昨晚看了中国国奥队对新西兰的比赛。真是郁闷呀！！！
先来一点背景资料:
新西兰人口：4,173,460
北京人口：17,000,000
中国人口：1,330,044,605
新西兰队在场上人数：10
中国国奥队在场上人数：11
比赛地点：中国沈阳
主场人数：沈阳奥体中心五里河体育场可容纳6万观众（也就是说6万中国粉丝）
天时地利人和都有了，中国队还是打不赢小小一个第一次参加奥运足球比赛的新西兰队。真是吐血。
很多新闻报道了这是 “中国奥运史上第一个进球”；虽然属实但进球不赢有什么用；11个人打10个人还有本事骄傲？！
还有最让人无语的是那两个解说员。当一名新西兰球员因为手球而被罚下时，其中一个解说（北京口音）员嘲笑那新西兰人说“是不是打橄榄球的，连手都用，哈哈哈”。唉。。。真是没有素质，还CCTV5 奥运频道呢。
Tagged Beijing OlympicEver since the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic, the flag bearers for the Chinese team have always been players from the men’s basketball team: Wang Libin (1984), Song Tao (1988), Song Li (1992), Liu Yudong (1996 and 2000) and Yao Ming (2004). So will Yao do the honor again this year, or will his teammate Yi Jianlian, another NBA player, march onto the Beijing National Stadium representing China?
While that question remains unanswered, a few flag bearers from other countries have been identified:
Tennis star Roger Federer, who will be celebrating his 27th birthday tomorrow, will led his country, Switzerland, at the opening ceremony tomorrow.
Adam van Koeverden, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the 500m kayak singles, was chosen to be Canada’s flag barer for the Beijing Olympics.
Australia selected triple Olympic winning rower James Tomkins to carry its flag.
Russia named basketball forward Andrei Kirilenko its flag-bearer. The 27-year-old forward plays for the NBA’s Utah Jazz and is one of his country’s most prominent global athletes.
Sarunas Jasikevicius from Lithuanian, Dirk Nowitzki from Germany and Argentina’s Manu Ginobili are all scheduled to carry their national banners in Beijing.
Li Jia Wei, the Beijing-born paddler, will carry Singapore’s flag (and try to help it win its first Olympic medal in nearly 50 years). As will Fukuhara Ai, the most popular Japanese player in China, will hoist Japan’s. Jordan has also named women’s table tennis player Zeina Shaban as its flag bearer.
Maitha bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the daughter of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktroum, will represent United Arab Emirates in taekwondo 67kg category and will carry her country’s flag.
And Mexico chose diver Paola Espinosa Snchez, one of Mexico’s most famous athletes, to lead the Olympic squad bearing the flag.
Tagged Beijing Olympic以前每天上班都要经历四种臭味，现在不上班了，还有点怀念。人就是这样，有的时候嫌它烦，没有的时候又怀念。
我们家的猫沙（也就是猫拉屎撒尿的地方）就放在我们家门口，每天出门就会闻到从猫沙里飘出来的恶臭。这是第一臭。
出了门，下了楼，走出小区，第二臭迎面而来。不知小区下水道里有什么东西，那种臭味真是不能让人忍受。每次路过都要停止呼吸，加快步伐。这是第二臭。
过了下水道，下一站臭点就在几十米外，这臭站有两个英文字母标明“WC”，也就是我们所熟悉的厕所。中国公共厕所向来文明海内外，我们家门口的也不例外，我在这里也就不一一道来了。这是第三臭。
走出胡同，来到西直门外大街，第四臭出现了。北京有名的毛家臭豆腐就在胡同口边上，那味道就像以上三臭合并出来的臭味之王，随着风向飘到你的鼻孔里，让你晕头转向。此乃第四臭。
每天上下班都有四臭相伴，在我脑海里留下了深刻的印象！
有了这四臭，从今往后不愁找不到回家的路！
Tagged Fun*首先声明，我老婆比我聪明，这是千真万确的事实*
每个人一生中会说很多不经过大脑的话。看你是在什么场合说的，这些话会有严重后果，或着给大家带来无穷的笑声。和我女朋友相处半个十年了，这些年来她说了不少的有趣傻话。今天和大家一起来回味一下：
有一次和女朋友讨论足球，可能是零六年世界杯的时期，突然间，我女朋友问道：“踢足球既然不能用手？！”
两年后，偶然和她又说道足球，我女朋友惊讶的问 “守门员既然可以用手？！” 看来我老婆看多了中国国家队的比赛。
有一次和她走在路上，到了十字路口就停了下来等红灯。我女朋友看到开过来的车突然间说道：“啊！车转弯时原来不是方向盘而是轮子在转！？”
还有很多，但是一时想不起来。昨晚我问她还说了些什么，但是她一直不愿告诉我，说“不记得”。等我想起来时，在一一记录。
记得看《Good Will Hunting》的时候，Sean 和 Will (Sean 是 Will 的心理医生，后来也成为Will的知己) 说道了Sean死去的妻子，Sean说：
Sean: My wife used to fart when she was nervous. She had all sorts of wonderful little idiosyncrasies. She used to fart in her sleep. I thought I’d share that with you. One night it was so loud it woke the dog up. She woke up and went ‘ah was that you?’ And I didn’t have the heart to tell her. Oh!
