Snippets of conversation during the opening ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics:

"Table tennis? What's table tennis?"

"Ping-pong, table tennis -- same thing."

"Then why don't they call it ping-pong?"

"Ping-pong is something you do in your basement."

"And if you can do it in your basement it shouldn't be an Olympic sport?"

"You got it."

"What about weight lifting? You can do that in your basement."

"You tell that beast it's not an Olympic sport."

"Has Bob Costas always been this lame, or am I growing up?"

"Both. Neither. Maybe he's having an off night."

"It's Katie Couric. The contrast is killing Costas."

Bob Costas: "Like the Olympics themselves, Olivia Newton-John owes much to Grease."

"I don't get it, Mom."

"You'll study it in American history. I don't remember it myself. Ask your father."

* * *

We stayed busy this week. Although I didn't intend to stay away from the journal all week, the events of daily life drew me elsewhere and I needed to to catch up on some work-related reading and correspondence. I did, however, manage to enter something in the web log (linked only on the index page) nearly every day last week, but I post most of those items as nudges to my own memory. I think that there is something very presumptuous about my web log, but I'll consider that at another time.

When I returned here to write, I realized that I had allowed my inventory of recent photos to dwindle. Until I get out and about a bit more with the camera, some of the photos might be details cropped from older pictures.

I thought about posting an entry without a photo, and I certainly reserve the right to do so, but somehow without that right-brained activity to precede my writing here, the experience isn't the same. That statement is probably nonsense, but there it is.

What has happened during the past week?

A brother-in-law two years younger than I am had cataract surgery this week. The deterioration came on suddenly, he says -- in two or three days -- and that has caused some concern, because the doc says that cataracts might arise so swiftly only when some trauma or some chemical imbalance has occurred. Although this brother-in-law might have deliberately imbalanced his chemicals in his younger days, he has long since mended his ways. He has suffered no recent trauma and his blood tests are currently within the normal range for someone who resides in his grandmother's basement apartment.

The surgery to replace the lens was successful, and he is recovering comfortably, but he and his doctor continue to consider causes, lest his other eye be similarly afflicted.

I probably should let this go, but after my initial concern about his health, I became concerned (though I said nothing) about the fact that this problem arose a month ago, two days before he took Owen to Cozumel. He said nothing about the problem until they returned from Cozumel. While in Cozumel, while under tons of water, and while going blind, he was responsible for the welfare of my kid. I'm very uncomfortable with that, but I'll drop the subject in these pages. Elsewhere too, probably.

Quick kid updates:

Josh returns from the dorm to the house several times a week, but he has brought laundry home only once. He isn't doing his own; instead, the sly slacker has preyed on his grandmother, who remains wrapped around his finger. He has not mentioned skydiving again recently, but he has been active in the sailing club/team at school. This weekend he has traveled to Dallas for a sailing competition (420 class, I think).

After a month-long break from swimming, Owen has resumed working out with the local swim team three times a week. The effort required to swim two miles helps relieve much of the stress that testosterone induces when it first floods the teen body. He is nearly human again.

Last and least, an era ended this week when for the first time in his elementary school career, Taylor missed a word on a spelling test. Sic transit gloria Monday.

Reading:
Moving through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire when time allows.

Weather & Stuff:
Although still above 90� during the day, overnight temperatures have fallen below 50� F; meanwhile, gas has risen to nearly $1.60/per gallon.