Superman…Super Olympics Fan?

Actor Dean Cain

Dean Cain stopped by work today. 

Now, there’s something you don’t get to say often.

We interviewed him about the importance of getting flu shots.

Dean is  now the “face of the flu.”  We should all look that good with influenza. 

He could have been the “face of the plague” and we would have booked him.  He’s Superman for crying out loud.

Turns out Superman is a super Olympics fan. 

Shameless plug…

I’m all atwitter…about Twitter.

I launched my Olympic Twitter page here at the summit.

So far: 47 followers.

Lance Armstrong has 1.8 million.

Help me TweetStrong and sign up.

Beauty is in the eye of…

 

Deirdre Fitzpatrick and Mike Rhinehart at "The Bean"

 Photographer Mike Rhinehart and I are the first ones to the party so to speak at the Olympic Summit.

Translation:  no one else of the Olympically fit, toned, and medalled variety is here yet.  

So, with a little time on our hands, we headed to shoot some shots of Chicago.

Our hotel is about a block away from Millenium Park, which is spitting distance from all kinds of cool stuff.  

Although, I wouldn’t recommend spitting or anything else offensive near Millenium Park since it seems to be the only spot in the country where employees haven’t been cut.

Seriously, there were security types everywhere. 

They watch your every move but then do nothing when you paw landmarks like “The Bean.”

Our mission was to shoot some shots of beautiful Chicago.  

As you’ll see below…we ran into a little trouble.

Zaijian China…Goodbye China

 

The Hearst Argyle Olympic Team

 Two things happen when you spend 24/7 with eight other people.  You either love each other or you hate each other.  

I’m glad to say I’ve grown to really love working with the people you see in this picture.

From left to right:

Andy Ireland.  Andy is a weekend sports guy at KCCI in Des Moines, IA.  It’s the same station where I worked after college right before I moved to Sacramento.   Andy is hands-down the nicest person on our crew.  The Chinese loved to take pictures of us and Andy never turned them down.  I, on the other hand, would resort to telling them Andy was my mean boss who forbid pictures while I was on the clock. Like I said, he’s the nicest guy in show business.

Aixa Diaz.  Aixa is a Hello Kitty loving, Spanish speaking ball of Puerto Rican fire and she is hilarious. Aixa works as a weekend anchor and reporter at WESH in Orlando.    I’ve never seen her in a bad mood and that’s saying something because when you see people 24/7 you’ve seen fire, you’ve seen rain, you’ve seen fire once again.  With Aixa, it’s all sunshine.

Jaime Brassard.  Jaime is a photographer from WPTZ in NY.  He’s getting married in a month.  He made the girls practically cry when he took a morning off to buy his fiancee pearls at the Pearl Market to wear on their wedding day.  We offered to go with him, thinking he’d be freaked out at the responsibility.  He was totally cool and she’s totally lucky.

Travis Sherwin.  If I pity anyone, it’s Olympic Zone producer Travis Sherwin. Poor Trav had to sit next to me for the last month as he did at the Torino Games.  I talk to myself a lot.  I talk to myself out loud a lot.  Travis is either exceptionally kind or deaf in his left ear.  He’s a wonderful producer and an even better friend and I will missing talking his ear off, intentionally or otherwise.

Kate Amara.  Kate works in Baltimore and is one of the most persistent reporters I’ve ever met.  She brings a “why not” attitude to everything.   The Chinese don’t really do “why not” so it’s been quite entertaining to watch at times.  Kate has been sitting to my left for the last month.  She’s the yin to Travis’ yang.

Erin McManamon.  Erin works out of the Hearst DC Bureau and is the boss lady on these Olympic trips.  It’s rare to work for someone who is completely dedicated to their job and yet has a pulse.  Erin is obsessed with doing things the right way and has some of the best news judgement I’ve ever seen.   She’s a blast to work with and hang out with and the result is that the two blur while the clock is ticking.   A win for everyone.

