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I usually don’t watch the Academy Awards on TV but I tuned in tonight for final two awards. Those awards were “Best Director” and “Best Picture”. The reason I decided to see who won those awards was because I wanted to be sure that James Cameron didn’t win either.

Yeah, it’s a pretty crappy thing to do, not wanting someone to win something but let me explain. There is no doubt Cameron is a truly talented and visionary director. I will always be in his debt for bringing to the world Terminator 2 and Aliens, both of which are among my favourite movies. Unfortunately, Cameron acts like such a dumbass sometimes. When he accepted the “Best Director” award for Titanic, he proclaimed himself “king of the world”. Dude, for starters, don’t try to shoehorn specific lines from your movie into your acceptance speech. Also, don’t proclaim yourself better than everyone, because everyone already understands that. You just got the damn “Best Director” award, we get it, you’re the best director for that year. Last but certainly not least, proclaiming yourself the king of world because you made a movie about hundreds of people losing their lives tragically is a douchebag way of going about things.

Ok, so maybe that was a long time ago and perhaps we can forgive Cameron for that. Whoops. Cameron just had to spice up his acceptance speech at the 2010 Golden Globes with a quote using his made up Navi language from his movie Avatar. That was dumb. It just makes him seems self-absorbed with his own creations. Things like that prevent people from taking fantasy and sci-fi films seriously. Consider this. How many times did Peter Jackson drop some Elvish lines the multiple times he went on stage for the Lord of the Rings trilogy? That’s right, none. Is it coincidence that The Return of the King won “Best Picture”?

In the end tonight, Kathryn Bigelow and her movie, The Hurt Locker won “Best Director” and “Best Picture” respectively. This made me quite pleased. To be clear, I haven’t seen either Locker nor Avatar but the fact that we didn’t have to hear Cameron yammering on stage was good enough for me. Plus, she beat out her ex-husband at the very thing that he is so passionate about. Ha!

To be fair, I think Bigelow is a very talented director and her win tonight stands on her own, with or without the Cameron subtext. One last thing, if anyone can figure out how, at the age of 58, she manages to look like she’s still in her late 30s, please let me know.

The last time I used my dishwasher at home was sometime in June when I got all new dishware, utensils, and glassware for my new apartment. It was a lot of items to have to wash, so it made sense to load up the dishwasher and let modern technology do the work for me.

Since then though, I never really found any justification to use my dishwasher. As I live alone and don’t have a wife and a brood with me, the number of dishes, cups, glasses, pots, pans, and utensils I use in a day is very limited. While I could use my dishwasher to clean four plates, two forks, three knives, and two glasses after one day of use, is that the best way? By washing by hand, I save water, energy, soap, and the environment. I suppose I could just wait until my sink just piled up with enough dishes that using the dishwasher would be the better way to go but I think that’s kinda gross. At the rate, I use things, it would take a good five to seven days to get to that point. I really don’t like letting my dishes sit any more than two days. Any leftover food starts to get funky at that point.

I am concerned, however, that not using dishwasher for long periods of time is not good for it. It contains many mechanical parts, some of the complex variety. Much like a car, I believe it’s good just to run it once in a while just to keep things in good working order. I wonder though how many of you are like me who own a dishwasher but don’t use it. Do you run yours once in a while?

Thanks for reading this entire post, which essentially described me wondering if I should use my dishwasher.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KigcU2jDAmA&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

On Monday, Jay Leno returned to The Tonight Show desk, after displacing Conan O’Brien in a move that cemented his reputation as a late night weasel.

Leno re-took his spot as host of The Tonight Show after his spectacular failure in prime time. His failure was of such magnitude it cost NBC millions upon millions of dollars in revenue because of his low ratings. NBC affiliates were screaming at NBC executives to do something about Leno. In a move that only TV executives could make, they rewarded Leno for his failure, installing him back on The Tonight Show. This would be akin to me gambling away people’s retirement money then being rewarded for doing so with a truckload of money.

Sadly, middle America, with its bland sense of humour embraced Leno once again because they couldn’t get enough of his underwhelming monologues. They clambered for his crutch, the Jay-walking segments, where the apparent source of humour is asking questions to people who are ironically, just a few IQ points lower than the people watching. Leno’s ratings were good enough to beat David Letterman but we’ll see what happens once the weeks go on and things settle down. I’m afraid that middle America will continue to reward Leno for playing it safe night in and night out. They wouldn’t know real, genuine humour even if it hit them like a Ford Taurus SHO going at full speed.

I will always remain a fan of David Letterman and eagerly await Conan O’Brien’s return to television. On Monday, Dave gave me a reminder of why he’s still one of the best in my books, as evidenced in the video above.

It’s amazing how quick the biggest party that Vancouver has ever seen can end. On Monday, it was almost as if the Olympics were never here. How odd it was to not see huge crowds in downtown Vancouver anymore. Didn’t we always party on Monday nights?

I bet there are more than just a few people going through Olympics withdrawal right now.

According to reports, 80% of Canadians watched some part of the men’s ice hockey gold medal game on Sunday. That’s over 26 million people who tuned into watched one of the greatest hockey games the sport has ever put on.

As with such legendary games, people will remember for years to come where they were when Sidney Crosby scored the gold medal winning goal in overtime. For many people across Canada, that place was a packed bar. People got up early on Sunday morning, hours before bars even opened to line up to ensure a good seat once the game started. Some watched at LiveCity Downtown and LiveCity Yaletown, standing throughout most of the game, packed shoulder to shoulder with their Canadian brethren. Others made Robson Square their place to watch, again close to other Canadians.

