A Week Until the Games Begin

I have been remiss in updating the blog too often during this visit to Beijing. Work has been busy and I've been laying low for the past few days with a fever and sore throat. My illness can be attributed to one of 4 factors: 1) breathing hot, humid, and dirty Beijing air for a month, 2) living with heavy doses of freezing air conditioned air for a month, 3) lack of fresh vegetables available for consumption, and 4) I'm old and can't handle life on the road anymore. I think its actually a smattering of the first three reasons, with only a drop of reason #4.



Anyway, with only a week to go until the Opening Ceremonies, and a slow Friday work day (finally!), I wanted to catch everyone up on the latest goings on here in Beijing.



First of all, the anticipation is palpable. I had been staying at some nice hotels this past month, and just this week, I noticed a lot more foreign faces wearing the obligatory Olympic placards around their necks. Important people I assume. Excitement is definitely in the air as more folks are arriving. This morning I met a woman in the elevator with a bag full of adidas boxes and geared up in adidas herself (My experiences attending international sporting events has taught me how to pick out sporting officials from a mile away. Its the athletic gear and always with the crispy, clean kicks- mostly adidas). I come to find out that she is one of the dozens of FIFA referees staying at the hotel to participate in training to gear up for the Games. Pretty cool. Unfortunately, their arrival and other Olympic folks means that I have to move out of these fine digs tonight, and into a modest two star hotel. The rates at the hotel have gone up to about $800 a night and my non-profit can't afford such a price. Such a bummer. I had been living pretty large for the past month at the Ritz-Carlton and then The Regent (I know, crazy, but we get an insanely reasonable rate usually), and instead of rubbing elbows with fancy Olympic folks, I may end up having to make my own dumplings for the next two weeks. I move into the new digs, Home Inn (or as a buddy of mine here calls it-- Homey Inn), tonight. I'm hoping for the best. OK, enough whining, here are some quick hits of what's been going down lately:

• I have tickets to rowing preliminaries on Aug. 10, US-Nigeria and Argentina-Serbia (Messi!!) soccer double header on August 13 (compliments of US Soccer of course), and a baseball game to be determined. I'm working hard to score a US hoops game, but this is obviously a tough ticket. I also want to check out the track stadium and swimming venue which are great architectural designs. Whether or not, I get tix, I'll post pics of the venues. Pretty amazing stuff.


• I've watched so many DVD's this past month, I wanted to give a very quick list and review: There Will Be Blood (excellent!), Cloverfield (great concept, too shaky), Hot Fuzz (funny), Hancock (wait for video), Season One Dexter (very good, but I doubt I'll watch season two. Serial killers aren't my bag), The Other Boleyn Girl (good first half, fell asleep for the rest-shocker!), Super High Me (super mediocre), The Hammer (I like. Rent it if you can) and others I can't remember right now.


• I went for pizza at a place called The Tree last week near Sanlitun (bar street). This is a popular place for foreigners and they serve up a decent pie as well. Anyway, in the bathroom I saw a sign that said during the Olympics, the bar will close at 10:30 each night instead of the usual...actually I have no idea, but I know this place usually rages until the wee hours. So weird. I would have thought that places would have wanted to take advantage of the foreigners wanting to party, but instead the Chinese govt decided to close a lot of nightspots early during the olympics to prevent any ruckus I suppose. Terrible plan. I have a feeling that the vanilla hotel bars and their $8 beers will be all the rage. I'll let you know what happens.


• Somewhat related to the above point, all of my "go-to" DVD shops have vanished since last Sunday. Actually, they haven't vanished, but any of their English language titles (aka bootlegs) have disappeared. It is as if you went to McDonald's for a burger and found out they were serving spaghetti, it was pretty jarring. Especially since I was hoping to pick up Season One of Mad Men that I had just seen a week prior, and now it was gone. When I asked, the guy behind the counter shrugged. I think if I went with a local, they could speak Mandarin and get the low-down, but a foreigner like myself gets nada.


