I just found out about something cool and Olympic related last night. Turns out that not only am I living in the same neighborhood and city as the famous Michael Phelps or from the great state of Wisconsin as Paul and Morgan Hamm, but I went to high school with a gold medal winner. Yes, Beau Hoopman, gold medal winner, in the eight-man rowing competition is from good ole Plymouth. My dad told me about it last night -- apparently Plymouth wants to have a parade for their "Hometown Hero." He told them that they should wait for Homecoming and make him the grand marshall or something. I actually did know Beau though -- he worked on Hi-Lights with me for three years. He did the "Beau Knows" sports column, and I think when I was a senior, he was the sports editor. Anyway, it seems crazy that someone from Plymouth, of all places, would have a gold medal, but there it is!

I've got a half-day today, so I'm heading up to Buffalo at 1 pm. It should be a fun weekend with lots of driving. I got a couple of books on CD from the library -- Temptation by Jude Devereaux, which I have read before, and Portrait in Sepia by Isabelle Allende. I started listening to Temptation while driving to work, and it isn't terrible -- although the narrator drives me crazy because she pronounces Edinburgh (it's set in Scotland) not Edinburrr-uh but Edinberg. And that's even when she's doing a Scottish character in a Scottish accent! Yeah, it's a pretty typical romance, and now I remember more of the plot -- I read it several years ago -- but it's only four hours long! Portrait in Sepia grabbed my attention more for its really pretty cover, and the fact that the library had like no books on CD. Lots of books on tape, but none on CD. One of her previous books, Daughters of Fortune was an Oprah book club book, so there's that to recommend it. Oh, I'm just kidding! But the plot looks interesting, and it's long, so it should do for the trip up and back.