My Vancouver 2010 Highlights

I'm proud to be Canadian! Here are my highlights of Vancouver 2010:
  • Record results - 26 medals, 14 of them gold. Third place finish overall, highest amount of golds earned in any Winter Olympics.
  • Wayne Gretzky's trek to light the external Olympic flame amidst giddy fans.

  • Alexandre Bilodeau going down in Olympic history as the first Canadian to win gold on Canadian soil. It was beautiful to watch his brother, who struggles with cerebral palsy, cheering Alexandre on.
  • Watching Maelle Ricker's infectious smile as she became the first female to win a gold medal at home. What an achievement in snowboard cross after numerous knee surgeries!

  • Figure skater Joannie Rochette winning bronze with courage and determination just days after hearing about the sudden passing of her mother.
  • Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir's breathtaking dance on ice that captured the first Canadian gold in that event. What a beautiful couple!

  • Kevin Martin finally winning gold in curling after a gruelingly long tournament. (Plus witnessing my daughter yelling "Hurry! Hard!" at the television!)
  • The sheer excitement and joy of Jon Montgomery as he celebrated his gold in the Skeleton Racing event held at Whistler.

  • Charles Hamelin jumping over the foam bumper at the end of the rink to kiss his girlfriend Marianne St-Gelais (silver medalist in 500-metre short track speed skating) after winning gold in short track.

  • Inspiring performances by the Koreans, Chinese, and Japanese - especially in figure skating and speed skating.

  • A nail biting gold medal final in men's hockey which finally ended with Sidney Crosby's goal in overtime.
  • The national anthem being played 14 times during medal ceremonies and watching my husband get teary-eyed during many of them.
  • The crowds, the fans, the little babies, and the crazy guy with the helmet at the hockey games.

All of this makes me want to own some Olympic gear (the non-Believe stuff). Hopefully I can find some bargains on sale! :)

Popular posts from this blog

Is God Good?

During "at home learning", I helped my daughter design an experiment on plants. She set up four identical pots with the same amount of soil in the same location on our deck (controlling her variables, right?). She planted two bean seeds in each pot. She watered three out of the four plants with various amounts of water (1/4 cup, 1/2 cup and 1 cup). The fourth plant only received whatever water naturally fell from the sky. At the end of one month, her hypothesis was partially verified. She thought the 1/4 cup water plant and 1/2 cup water plant would grow the best, which was true in the end. On the other hand, she guessed the others would not germinate at all. Interestingly enough, while the one that was drench in water (1 cup) did not germinate, the one she did not water at all actually grew! It germinated late but had the most steady growth. Is God good? I have been thinking about this question a lot these days. A global pandemic is still raging over our planet decimat...
Read more

Daunting {But Not Impossible}

I rarely watch the news. I catch up on the world's happenings -- where often the horror is reported -- via Google News. Or the brief blurb before classic rock on our favourite radio station. But very occasionally, at the end of the day, I take in the images of national and global headlines. Yesterday I watched the masses trek across Europe, searching for a safe haven away from war-torn Syria. I witnessed little kids crying as they tried to rub away tear gas sprayed by unrelenting border police. The message? You are not welcome in this country. I choked up as a father and his son fell to the ground after being tripped up by guards. The look of desperation on people's faces was heart breaking. Our country is nearing a Federal Election in October. Many voters are curious how the next Prime Minister will address the Syrian Refugee Crisis. Here is an excerpt from The Globe and Mail : Mr. Mulcair [NDP] and Mr. Trudeau [Liberal] condemn Mr. Harper [Conservative] for lacking...
Read more

Banking in the Now

This month we are trying something different: banking in the now instead of the tomorrow. Oh, it is nothing new, really. I used to operate like this in my single days. But then the lure of credit cards with reward programs persuaded me otherwise. While I never gave Visa the joy in collecting any interest payments from our bank accounts and I always payed our credit card bill before the 21 days of grace were up, I probably spent more than I should have some months. Why? Because I didn't have to pay for it immediately . It was not until last year that my credit card habits started to bother my conscience. Up to that point, I felt proud of the fact that the credit card company was paying me to use their plastic. I received stuff for free, even after paying my annual fee. Free fuel. Free flights. Free hotels. Free is good, right? My perspective started to change after I read a blog post penned by my sister. Her and her husband cut up their credit cards after a series of events, o...
Read more