From the Inside Out

USA has taken the gold again. More specifically, Plano has taken the gold. Nastia Liukin just won the gold medal in the women’s gymnastics all-around competition at the Beijing Olympics. She trains at her family’s gymnastics club, World Olympic Gymnastics Academy, in Plano, TX. It’s the same gym where Carly Patterson (the previous winner of the all-around competition) trained. Yay Plano!

Coming in second place was another amazing girl from the USA, Shawn Johnson. Take that, China! After all the lies about the ages of the Chinese gymnasts, I feel like justice has been served. According to a news article today on Yahoo! Sports, nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13 making her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold metal earlier this week. The Chinese government states that her age was incorrect in that article. To quote Mike Myers from Wayne and Garth, “Yeah, and monkeys fly out of my butt.”

Regardless of the age controversy, the lies, and the cheating, the real champions showed up tonight and demonstrated that they can get the job done with honor, grace and integrity. I’m so proud that these are the girls representing my country.

Go USA!

The one remaining bastion of solace from the far reaching arm of the Internet is about to fall. One of the things I enjoy about flying is that it forces you to disconnect for a few hours. Sure, you can still get work done, but you aren’t getting flooded with new emails or IMs while you are working.

All of that is about to change next year. Delta plans to launch a broadband service across its entire domestic fleet. This will open up WiFi capabilities to all passengers. They will be able to use Wi-Fi enabled devices, such as laptops, smartphones and PDAs to surf the Web, check e-mail, Instant Message and access their corporate VPN. Luckily, Delta does not plan to enable voice capabilities — for now. Of course, once Internet is available I find it hard to believe that voice won’t be following soon after. Moreover, Delta is not the only airline carrier planning to offer WiFi service. American Airlines has already tested the service on some of its Boeing aircraft. Southwest Airlines, Jet Blue and Alaska Airlines are also expected to trial similar services soon.

I’m conflicted about this decision. On one hand, I see the value of being able to surf the Web and be productive while you are stuck in a plane for hours. However, there’s a part of me that mourns the loss of the only place I don’t feel guilty about not being connected. On a flight, I can turn off WiFi and be free from the bondage of technology (and work). I don’t have to check my mobile device every few minutes for the next email or text. It’s a nice place, a simpler place, a haven — if only for a few hours.

Some call the inclusion of WiFi on planes “progress”; others call it productivity. I’m not sure what label to give it. Technology is wonderful. It has made my life easier in some ways, but it has also complicated many other aspects of it. This “always on, always available” technology makes it more difficult to strike a good work/life balance. In the past, work didn’t follow you home (or on a plane). Now, it follows you everywhere. Companies love it because it makes employees more productive, but the personal costs can be high.

I’m sure recreational travelers will welcome the addition of WiFi. For these travelers, it will help minimize the boredom they experience on long flights. Many business travelers will rejoice also. I see the advantages, and I’m sure I’ll use the service when it’s available. Who knows, I may be happy to be more productive while I’m in the air. Maybe it will mean that I won’t have to work quite as late when I reach my destination — that’s always a good thing.

WiFi might be a blessing in the long run, but then again it could also be a curse. Even worse, it could be the precursor to enabling voice in the cabin. Just imagine…150 people using their cell phones in flight…lovely.

For those “foodies” out there, it’s time to rejoice because this week is Restaurant Week in Dallas. What’s Restaurant Week? It’s a week when over 100 restaurants will offer three-course meals for the fixed price of $35. The meal includes an appetizer, entree and dessert. Since many of the participating restaurants are four- and five-star rated, this is a steal. Don’t feel bad for taking advantage of these fine restaurants, though, because it’s all to raise funds for local charities. A portion of the price will be donated to the North Texas Food Bank and Lena Pope Home.

Restaurant Week begins on August 11 and runs through August 17, but some restaurants are extending the offer through August 31. Reservations and required, and availability is limited. When calling, you need to request a Restaurant Week reservation.

For more information and to view a list of participating restaurants, click here.

The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will air on television Friday night. Approximately 91,000 spectators and 15,000 performers will participate in this ceremony which is expected to attract a global television audience of more than 3 billion people. It will be a 5-hour spectacle that includes 35,000 fireworks — an amazing sight to behold.

Despite the controversy surrounding the host nation of the Olympics — including concerns over pollution, security and human rights — the games will go on. Athletes from 205 countries will represent their countries and compete to earn one of the most coveted awards in sports, the gold medal. This year, NBC will broadcast events live via the Internet. If you don’t want to wait for the tape delayed broadcast on TV, you can visit www.nbcolympics.com and watch what you want, when you want it. It’s the Olympics “ala carte” style. Simply pick and choose your events. You can even open two windows and watch multiple events at the same time. About 2,200 hours of programming will be available on the Web — impressive, huh?

Because of the time difference, while we are watching the opening ceremony on Friday night, the Olympic games will be gearing up in Beijing. To calculate the time difference, here’s an easy shortcut. Flip the a.m. and p.m. to go from Eastern time to Beijing time. Remember, it’s always ahead in China. So, 8 p.m. Friday in New York is 8 a.m. Saturday in Beijing.

The Internet viewings enable you to watch the games online Friday night and cheer on your favorite athletes while the events are occurring “live” Saturday morning in Beijing. Ah, the power of the Internet. Remind me again…why do we need broadcast TV? Oh yeah, so we can watch mindless commercials and advertisements, but that’s a different rant for another night.

Go team USA!!

Last month, we covered The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman in our young married’s discussion group. During the session, I learned that my primary love language is “acts of service.” People who favor this language view chores and services as powerful expressions of love and devotion.

Apparently, I’m in good company. I was reading an article on cnn.com recently, and it stated that most married women find it attractive when their spouses share the household chores. I’m sure all of the men reading this right now are groaning. No one likes to do thankless work, but for some reason, it seems to fall mostly on the shoulders of women. The Council on Contemporary Families reports that men only do 30 percent of the housework. Maybe that’s why women appreciate it so much when they get a little help.

The good news for women is that researchers say men do more now than in the past. For example, in 1976, men did six hours of housework per week; in 2005, that had increased to about 13 hours. Now here’s the good news for the guys. According to an expert quoted in the article, a more equitable division of household duties may lead to more intimacy in the bedroom.

“When a man does housework, it feels to the woman like an expression of caring and concern, which then physically reduces her stress,” says Joshua Coleman, a San Francisco-area psychologist and author of “The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework. A guy can be completely stressed out and want to have sex to burn it off, but women are not wired like that.” Instead, he says, women need to feel relaxed in order to feel sexy — and it’s hard to unwind when there are chores to be done and a husband who’s oblivious to them.

Maybe doing household duties isn’t so “thankless” after all. Men who help out will get rewarded with a less irritable (and less stressed) spouse — and they may get lucky more often.