The joy of hockey

I've always been a huge fan of sport. Not playing it, really, except for the occasional game of beach football or cricket - watching it.

My parents are the same way, and together we watched every single summer and winter Olympics, Wimbledon, Grand National, and every England football and rugby game ever played. (I never could get into watching golf or cricket, but my Dad can watch those games for days at a time). I have very fond memories of my Mum shouting "stop him, tackle him, KILL HIM!!!" at the English rugby team, of going to my first few Newcastle United games with my Dad, and of being allowed to stay up way past my bedtime on a school night to watch France play Brazil in the world cup, against my Mum's better judgement.

My love of sport continued when I left home. I remember the only girl on my corridor in halls of residence who had a TV cramming 12 people into her tiny room to watch England play Scotland in the six nations rugby. I remember Michael Owen scoring against Argentina, and hearing the cheer from every house on the street. I remember going to a pub in Glasgow with a Greek friend to see England beat Greece, and my friend not buying a single pint all night after all the Scots realised he was from the country playing England. I remember barely sleeping during the early stages of the 2002 FIFA world cup, choosing to watch the 11:30 pm, 1:30 am and 4:30 am games and then go to the beach to drink a coffee before work instead. (I slept between 6 pm and 11 pm. I do not recommend this).

I remember the sense of unity and common purpose from a living room or a bar or a stadium full of people supporting their team, collectively holding their breath before rising to their feet with a mighty cheer.

I moved to Vancouver on Superbowl Sunday, 2002. I flew through the States, and the American Airlines pilot provided frequent score updates over the intercom (with warnings to cover our ears if we didn't want to know). I didn't know the names of the teams and the players; I didn't understand the pilot's terminology; I was clueless as to the progress of the crucial Newcastle vs. Manchester United match that was also on that day.

I felt a long, long way from home.

BUT!

The Salt Lake City winter Olympics started in the first week of my new job. I watched the events on TV on my lunch breaks, and found it to be a great way to break the ice and meet my new colleagues. I quickly realised that hockey is THE sport in this town, and that if I wanted to feel the familiar unifying power of sport in my new home, this was the one to follow.

Now, I really do not like being lost and confused in a sea of unfamiliar rules. I need to know what's happening, and why. I didn't have my own computer and therefore had no opportunity to read up on the rules of the game, but I picked up little bits and pieces between flat hunting and getting into my new project. I still couldn't follow the puck (too damn fast), but felt that I was ready to watch the gold medal game (Canada vs. USA) with my brand new flat mates.

Well, I was wrong.

About halfway through the second period, my new roomie couldn't take my questions ("How does the offside rule work? Which of these guys play for Vancouver? Why was that a penalty? What does icing mean?") anymore.

He threw me out to walk the streets.

Well, technically, he explained that this was too important a game to be spending so much time explaining the rules to a n00b, and suggested that I explore my new neighbourhood, with the beach as the ideal destination. "It's really nice down there, eh? Just think how you'd feel if this was the world cup of soccer with England playing and a Canadian asking you too many questions".

He had a point, and so I wandered through the eerily deserted streets to the beach. The sad-looking people clustered around a radio in Starbucks were astonished to see a customer, but understood when they heard my accent and laughed (but then sympathised) when they heard my story. I had the whole of Kits beach to myself, too, and really did have a very pleasant time in the sunshine.

Until suddenly, there was a roar...

Hundreds and thousands of people burst onto the streets! They were wearing Team Canada shirts, waving hockey sticks, and hollering at the top of their lungs! Six strangers hugged me within ten minutes! A guy dressed as a beaver in a hockey jersey was standing on his head in the middle of the road, kicking his feet in the air! I was handed a beer! Ten more people hugged me! We started jumping up and down and singing! The police arrived, and people high-fived them! We shut down traffic at a major intersection for over an hour!

Even though I didn't see the whole game, I will never forget my first ever Olympic hockey final in Canada. It was the first time I realised I was going to feel right at home in Vancouver.

Over the years I've learned the rules, the players, the terminology, and yes, I can now follow the puck. I've been to one or two Canucks games a year, a couple of Giants games, and (last week!) two Olympic hockey games. I've even operated the scoreboard and timer at a friend's amateur game. We watch games in living rooms and in bars, but almost always with friends. On a dark and miserable November Tuesday, there's nothing like getting together to watch a Canucks game on the TV. And when the playoffs or the Olympics are on, the whole city shuts down to watch.

I love this game.

On Friday, we watched Team Canada hang on by the skin of their teeth in the last few minutes against Slovakia. We groaned and sweated and gasped and swore and watched from behind our hands as the puck ricocheted around in our zone with five seconds left... four... three.. two... one... and then the whole room exploded in a cacophony of air horns, whistles, shouts, and cheers.

Today, we play the USA for the gold medal.

The 2010 winter Olympics have united this city like never before. The atmosphere on the streets is simply amazing; there's a positive energy in the air that even those of my friends who are hardened cynics, and were against the games until the day they started, have noticed and enjoyed. The city may well have changed - for the better - for good.

But really, it's all about the hockey. We have more gold medals than any other nation... but it's all about the hockey. Everything has been building towards, everyone has been waiting for, today's game, and if Canada wins, this place is going off.

