Well, the first leg of my odyssey is done, and I'm sitting in the Newark, N.J. airport, a three-hour layover before heading out on my nearly-14 hour flight to Beijing and the Summer Games.

Last couple of days have been very hectic, what with my granddaughter Olivia being born on Sunday morning and relatives from Massachusetts dropping in to see the newest family member -- and trying to pack.

Looks like the only thing I forgot was my sunglasses. Bet I can get some in Beijing, eh?

Spent the night in Newburyport, Mass., at the house of my brother-in-law Jeff Gross. Got up at 4:45 a.m. to head into Boston's Logan Airport for my 7:30 flight to Newark.

When we got to the airport, I noticed that there was a line of over 100 people checking in at Delta. Thankfully, I am flying Continental. When we arrived at the Continental check-in there were only three people ahead of me. Yeah!

Now, when I was packing, I was certain that I was stuffing too much stuff in my suitcase. (You know, I don't want to be known as the smelly American, so I threw in a couple of extra outfits.) Sure enough, it was over-weight. "If you don't take some stuff out and put it in your carry-on, it's going to cost you $50,'' I was told, actually rather nicely.

So out came some shoes, a book, a can of peanuts -- hey, you need some comfort food in a foreign land and Planter's Cocktail peanuts are among mine (along with those green candy spearmint leaves, yum) -- and a couple of shirts.

Bingo! My luggage is checked, I'm in the security line and all is well.

Very tired though. Hopefully I can catch some good zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's on my way to Beijing.

I'll next check in from the other side of the world.

No, I didn't get an earlier flight to Beijing.

Just some good news:

I was blessed with the arrival of my second grandchild, Olivia Lee Dube, early Sunday morning. She joins her brother Lucas, mom Erika and dad Steven Dube as one very happy family.

Good timing I'd say, wouldn't you?

It's never easy managing your fantasy sports team, be it baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf, poker or fishing.

Yes, there's even fantasy fishing leagues.

Well, if you've ever dreamed of putting together the world's greatest team of amateur athletes, here's your chance.

You can own Michael Phelps in his bid for eight Olympic gold medals. Or you can take the host team, China, and hope that national pride can carry you to the top of the medal standings.

Just log on to this site.

Go ahead. Maybe you can dominate your friends. See if you can dominate the world.

Ever since I found out I was heading to Beijing to cover the Summer Olympics, I've been receiving tons of advice, from how to avoid jet lag, to what to eat, to where to go, to how to protect myself and my belongings.

Some of the advice has conflicted with others.

(With apologies to the Five Man Electrical Band, "Do this, Don't do that, Can't you read the Signs?'')

So what to do?

Well, basically, be careful, be cognizant of your surroundings, don't drink tap water and don't eat any fresh fruit or vegetables.

Who to listen to? Who to ignore?

Well, one thing that was really hammered into me early is to not eat anything from the street vendors. But lately, I've been told their food might be some of the best I experience.

Adam Craig, the Olympic mountain biker from Exeter, was in Beijing last year and said his best meals came from street vendors. He's offered to take me around and I think I'll take him up on that.

"Their cooked meat was incredible,'' he said.

Okay, but how to deal with jet lag. Beijing is 12 hours ahead of Portland time and it's a 13-hour, 40-minute flight there from Newark.

People say don't sleep on the plane, others say sleep. People say hit the ground running.

A friend of my wife said I should turn to noted travel expert John Tesh for advice.

John Tesh?

Yep.

Go to his web site and you'll find he has all sorts of travel tips. A regular Renaissance Man.

Of course, I'm not so sure I follow his logic for beating jet lag. According to a Harvard professor, if you put your body in starvation mode, that is, not eating for 16 hours before the flight and then through the flight, your body clock resets and keeps you alert. He suggests eating when you land. No kidding.

Well, if the choice comes to being a little tired and being a lot hungry, I think I'll take the airline food.

Ni hao.

For those who don't understand the Chinese language -- and count me among you -- the above words (pronounced nee how) mean "hello.''

They also represent 50 percent of the words in the Chinese language that I am comfortable knowing and saying, the other being Xiexie (shay-shay) which means "thank you.''

They'll probably come in handy while I'm in Beijing for the Summer Olympics. I arrive in Beijing at 1:50 p.m. on Aug. 7 and will return to Portland on Aug. 25.

While there, I will cover the athletic exploits of Maine's seven Olympians, while also providing you with the sights and sounds of Beijing via this blog. Call it the Misadventures of Mike.

Here's how they began.

Back in February of 2006, former sports editor Dan Dinsmore called me into his office and told me he had applied for credentials to Beijing for me. I was, you might guess, a little surprised and at the same time excited.

Thus began the project of first identifying Maine's potential Olympians and then following them for the next two years.

It's also been two years of getting credentials, accommodations and flights. Nothing has been easy, especially dealing with an organization (the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games) that is 12 hours ahead of you. (If you'd like to visit the Beijing Summer Games website, just
click here.

Everything has to set up -- and paid for -- months in advance.

And photos! For security reasons, they need the latest, up-to-date photos that we could provide. Head straight. No 5 o'clock shadow. We had to re-shoot and re-send them a couple of times.

Once our credential request was accepted, we tried to get a room in the Media Village on the Olympic Green. I was told this was the place to be. But we didn't get in. Instead, I'll be staying at the Beijing Super 8 Hotel. That's right, a Super 8!

Shouldn't be too bad. The hotel is located about two kilometers away from the Olympic Green, which is where I want to be.

Then came the flight. I leave Boston early on the morning of Aug. 6 to fly to Newark. From there, it's a flight of 13 hours and 40 minutes to Beijing. We fly over the North Pole, then down to China.

I've been told to get a window seat, but seeing that I got the last seat on the plane, I don't think that's going to happen. I understand we never see nightfall so sleeping might be a problem as well.

Too bad. I'm going to be tired as it is from jet lag. It'd be nice to catch some Z's on the flight.

Coming home is going to be even crazier, almost like a time warp. I leave Beijing at 3:45 p.m. on Aug. 25 and arrive in Newark at 5:30 p.m. on Aug. 25.
I can only imagine how screwed up my body clock is going to be then.

Of course, getting ready to travel to Beijing also meant getting shots. While many agencies suggest as many as six to nine shots, the doctor I visited at Intermed Travel Medicine in South Portland said I needed only three: Hepatitis A, Tetanus and Typhoid.

I thank you. My arm thanks you.

He also prescribed some Avelox for the sure-to-happen gastronomical discomfort. (Okay, I like to experiment with the local cuisine. Too bad the Chinese government has ordered dog off the restaurant menus during the course of the Olympics) And suggest lots of mosquito repellent when I go outside.

Good advice.

So it's almost time to go. I just wish I knew more of the language. But instead of studying the "Instant Chinese'' book my son Alex bought me over a year ago, I've waited until these last couple of weeks. Call me a closet procrastinator. I usually get things down on time, but only after scrambling the last few days.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this blog as I try to give you something other than the competition, a little taste of life in Beijing.

Zai jian.
(Good-bye)