WALL-E ... CHINSKY

It's kinda like an Olympic version of "The Book of Lists", which was that one book we'd always sneak glances at in the junior high library until the librarian finally investigated what caught our interest (e.g., "Famous People Who Died During Sex"). But it shouldn't come as a surprise that the two books are comparable. The authors of "The Book of Lists" are Irving Wallace, David Wallechinsky and David's sister, Amy Wallace.

By the way, the reason David's surname is different: When he found out that an immigration official had truncated the family name, he legally changed it back to that of his ancestors.

Pleasant Valley Sunday/Along Comes Mary

So, our first day "on air" here in the IBC. It began, actually, from Tiananmen Square, where Bob Costas opened the prime-time coverage that is airing live on Saturday night back in the states. Then our little "Late Night" show with Mary Carillo ("where Conan O'Brien meets Parry O'Brien") came on locally at 12:35 p.m. So I won't be getting out much --  nor will anyone else who writes or produces or is on-air in the studio -- anymore.

A few highlights from what I've been able to see on the monitors today:

1) Swimming: Men's 400 M Freestyle. This is the kind of story that Bud Greenspan (and we at NBC) live for. Four years ago in Athens Park Tae Hwan was a 14 year-old swimming newbie who had a brief, but embarrassing, Olympic experience. Park leaped from the starting block too soon, and there are no second chances in swimming. He was disqualified before he even had the chance to swim a stroke.

This morning, in the Water Cube Park more than atoned for that infamous moment. Not only did he win the 400 Free (Michael Phelps does not swim this event) but he also became the first South Korean gold medalist in swimming. Somewhere someone in South Korea is cranking Dashboard Confessional's "Vindicated".

2) Michael Phelps, when asked by NBC's poolside reporter Andrea Kremer how he copes with this week's demanding schedule (he will swim 17 races, heats and finals included, from Aug. 9 to August 17): "Eat, sleep, swim." 

3) Watching the Venezuelan indoor volleyball player save a point by kicking the ball over the net. Nobody told me you could do that. The Venezuelan was already seated on his keister when the U.S. kill shot came his way. The Venezuelan reached out with one leg and made a brilliant kick save to send the ball over the net. The Americans won the point (and the match) but it was still cool. Who knew that was legal? Oh, you did? Well, I did not.

4) Checking the stats for men's basketball's opening day and doing a double-take realizing that Iran was in the tourney. Then doing a triple-take realizing that Chris Kaman (24 points in just 18 minutes), whose German team beat Angola in their opener today, outscored his Deutsch teammate Dirk Nowitzki (23 points in 21 minutes). Yeah, this guy. Germany won 95-66.

5) The tragic story of the murder of Todd Bachman, father-in-law of U.S. men's volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon. Bachman was stabbed to death at the Drum Tower, a popular tourist landmark here less than two miles due north of where Bob Costas opened the prime-time show on Saturday evening. You could draw a straight north-south line from Tiananmen to the Forbidden City to the Drum Tower and right up between the Bird's Nest and Water Cube here.

As many people have already written, it just demonstrates that no amount of security can protect everyone from an unprovoked attack from someone with seemingly no motive. Almost everyone I've spoken to here has only glowing praise for how the Chinese have welcomed us foreigners. Last night, for example, my bartender at the C(CP), Simon, and I had a great yet stilted conversation about the English language. I was reading a Cormac McCarthy book (because that's how I roll on a Saturday evening in Beijing) entitled "Blood Meridian" and he asked if he could peruse it to help with his English. 

  "Simon, I have to look up at least a word per page in this book, but you're welcome to have a go," I said. It may be better to start off Simon with Zane Grey. Me too, for that matter.

Chinese by Starbucks  

We have a Starbucks in our little NBC cafeteria and it's every bit as popular as the "Coffee Bucks" in Scrubs. One thing I love about it is that our Chinese baristas use the chalkboard to teach us two new Chinese phrases each day, which they spell out phonetically for us. So, "Knee How Ma" becomes "How are you?" They still have yet to teach us how to say, "Tall" in Chinese, though.