With Glowing Hearts

It's over. It was great. I'll miss it. But I'll be glad to get back to the real world.

Today was incredible! We met up with my sisters and watched the hockey game at a restaurant on Broadway and Burrard. The crowd was into it. The streets were empty. It was insane! J cheered and cheered and waved her flag (we know she doesn't really understand, but hey, she had fun!). When Crosby scored that goal, the place went nuts. Absolutely nuts. And that was just the beginning. We paid our bill, sang the anthem when the hockey players got their medals and then walked across the Burrard Street bridge waving our flags.

And I have very little voice left.

Downtown was insanity! The streets were the opposite of empty and everyone was having a blast!

We returned to Rebecca's house via the no car Cambie Street bridge for the Closing Ceremonies on their big "screen." And I have to say I quite enjoyed the mime helping Catriona Le May Doan light her piece of the cauldron from the opening ceremony and the whole segment that was all about poking fun at Canada and Canadian stereotypes.

What a party...so off to bed super early and back to reality tomorrow.

And then...on March 12...the Paralympics!

PS pictures will be posted tomorrow...too tired tonight!

Earthquakes and Tsunamis

As I was leaving work yesterday, I heard there had been a 7.0 earthquake in Japan - that's all I heard and since I'd turned my computer off, I wasn't even sure where in Japan it was.

And then this morning when I got up I heard about the 8.8 earthquake in Chile. And the tsunami warnings for Hawaii and BC.

Scary stuff. I remember the Kobe earthquake in 1995 when I was going to school in Hawaii. We work up to the tsunami sirens - scary stuff. It was eerily quiet on campus too - no birds singing, no dogs barking. The whole day was heavy and horrible, people were on edge, lots of people didn't make it to school and, completely unrelated, a teacher had a massive heart attack, but when the tsunami hit it was tiny and barely noticeable - even if you knew what to look for.

I hope this earthquake turns out for the better - we also have a tsunami warning on the south coast, but we'll hopefully only see a change in currents.

Fingers crossed for my friends and their families in Japan, Chile and Hawaii. I'm thinking of you all...

EDIT: There's now a report of an earthquake in Argentina too. Oh Mother Nature, please be gentle!

Awesomeness!!

Go Red Mitten Flash Mob! I am loving the Olympics and all the fun surrounding them even more than I thought I would! Part of me wishes it would keep going after tomorrow (and part of me will be happy to get back to the regular world!)

Oh fun!

Oh yeah, the torch!

I said I'd post pictures of the torch relay at UBC and here we are, two days before the Olympics are over and I'm just getting to it...

mittens are all ready to go!

the crowd gathers in the pouring rain

Alexander and the giant umbrella

Guess who slept through the cheering, yelling, horn honking, flash mobbing and concert playing?

Shannon and Rebecca in the rain (this is very different from our Calgary Torch Relay experience!)

torch bearer bus

cute cheering kids

torch bearer - and it's still lit despite the horrible rain

police escort

more police escort

bookstore cheering squad

J's awake now. And the rain stopped. And it's all over. Figures!

It was fun even if it was wet! What an exciting time for us Vancouverites!

This is hilarious!

Make sure your sound is on - this Ashley Klinger sure knows how to pass the time at the airport (which is oddly completely empty!)

The most bizarre sensations

This post was originally published at Get Fit Chicks. It may refer to posts on Get Fit Chicks that no longer exist. Please email me if you run into any of those and I will break the links. More information about the reposting is available here

So, I’ve been for four acupuncture sessions now and wow, some of the sensations are bizarre! I haven’t noticed any changes yet, apart from an unconscious change in serving size when I serve my meals – smaller, not bigger.

The last couple of times I’ve been certain there were still needles in my feet when she was done, but no, they were all gone. The strangest thing is that the sensation of needles being in my feet increases the longer the needles have been out. As they are inserted I feel either pressure from the acupuncturist’s fingers or a slight pinch as it goes in. Once they’re in I don’t really notice that they’re there, but when she takes them out, wow, sometimes I really feel like they’re still there!

There are other crazy sensations too – the ones she puts in my abdomen sometimes make it feel like there’s a baby in there kicking (which there most certainly isn’t!)…the ones in my arms make my arms feel heavy…the ones in my legs seem to be “talking” to each other…sometimes they just kind of buzz. It’s good.

It’s only been three weeks…we’ll see if changes start happening!

Inspirational

Last night's short program by Joannie Rochette was probably the most inspiring and gut wrenching skating I've ever watched...I am amazed at her strength and determination, skating in the Olympics just days after her mother suddenly died.

Alex and I were talking about who might be chosen to carry the flag in the closing ceremonies and we pretty much decided that even if some of our skater win multiple medals she should be the one...regardless of how she places, she is amazing and would be the right choice for such an honour.

EDIT: Thursday, February 25 - BRONZE MEDALIST! She's amazing!

All that pressure

So the Canadian sports guys have finally acknowledged that we're not going to have the most medals at the Olympics (I thought maybe this was a bit ambitious, but hey, who am I?)...I'm hoping that means it will take the pressure off some of our athletes and they won't think they have to apologize for coming fourth or fifth. IN THE WORLD. No apology needed...I think we should be proud of them for qualifying and proud of them for placing well, not upset that they didn't medal (not that medals wouldn't be nice, but there's something to be said for personal bests and sportsmanship too!

Olympic Weekend Out and About

My parents came to town for the weekend to take in some of the Olympic festivities. We had a great time just being tourists.

not sure what it all means but it's obviously very important and very official

Italian-Canadian? Problem solved!

our cheerleader, decked out in Miga-wear

I stole this from Kelsey. We had dinner at Yew at the Four Seasons and Evgeny Plushenko showed up. We clapped. Kelsey stalked him to get a blurry picture of his back. It's all good!

the whole gang in the bobsled

count down clock counting up

welcome world

Kelsey and Kamiah

Alex the ski jumper

THE Flame

Live City Yaletown from the Granville Street Bridge

English Bay lasers and the Burrard Street Bridge

J and I met my parents and my aunt and uncle and hung out on Granville Island on Saturday. We went to the Place de la Francophonie for lunch. This sign was outside the door as we went in.

And here's our drinks...I was going to take pictures, but forgot because I was hungry, but we got food, there was a stroller parking area and pretty much everyone was in outside shoes, many that were not soft soled!

J loved the stilt dancers and danced away on Bop's shoulders!

patriotic puppy

We met my friend Mary Kay from Virginia (who I met at Our Chalet) for dinner. She was here with her fiance Kory (who we also met) and her mom and sister for her third straight Olympics. We said goodbye to them and they went off to a hockey game - their second of the day!

We weren't sure if these signs were suggesting women's ski jumping has no place in the Olympics or protesting that they aren't in the Olympics this time...this was it...no other indicators around.




What a weekend...we need a weekend to recover I think! And there is still almost a week of Olympics left and two weeks of Paralympics!

Hmmmm...

I think I saw him smile...