3 July 2004

Wow. It was definitely worthwhile waking up at 6:00 am to watch Breakfast at Wimbledon this morning. I love to witness destiny as it happens. Earlier this year, Randy Johnson pitching his perfect game. Earlier this decade, Sarah Hughes with her miracle skate in Salt Lake City. And now Maria Sharapova dominating the best tennis player in the world in the women's finals.

This 17-year-old Russan girl, 6 months younger than Matt, played with such determination in her semifinal win over Lyndsay Davenport yesterday and even more today in her stunning win over Serena Williams. Both players made great shots, but Sharapova's ground strokes showed Serena an on-your-heels experience usually reserved for Serena's opponents. Both players showed wonderful grace, professionalism, and joy after the match. It's just what tennis needed.

We spent much of the day dismantling and reassembling our home entertainment system. Turned out that our former setup wasn't very efficient. For example, we had to flip five switches just to watch a DVD. Once we got it back together, we eliminated two out of five. Actually, we could use just two devies, the TV and DVD player, if we didn't want to bother putting the sound through our stereo system. More progress: We went out and bought a couple of new speakers and a new turntable. Matt and Scott spent most of the day and evening with their friends.

DWL