Recent Diary Entries

Tuesday 2 March - Olympic issues

Now that I've said all kinds of positive things about the Olympics, there are a few issues I think ought to be looked into (even though I don't expect the IOC will actually change anything). And let me be clear: I don't claim to have the answers.

Judging

The issue of judging always comes up. A lot of the time, it's whining by athletes who think more highly of themselves than the judges did. And yes, there are some sports which simply could not exist without subjective judging; as well, lots of other sports rely on a certain amount of judgment on the part of officials in determining whether the rules of the sport are being followed.

But it tends to make a sport look bad when there are questions about whether it was judged properly. Perhaps in any future decisions about what sports to add or remove, there ought to be a bias against sports which require judging, so that any sport that is prone to whining and/or questionable marks has to get its act together if it wants to be/remain in the Olympics.

Figure Skating

As usual, the worst of the judging problems are in figure skating. There's the whining mentioned above, and the questionable judging mentioned above (and by "questionable" I mean that people other than the athletes affected are puzzled by some of the results). But there are a couple of other issues.

The new scoring system, which was brought in after the Salt Lake City fiasco to try to make the judging more tamper-resistant, seems to have a couple of problems. One is that almost nobody understands it. In the old days, even the most casual figure skating fans knew that each judge gave marks on a scale with 6.0 as the maximum, so if you saw a bunch of 5.8 and 5.9 marks, you didn't have to think about what discipline (men's, women's, pairs, ice dance) it was or what performance (short or long program etc.) it was to try to figure out how close it was to a perfect performance; it was obvious. Now, there are two scores with names that aren't dreadfully meaningful, and a deduction for problems, and what constitutes a good score can be very different from one discpline to another or between things like the short program and the free skate. It may well be a superior scoring system to the old one, but if nobody knows what it means or how it works, is it better overall?

The other issue is that a number of voices within the figure skating world suggest that the system assigns less weight to extremely difficult jumps (quads and quad combinations) than to other aspects of skating, with Evan Lysacek's win over Evgeni Plushenko being an example of how this affects standings. And it should be noted that there are voices on both sides of this issue who agree that this is how the system works: those who do quads say it wrongly tilts the balance away from quads, while those who don't do quads say it rightly tilts the balance toward artistry. You probably can't devise a judging system that will satisfy both sides of this, but there at least needs to be a discussion within figure skating to sort out whether the current system's bias toward skaters who construct their programs to achieve maximum points is or is not good for the sport.

Uncompetitive Sports

There was unsuccessful legal action by a group of female ski jumpers who tried to force women's ski jumping into the games. The IOC's reason for not allowing women's ski jumping was that it needed more time to develop, as there weren't enough world-class female ski jumpers to justify the sport's inclusion.

Meanwhile, consider women's hockey. It's virtually guaranteed that Canada and the U.S. will be the two top teams, in one order or another; they will both end the round robin undefeated, having a goals-for total of more than ten times their goals-against total. The IOC defends the inclusion of this game because it will help the sport develop.

The IOC needs to speak out of the same side of its mouth on these sorts of issues. If sports are to be included in the Olympics in order to help them develop, then women's ski jumping should be in. If sports are not to be included in the Olympics if they're not well developed, then women's hockey should be out. Either decision will tick some people off, but at least they'll have made a decision and applied it consistently, which they clearly are not doing right now.

Uncompetitive Athletes

We all remember "Eddie The Eagle" from the Calgary games. He was a middle-aged, overweight Briton who represented his country in ski jumping because, despite the fact that he was really rather poor at it, Britain didn't have better ski jumpers to send in his place. We all got a good laugh out of it, and then the IOC tightened up the rules to try to ensure that even if you were the best your country had to offer in a particular sport, you couldn't get to the Olympics unless you were actually competent.

It appears they still have some work to do. As an example, consider the Ghanaian ski team (one man of Ghanaian ancestry, born in Scotland, living in Ghana, training in the U.K.). Now, he seems like a very nice person, and he's raising awareness for my favourite species of large cat, so he can't be all bad. But if you watched him race, you know he's not a world-class skier. Granted, he didn't crash on the course, like many other athletes did, but that's like saying that you're a better driver than Michael Schumacher because you've never crashed. Well, let's see you avoid crashing at the kind of speeds he hits on the racetrack, and then maybe you can claim to be a better driver than he is.

And speaking of crashes, it's all fun and games until someone who shouldn't be competing crashes. In any of the winter Olympic sports powered by gravity, and some others that are human-powered as well, there's a risk of severe personal injury if you don't have the skill level for which the venue was designed. Eddie the Eagle admitted that there was a very real chance he might go splat. We all loved the Jamaican bobsled team, also in Calgary, but let's not forget that they wiped out; fortunately, they weren't injured, and they showed great spirit by picking up their sled and carrying it across the finish line. But not everyone is so lucky.

