An Olympian Achievement

"Congratulations from NBC."

"Thank you very much, Ahmad."

"You're the first person in the United States—as far as we know—to successfully complete a ticket request form for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. While the rest of us are still struggling with that 46-page instruction booklet, trying to figure out if we want to pay $80 to see session SW76641 at the GT-AQU or maybe pay $11 for TT80131 at the OC-GWC or $37 for CT41711 at the SM-VEL, all being held at the same time on the morning of July 25, you seem to have made all of your Preferred Choices and your Alternate #1's and Alternate #2's already. You're amazing!"

"Thank you again, Ahmad."

"How did you ever do it? The work, the concentration involved, must have been mind-boggling."

"To be frank, Ahmad, it was a bitch. Can I say that on TV?"

"No problem."

"It was a real bitch, then, Ahmad. I never have been faced with a tougher challenge. In comparison, climbing Everest was a walk in the park, if I may use a clich�. Swimming the English Channel? A few goose bumps from the cold, maybe a week in the hospital afterward for the hypothermia. Filling out this ticket application was a true test of a man's mettle."

"What exactly was the process? Did you request one through the mail or pick one up at Home Depot or...."

"It came in the mail about a month ago, Ahmad. I have to admit that at first I grossly underestimated the difficulties involved in filling it out. I thought this was a normal sort of catalog, a normal sort of purchase. I thought the family would gather around the kitchen table, and we would pick out the events we wanted to see, write them down on the form and go from there. Hah! I thought this would be no different from ordering snowshoes from L.L. Bean or a couple of black-lace bustiers from Victoria's Secret. Little did I know."