The USA have already beaten us once, fair and square. BUT we didn't have Luongo in net for that one, and this time it's for all the marbles. The extra game against Germany seemed to help us gel as a team, and the comprehensive destruction of Russia in the quarter final was a beautiful thing to see. With all due respect to my American readers, you have a great team and an outstanding goalie, but this story has Hollywood Ending written all over it and I think the home team has the edge.

Unfortunately, almost my entire core group of friends was struck down by what was probably a norovirus this week. I'm taking forever to recover fully, and Mr E Man only just got sick yesterday, so the party will be more sober than expected. BUT we are all still hugely excited to get together at a friend's house and cheer for Canada at the top of our lungs. We might even hear the roar from the stadium through the window!

If we win, and if we're all feeling well enough, we'll do our best to join the party that is sure to break out on every street!

GO CANADA GO!

Curling rocks!

Well, it's modestly entertaining. But rocks made a better pun.

As I think I mentioned a while ago, we bought curling tickets for two reasons: it was Team GB's best medal hope, and the venue is walking distance from our house. Unfortunately Team GB finished out of the medals in both the men's and women's events, but we didn't know that on the night last week when we walked out of our front door and headed to the men's preliminary rounds.

The great thing about Canada is the number of dual citizens. At both hockey games we went to we saw people carrying flags of both of that match's teams, but I went a little further than that...

This was the night of the Canada-Switzerland hockey game, and like us a lot of people left the house at the last possible minute. As a result the security line-up was much longer than at our other events. There were some Swiss fans behind us, and there was a lot of friendly banter within our section of the crowd as several people kept us up to date with the action via some rather long phone calls with their friends watching TV elsewhere. The penalty shoot-out started as we reached the densest part of the queue, and the atmosphere was electric. When we (finally) won the game, there was much cheering and singing and friendly mocking of the Swiss, who busted all stereotypes by taking it all in good humour.

As I said to Mr E Man, listening to the hockey shoot-out results while waiting to get into the curling is the most Canadian thing I've ever done.

Once inside, we realised that the venue had been set up in a very smart way. The permanent structure holds the four curling lanes (rinks? I don't know the terminology), the seats, a couple of bathrooms and a handful of concession stands. This is all that this venue will ever need once the Olympics are over, and clearly it would have made no sense to build it to Olympic proportions and then have it only half full for all subsequent events. To manage the Olympic crowds, huge tents housing additional bathrooms and concession stands had been set up along each side of the building, effectively quadrupling the size of the place. The queues for food and beer were much shorter and better managed than at the two hockey venues (whoever thought it was a good idea to have the same people taking money, serving food and pouring beer should be fired forthwith) and we only missed the first twenty minutes or so of the session.

The bad thing about the venue was that the seats were really crammed in, leaving us both feeling rather claustrophobic, in the middle of a row with people touching us on all sides. There was literally no room to move or to put down a bag or a beer on the ground. Again I suppose that for future events they won't have a full house, but with every seat taken it was uncomfortable for me and borderline unbearable for Mr E Man. Luckily the couple next to him left after only an hour, otherwise I don't think I could have persuaded him to stay much longer!

GB and Canada were both playing that night, but not against each other, so I could freely cheer for both teams*. At first I had no idea what was going on and just waved the appropriate flag whenever other people did, but I got into it quite quickly (my ten minutes of reading the Wikipedia page on my lunch break earlier that day must have paid off). There were obviously some tactical subtleties that we were missing, though, judging by the reaction of the crowd and the conversation of the group of curling aficionados behind us!

While a single curling match has lots of down-time and can be quite slow, the great thing with this event was that there were four matches going on simultaneously, so there was always some action to watch. Here are the Norwegians in their famously snazzy pants, followed up the ice in an adjoining lane by their Danish neighbours:



and here are some photos of the pants

and of Team GB in action

 

HURRY! HURRY HARD!

In a way, watching the curling felt more Olympic-y than watching the hockey. We go to hockey games once or twice a year anyway (although the atmosphere was very different than at a Canucks or Giants game), but when - other than the Olympics - are you ever going to watch curling? (We quite fancy trying it though, in the same way that we get the urge to go ten-pin bowling about once every eighteen months).

Another surprise was the crazy crowd! There was a lot of chanting, singing, body painting, and general rowdiness (perhaps because of the shorter beer queues). Our Swiss friends from the security line-up were in fine voice,



but the real stars were the three Aussies in front of us who were trying to get a Mexican wave going (they were unsuccessful in the attempt below, but got a few going later), doing the "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy" chant (with many non-Australians joining in), collecting every empty beer cup from our section of the crowd to make sculptures, and generally trying to make sure that everyone was having just as good a time as them, despite Australia not even having a curling team in the tournament!



As the final stages of each game began, the tension mounted (no, really, it did). Canada forced France to concede before the actual official end of the game, and received a standing ovation, cheering, and general adoration. All the other games went right to the end, with GB beating Denmark with the last stone of the game. Even I could see that it was a really good shot, and the Canadian crowd obviously agreed, judging by their noisy appreciation. By the end only Sweden and China were still playing, with approximately one third of the thinning crowd shouting for each team, and the other third just enjoying the feeling of space as people around them left.

