Olympics Wrap-Up

August 24, 2008 - So after 2 weeks of watching more sports than I have in the past 2 years, my Olympics watching officially came to an end with the Closing Ceremony (which I had to watch on youtube!). Surprisingly, I watched way more of the Beijing Olympics than I thought I would, thanks to the CBC online streaming site that allowed me to watch pretty much every sport and almost every race or competition that I want. With the end of what may be the most spectacular Olympics ever, I thought I would share three of my most memorable moments of these games (at least the moments that I managed to watch):

- Matthew Mitcham of Australia wins gold in 10m diving and kisses his boyfriend in front of tv cameras

This kid (only 20 years old!) managed to beat the heavily favourite Chinese divers with an amazing final dive and won the only gold medal in diving that did not go to China. How did he celebrate his win? by running to the stands and kisseing his mom and his boyfriend! Aww. He is also the only openly gay male athlete out of the 11,000 at the Olympics. Kudos to him for 1) winning the gold medal; 2) being openly gay in a field that's still homophobic and 3) for making his sponsors fly his boyfriend over from Sydney so he could watch him compete. It doesn't hurt that he's super cute as well.

- Matthias Steiner of Germany cries on the podium holding a picture of his late wife after winning gold

No one really thought he would win gold in weightlifting after he failed to lift the two lighter weights. In his final shot, he decided to go for it and raised his weights by 10 kg - to 258 kg. He groaned, yelled and lifted it over his head. The announcers were clearly shocked - no one thought he could do it. On the podium, as the German national anthem played, and with tears flowing down his face - he took out a picture and smiled at it: it was a picture of his late wife, who died a year ago in a car accident. On her death bed, he had promised he would make their joint Olympic dreams come true. And that he did.

- Natalie du Toit of South Africa swims in the open water race with one leg

For many, it's hard enough to swim with two legs, but this girl from South Africa became probably the first one-legged swimmer to swim in an Olympic competition. Her determination and grits are hard to match. She finished 16th in the race, but she is definitely inspirational. Anyone who came back from the shock of losing their leg to training for the Olympics deserves our applause.

The excitement of winning medals at the Olympics are truly memorable, but what I think makes the Olympics special are these truly inspirational stories. I'm sure I missed a whole bunch too, like that story of the US swimmer who has testicular cancer at 24 and still swam in the Olympics, or the story of the Somalian girl who came in last in the 200m race but still got a standing ovation. It's great that for 2 weeks every 4 years, the world focuses not on multi-millionaire baseball players or hockey players, but on real athletes that show what true sportsmanship is all about.

Am I Moving to Vancouver?

August 21, 2008 - As some of you know, I have been applying for jobs for months now. My theory is that it never hurts to see what's out there, cause you never know what could happen. So to my surprise, on Monday, I got a call from TransLink, the regional transit authority in Vancouver, asking me to do a phone interview with them for a Transit Planner position!!

To say I was shocked is an understatement, given the fact that I have applied to out of province (and out of the country) jobs a number of times and have never gotten an interview. To have the opportunity to interview for what sounds like my dream job in my dream city is really truly unbelievable.

Of course, even if I do get the job (and I don't think I will based on my interview today), it's not like I will take it. Yeah, it's great to imagine how cool it would be to move to Vancouver, but really, am I willing to give up everything that I have now and start fresh in another city? I think the answer, at this point is no.

Oh well. At least I tried!

Montreal is the new Boardwalk?

August 20, 2008 - Back in February, I blogged about the new Monopoly "Word Cities" edition contest where voters can choose which 20 cities will make the board for this new version of the game. Today, the full list of cities were announced: Montreal shockingly will become the new Boardwalk, with Riga, Latvia as the new Park Place.

I'm not sure how Montreal became the most expensive real estate (over London, Paris and New York?) but I guess kudos to Hasbro (the folks behind Monopoly) for sticking to the results of the voting by fans. Still, if it was really based on a list of world cities, I highly doubt Riga, Kyiv, Taipei and Gdynia (I had to look up where that is - it's in Poland) would ever make the list.