• My language skills are still atrocious but I have a few words down: hello (ni hao), thank you (xie xie), The Regent Beijing (li jing da jo dian), cold- as in cold beer (bing da), check (mai dan), I understand (ming bai), I don't want (bu yao), I don't have (mei yo), OK (hao), yes (duai), rice (mi fan), Tsingtao (Tsingtao). Sadly, that's about it. I actually know a few more words, but these listed above usually get me through the day.


• I really enjoy meeting ex-pats when I travel. Last week, a partied with an Irish guy, and 3 Dutch folks that all live and work here. Its especially great after a few drinks and realizing that I'm in Beijing talking about agricultural engineering in Pakistan with a Dutch guy while listening to hip-hop playing in the background. This never gets old.


• Also, our organization actually has a blog to give some Asian perspectives on things happening on this side of the Pacific, I contributed an entry this week: http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2008/07/30/in-china-olympic-expectations-and-anxieties/ I've received pretty good feedback from co-workers, but any faithful readers to this here site will recognize that I have been edited to no end. I mean not one of my jokes were left in. Anyway, have a look and if you are interested in such info, please subscribe to the weekly newsletter. You can get email updates and the content is usually very strong. Also note that my entry has zero to do with issues.

That's it for now. I'm going to begin winding down week number five of seven in China. Crazy how time is flying. Oh, by the way....MANNY MANNY MANNY MANNY!!

Suited

I've always heard that one of the greatest deals I am missing out on during my visits to China is getting my own tailor made suit. Fortunately, I had a tip from a co-worker on a place at Silk Street so I decided to get the wheels in motion towards getting some fancy duds at a fraction of the price it would cost me back home.

Its actually pretty sweet. You pick the fabric, the design, the cut and they sew it for you in one day I believe. It'll probably cost me $130. Not bad at all. Yesterday, I went through the motions to figure out what I wanted and will return sometime this week to do all the measurements and stuff.

Imagine my surprise when upon entering the shop, I saw pictures on the wall of America's favorite injury faking NBA champ Paul Pierce and the round mound of rebound, Charles Barkley with the sales ladies. Its a good thing Pierce and Chuck found this place, I have no idea how they could afford normal suits at the salaries they make. Actually, for Barkley this might make sense. Dude could be broker than I am due to his gambling losses. So next time, you're watching Inside the NBA on TNT, know that Barkley may not actually be wearing a Gucci or Armani suit after all. No idea where he gets his beloved mock turtlenecks...probably Wal-Mart.

Five Ring Circus

I am here in Beijing once again, but this time I am here for the next 7 weeks, which will mean some Olympics overlap as well as the run-up to the Games which should provide some interesting anecdotes I would think.

Accessing this blog has proven to be quite difficult and though I may have found a work around, I'm not sure how effective my posting will be or if I will be able to attach photos. We'll see I guess. Speaking of seeing, I am writing this from my 19th floor office and have a great view of Jianguomen dajie, a main drag that cuts across the city. The visibility is at an all-time low. The smog and fog are ultra-thick, and I have yet to see blue skies since my arrival on Monday morning. If they plan on tweaking the weather somehow for the Olympics, they should probably start now.

The most noticable difference of this visit versus my others has been that Beijing certainly has put on its best face this time around. The freeway leading to the airport is stradled with manicured mini-gardens and trees, which were never here before, and they are way more signs in English than before. Most of them point you towards various Olympic venues. There are also crossing guards at a major intersection near my hotel. It the past it was pedestrian mayhem. This time there is more of an illusion of control.

Unfortunately, they have also apparently tried to clean up the black market and have shut down a number of bootleg DVD outposts and street vendors, which is a bummer. Fortunately, I knew of a couple of places that were still in business, so my jones was filled.

More soon.