Overall it was fun, and I'm really glad we went, but I don't think I'm a convert! I might watch the men's final later, but only if there's nothing else better on.

Hockey, on the other hand... I had about five heart attacks in the last ten minutes of last night's game, but we held on for the win and meet the USA in the gold medal game tomorrow. Expect a post tomorrow morning about how I became a hockey convert!

GO CANADA GO!

--------------------

*When the two met later on in the tournament, I supported GB because Canada already has tons of medals and the Brits only have one - a gold in the women's skeleton

How unfortunate...

Ah, how I love word captcha.

Vancouver ROCKS!

There's a long and proud history in this city of people balancing rocks and building mini Inukshuks. On an average day, a stroll along the sea wall by False Creek or in Stanley Park will pass a dozen or so of these structures.

Now that the Olympics are here, however, we've taken inspiration from the last Olympic host city

Thanks, Beijing!

and have built ourselves a Terracotta Inukshuk Army!

Photos taken yesterday, by me, at False Creek by Science World.

 

  

There was a stretch of a good few hundred metres of shore line that looked just like this

Right after I took these photos, an official photographer from NBC Today asked to take a photo of me! It must have been my Team Canada hockey jersey - Team GB toque combination, because he asked me where I was from and which events I'd been to. If any of my American friends are still talking to me after today's hockey game, please let me know if you saw me on TV!

For Chall: Canada vs. Sweden

Our second Olympic event was Canada vs. Sweden in the preliminary rounds of the women's hockey, at the UBC Thunderbird Arena. As soon as I announced that I was going to this game, I was CHALLenged to a $20 bet. And so I made a video for one of my favourite commenters...



(not caught on film: Mr E Man almost peeing himself laughing when I walked into that guy, me explaining to that guy that I was making a video for a Swedish friend who'd bet $20 on the outcome of this game, and then that guy laughing and saying "good luck to your friend!")

Chall, I really did feel bad by the end... we all expected a much closer game. By the third period we were rooting for Sweden to get a goal (when they did, they got a good cheer from the whole crowd - the Swedish fans hadn't stopped cheering all game), and the one guy behind us who was attempting to trash talk and mock the Swedes shut up PDQ when no-one else joined in.

As the Swedish head coach said after the game, 

"Canada is the powerhouse of women's hockey. They have a coaching staff that is unbelievably good. They have worked with their players since the first of August to achieve another level of women's hockey and it happens every fourth year. Our team is much better than it was in Torino, but unfortunately Canada hasn't stopped developing".

This situation, with Canada and the US so dominant over the rest of the field, really isn't good for the game. I hope the other teams get a chance to catch up over the next four years and make the preliminary rounds a bit more interesting in Sochi.

On the other hand, it is fantastic to see how much support the women's game gets in Canada. I'd been to a couple of women's team games in England (football and field hockey), and expected the crowd in Vancouver to be a similar mix of women, children, and school groups - but really, the makeup of the crowd was very similar to the one at the men's game the day before. There were lots of groups of men (including two guys in full body fluffy bunny outfits, with a sign saying "Canadian puck bunnies"), and the level of support (including chanting, flag waving, sign making, face & body painting, clapping, stomping, and celebrating) was just the same. And there was such a demand for tickets that the semis and medal games will be in the much larger GM / Canada Hockey Place.

Chall, I will hold you to your bet... but would you mind directing the $20 to my fundraising efforts rather than to me? The fundraising campaign is not going quite as well as the Canadian women's quest for gold!

Thanks for playing, and I hope you are taking comfort in the strong showing so far by Sweden's male hockey players!

Best birthday EVAH?

Well, my 18th and 30th were pretty spectacular. But my 33rd was right up there with them.

After working in the morning, I walked over the Cambie Street bridge at lunchtime to meet Mr E Man downtown, taking photos of the athletes' village as I went:

Hooray for the Aussies and their boxing kangaroo flag!

We had lunch and a couple of brewskis while watching the US-Switzerland game and chatting to some hockey fans from Calgary and Montreal:

 

and we left for the game with two hours to spare, having heard stories of crazy security line-ups. The walk down there was incredible - the atmosphere I mentioned from the weekend seemed to have intensified by a factor of several hundred as the men's hockey tournament got underway, and the streets were seething with red. Everyone was smiling, laughing, singing, and chanting, and the few Norwegian fans we met (most of them wearing Viking helmets) were being embraced and having their photos taken with Canadian fans.

We got through the airport-style security in record time:

and joined the happy crowd of people waiting to be allowed into the stadium. As we got closer, a member of the crowd announced local girl Maelle Ricker's gold medal in the snowboard cross, and crowd just went crazy as the news was relayed by a series of big strapping men with very loud voices!

As we finally made it up the stairs to our gate, we stopped to look back down at the crowd behind us. It was a simply amazing sight:

The atmosphere inside... well, words fail me. It was spine tingling, it was unlike anything else I've ever experienced. Here's some video, because my verbal descriptions just won't cut it.



After a tense and scoreless first period, we ended up winning 8-0!

GO CANADA GO!

