Ramadan 2012 - Day 16, Olympics

In one of my earlier blog posts about Ramadan I stated that the weekends are more challenging than the weekdays because I needed ways to distract myself while fasting, something going to work did quite well. Weekends are trickier, it is too hot to go outside and if I sit around at home there's a risk I'll start raiding the fridge.

Good thing the Olympics are on as it really makes the days go by quickly. I don't normally follow any of the sports shown in the Olympics (except tennis) but when you get it all together for the Olympic Games it becomes a lot of fun to watch. By flipping channels I can go from basketball to beach volleyball to track & field to rowing and get caught up with all the drama. Speaking of distraction, did anyone else watch that Federer / Del Potro semifinal match? 4 1/2 hours! That occupied my afternoon. I didn't even feel the need to get a snack.

Watching the Olympics lets you see some once-in-a-lifetime ups and downs. I caught the tail end of the women's trampoline competition today to see a Canadian catch gold, saw Serena Williams absolutely crush Maria Sharapova, watched the US / Nigeria basketball game, and watched the Qatari ladies sprinter go down injured in her first race. Qatar did win a bronze medal in a men's shooting event and the local papers had tons of coverage. I also like seeing British athletes do well because then the crowd goes wild. It looks like London is putting on a pretty fun Olympics.

As for Canada they managed to get some early medals this time (in 2008 it wasn't until I think the 8th day that they got their first medal) which has staved off some of the usual criticism by Canadian papers of how Canada does at the Summer Olympics. Canada tends to get around 12-18 medals in the Summer Olympics and to date they have 9, no wait, 10 (won a swimming silver medal as I was typing!) so they appear to be on track.



As for tonight my Turkish friend called around 6:10pm. It turns out he had just woken up, and since he hadn't prepared anything for iftar I invited him over as I was in the middle of preparing some food. We ate and chatted for a while, mostly about the Olympics (and why Turkey hasn't won any medals yet) before he headed off to tarawih prayers.

Back to work tomorrow. (Wow, a Brit just won the women’s heptathlon around the same time as another Brit won gold in the men's long jump -- the stadium is going insane!)


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Hadith of the Day


It's titled "The food of one person is sufficient for two persons" . . .

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said, "The food for two persons is sufficient for three, and the food of three persons is sufficient for four persons." (Sahih Al-Bukhari, The Book of Meals)