Guess another 2 years for Cowan

Jeff Cowan was signed for a 2 year contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Jesus and Jessi were booted tonight. =( I liked Jesus. I think Lauren and Neil should have been the ones to go though. Neither their partnered dance or solos moved me. Dominic and Sabra's performance made them the crowd favourite.

Sabra and Dominic - Rumba
Uploaded by starmometerdotcom

Summer is hard without the Canucks

Geez, I have to find other things to talk about. No news from the Canucks really. Here's what prompted me to learn You and Me by Lifehouse: Anya and Danny dancing to it. And Daniel Tidwell. Wow. What a dancer. Here's a blog review of his dancing from 2003. And a video taste of his solo contemporary(turn up the volume). He and the daughter of the swing king are probably the most accomplished dancers on the show.

Scary weather in Vancouver today

Woke up to torrential rain and hail and a waterfall in front of my front door this morning.

I thought that I'd be bored without doing any school. I actually really like being able to watch tv, play with the dogs and play on the guitar at my leisure. Actually, I learned how to play You and Me by Lifehouse yesterday and today I rewrote the lyrics because the original lyrics were disappointing and aimless. Still tweaking but so far happy.

There are Internet Marketers on CDC

I first wondered about it when there were postings about Snakes on a Plane on CDC... It seemed so calculated. Anyway, I saw this job posting on craig's list...

Our Internet Marketing Firm is seeking an experienced “Link Building Person” to find out and seek links for our clients.

Links methods include but not limited to:
• Forums
• Blogs
• Articles
• Reciprocal Link
• Directories

So, maybe give a second thought when you're replying to that thread about some brand named product, event, production or activity. Once you post, you feed their success.. It'd be interesting to see if similar threads are started at the same time on other boards in other cities..

Who is Patrick White??

Well, going by the reactions of the TSN commentators at the NHL Draft, Patrick White was not an expected choice for Vancouver's 1st round draft pick. So who is this guy?

From NHL.com - an article on Patrick White:
Tri-City • USHL
6'1", 186 lbs.
Center
Shoots right
Born: January 20, 1989 in Grand Rapids, MN
Final Ranking: 23 • Mid-Term Ranking: 25
North American Skater

Central Scouting Report: A skilled forward with the ability to make a difference… strong player with a physical presence… plays tough in the corners and in traffic… is good on the right wing and gets his wrist shot off with ease… sometimes lacks urgency in his play.

The end of Stargate SG-1

Awww.. so sad. Tonight was the last ever episode of Stargate SG-1. Even though I stopped watching it religiously in Season 9 (due to the addition of Landry, the loss of O'Neill and the addition of the Ori), I'm still sad that it's now come to a definitive end.

I'm surprised at the amount of merchandise that's now become available in the past couple of years. I remember this little Stargate and gagging when I saw the price tag of $200.

Spoilers: Jack O'Neill does not make an appearance in the final episode. There is no epic 2 part battle. Vala and Daniel discover that they are attracted and love each other. There is a movie coming up... maybe some more stuff for us Sam and Jack shippers!! =P

Vancouver and Seattle cattle call

Have you heard about the anonymous Vancouver 40 something man who's on the lookout for a mate? I first heard about it on a Seattle news program who was interviewing the New York matchmaker. Here's a snippet from an article describing the mystery man:

As for the self-made man in his early 40s, Spindel says he's fun, family oriented, six-foot-four and an avid reader. She knows because she spent five days in Vancouver getting to know her client.

"He's got a body the likes of which you've never seen," she says of the multimillionaire who wants a woman who lives in either Vancouver, Victoria or Seattle.

The Vancouver entrepreneur became widowed a year-and-half ago and has an eight-year-old daughter.

Who the heck is that? When the matchmaker was talking she said (to the Seattle audience) that he was a household name.. Who lives in Vancouver, is known in the US for being an entrepreneur who has a hot body and an 8 year old and is 6'4"?? Weelll, the closest guy I can think of is Rick Anderson aka MacGyver... Some things are a bit off but he fits the bill pretty well.

A picture with Ohlund - kind of

IMG_1871
Originally uploaded by carkiwi.

Haha! So close and yet so far.

In other news, Mike Keenan has been hired to coach the Calgary Flames?!!?>!! Will he NEVER leave?? omg. There's one more reason to hate the Flames. I almost feel sorry for the players..

