Hello, everybody. There has been a lot happening over in Beijing and the Olympics, so let's get to it.

First up...the men's swimming events at these games has become The Michael Phelps Show, and for good reason: Early Friday morning (Thursday evening here in the States), he's now 6-for-6 in terms of both gold medals and shattering world records when he claimed the 200-meter individual medley. Overall, he has now earned more golds than anybody else in the history of the Olympic Games, Summer or Winter: 12 right now, with two more to go before he overtakes Mark Spitz. But...can anybody stop him??? Probably not.

After Beijing, he'll most likely retire from the sport at the ripe old age of 23. I have an open message to the Wheaties people: get those boxes printed up right now!

Another person who we might see on the Wheaties box is Nastia Luikin, who beat fellow U.S. teammate and world champion Shawn Johnson for the gold in the women's gymnastics all-around also on Friday. Meanwhile, Roger Federer and Serena Williams are out in their tennis matches (the former thanks to American James Blake); the "Redeem Team" are still coming on strong in basketball; and former UAF rifler Matt Emmons took silver this time in the 50-meter prone.

Here's where we stand in the medal count: United States still leads with 43 overall medals; but on the gold side, China still has the advantage with 22. But the track and field events are already underway, and we may be closing in on China within the next week.

The former Soviet republic of Georgia has earned three medals so far, but the big non-Olympics story this week was that country's invasion by Russia. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili tomorrow hoping for an end to this conflict.

Now the country of Georgia and the U.S. State of Georgia are not one of the same; speaking of the latter...when I made a pit stop in Atlanta during my two-week vacation in the South three years ago, I saw the Olympic cauldron from the 1996 games still standing outside Turner Field. Centennial Olympic Park, also built for those games, is still there; it recently got minor damage from a unexpected tornado that hit Atlanta.

After the Beijing games are over, you can assure that their cauldron will still be there as a reminder that they've hosted the biggest sporting event that transpires once every four years, which reminds me...have any of their Winter Games venues kept their cauldrons?

And last but not least: With the hurting economy, the cost of living is higher than ever, especially food. And here in Alaska, it's the rural areas that are feeling the pinch even further.

While we in Fairbanks and Anchorage pay about $3.00 for a gallon of milk, residents of Barrow have to fork over a whopping $10. It gets more explicit than that: $6.00 for a loaf of bread; $6.79 for a dozen eggs; even $15 for a ten-pound bag of potatoes! Because of that, rural residents have been turning to the big stores like Fred Meyer and Safeway where they've been taking those kinds of orders for years.

We may be getting free money from the state as usual with the Permanent Fund Dividend this fall, but it may not be enough to help stimulate the economy. Then again, I'm glad to be paying the right prices for groceries instead of shelling out monstrous amounts like the rurals do. So long and stay strong.