Will: She woke herself up?!
Sean: Ah…! But Will, she’s been dead for 2 years, and that’s the shit I remember: wonderful stuff you know? Little things like that. Those are the things I miss the most. The little idiosyncrasies that only I know about: that’s what made her my wife. Oh she had the goods on me too, she knew all my little peccadilloes. People call these things imperfections, but there not. Ah, that’s the good stuff.
今天的post, 我想说的也是一样。一些小事，才是真正的 “Good Stuff”.
Tagged PersonalJust read an email in the China Daily that I feel expresses the same feelings I have about how the Beijing government should not sacrific traditional Chinese customs just to please the Westerners who are going to visit Beijing in August. Alaric DeArment from New York wrote:
Every city that has hosted the Olympics has sought to give itself plastic surgery. As the Los Angeles Times reported, citites fom Seoul to Athens have reinvented themselves overnight for the Games, so nobody should expect Bejiing to do differently. However, you’re going too far.
It’s commendable that Beijing wants to combat spitting, crowding around bus doors and remove Chinglish from signs, but banning dog meat? Encouraging locals to observe visitors’ greeting customs?
Part of visiting another country, even for an event such as the Olympics, is knowing that the people there have customs different from your own. You don’t have to greet every American with “Hey man, what’s up? - a greeting many Americans don’t use often or at all.
Many Westerners love dogs, but they should bear in mind that in China they make good pets and good eating. Even I ate dog on numerous occasions when I lived in China, though I’ll admit it was easier for me because I’m a cat person.
By all means, be civil and polite, but don’t parrot Westerners. Most Western visitors to China whom I’ve met, despite experiencing culture shock, actually appreciate Chinese culture and customs and can tolerate cultural differences.
They would rather learn how to properly pronounce “ni hao” than have someone give them a rehearsed greeting. They might even be willing to try that menu item labeled “gourou huoguo” (dog hotpot).
I totally agrees. The Olympics is a chance for China to show the world its culture, its traditions, its values (that include the food culture of eating dogs); NOT TO HIDE THEM as if you are ashamed of them. If Westerners don’t like to eat dogs, they don’t have to order it. If I go to Germany, I want see that country’s genuine side, not some fraulein greeting me with a “ni hao.”
As I have said many times before, the Chinese government should have faith in itself, in its people, and in the foreign visitors. Be confident and genuine.
Tagged Beijing Olympics, China ThoughtsRead a Reuters’ article this morning about the Chinese gymnastics team falsifying the ages of two of its members to allow them to compete at next month’s Beijing Olympics.
The Chinese team manager Zhang Peiwen rejected the claims and told the press that the age of all the members of the team had been recorded according to official documents.
“Our Olympic squads were recently named and we registered their ages according to their identity cards or other legal certifications presented by their regional gymnastics associations, which show they all are over the minimum age for the Olympics.”