Remembering the AlamoDome

It has been two weeks since my trip to San Antonio for the 2008 Final Four and I feel I am now ready to go public with my thoughts. First of all, I have to acknowledge Greg, Derek, and Francis that joined me for a memorable weekend adventure that was filled with more good times and bad times than I can remember. Despite the unfortunate game results, upon reflection this was a fantastic weekend during a time in life where such “old boy” or “bro” weekends have become few and far between.

Now my reflections…I don’t think I have been filled with as much nervous excitement as I was on the trip to Texas two weeks ago. (It must be noted that I attended UCLA’s last title run in 1995, so the idea of actually going to the Final Four was not overwhelming in itself. Also, this happened while I was a college student during the 1990s where I think grunge music and high levels of THC coursing through my body numbed me from the most natural of human emotion— outward excitement.) My trip took two legs, Oakland to Phoenix; Phoenix to Austin. The Phoenix airport was a sight to behold for Bruin Nation. I texted a few people back home with the note, “PHX airport is like Westwood Southwest.” It was unbelievable. Powder blue and gold everywhere you look. The airport bar was electric with energy, chatter about game tickets being overhead, tales of Final Fours past exchanged, and of course the prospects of the Bruins hanging championship #12 in Pauley Pavilion being discussed (writing those words still fills me with disappointment and sadness. I guess I’m not over it.).

Fast forward to Saturday morning in San Antonio. After exchanging the Michael Scott-edition Chrysler LeBaron convertible for a more suitable rental ride, we made the one-hour trek from Austin to San Antonio, drove past the AlamoDome and the whole experience became very real. We had about two hours before tip-off and went to some pre-party that included free chicken wings, nachos, and tamales. Perhaps the first disappointment of the weekend occurred shortly thereafter. Suffice it to say, we were already a few beers in, but we realized that each school was having special parties and that we were basically hanging in the stable of the masses. Of course, we immediately tried to sneak in to the UCLA party to hang with fellow Bruins before the game for some much-needed pre-game hype. Not to be too self-serving, but I had no problem getting past the first layer of security, and Greg and I easily slid past the second checkpoint without problem. Entering the “exclusive” party space was similar to the scene in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy’s house lands after the tornado and she opens the door to reveal the Technicolor world of Munchkin land. Upon passing the security area, I was treated to visions of UCLA cheerleaders cavorting about, former UCLA football coach Terry Donahue chatting up some alums, beer and wine stations appearing in all corners of the room, food everywhere, and Tim Robbins cruising by. It was awesome. All I could say to Greg was, “this is more like it.”

In what can only be described as the ultimate foreshadowing of things to come, we were shortly tapped on the shoulder by a rent-a-cop asking to see our party passes. Unfotunately, one member of our quartet did not heed the ultimate mantra of acting like you belong there, got shaken down by security, and in an egregious error in party crashing dogma, wound up getting all of us kicked out by pinpointing us to security. Unbelievable. Until my last days on this Earth, I will always believe that had we remained at the party, the world would have been rotating normally and the Bruins would have emerged triumphant. Alas, it was not to be. To make matters worse, as we are going down the escalator feeling like chumps, we peer over to the adjacent escalator going up and see Ed O’Bannon, the 1995 tournament’s winner of the Most Outstanding Player award and the greatest UCLA player of our lives, heading to the party. Ugh.
(The whole of San Antonio was a basketball fan’s dream that weekend. Along with the obvious undercurrent of the games, tons of familiar basketball characters were milling around town. Throughout the weekend, we saw Hakeem Olajuwon, Rick Pitino, Lorenzo Romar, David Robinson (sitting 4 rows in front of us), Rex Walters, Scot Pollard, Tony Parker, Seth Greenberg, Pat Riley, Patrick Ewing, and Artis Gilmore. The scene was definitely set for some classic basketball.)

