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After spending three plus weeks here, I’m all about some “God Bless America”/”Courtesy of the Red White and Blue”/”Proud to be an American” ugly-Americanism…  Let’s lighten up on the political correctness, for once – http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-olysound13-2008aug13,0,2432815.story

This sign spans the road between the Olympic Village and MediaLand, which includes the Main Press Center and the International Broadcast Center.

As for the validity of the “smiling” claim, I’m not too sure who’s traffic police and who’s not, but there are certainly lots of smiling people in uniforms, most of whom shake their heads no and point in some other direction whenever you approach – but at least they smile when they say no (constantly).

One other interesting process you need to go through when you visit Beijing, is having to go to the local police station and registering with them to get a temporary visitor permit.   Luckily we had no problems, but we were with an Indian national who is one of our IT guys and the police gave him kind of a hard time, asking him about his religion, what groups he might belong to, etc.

After almost two full years of planning, the Bank of America Hometown Hopefuls Center Family Center opened up for business today.  We had a line of family and friends of Team USA out in front of the building this morning waiting to get in and register.  It was great to see how excited everyone was to partake of all the services we’re offering here.  I had a very nice conversation at one point with the grandfather of two-time Olympic gold medal winning swimmer Natalie Coughlin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_Coughlin).   For a lot of the families Beijing is a bit overwhelming and they are grateful to have our facility to get a good meal, get onto the Web and just generally relax.

We have our official “opening ceremony” tomorrow with former President Bush as our guest of honor. 

He’ll be cutting the ribbon with several Olympians.  Then we’re off to the races for the next 2+ weeks…

Top Ten Signs of A Lame Olympics Opening Ceremony (which won’t be the case in Beijing) 
10 – Vandals have stolen three of the five Olympic rings 
9 – It’s the Summer Olympics, but the temperature is in the low 30′s 
8 – Announcements made in English, Chinese and Cylon 
7 – Beijing looks a lot like Cranston, RI 
6 – Sponsorship deal requires athletes to dress as cool, refreshing popsicles 
5 – Every country’s anthem is “Who Let the Dogs Out?” 
4 – Pyrotechnic display consists of Will Ferrell dropping his pants and firing a rocket 
3 – The male dancers are doing a very creepy tribute to “Brokeback Mountain” 
2 – You find yourself flipping the channel to see what’s on Logo 
1 – President Bush is drinking O’Doul’s

Yeah, a day around town in Beijing has convinced me: this Beijing Olympic traffic makes driving around Boston appear like a joyful backyard wagon ride through Aroostook County in Maine. It’s nasty out there. Unless, of course, you’ve got one of those full-time drivers with clearance to use the Olympic lane and a willingness to flout all known traffic laws while playing chicken with drivers from several continents at once.

Here’s some pics of our apartment in the Guancai Mansion  – http://picasaweb.google.com/ShawnMcB9

From NYTimes.com:
“The Beijing municipal Weather Modification Office has been blasting the clouds and atmosphere around Beijing with silver-iodide artillery shells to help the rain along, in the hopes of eventually leading to cleaner (but not necessarily clean by American standards) air.”

Great, Lords knows what kind of crap we’re breathing over here as a result.  Also interesting is the fact that the water that comes out of the faucet and shower has a weird, metallic and “something” smell to it.  We’ve been told not to drink it, but that it is safe to bathe and even brush out teeth with.

So far, no real adverse effects to any of the environmental issues that are getting a lot of column inches back home, although working out in the gym at the apartment complex is a real trial, in no time you’re breathing hard and working up a full-on lather, no doubt as a result of the air quality.