For those who don’t know about Chinese ID cards, the ages on them are often fake. 6 out of 10 people I know have changed the age on their ID cards. The age on the ID card is usually older than the actual age. There are a lot of reasons for the age discrepancy, but they all have to due with circumventing various age requirements. For example, most Chinese parents want their kids to attend school ASAP, so they change their kids’ age on the ID card to circumvent the age requirement.
This is such a common practice in China, so much so that it’s no longer strange to find out your best friend’s birthday on their ID card is different from the date they told you.
Therefore, team manager Zhang Peiwen’s explanation can pull the wool over the eyes of those who do not know about the Chinese “ID age” phenonemon, but for those who know, we just shake our heads and perhaps write a blog post about it.
Tagged Beijing Olympics, Living in ChinaJust read on Yahoo that all tickets to Olympic events in Beijing have been sold out according to the organizers. On the Beijing Games’ Web Site, there is a breif notice stating that “Tickets to watch competitive events of the 2008 Games in Olympic venues in Beijing are now sold out.”
Just by coincidence, a friend my my girlfriend got ten tickets to the women’s softball venue (she waited in line ten times to get the ten tickets because only one ticket per person). She called us yesterday and asked if we were interested to see it, we accpeted her offer in seconds. The softball tickets only cost ￥50 each, and I thought it is perhaps a once in a life time opportunity to see a live Olympic event, why not?
Everyone I know have tried to get tickets to Olympic events but the majority (95%) came up empty due to overwhelming demands. According to the Associated Press, the Beijing Olympic is the first Olympics is set to be the first games to sell out. I not suprised because this year’s Olympic hosted by the world’s most populous country.
Tagged Beijing Olympics我不知道为什么（很有可能就是懒），但是这两年来，早上起来就不想叠被子。心里想着，晚上还要睡，叠好了，不到几个钟头又要拆乱了。我老婆起床也是不叠被子的人，总是告诉我叠被子是我的职责，我需要 “担当”！
有一次我起床，洗漱完毕之后，回到屋子，看到床上的被子居然是桃心状的（OK,OK不是那种非常漂亮的桃心，是那种非常难看的桃心，nonetheless, 桃心）。我就想，老婆回来我就告诉她我专门把被子叠成桃心状，等她来看。
她看了之后，说了两个字：“懒猪“
从那次起，我就想到了一个好点子，让不像叠被子的人们，想叠被子：
每天起来，看看你能把你的被子叠成什么样，每天一个不同的形状。比如说桃心呀，子母呀，数字呀，等等。两人交换叠，看看谁想像力更好。
天气太热了，北京的夏天让人无法坐立。好不容易熬到星期六了，但又因为天气太热，知道呆在家里。但是在家里也不爽，感觉外面有没有下雨，万里无云，不出去真是浪费时间。真是矛盾！
我这个人最怕定住不动在家里，要是一天不出去的话，这一天就浪费了。我喜欢没事就去逛一逛胡同，走一走后海，看一看鱼市，吸收一下地方风情（怎么感觉像一个老头干的事呀？）但是我女朋友又是那种可以呆在家里一整天不出去的人。所以我在想有没有一个好办法又可以满足我的需要，也可以顺和她的性格？
下面几种方案：
1. 把所有需要买的东西等到周末买，一，出门率100%；二，她也没有什么怨言。
2. 周末出门一定要有 incentive. 比如逛商场，看鞋，等等。（可能有一定作用，但是我女友也是那种不喜欢逛街的）
3. 吃饭，两人都非常懒，在家不做，只有在外吃（呵呵呵）。
4. 锻炼，大家都需要锻炼，出门就意味着锻炼。
还有什么好办法吗？
Tagged PersonalI just heard that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended Iraq’s national Olympic committee in June after Baghdad dismissed elected officials and installed its own people who are not recognized by the IOC.
According to the Olympic Charter, political interference in the Olympic movement is strictly forbidden.
The IOC says that Iraqi government did not accept an invitation to come to its headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, to try to end the dispute.
What a shame that Iraq cannot participate in the Beijing Olympic. This country has gone through war and occupation and now the biggest event on Earth that promotes peace and friendship has denied their entry. According to reports, four Iraqi athletes were expected to compete in archery, judo, rowing, and weightlifting.
This is a sad day for Iraq and the Olympic.
Tagged Beijing Olympics