The NHL awards came and went. Alain took the Adams, Crosby cleaned house with Hart, Pearson and Art Ross and Brodeur walked out with the Vezina. Sorry Luongo, maybe next year.

Where'd all these Ohlund rumours come from?

So according to B. Kuzma's article, there was a rumour that originated from Sweden that Mattias was going to retire from the NHL to move back to Sweden to raise his kids. Anyway, that surprised Nonis. He said,

"It's beyond far-fetched. I think there's a good chance Ohlund will be leaving Sweden and living in Vancouver. Mattias and his family really enjoy the city and province. Like most things that come out of Sweden, there's nothing to that as far as I know."

Maybe it has something to do with this Swedish article - untranslated

Careful what you do - it may show on Facebook and get you FIRED

So! A friend was giving me a tour of the scary Faceboook and yes, the allure of it is the whole getting reconnected with old friends/classmates/co-workers/collegues. I must admit that it works because there are so many people on it. It was scary because it IS so effective. People DO want to show off what they're doing to other people. Unfortunately, unless you have privacy settings, stalkers and employers can take a look into your private life. I discovered that there is also going to be a facial recognition 'tagging' that's in the works - Polar Rose. Here's a good article on photo tagging privacy from the Harvard Law Review and a snippet:

Although these technologies are too new to have had any realworld consequences, their potential is readily apparent. Take one salient example: Catherine Bosley, a news anchor from Ohio, had suffered from several life-threatening ailments. After she underwent several surgeries and finally learned that she was going to live, she took a vacation with her husband to Florida. There, surrounded by strangers and possessed by the desire to do something exhilarating to celebrate her newfound life, she entered a “wet T-shirt” contest. As she described it, “[w]e thought it’d be our moment with a bunch of strangers.”
A year later, pictures and video from the contest were on the Internet and she was fired from her job. The station’s rationale was simple: “Catherine is a seasoned veteran who consciously chose to engage in behavior that she knew was inconsistent with the responsibilities of her chosen profession.”
Although Catherine Bosley received attention because of her public career, the lesson of the story is applicable to anyone: when employers or others have easy access to our most personal information, they may not like what they see. Thanks to facial recognition search engines, what happened to Bosley is likely to happen to others with greater frequency. The various facets of people’s lives, once kept at a distance, will collapse into one, and it will become apparent “how quickly a brief lapse in judgment can permanently destroy someone’s reputation.”

Morrision opted for surgery after all

So Mo went under the knife finally. After some debate as to whether to rest it or do the surgery, he finally did the sports hernia surgery last Thursday according to Botchford's article.

I heard some BC Hydro advertisement on power conservation the other day and it reminded me of something I learned in transportation economics years back. Ok, here it goes..

Hydro companies are dependant on their infrastructure to be able to provide their services: dams to produce electricity. In order to create the dam, it needs a HUGE capital investment and years and years of operation before realising any profit. When the demand for electricity is low (low population), the company doesn't see too much profit. However, when the demand is close to capacity, that is when the company is most profitable. It is in the best interest of the company to keep demand at below capacity because they wouldn't have to fork out anymore money to build a new dam.

SO! Sure, it's nice to save the environment and all that jazz but really, it's all about the money for them.

What changes are in store for next season?

Hmm.. ok, sure, I don't see a few players returning for next season but how much change is Nonis going to initiate? Is Vancouver going to go and exploit the young and ambitious players out there or go for more expensive experience or let the core group develop and tweak during the season? Here's an OP/ED article picking the Nucks to win the '08 Cup.

Oh! Congrats to Burkie's group who annihilated everyone along their run for the Cup.
Minnesota: 4-1? 4-2?
Vancouver: 4-1
Detroit: 4-2
Ottawa: 4-1

Ohlund Appearances

Hmm.. so apologies for no updates for the past week. Frankly, there just hasn't been any news. Cookie's and Ohlie's surgeries went well apparently. Pyatt got signed for.. 2 years I think. Anaheim is up 3-1 against Ottawa. The rain of Vancouver has set back in. (HOly cow was it summer like hot!) The dogs were not happy campers because of the heat. Hopefully people made the most of the good weather! =P

I made my first foray into cdc in awhile and there were some Ohlund sightings: Ohlund was on the Island (prob why Eros was put into the doggy hotel?) and made an appearance for the Children's Hospital Foundation HSBC Childrun 2007. Here's his speech.