You should have heard the cheer when local favourite Roberto Luongo's name was announced... he didn't have much to do, but we all shouted "LUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!" every time he touched the puck anyway.

Happy birthday to me!

We headed out of the stadium and into the streets. Thousands of fans were celebrating, high fiving each other, random passersby, the cops, you name it! The singing and chanting were even louder than on the way in. 

We obviously needed to celebrate, but where to go?! The bars and pavilions we passed were all full to bursting, and the queue for LiveCity Yaletown was beyond ridiculous (as it turns out, not getting in on this particular night was a good thing. Such a shame that a few idiots ruined it for everyone). So we jumped on an Aquabus and headed for Granville Island.

The Atlantic Canada pavilion?

Full.

Swiss house?

Full. But we did get to see the Olympic light show:

and also the reception the awesome Swiss fans gave to Olivia Nobs, who'd won a bronze in the snowboard cross earlier that day, as she arrived at the docks by boat:



Giving up on the crazy line-ups at all the Granville Island venues, we hopped onto the free tram that's running from the Island to the athletes' village for the duration of the games, then walked to Science World, which has been taken over by the Russians as they showcase their preparations for Sochi 2014.

Sochi house?

Closed. Our best guess: either it was reserved for the Russian team to watch the Russia-Latvia hockey game on TV inside, or all the staff were actually at the game!

Quebec house?

Full.

The Sasketchewan Pavilion?

 

Yay! We finally got in somewhere!

Before the band started, we were hoping to catch some live event updates on the big screen, but instead we got to learn a lot about lentils, potash, and quartz. Did you know that Saskatchewan produces more potash than anywhere else in the world? And that lentils are high in fibre and protein?! Well, you do now - never say that I don't teach you anything!

Several people we met at the bar were discussing the lentil infatuation, but when the band started, everyone started dancing instead, and forming impromptu human pyramids:

If you do this in Saskatchewan, the person on top can see all the way to Winnipeg! 

No, seriously, it was a really fun party, and a great end to the day. I was also HUGELY impressed by the portaloos out back. Having been to many a music festival, campsite, and sporting event, I know what I'm talking about here, and these were the best I've ever seen. Not only did they have a proper flush toilet inside (with a fancy foot-operated pump), they also had lights, heating, running water, soap, and carpets! Very impressed.

The Weekend I Sang in Public… or How to Go Out in Public Covered in Maple Leaves and Fit Right In

Guest post by Mermaid!

Last weekend my husband and I had the immense pleasure of spending three days in Whistler attending a number of Olympic events.  We arrived with our mandatory cheering outfits – including jackets with the Canada flag, red wool mittens and red toques complete with a maple leaf.

Our first event was Ski Jumping and we arrived with hours to spare. We had expected long lines for bus and security, but in fact everything was remarkably efficient.  To fill the hours before the jumping start, we wandered around the venue, convinced ourselves that a morning treat of a hotdog was the healthiest option available and just enjoyed watching the crowd.  The announcers kept us entertained with information about the sport and stories about the competitors. The crowd was ready to cheer. Just look at all that red. Who would have expected that I would be underdressed?

Ski jumping is crazy. These men hurl themselves down a hill at ~90km/hour and then fly through the air for ~100 m.  Check out the man flying below.  He appears as a tiny speck against the long landing field. The red lines mark 95 and 105 meters. Most people land between the lines. The leader after this round landed at 109 meters, way past the line onto the flatter part of the course.  The trick is to jump far but land with style. Judges award points for style and it isn’t always the farthest jumper that wins.

When jumping, these guys are basically flying squirrels. They are all arms and legs and baggy pants. Apparently, there are regulations on minimum body fat and maximum clothing bagginess. One poor guy got sent home for having pants that were too baggy. Imagine having to explain to your country and sponsors that you couldn’t compete because your pants were too big.

Friday night we joined several hundred other people in the town centre to watch the opening ceremonies. It was amazing!  Enormous video screens were playing the opening ceremonies, and there were local live hosts that added their own content.  The highlight was our own personal parade of athletes, with all Canadian athletes who chose to skip the Vancouver ceremonies coming onstage to the adoration and cheering from the crowd. The Whistler Children’s Choir led the crowd in singing our national anthem.  Everyone sang. Even I sang.  I haven’t sung in public since my two year old niece very sweetly asked me to stop singing her lullabies – this should give you some idea how moving the moment was. I know that people in Vancouver at the actual ceremony participated in something special. However, I would not have traded this moment for anything.

 

 

Athletes in their parade.

 

Tight security keeping fans a reasonable distance away. Note inclusion of a mountie in the picture for the delight of Cath. 

Saturday started disappointing, with the postponement of the Men’s Downhill race which was the event we were most excited for.  We ended up going to the village for lunch and staying for nearly 5 hours, just walking around and enjoying the crowd. Everywhere you looked there were video screens showing the games, bands and groups working the crowds, and just huge numbers of people, all supporting their favourite country. I loved the group of Swiss supporters who were dressed as cows with their faces painted in flags – wearing real Swiss cowbells around their necks.  The Polish contingent was very strong too – lots of horns and good natured cheering.  I have been in Whistler when it was crowded before, but I have never seen such a good natured group.
 

