A waste of bits and bandwidth

2003 doesn’t seem so long ago and yet, here we are. I recall getting to the office early to watch the announcement of the host for the 2010 Winter Olympics. It had come down to a battle between Vancouver and Pyeongchang, South Korea.

All of us erupted when we heard it was Vancouver. All but one Korean girl who would become my wife four years on. Everyone noticed that she wasn’t that excited. Someone (not me) sheepishly said “Sorry Mihwa…”

Now the games are here and already making news. I set off for work a little later on Friday in order to watch the Olympic Flame goes past on Robson street. This was not the best spot for viewing anything save for the back of peoples heads.

I managed to get a couple of shots after the torch went past but judging from the pictures the folks at work got, Georgia street was a much better choice. Still, it was great to see so many out to see the torch.

At lunch, I watched in horror as poor Nodar Kumaritashvili got it wrong in the biggest possible way. I was in a restaurant with a co-worker and we saw it before we knew what we were about to see. Needless to say, the mood was left a bit muted. It’s pretty freakin’ tabloidish of the media to continue showing the crash after we know he died.

Friday evening, we watched the opening ceremonies and I thought they were pretty awesome. Worth $1100 for a ticket to go? Of course not; not even if we were filthy rich. Nikki Yanofsky’s interpretation of O Canada was… not very good or pleasant to sit through. “Miss Yanofsky, you clearly have a great set of pipes. Next time, just sing the damn anthem.”

The presentation was really cool, if not a little long. I suppose you need to give a lot to people paying $1100 for a ticket… K.D. Lang was pretty awesome too but I had a hell of a time convincing Mihwa that K.D. is a woman.

The cauldron failure at the end was unfortunate but I thought the bigger FAIL was driving Gretzky through downtown Vancouver in a GM truck with a burned out headlight… Good thing we dumped billions into keeping those clowns afloat. Actually, that’s not the issue… there was NO SECURITY along the route!

Where are the cops on horseback to keep the idiots from running alongside the truck? Or jumping in the truck, for that matter. Any one of those drunken dudes could have brought the torch to a stop by simply running in front to the truck. I’m sure the protestors are having a debrief under a rock somewhere about that missed opportunity.

We went to bed under the familiar buzz of helicopters hovering over downtown. Predictably, we awoke to the familiar buzz of helicopters hovering over downtown. I imagine one day, the lack of helicopters will seem odd. Today, there was a good reason; idiots rioting in the downtown core. The same anarchists that I took pictures of yesterday as they romped down Granville street to a chorus of boos.

You know what? Protesting is fine; a lot of people died to grant you that right. However, when your protests consists of damaging property while you cower behind a mask, you don’t deserve anyone’s support. It’s always the same people and they show up at every event. Frankly, it’s getting old…

In the end, I hope the Olympics are a success. Send snow…