(far right)  Kent Westberg.  Kent is a photographer at WDSU in New Orleans and has amazing stories of life post-Katrina in that city.  Actually, he has amazing stories period as he’s served in Iraq.  My favorite memory of Kent came about a week into the Olympic assignment when he called me at 10:17 from the lobby wondering where I was.  Our meeting time was 10:20.  Clearly, he’d never worked with me before.  Clearly, I’d never worked with a military guy. 

And finally…

 

Fitz & Domi

Mike “Domi” Domalaog.  Domi works with me at KCRA and we’ve now traveled to the last five Olympics together.  We’ve logged more miles with each other than we have with our spouses and he’s one of the greatest professional partners and friends I’ve ever had.  It’s a privilege, an honor and ridiculous fun to be in his company.  

I’m officially out of thoughts to think.  So, Deirdre’s Diary, the Beijing edition is officially over.

Ziajian (goodbye) from China!

A pearl of an opportunity…

From Deirdre Fitzpatrick/ Sacramento: 

We had the rare morning off today and so the girls planned a shopping trip to the famous Pearl Market. 

Think flea market with walls.  

No one vouches for the validity of anything you buy there…but it’s fun to haggle and hang out.

You ought to be in pictures…

From Deirdre Fitzpatrick/ Sacramento:

It’s not over until it’s over and in Beijing….it’s nearly over.

Photographer Andy Ireland and I headed out to the Birds Nest tonight to shoot what we call the “ins and outs” of our story for nearly 30 Hearst stations.  It’s our last assignment in Beijing.

Let’s just say the people of Beijing are in a festive mood as the games draw to a close.

Iconic Venue

Travis Sherwin/Orlando

If you’ve been watching the Olympics, you have seen the Bird’s Nest many times. But it’s hard to show you how huge this stadium truly is.

National Stadium

Also known as National Stadium, the venue seats 91,000 and was built using over 49,000 tons of steel. For those of you with a pickup truck, like me, you would make 100,000 trips to the steel store to deliver the goods.

The grounds are just as fantastic, including the lights along the concrete walkways. They’re miniature replicas of the stadium and periodically change colors when they’re on.

Nice lights

Everyone wants to have their picture taken in front of the Bird’s Nest. Right now I’d say it’s replaced the Forbidden City and the Great Wall as the most popular photo op in all of China.

As you would expect with the Olympic Games, security is very tight and very visible. You see many types of law enforcement, from police to military, marching in unison, patrolling the area and keeping the peace.

Security patrol

A funny thing about the Chinese people, it’s like they’ve never seen an American. They stare, they take your picture, they follow you around and observe you.

These ladies stopped in front of me and nearly demanded that I take their picture!

Chinese girls

Despite their smiling faces, they would not take no for an answer.

-Travis

I’m not funny in Chinese

I crack myself up.  

It’s a good thing I entertain myself because the Chinese don’t get me.

It was pouring rain this morning when I left to go to the gym.  I was too lazy to hike back upstairs for an umbrella. (Ironic since I was going to the gym to run in place.)

 So, I asked the concierge if I could borrow an umbrella.  

“Of course,” he replied.  ”How long will you need it?”

“Um, I’ll need it as long as it keeps raining.” 

We were sympatico until this point.  And then he says, “how long do you think that might be?”

I’m a lot of things but Nostradamus is not one of them.

As I pondered what to say next, I noticed the concierge had taken out his umbrella borrowing/ weather guessing book. Clearly I was on the record with whatever answer I gave next.

“I think I’ll need it for 47 minutes.”

Okay, he said as he scribbled my name and rain protection needs.

“Actually,” I said glancing out the window, “make that 10 hours.”  

The concierge scratched out 47 minutes, replaced it with 10 hours, handed me an umbrella and told me to stay dry.

It’s now 13 hours later.  The rain stopped hours ago.  And, I have yet to return the umbrella. I’m sure the concierge will find something to write about me in his book.