La vida no es justa

I have scoured the city for Spanish Language courses so that when I arrive in Madrid, I don't wander around helplessly, gesturing for everything that I want.

Sadly, all of the courses either started in January or will not be offered again until May (I come back May 5th).

I guess I could start watching Multi-Cultural TV. Or eat at Taco Bell more often.

Jane in Spain

I just booked myself on a trip to Sunny Spain. My sister has been living there for about 7 years now and I have never actually made it over to see her.

So, come April 19th, I'll be out of the country. Please leave your message after the tone.

Public Speaking

In my job, I am often called upon to speak about technology and communication to a wide variety of people. Some are early-adopting technical experts and some are slow moving laggards. Most of the time, the audience I speak to contain equal numbers of these groups, plus everything in between.

Creating presentations that don't put the tech-heads to sleep or fly over everyone else can be challenging, but I think I do a pretty good job. I don't get very nervous in front of an audience and I enjoy the feeling of being on stage.

My problem is the speed of my delivery. Usually, I am an excellent judge of time. In fact, I never wear a watch but have the ability to tell you what time it is within a few minutes. However, when I get up on stage, or in front of an audience, I completely lose all track of time.

I have this big presentation that I've been preparing for a few weeks now. I timed it over and over again, practising at home, to about 40 minutes. Every time I tried it, I would come out to 39, 40 or 41 minutes.

Today, as I was getting prepared, there were a number of technical difficulties that arose right at the last minute, which got me a bit flustered. Nevertheless, I went through the presentation without too much hassle. People were nodding, I was hitting the tech savvy crowd with enough highlights while keeping the newbies online. When I was done, I had some time to look at the computer clock and noticed that I had finished after just 22 minutes. I was 18 minutes ahead of schedule!

18 minutes! Have you ever tried to stretch an audience for 18 minutes? Not to mention the 10 minutes I was going to leave for questions at the end.

I have to learn to pace myself better.

Golden Maple

They did it! After 50 years, the Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team has once again captured gold, defeating Team USA by a score of 5 - 2.

A close match until the mid-way through the 3rd period, there were some very close calls and tense moments. Posts and crossbars were dinged, wide-open nets were missed and awesome saves were made at both ends of the rink.

GM Place was flooded in a sea of red and white as 9,000+ fans came out and cheered on the home team. It was a great feeling having all those people watching the 4 giant screens, screaming at the breakaways, cringing at the USA shots and erupting into a frenzy as we counted down the final 10 seconds.

Afterward, the streets were clogged with cars honking their horns and flying giant Canadian flags out the window. People were walking around with maple leafs and "Go Canada!" painted across their faces. The whole city seemed to have stopped what they were doing and joined the party.

I raced around and took pictures, draining my battery down to zero. As soon as I get it charged back up, I'll post them here.

Congratulations to all the athletes that participated for Canada in the 2002 Olympic Games!

A Big Day

It's a magnificent day outside! Perfect for one of the biggest hockey matchups in decades.

Some people have said this might be the biggest match of all time, right up there with the Russia - Canada series of 1972.

Go Team Canada!

Final Matchup

After crushing Belarus by a score of 7 - 1 this morning, Team Canada's final opponent would be decided by a USA - Russia match this afternoon. The American team started by building a solid 3-goal lead, and hung on to defeat Russia by a score of 3 - 2.

The final game, a rematch of the Women's final yesterday, will be Team Canada and Team USA battling for gold.

I hope Gretzky gets some of those gold-medal-winning Canadian women to give pointers to the Canadian men.

Go Team Canada!

Canadian Women are Gold

Now that was an exciting game!

By the end, I had chewed my fingernails so far down, I started to attack my toenails. I may have pulled a muscle trying to get to the pinkie toe.

I was amazed to see how well they played in the face of the officiating, which included a few questionable calls. The Canadian Women battled through 12 penalties, 8 of which were consecutive, and emerged victorious.

An excellent game! Canadian women kick ass!

Special Delivery

I just got home to find that my Team Canada Jersey was delivered today, just in time for the Women's Hockey Final against the USA.

Go Team Canada!

Don't Mess with Gretz

A few days ago, Wayne Gretzky lashed out against the media, condemning their desire to see Canada fall during the Olympics.

Some of the articles suggested the rant may have been contrived, while others considered it to be genuine, but nothing quite captures his emotions as well as this picture.

