The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Songbird76]

I dont think it was the bathroom only. They peed and destroyed signs outside, in the outer space of the gas station if I remember correctly.



I wonder if they will ever do that.
a few years ago.. each country treated their athletes as sacred cows and protected them at all costs.. even if they did awful things.
The mentality has changed these years.

The Netherlands brought home one of the top Gymnasts because he went out of the Olympic Village and was drinking. He didn't destroy any property from my understanding, but they didn't feel it was a good representation of the Netherlands, so they brought him home and didn't let him compete in the finals he qualified for. He appealed and asked to be sent back, but they refused. And that was just for drinking.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Omg we have to sort over 3000 pics for our tr it may take a while to get up when we get home. Dh isn't going back to work until the pics are all on the computer. 3 cameras and 2 phones equals lots of pics. BTW lots of food drink and Potter pics

Nothing wrong with lots of pictures!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I'm the same...I really want to do food and wine, but over here, you are not allowed to take the kids out of school for vacations. You get major fines if your children are not in school when it's in session, unless they are sick. Until the kids are no longer school-age, we have to keep vacations to school breaks. I'm working on hubby for our anniversary in 10 years...it's in the last half of September, so right around food and wine, and our youngest will be 18. Hubby and I could go just the 2 of us for food and wine, and hit WWoHP at Universal, too.

Would your in-laws be willing to watch the kids? Then you and hubby could do that trip sooner.

 

[Dinglehopper86]

I can't say my kids ever got bored with Disney. It was a perfect place for us to vacation. My kids were 5 years apart in age and it lent itself to pleasing everyone, something that is hard to do when kids ages and interests don't match up well. We'd go for at least one 2 week vacation a year, sometimes two, always excited to go but sad to leave. We still all have that major soft spot for Disney. Still we have a fondness for Uni now too and enjoy there too. Still they grew up Disney and that is where our memories are. I look at Uni as the bonus days.

I certainly love Disney, but if kids are ever in my future I do want to expose them to other vacations then just 1 to 2 Disney Vacations a year. As a teacher the vacations sure aren't plentiful with the amount we get paid and also vacation availability so I want to see other things as well and so my future kid(if I have one) all sorts of things.

 

[Songbird76]

Below is the USOC statement in its entirety:

Two U.S. Olympic swimmers (Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger) have given statements to local authorities today regarding the incident first reported on Sunday, August 14, 2016. Their passports have been released and they recently departed Rio.

After providing a statement earlier in the week, a third (James Feigen) provided a revised statement this evening with the hope of securing the release of his passport as soon as possible.

Working in collaboration with the U.S. Consulate in Rio, we have coordinated the athletes' cooperation with local authorities and ensured their safety throughout the process, but we have not seen the full statements provided by Bentz and Conger.

However, we understand that they describe the events that many have seen on surveillance video made publicly available today. As we understand it, the four athletes (Bentz, Conger, Feigen and Ryan Lochte) left France House early in the morning of August 14 in a taxi headed to the Olympic Village. They stopped at a gas station to use the restroom, where one of the athletes committed an act of vandalism. An argument ensued between the athletes and two armed gas station security staff, who displayed their weapons, ordered the athletes from their vehicle and demanded the athletes provide a monetary payment. Once the security officials received money from the athletes, the athletes were allowed to leave.

The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members. We will further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States.

On behalf of the United States Olympic Committee, we apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence.

So which one of the athletes was it who damaged the property? That's the one who needs to have the most severe consequences...the others need to be held accountable for lying about it, but if they weren't involved in the actual property damage, then I don't think they should have to pay for that part of it. And did he damage it on purpose, or was it an accident?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The Netherlands brought home one of the top Gymnasts because he went out of the Olympic Village and was drinking. He didn't destroy any property from my understanding, but they didn't feel it was a good representation of the Netherlands, so they brought him home and didn't let him compete in the finals he qualified for. He appealed and asked to be sent back, but they refused. And that was just for drinking.

