I can't believe I stayed up late for that . . .

Yep, I was one of the millions that ended up sitting in front of a TV watching the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympic Games up in Vancouver last night.

Really, I don't know why I do this to myself, especially since the highlights are generally covered the next day on the regular newscasts.

But, there I was.

I have to admit that I quite literally dozed-off during the artsy little "cultural" portion of the ceremonies.

I did, however, wake up in time to see the Canadians trot out their national icons as they raised the Olympic flag and prepared to ignite the cauldron: Anne Murray, Donald Sutherland, and Wayne Gretzky (among others).

Speaking of the cauldron, there was a technical glitch. It almost made staying up past ye olde bedtime worthwhile to see "The Great One" looking right and left for some direction when one of the 4 legs of the cauldron failed to emerge from the stadium grounds. "What do I do, now?!?"

Bottom line, last night's festivities paled in comparison to Beijing's hoopla. But, what wouldn't, right?!

Anyway, at least around this little corner of heaven, the Olympics aren't about all the theatrics. It's about the games. Let 'em begin, eh?!