Thank you, USA

Thank you for a wonderful game that had us scared right till the very end.

But what really made me proud was when the Vancouver crowd cheered for American goalie Ryan Miller as he received his medal. And when the Canadian crowd cheered the American women's team as they received their medals. It's wonderful when your athletes do you proud, but it's even nicer when your people do you proud.

And having watched these Olympics from the US, may I say I was very impressed by NBC's coverage. It was done with a warmth and a generous spirit that I really enjoyed.

Canadian or not, it takes the Olympics though to make me watch two hockey games in one week. I watched the Canada-Russia game and the gold medal game and they were well worth watching.

Sorry I've been AWOL. That old chronic fatigue thing decided to raise its ugly head and I've needed all my meager energy just to make sure the bills get paid and that there's food in the house. Anything else is extra.

Along with the writing I haven't been doing, and discovering that my crit group found my opening chapter very confusing (nothing like a good crit group to prevent you from making a fool of yourself), I have also been keeping a bit of an eye on the world, which hasn't helped much in lifting my spirits.

Zimbabwe continues to suffer in its Mugabe-created hell. When I think of the hope that they must have felt when he first came to power, my heart aches for them.

I continue to try to ignore what's going on in Russia, as the country cheerfully and willingly marches back to a totalitarian, belligerent dictatorship. It makes you wish Fukuyama had been right, although I never believed for a single second that he was. Equilibrium is something that humanity never lives in, just a point we pass through on our pendulum swings.

How long before somebody decides enough is enough and takes over Somalia?

On a lighter note, expose Americans to Canadian football long enough, and they will never go back...

But Haddox, and about a half-dozen of her Baltimore buddies, couldn't let go of their passion for high-scoring, wide-open Canadian football and have continued to get their fix by making Grey Cups trips an annual ritual.

What's on your mind lately?