Tuesday, August 12, 2008

08/12/08

My gawd my french fires were hot tonight, I am a french fry aficionado and tonight's fresh batch were A+ in my book. Ok, I know this is going to sound really weird but, I'm going to say it now, McDonald's has saved my life because if it wasn't for them I'm pretty sure I wouldn't eat anything here. I'm jonesing for the Szchuzuan chicken (which isn't on the menu) at Ma's Restaurant... too bad it's in San Jose! They have different Chinese food every day in the cafeteria of the MPC but let me tell you it all smells and tastes exactly the same (even the one in the media village is the same way) and the really scary part is all the other food selections Grill, Mediterranean, etc. have the same smell too! Uh Nol what might that smell be?

There was a pretty, bright orange blob in the sky that generated a lot of heat, I think it was the sun - imagine that! I even saw a twig of blue peaking out of the white-haze ridden sky.

I got a whole 5 1/2 hours of sleep, I feel nearly fully rested though I really did not want to wake up at 6:30. Got to swimming early again today. Today went much better than yesterday. Robert Gauthier (LA Times) reminded me of some great advice while on the way to waterpolo yesterday, I had heard something similar 10 years ago; don't worry about what the paper does, just do the best work that you can (hopefully that's close :)). I remember one of the best things I ever heard anyone say - though unfortunately I can't remember who - but she said at a conference back in '98 or '99 something to the effect of "don't expect the paper to make you happy." Rob mirrored that statement and helped me decide what to do today... swimming - duh!

Saw a couple of more world records broken. Phelps looked terrible yesterday, nearly cost the 4x100m relay team a medal - today looked like his old self and he kicked ass. A former picture editor of ours, Caroline, is a big (that's an understatement, fanatic is more correct) of backstroker Aaron Peirsol, so when some Euro dude sitting behind me said to someone else to keep an eye out for Peirsol - I thought of her and did so even though he was in lane 2. Anyone who knows anything about swimming knows that the best qualifiers are in the middle lanes so if you're in an outer lane then you're not supposed to do well. Well the dude broke ended up breaking a world record and winning a gold medal and he wasn't even wearing one of those spiffy swimming outfits - so that was mucho cool. I don't know if he is camera savvy or what but it sure is nice when athletes jube in multiple directions - sure gives us a better chance of getting something. Natalie Coughlin also got a gold, she's local since she goes to Berkeley so that's cool. All the pictures were okay...

As I was chatting with Rod Mar (Seattle Times) and Sean Haffey (San Diego Union Tribune) in the press room afterwards we were watching the men's gymnastics meet on tv, they were thinking about heading over to see if they could catch the last part of the meet. Turns out the US Men were starting their final rotation on the pommel horse. They decided to head over since the auditorium is literally across the street.

I decided after a couple of minutes to head over there too. I ran over there and as I walked onto the floor of gymnastics meet I literally say Alexander Artemev - their pommel horse superstar (they had a meet in San Jose a couple of months ago so I'm kinda familiar with some of the team) finish up, and he was the last one. ugh But I stuck around to see if there was any reaction. Two of the teams stars pulled out so this team wasn't expected to do much, but they ended up getting a bronze - so they were excited about that. I was standing right behind them waiting for them to find out and I guess I was on tv - Kyle Terada took a screen shoot... Do I need to clarify which one is me, no, no, I know you guessed the buffed-out dude on the far left, but that's Kevin Tan - he's from Fremont - look to the right, a little bit more... there i am...



Had lunch with Jack Gruber, good talking to him as always, and then headed over to basketball - USA versus Angola. Had a nice little nap on the bus. Now I sleep. Tomorrow will be another busy day, Women's gymnastics, badminton and then baseball.






8 comments:

Brian said...

Hey Nhat,

I'm thoroughly enjoying your posts about the olympic experience. I can't imagine how long the days are!!! Crazy that the only good food there is Mickey D's! Thx for posting photos too! I really enjoy the panos too...those are really cool!

-Brian

Jeff said...

When I turn on the Olympics and they're not force feeding something Michael Phelps-related, I keep seeing ads for a new McDonald's delicacy that looks similar to your beloved Chick Fil-A. Since you've probably lapped the entire menu already, except for the Filet-o-Fish, we know you hate fish, how does it compare?

Nol Le Meyer said...

Nice face. . . just gotta power through the smell, whatever it is.

David said...

Nhat Just want you to know that your mom and I picked you out and not the other guy.
With regard to the food, I had that happen to me in 1964 when I lived at a place called Internatinal House at the University of Chicago. They cooked everything with curry. When they cooked the regular hamburgers on Sunday night with curry a group of us bolted.
david

jcfphotography said...

nhat can you go shoot synchronized diving! Can you shoot the mexican team. their my only chance for a medal!

jose

ConanLow said...

Thanks for the heads up. I just saw you on the replay of the Men's Gymnastics team celebrating!

Maybe that smell is the MSG? It makes everything delicious. It's probably all over those fries too.

-clow

Anonymous said...

Y was I taking photos when you werent???? That's not right, I think they should rethink about Vancouver Oly's and put me in competition for the spot against you...

Do you like my remote setup??? Put that camera on a tripod with PW's on the tv...I've never gone that full out to shoot something on tv. So, def. feel special dad!!! But, def. thought it would be quicker to hit the PW button then the camera shutter.

-Son (Kyle)

Photo-John said...

I wanna see some photos of the media center!

It's funny, but even though I've never shot at the Olympics, the experience sounds alot like shooting a big mountain bike festival where there are lots of events going on at the same time. It's an exercise in planning, juggling event shooting, and managing your energy.

I made a short post about your blog on the PhotographyREVIEW.com blog: http://reviews.photographyreview.com/blog/a-photographer-at-the-beijing-olympics/