It’s always sad when the Olympics are nearing an end. You know that you’ll have to wait another 4 years (well, 2 years, really, even though the Winter Games are much better) for them to come around again. Going into this year’s Olympics in Sochi, I wrote a post about not being as excited as I have been other years. That was partly because I was busy in the weeks leading up to the Olympics, but moreso because of the location. Prior to the start of the games we heard nothing but stories of how hotels weren’t ready, terrorist attacks were a real possibility, the Russian government would curtail some human rights, Sochi had gone so far over budget, stray dogs would be slaughtered and so many other negative things. Now, with the closing ceremony less than 24 hours away, the games seem to have gone off without a major hitch. Bob Costas even made it back so we didn’t have to endure any more of Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera!
What’s more important, it seems like everyone, myself included caught the Olympic spirit once the competition got underway. I watched way more of these olypics than I expected. Thanks to my DVR, I recorded dozens of hours worth of Olympic broadcasts. The best part is being able to fast forward past the stuff I don’t want to see like figure skating and cross country and catch all of the events I do want to see. I even got into curling a little bit this year for the first time.
Did Russia deserve the host the games? I’m probably not qualified to answer that question. Did they pull it off successfully? It certainly appears so!
I just posted the photos that I took at the Mount Holly Fire and Ice Festival. It’s a ice carving competition and chili cook-off. This year is was nice and cold and there was even snow on the ground which made it even more fun than the last time I went four years ago. 
I was in Newport Rhode Island on business recently. While I was there, the Newport Winter Festival was going on. It was the weather was beautiful for the two weeks that I was there. Of course, on the one day that I had free (the day I travelled home) there was an ice storm and the skies were gray at best. But I made the most of it and went out and did the tourist stuff and took a bunch of photos.
You’ve seen my photos from 
It’s hard to believe that it was 16 days ago that I sat here in fron of a roaring fire watching the Opening Ceremony of the