And she's always gone too long

Our long Conwegian nightmare is over. Noel and the kids returned just in time for dinner tonight.

And just in time for my reverse psychology trick to stop working, too. When I told Cady Gray that I missed her because I didn't have anybody to read to me, she replied helpfully, "Well, you should have just read to yourself."

I stayed up until after midnight watching the opening ceremonies from Beijing, delayed on TiVo since I had to be at summer commencement until about 8:30 pm. Even Noel, who notoriously hates the empty pageantry of the opening ceremonies, was astounded at the spectacle of such technology, human precision, and imagination. I thought that the massive event unfolded more like a personal statement than any other such ceremony I'd witnessed.

Kudos to NBC for its addition of an articulate, informative Chinese cultural commentator to its broadcast last night. It was so refreshing to feel like you were getting insights -- almost like a expert commentary track to the opening ceremonies -- rather than listening to morning show hosts read off a script. And of course, it will take an Olympiad at least for cineastes to recover from the world-turned-upside oddness of 30 million Americans hearing the name Zhang Yimou repeated twenty times an hour throughout prime time. Go rent To Live, people!