I really enjoyed my two weeks with the Olympics. I didn't really watch a lot--certainly not anywhere near the amount of coverage that was actually broadcast--probably only about two hours a night. I did enjoy it, though. There were a couple of people who remarked in the comments that they had started watching the Olympics this year to see what I was talking about, and ended up enjoying them, too.
As I said earlier, I probably enjoy the side stories about the athletes as much as, or more than, the actual competitions. I enjoyed watching Apolo Anton Ohno. He's a cute guy, of course, and easy to watch, but he seems pretty down-to-earth and normal, and while confident, doesn't seem to have the swelled head that so many of the athletes tend to get.
I hated to see the downhill skiing crashes, and I gasped when the female skiier's newly-operated-on knee blew out on her run; and I agree with Picabo Street in her article about the Ski Team--Julia Mancuso's tiara and Resi Stiegler's pearls and tiger ears--what's up with that? I'm sure that there is lots of stuff that goes on in the Olympic Village that we wouldn't care to know about, but for the most part, the athletes comport themselves with dignity and professionalism during their events.
I have to admit that I did enjoy the snowboarding "kids," though -- their sport seems to lend itself more to showing off rather than true professionalism--although I know that they are obviously professionals and athletes. Lindsey Jacobellis's unfortunate fall while she was seemingly on her way to a gold medal is hard to criticize--hotdogging is part of the sport, more so than the (mostly) serious downhill skiers.
Anyway, in a couple of years I'll have the Summer Olympics to look forward to. Beijing should be interesting.
John sent me a CD with his Mexico pictures, and there were a few more that I thought I'd share. Bob at the Marina either before or after their fishing trip:
Another photo from the restaurant downtown:
And Bob and Craig at the little outdoor bar in the middle of a group of shops in downtown PV:
I had a little meltdown when we were shopping that day. The only one of the trip, I think, so I suppose that's not bad. I had made the rounds of the little shops, and found a bracelet in one of them that I wanted. But I wanted to look at everything else first before I decided, then I couldn't remember which shop it was in, and couldn't find it again. And Bob was bored, and ready to leave, and tired of waiting for me. Of course, it's impossible to shop when you know someone is waiting for you, and I got a little bit upset.
But we went and had a snack and drinks, and I found a bracelet later in a different shop--not like the one I'd seen earlier, but actually probably more suited to me--and Bob bought me the terracotta sun ornament that I showed earlier, and everything was fine.
