As someone who's done relays before and played sports at an extremely high level (national finalist competitor in collegiate women's soccer), I just wanted to say that Phelps probably didn't have a choice about what leg he was. The coach makes those kinds of calls. And dude, you don't argue with a coach no matter how good you are. Then they just want to show you that they're in charge. And you swim/run/jump/breath when and where they want you to.

In other news, I totally agree about China. I'm not really watching much either and am all meh when I see the news channels hyping the country every time I turn the TV on.

As for the market... is that the Thursday market thing on Queen Anne Hill? I was in walking distance of it for over a year and never went, but it did look pretty fun/cool ...