Good for the Netherlands, they have set standards and expect the athletes to meet them. I know a lot of these athletes are young but really they should know better and be able to behave with dignity. Too many people don't take responsibility for their actions. Just like know they say that two of the swimmers from this USA thing were just there but are innocent because they hadn't given formal statements to the police yet?! It's been days and they knew that their buddies had lied to the police and the world. To me the are just as bad as the others. I hope it was worth millions of dollars lost in endorsements to tell lies.

 

[betty rose]

Paypal is safe if you know to keep it safe (not sharing a lot of information, changing passwords regularly..)
Makes me wonder, how did she get her "identity stolen" using paypal?
are you sure they didnt just steal her information and THEN created a paypal account?

Makes me wonder if she actually got phished (aka sent to a page that looked like paypal but it wasnt, and thus she entered her info right into the thief's hand). They are doing this a lot by copying even banks now.

It could be, I didn't get details.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

So which one of the athletes was it who damaged the property? That's the one who needs to have the most severe consequences...the others need to be held accountable for lying about it, but if they weren't involved in the actual property damage, then I don't think they should have to pay for that part of it. And did he damage it on purpose, or was it an accident?

I don't know who caused all the damage, but they had been drinking and sometimes people who have been drinking think it is fun to destroy things. But they are really just being jerks.

 

[betty rose]

When the time comes we can discuss hotels. Like Disney Uni has many varieties. Some I'd recommend for us older adults others not so much, kinda like Disney.

Thanks we no nothing about Uni. I value your opinions, that would be great!

 

[Songbird76]

Would your in-laws be willing to watch the kids? Then you and hubby could do that trip sooner.

They might be, but they don't live in the same town. They are about 35 minutes away, so that wouldn't work. I need to save up money for the trip anyway, so I'm content to wait.

 

[Dinglehopper86]

We have gone on RCL. The Oasis Class Boats, so fun...lots to do .....zip line, rock climbing wall, on board water skiing simulator. Comedy clubs. Many kinds of musical clubs at night. All kinds of music. Classic, jazz, contemporary, etc. Cheaper than Disney, and more adult kind of boat. I like Disney and this too, for a change. Zika kept us out of our Caribbean Cruise this year. We will travel, on RCL in the Pacific next year. A repositoning cruise is cheaper too!

My girlfriend loves vacationing at National Parks and loves hiking. I am also an outdoor person so I am all for these sort of vacations as well.

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

They might be, but they don't live in the same town. They are about 35 minutes away, so that wouldn't work. I need to save up money for the trip anyway, so I'm content to wait.

Just ship em to Figgy ... She loves having a housefull

 

[betty rose]

I wonder, do repositioning cruises offer shows as well?
or they just cancel almost everything?

When we went, it was on the Norwiegon , many years ago. Some things were cancelled. I can't say about today. It was our first cruise, and we had a great time.

 

[Songbird76]

Good for the Netherlands, they have set standards and expect the athletes to meet them. I know a lot of these athletes are young but really they should know better and be able to behave with dignity. Too many people don't take responsibility for their actions. Just like know they say that two of the swimmers from this USA thing were just there but are innocent because they hadn't given formal statements to the police yet?! It's been days and they knew that their buddies had lied to the police and the world. To me the are just as bad as the others. I hope it was worth millions of dollars lost in endorsements to tell lies.

Oh they are definitely guilty, but I don't think they need quite as harsh of a punishment. Put yourself in their shoes...this is their friend, and they are at the Olympics...they have to go against their friend and teammate, which is a hard thing to do even when it's NOT on the scale of the Olympics. Yes, they SHOULD have told, but I can imagine it was really hard to be in that position. They weren't the ones to do the crime, but telling has repercussions as well. You don't know how the other teammates will react...if they would see it as a betrayal and do something in retaliation, or if they will even be believed. So I can see where it was sticky for them at first, and my understanding is that they did eventually tell the authorities, which started the investigation. But I could be wrong about that.

