Beijing, Again.

Proverbs 26:11

As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

I think I've used this before...but it is so appropriate.
Especially the vomit-Beijing analogy. So apropos.

Back to the Big Eggroll, this time for a little BBall with my fellow miscreants from The League.

They got me a seat on the team (Golden State Warriors) charter after the game last night in Guangzhou.
The only problem was that the stats guys needed 30 minutes of time post-game to fix the screw-ups, then I needed to break down all my court-side equipment and get it to the shipping drop point and then get to the airport bus.
Much easier typed than accomplished.

By the time I got upstairs to the drop point the rest of the equipment was already gone.
There were 2 buses left, and one of them was pulling out as I got to the parking lot.
I went to the last bus and it was the absolute last bus for the airport, and they were closing the door as I walked up.
I banged on the door and got them to open back up and let me get my equipment case loaded...
I was sweating like a Christian Scientist with an appendicitis by the time I sat down... We took off from the Guangzhou Arena at 11:45pm...
The airport was a relatively painless exercise since it was a charter.
We were in a NWA 777... I got a look at my boarding pass...
Seat 62c. 62C...Row 62? That's outside the back door of the plane!

Basically I was in the back of the plane with broadcast guys and the Dance Teams and Fan Patrol. And since we all left the arena without too much time for luxuries like, say, showers...
the fan patrol was sweaty and stinky just like me. I did, however have the seat next to me empty. So it was a marginal victory.
On my original flight on China Southern I was going to be on a full flight...
(One designed with the Chinese anthropomorphic in mind.)

We were wheels-up at 1:30 am, and at the gate in Beijing at 4:45.
No C&I, and no baggage claim either... they were delivering our luggage to the hotel in the morning.

We walked out to the buses and were in the road tout de suite and at the Hotel (the Westin) in record time.

My luggage did make it to the hotel... I got it around 10 this morning.
(Another little victory. Yay!)
The scoring equipment, not so much, yet.
(For every victory, a matching defeat.)
Fortunately, it is not lonely. All of LP&E's court side stuff is in the same boat...
Or truck, van or level of hell that my systems are in.

We'll see how it all works out.

I feel the need to leave you with a moment of Zen...


A caption?
Yeah... I got nothin'.

TBG, doin' it again...