I've been enjoying b-may's blogging behind the scenes peeks at what's going on at the SLC Olympics.

Now, from a work-related mailing list I'm on comes this glimpse at more of the magic surrounding the Olympics. Thanks so much for sharing this one, Lynn...

RECEPTION.  I attended a local reception for the Iceland athletes (10 Alpine skiers).  Hundreds turned out for this event held at another art museum.  Most Icelanders are of Danish descent, and Utah is FULL of Danish descendants ("Sorenson" is Danish.)  So there was a real kinship with this group! The (free!) food was extra yummy but I wondered why/if olive dip is popular in Iceland (Do olive tree grow **there**!?!)

THE "ADOPTION" OF THE KAZAKHSTAN WM'S HOCKEY TEAM.  I have saved the best for last (This is a reward for those faithful (or dumb!?) enough to read this posting clear through to the end.)  Before the Swed/Kaz  wm's hockey game, I bought a Kaz flag and made signs to cheer on this team.  (I figured the Swedes would have plenty of fans; see "Danish section" above.)  Bless their hearts; the Kazakhi athletes were waaaaaay outclassed!  They have lost every game and scored only two goals during the Olympics.  BUT they didn't come to win; they came to play.  More to the point, THEY CAME!  That, in itself, is an accomplishment.  They paid their own way-these secretaries, schoolteachers, nurses, and agricultural workers from the former Soviet Union where their country is struggling economically, and they are struggling financially.  Some Utah women found out that the Kazakhi women could not afford to buy souvenirs when they shopped at Wal-Mart so they took them to "All-a-Dollar"-and began making plans for other ways to help the Kazakhis.  Then 2 physicians at the local hospital rallied other hospital workers-and finally the whole community-to help the athletes take home souvenirs-and much more!  An elementary school student body collected money to buy fleece jackets for all of them; the BYU Bookstore donated BYU t-shirts and sweatshirts; a ladies' church group donated hand-knitted caps to them; and I got a local store to donate t-shirts w/ American flags on them.  The hospital had festivities for them, recorded by all three local TV stations.  The elementary children sang, "Peace:  Let It Begin w/Me."  The Kazakhi women were dumbfounded; they couldn't believe all the "goodies" in their bags!  Finally, each was presented with$300 in cash (the equivalent of $3000 in their country).  There were tears and hugs as their team captain expressed thanks (in Russian, using an interpreter).  I don't think they'll forget Utah and the way we took them under our wing(s).  And WE won't forget their "Olympic spirit" and determination.

Why the heck haven't we heard more about the Kazakhi women, and their show of Olympic spirit? Why is our network TV coverage of the Oly's so chauvanistic, xenophibic, and full of manufactured emotion? I have been jazzed that I've been able to watch so much curling from a sister network. Seriously, I can watch the ice skating stuff all the time, but how often do we get to see these other sports? Is it any wonder we always get our a**es handed to us in these sports, if most of us have never been able to see them with any regularity?

9:09:30 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    

Trying out a slightly modified version of Jeff's nifty webservice. I added the date to the freshness information. Look closely at the title attribute for the weblogs listed below...

Boing Boing Blog
From the Desktop of D...
Archipelago
MacInTouch
Craig's BookNotes
Disturbing Search Req...
Jumpgate Alwin
blivet
rc3.org Daily
JerryKindall.com
Jeff's Radio Weblog
Flutterby!
Dave's Handsome Radio...
Duncan's Jotter
Burningbird

Hi Jeff, and thanks for sharing. Cool way to share the code, too!

6:18:58 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    

Sometimes you just shouldn't use the punchlines that pop into your head...

"Brandy, a fawn boxer, doesn't do any dog tricks, but she does have a 17-inch tongue."

I just can't imagine what life with that dog would be like. Tan lines on it's tongue?!?
6:00:38 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this    

OK, so if you've lost track, your US$40 for Radio gets you an insanely extensible blogging tool (There's stuff out there that non-programmers can use, too. The Radio users are a friendly bunch.), 20MB of hosting space, and now...

COMMENTS! whoo. ;-)

All for that one insane price!

5:29:28 PM  [] blah blah blah'd on this