My last days photos

Here's more pictures. I'm off for my last night out before flying back to the USA tomorrow.

A relaxed day and evening

The games and ceremonies are over, but the experiences that I have had here will remain with me forever. Tomorrow is my last full day here, so I'm off to bed to rest up for more sightseeing. Here's a short video I shot outside my hotel earlier, and a few pictures to boot.

Closing Ceremonies

Here's pictures from closing ceremonies last night. Very impressive show!

Rugby - Final Day, part 2

What an amazing game and experience!! I'm off again, but here are more pics from yesterday.

Rugby - Final Day, part 1

Two games down and 2 to go.... The final will be broadcast live at www.universalsports.com at 8:00 AM EDT. Look for me during the Medal presentation handing out the flowers... Very cool honor. Okay, here's some pictures..

Day 4 Pictures

Yesterday was all about smoozing with big wigs, so not much to share photo wise. HERE IS WHAT I HAVE.

Its USA vs. Australia for Gold

USA beat GB today, 35-32, and the Aussies upset Canada, 42-41 in overtime. Tomorrows schedule and today's results can be found HERE Can vs. GBR for Bronze USA vs. AUS for Gold No pictures right now, but I do have more to share.... maybe tomorrow? John

Dirt Market and Rugby Day 3

Sorry, but just pictures again. It's Moon Festival here.... PICTURES ARE HERE

CAN vs. CHN and USA vs. JPN

As usual, just more pictures for now.... sorry

More Pictures

Day 1 of Rugby..Click Here.

Game on!!

Awesome venue, great games, BIG crowds!! Results are being posted HERE. Early risers, watch NZL vs. GBR live at 8AM (now) Eastern Time at www.paralympicsport.tv John

More pics - less blog!!

Okay, I promise to blog more at some point (maybe), but for now having fun is the priority! So here's more pictures until then. Bet you can't guess where they were taken at....

Rugby starts tomorrow!!

Our Italian lunch served Chinese style..

More pics

Been really busy, so blogging is limited for now. Heres pics to keep ya going... off to the wall we go!

A day at the museum and shopping

I'll give a rundown of the day later, but for now heres some photo's to hold you over.

Being a fan and tourist in Beijing

Hello to anyone that may be looking in on this blog! Yesterday we figured out how our transportation works and then headed over to the Olympic Green in the early evening. First stop was the "Cube" for swimming, where we watched around 8 races, several that featured US swimmers. The USA won Gold in every race that they swam in, set new world records, and in 1 race they won both Gold & Silver. It was nice to here the good old US National anthem so many times.... The Cube is a beautiful venue, and the light show that takes place on the outside is impressive. I had camera problems yesterday, so no photos to share until I can get some from Brad. From swimming we strolled across the street to the National Stadium for a little W/C basketball. This is where gymnastics took place during the Olympics.. It's a huge arena, and the place had a good size crowd for the game we saw at 9PM featuring #1 seed Canada vs. #9 (?) seed Germany. This was both teams first game of the Paralympics, and you could see they were struggling to find their rhythm. Germany had an awesome defense that almost let them upset Canada, but in the end the cannucks won by 3, but just barely... In related news, both the US men and women's BB teams won their first games on day 1. So it's Monday evening here as I write this. Today we played tourists and went to the Forbidden City and competed in our own little hill climbing competition. This is an amazing place that is over 600 years old, so w/c access is not great. From the outside it looks big, but until you get in and start moving from the south end to the north, you have no idea what a huge piece of real estate this place covers. I took lots of pictures, but rather than post them here I've uploaded them to Picasa for your viewing pleasure (see link at bottom of this post). As you look at them you will see lots of pictures that look like I got carried away with shooting ramps going up and down, but I think there were 8 of these monsters that we had to traverse from 1 end to the other... thank god Brads girlfriend Kay was there to help us old guys along, otherwise we wouldn't had got far. As you look at the pictures, towards the end you'll see a contraption they use to get wheelchairs up to the highest point in the city... This was the scariest fricken thing that I've ever been on, but it was well worth the thrill to see the 3 buildings that housed Emperors reception room, his "nap" room, and giant throne. W/C access into these buildings (like most others there) is not possible, but I'm told they were pretty cool. I did get someone to snap a few shots in the throne room, which you'll see in my pics. At the very north end of the Forbidden City are the Emperors beautiful gardens, but we didn't get to see much of them as everything was closing up by the time we made it that far. From one side of the city to the other it took us 4 plus hours of pushing, but it was well worth it!!! Okay, I'm getting blogged out here... I'm a slow one finger typist who's had enough writing for now. Thursday we are off for more hills, this time at the Great Wall. Not sure what tomorrow or Wednesday will bring yet, but I'm sure it will be fun!! On Friday, Wheelchair Rugby starts up and I'm excited for that to begin. Of the 8 countries that are competing, I think that 6 teams have a legitimate chance of playing for Gold. At this elite level anything can happen, but you can probably figure out who I'm betting on to take it all... So here's the link to my pictures. Until next time, please enjoy! John