 

Huge screens at the lifts showing live events.

5 piece drum band working the crowd 

People everywhere.  The town centre complete with stage and screens. 

The final day was the final 2 runs of the Luge. I thought the jumping was crazy, but the Luge is insane.  Luge athletes are insane.  These are people who strap on full body skates, protect themselves in lycra and helment and hurl themselves down a steep tube of ice at over 140 km/hour, a speed that scares me when comfortable in a car with seatbelts and air bags.  I was saddened by the death of the athlete earlier in the week and have great sympathy for his family….….but this is NOT a safe sport.  To give you an idea of how fast 140 km/hour really is, check out the video below.  12 seconds of video, with ~11.8 seconds of grey ice and a flash of color as the rider flies by.  As a spectator, you mostly you watch the screen and wait for the luge move onto the portion of curve where you can see him.  It is insane.  Great fun to watch and definitely more impressive in person than on TV.  But still insane.  I don’t even want to think of how insane Skeleton athletes are.




The Luge was the end of my weekend in Whistler. There is no way to accurately describe the experience. I can only hope that everyone who had the chance to watch an event had as great a time as we did. If I ever get the opportunity again, I am taking more time off and going to more events. I can’t complain, however, as my next event is the Men’s Hockey: USA vs Canada.  I think I need to wear more Maple Leafs (Leaves?).

We are in our seats!!!

50 minutes to game time!

HOLY FREAKING CRAP, I am AT THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!!!

Hockey pool, week 20

It was Chall's week this week: she led the pool in points,

and reclaimed third place from ScientistMother.

Hopefully not an omen for the Olympic hockey tournaments!

Speaking of which - may the best teams (men's and women's) win be Canadian! Here's hoping for a couple of really great tournaments. The NHL hockey pool updates will be back in a couple of weeks...

Happy birthday to me!

33 is a nice friendly, symmetrical number; can I stop here, please?

To celebrate my birthday, I am launching my big 2010 fundraising campaign!

In June, I'm going to spend a weekend cycling from Vancouver to Seattle to raise money for the BC Cancer Foundation as part of the Ride to Conquer Cancer. The final route is still TBD, but will be something like 250 km / 150 miles over two days. Oh, and did I mention I only have a hybrid, rather than a road bike? (Yes I am crazy). The longest ride I've ever done was 60 km in one day, for the MS Society; I did that without any training at all, but this is a different beast altogether and I will be putting in some serious clicks between now and June!

FULL DISCLOSURE:

I work for the BC Cancer Agency, who will be the ultimate recipients of the money raised. The money is all going to support our research efforts, rather than our publicly-funded treatment centres.

A couple of years ago I wrote about the difference in culture between the BCCA, where many of the staff and trainees raise money to support the institute, and my PhD institute in Scotland, where people were more than happy to donate to, say, a cancer hospice, but were reluctant to raise money for their employer.

So, what convinced me that my Canadian colleagues have it right?

Well, my PhD and postdoc projects were almost completely divorced from any clinical impact. But my new colleagues' research is very, very different. I work with people doing some simply amazing work in cancer genomics, and I'm involved in some other outstanding translational and clinical research projects. (I wish I could tell you about some of the other awesomeness emanating from our labs and clinics, but until it's published, that's just not possible). For the first time in my career, I have more contact with cancer patients than just seeing them in the canteen when I pop into the clinical building to grab some lunch, and I have a much better understanding of how my colleagues' work can and will result in better diagnostic and treatment options.

In the last couple of years I've also seen several relatives, friends, and colleagues (and their kids) diagnosed with cancer, and a few of them have either died or have incurable metastases.

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

In order to take part in the ride, I need to raise at least $2,500. This is almost as daunting as the length of the ride, and hence I am asking my awesome blog readers to help out!

Now, I'm not just asking for money, and I'm not expecting people to give without receiving anything in return. I know a lot of my readers are students and postdocs on minimal salaries, and so I would be very grateful for any "in kind" donations such as arts/crafts/services I can use as raffle/auction prizes, unwanted books I can sell at yard sales etc. And I am also in need of advice on how to train and how to fundraise! Even a link or tweet directing your own readers to this post would be greatly appreciated.

If you can afford to make a cash donation, I would love to give you something in return. Here are the options I've thought of so far, but please feel free to suggest more ideas!

• For $50 I will write you a personalised limerick (and post it on one/both of my blogs with a comment saying how awesome you are, if you wish)
• For $100 and up I will answer a question, write a blog post, complete a challenge, or do a silly / embarrassing / amusing thing, of your choice, and I will post photographic and/or video evidence on the internet as required. This item is AT MY SOLE DISCRETION!!! I will not do anything illegal, dangerous, creepy, or potentially damaging to professional reputations (my own or others'), or anything else that I just do not want to do, for any reason at all. I also reserve the right to negotiate my price... for example, I might, say, dump a tub of ice-cream over my head for around $100. I might consider shaving my head... but it's gonna cost you somewhere around the region of $2,000. (You can, of course, go in with other donors to make up the total). If you're interested in this option, please contact me (blog comments or email: vwxynot [at] gmail) with your idea and suggested price, and we can discuss it BEFORE YOU DONATE!!!
• I could also potentially proofread or edit your manuscript or grant proposal in exchange for donations, but my ability to a) understand it properly and b) do the work without causing a conflict of interest in my day job would depend on your field and nation of residence. As above, please contact me before donating!

