tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55537382009-10-14T16:19:03.435+08:00I tell you... one day... one day...Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-32640714688491120502009-01-05T23:55:00.004+08:002009-01-06T00:14:27.234+08:00

A new blog: Rushed - The Accidental Business TravelerAs activity on nein has come close to a stand-still, please check out my new more focused blog: Rushed - The Accidental Business Traveler

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-53752913938655639032008-09-15T20:20:00.003+08:002008-09-15T20:23:46.440+08:00

Married Lives: A new projectV and I have started a new project called Married Lives. V will write in Chinese and in English (or so she says) and I will write mostly in English and some Portuguese.It will talk about our lives... together... that's it.

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-77577397199508712382008-08-26T15:22:00.001+08:002008-08-26T15:23:51.107+08:00

An article I really liked on the OlympicsThree encounters that showed what the Games meant to China

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-21512337895105913782008-08-25T13:23:00.004+08:002008-08-25T14:50:55.824+08:00

It's over - final impressions and lessons-learntWell, the Olympics are over. Just wanted to share some final impressions and lessons learnt.Final impressionsA great spectacle and fantastic way for China to "open" to the world. Many of the events produced amazing results (world records, olympic records), new heroes(e.g. Phelps) and quite some drama (e.g. Taekwondo's last day).Most of the new

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-6851031048616943922008-08-23T22:45:00.006+08:002008-08-23T23:32:50.807+08:00

Controversy and disgrace in Taekwondo heavyweight boutsWell, what a day it was. Great bouts and fantastic Men's over 80 Kg final between Greece (the Goliath) and Korea (the David). David won, but there were some/one unhappy greek(s) that threw some bottles in and I am sure should have been detained by security, if security wasn't too shocked just looking at him and not doing anything.Yet, I

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-44897656135328127092008-08-23T01:39:00.004+08:002008-08-23T02:15:40.816+08:00

Of Basketball and other thingsWell, after watching the Men's Quarter-finals and today the Semi-finals, I can say I am impressed.Men's Basketball has evolved significantly since I started watching in 86/88 and today there are strong teams all round: Spain, Lithuania and Argentina at the fore-front, but solid teams such as Greece and Australia, and future hopes such as China. I am also sure that

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-31091952833767935952008-08-19T22:54:00.003+08:002008-08-19T23:17:22.844+08:00

When the most exciting moment of the session is changing seats... something is wrongWhat a boring session. The women's basketball quarter-finals 1st session with the matches between China and Byelorussia, and Australia and Czech Republic, were painfully boring. Granted that China is playing well and Australia has a great team - although today it really didn't impress me. Please note that the

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-61756631235412572862008-08-19T13:41:00.001+08:002008-08-19T13:41:36.316+08:00

after complaining. It's a security seat so fingers crossed on security letting me stay here.

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-4250580669951919932008-08-19T13:31:00.001+08:002008-08-19T13:31:04.046+08:00

How can they call this a seat? It's in a passage way between sections and is not even a category c but is a b. Shame on whoever did this.

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-24036930068618017212008-08-17T13:50:00.002+08:002008-08-17T14:02:40.705+08:00

The two most interesting events I have attended so farGoing into the 2 week, it's important to recognize the two most interesting events I have been to. Specifically:- Beach volley: the atmosphere, the fun you have as part of the audience is quite unique. Adding to that, the quality of the players and the quasi-individual battle of one against the other. I know it's teams but it's as close as it

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-34693169748015430432008-08-14T21:46:00.002+08:002008-08-14T21:53:27.597+08:00

10 predictions until end of the Games- Nadal will not win Olympic gold.- Phelps will get his 8 gold medals.- US will win both Men's and Women's Basketball competitions.- China will win all 4 gold medals in table tennis - the two in teams and the two in singles.- China will be number 1 in gold medals and total medals.- The Athletics 100 meters world record will be beaten.- Liu Xiang will not win

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-51986112976843442852008-08-14T21:41:00.002+08:002008-08-14T21:45:08.410+08:00

Federer is outFederer was just beaten in 2 sets by Blake. Americans rejoice with their last shot at a medal in the Male competition and for the Swiss the remainder of the competition is in doubles.What a bad year for this guy. Truly amazing how this amazing player went from clearly best to absolutely beatable. As Courier once said when asked "It's all in the mind".

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-23844450641280116352008-08-14T21:39:00.002+08:002008-08-14T21:40:51.450+08:00

End of Olympic bloggingGiven a lower number of hits than I expect as well as no comments (yes, yes), I decided it would be more useful to spend the rest of the Olympics organizing photos and videos I take from the events than to spend much time on blogging.I will be posting some stuff, but not as meticulously as before.

