Henry Jason Rubin looks over his Olympic pin collection with his son, Nathaniel. Rubin will be heading to his fifth Olympics next week.

BENJIE SANDERS / arizona daily star

Other articles by Patrick Finley:

Beavers meet JoePa for first time in history Locals find sumo grippingTucson race to honor broadcaster of Le Tour Bruins' upset of Tennessee a good start to catching USC Cancellation of one game makes finale even sadderStadium voice speaks volumes for fans who will miss team, times Ground game a gold mine Early rivalry, trip by USC kick things off quickly Zona Zoo learns lesson from '07Majority of teams in Pac-10 will have inexperienced QBs

General
Maintenance Technician Trades/Construction
FAULK ELECTRIC
ELECTRICAL Sales and Marketing
Town and Country Foods
Sales Manager Technical
Unitek USA
Satellite Installers Driver/Transportation
REPOSSESSION DRIVERS Trades/Construction
SCHMUESER & ASSOCIATES
PRECSION MILLWRIGHTS Administrative & Professional
Pima Prevention Partnership
Administrative Assistant

Henry Jason Rubin has been given his hepatitis and typhoid shots.

He has received his credentials and a Beijing subway schedule.

And he has taken NBC's online security test, filled with well-known travel axioms.

"Don't talk to strangers," he said. "Don't get in any arguments, don't drink the water, always carry your passport. Always drink bottled water, always travel with a buddy. Watch out for traffic, don't leave your computer in the room."

Rubin's Olympic anticipation ends Saturday, when he boards a plane and begins a 54-day business trip.

The Tucsonan will serve as an edit supervisor for NBC's Olympic coverage. It marks his fifth Games since 2000 — he worked in Sydney, Athens, Salt Lake City and Torino.

He has the pins and stories to prove it.

In 2000, Rubin, a media consultant, flew to Sydney, Australia, to train editors on Sony equipment — a company with which he had partnered since 1986. Once the Games began, he served as an editor — and was promoted to edit supervisor two years later.

"It's like going to summer camp," he said. "That's the only reason why we can do it, because we have these core individuals that work together every two years.

"The egos aren't that apparent. We eat together; we work together. We're really good friends, pals, during this whole time."

It's a good thing, too. Employees work 12-hour shifts in busy editing rooms.

"They speak another language," Rubin said. "They talk about 'dirty feeds' and 'clean feeds' and 'pullups.' If you don't know the lingo, you're completely lost."

Some of Rubin's favorite professional moments came on the fly.

In Sydney, he edited down a press conference held by C.J. Hunter, a shot-putter who had tested positive for steroids.

During the closing ceremony, he edited in an airplane flyover into the telecast. NBC had missed the shot live.

"It looked spectacular," he said.

All NBC employees work opening and closing ceremonies, which are usually pared to a two-hour show.

In Athens, Greece, NBC transported the Today Show and NBC News, among others, to its International Broadcast Center — the headquarters for the world's television broadcasters.

"They build the largest television facility in the world, but it's just temporary," he said. "With a whole crew, it's thousands of people."

An amateur photographer, the 55-year-old just purchased "the highest Nikon my wife would let me buy."

For fun, he shoots pictures of the host city and attends events. In 2000, he saw the United States baseball team defeat Cuba in the gold medal game. In 2004, he watched UA coach Mike Candrea's softball team.

He has witnessed curling and ice hockey, speed-skating and pingpong. But his favorite moment came in Sydney, when Aborigine runner Cathy Freeman won the 400 meters.

"That was electric," he said. "When she won, I've never seen so many flash bulbs in my life. The whole place was awed."

Scene 4: Pins and a Wookie

Rubin has collected "hundreds" of commemorative pins, originating from everywhere from China to Japan to Israel. His favorite is an NBC pin with a television camera on it.

His 12-year-old son, Nathaniel, does the same. He has been to three Olympics, starting in Sydney when he was 4.

"There are people from all over the world exchanging those pins," Rubin's wife, Lisa Stark, said. "In Salt Lake City, he became very interested. There was a policeman, it seemed, every square inch — and they brought policeman pins."

Lisa and Nathaniel aren't going this year. They missed the Athens trip, too — and that's when Rubin got creative.

He brought along two of Nathaniel's favorite "Star Wars" action figures, Chewbacca and R4 — sort of a modern R2-D2. He took pictures of the action figures at famous sites — from the city to the Games to his office — and sent them back to Nathaniel.

He'll do it again this year.

"But we can't find R4," he said. "We have to find a new R4."