You can view my personal page and make donations here.

This will be the only time this year or next year that I ask for donations. 2012 and onwards... well, it depends on how my legs feel when we get to Seattle!

Thank you in advance for your donations, advice, link love, and good luck vibes!

Right, I'm off to work and then to the Canada-Norway hockey game. Let's hope Team Canada can give me a win for my birthday!

If anyone's watching the game on TV, I'll be the one in the red shirt.

The whales!

From Friday's opening ceremony:



Was that awesome or what??!!

Much, much less awesome was the item on the local news last night saying that due to days of warm, heavy rain, the general admission (standing) spectators' area for today's snowboard cross event was deemed unsafe, and tickets for that area were cancelled. For those of you who were wondering; yep, those were our tickets. We're obviously gutted, especially since Canada went on to win a silver medal (and came oh so close to gold), and watching it on the TV just wasn't the same.

Ah well, at least we found out last night, rather than this morning at the bus stop. (We'd gone over to North Vancouver for a sleepover at our friends' house; they live two blocks from the Cypress Mountain bus departure point, and walking there from their place for our 8:25 am bus seemed like a better option than taking the bus, SkyTrain and Sea Bus on the first morning rush hour of the games! We came home as soon as we verified the cancellation on the internet, to sleep in our own bed rather than on an uncomfortable sofa). And it must suck way more for the ticket holders who'd come from out of town.

Tonight is a much needed quiet night. Even when I was 18 I couldn't handle more than two party nights in a row, and, well, I've had three in a row since the Games began! Mr E Man has gone to see a band downtown with a couple of friends, but I'm chillin' with the cats in the name of saving myself for tomorrow, which is going to be a big, big day!

I realise I'm well behind with regular features such as Bragging Rights Central and the hockey pool update; I'll try to get that done tomorrow, sorry! Just too much other stuff going on...

Welcome to Funcouver!

As much as I love this city, it can't half be a negative, no-fun place sometimes.

But not this week.

Friday's ceremony was spectacular, exceeding all of my expectations. We watched in a pub full of people, the walls bedecked with flags from all over the world, and clapped and cheered at our favourite parts.

I couldn't find a YouTube video of my absolute favourite part - Shane Koyczan's rendition of his "We Are More" poem - so here he is in an earlier performance, reciting the whole poem in front of the Vancouver cityscape instead. I also loved the orcas, but I couldn't find a clip of that either! Hopefully you all saw it on the night...

My British friend and I leaped to our feet and cheered Team GB when they came out. Everyone looked at us. But then the whole pub did the same for Team Canada, and the owner and his son came in with air horns and massive Canadian flags on hockey sticks, to rapturous applause. I loved the fiddling, I loved KD Lang, I loved that they chose four people to light the flame simultaneously. I love that my iPhone autocorrected my first spelling attempt to the correct form, Gretzky. (I think he should have smiled more though).

I really love that when we saw the fireworks light up the TV screen, everyone ran to the window to watch them in real life.

What a contrast to the destructive douchebags who rioted and smashed windows yesterday morning. I think the anti-Olympic movement just lost a lot of the support that the (much larger group of) peaceful protesters had earned over the last few months, and on opening night. What a shame that maybe 20 people - probably not all from Vancouver, and probably not proposing any constructive solutions to the problems they're using as an excuse to riot (I haven't heard any, anyway) - got to define the agenda like that.

It's so much easier to be destructive than creative.

Anyway... moving on. We decided that those cowardly mask-wearing fuckers were not going to deter us from having fun, and set off for downtown with our Team Canada shirts and British flags. The SkyTrain was packed, but amazingly, people were chatting to strangers and having fun. This never happens in Vancouver.

Arriving downtown, we set off to find the Olympic flame. There were tens of thousands of happy people down there, wearing their team colours, being asked if they needed help by Olympic volunteers, and packing every cafe, restaurant and bar.

The Olympic flame, as lit by The Great One on Friday

 
The first photo was taken on maximum zoom, through the fence. At a weird angle due to the crowds pushing into my back. We were very disappointed that they wouldn't let us get any closer.

This photo was taken by Kyrsten, with me leaning backwards over a small child to try and get into the shot!

We tried to get into some of the pavilions, but the average line-up was over an hour. No worries - we have two weeks, and we'll try again on a week day rather than on the first Saturday of the Games! And it was great just being downtown. Many of the streets have been turned into pedestrian boulevards, there were street food stalls and buskers everywhere, public art, music... and did I mention tens of thousands of happy people wearing their team colours and having a great time?!

Just a really fun, positive atmosphere.

We retired to a pub to watch the qualifying rounds of the women's moguls, and to watch the Canadian women's hockey team destroy Slovakia in a decisive and frankly rather embarrassing manner. The people at the next table were all wearing Team USA jackets, but cheering for one specific Canadian player. Turns out their daughter is on the US team, and plays on the same club team as the Canadian! They said they were having a great time, loving Vancouver, and loving the Olympics.

