SURPRISE!!

Happy Birthday Edwina!!

It's in you to give

Tonight I thought I had gym. That was until I found out this session's over and classes don't start again until July. So... I had an evening to fill. What better way to spend a Wednesday evening, than to donate blood?!

Donated blood for the first time today :) The people are SO nice there. They kinda have to be to keep people coming back to be poked in the fingers, then stabbed in the arm and have blood pumped out of their bodies for 10 minutes. I got a boat load of cookies afterwards - they insist you eat lots of cookies and juice to keep your blood sugar up after you donate. And they have a whole pile of snacks there, at the "thank you for donating and yes, have some free snacks before you go" table. They just kept bringing cookies after cookies after cookies over to me. And they'd ask me if I wanted a fruit salad as they were opening the tin, as if I even had a choice. 

Anyway, I potentially might have saved someone's life by donating blood. Maybe not. I'll never know. But I have plenty of blood so I figure, why not share :)

After my blood donation, I met up with Emily and David and took them up to my rooftop patio. I love these mountains. Toronto needs mountains.

Yesterday, Makoto, Emily, Edwina and I popped into the Art Gallery after work...

T'was really interesting. I loved the modern art on the top floors. There was a mirror maze. SO cool - though I walked into way too many mirrors. You'd think that when you see yourself walking into yourself, you'd figure out there was a mirror. It wasn't that simple!!

Here was a cool exhibit - there was a mirror along a wall, and words on the wall directly behind the mirror. The catch - the words were written backwards so that you had to read the words by looking at the reflection in the mirror. 

The even-better catch - the mirror was a 2 way mirror. Though, you didn't realize this until after you had stood in front of a crowd of people reading the words on the wall (and perhaps fixing your hair and checking your teeth). Here's a video of Edwina and Makoto - they obviously know about the 2 way mirror.

Here's Edwina and I riding a bull. A real live bull.

Okay, not a live bull. But that is us!

On my way home from the blood clinic I saw this poster of the Sedin brothers (psst... the Sedin brothers are on the Vancouver Canucks hockey team)

Gotta drink lots of water before bed. Body is working to replenish all that blood I gave up today. It's a shame you can't donate blood everyday. Free drinks and cookies - not a bad deal.

Our pride is not defined by a cup

This morning Hudson's Bay hosted a (free) pancake breakfast to thank all the volunteers who helped clean up and have supported the city of Vancouver after the rioting downtown after the Stanley Cup Final Wednesday night.

There were police and paramedics there, dancing and serving pancakes :)

Everyone was having a good time. For the past 3 days people have been showing their support by signing the boards, leaving flowers and helping with the city's cleanup. I get to walk by the Bay everyday to and from work and it's really made me feel proud to be a Canadian, and this summer, a Vancouverite.

They played a version of the Barbra Streisand song. By "a version" I mean, they added a neat twist to it.

ORIGINAL SONG

VANCOUVER'S VERSION

If you're not a hockey fan, I'll just explain they changed "Barbra Streisand" to "Ryan Kesler" - Kesler is one of the Vancouver Canucks.

And of course, it's not a party without the YMCA

And the boards continue to fill with messages.

This police cruiser had about 12 stickies on it Thursday night. By yesterday morning it was completely covered in thank you notes to the VPD (Vancouver Police Department)

After pancakes, Emily and I headed to UBC to see the campus.

The Walter C Koerner Library

The Irving K Barber Learning Centre

ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL!!

  

This prof has quite the collection of names tags on his door

Emily... all ready for class

UBC Faculty of Law Building is being built... one of the Architects: CEI Architecture!!! 

And there were weird signs all over the campus. Can someone please let me in on why "British Columbia" is mirrored?? We couldn't figure out how and why this made sense.

Emily and I met up with Matt, Ashley, Pratik and Edwina for a late lunch at Red Robbin and then we saw Bridesmaids at the Metrotown theatre. It's a really funny movie :)

This is the True Vancouver

You can always find good in any situation and evidently Vancouver is a city that knows this. 

Riots started around 8pm Tuesday night after the Vancouver Canucks lost in game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final. Store windows were smashed. Fist fights broke out. Cars were set on fire. 12 hours later there were still crowds of people downtown, only these crowds were full of generous volunteers who were helping clean up the mess from the night before. 

Hudson's Bay at Georgia and Granville got hit hard last night. Literally. Just about every single window was smashed, the outdoor canopy was set on fire, smoke detectors inside set off the sprinklers, and tons of merchandise was stolen. You would think that when the president of Hudson's Bay phoned into the radio, she would be full of anger. No. Instead, she was so grateful and uplifted by all the people who had shown up volunteering to help clean the mess. 

The depressing sheets of wood that boarded the windows of Hudson's Bay became messages of hope for a city that broke out into chaos only 12 hours earlier. 

