Getting in the Swim of Things...

Well, I'm sitting here watching the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games. For once, Australians don't have to watch the competitions at crazy insano times. Because the games are in China, there is only a two-hour time difference. In my opinion, they need to curtail the goose-stepping soldiers . . . reminds me of another controversial Olympic venue....Berlin! I feel like I've seen some of this before...oh yeah...Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. A great big "Good on ya!!!" to the Aussie tv presenters...they don't talk very much.

Tomorrow should be fun. The qualifying heats for swimming begin. Swimming is HUGE here. The swimmers are on every magazine cover. Michael Phelps will have his work cut out for him in the IM. They have some Aussie swimmers that lost by a fingernail's length at the World Championships. The Aussie's still talk about the Australian men's relay team defeating the US relay team at the last Olympics.

I'm also thinking about the lovely woman I met when I got my haircut. She had the appointment after me. Her fiancee is on the men's rowing team and she was getting her long hair cut to her shoulders before she made the trip to Beijing with him. She said the place she was staying only had an allotted amount of electricity, so hot showers and hairdryers were going to be luxuries. She said your electricity just shuts off and leaves you in the dark. They told her to pack flashlights!!! Ain't Communism grand!!! Her fiancee was on "recovery" now, so she was actually getting to see quite a lot of him. Apparently they train like crazy people and then take two weeks of "recovery" time to rest. Since he is on the water every day by 4:00AM, rest must sound good. As I look at the tv, she is there somewhere minus about eight inches of blonde hair.

Well, tomorrow is rugby and riding day, so I will sign off for today.

Go USA!!!! (and Aussie crew)

Things I like this week...

1. Water aerobics. My instructor was in a car accident & was told that he wouldn't walk again...now, two years later, he is teaching my class. When he says to not quit, you don't!

2. Fireworks over Sydney Harbour Bridge. You can see them from the kid's balcony. They were just popping a few minutes ago.

3. The ability to download and stream my favorite radio shows.

Things I don't like this week ....

1. Early rugby games

2. Small containers of everything. I never realized how being able to buy 24 rolls of paper towels and such really is a convenience. I think I should be able to buy more than 6 at a time...it would make for less trips to the stor and therefore less carbon emissions!!!!

3. Parallel parking everywhere...enough said.