In another pub later on, we saw Jen Heil win Canada's first medal, a very creditable silver. We're still waiting for our first gold on home turf (or snow), having failed in Calgary and Montreal... but there's still lots of time, and we will be glued to our screens for the women's 3,000 metre speed skating at 1pm. One of our medal hopes is a friend's cousin. GO CANADA GO!

I hope you're all enjoying the Games too!

Carpe Diem

OMG guys, I am so fucking excited! The opening ceremony is TONIGHT! We have reservations to watch it on the big screen at our favourite pub at 6pm, and I honestly don't know how I'm going to be able to focus on my very important all day meeting with potential new collaborators.

I've heard the ceremony's going to be pretty damn spectacular - after the ice fishing debacle in Torino we all knew it was going to be cheesy, but didn't know if it was going to be good cheesy or embarrassing cheesy. People I know who've been to the dress rehearsals say it's the former, so that's good. And there will almost certainly be mounties in dress uniform, which is obviously even better.

To help us get in the mood, a group of us went to watch the torch relay come through Vancouver City Hall yesterday, a few blocks from work.

City Hall, looking almost as fancy as my bike

There was a massive crowd despite the cold and the rain, and the atmosphere was electric. On the news each night for the last 105 nights, we've seen the torch weaving its way across Canada - they've managed to get it to within an hour's drive of 90% of the population, which is no mean feat in a country this big and this cold - and when it finally entered the city of Vancouver yesterday, it made everything feel so much more real.



Sorry about the dodgy camera work - I was trying to balance on a rather narrow and wet wall!

And suddenly, there it was! This was as close as I could get, I'm afraid:

 

And then it was gone... heading South on Cambie Street towards BC Children's Hospital, where I'm sure it brightened the day of some sick kids.

The crowds have been getting bigger every day

The relay continues today; a big group of people from my lab is taking a super long lunch break at Granville Island to see the torch come through there and get loaded onto a dragonboat for its journey downtown. Unfortunately, my all-day meeting means I can't join them, but I'll make sure I get a seat near the window of the North-facing 15th floor meeting room and will try to catch another glimpse as the torch passes us again.

So: tonight is the opening ceremony, Saturday (and maybe Sunday) will involve some pavilion crawling (my friend who briefly appears in the video above is a big Guinness fan and wants to try the Irish House first), and we're attending sporting events on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. There's a rumour that Stephen Colbert will be hosting a couple of live shows that will be open to all - so we'll obviously be looking into that too!

I will of course be blogging everything (eventually, when I get time! For the latest news, try Twitter - you don't need to sign up in order to read my updates), and I'm also hoping that Mermaid (currently in Whistler to catch her first events) will provide a guest post or two for a different perspective.

I wish all my lovely blog friends could be here - it is so fucking exciting!!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!

For ScienceGirl

EcoGeoFemme's virtual baby shower is such an awesome idea!

I don't have kids myself, but over the last few months I've seen two of my best friends become mothers. They're really growing into their new roles, and their daughters are two very lucky little ladies!

ScienceGirl's daughter will be, too.

One of the most important things I've learned from friends and family about parenting is the importance of teamwork and a united front - at least in front of the children! One pair of in-laws, in particular, have this down to a fine art. They share all the chores, they take it in turns to read the bedtime stories, and their sons know beyond the shadow of a doubt that if one parent says "no", there is absolutely zero point in asking the other.

Now, ScienceGirl obviously has a kick-ass husband who will do his share of the parenting. But not everyone is so lucky... one of my new-mum friends sent me this chain email earlier this week, which made me laugh and makes for a nice virtual baby shower gift!

ScienceGirl, this is for you... and for all the stay-at-home parents (mums AND dads) out there!

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A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pyjamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and 20 wrappers strewn all around the front yard.

The door of his wife's car was open, and so was the front door to the house, and there was no sign of the dog. Proceeding into the entry, he found an even bigger mess. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall. 

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door.

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife curled up in bed in her pajamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went.

He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?'

'Yes,' was his incredulous reply.

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

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Pimp my ride

There's been a sudden proliferation of car flags in the last few days, and I was feeling a bit left out.

Duct tape FTW!

People are also displaying flags in their windows and front gardens - mostly maple leafs, but I've seen various others too - and putting their Christmas lights back up. Mostly the red and white ones. Everywhere I look there are out-of-province license plates, tourists taking photos of random stuff like mail boxes and street signs, and people wearing official jackets (athletes, support team, and international media). There are helicopters circling over my work for much of the day, the torch is getting closer and closer, and the excitement is building!

Vancouver sometimes feels like it's a long, long way from everywhere. It's nice to be at the centre of the world for a change.

Hockey pool, week 19

This week's points:

Overall standings:

ScientistMother and That Damn Alyssa had a stellar week, with the former reclaiming third place from Chall and the latter consolidating her lead at the top.

The rest of us? Well, let's just say that the picks I've (hopefully) submitted for this week represent the biggest change to my team since they changed the player point values and I was suddenly way over the cap...

Only one more week before the Olympic break!

One week to go!