It's a bit disappointing - but at least two other Canadian cities made the list: Vancouver (as the new New York Ave) and Toronto (as the new Virginia Ave). But no South American cities? or any other American cities other than New York? a bit shocking.

The board game itself is pretty though - each block has a picture that features the city and around the blocks are pictures of the 68 cities that didn't make the list. Definitely a more worthwhile collector's item than other editions I think.

Here's the full list of 22 cities that made it into the game:

Dark Blue: Montreal, Riga
Green: Cape Town, Belgrade, Paris
Yellow: Jerusalem, Hong Kong, Beijing
Red: London, New York, Sydney
Orange: Vancouver, Shanghai, Rome
Magenta: Toronto, Kyiv, Istanbul
Light Blue: Athens, Barcelona, Tokyo
Brown: Taipei, Gdynia

I got 11/20 from my list - not too bad I guess! The game will be on sale starting August 26.

(Photo credit: Kris Abel/CTV)

Highlights from the Big Apple

August 19, 2008 - I'm back from spending three days in New York. As always, New York is just an awesome place to visit. It's every urban planner's dream of what a city should be like: the buildings, the crowds, the transit system. What I love most about New York is the fact that there is always something new to do. Despite my many visits to the city, I still have yet to visit the MET, or see a Broadway show, or go to the Bronx Zoo. It's a good thing that NYC is close by eh.

Anyway, Julie and I hit up the city - this time, it was more of a shopping trip. We are both broke now (she bought 3x as much as me though) but we had lots of fun. Here are some highlights:

- Shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue:

Normally I would not go inside this super duper expensive department store, but when you're shopping with someone as rich as Julie, 5th Ave is a must. Anyway, it was still fun looking and touching things that you can't afford. Favourite moment: the purple-suit salesman at the Prada section came up to me and said in a high pitch tone "'excuse me sir, THAT purse is $960". Err - thanks.

- Chanting USA-USA-USA in the middle of Times Square:

Turns out New Yorkers are watching the Olympics too. We were glued to the tv the whole time we were having dinner at Ruby Tuesdays near Times Square (we even cheered when Canada won its first swimming medal). As soon as we left the restaurant, we looked up one of those giant tv screens and saw Michael Phelps was getting ready for his last race (and to win his 8th gold medal). We stopped - and so did everyone: pedestrians, cars, buses - Times Square literally stood still. Amid chants of USA-USA-USA (we joined in too), flag-waving, and boos whenever the other countries were leading, we watched Phelps won his record-breaking 8th gold medal of the games.

- Getting stuck on the E train

We all bitch about the TTC, but honestly is the New York subway system any better? well yes and no - it's better cause it pretty much gets you to anywhere and everywhere that you want to go. Having said that, it's not like it's that much more reliable. There seems to be service changes on each and every single line and getting stuck on the train for whatever reason is part of the NYC subway experience. Then again, if the E train isn't running, you can always ride the A or the C - not like here, where if the Yonge train stops running, transit hell breaks loose.

- Grand Central Terminal

Wow. It's probably the most beautiful train stations I have ever been to (including the ones in Europe!). Absolutely stunning - the grand hall, with the sky ceiling, is breathtaking. It was my first time to Grand Central. The station puts our Union Station to shame.

- View from the Empire State Building

Yeah, I've been up the Empire State many times now, but the view is still spectacular. This time, we went at night to see all the lights. Personally, I thought it was a bit dark, but the view is still very cool.

That's it from NYC this year. Not sure if I will visit again next summer (this summer was the third consecutive summer that I visited NYC), but with so much still left to see, who knows?

Off to New York

August 15, 2008 - I'm off to New York for the long weekend! This is becoming an annual thing, as I have been going to NYC around the same time in August for the past three years now. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. I wonder if the city is also caught in Olympics fever!

Watching the Beijing Olympics

August 13, 2008 - Unless you don't have own a tv, I would say that most people have at least watched parts of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I mean, how can one not? It's on tv for hours every night; it's making headlines everywhere; and watching hunky swimmers and gymnasts and kayakers (Adam van Koeverden!) in action certainly beats the idiots on Big Brother 10 and whatever else is going in tv-land.