Then the game started. I prefer not to get too much into the details of the game itself since we got rolled over in the second half, but in brief— we could not hit an outside shot to save our life, our “All-American” point guard did nothing, and Memphis’ Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts continually beat us off the dribble and scored tons of buckets. Painful to even reminisce. There was a 30-45 minute silent period following the loss where none of us uttered anything to one another. The combination of inebriated stupor, disappointment, and exhaustion from intensely rooting on the squad left me physically and mentally drained and I just stared off into space like I was back in high school physics class.

So that was it. The weekend for all intents and purposes was over. Even though we had a mellow Sunday and enjoyed a great national championship on Monday, the perfect weekend was over before it started. The curtain was pulled back and Oz did not turn out the way we imagined it to be.

With 30 years of fanatic experience in watching sports, I cannot remember a team that appeared as tailor-made for a championship run than the 2007-08 UCLA Bruins. This was their third straight Final Four, so the San Antonio experience would not be overwhelming for the coaching staff and squad. They earned a #1 seed in the West Region for the first time since the 1995 championship team. A couple of close, last second victories (with or without the help of some questionable refereeing) appeared to make them destiny’s choice to be champion. But one element that comes to mind whenever I reflect on this team will always be the presence of the Golden Child, freshman center Kevin Love. The impact this kid had on the team was unlike anything I had ever seen at UCLA and was very rare in the world of college basketball. All of the ESPN talking heads and journalists would gush about Love’s game and the platitudes were never over-stated. This guy was amazing. I could talk about his game and what he meant to this team for days but in brief, I and a majority of the Bruin faithful felt that there was no way we would lose this year with Kevin Love leading the way. Unfortunately, the magic simply ran out against Memphis and the wait continues for the 12th banner to be raised.

This brings me to the trip’s silver lining though. Anyone who reads this entry knows exactly where UCLA fandom resides on my priority lists of hobbies outside of grown-up life responsibilities. The weekend was meant to be a culmination of every reason why I am a faithful supporter of my alma mater and, similar to most things built up with anticipation (read: New Year’s Eve, movie blockbusters, network television), I was left disappointed. While we continued to have a good time throughout the weekend, the underlying current of disappointment could not be ignored. Now that I am about two weeks distanced from the Final Four weekend, I have a much better perspective on things.

In retrospect, the old adage from Arthur Ashe (UCLA alum) now rings especially true— “Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is often more important than the outcome.” The UCLA basketball program is perhaps the most cohesive fabric of my college experience, and continues to bring all of my close college friends together. When my buddy Rich and I discussed getting tickets for the early round tournament games in Anaheim, we knew to just buy the maximum allotment of eight, since we would have no problem finding takers. We all love Bruin basketball.
The Final Four weekend thus held a specific “once in a lifetime” feel and the four of us were able to enjoy great moments that only being friends for over 15 years can provide. This coupled with the barrage of calls and text messages from pals back in Cali wanting to catch some of the flavor of the event made the moment feel all the more special. Derek, who is married and has a daughter, acknowledged this point specifically. The opportunities for us all to get together like this have become more rare as the years quickly pass on. Families are growing, responsibilities are increasing, and free time is shrinking at an alarming rate. Maybe once or twice a year, all of the college mates get together, making this weekend even more unique.

It was clear that every college friend near a television was watching the UCLA-Memphis and cringing and cheering and hoping just like the four of us were inside the AlamoDome that afternoon. Looking back, there is still no place I would have rather seen the disappointing loss than with my buddies watching the game live. To me, it felt like the four of us were representing all of our great friends by being there live (thanks of course to Greg for securing the tickets). As I reflect back, the emotional ups and downs took a toll on us, but left me with a ton of memories and the hope that having these weekend trips with the guys will continue until we are pushing canes at the old folks home. That is the appropriate memory I hope to keep in the front of my mind whenever I recall the 2008 Final Four. Well, that and if James Keefe’s second half baseline 3-pointer goes in, instead of rattling out, we would have had a whole different ball game.

