Joes Map

My mom has some very nice blinds in her home. They are wooden with a dark stain that really gos with the natural look of her home. She has ten windows in the particular room in question and it was very expensive to outfit them all with blinds. She recently called me and asked if I could find some nice inexpensive blinds to replace one set that had broken. I told her that it might be hard to find those exact blinds at a different price, but I would try.

The next day I find selectblinds.com. I watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition and thought why not check out the guys that they use. So I go to the web site and the first thing that I gravitate to is the distressed wood blinds for my mom, and what do you know they have the ones she wanted for less than what she paid for the original blinds. “But why stop there,” I thought to myself, “I like the blinds in my apartment, but why not throw some color on those white walls!” So now I am saving up for some Aluminum Mini Blinds to put up in my apartment.

of the gymnastic medal standing. As usual I will start with the men’s events and then move to the women’s.

Now the United Stated did not place in any of these events so if that’s all you care about read my next post which will have the women’s standings. In the Men’s Horse Vault, Poland took first, France came in second, and Russia finished with bronze. In the Men’s Rings event, China went one-two for the silver and gold with the Ukraine winning the bronze. Next in line is the Pommel Horse competition where China again took gold. For the silver we have Filip Ude of Croatia and bronze went to Louis Smith of Great Britain. China won gold one more time in the men’s competition with th Floor Exercise. Silver was awarded to Spanish gymnast, Gervasio Defer, while bronze was won by Russia.

So far, in this year’s Olympics, the United States is leading the Chinese in total medal count. The official number is US 95 medals and the Chinese have finally started to trail and now have 83 medals. Until now the Americans and Chinese have been in a close race for the country with the most total medal count. The next country in the standings is Russia, they trail the Chinese by 32 medals, with 51 total medals. On the other hand, the Chinese have won more gold medals than the Americans, with 46 gold medals to the Americans 29. As the Olympics continue we will see how things turn out. Anything could happen!

Here are some more results from the men and women’s individual events. In the men’s trampoline final, China came out ahead with two medals, gold and bronze. Silver went to Jason Burnett of Canada. In the men’s Horizontal Bar event, China took gold again with Kai Zou. From the United States, Jonathan Horton placed second and Germany won the bronze. China dominated the men’s events finishing with gold on the Parallel Bars. Korea placed in this event with silver and surprisingly the first I have heard from this country this year, Uzbekistan took bronze.

Now for the good news. American gymnastic dream team, Shawn Johnson and Nastia Luikin, placed first and second tonight in the Balance Beam event. Shawn won gold, Nastia took silver, and no surprise China rounded out the podium with bronze. We are proud of you girls!

All the races are over and it’s time to tally up the medals. Michael Phelps swam in eight competitions and won gold in all eight. He is the only Olympian to win eight gold medals in one year. He is also the only athlete to win gold in every event he competed in. This year we saw history unfolding before our eyes. Not only does Michael Phelps hold 27 personal world records, he is also the most decorated Olympian in history. As if that isn’t enough he is only 23 years old.