The biggest story on these Olympics of course has been how China will showcase itself to the world. There have been a lot of negative press of course (Western media will always find something to bash China with), but with the focus now on the athletes, there have been a lot of great inspirational stories as well (NBC is great with the tearjerkers on the athletes' struggle). What I know so far from watching these Olympics is that no other Olympics in the foreseeable future will be as grand, as spectacular, and as human-intensive as these ones. The Olympics are China's coming-out party - an opportunity for it to earn a place in the world, at all costs. Be it shutting down traffic and factories, changing weather patterns with their rain-prevention methods, or building the most stunning Olympics venues, these truly are China's games, and they will not be denied of their glory.

So having said that, here are a few things so far about the games that I made me go: "only in China would they do that..."

1) CGI'd Fireworks at the Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony was probably one of the most spectacular live events ever in the history of television. That paper moving thing was stunning, though my favourite was the people dancing on those huge globes. What caught most people's attention was of course the stunning fireworks, which made me go WOW when I first saw it (and I didn't even sit through the entire ceremony!). Of course, now we know that some of what we have seen was actually fake - the part with the giant footprints entering the stadium was computer generated and inserted into the live tv footage. China was not going to let poor lighting and low visibility get in the way of wowing the world with its fireworks!

2) Lip-synching 9 year old girl

In addition to the fake fireworks, the opening ceremony also featured a lip-synching 9 year old girl. Olympics organizers loved the girl, but her voice was terrible. They found a 7 year old girl with a great voice, but she was deemed not "pretty enough because of her buck teeth" for the world. So when the 9 year old took the stage in front of billions around the world to sing "Ode to the Motherland", instead of her own voice that came out, it was actually a track recording of the7 year old. Wow. China was not going to let buckteeth ruin it's perfect Olympics!

3) The Bird Nest and the Water Cube

Olympics architecture have always been stunning but the Bird Nest and the Water Cube are now attractions in their own right. Only China would have the billions to spend on these venues that will no doubt become architectural wonders. So a dozen neighbourhoods got destroyed and thousands of people were forced to relocate - but to the Chinese, it's all for the common good of hosting the perfect Olympics.

4) The Fake Cheerleaders

In order to fill all the empty seats in all events, the Beijing organizers gave away free tickets to these professionally trained cheerleaders so that they could "liven up" all events. These cheerleaders, often women in their 50s, were taught how to cheer, clap, and use certain props (like air batons) at the right time. You see them in all sorts of events: women's soccer, rowing, beach volleyball - as they stand out in the crowd with their yellow and red uniform (yes, they wear a uniform). When CBC asked one of them if they know what they are watching and who's playing (it was a Canada-Sweden soccer match), the lady said she has no clue and was hired simply to cheer. Now that to me is a great part time job!

5) The (allegedly) underage gymnasts

Sure, all their documentations say they are 16, but to me, some of the members of the Chinese womens gymnastic team sure looks young. I mean, I know Asians look young generally (I'm a good example), but these girls just look a bit - umm - underdeveloped for 16. Whether they are 14 or 16, what's important I guess is that they are still kicking ass out there on those equipment.

More to come over the upcoming week with additional thoughts on watching the Beijing Olympics. Now if only Canada would win some medals, that would be great!

(Photo credit: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Where Did The Summer Go?

August 3, 2008 - AUGUST 3rd? How could it be August 3rd already? seriously, where did the summer go? Looking back, I can't remember what I have done so far this summer. Well okay, I took a course in AutoCAD, I went to Seattle (but that was in May), and that's pretty much it. I guess it doesn't help that work has been insanely busy (for those who think government workers just sit around and work from 10-3, please come see me and work with me for a day). Honestly though, I feel like I'm wasting the summer by not being outside and enjoying the sun.

So for August, I'm vowing to spend as much time outdoors as possible and not have any weekend where I just bum around at home and not doing anything. The sun is too precious to just admire from inside. I have a couple of short trips lined up this month: NYC (again!) and Pittsburgh, plus a couple of other things like the Taste of the Danforth and the Ex. Not to mention the Olympics start in a couple of days and I know I will probably watch a lot of that too! I guess you can say I'm making one last desperate attempt to hang on to summer.