After all, the rioting was not a true reflection of Vancouver. It represented a small group of idiots who were stupid enough to cause all this trouble. The rioting was not a display of Vancouver's true spirit. This morning, Vancouver's true spirit became evident.

People began writing messages thanking the police and cleanup crews for all their help. Many messages were in support of the Canucks, congratulating them on a terrific season and wishing them all the best next season. There were many apologies for how people reacted last night... in fact, I'll let the pictures below speak for themselves. 

Here's Emily signing the boards...

...and Edwina signing too.

People were leaving notes on the police cruisers, thanking them for their help and dedication.

Emily and Edwina

This morning was a real display of the people of Vancouver. I hope the Canucks see the boards and all the wonderful messages people have left. They were amazing, and I hope they all realize that the real Vancouver is behind them 110%.

Disappointed

I'm REALLY disappointed tonight. Not because of the Canucks losing, but rather because of the way people acted tonight. I didn't even get to see the end of the game because people began setting a car on fire as soon as Boston scored on our empty net. It was Game #7. Keyword: GAME. No people, the world is not ending because Vancouver didn't win the Stanley Cup. 

Riots began breaking out before the game even ended. As soon as that car went up in flames in front of the CBC big screen, people started running away (literally running). I got tear gassed by the police who were using tear gas to control riots. Man that stuff burns your eyes!! People were smashing cars, breaking storefront windows, setting things on fire, breaking out into fights - it was not a display of good sportsmanship. It's a game and I know a lot is at stake, and a lot of people were hoping for a win, but ultimately, it's a game. It's tough playing in a playoff series like this and I can't imagine any of those Canucks players were happy Boston won tonight. But they worked hard and got this far. It wasn't how they wanted it to end, but it's not their fault. Yes they were the team that lost, but they gave it all they had and it just wasn't meant to be. I'm still proud of how far they came. They had some good really good games in the playoffs this year, but unfortunately people tend to focus on the fact that they didn't win it all, rather than looking at how far they came.

Luongo, you're awesome. As an athlete, I know ya can't be at your best all the time. He worked hard tonight and I respect him. You can't control whether or not you have a good day. He worked hard tonight, and that's all you can ask of him. I don't care what people say, I'm not bashing the Canucks. I was hoping they'd win, but they didn't. It happens. Second best team in the NHL. Western Conference Champions. I'd say that's something to be proud of. I don't think that deserves an entire city to break out into riots. But apparently people in Vancouver are stupid and immature and feel rioting is acceptable.

Here is a happier scene - caught the end of the national anthem (before the game started - people weren't in an angry rioting mood just yet)

I saw this on my way to work this morning. Oh Vancouver, we'll have to wait until next year for another chance at the Cup!

Watching the game at the CBC big screen. 

People in trees...

...and people on light posts?! (Little hard to see)

Anyway, Canucks are still awesome. One game doesn't define a team, and I still support them. They played well in the playoffs, just not well enough to win the Stanley Cup. They'll learn from this and move on. I'm proud of them :)

Granville Island, on my walk home :)

And for next season:

It all comes down to Game 7

Game 7 - BRING IT ON!!!

I went down to Hamilton and Georgia yesterday to watch game 6 on the CBC big screen. I wasn't alone. There were a few other people watching with me. In fact, there were approximately 100 000 people with me. 

Game didn't go as we had hoped, but realistically, I don't know if many people expected the Canucks to win in Boston. They haven't had any good games in Boston this series. HOWEVER, game 7 is in Vancouver, and I think people have high hopes for, what is, our last chance to win the cup!

Here is the crowd looking at... themselves during the CBC broadcast of the game!

This was the front page of the Vancouver Metro newspaper the next morning. I MADE THE FRONT PAGE!

There were lots of people there. Some sat in trees...

...some painted themselves blue.

Despite the Canucks losing by a fair bit, the crowd still went wild when we scored the two goals. The first goal was a little more exciting, simply because we still had a (small) chance of catching up to Boston (who had 4 at the time). The second goal was so close to the end of the game that the crowd was a little less enthusiastic, but still went wild. Part of that might of been because people had had more to drink at that point. No, you weren't allowed beer into the CBC area, but people still snuck it in.

Game 7 tomorrow. It'll all be over in 24 hours. Well, unless it goes into like triple overtime. Hopefully Vancouver will be in a celebratory mood this time tomorrow evening. We'll see.

We can do this Canucks!!! And no matter what people say about Luongo, no matter how many nasty comments he gets from critics, he's awesome. So many people love him when he does well, but bashes him when he isn't rock solid. It's hard work. I couldn't do what he's doing, and I respect him. It's not easy to do what's he's doing, or what any of the Canucks are doing. So... CHEERS to a good game tomorrow night!!!!!

I'll be wearing my lucky underwear :)