For the last few weeks now I’ve been playing with a website called “twitter”, maybe you’ve noticed my mention of it just there on the right side of the screen.   I’ve been planning writing a short blog post introducing you to this fun service for those who hadn’t heard of it before…. but then I found a nice 2 minute video entitled “Twitter in Plain English” that dose a much better job than I could have ever done.

Take a look, sign up, and then let me know…. I’d love to add you to my list!

P.S.  And for those of you on facebook who thought: “Hey, I do this already” I found a nice little facebook application that instantly copies your twitter status to your facebook status…

While Sarah Palin didn’t run for office as Alaska’s Governor until months after Lydia and I moved away, I’ve heard lots of good things about her for the last few years.  She has been able to shake up the old-establishment republicans in that state, and get a lot of amazing work done. As I said a few months ago, she will make an amazing addition to the national republican party.  Right now, as the rest of the world tries to find out who Sarah Palin is, I thought I would direct you to a brief interview that a friend of mine from Iditarod Coverage, Scott Slone did a few months back while in Juneau. Scott hosts the “AlaskaHDTV” podcasts and during one of his “Hike of the Week” features, he walked with Sarah from the governor’s mansion to the state capital.  Its a good peek into her style and how she relates to her constituents.

Watch Scott’s Interview with VP Nominee Sarah Palin

Like many around the world, last week we were all bonded together by viewing the marathon that is Olympic opening ceremonies coverage.  It’s the parade of nations that I’m always most inspired by, its so cool to see so many different countries and cultures converging onto one small little piece of earth for a 4-hour period of time.  The fact that a huge majority of all countries won’t get any medals (thanks for that tidbit, Costas) really highlights how much of an honor it is for most athletes just to show up and represent their home country.

My issue (like many others) with the Olympics this year fall onto the host nation.  There is a whole lot I could rant about when I think of China’s human rights issues, along with political decisions the mega-nation has made over the last few years. I won’t bore you with my normal rants, but I do think a good picture of the value that this country puts onto its people can be viewed by the following Olympic opening ceremonies story from CBS:

Olympic Singer Fails China Cuteness Test

A little 9-year old girl lip synced the Chinese national anthem because the 7-year old who sang the song wasn’t “cute” enough.  It wasn’t the director of the opening ceremonies who made this decision, he was asked to change girls by a member of the Political Bureau that views itself as “the vanguard of the people”.  They excused their actions by saying “The audience will understand that it’s in the national interest,”.

This country is so wrapped up in how they are viewed on the world stage that it is their own citizens who suffer.