Some other interesting observations:
-In China, Diet Coke (or Coca-Cola Light as it is called just about everywhere in the world except the U.S.) tastes like regular Coke does in America; and Coke in China is pretty much undrinkable and has a sludgy taste and almost syrupy texture
- Portions in Beijing restaurants are significantly smaller than what we get in the U.S., no wonder we’re all a bunch of fat Americans
-There isn’t any air-conditioning in “public spaces” (building lobbies, elevators, etc.) in Beijing.  Somehow, the government controls the air-conditioning in the city and in the interest of energy conservation – and the increased needs associated with the Games – they’ve clamped down
-Elevators in buildings in China don’t recognize fourth or fourteenth floors (or thirteenth floors for that matter). Asking around a little, I discovered that the fourth and fourteenth are for Chinese superstitions, and thirteen for Western superstitions. Apparently, the Mandarin word for four, pronounced “si”, sounds the same as the word for death. And you don’t really want to be putting your finger on a button called “death”, do you?
-There don’t seem to be any right-of-way rules of the road in Beijing/China.  Pedestrians don’t have the right of way, even in crosswalks.  The rule of thumb seems to be whoever gets to the spot first, has the right of way.  It leads to some pretty interesting moments.  It’s basically Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride when you get into a taxi cab…
- The Beijing Olympics will be the largest gathering of foreigners in China in recent history — the biggest foreign influx since the Mongol invasion — and a social experiment of sorts for a country that is overwhelmingly monochromatic (more than 90 percent of the population is Han Chinese, and many of the minorities do not have radically different features)
- And finally, half-shirted men. This is big. In several ways.  And occasionally tough to stomach. To cool down, the stylish trick for fun-loving men who want to look hip and modern is to sort of scrunch their shirts somewhere north of the belly button but south of their chest, allowing perhaps eight-to-ten inches of bare torso to luxuriate in the open. The amount of skin can increase for the particularly fashion-forward, as pictured below.  Men really ought to adopt that look back home – maybe I’ll bring it back and be a trendsetter.

In Mexico it’s called Montezuma’s Revenge, so in China maybe it’s called General Mao’s Revenge?  Whatever it is, I’ve got it.  I’ll spare the graphic details, but apparently I’ve eaten and/or drank the wrong thing because I’ve been spending quite a bit of time with ESPN The Magazine over the past 12 hours.  Thankfully, I have some Gatorade in the apartment and we have bottled water, so I’m being diligent about staying as hydrated as possible until this all passes, but I’m really not ready to eat any solid food just yet.

Another insanely hazy/foggy/smoggy day today – there’s now great debate among Chinese officials, the IOC and media about whether what we’re experiencing is haze/fog or smog.   From personal experience trying to breathe this stuff, I think it’s more than just haze and humid air.   And then you consider this report filed today by the WHO:
BEIJING AIR POLLUTION INDEX RISES TO 84, ABOVE RECOMMENDED LEVEL
Beijing’s air-pollution index today “rose above the World Health Organization recommended maximum” of 50 for the first time in four days with a reading of 84. But BOCOG Media Dir Sun Weide said that level was “suitable for outdoor activities, including sports events.” Beijing Environment Protection Bureau Deputy Dir Du Shaozhong: “The measures being taken are showing good and steady results in ensuring good air quality.”

Bottom line: I’m definitely not in upstate Maine…

10 – I hear China has the best Panda Express restaurant in the world 
9 – I’ve missed not wearing event staff uniforms, including a name tag, on a regular basis
8 – I didn’t want to spend August at the Cape, watching the Red Sox or washing down lobster rolls with Del’s Lemonade, anyway
7 – I can’t wait to spread global harmony by complaining about the traffic, smog and language barrier 
6 – I look forward to learning how to say “wicked awesome” in Chinese
5 – Provided the perfect excuse to get out of helping Jim, Anne-Marie and Lauren move
4 – The honor of being around the world’s greatest athletes…and the free gift bags 
3 – There’s a Hooters right around the corner from our apartment
2 – “Police Academy 6” is the new featured movie on HBO Asia this month
1 – Since I’m not around to watch, the Red Sox are guaranteed to go on a run – Dice-K and Lester will throw back-to-back perfect games, Jason Bay will hit for the cycle and Big Papi will call his shot and it will be a walk-off home run…

After two days of beautiful blue skies, we’re back to hazy, crazy days in Beijing.  Maybe General Mao woke up and decided to stick it to all the Westerners, or it was all a big tease in the first place.   We may need to call Dr. Evil and borrow his “laser”…