Olympics Tuesday

As an aside right at the beginning, I hate Valentine's Day. I find it, for lack of a better word, tacky. The flower prices are jacked up, the restaurants are packed, and it's not so much that people seem to get joy out of it, but disappointment instead. The women don't seem to appreciate the presents that much and the guys are just mad they shelled out $200 under threat of horrible things. I gave my wife a chocolate bar, a chocolate heart and a card...we agreed that was what she wanted...she was estatic & it was simple. We'd rather spend the money on something more important...like a sprinkler system (just kidding!).

Lots of Olympic viewing last night. I got up & watched Cross-Country and the very beginning of the US Women Curlers. I got home and watched almost the whole mens US-Norway Curling Match, which we lost at the very end even though we had the hammer (last rock advantage). We squandered two shots at the end even though the Norwegian guard rocks weren't in that good of a position. We won a gold & silver in women's half-pipe, & North Carolinian Jeremy Cheek won a gold in the 500 meter speed skating.

I've noticed there have not been as many human interest stories this Olympics. I think it was 2000 they did one about every athlete...apparently to be an Olympian you have to have had a parent die of cancer and fled the country from insurgents at some point in your life. Me, who has had a relatively happy life, would never make it (although I would LOVE to be a speed skater or a cross-country skier).

This morning I watched women's cross country & some biathlon. I threatened to wake up at 3 AM to watch curling but I did not. I wish I had a little TV in my office but I would never get work done.

UPDATE: It's very difficult for me to get Olympics news because www.nbcolympics.com has up to the second updates on the front of its site. However, I usually just go to www.nbcolympics.com/tv which takes me directly to the television listings. It's a choice you have to make...do you want to find out results in real-time or on NBC time? Since I watch so much, I decided I would use "NBC time". Therefore you won't find out any results on this site until they've been shown on one of the NBC networks (unlike some other news networks...(WWL & CNN Headline News!) that don't warn you! At least if they're going to tell you, they should give you the warning that they'll play some music & you can look back when the music is done!!!

Also, going back to the Valentine's day semi-diatribe, I can only imagine what government offices look like today...usually you go into those places & it looks like Hallmark has exploded in there w/roses, helium balloons & candies. Yikes.

Word of the day: Pragelato: This is the venue for Cross-Country Skiing among other things & means "Frozen Field" in Italian. Of course, the NBC guys have taken to calling it Stadio Alto Miglio, or Mile-High Stadium, presumably due to its altitude which is considerably higher than many other Olympic Nordic venues.

Song of the day: Sex Bomb by Tom Jones: The spinning instructor (he is tough by the way!) played a Tom Jones song today & it made me think of this. I remember some friends went to Spain & especially Ibiza during Summer 2000, & apparently this song was all the rage on that tiny, hedonistic island (a techno remake of course, not the original).