Oh, Canada

So I'm blogging in the intervals of actual Olympic competition, and thinking longingly of the 2010 Games, which will be held in a closer time zone. British Colombia, I love you.

Anyway, ordinarily I would not dream of mixing my sporting events with blogging, but I am trying to stay awake. I knew this would be the first of my "weekend" of late nights (seriously, it's Wednesday... how can I call this the weekend?), with primetime coverage going to midnight, but this has really been one long evening. And we still have an hour to go. Tomorrow night also goes to midnight, Friday to 1 AM, and I was afraid to look at Saturday.

Bob Costas just informed us that all remaining commercial breaks this evening will be less than 90 seconds. Holy cow. Better ease off on the water.

So, that reminds me of a conversation my supervisor and I had the other day about potential post-Olympic events for the general public:

Marathon sleeping: Those who didn't miss a minute of coverage are expected to do well in this event. (This would not be my event, since my insomnia would have me DQd in short order.)

Syncronised marathon sleeping: For couples/roommates who enjoyed the games together.

Commercial break bathroom steeplechase: Dodging furniture, leaping over laundry, using the loo, then running back to the couch in under 90 seconds. Points are deducted for leaving the door open and for any "wardrobe adjustments" after returning to the television.

TiVo-induced fencing: Spouses/roommates duel over who deleted that event you wanted to watch over and over again.

Standing celebratory high jump: You ought to be good at this one, after all those gold medal moments.

Balance test: After all those cups of coffee, can you still walk in a straight line?

NBCOlympics.com Decathalon: Competitors will look in on their favourite athletes, watch some live video, check the evening's TV listings, send a nasty e-mail to the annoying commentators, and then get back to work before the boss sees what they are doing on company time.