Shocker Result

When Sweden beat Canada in Olympic Men's Hockey, it was a surprise.

But Belarus upsetting Sweden? That's positively shocking!

Finland Times Two

In an odd fluke, the Canadian Men's and Women's teams play FInland in the Quarter Finals at the Olympics in Salt Lake City.

The Women's team dispated the Finns with a score of 7 - 3 after being down 3 - 2. They looked a little shaky out there for a while, but pulled it together for the 3rd period and sent the Finns packing.

Later today, the Men's team take on the Finns for a spot in the Semi-Finals.

Go Canada!

Maybe there is something to this Torpedo thing:

Canada 2
Sweden 5

Hockey Innovators?

A few years ago, Sweden introduced the world to the 1-31 defensive game, called the Neutral Zone Trap here in North America. A few teams adopted the system and met with success, though it failed with the fans. Most games that utilize the Trap tend to be very boring, featuring few exciting plays.

Now comes a new system that has been tried in Sweden for the past two years, with impressive results: Torpedo Hockey.

The system is very simple, laying out the players into a pattern similar to American-style Football. It also has the opposite effect that the Trap has, creating a higher-than-average number of breakaways, and odd-man rushes. More exciting hockey.

Today's Olympic Men's Ice Hockey game pits Canada versus Sweden. How will Canada do against this system that has, as yet, not been attempted in North American pro hockey?

Let's hope we find a way.

The Great Ones

Some Canadian humour, found on the wall outside my office today.

Credit

Just finished watching the Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey Team dispatch the Kazakhstan team 7-0. The Kazakhstani goal tender suffered through 64 shots, improving as the game went on even though her teammates lagged behind the powerful Canadian team.

When the game hit 5-0, I found myself cheering 'Come on! Come on!' each time a Kazakhstan player would break through and make an attempt at the net. It wasn't for lack of effort that they fell so far behind, but that they were playing a super-power in Women's hockey. I just wanted to see them get a decent scoring chance. Maybe even a goal.

Don't get me wrong, it's not because I want the Canadian team to lose. Hardly! I just felt as though the Kazakhstanis played a good game against a far superior team, and kept going long after it was over.

That's what the Olympics are really about: playing to the best of your ability, even though you might not make the podium.

It is not the critic who counts, not the one who points out how the strong man stumbled or how the doer of deeds might have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred with sweat and dust and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.

Theodore Roosevelt said that in 1910. I hardly think his quote is limited to men.

Let the Games Begin!

For a country that has a large part of it's land mass covered in snow and ice all year round, you would think we would clean up at the Winter Olympics. But alas, our population is puny compared to giants like the USA and Russia.

Despite our small contingent of athletes, we are considered front-runners in Speed-Skating, Figure Skating, Curling, Snowboarding and, of course, Hockey.

Four years ago in Nagano, the Canadian Men's Hockey team saw their chance for gold slip away when, at the end of the overtime period, Olympic rules called for a shoot-out. Why Wayne Gretzky wasn't chosen as one of the five shooters is still a mystery to this day. Canada lost the shoot-out and, demoralized, went on fourth place, losing to Finland in the Bronze medal game.

Canada's Women's Hockey fared much better, taking home a silver after a heated game against the USA. What hurt about that game is that the Canadian team had repeatedly pummelled the same USA team repeatedly in the past.

For both teams, and for all athletes representing Canada in this year's Winter Olympics, I wish you the best of luck and hope you capture gold!

What's that, sonny?

Just got back from having my hearing tested and the results were predictable.

A few years back, I played guitar in a band with a fairly loud amplifier pointed directly at my head. Because we usually had a similar stage layout, I had the amp on my left with the remainder of the band equipment to my right.

My results sheet show significantly diminished hearing in my left ear, with much less damage apparent in my right.

I've resolved to wear earplugs should we ever do a reunion tour.

New Career Path

Jason Kottke was the guest curator at the Mirror Project.

His subject? Movie auditions for the part of "Serial Killer #1", some unsuccessful

Guess who made the cut? Check it out.

Thanks to Sam who found it for me.

Another Mother Milestone

This weekend my mother turns 70. I'm going to go pay her a visit, sing Happy Birthday and eat some cake.

On my mother's side:
My great-grandmother died at 94.
My grandmother died at 95.
My grandfather died at 70.

On my father's side:
My great-grandmother died at 91.
My grandfather died at 84.

I have a long way to go.