I watched the game alone at my home, which surprisingly I found out later that a lot of other people did the same. The night before I had been downtown until quite late. I didn’t get to bed until 4am and the thought of getting around 9am to go line up in front of a bar did not appeal to me.

I woke up at noon. Though I was still slightly groggy, the sheer importance of the game made me nervous from the minute I opened my eyes. I immediately turned on the TV. As the players warmed-up, I brushed my teeth and washed my face.

There I sat in my PJs on my couch until the end of the first period. I only made some breakfast during the first intermission. I quickly scrambled three eggs so as to not miss any of the action. I was on edge the entire game. It felt like I was writing a university final exam again.

When the US tied it up at the end of regulation, I was disappointed but not deeply so. Of course, I only became more nervous though. I’ve watched enough hockey to know that OT goals can be scored in the most surprising and seemingly harmless ways. It could end badly on the most innocent of plays.

As it stood, Crosby ended the game in such quick fashion that I did not even comprehend what I was seeing at first. Usually, the sight of a puck entering the net tells me a goal has been scored. This time around, it was the sight of thousands of red clad fans jumping to their feet that signaled to me Crosby had scored.

As the players from Team Canada piled around each other, I instantly became thankful I was alone at this moment as I shed the first of several tears. There would be more tears over the next few minutes, especially during the playing of our national anthem. Who knew I loved hockey and my country so much?

Over the last day or so, I’ve discovered where others watched the game. Some watched in bars. Some were like me, who watched at home. No matter where anyone watched though, for that one golden moment we cheered together. I wish we could have measured the elation of the entire country at that moment.

So where did you watch the game?

I’m too tired to post anything coherent tonight as it’s been a long and emotional day (plus I went to a party tonight). I will, however, congratulate all the athletes, officials, coaches, VANOC, the volunteers, the people of Vancouver, the people of Canada for doing their part in making these Olympics the best Winter Games ever.

It will take days, months, possibly years to understand what the last two weeks will mean to Canada. I’m hoping it will be good things.

As we head into the weekend, the 21st Winter Olympics will draw to a close, marking the end of an amazing two weeks here in Vancouver. Though the Paralympic Games are still to come, Sunday will definitely mean an end to some amazing competition and events. Some of the pavilions and venues will pack up and close, while the many visitors to Vancouver will begin their journeys back home.

If you live in Vancouver, I encourage you to get out and enjoy the wonderful atmosphere and spirit that has permeated throughout this city. At the risk of sounding like a cliche, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Vancouver so go out and enjoy it for one last time.

This evening, a co-worker and I decided to have a few drinks at Joey’s on Burrard, just a few blocks from the Olympic cauldron and the international broadcast centre. While we were discussing the results of today’s Olympic hockey games, I noticed a quiet and unassuming gentleman returning to his seat at a table not far from ours. The gentleman was Teemu Selanne, current player for the Anaheim Ducks of the NHL and even more currently, Finnish Olympian in the sport of ice hockey.

Selanne had just arrived at the restaurant/lounge from his team’s 2-0 victory over the Czech Republic out at the UBC Thunderbird Arena. I guess the team didn’t linger out at UBC because he was downtown well before 11pm. Selanne went relatively unnoticed for the most part. He shook a few hands and a few people gave him a thumbs up from outside through the windows. The most overt bit of gawking came from a few young Canadian males who cautiously came somewhat near his table and took some pictures, much like a person takes a picture of a deer in the wild. I tried to be discreet while taking the above photo of Selanne from my own table. My co-worker and I debated the merits of approaching him but decided he deserved to have his privacy.

We left before Selanne did but he appeared to be quite relaxed as he enjoyed a beer with his two companions. With the sheer number of athletes and celebrities in the city, I wish I’ve had more brushes with greatness over the last few days. The Olympics aren’t quite over just yet, so let’s see what happens.

We’ve been working really hard to get skate 3 out the door and to show their appreciation, management arranged to have a massage therapist come and work on our tense muscles. To be clear, we were offered 15 minute sessions so these are short intervals to help us quickly relax. Your usual spa type massages last much longer but with so many software engineers on our team, it’s not practical to spend that much time with each person.

My first massage was on Friday and while I was on the chair the nice massage lady asked me if I played a lot of sports. I told her I hadn’t participated in sports in many, many months. She then said she had asked because the muscles around my right shoulder showed the same amount of development as people who played racquet sports. I kinda laughed because I used to play lots of tennis but it’s been a good year since I stopped that. I also mentioned that my mouse arm is my right arm. She said that could account for the muscle development, given the amount of time I spent at the computer.

The massage lady returned again today and I was fortunate enough to get another session with her. This time she had the full table so she was able to work on my legs a bit. This time, she asked me if I played soccer (football for you Brits) because according to her, my leg muscles showed signs that I participated in athletic activities. I again laughed because I’m essentially a sloth for nearly the entire day as I sit at my desk. I told her again that I just at my desk all day.

She explained to me that some people have muscles that retain their state to a certain extent after levels of exercise, even if a lot of time has passed since the last bit of athletic activity. That made me feel good about myself, even though I’m still quite tubby around the middle. I wondered out loud what would happen if I actually exercised on a regular basis. The massage lady suggested that maybe I should give it a try and find out.

I’m going to open a bag of chips, watch some TV, and think about that.

I finally found some time to upload my pictures from the hockey game that I attended last Thursday. If you’re keeping score, this game was the start of the stumbles that Team Canada had that has led them to their current predicament. Had they just beat the Swiss in regulation but still lost against the US, they’d be facing Finland, not Russia, should get past Germany today. While the Finnish team is still quite good, I think Russia has an edge on them. Well, it won’t matter if we don’t even get past the Germans.

Click here if you want to see the pictures.