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-43948551965291301192008-08-12T14:15:00.003+08:002008-08-12T14:25:30.255+08:00

Some random updates- In Beach Volleyball, men world champions Rogers/Dalhauser from the US made for a good come-back after losing their first match. They won the second comfortably agains Heyer/Heuscher from Switzerland. In women, the Chinese double Tian Jia/Wang are doing well, thank you very much, although they lost the first set agains the Belgium pair.- In Tennis, Venus and Serena are through

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-3098828196682544202008-08-12T14:09:00.002+08:002008-08-12T14:14:53.655+08:00

The US-China Basketball thingWell, there was eager anticipation in knowing how China would fare against the US and at home in both the Women and Men's competitions. The answer was unequivocal: not well. In Men, the US won by 31 points (101-70). Amongst accusations of arrogance from the American team (arrogance ?!), Mike K - the American coach - replied that the Americans dunked so much because

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-62780824739563195092008-08-12T13:37:00.006+08:002008-08-12T14:09:31.087+08:00

Tennis on August 11thI watched three matches at the evening session - all of which at Centre Court.Venus Williams looked confidant in beating Timea Bacsinszky 6-3, 6-2. There were some good exchanges but pretty much one-way traffic.Robby Ginepri was not able to keep up with Novak Djokovic for long in a straight set loss 4-6, 4-6. Robby seemed at times to have enough game for Djokovic but then he

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-24612476372504905042008-08-11T19:02:00.001+08:002008-08-11T19:02:32.099+08:00

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-87383379236535873992008-08-10T12:34:00.003+08:002008-08-10T17:49:27.364+08:00

Getting into the Olympic event sitesNot too bad, although there are two clear security areas - one to do thorough checking and the other one just for tickets. Still some strange procedures that make them take away any liquids and in particular some pills (they took some medicinal pills that looked just the same as normal pills and let us kept some pain killers). The reason they gave us on the

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-16088997786751423572008-08-10T12:24:00.003+08:002008-08-10T17:48:11.388+08:00

Women's basketball: Latvia vs. RussiaThis was supposed to be a tight affair and although the basketball quality varied quite dramatically throughout the game, it ended up leaving up to its expectations.The game was actually the tale of two women - both Latvians - and a team - the Russian one. - The Latvians have Anete Jekabsone-Zogota has their key star, who had just scored 34 points agains the

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-56761799674189595302008-08-10T12:14:00.004+08:002008-08-10T17:31:59.761+08:00

Women's Basketball: USA vs. Czech RepublicI had warned V that the exciting match was coming later (Latvia vs. Russia) and unfortunately I was right. The Czechs started well being in advance 10-2 and the 13-4, but then the Americans woke up. Initially led by a low scoring, yet strong presence Lisa Leslie (2 points, 10 rebounds in the match) and a "Jordan like" Diana Taurasi (17 points, 54% field

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-74574439572248538802008-08-10T12:07:00.008+08:002008-08-10T17:12:54.518+08:00

Beijing Olympic Basketball Gymnasium: first impressionsThe newly built Basketball Gymnasium is beautiful from the outside although probably less eye-catching that its brothers the National Stadium ("Birds nest") and National Aquatics Center ("Water cube").Inside there is a functional Basketball gym with displays at both ends - the classical ones with names of players, fouls, points, etc - and

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-74864488877598324612008-08-09T16:19:00.004+08:002008-08-09T16:22:05.731+08:00

It's funny...That the Chinese Basketball team is sponsored by Nike while Spain is sponsored by ... Li-Ning.Well, China just won the Female match by 67-64 and Torrens from Spain stood out with 20 points and an amazing performance. Shame for Spain that the rest of the team couldn't strongly follow suit.

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-76913422945015322152008-08-09T00:10:00.002+08:002008-08-09T00:18:56.388+08:00

Opening: the best ever?In my humble opinion, the one to beat was Barcelona with the amazing artistically innovative acts, the unique lighting of the flame and great performances (the anticipation of the Caballe-Mercury duet did not realize itself given Mercury's death, but that song is still in our mind). Was this enough to beat it?The acts were quite amazing and more accessible than in previous

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-39280737514293091242008-08-08T17:45:00.003+08:002008-08-08T17:50:21.405+08:00

The Opening... almost thereWe are all waiting in deep anticipation for the Opening ceremony in just little more than 2 hours. Despite the rumors of security threats, the hassle of tremendous measures that literally will close out Beijing within the first 3 ring roads from the outside (in some parts even to the 4th ring road)... despite not being able to go to the places where we were going to

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5553738.post-34040249090059640182008-08-07T21:45:00.003+08:002008-08-07T22:38:44.653+08:00

Olympics start tomorrow... not reallyWell, the opening ceremony is tomorrow, but the Olympics started yesterday with the Football competitions for Women (yesteday) and Men (today).China has done ok with a good win over Sweden in Women's football and a last-minute draw with New Zealand in Men (thanks to CCTV I thought for a part of the match they were playing Australia). The big story is the

Neinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16420818893676709528noreply@blogger.com0