The IOC needs to revisit this issue.

Monday 1 March - Olympic wrap-up

The games had some problems, particularly at the beginning. I think the fuss in some media outlets over the things that were less than perfect was overblown, all in all. And by the end of the games, there didn't seem to be a lot of chatter about that stuff; it wasn't current information any more, the organizers did what they could to fix things as they came up, and so many things went so well that the overall impression has to be a positive one.

I have three favourite characters. Joannie Rochette showed how powerful the Olympics are when she competed (and won bronze) just days after her mother's sudden death. Alexandre Bilodeau's devotion to his disabled brother was very touching. And Jon Montgomery is a walking, talking larger-than-life hilarity factory (as well as the winner of a gold medal).

For me, the biggest story in men's hockey is not Canada winning the gold; nobody is surprised when Canada wins a hockey tournament. It's not the U.S. winning silver; nobody is surprised when the U.S. does well in a hockey tournament. It's not Finland winning bronze; while that's a couple of steps higher than they'd typically be ranked, they have a strong hockey program and are always a possible medal contender. It's not even Russia losing in the quarter-finals, though that was certainly a surprise. For me, it's Slovakia. Slovakia usually has a handful of highly skilled players and they're often capable of upsetting a higher-ranked team in the round robin. But they're not even in the top half-dozen hockey nations, and yet they beat Russia in the round robin and Sweden in the quarter-final, very nearly beat Canada to get into the gold-medal game, and when they didn't manage that, they very nearly beat Finland for a bronze. Two upsets and two near-upsets is quite a performance!

The Own The Podium program didn't achieve the goal in its name. We came third overall. But it was a massive success. We entered these games having failed to win gold in either of the two previous Games on Canadian soil, and yet we ended up not only having broken that string, not only having set a record for the most gold medals by a host nation in the winter games, but having set a new record for the most gold medals by any nation in the winter games. We set a new Canadian record for the most total medals in a winter Games, beating the previous record we set in Torino. And all of the athletes say that the support they got from Own The Podium made a huge difference. There are other countries that spend about as much on just one sport as we did on all of our sports combined, and it's not a lot of money (less than a dollar a year per Canadian). We should continue funding our athletes at a similar level.

If there's one impression I hope the world takes away from these games, it's a new impression of Canadians. We're still nice and friendly and we still apologize reflexively, but the world couldn't help but notice the sea of people wearing red, waving Canadian flags, singing our national anthem, and cheering like crazy. Really, we're normally far more reserved; we kind of acted like Americans in that regard. But if anyone was under the impression that we aren't patriotic, that we don't support those who represent our nation, then they found out something about us over the last couple of weeks. We're still Canadians, though: we cheered great performances by other countries' athletes, too. We're like that.

Saturday 27 February - Miscellaneous Olympic observations

Following up on the shrubbery observation about ski jumping, what's with all the tree bits in the landing area for aerials?

I also have some additions to the yummy list. For the hosts and commentators list, Kelly Vanderbeek is a cutie. And on the athlete side, let's add Ashleigh McIvor, Tessa Virtue (whose face looks quite a bit like a girl I had a crush on a few years ago), and Maëlle Ricker.

Saturday 20 February - Miscellaneous Olympic observation

More of a question, actually. What's up with all the miniature shrubbery in ski jumping? They have 'em planted on the ramps and also in the landing areas (where they of course keep getting run over and scattered by jumpers when they land). What's the point? There are other markings done with something paint-like (probably food dye, as they do for the course markings in downhill skiing); why not just use that for everything?

Sunday 14 February - Miscellaneous Olympic observations

In no particular order, and mostly of little significance:

• Many Italian athletes have German names. Maybe it's because there are German-speaking areas in mountainous northern Italy on the border with Austria and perhaps that's where their winter athletes come from.
• I thought there was some rule that said once you've competed internationally for one country, it's difficult to change allegiance and compete internationally for a different country. But it seems like in just about every competition there's at least one person who's switched countries.
• We have some really yummy hosts and commentators on TV, including Jennifer Hedger, Jamie Salé, and Catriona Le May Doan. Some of the athletes are also easy on the eyes as well as incredibly talented (I'm looking at you, Jenn Heil).

Tuesday 26 January - Stop and think

Toronto has had a rash of pedestrians being struck (and, in many cases, killed) by vehicles on city streets in the last 2-3 weeks. It seems hardly a day goes by without someone else being knocked down, and I heard on the news last night that so far this year we've had almost a third of the total number of such accidents that we usually have in a whole year. Quite rightly, the authorities are trying to figure out why we have a sudden rash of these accidents and whether we can fix whatever is causing the problem.

