I believe ...

So the Olympics have arrived and I am firmly on my couch, in luge position, watching everything and anything. I know I've already mentioned my love of curling, but the Olympics brings this obessession to a whole new level. It helps that our Canadian teams are both doing so well. Even Gretzky was impressed (they interviewed him at one of the round robin matches this week ... he's a big fan apparently. Randomly so is Carl Lewis. Yes, the sprinter). Moving on from curling, I am equally obessesed with snowboard cross, ski cross, moguls, skeleton, bobsleigh, xcountry skiing, downhill skiing, the list goes on and on. It also helps that I got to go to Olympics this year as they are just a hop skip and a jump from Calgary. Last week I was lucky enough to see the cauldron and take in a few hockey games ... plus I got to see some of my fave people in the world so that helped to. So, below a list of my favourite Olympic moments thus far - both official game moments and just me and my friends hanging out during the Olympics. We are at day 12 already and I haven't posted anything yet, so this is an incomplete list, in no particular order and will be added to in the next few days):
1) Jenn Heil wins silver ... she was expected to win gold, but I don't care, silver is still amazing ... the speed, the steepness and the size of the bumps is insane and the fact that she is so good, is so incredible
2) Alex Bilodeau wins gold ... the big story is about his brother, but my favourite moment was on the NBC feed when right after they finished interviewing him, his girlfriend arrived, they started making out and Bob Costas deadpans "I think it goes without saying that it will be a great Valentine's Day for Bilodeau"
3) the orcas at the opening ceremony
4) while I think it was a bit ridiculous that Wayne Gretzky rode in the back of a pick up truck to light the outside cauldron, I loved the crazy waiters running beside him
5) watching the Opening Ceremony while BB messaging with KM in Fredericton ... sometimes technology is just awesome
6) the hug between Clara Hughes and Kristina Groves when they realized she had won the bronze medal
7) the fact that Jon Montgomery has a turtle on his helmet
8) Jon Montgomery drinking a pitcher of beer walking through Whistler village
9) Tore Vikingstad's hat trick at the Switzerland - Norway game (it helped that I was there to enjoy it in person!)
10) our awesome seats at the US - Norway hockey game
11) my friend MM hailing us a limo to get us home after dinner at Chambar last Friday night ... oh and the fact that there was a limo traffic jam in front of her house.
12) Anja Parson of Sweden winning a bronze in the super combined after a horrific fall at the women's downhil..
13) the pants of the Norwegian curling team
14) my new Norges Ishockeyforbund (Norwegian ice hockey federation) hat
15) sitting in the sun on the steps of the art gallery watching people zip line through downtown Vancouver
16) high fiving the random American at Hub in Yaletown after Sid scored the winning shoot-out goal against Switzerland

17) MM saying "the russians are coming" when a group of russians took our table at Yoji's sushi
18) Virtue and Moir's free and original dances ... both were beautiful
19) any type of slow motion montage put to music
20) Tom Brokaw explains Canada to Americans

And finally, not really a favourite moment, but a memorable one - the fact that Joannie Rochette skated a clean short program 3 days after her mother died. She's in 3rd place right now. Amazing. That girl has guts ... the expression on her face as she finished made me bawl.

And I can't believe it, but I am not sick of the CTV "I believe" theme song yet ... in fact, I seem to hum it all the time. Who knew it would be catchy instead of annoying? Here is a picture I took of the cauldron - just to prove I was actually there.

Eso es lo que dijo

I was recently in Mexico (those would be my feet) with 3 friends. We basically spent the whole week laughing, re-telling the same stories/joke over and over again. One of the non-stop jokes was the oh so obvious "that's what she said," and it never got old. Seriously, we could say it a dozen times a day without eliciting any groans. In an effort to commune with the Mexican culture, we eventually asked someone how to say it in Spanish ... it was roughly translated as "como este," which I think is not really a direct translation (according to google translate those two words mean "like this." That also never got old. And because I am a "researcher" by trade, I looked into the origins of the phrase, and apparently Mike Myers first used it in Wayne's World. Another explanation can be found in this funny (but not suitable for work) video:

That's What She Said from Megan Mullally

Jake's a dud

Having discussed my love of guilty pleasures music, I should probably mention my love of guilty pleasures TV as well. For the most part, the shows that fall into this category are reality-based. I am happy to say that I am not into the most ridiculous ones (i.e. anything with that guy from Poison or Tila Tequila), but I do enjoy an hour or two of so-bad-it's good tv.