 

[betty rose]

My girlfriend loves vacationing at National Parks and loves hiking. I am also an outdoor person so I am all for these sort of vacations as well.

We did a lot of hiking in the Rockies, back in the day. We camped in a tent for usually a week at a time. I loved it , before my allergies took over. Beautiful in the Rocky mountains....One year we hiked so many different trails, we hiked over 60 miles.

 

[Songbird76]

And I saw this on the early news this morning (WCVB TV Channel 5 Boston - ABC News) - text below:

U.S. Olympic swimmer Jimmy Feigen agreed to make an $11,000 donation to a Brazilian charity in an effort to resolve a dispute over claims of being robbed in Rio de Janeiro that authorities say were made up.

ABC News reported that Feigen's lawyer in Rio, Breno Melaragno Costa, announced the agreement early Friday morning, hours after he sat down with a judge and officials from the prosecuting ministry at a police station in Rio for four hours on Thursday.

Feigen agreed to donate 35,000 Reals, or roughly $11,000, to a Brazilian charity called Reaction Institute.

Feigen is the last of the four U.S. swimmers caught up in the controversy over an alleged robbery remaining in Brazil. Costa said that Feigen's passport would be returned and he will be free to leave the country after the payment is made.

That seems odd to me...almost like blackmail. Yes, they should pay for the damages, but the money should go towards THAT, not a charity. Making him pay to a charity to get his passport back doesn't seem ethical. Charge him with a crime and make him pay for that and legal fees...the rest is extortion isn't it?

 

[Songbird76]

Just ship em to Figgy ... She loves having a housefull

Ha! She wouldn't know what to do with my DS who eats practically nothing!

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

My girlfriend loves vacationing at National Parks and loves hiking. I am also an outdoor person so I am all for these sort of vacations as well.

We did a road trip to California a few years ago and went to a few National Parks and they were so beautiful and different from each other. There are still many I'd like to see. Yellowstone was by far my favorite. National parks is one of the best things our government has ever done.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Oh they are definitely guilty, but I don't think they need quite as harsh of a punishment. Put yourself in their shoes...this is their friend, and they are at the Olympics...they have to go against their friend and teammate, which is a hard thing to do even when it's NOT on the scale of the Olympics. Yes, they SHOULD have told, but I can imagine it was really hard to be in that position. They weren't the ones to do the crime, but telling has repercussions as well. You don't know how the other teammates will react...if they would see it as a betrayal and do something in retaliation, or if they will even be believed. So I can see where it was sticky for them at first, and my understanding is that they did eventually tell the authorities, which started the investigation. But I could be wrong about that.

Yeah, I realize they were in a tough spot. And they were probably conflicted and under a lot of peer pressure. I hope all of them learned a lesson in this.

 

[Dinglehopper86]

We need an easy vacation, at this time of our life. And we have gone to Disney since it opened. A lot of wonderful memories there. We took our daughter, when she was two. She loves Disney too. Has a web sight and has written a few books. She is going next month to do more for her web sight. She pay's her way, and gets nothing from Disney, to my knowledge. She just's loves the place. Our grand sons do too. I guess we have been a Disney family for a long time. We bought into the DVC, when hubby's parent's passed and left us enough money to do that. We thought that was the best way to honor them, they loved vacation's. We go in June, with the DVC and pay for one more week. That will be coming to an end this year, but we have built up a ton of memories. I remember the oldest grand son loving small world, he was three. His eyes lit up like saucers. He loved Disney at Christmas. I danced with him in Hollywood Studios, to Felice Navidad. (sp). He was 4 at the time. Kids, make Disney extra special. I fed our second grandson, outside of Space ship Earth, while the parents took the oldest one on Space ship earth. Those times are so special for me. Disney made those happen.

That is what Disney is for, making Magical Memories and it sure seems like you have made quite a few great memories throughout the years.