Hey all,

Well, just like last year I'm here in Asia for my birthday. I'm not really sure if I get to count it as my birthday quite yet because I still have four hours to go before it's really the 23rd of Aug. on the East Coast. Better yet, how about we start my birthday last night at 12am here in Beijing and let it go until 12am tomorrow night in Boulder. That would give me a 38 hour day to celebrate :).

The past few days I've not done as much crazy rush-around sight seeing as I might have thought. After an understandably overwhelming month or two I've enjoyed sleeping in some and hanging out with Billy. We have hit up the big sights but have also taken time to relax and not stress about doing "everything," which is a nice change for me.

Today will be much of the same. Billy is resisting the morning wake-up call but as soon as he's up well have breakfast and go out into the city. I'm meeting a friend here in Beijing for lunch and then I'll come back to the Village. A ton of us are going to settle down at the USA house to relax and watch the track meet and then we're going to see what adventures we can find tonight as we celebrate my 22nd birthday.

So, not crazy but a fun day in front of me and I'm excited to spend it with some great friends. When you go on these trips, especially multiple times, you start to get to know some of your teammates pretty well. We don't see each other much during the year but when we get together there are similarities and funny memories that bring us together like last year wasn't so long ago.

I miss everyone at home. I'm still having fun and am looking forward to Closing Ceremonies but oh man how I miss beautiful Boulder!