On some occasions I enjoy the shows with friends - in particular, the Bachelor/Bachelorette. For the past little while I have been getting together with a few girlfriends to watch (and make snide comments) about what is inevitabely the most dramatic rose ceremony ever ... the problem with this season is that Jake (pictured above) is a total dud. Seriously, the guy has no sex appeal, is not the least bit charming, and is way too short. On last night's episode, he went on "hometown dates." The following is a rough summary of the running commentary from the show:

1. Why is Jake wearing a weird beaded Jamaican necklace after his date with Gia?


2. When parents ask him how he feels about family, why are they so assured when he says it's the most important thing in his life ... what is he going to say, "no I hate family and avoid spending time with my parents at all cost." Or similarily, what do they expect him to say when they make him promise never to hurt their daughter ... as if I he is really going to say, "actually sir, I plan on having sex with her in the fantasy suite and dumping her in the most public way possible so that she is humiliated and can never have a normal dating life." I mean really ...


3. The incredible embarrassment we all felt while watching Tenley dance ... Sarah had to look away. It was just mortifying - had I been by myself, I would have turned it off.


4. The ridiculousness of Vienna’s dad saying that when Jake comes home the house will be clean and the kids will be raised right


5. The line of the night goes to Renee who commented "why do I think we are in a trailer" when Jake was visiting Vienna's family


6. Vienna’s ridiculous purple dress at the rose ceremony


7. The unfortunate glimpse up Ali’s dress while she was crying and the fact that she looked very dishevelled for someone who was so obviously faking it ... did they really have to liven up the show by bringing up last season's plot point? Ali is no Ed, and it's all just a little too familiar. And unnecessary. And finally, I'm pretty sure she was crying because her feet hurt - not because she worked for Facebook and forgot to tell them that she needed a few months off.

Even though I am not a fan of Jake, I am a fan of the weekly viewings with my friends (the food and wine is always great). As such, we continue the Bachelor ritual ... someone's gotta do it.

I'm cool I promise

So with all this talk of bad '80s and '90s music, curling, and online dating, I realize that I sound like a bit of a loser. I’m cool, I promise. To wit, I do have other playlists that are much more reflective of my true musical tastes. For the most part like alternative/indie pop rock and my fave playlist to listen to while walking to work has such indie "darling" artists such as Santigold, Phoenix, Rogue Wave, TV on the Radio, MGMT, Kid Cudi, Knaan, Likke Li, Band of Horses, etc.

Speaking of Band of Horses, this is not the official video, but this guy has some mad bike skillz (although I do realize by using the z instead of s, I have just totally discredited my so-called coolness):

I'm just not that into you ...

I’ve been online dating for +6 months now, and it is very out of character for me. I live my life in a rather laid back way, so this proactive dating thing makes me slightly uncomfortable. It hasn’t helped that for the most part it has been a fantastic failure. Apparently living in one of Canada’s largest cities is not big enough for me, as I have been matched up with:

a) a guy I have already “dated”;
b) a guy I know who I would never “date”; and,
c) a guy that one of my best friends has “dated*”.

All in all I have been on 9 first dates, 2 second dates, and am currently weighing the pros and cons of a possible third date. This of course would be entering into unchartered territory and a very big step. Because for the most part, the guys have been duds. As part of our performance management plan at work, we have to do a self evaluation … the ranking is as follows:

9 - Employee consistently exceeds all expectations
8 - Employee consistently exceeds most expectations
7 - Employee consistently exceeds some expectations
6 - Employee meets and occasionally exceeds some expectations
5 - Employee meets expectations
4 - Employee normally meets expectations
3 - Employee does not meet some expectations
2 - Employee does not meet most expectations
1 - Employee does not meet any expectations

Needless to say, the guys I have met online would rate no more than a 2. And I’m not exaggerating.

In between all of this interweb romance, I have had a few inspired flirtations. Sadly, none of them have panned out and last week while watching “He’s just not that into you” I realized that one of the guys for which I had high hopes was definitely not into me … he gave me his card, I sent him a flirty/witty note, and then he stonewalled me. This scene would have been helpful (the advice starts at 2:09):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zL-xjLEGag

* if you haven’t figured it out yet, “dated” is something of euphemism.

More songs

My friend LB recently had a status update on her FB where she asked about songs being stuck in her head … as a result of the ensuing discussion, the following songs will now be added to the playlist:
- Tiny Dancer by Elton John
- Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi (I actually can’t believe that there are no Bon Jovi songs on the list as is)

That's all for now. It's been a slow Tuesday.

Sochi 2014

Saturday was our annual bonspiel. That's the word for a curling tournament. I don't normally curl, but every year, once a year, some of my girlfriends and I enter a bonspiel sponsored by our favourite pub (the ship and anchor) which means it's plenty of drinking with a little curling thrown in. I don't know how to curl at all, but I always enjoy watching it on tv, which is weird, because it looks like it would be really boring, but it's not ... it is a game of inches and strategy, and it is so very satsifying when you hear the rocks hit one another on a good shot. When it's on, I just can't change the channel. I loved Men with Brooms, and whenever they show the Sandra Schmirler story on CBC I cry. All that to say, that when we actually won a game (our first in 2 years), it looked something like this:




So to sum up, I'm fairly certain that we might have a shot for the next Olympics, which I'm told are in Sochi, Russia. Privyet Russia!