Fast Times Indeed

I just got back from a lunch with a consultant (we'll call him Terry) I worked with on a recent proposal during my trip to China last December. I asked a co-worker for a good recommendation of a nearby restaurant that would allow us room to talk and with good, well-priced food. She suggested Bocadillo's located on the corner of Washington and Montgomery in downtown SF.


We found a place in the corner by the bar and settled in for a fairly standard business lunch. Located just behind Terry's head on the wall was a flat screen TV playing the 1982 Amy Heckerling classic, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. The place was a pretty nice, tapas and wine type place and I thought that a movie playing in the background was odd, not to mention the choice of movie. Since it was behind Terry, I didn't bring this to his attention. Unfortunately, I was already distracted and my mind quickly wondered whether the infamous Phoebe Cates red bikini pool side scene would hit the screen during lunch and I would have to make the choice of commenting (my natural impulse) or keeping it to myself. Suffice it to say, I had a tough time updating Terry on the status of an in-factory training program for migrant workers in China knowing that one of the most famous cinematic nude scenes would be staring me in the face in all its high definition glory.


I am definitely getting older and more mature (arguably) as I held it together and was able to stay focused throughout the meal...so much so that I was able to almost forget that Jeff Spicoli was ordering pizza during Mr. Hand's algebra class a mere five feet away. Just as I paying for the check I happened to glance up and what do I see??....No, not the Phoebe Cates part, but the scene with Jennifer Jason Leigh completely buck naked after a romp with faux cool guy, Damone. I was caught off-guard by this as Fast Times is forever linked with Sean Penn and Phoebe Cates and not much else, so the JJ Leigh image was somewhat startling. I glanced around the room to see if anyone else was reacting, but nobody did. (I guess it takes more for the SF professional set to bat an eye. Let's not forget that this is the town that believes Barry Bonds' head expanding three sizes over the years is normal.) Again, my poker face remained as I was able to prevent myself from giggling like an eight-year-old. This may be the first time that I realized I may actually be an adult now, and maybe one of the only times when being older and thus quite versed in social settings can be seen as a positive. In any non-professional setting, Fast Times at Ridgemont High would have become the topic of conversation throughout lunch, so I was proud of myself for holding it together. I guess its pathetic really, but still amusing...at least to me.


Either way, Fast Times at Ridgemont High....GREAT MOVIE!

SoCal and So Clean

The blog hits the road again this weekend to visit the City of Angels. There may be no better time to escape the doldrums of the Bay Area rains and deep freeze. Unfortunately, LA's recent weather has only been slightly better which is a bummer. Among other things, the weather in Southern California is one my favorite features of the area, so having to wear a jacket at all times this weekend will surely be a drag.

The bright side is that it will be a reunion of sorts with my college mates as I have tickets to the UCLA- Arizona State game tonight and the UCLA- Arizona game on Saturday. I will spend more time in Westwood this weekend than I have since I moved away in 1997 (and all I have to show for it is black lung). The computer and camera are coming along, so I hope to provide as many up-to-the-minute updates as possible.

I also plan to settle the Writer's strike, babysit Britney's kids, and solve the traffic problem while I'm down there.

(Final Note: On Monday, I went out to dinner with the fellas and conversation shifted to the trainwreck that is Britney Spears. The dialogue surrounded the fact that if we didn't know she was Britney Spears and she walked into the bar we were at, would we even think she was attractive? Or even give her a double take? There was some thoughts one way or the other, but the fact that we were debating the issues reveals a few things: 1) nobody can have fun with mundane chatter like my friends and I, and 2) calling Britney a mess is the understatement of the decade.)

Ha's Turn to Tears

Hey kids! Its been a while, so let me start with a complete non-sequiter. I just paid $6 for a bowl of soup from some sandwich/soup joint down the street from the office. Quite a price to pay for a bowl of flavored water, but to somewhat quote Vinnie Vega from Pulp Fiction, “I’m not sure it’s worth $6, but it’s a damn good bowl of soup.” It’s Mexican Chicken Tortilla in case you were curious. OK. Back to the post…

This entry may actually be one of the more serious posts I’ve written.

