Whew!!

Well, it's been a busy week since last I was here posting. I haven't had time to play with my little Indigo any more yet, but that will come soon.

I did get a much anticipated Kilt in the mail. I can't access Photobucket from work, so will have to wait until I get home this evening to edit in a picture of the new kilt. It's very nice, fine workmanship by Rocky of USA Kilts, and I'm looking forward to wearing it out to the pub in the next week or two, depending on whether I can get away to the pub any time soon :)

The little one has come down with a bit of daycare nose, which is really cramping the whole 'sleep' thing. Hard to sleep when she's waking herself up every hour or two trying to breath through her nose, and then gets flat out squalling angry about being awake at such an ungodly hour.

To be honest though, the majority of my free time this last week or so was taken up watching the Olympics. There was some really good stuff, and some really not so good stuff. I've gotta say, regardless of how many medals Phelps won, or how our gymnasts did, or how poor our relay teams did, the stand out for America for these games was, at least in my mind, Dara Torres.

Not because she's older than most other swimming competitors, not because she was competing in her first Olympics before most of her teammates were even born, and not because despite all odds, she came away with an individual Silver medal, and only missed out on the Gold by one one-hundredth of a second. Even though all those things are worthy of notice for her, the biggest thing that happened was when she approached other competitors, and the judges, asking them to delay the start of her race(a heat I believe) because one of the other competitors had a problem with her suit, and was trying to get it fixed.

In this day and age, when we focus so much on ourselves, and whats good for us, I don't believe anyone would have faulted her for standing at her starting block, and working her mental focus for the upcoming race. If someone didn't make it to the start in time, oh well, that's just one less person to challenge her. However, she didn't do that, she saw a fellow athlete having problems, and made the effort to make sure she would still be able to compete. I remember listening to the announcers going crazy as she walked over to speak to the judges. They couldn't figure out what she was doing, why she wasn't focusing on the race, getting mentally psyched up and let the chips fall where they may.

She was doing something much more important I think. Something that you maybe didn't see in other events, and attitude not present in a lot of events I daresay. She was making sure that the field was even, for everyone. She wasn't trying to get herself that last little bit of advantage she might need, wasn't trying to pump her own ego up, or make someone else doubt themselves, she was fostering the true spirit of the Olympics. She was trying to help out someone who might very well end up beating her. Luckily for her, that wasn't the end of her career, however I think if it had been, she would have been proud to lose in that manner. Not sacrificing someone else for her own advantage.

Here's to the true Olympian, and outstanding role model, not just to swimmers, not just to Americans, but to the whole world.

Here's to you Dara Torres!!

/salute



Casey