on schedule in a relaxed environment without many outside distractions. The weather held up nicely and allowed them to depart for Beijing fully acclimated to the heat and humidity and with an initial exposure to Asian culture without being totally submerged just yet. And of course, everyone was well fed! The bitter part was that they enjoyed it so much, they wanted to stay! Being the true competitors they are though, they were ready to test all that training on the field of play.

I witnessed one of the most touching displays of respect as we taxied down the runway for take-off. The flight crew told everyone to look out the windows to the right where the flight line staff had formed up and were rendering salutes. My eyes watered a bit as I marveled at how so many of these folks saluting us had just recently returned from, or were departing for, extended deployments in harms way. Yet here they were paying tribute to these Paralympians with the most respectful of military customs. A lot of our athletes are too young or too far removed from military life to fully appreciate all that these military service members did for them, including the departing salute. Having been in the shoes of those standing along the flight line, I was truly moved by the sight and was proud to be a veteran of their ranks.

The arrival in Beijing was smooth and well run. Most of the folks who arrived we bussed to the Olympic Village while a handful of staff, including myself, we transported to a nearby hotel for the duration of our stay here in Beijing. It was a bit of an adjustment to go from a suite complete with a kitchen and living area to a cramped, shared hotel room with Kim as a roommate. It's a good thing that Kim and I get along pretty well, because it's going to be close living quarters for the next 8 days. As we explored our little room, we were half worried, half amused by the amenities provided by the hotel. Along with the standard small vials of shampoo and lotion was a pack of condoms. We opened the "closet" door a stood facing 2 gas masks! Wow, a hotel that provides condoms and gas masks, what more could a traveler want?! We joked with our colleagues staying at the Hilton that they may be living in luxury, but our hotel prepared us for a broad array of situations! As you can see in the picture, we couldn't help but pay the 50 yuan (approx $7) to open the gas mask box and put it on with the robe and slippers also provided! The gas mask amounted to safety goggles and a plastic cup with cloth filters that fit over your mouth. Not sure what it would actually protect you from, but a great souvenir nonetheless!

Our first full day in Beijing was pretty busy and I'll try to fill you in as soon as possible. Thanks for checking in!

Scuba diving the Kerama islands

After a full day of sightseeing on Saturday, I was feeling a little guilty about the dive trip I had planned for Sunday. Senior staff reinforced their opinion that we should enjoy the time off while we had it before heading out to Beijing in a couple of days though, so we followed through with our plans.

Although it had been over 10 years since I had been underwater with a tank on my back, Kim and I had signed up for a two tank boat dive earlier in the week. I got certified in Hawaii when I was stationed there 15 years ago, but it had been so long I couldn't remember through which organization I had gotten certified. After a discussion with the marina dive locker manager, it was decided that the quickest way for me to be able to do a dive here was to get a refresher class in the pool with a dive master and then do a supervised dive on Sunday. After a couple of hours in the pool one night this week with Liz, dive master extraordinaire, I relearned the safety basics and felt comfortable enough to go deep in the ocean again.

So, bright and early yesterday morning Kim and I along with Scott, one of the throws athletes took a cab out to the marina to catch the dive boat. The boat captain briefed the 20 or so excited divers that the winds were pretty strong so we'd have to head out a couple of miles to see how choppy the waters were going to be before he made a decision on whether the trip was a go or not. The destination for the dive was the Kerama Islands which are a chain of subtropical islands located about 20 miles southwest of Okinawa. Only four of the 22 lush islands with pristine beaches are occupied making it an ideal getaway for divers and snorkelers alike. Although a bit choppy, the hour and a half boat ride was actually quite enjoyable. I love being on the water and we all commented that even if we couldn't dive once we got out there, the $75 we paid for the trip would be worth it just for the boat ride!

As luck would have it, we made it out to the dive site and were ordered off the boat by the captain. He didn't have to tell anyone twice as we all suited up and flowed out the back end of the vessel. Scott snorkeled while Kim and I dove down the 40-50 feet with Liz. Here we encountered lots of live coral with starfish, tropical fish, sea snakes, eels and urchins. We even caught a glimpse of a sea turtle off in the distance. Kim and I had brought down some cheap disposable cameras that allowed us to capture some of the sea life. Liz dove with a nicer digital (that's her with Kim right under the boat) and and she gave me this one of Kim and I giving the OK sign.

After about an hour of bottom time, we surfaced and ate sandwiches as the captain maneuvered us to the next dive site. The day and water was comfortably warm, but it still felt good to sit in the sun as we waited out our surface interval before going back down. The next dive took us down to around 70 feet in and out of coral reef trenches full of sea life. Kim and I didn't find out until later, but apparently there was a white tip shark swimming with us for the majority of our dive and we never saw it. The other divers all told us they had gotten pictures but we were still disappointed that we didn't get to see it in real time! We did a drift dive and popped up about an hour later wherever the current brought us and the boat captain brought the boat around to pick us up. Even though we still had air left in the tanks, the waters down at that depth are chilly and we were ready to surface in order to warm up a bit. Although we couldn't stay down as long as we would've liked, it was still worth it to dive in a bikini and t-shirt! Now that I've gotten the dive bug again, I'll have to keep reminding myself that diving in the 7 mm wetsuit with boots and hoodie required for the chilly California waters do not make for an enjoyable dive. For now I can only dream of the day I'll live near warm waters again. . .

That's it from Okinawa and Kadena. We have a farewell dinner tonight then fly out tomorrow for Beijing. Not sure how much I'll get to post from China, but I haven't had many problems on my three previous trips so I anticipate being able to keep everyone up to date. Still watching Hurricane Gustav's path and anxiously awaiting word on how my family and Houma make it through the storm.

Okinawa Ocean Expo Park

On Saturday, a handful of staff accompanied a few of the "wheelies" of the Track & Field team to Okinawa Ocean Expo Park on the northern part of the island. The bus ride along the western coast of the island was beautiful and filled our time with ocean and shoreline scenery. After a quick bite of Japanese bento box lunches, we headed down towards the Churaumi Aquarium.

As you can see in this picture, the aquarium is HUGE (second largest in the world!) and actually contained two whale sharks along with several hundred other species of marine life. Notice the folks standing on the ground along the bottom looking up at the tank for a perspective on how big the tank and the whale shark are! Along with various smaller tanks containing sea life specific to Japan and Asia, there was also exterior dolphin, manatee and sea turtle pools.

Next on the sightseeing list in the Expo Park was the Native Okinawan Village. It's a reconstruction of a traditional village from the 17th to 19th centuries and represents architecture from the Ryukyu Kingdom period. I loved all the raw wood and paper screen walls that slid open to allow a breeze to blow through the whole structure. I wouldn't be so thrilled about sleeping on the wood and mat floors though! The cooking area was unique, but we had to chuckle at the full circuit breaker panel just behind the wall to this hanging tea kettle room! The whole place was so peaceful with incense burning and little shrines scattered throughout. The village is also used as a cultural center and there were some classes of weaving and string instruments going on with what appeared to be some middle school groups.

From the village, we strolled through the botanical garden to the Tropical Dream Center. I wouldn't have been able to pull my mom from this place had she been here! It was filled with tropical flowers, shrubs and trees. I had never seen so many, nor so many different types of orchids in my whole life. Absolutely beautiful!

We spent the last bit of our time going for a dip at Emerald Beach. The water was so warm and inviting, we didn't want to get out to catch the bus back to base. I would say that it was a relaxing day, but the staff did so much walking and the athletes did so much pushing in their wheelchairs in the heat that everyone was pretty wiped out by the end. All in all, a great day of sightseeing though!