CTV Interview

Hopefully, my petition is going to "get legs" and "go viral"!!

Right after that News 1130 interview, there was another message from a CTV reporter.  She wanted to SEND A CAMERAMAN over!  Heck, I would have washed my hair today, instead of gardening and cleaning the windows, EH?  :-)    But of course, I readily agreed, and he came over.

It should be a rather short spot on our 11:30 news tonight.  Not a seriously big deal, but I must say, the most FREE fun I've had ALL WEEK! 

Interview with NewsRadio 1130

Just did a quick telephone interview with NewsRadio 1130 about our "movement". We received 440 signatures in about 24 hours. Fun!

what do we mean by "Glowing Hearts?? See this....

I'm petitioning for a new Statutory Holiday in BC

When we were walking home from the BIG HOCKEY GAME last weekend Mike and I came up with this idea for a National Holiday called Hockey Day!  The idea has evolved into a Provincial Holiday called Glowing Hearts Day to honour and remember our great success, pride and patriotism during our Olympic Games.  


So I started an online petition (you can see it by clicking HERE) and sent it out at the end of the workday yesterday.  It's still before work hours this morning and already we have 128 signatures.  I've sent it to Vancouver bloggers, media, MLA's and so on, and I'm hoping it "goes viral".    It's a fun experiment unto itself!  


Many people in BC have lobbied long and hard for a holiday in February, so we actually want this holiday to be approved, and are recommending we harmonize it with other provinces Family Day. 


The nicest part of this exercise is seeing people's wonderful comments when they sign the petition: 


I am from the United States and have been a Landed Immigrant since 1990. Although I do love BC, I have always missed my home mainly due to the overwhelming patriotism that was always shown everywhere down South. Down home, everyone was proud to be an American. During the Olympics I was happy to tell everyone who would listen that I was proud to live in Vancouver. The Olympics was the first time since I have been here that I saw the same type of patriotism that I had been missing. Great idea


This is a fantastic idea and a tribute not only to the athletes and their families who sacrificed so much to get to the Olympics and Paralympics (and congrats to those who achieved their goals) but to all British Columbians who rallied behind the Olympics so wholeheartedly and were unabashedly Canadian and so proud of it!


We have to keep this feeling going for what this province and the games have embraced


BC rocks! It's about time we had a day thats totally for us :)


We have been pushing for a holiday at this time of year, what better way to celebrate the wonder and excitement that we all have just experienced than an holiday devoted to our Games? This is a commendable idea and I hope it will touch the hearts of all BCers! Go Canada Go!


Living in the lower mainland, I experienced the thrill of the Olympics firsthand. What an absolutely amazing experience! To see and feel the Olympic spirit is an experience I will always treasure! My kids (ages 20 & 22) were completely blown away with everything as well. The Canadian athletes were amazing and I believe had such a sense of pride competing in their homeland.

Day 17 Final Day - "GLOWING HEARTS DAY"

Our friends Brent and Missy invited us over to the Jericho tennis club to watch the big hockey game with them, and we thought it might be fun to watch it with a crowd, so took them up on the offer.  Indeed it was a good time, and the caesars helped provide a little hair of the dog from the night before.  What a heart-stopper when the USA scored with just 24 seconds left to tie the game at the end of the 3rd period, eh?  

Thank goodness for Sidney Crosby!  (did you hear, his gloves and hockey stick have gone mysteriously astray....) He's our hero!  

We took a ride back to the Kits side of the Burrard bridge and walked home from there, because a cab or bus would have been a little pointless with all those crowds in the street!  We didn't brave Robson Street which I know was crowded beyond capactity until the wee hours of the morning, but we did amuse ourselves with the fans on Davie and down Denman.  Lots of hooting, high-fives, flag waving and horn-tooting all around.  Hard to imagine this going on coast to coast to coast, isn't it?  But 16.6 million people across Canada watched the game and another 10 milion watched part of the game at least.  That's about 80% of us and makes that game the most watched TV event in history.  Kate is maybe even a fan now.... 

I think significant though, and testament to the Olympic Games spirit that we were all part of, is that the Closing Ceremonies were the second most watched TV event ever.  Amazing.

Seeing as how there is no February holiday in BC Mike and I are going to start a petition to start a holiday for February 28th every year.  Maybe we could call it Hockey Day, but maybe "Glowing Hearts Day" will work... what do you think?  

This photo sums up the hockey game results!

And these will give you an idea of the mood on the street after!  

More photos are HERE

DAY 16 SATURDAY

Originally we had tickets to the Ladies Parallel Giant Slalom Snowboard but they were standing room and cancelled when Vanoc had trouble with that facility.  Lucky for us too, because it was a crummy day all foggy and rainy up at Cypress that day, and we'd subsequently bought tickets for Molson Canadian Hockey House for the evening.  A Canadian didn't win a medal at the PGS anyway, but while we were at MCHH, we saw Canadians win gold in Speed Skating,  Mens Parallel Giant Slalom, and Men's Curling.

It was a pretty exciting few hours at MCHH and then we watched the Men's Bronze Medal Game between Finland and Slovakia.   There's a buffet meal which changes every few hours, but you have to buy your own drinks.  We showed up early to get a seat.

A main benefit of going this day was to help celebrate the last Saturday night of our big Games, and also Colin James was entertaining.  How great to see him twice in one week, and how fantastic in such a tiny venue.  I hopped right up to the stage for a great view, as you'll see in our photos.

All in all we spend a long day there, and several beers, but it was a great time!

More fun photos of Saturday HERE 

Day 15 Friday

This day slowed my blogging because there really wasn't much to say about it.  The lineup to get into the Speed Skating Oval was long because of security delays, and we missed the Canadian heat.  :-(  Not too happy about that.  We took advantage of the Richmond location to find some Chinese food for lunch and headed home to see the Canada eliminate Slovakia and clinch their gold medal match for Sunday. 

To see more SpEed Skating click HERE 

Guest Blog from Mike

I am certainly behind in blogging, but it's been quite a PARTY around here!  We are madly uploading our photos of hockey heroes, crazy partying canucks, curlers, rockers and more, but in the meantime, I'll give you Michael's favourite Olympic experiences, in photos.  I don't think he'll mind.... 




* * * 

Easily my favourite Olympic memory will be the global reach of the Games, as we welcomed the world and the many people who came to Vancouver to see the best Olympics ever. During the week, we met people from everywhere, heard at least a dozen languages, cheered wildly for the underdogs when they weren't going against Canadians (HOP, SUISSE !!!!) and even got on New Zealand television (we think). I will always remember the great cheer of the crowd at snowboarding for the competitor from Andorra who ended up with a bloody chin and a last place finish for his efforts - but we loved that guy!

No doubt we have all been impressed by the massive outpouring of Canadian National pride by fans wearing the Maple Leaf, but here are a few pictures of those fans who travelled from far and wide to cheer on their athletes at venues around the city.

The French (Army?) at Mens Snowboard Cross:

  A group of Dutch (who successfully infiltrated Richmond and built THE House to visit) doing a wave:

A Swiss fan taken off the Jumbotron. By the third period this guys paintjob was
a flaking and dripping mess, but he didn't care:

Latvian fans in full battle dress:

Americans at Cypress Mountain keeping warm:

The Japanese at the Skating Oval yelling Japanese things to their speed skaters:

 And finally, fans of the Vega 9 Team - not entered into any sporting events that
we could tell but they sent a delegation to Vancouver anyways: