Columbus

August 31st

Got up early – my sleep schedule is still kinda screwed up.
I still feel okay overall, but this cough is killing me.

Dave and a few friendsare running in a half marathon this morning. It is Dave’s first half marathon, so I promised to be at the finish line.


He is the one in the gray long sleeve t-shirt







Our friend Roger

Nothing got accomplished today. Dave was exhausted from his run and I was slowly accepting I was sick. We laid on the couch all day.

In the evening, Roger came over and the three of us went to the festival at St. Michael’s in Worthington for beer, brats and gambling! We had fun, but we all were so tired!

Chicago

August 28th – 30th
Syracuse vs Northwestern - ESPN2 12ET – CFB Week 1

Woke up Thursday morning in a cloud. Slept pretty good, but everything is still very surreal. My cough is getting worse & worse.

The hardest part about this weekend is wearing shoes again!
As most of you know, I am a flip flop freak! While in China, I wore them everyday - even have flip flop tan lines on my feet :)

However, I am not allowed to wear open-toed shoes while in an ESPN compound. So it's back to actual shoes again. Yuk!

Had a half set day on Thursday – basically got our area set up in the “B” Unit and got our Viz’s up and running.

“B” Unit – this means that myself, Jason (my AP), Amy (the other Viz op) and Tom (her AP) are not in the main production truck this football season. We are in a second truck which carries the cameras and various other gear.

Also in our truck are the Sportsvision people – they are the ones who put the yellow down and distance line on the screen during the game.

The Viz’s are the graphic systems that Amy and I operate during the game.

On Thursday evening, there was a crew party at the hotel. They had drinks and appetizers for us. It was really nice – I went for about an hour – but was so insanely tired, I had to leave and go to bed.

Our set day on Friday went well. Am still trying to adjust to the quirks of the Viz. I feel fine, but my cough is getting pretty severe.

Saturday – complete blur! Half way thru the game I accepted the fact that I must be getting sick. Thankfully, in my backpack, I had the antibiotics my doctor sent to China with me – so I took one.

Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Paid $50 and jumped on an earlier flight back to Columbus. Landed around the time I should have been taking off from Chicago.

Oh my, the house is still a disaster! Ugh! The China suitcases still haven’t unpacked themselves.

I really think I might be sick.

Columbus > Chicago

August 27th

Slept about 6 hours. Feel like total crap.
I think it is a combination of many things…. With a touch of the vodka cranberry flu to top it all off.

Got my nails done for the first time in just over 5 weeks. I have never gone this long before (usually every 2 weeks). They were insanely long!

Am not thinking straight. Kinda seems like I am floating in a bubble.

I flew to Chicago in the afternoon.
Didn’t I just leave Chicago?

Had issues at National Car Rental. Complete jackass checked me out. There’s gonna be a phone call to the Executive Elite customer service!

My cough seems to be getting worse.

Ordering room service…. Some chicky soup and a chicky samich. Then going to bed.

Columbus

August 26th

Only was able to sleep about 4 hours. Not so bad since I slept so much on the plane yesterday.

Being home is completely overwhelming. I leave again tomorrow to start my football season. There is luggage and piles of mail everywhere!

My main focus today is doing laundry and getting prepared to leave for football.

Ran out for milk, bread and a cup of coffee. Had Cheerios, peanut butter toast and coffee – finally after 5 weeks!!

Lost count on the loads of laundry – had to be about 10 or so.

Had lots of stuff to print and check on for football season – can’t believe it’s already here!

Dave got Sparano’s for lunch. Mmmm… Italian Roast Beef… did I ever miss you!

In the afternoon we went to his house and lounged on the couch.

That night we went to see Bill Foley play. He is an old favorite of ours. Have seen him play in bars off & on over the years. He is so talented. It was a beautiful & cool fall evening to enjoy music on the patio. Everything from Fleetwood Mac, Little River Band to Crosby Stills Nash & Young… he does it all, and fabulously!

I may have had a few too many vodka & cranberry juices… but hey, they didn’t have cranberry juice in China, so I was overdue!

My summer is over. Today was the last day. Wow!

Qingdao > Shanghai > Chicago > Columbus

August 25th

Today is the day!

Woke up a million times to check the clock.

Got showered and downstairs for breakfast. I couldn’t bring myself to eat this meal once again. The sight of these:

for 30+ days is enough to turn anyone’s stomach!
I have no idea what type of bird those eggs come from, but come on! How is that appetizing?
(the photo doesn't do this sight justice)

Anyway, after eating, I went upstairs to check on my flight and make last minute preps.

Surprise! The flight from Shanghai to Chicago is already delayed 4 hours!
This means I will have an 8 hour layover in Shanghai.

I called United because I was going to miss my connection to Columbus. I got switched to the later flight and all was “good”.

Called for a bell boy to come take my bags down.
Took one last look at the room and headed downstairs.

There were about 15 of us on the shuttle bus.

It was about a 45 minute ride to the airport. I apparently fell asleep.

Upon arrival, I got a cart to pile all my bags on. It was quite the scene!

While waiting in line, I discovered that 2 other guys on the crew where also on the flight from Shanghai to Chicago – so I broke the news about the delay.

5 of us were on the Qingdao to Shanghai flight and were treated with the VIP service with special lines for check in, luggage, security and passes to the lounge. Even upon landing in Shanghai, we had a special VIP bus that took us to luggage claim. It (the bus) had couches in it. (Wish I had taken a photo)

We had to get our luggage in Shanghai and then re-check in with our airlines taking us home. It was after we had our luggage that for the first time in weeks, there was no one there to guide us. Our days as VIPs was apparently over.

I found an Olympic help desk… lights off, no one home.

So asked a few airport employees where to go… they didn’t exactly speak English. I pointed to our credentials and they didn’t care.

Eventually we figured out we had to go to a different level for International departures. The only way to get there was on a small elevator. So one at a time, we stuffed our crap onto the elevator and rode to the 3rd floor.

2 people were on Air Canada and 3 of us were on United. So we found our lines and we discovered we couldn’t check in until 1 o’clock, the others, 2 o’clock.

We decided to eat – all the places were upstairs. Again, tiny elevator, so one at a time we crammed our luggage in and rode up.

We ate at an Italian place. It was okay. Pretty tasteless.

After eating, we ventured back down to the ticket counter. Got checked in… again, no more VIP treatment. We had to coerce them into giving us VIP passes to the First Class Lounge.

Made it thru customs, immigration, security, etc with no issues.

Found our lounge and those of us on the United flight had 5 hours.

It was nice… there was plenty of beer, wine and snacks.

There were also little cubicle rest areas which was pretty cool.


The highlight was the bathroom….. toilets with all kinds of options. Mainly the lid lifted as soon as you entered the stall. And the seats were heated. Actually, a little too hot, but would have been awesome in the winter! Here is the control panel:


Even better than the fancy toilet, was the sign on the cappuccino machine:

I sure am going to miss spotting signs like this :)

The 5 hours wasn’t that bad. It would have been much worse if I had been alone, that’s for sure.

Once it was time to board, I was crossing my fingers that I still had a row to myself. I did when I checked in 6 hours ago, but that can always change.

Thankfully, I did!

I can’t believe I am finally leaving!

I stayed awake long enough for the first meal – which was really bad. I picked at the mashed potatoes and roll and gave up. Had a Tylenol PM and stretched out.

When I woke up, I was all whacked out on time. I think I slept for 5 hours, but that just didn’t seem possible.

I felt terrible. Headache and just lots of congestion. Figured it was allergies, so took a Benadryl and laid back down.

In all, I think I slept about 9 hours of the 13 hour flight. Which is really good!
Having the row to myself made all the difference in the world!

Upon arriving in Chicago, I had 2 hours. The line for immigration was forever long. I was so hot! I am back on U.S. soil and am still sweating!

After immigration, you have to claim your luggage. This took another 30 minutes. How? We had been on the ground for an hour and our bags take that long?

Anyway, excited that all 3 bags made it! Loaded them up on the luggage cart and headed to customs. After that, you drop you bags back with United and then venture on to the domestic terminals. Which means, you have to go thru security again. Grrr..

Finally got to my terminal and to the Red Carpet Club. It was hot as hell in there. Called the parents – they were very happy to hear I made it. Called Dave to make sure he was picking me up in a few hours.

Went to the bathroom to freshen up. Was wishing I had brought a change of clothes in my carry on because I was drenched with sweat. Oh well. I remembered a toothbrush and toothpaste, so that was better than nothing.

Made it to Columbus without issue. All bags made it too!

Got home and got out a few gifts for Dave and we chatted a while.

It’s good to be home, but seems very surreal.

Went to bed around 3:15a.

Qingdao

August 24th

Was woken up at 7:28am by the phone. It was an Olympic volunteer inquiring why I wasn’t on the shuttle bus to the airport? I explained that I wasn’t scheduled to travel until tomorrow morning.

I got out my itinerary and verified for the thousandth time, my flight was indeed on August 25th.

It was okay that I was woken up by the call – I had wanted to get up early anyway. I had stayed up until 2:30a – trying to get back on East Coast time. My intent is to run my last minute errands and then go to bed this afternoon. Get up around 10p or so and finish packing, etc.

Well… things didn’t go that way. For the first time in 5 weeks, I have some stomach issues. Either the lamb or the sake I had last night, or both?

I laid doubled over in bed until 9a. Decided to get up and go figure out what was going on in logistics with my travel issues.

Before that, I went to breakfast to say goodbye to a few people. I knew most of the crew was leaving this morning.

As I walked out of the restaurant, the hotel manager comes up to me asking when I was paying my bill. I thought she meant the things I had charged to my room over the past 3 weeks (dry cleaning, room service, etc) – so I told her later this evening, I would come down and review the bill. Then I realized she meant for my hotel room for tonight. What?

So I immediately took her over to the Olympic Info desk and had them translate for me. For some reason, B.O.B. had told the hotel they were not paying for my hotel room tonight. I don’t think so!

I won’t bore you with the details… it was 1.5 hours of translation issues, phone calls to B.O.B. in Beijing, and possibly me raising my voice more than once. I believe I said many times, “I just want to go home!”.

Apparently, it was mistakenly noted in my travel profile with B.O.B., that I wanted to stay an extra day in Qingdao to see the sites. So instead of sending me home on August 24th (today), they scheduled me for August 25th. This is not something I knew about – until now. That is why B.O.B. was expecting me to pay for the hotel room tonight.

Anyway, it all did get resolved, at no expense to me. However, I am outraged that I could have been on my way home right now. But I am not, because some idiot made a mistake on my travel profile.

I sat in my room and pouted for awhile.

Then remembered I still had that stupid flat tired bike to deal with. I was gonna give it to the hotel manager to give to an employee – but had a better idea. The Olympic volunteer who helped me get my travel straightened out. She was so pleasant and patient as I yelled about my travel being screwed up. She was the one who earned the bike.

Feeling guilty about the flat tire, I put 100 Yuan and the padlock keys in an envelope and went downstairs. She was busy assisting a group getting on the shuttle to the airport, so I asked her how late she worked – 3pm. I told I would be back later, that I had a gift.

I ventured out for my last walk down Hong Kong Blvd. to Jusco (mall). I was feeling somewhat nostalgic until a passerby inhaled a big snot and spit on the sidewalk in front of me. Yah… that’s China for ya!

Another tid-bit I have yet to share… they are big spitters here. And not just a little spittle... they work that stuff up and put a lot of effort into it. A lot of sound effects. It has brought Christina and I to the verge of puking many times over the past few weeks.

As usual, Jusco is a zoo. Not quite as smelly as Carrefour, but just as zoo-like. I was looking for the music store. Billy had told me there was a music store that had some American music in it. So I wanted to check it out.

It was really small and hot. Just like every other store in China! It took me a long time to find the American music because everything is in Chinese – so it was hard to figure out how the music was sorted.

I found several CDs for friends… all CDs we already own, however, it is funny to see the covers in Chinese. And super cheap! Like $7 USD for a double CD set.

By far, the biggest U.S. sensations there have to be Kenny G. and Yanni. They both have about 30 different CDs each.

I walked around the mall a little more and gave up. I was sick of the smells and sweating. So I headed back to the hotel.

Again, the walk back gave me time to reflect and think about my time here. Have learned so much, but think I will be content with the memories. No need to come back.

Have I mentioned that I can not stop sweating?

Got back to the hotel and found the Olympic Volunteer – I don’t even know her name – I told her I would like to give her my bike. She was so happy! On the way to the parking garage, I handed her the envelope with the keys and money and explained the problem with the tire – but I hoped I have her enough money to fix it. She kept thanking me and I told her that I had been looking for the right person to give it to, and she was the one. She helped me get home!

We talked about the U.S. She studied for one year at Missouri State. I had been wearing a Michigan State t-shirt earlier in the day, so she thought I went there. She was still a student – of course I forget what she is studying – but goes to Qingdao University.

Anyway, I felt good. I was helping someone who had helped me.

I went to my room and slept for about 3 hours.

How about a tour of my room…..
It’s pretty messy as I took these yesterday – my room was in the midst of piles for packing.


Welcome to Room 1006!



This is how you 'announce' either "Do Not Disturb" or "Housekeeping Needed"



Mini Bar pile of ditry laundry



Home Sweet Home



Twin beds - never fails, I end up in the crack!



Uneven counter top - everything slides into sink eventually


Got up in the evening and ventured out for one last dinner. Went to the Italian place down the street that I had been to many times.


Olympics had been over for 1 day and they had already changed the menu!

Once I got back to the hotel, I did a few more postcards and got them down to the business center before it closed. Costs more, but don’t want to deal with China Post ever again!

Got 99% packed. Yowza! Have to leave some stuff behind – luggage is bulging!
But the housekeepers should enjoy…

Going to bed… it’s about 10:30. Have to be up no later than 5:30a.

Signs, signs, everywhere signs….

A few things may have gotten lost in translation.

Hope you enjoy!




"Fishing Wharf Seafood Boat" - a restaurant

Qingdao

August 23rd

Forgot to mention yesterday that we got some parting gifts yesterday from Beijing Olympic Broadcasting" … a “diploma” – which has a typo in my name – Nicole marie Trimner – okay – it’s only a small ‘m’ on my middle name – but annoys me!

We also got another backpack – that makes 2. This one is much nicer though as it is black. Our other one matches our polo shirts – so it is bright blue & orange. This one I might actually use!

In addition, we got a medal. To be honest, I haven’t really checked it out, but it is in a box and seems pretty cool.

So today, Billy, Alex, Christina and I had arranged for a driver and guide to take us to Loshan Mountain.

We set it up last night thru the hotel. We were told it we would have a guide who spoke “okay English” – which was fine with us because most everyone in China that speaks English, tells us they speak “okay English” and it honestly is pretty good.

So we met at 10:30…. The first thing the guide said to us (in perfect English), “do you speak Chinese?” When we said, “no”, she said “sowwy, my English not good”.

We were only paying 600 yuan to have this guide and driver and mini-van for as long as we wanted – so still an excellent deal! (like $20 USD each).

Within 2 minutes of being in the van, we knew were in trouble. We had no idea what she was saying, so as she would tell us facts, we would each guess what she was saying, and essentially made stuff up. She knew very little English and didn’t understand ANY English.

It was about an hour drive to the mountain. Along the way, saw amazing sites!
(but there were always power lines in the shot of the photos!)

It was after passing these boats that we realized that the driver understood English better than the guide. I made the comment, “bet those boats don’t have GPS” and the driver burst into laughter.

We stopped at some place – we think she said it was the ‘first mountain after the sea’ – which it was… but it looked very fake and touristy.

Across the street, there were more real views

Alex told me the toilet were clean here, so I gave it a shot.
Agh! Apparently the men’s room was much cleaner than the ladies room! Chinese toilets, no TP.

Next we stopped at another tourist trap. A rip line over the ocean.
Alex, Billy and I went for it. It involved getting in another van that was ancient and scary, driving up the side of the mountain, climbing scary stairs and the operators spoke zero English. We tried to motion that since there were 3 of us and 3 lines, we wanted to go together. That didn’t happen. So we tried to tell them that I wanted to go second. Nope, they tethered me up first and had me hanging there for 10 minutes or so. Wasn’t exactly comfortable.

So apparently, they allow locals to go down by themselves, but foreigners have to go down with an operator who hangs on to you the whole time – which totally ruins it! He lets go just before the end.

While I was waiting for Alex & Billy to come down, some lady came up to me and asked how much my Nike’s were – I think I paid $50 for them, so I told her 350 yuan and she walked away. It then hit me, I wasn’t sure if she wanted to know how much I paid or how much I would sell them for ? If I had something else to put on, I would of given them to her. They are covered with pee anyway (from squatting in Chinese toilets) – there is a good chance they are going in the trash when I get home! Just one more reminder of how spoiled I am – I can buy Nike’s at Kohls without batting an eye.

Next we went to the _____ Temple. (I forget the name and the ticket stub is in Chinese)

This is Goddess Songzi – which means “child-giving Goddess” - Ladies who are hoping to have a child, come to this Goddess to pray.


Of course this ancient tree produced many laughs…. The guide was quick to tell us about the pinus bungeana tree (pronounced ‘penis’).

It is used for herbal remedies, but not the kind you are thinking… it helps with diabetes.

More cools sites at the temple… honestly, I am getting sick of them.



So after the temple, we wanted to go up on the mountain. We had been told by others on the crew that there is an awesome ski lift down the side of the mountain. When we tried to explain this to “Nancy” (our name for our guide) – she tells us “no road”.
Hmmm that’s strange… isn’t that a van on that road right now?
“No, no road”
The miming and slow speaking went on another 5 minutes and then we all gave up.

On our ride back, “Nacny” told us she was taking us to Sea World. Ummm, ok. We assumed she meant “Ocean World” – a tourist trap/aquarium we had seen on the way up.

Halfway there, the driver, “Sid” (our name for him) pulls off to the side of the road and “Nancy” tells us to get out and eat – that Sid is hungry. We refused.

It was pretty much at this point where we were done with this language barrier and wanted to go home.

We came to an agreement to eat at “Sea World” because there was a KFC there. Over the next 20 minutes or so, I tell the others that I think I will sit at the gates of “Sea World” because I have zero interest. I am opposed to animals in captivity and I don’t want to support a company/country that I am sure is harboring these animals in the worst possible conditions. It’s is just not something I care to see or give my money to.

It was then that it was agreed that no one really wanted to go. We decided we would have them take us there to eat and then leave.

As soon as we get on the grounds – “Nancy” is trying to collect 120yuan each. We said, “No! Eat first!”. This went on for easily 5 minutes before she gave up on us giving her the admission to “Ocean World”. They eventually dropped us at the KFC which was a nuthouse. We eventually all get seated. I rip my chicken sandwich in half… OH MY GOD! What was this? In the U.S. a chicken sandwich would slightly resemble chicken breast. Not this! It was parts… not even dark meat – just parts and gristle and parts. Thank god I had not been brave and bitten into it – it was of resulted in admitting me to a psychiatric ward. Bottom line, I had no lunch.

After KFC… we break the news to “Nancy” that we don’t want to go to “Ocean World” – we want to go back to the hotel, however, we want to stop by the “Goddess of the Sea” statue.

Which of course was greeted with confusion. When we pointed it on a map, we were once again told “no road”.

That’s strange… we are at the intersection of the entrance and cars are pulling into it.

Yup, we were done.

Had a few hours to ourselves at the hotel.

I checked the logistics table…. That’s strange,…. I am listed on the 7:30a shuttle to the airport for tomorrow. Hmmmm that’s 24 hours early?

Met up at 7:30 to go to dinner at a Japanese Steakhouse. Many on the crew had already been there – supposed to be the best steal I town…. 118 yuan ($17.50 USD). It’s all you can eat of about 100 things on the menu. Much like Benihana.. They chefs cook it right there in front of you.

Almost everything was seafood – but when the rice, veggies and sirloin came around, Billy made sure my plate got filled up!

Thank god, cuz Billy wanted me to keep drinking hot Sake. It’s tasty – but yowza! Ya gotta eat with that stuff!

Afterwards, we all met back at the hotel for our goodbyes.
Here is us……

Ben (LA) * Nic (OH-IO) * Billy (LA) * Christina (Greece) * Alex (Italy)

After this photo, we rode up in the elevator and had our last group hug.

I work with a new crew almost every week. I bond with so many people.
I think this was the hardest goodbye to date.