Opening Ceremonies

Last night we experienced the Birds Nest and Opening Ceremonies, which was all pretty awesome! We were whisked from the hotel to the show by police on mostly closed roads lined with military vehicles and neatly dressed soldiers. Upon arrival, I was escorted to a private VIP area on the 3rd level that had free food and beverages, and a great balcony on the 50 yard line overlooking the "nest". I arrived with Brad Mikkelsen, President of the IWRF, who had the VIP ticket, while I had a 1st level ticket. Somehow I ended up in the VIP area and Brad spent the evening in an area that wasn't nearly as nice or accessible. I got fed, had an amazing vantage point and received gifts, while Brad, the Prez spent the night being told he couldn't go anywhere else... very strange?? Got back about midnight and slept in till noon today... I think I'm feeling acclimated finally...

It's overcast and drizzly here today, probably in the low 80's (feels like Florida). Brad, his girlfriend Kay and I are about to head for a ride on the Subway to explore. It will be an adventure and learning experience for us all... Below are a few pictures from last night that highlight how crappy of a photographer I am. At some point I'll figure out a better way to put pictures up, but for now this will work. I can tell already that blogging takes a lot of time and thought.... hope I can find a rhythm.

I'm Here in Beijing!!

Hello all... Well, I flew in business/first class all the way here and enjoyed every waking moment of it! The extra space for my long legs was great, as was the 5 coarse meal that culminated with a king size NY strip, and a nice slice of apple cobbler with ice cream. As planned, about 3 hours in I took a few melatonin tablets and slept pretty well until breakfast was served about 8 hours later. Upon arrival in Beijing, I was personally whisked through customs (5 mins tops), grabbed my luggage, and they had a van waiting to zip me to my hotel (Olympic lanes all the way baby, no traffic for us!). The hotel that I'm in (Swissotel) is the headquarters for the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) during the games, so nobody gets in or out without proper IPC credentials and passing through tight security. It's a very busy place here, and my room is overlooking a couple of 42' x 27' LCD TV's hanging on buildings playing highlights from the 2000 & 2004 Paralympic games... I'm told that when the games start here on Sunday, these giant TV's will have live feed of the current competitions... It's pretty awesome!! Anyway, I'm trying to get my cell phone working and have a few other tasks, so thats it for now.

Looking good!

Hanna has moved east off our shores, so no problems are expected for Thursday's flight. If you want to follow my travels up in the air, check out www.flightview.com and punch in Continental #89. Click on the "find a flight" then on the "status" link (from EWR to PEK) and you can watch us fly across the world... yippee!! I'll probably be having about as much fun myself as anyone who watches this for more than 5 minutes. Here's my flight plan from NY to Beijing; board plane, eat meal, watch 1 or 2 movies, take drugs, sleep for 10 hours or more, wake up for brunch and landing... deplane. Spend the rest of the day complaining about how sore my ass is! See you on the other side.....

Wheelchair Rugby Schedule and Results

Here's a link to the rugby schedule in Beijing. I'll be updating the scores each day of the competition, and also hope to upload some pictures to the blog as well.

36 Hours and counting...

Well, in less than 36 hours I should be on a jet and on my way to Beijing. At the moment there are a couple of hurricanes (Hanna and Ike) in the Atlantic that could delay my departure from Florida on Thursday morning, but I feel like I'm going to get out of town before they arrive. Hurricanes seem to plan their South Florida attacks around my international travels... Back in 2004, I was 2 days away from leaving for Athens for the Paralympic's when hurricane Francis blasted into my area, damaged my house, and delayed my departure by 3 days. If that wasn't enough, about 16 days later while I was still in Greece, I got word that hurricane Jeanne came ashore just north of my area and further damaged my house. When I got home I had no power for about 2 weeks, and spent the next 12 months doing repairs and renovations. After living in Florida for 15 years at that point, I figured my area was good for another 20 years or so.

Back in October of 2005, I jet off to Middlefart, Denmark for the European Wheelchair Rugby Championships. A few days before I'm to fly home I get word from someone that there is a category 4 hurricane tracking towards my area. Yea right, very funny, ha ha... "No seriously, check the web!" So I do, and sure enough there it is, hurricane Wilma barreling towards South Florida. Oh Crap, it will miss us, it's got to!! Long story short, Wilma (thanks Bob) hit 50 miles north of where I live as a category 2 on the day that I was supposed to arrive home. As a result I had to stay in Atlanta for a day and night, then fly into Orlando, which is 2.5 hours north of where I live (S. FL airports were all closed). Fortunately when I finally got home my new roof held up to most of the wind, and the damage that I did have wasn't worth filing an insurance claim for.

Okay, so here it is 3 years later and I'm teasing the weather gods again as I prepare to leave the USA. If all goes well, I'll arrive in Beijing about 2PM (China time) on Friday, September 5th, and then once I recover from the flight I'll try to do regular updates to this blog. Until then, keep an eye on the Atlantic while I'm away, and if by chance a hurricane does hit my house while I'm gone, keep it to yourself.