Well we’ve been here at Stanford for training camp for the past week.  Everyone is getting to know each other better and the training itself has been great.  Now that I know exactly what events I’m doing in Beijing, my workouts have been more focused and have had more direction. 

My only complaint is that I am so bored! I apologize for not writing any blogs the past several days. You would think that the boredom would translate to keeping myself busy with blogs, reading, or something else productive, but no!  I’ve been incredibly sloth-like lately (with exception to my training). Part of the point of training camp is to rest so I think I’ve gone overboard to the point of utter laziness.

Fortunately Apple’s new me.com program and the iPhone’s Web applications have kept me busy the past few days.  For those of you who haven’t upgraded your phones yet, you’re in for a treat.  My favorite WebAps so far: Mobile Flickr, Yelp, Pandora Radio and OmniFocus. 

Ben Wildman-Trobriner suggested Lonely Planet’s Mandarin Web application, which is awesome!  For those of you who are planning on traveling to Beijing and don’t know Mandarin, this WebAp will be a great tool. It’s divided into different useful phrase categories such as transport, sightseeing, shopping, etc.  All you have to do is look up a phrase and the iPhone will say it in Mandarin, and have it written both in Chinese characters and westernized alphabet letters.  Although I wish I would actually learn the language, only the bad phrases seem to stick.  I’m hoping that this program will keep me from insulting someone and getting myself into trouble. :)

I think the team managers are realizing a need for activities to keep us busy so we have a team activity tonight after dinner.  Rumor is that it’s miniature golf.  

Glad to hear that you are trying to pick up a little Mandarin before heading off to Beijing. I was there early in January to meet with the president of the China Copyright Society (who was the principal drafter of the Chinese copyright law that came into effect in the early 1990s), but had to use the service of a translator. My stepson Brian, who lives and works in Shanghai, however, does know Mandarin well and served as a host for me and my wife Robin when we visited there for a week during our month-long trip. It was quite an experience, and I hope you and the team will have some chance to sightsee during your stay. Just a word of caution, though: don't try to climb up the Great Wall outside of Beijing until after you have swum all your events! Another tip for you and the others: if you get tired of eating Chinese food and want a good old American meal, try Grandma's Kitchen located on one street bordering the Forbidden City in the heart of Beijing across from Tianamen Square. Its proprietors are Chinese, but they have mastered the art of American cuisine, right down to the cheeseburgers. Of course, you'll also find MacDonald's, Pizza Hut, and KFC outlets scattered around the city, but you won't find any U.S. food better than Grandma's Kitchen, I guarantee.

I admire your accomplishments in backstroke. Princeton, my alma mater, has had some great backstrokers over the years, going back to former Olympians Al Vande Weghe (silver in the 100, 1936, in 1:07.7), my teammate Jed Graef (gold in the 200, 1964, in 2:10.3), and Dan Veatch (senior national champion at both meter distances in 1984, in 57.17 and 2:03.43) in 1988 and also including Charlie Campbell, American record holder in the 100 meters in 1971 (58.2) and the 200 yards in 1972 (1:50.56) and Richard Hughes, a pioneer in swimming the event mostly underwater (until the NCAA changed the rules) who established the university's record of 48.61 in 1987.

I am a little puzzled by your cautiousness about the 200 IM, though. I retreated to the 200 IM after an all too painful year swimming the 200 fly as a freshman (back in 1961). Is it the breaststroke leg you dread so much? I have to confess that over time I do find the backstroke easier to swim than the other strokes, however, maybe because there is less strain on the back than one absorbs swimming either fly or breast.

My biggest hero in this Olympics, you won't be surprised to hear, is Dara. She is carrying the torch for all of us old timers and is an inspiration to us all. Please tell her that she has another fan in me. I do my best to keep my body going, and even won four gold medals in the PA Senior Games last summer (including two backstroke events), but her accomplishments are nothing short of phenomenal. And she does it without even using the dolphin kick off the wall, which so evidently gave you a boost over her at every turn. But I can empathize: I get winded trying to do that dolphin kick off the wall, so usually only get a kick or two in before I surface. Dara inspires me to feel that I'm not too behind the times sticking to the old ways--though I do wear goggles that are more up to date than hers!

Enjoy the Olympics in Beijing! I'm sure you will find it an experience you'll never forget. China is simply an amazing country, and its future holds the key to the future of all our lives for many years to come, not least because it holds trillions of dollars in U.S. debt.