Almost there!

In just three days, the world will watch as China executes its dance onto the world stage. The Opening Ceremony begins on August 8, 2008 (that's 08/08/08) at, fittingly, 8:08 pm. Here stateside, that will be 8:08 a.m. In order to further confuse us, the Opening Ceremony will be tape-delayed on NBC at 7:30 p.m., for its Friday night prime time slot. It will be at the National Stadium, which is pictured to the right.

As for our journey to Beijing, we leave on the 12th, so we'll be in town for some of the first few events, including Elaine's 100m butterfly (through the finals). The prelims for her event are the morning we leave for Beijing, and the semifinals will take place while we're over the Pacific Ocean.

Speaking of which, the US Olympic Team has arrived in Beijing. Several cyclists created controversy when they wore masks off the airplane (do, of course, to the notorious Beijing pollution). About month ago, Jessica Hardy was looking forward to her first Olympic Games in freestyle and breaststroke. However, she tested positive for banned substances, and will not be competing this year in Beijing. One cannot imagine how crushing that would be for the athlete, as well as the athletes who came in third at Olympic Trials, but are unable to compete, as the deadline has already past.

I'll be posting more often, now that the Games are so close. Hopefully I'll be able to keep this blog updated from Beijing with pictures and perhaps a few videos. It's almost here!