That Unheralded Senegalese Curling

[Thanks, Max, for reminding me that the Winter Olympics open today...]

[Here's my list of countries that are surprising me by sending teams to Torino:]

[Costa Rica
Ethiopia
Virgin Islands (is it U.S. or U.K.?)
Kenya
Madagascar
Senegal
Thailand
Venezuela]

[I suppose ice skating rinks can be set up anywhere, so I shouldn't really be surprised, but it still seems odd somehow. I also note Jamaica's absence, so no bobsledding interest for me.]

[I don't care about most of the sporting events, actually, but I love me a parade of flags. I need to find someone who has cable, since our "local" NBC affiliate broadcasts out of San Jose and I don't receive from the South Bay. I haven't watched any Olympic opening ceremonies since moving to S.F. and I miss them.]

Previously Next

[Later: Pausing briefly to note the death of Dr. Norman Shumway, who performed the first human heart transplant surgery in 1968. A year or two before that, he led the team that removed an enormous growth from my grandmother's heart, one that would have killed her before I was born. She used to say she was still written up in some annals at Stanford Medical, but I'm just glad I got to know her. Of course, her enlarged heart was problematic the rest of her life, she smoked until around her 83rd birthday, and I was in the room when she died of congestive heart failure a year and half later. No matter. Thanks for Grandma, Doc Shumway!]