14 golds for canada, 26 medals overall, and to put the icing on the cake, our boys win in a classic nail biter against the USA!  it was so nice to be able to watch live hockey (or as live as it gets, anyway) after being away from montreal for so long, even though it was all in swedish…

this morning i went to the richmond speed skating oval for a photo outing. it was really cool to finally step inside after having witnessed the entire building process over the past few years. my favourite part of the venue is the fancy curvy ceiling made out of recycled wood, made entirely from the thousands of trees devastated by the pine beetle infestation a few years ago. quite an eco-friendly and resourceful idea on the part of the architect(s)!

some speed skaters also happened to be practicing when i was there, so i got to try out my panning technique with my camera (i took many shots before i got some decent, non-blurry ones). they were practicing for a competition to be held between the 27th and the 31st so i will try to attend one or two of them since the oval is located in my town. plus, i won’t actually be here when the olympics happen so i might as well enjoy events there while i can.

anyhow, i won’t be updating for a bit since it is the holidays afterall, but i wish you all a warm and lovely time with family and friends!!! seasons greetings :)

I didn’t get to see the opening ceremony live but from what I’ve seen of the highlights, it was a dazzling spectacle of light, colour, costumes, imagery, and culture. The Chinese really did a fantastic job on making this a full-blown celebration of the world – a theme that the Olympics is meant to convey (without political undertones, cough cough). Now Vancouver 2010 is going to seem so bland…