At this point in life, I have come to realize there are only a few things I can actually rely on no matter what. For me, its Natalia, my family, my SF/LA/NY friends, and that’s about it. (On the negative side, I can also count on UCLA football disappointing me, the broads from The View annoying me, the cost of an SF home to always be out of my price range— but I digress.)

There was one other aspect of my fairly simple life that I have relied on for several years, but alas cannot count on it any longer. The object to which I am referring is actually an eatery. Perhaps my favorite eatery. An eatery that I have enjoyed since the late 1980’s. It is with great despair that I announce that Ha’s Chinese Restaurant located on 25th Ave. and Irving Street in the Sunset district of San Francisco is no longer in business.

Not quite the way I wanted to kick off 2008.

My love affair with Ha’s began when I started working at Chan’s Baseball Card shop in 1988. The guys at the shop were already quite fond of Ha’s when I was hired. For the 3 years I worked there, I would say that we ordered Ha’s for delivery at least twice a week. (Ha’s split time with Judah Café, a great greasy spoon down the street that knew us all by name. Unfortunately, Judah Café has also gone the way of the dinosaur.)

We all had our favorites. Ross would get kung pao beef with no peanuts, James would enjoy shrimp in black bean sauce, Khang was a fan of mongolian beef, and I absolutely adored their garlic sauce chicken wings (GCW). I have probably eaten thousands of Ha’s wings in my lifetime and my adoration of their wings was widely known. My family knew I loved them and a few years back, my buddy James actually gave me an order of GCW for X-Mas when he bought everyone their favorite things. Some received beers, bottles of Jameson, or Cokes, me….the wings. In an attempt at transparency, let the record show I also loved their beef chow fun, walnut prawns, green onion pancakes, and kung pao beef too.

When I left SF the first time for college, (and on every subsequent trip since), my return visits to SF were not complete unless I had an order of Ha’s. Even on my most recent trips to China, when I was sick of Chinese food by the time I left Beijing, I ordered Ha’s as one of my first meals. Ha’s was more than delicious sustenance. Ha’s was a sign of home. Located in my old neighborhood, chomping into their food let me know that I was home safely and everything was ok in the world. My friends and I ordered Ha’s for every fantasy baseball draft I ever participated in. I’ve spent many a lazy weekend watching movies or sports while eating Ha’s. Now my only real version of comfort food is gone.

I knew something was amiss when I gave them a call for a delivery last Sunday night. Busy signal all night long. Maybe they were closed for an extended holiday I thought, so I grabbed some eats elsewhere. I had an inkling at the time that maybe there was something more going on, but I quickly squashed this idea.

Then, Monday night at approximately 9:30pm, James gave me a call and just said, “unbelievable” when I picked up. We have been friends for over 25 years at this point so maybe it was just my familiarity with the tone of his voice that I immediately knew Ha’s was no more. James said he might give up Chinese food altogether and become a sushi connoisseur, but that was a joke…I think.

It might be fitting that my debut at Ha’s coincided with my injection into the absolute depths of baseball fandom, and now its closing mirrors the ridiculousness of the baseball dialogue this off-season which has consisted mostly of Mitchell reports, HGH, subpoenas, and steroids. Hardly a whimper in comparison about the Dodgers signing of Andruw Jones, or Billy Beane trading away the nucleus of the A’s for some prospects. It appears that the classic adage, all good things must come to an end, may be true whether in reference to the purity of America’s pastime or local Chinese cuisine.

Ha’s has left a void that may not be easily filled. There are rumors that Ha’s is only moving down the street to a new location, but I remain dubious. Fortunately, I have this forum and you readers to provide me with much-needed support during this difficult time.

(I recently finished reading Anthony Bourdain’s A Cook’s Tour, which may have contributed to the nostalgic remembrance of Ha’s, but I bet even Bourdain would have pangs for GCW if he ever would have had the pleasure.)