"Let the games begin!"

I just finished my last class for this term, so now it's time to look forward to the "games" that lie ahead. Yes, "games" is a reference to the Olympics that are coming and the fun starts next week:

August 3: Team USA vs Russia in men's basketball!

August 5: Team USA vs Austrailia in men's basketball!

I get to see "Redeem Team" twice, in their last two preliminary games before the Olympics, here in Shanghai. The Redeem Team's mission is to recapture the glory of the 1992 Dream Team. While I would rather have watched Barkley, Jordan, Bird, Stockton and Malone play back 16 years ago (has it been that long?), I do get to watch Kobe, LeBron, Carmelo, Williams and Boozer which should be quite a treat. I'm looking forward to seeing the Jazz teammates Williams and Boozer playing against their other Jazz teammate Andrei "AK-47" Kirelenko who is playing for Russia.

And then...

August 6-14: I'm flying up to Beijing for the Olympics. I don't have any tickets for events, yet, but I'm not worried about that. If I can come across some tickets while I'm there, great, if not I'm just looking forward to the Olympic atmosphere. I'll be staying with a fellow Air Force Olmsted Scholar who is doing the same thing in Beijing as I am here in Shanghai. So I figure the money I'm "saving" on hotels I can employ to get me into the August 10th China vs Team USA men's basketball game... Yao Ming vs the Americans... in China... that would be electric! But I imagine those tickets will be impossible to come by, but at least I'll take a look.

I'm hoping that my plane can actually land in Beijing... have you seen the smog / air pollution problems they're having? And that's after closing factories and cutting the cars on the road by half. I might as well take up smoking while I'm up there because at least I could breathe through a filter, but a lighter may not work with the lack of oxygen there... uh, why are the Olympics being held there again?

I have to thank Morgan in advance for letting me go to the Olympics in Beijing while she stays in Shanghai with the kids. So maybe some of that hotel money that I'll save in Beijing can be spent on a birthday present for her on August 15th. Notice I come back on the 14th? I'm so thoughtful... Actually I have classes on the 15th and 16th that I have to get back for, but conveniently I'll be back for Morgan's birthday as well!

Back here in Shanghai, Morgan and I will go to one of the soccer games. Half of the Olympic soccer games will be played here in Shanghai including the men's bronze medal game. After watching three of the Women's World Cup soccer games back in September, we decided to go watch one of the men's games. We don't know who we'll be watching, yet, since the game is after the pool play. But regardless of who it is I'm sure it will be a good time.

25-31 August: I'm heading down to Hong Kong. While Hong Kong is also hosting some of the Olympic events (the equestrian events) that's not why I'm going. I'm going with my MBA class... this is going to be a great trip. The reason why we're going is because my MBA is actually taught by the University of Hong Kong, the professors fly up to Shanghai to teach our classes each week, so we're going down there to get acquainted with the university, our future alumni network, and then we'll also get treated to visits to various business there in HK.

So there it is... the month hasn't even started, but it's also just about over. Let the games begin!