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The Olympics began yesterday (8.8.08 at 8) with a breathtaking opening ceremony. Leave it to the Chinese to bid to host the Olympics in a year that they were able to start the ceremony on a date with all 8's, a lucky number for Chinese people. Fitting.

I have to say - thank goodness for Tivo! It makes Olympic watching so much more enjoyable and allows me much more sleep than my Olympic-obsessed mind would otherwise allow me. I'm not sure which part of the opening ceremony I liked most. The opening drumming performance with 2008 drummers was quite impressive with the incredibly well-timed count down. Then it just got better and better. They estimate that there were about 15,000 performers involved in the ceremony - none of them repeating.




The march of nations that paraded all of the athletes is always entertaining. Here's where Tivo is great - you can always fast forward or rewind back to your favorite countries if you miss them. Rather than being lined up in alphabetic order, it was done by brush strokes, a nice touch. I did find it funny as they announced each country in the three languages - French, English, then Chinese. Okay, I agree some of the countries have very different names between the three languages, but generally this isn't the case. Example

French announcer: Mali
English announcer: Mali
Chinese announcer: Ma- Leeeeeeeeeee!!!

Well, I must run now. More later..