Family Origin
I just had a meeting with my project manager to go over the next "lite" version of our software and its redesign. The meetings lasted about 2 hours. For the first hour we talked about his vacation in Greece...so beautiful with islands like Tinos, Santorini, Napflo (I happen to know cause I jotted them down on my notepads during our meeting). He also went through like four folders worth of pitures taken on each of those islands. It was a really great meeting. 
He also started telling stories of these islands and where his great great grandmother is from, and how his great great grandfather came to the island of Tinos from Venetia. There was a church on the island that traced his family back to 350 years or so...and there's a tree this ancestral grandfather planted that now sits in the "main" streets of Tinos.
Just to hear that exuberance and a sense of family history in his voice makes me want to trace my family history, too. Wouldn't it be great to trace the origin of your last name and the history of your great great great ancestors.
Milestones of China (from Tsingtao's "About" webpage)
Confucious Born 551 B.C.
Great Wall Construction Begins 403 B.C.
Tsingtao Brewery Founded 1903
Dragon Boating in 2008 Olympic?
All water events in the 2008 Olympics will be hosted at Tsingtao/Qingdao, the only city in China hosting an Olympics event outside of Beijing. I should start saving money now to make a trip there, watch a couple of dragon boat races (possibly an Olympic event). How cool would that be. I think that would be really cool. 
