see

So if you are up for some ticketless Olympics action here's what's to see and what not to see unless you love waiting in line ups for hours.

Cauldron - easiest thing to see and you can get up pretty close. The crowds look thicker than they are.

Robson Square - be here for the 9:30pm fire and light show; look up and check out the fools who waited 7 hours for the 30 second ziptrek over the street; watch the street performers

Robson @ Howe - CTV is filming live here during the Olympics; this is also sort of the central area downtown where the stuff's happening; this block is closed off to Granville

Granville - also closed off, there is some visual art and cool stuff on the street and folks here are trading pins at little stations. Up the other way the street is also closed off and people are all at the bars watching the games. Great vibe here, Olympics fans galore.

QE Theatre - there is a pavilion here, I think the Canada pavilion. I hear it's okay. There was over an hour wait so I didn't bother

Science World - The Russia, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Hockey pavilions are here. Quebec is just food and beer, there is a REALLY long wait for Russia, I didnt bother with the hockey pavilion. I went to the Sask one and it was a waste of time. Think high school poster board display. The other Sask building is just food and performance. What you SHOULD see here are all the rock balance sculptures along the water that resemble the 2010 logo. Very cool. Getting back up to downtown is a bitch. Skytrain is packed and everything is fenced off and very confusing.

Richmond Ozone - Lots of free concerts here and easy to get to by Skytrain. I saw Our Lady Peace. It's just an outdoor concert stage on a track and field. Lines look longer than they are. Fun, dress warm. Heineken House is here too. I didn't go but on one night it was $20 entry. Even when it's free entry expect a wait and $9 beers.

appreciation

So I'm back from the Olympics where I spent my Thursday through Saturday. It was awesome. I haven't seen my hometown this busy and this alive since Expo 86 when the Skytrain was first launched. 24 years later and now the Skytrain goes out to Richmond and Burnaby. The Canada Line goes out to the airport and then out to Richmond Center which is incredible. I'm so proud of my city for being so on top of shit. I took these things for granted about Canada until I moved to the US where basic infrastructure is outdated and frail and some streets have more potholes than smooth pavement. I took my friends by the new $13M public aquatic center/gym/community center which is adding on a couple more ice rinks too, and realize that there is no such thing in the US. We watched the Olympics on CTV, which people are saying is inferior to CBC's past coverage, but both are better than the NBC Universal coverage we're subjected to south of the border where coverage of an event is cut as soon the American athlete fails to qualify. Oh and don't forget about health insurance. I will never shut up about that until the US gets its shit together on that one.

So the weekend was about the Olympics and seeing friends and eating about 10 tonnes of food, but it also reminded me to appreciate Canada. We've always been overshadowed our American neighbours but in so many ways, Canada is just fucking superior. Right wing American nut jobs can call our kind of government what they want, it doesn't change the fact that it works, it works better than yours, and its citizens live far more comfortable lives as a result.

Olympics

I'm in Vancouver until Saturday for the Olympics. I've only really followed the Olympics half heartedly but when it's in your hometown it's pretty awesome. I'm too exhausted to cover details but we took the Skytrain Canada Line down to Vancouver Station, had dinner at Oysi Oysi, and walked around, watched the laser and fireworks show above Robson Square, checked out the Olympic flame, and then headed back out to Richmond. Turns out the panic about traffic has all the local folks getting around by Skytrain so the streets have been empty. Okay, more later.

weird

I don't have anything to gripe about. That's odd. Okay going to bed now.

check

I signed a check 2008 a while ago. Apparently my consciousness follows two years behind everyone elses reality. I can't believe I've been here since 2006, 4 years this year. And I have no idea how to get around most places, other than outside of my immediate neighbourhood and a couple of the areas my friends live in. Don't get out much, no money to blow, time to blow it, or people to see. Shitty weather makes it hard to get out too. Probably a good thing for dissertation writing though. I kinda can't wait to end this grad school chapter of my life so I can start a new chapter, one that involves making more than $1700 a month so I can have a home with a washer/dryer again and walls that keep out the sound of my upstairs neighbour taking a leak or yelling at his roommate. The completion of my degree won't guarantee a faculty position, but I won't be able to get a faculty position without the degree. So here we go. My prospectus has been unofficially approved so it's time to write like hell.