This is a fun month for numerical dates.

Well, my heart ached for Michelle Kwan last night. It was very exciting to see Sarah Hughes land all of her wonderful jumps but I so wanted Michelle to win her long-awaited gold medal. I cried with her as she came onto the ice to receive her bronze medal. And tonight, when she skated her beautiful exhibition number, it again broke my heart to see her tear-streaked face at the end of her routine. She is probably my favorite figure skater ever--she is the most graceful skater I can remember. I really wanted her to win.

Tonight, Ed, Joey and I went to the Big-Ass sale at Meier & Fr@nk. He got $250 worth of clothes for $89. The best deal was the $58 Ralph Lauren thick cotton sweater that he got for $16. Between the Old N@vy sale and this one, he has gotten almost a full casual and nice casual wardrobe for just over $100. Would that I could be so lucky!

He's at a late movie tonight with Russell. Those two love to sneak off to late movies after the kidlets are in bed. I don't mind at all--that way he doesn't try to drag me to see the violent movies I loathe. While he is gone, I'm eating up the skating exhibition. This is my very very favorite part of the whole winter Olympics. The routines are fun, relaxed and novel. They do things that they would never or could never do in competition and it's not all about the big jumps. I love it. If I ever went to a winter Olympics, this is what I would try to get tickets for. Sitting here in my living room, I just had to clap for the Russian pairs skaters. Their routine was positively fabulous.

During dinner, we talked about going to Japan. Joey said she really wanted to go there and Ed was delighted to hear that because he's been trying to get me to Japan for years now. We decided that when we go, we want his mother to come and for us to visit her sisters and their children, Ed's cousins. Joey was totally delighted at the idea of meeting distant cousins in Japan. I love that idea, too. We won't be going this summer, but perhaps in 2003. I would really like that. Joey will need to renew her passport, though. Kid passports only last for 5 years and we got hers in 1995 for our trip to Europe.

Cherri and John will be here tomorrow for the night. We're going out to dinner and to the symphony with them--two of my favorite things to do.

I'm watching the men's gold medalist (Yagudin, I think his name is) and he is wearing black gloves that make his hands disappear against the dark, unlighted background. He certainly did an unsual routine--kind of funky with even some moonwalking. Or would that be moonskating? Never saw anything like that routine before. Very dance-y rather than skate-y with muy dramatic music. When he went off the ice to change his clothes for the encore, they showed his very hunky chest (I nearly had a fit of the vapors!) and then they showed his underwear!! Tight black jockeys, to be exact. He's quite wonderfully built, that boy.

The kitty needs to go out now so I'm going to end this.

Ta!

--L