Despicable Me

During the Olympics we came across these wee yellow things posing in front of the Olympic Clock. We had NO idea what they were. And neither did anyone else we asked. Turns out they're minions from the summer movie Despicable Me. I wish I'd known about the movie then b/c it looks really fun and I would have made more of an effort to get my picture taken w/ them (I'm a total sucker for plush characters -- but only if I like what they're from, not just some random character on the side of the road).

Seriously?

There are some cool looking items at the Official Photo Products website. Photo books, calendars, posters etc. The thing that I wanted was a "swatchbook" of pics. Right off the bat I had a little bit of a problem with it b/c it says that it's 30 pages but really you use one side of the page so you can only use 15 pics, but not really b/c there are a couple of pages that say things like "with glowing hearts". Anyways, even with 13 pics it's a super cool little thing. And it's only $15.99 -- so I got down to business and started making one for my Mom. The program itself was kind of frustrating but I finally got it finished. And guess how much shipping was? $30! Yeah, I don't think so. Thanks anyways VANOC.

Thank You Brian Williams

I realize this was written Feb 26 but I only saw it today, after my Mom emailed it to me. Did I mention I've been sick? LOL. Here's a very nice thank you note from NBC's Brian Williams.

After tonight's broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we're going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week. Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:

For being such good hosts.

For your unfailing courtesy.

For your (mostly) beautiful weather.

For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.

For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.

For your unique TV commercials -- for companies like Tim Hortons -- which made us laugh and cry.

For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.

For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games -- you've made wearing your name a cool thing to do.

For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.

For not honking your horns. I didn't hear one car horn in 15 days -- which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.

For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.

For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.

For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.

For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.

For always saying nice things about the United States...when you know we're listening.

For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.

For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.

Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Source

BELIEVE!

What an amazing two weeks! This is something I will never forget and I'm so lucky to have been able to live it.

I'm sicker than a dog right now and haven't left my apartment in two days but have still been watching the Olympics constantly. Downtown is crazy right now; they've had to halt bus service b/c of the huge street parties that are going on. All you can hear is people cheering & horns honking. Party on, Canadians, party on. I'm too sick to even want to be there in person but I'm there in spirit. Wrapped in my Team Canada blankie I've been crying & cheering with every Olympic special that's being aired on TV. We're less than 30 min away from the Closing Ceremonies.

Gotta go as they're starting a new special on the Olympic Torch on TV. I can't miss anything.

With glowing hearts!!!!!

ps - LOVE you Sidney!!!!!

The Quatchi Kid

This might be the cutest thing I've ever seen! The Quatchi Kid is on a mission to find Big Quatchi.

Photo credit: The Quatchi Kid's Facebook page

Child Sized?

I would totally wear this but don't think there's any way I can fit my rather large head into a child sized hat. Boo! Buy it here if you have a small head or want it for your kid. It's $30.

Lucky Loonie

We were just watching Brian Williams interview the Canadian men's curling team who won gold earlier today. He was able to confirm that there were 5 "lucky loonies" placed in the ice at the Vancouver Olympic Centre. Here's hoping there are some at Canada Hockey Place as well.

I really enjoyed watching curling today and want to give a big CONGRATS to both our men's team who won gold and the women who won silver! Way to go!!!

Short Track Speed Skating - Victory Ceremony 26Feb2010 at Pacific Coliseum

Guest Blogger Keri

I'll mostly let these photos speak for themselves. Imagine, if you will, lots of tears, excitement, screaming, singing, and joy.

Here is Charles Hamelin and Francois Tremblay getting their medals and watching our flag raised in song.



And here is the 5000m relay teams

Short Track Speed Skating - 26Feb2010 at Pacific Coliseum

Guest Blogger Keri, here again.
This was one of the events that I never imagined I'd get to attend. Not only is it an amazing sport, it was the medal event and Canada had a shot in two of the events.
We arrived to find the longest lines of people wanting to buy tickets that I've seen so far. I learned that Americans love their Apolo Ohno (with good reason, the man is amazing) and scalpers tickets were going for $2000 but in this case capitalism wasn't going to win out.
There were three medal events, but I'm only going to write about two of them.

We had awesome seats. Surrounded by Americans in what was an international crowd. When the announcer listed off countries, it was pretty much evenly split between Canada, USA, Korea, and China. As we sat down the ice was being prepared. Knowing nothing about Speed Skating, I wondered why there seemed to be no barrier. I turned to the man sitting next to me and asked if he knew anything about speed skating, and he replied that "Yes he did". Then I found out that he was the father of Francois Tremblay!!
The first event was the Men's 500m. How did NBC put it? "It's well established that Short Track is a crazy sport, and the craziest event within this crazy sport is the 500 metre...For pure entertainment sake, this is one of the most enjoyable events at any Winter Olympics."

The volume at the Coliseum was deafening as the men raced around the track. When two Canadians made the medal race we couldn't have been happier. It was too fast to even be a nail biter but it ended with Charles Hamelin with Gold and Francois Tremblay with Bronze. Lot's of hugs and kisses with with the Tremblay's, you can be sure.
Last was the men's 5000m relay.
I've never seen anything like it before. It was five teams of four skaters racing in a traffic jam of bodies. How they even kept track of their teammates and of their positions is amazing. In fact a few of the teams missed a few of the changes to varying results. In the end, Canada were undisputed Gold winners, with Apolo Ohno squeaking out a bronze finish for his American Men.

On Route To The Game - Canada vs USA

Canada vs USA For The Gold

GOAL!!!

The Canadian men's team.

The "WE WANT THE GOLD" chant started at the 2 min mark.

We were all on our feet for the last minute.

GAME OVER!!!