Excitement is building in the lead-up to the Olympics. I don't want to bore those readers with no interest in winter sports, but inevitably I am going to be blogging about the Games a LOT. I'll be focusing on the events themselves (especially the ones I'm going to!); the cultural events (although I'm hearing that it's going to be difficult to get in to the free concerts and parties); the buzz around town due to the invasion by athletes, supporters and media from all over the world; disruptions to traffic and other aspects of daily life; and my reaction to foreign media coverage of Vancouver (please send me links to any examples you spot in your local media!)

If you're not interested in any of the above, please come back in March! :)

Oh, and you still have a week to enter the pool. Choose the country (or countries) you think will get the most medal points per head of population (3 medal points for a gold, 2 for silver, 1 for bronze). Predict the final medal count as a tie-breaker.

Entries so far:

Cath: Canada: 8 gold, 7 silver, 5 bronze.

Cath: GB (purely out of a sense of obligation): 2 silver, 1 bronze

Bob: Finland: 1 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze

Alyssa: Germany: 10 gold, 14 silver, 5 bronze

Chall: Sweden: 3 gold, 3 silver, 4 bronze

Nina: Canada: 7 gold, 6 silver, 3 bronze

I don't always hit cyclists...

...but when I do, I prefer the 600 block of West 10th Avenue.

It is... the Most Dangerous Block In The World.

Here's an annotated map of my immediate surroundings. The compass points are where you'd expect them to be.

I cycle in from the East on the 10th Ave bike route, and turn right on Heather Street (another bike route) to get into my building (marked A). My commute is a total of about 6km, and I have a massively disproportionate number of my near misses with cars in the last block and a half of it . It is a very, very busy area in the mornings, especially now the Canada Line section of the SkyTrain is up and running. People are coming and going to work, the gym, the supermarket (access to the latter two sites is at the North-West corner of the green rectangle), trying to park before heading to the airport or downtown on the SkyTrain... and City Hall is just off the map to the East (I didn't include it because the image was already too wide).

More importantly, there's not enough off-street parking for patients coming to our clinical building over the road, and many of them use the metered parking on the surrounding streets. They might be coming in for a diagnosis, or for chemo, or radiation, and they're understandably anxious and distracted. This adds up to an awful lot of people pulling in and out of parking spots without checking for bikes. Add in the overflow of Vancouver General Hospital patients and visitors (including extremely anxious and distracted people who just got a call telling them to come to Emergency RIGHT NOW), plus ambulances coming and going from VGH and our clinical building, and you have a recipe for disaster. The only thing I could possibly do that is more dangerous than cycling my current route would be to turn right one block earlier and try to make a left turn from Ash Street, on a steep downhill slope, into the back alley where the door that leads to the bike room and showers is located.

Oh well, when I (almost inevitably) get hit, like several of my colleagues (cyclists and pedestrians) before me, at least there'll be lots of doctors around to help me. Which reminds me to be nice to my clinical colleagues, even though they're the last ones to get their CVs to me before a grant deadline again.

Principal Investigators Association

Does anyone have any experience with this organisation? Their website front page states that they are a not-for-profit organisation that is "helping leading researchers in all fields with their non-science duties and responsibilities" (emphasis theirs). I've somehow ended up on their mailing list, and get frequent emails with an advice column-style question and answer of the day. Some of it has been really good stuff, covering issues such as personnel and laboratory management. You know, the kinds of things that PIs are expected to know how to do despite never being offered any training.

Last week I was offered the chance to download a sample issue of the monthly newsletter, which usually costs $199 (members) or $267 (non-members) for 12 issues. The content was relevant and interesting, with some overlap with parts of my job description. It's a US publication, with a US-centric content, but most of the articles were more or less applicable to other countries. However, the majority of the articles were very similar to the posts I can read for free on the various Prof-blogs out there.

Does anyone have a subscription? Is it worth the money? Or is it aimed more at PIs who aren't familiar with the blogosphere?

(Realises that if the latter option is true, she's asking the wrong crowd. Decides to cross-post on her other blog to increase the chances of finding a blogosphere-savvy PI with a subscription).

Hockey pool, week 18

(ETA: this week's points

 

Is that OK, Bob, or do I need a chart too?)

Did anyone else see the Canucks-Leafs game on Saturday?! What a game!* The Canucks were 3-0 down at the end of the first and pulled Luongo, but came back to win 5-3. Burrows' shorthanded breakaway goal that started our comeback was a thing of beauty. The Sedins-Burrows line combined for 9 points (I got 7 'cos I don't have Henrik, but I got one for Ehrhoff too). What a perfect way to start the longest road-trip in NHL history!**

The trade that followed the game is an interesting one. Our first reaction was that getting Phaneuf out of Calgary is a good thing. When we looked at the full details I didn't know anything about some of the players involved, but Mr E Man groaned that "I think Calgary got the better end of this one". Not good for those of us that share their division... although apparently the defensive prospect Keith Aulie who went to Toronto is very highly rated.

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*Sorry Chall. But as a Swede, you must be excited about how the Sedin twins are performing going into the Olympics! I know I'll be scared of them if/when Sweden play Canada!

**Week night away games in Eastern time zones suck. They start at 4pm my time, and I don't usually get home until 6.30 or 7. And we've lost the remote for the PVR :(