One of the main ideas, it seems, being kicked around at City Hall is to reduce the speed limits on our roads. Apparently, whoever came up with this has never had to troubleshoot anything, because the first question you ask when something that used to work one way starts working another way is "What changed?" And did we increase the speed limits on our roads 2-3 weeks ago? No, or at least not on any roads I've been on lately.

I'm pretty sure that I know where this idea came from: the car-hating wing of city council has siezed upon this issue and is using it as an excuse to take another poke at drivers (i.e. most of the population).

Thursday 21 January - Much better

Loyal Readers may recall that my car's windshield suffered a stone chip a while back, and the insurance company screwed up the claim. They denied it, so I had to pay for it myself, and when I called back to complain, the rep said they had no idea why it had been denied because they always pay for stone chip repairs. Eventually, it got sorted out and they reimbursed me, but it was an extra hassle I didn't need.

Driving home from band last night, I got another stone chip. And this time the insurance company handled it properly. I called them and they asked if I wanted them to recommend a repair shop. I said yes, so they not only gave me the shop's address and phone number but even called the shop and put me through to them. By the time I got to the shop, the insurance company had already faxed them all the paperwork and authorized the work. About half an hour later, it was all done.

Tuesday 19 January - Repatriation

The route that the motorcade takes when a fallen soldier's body is brought back home goes almost right past my home, and there's an overpass less than a ten-minute walk from my place where people gather to pay their respects as it passes by. But I'd never done that until today. The motorcade usually goes by between 4-5 p.m., so usually I'm working elsewhere, working at home, making dinner if it's Caledon band night, or already on my way if it's Brampton band night.

But today, I'd finished work early and didn't have anywhere to go (other than a condo board meeting in the evening), so I went to the bridge. While waiting for the motorcade to arrive, I chatted with a few of the other people who were there, including one man who'd lost his son in Afghanistan a little over a year ago. It was touching to speak to someone like him.

From the bridge (Wynford Drive), you can see a fair bit of the DVP, and at around the time that one of the frequent participants had told me to expect the motorcade to arrive, I noticed that the line of headlights on the southbound DVP pretty much disappeared. Within a couple of minutes, the flow of traffic past the bridge stopped, and it got eerily quiet (northbound traffic continued, but at that time of day, it's very congested, so it's not as noisy as traffic moving at highway speed).

A few minutes later, I saw flashing lights in the distance, and a couple of minutes later, the motorcade drove by. By this time, there were a few dozen people on the bridge, many of them with Canadian flags. And then it was over. I said bye to a few of the people I'd met and shook the hand of the man whose son had previously made that trip.

It was a very moving experience. Of course, I don't hope any more of our military personnel have to die, but that's not a realistic hope. I do hope I'll be able to do this again.

Thursday 31 December - Stupid Credit Agency

Long-time Loyal Readers may recall that I've complained in the past about how incompetent credit agencies (the companies that store information on your creditworthiness and sell it to banks and other businesses which wish to find out if you're creditworthy) are, mostly over them inserting fictitious information in my credit history on multiple occasions.

As a result of that, I make a point of checking their files. They are required to honour one request a year from you for a copy of the file they keep on you, at no charge. So I make sure I do this with both of the credit agencies operating in Canada.

Just today, I got a letter back from Equifax saying that they couldn't process my request because they need more information. The form which you can download from their Web site says:

You must provide copies of 2 pieces of government-issued identification (such as a driver's license, health card, birth certificate or passport). If neither piece of government-issued identification shows your current home address, you must also submit a copy of an additional document that shows your address (such as a recent telephone or utilities bill, or a bank or credit card statement). You may black out transaction details on a bill or statement, as long the copy clearly shows the date of the document, the sender, your name and address, and your account number.

I sent them clearly legible copies of both sides of my driver's license and my health card, both of which are explicitly listed on their form as being acceptable.

Now they're saying that they need:

1. A photocopy of two pieces of signed valid identification, i.e., driver's license, social insurance number (optional), birth certificate, etc. Please also ensure your request is signed.
2. Please provide a copy of a utility bill (telephone, gas, electricity, cable), account statement, driver's license, or other documentation showing your current residential address. Please be advised that the proof of address must indicate a date within the last three months.

You know, it would be a lot easier to send them the information they require if they'd accept the information they ask for.

Oh, and consider this: they ask for a signed birth certificate. How many people do you know who signed their own birth certificate? I sure as hell didn't; I didn't even know how to print my own name at that time! Now, my birth certificate is actually signed, but I suspect they wouldn't accept the preprinted signature of Robert Welch, REGISTRAR GENERAL, even though it meets the letter of their requirement (it is my birth certificate, and it is signed).

Wednesday 30 December - Score!

Earlier this month, I bought a new camera at Henry's. I got it for $300 off its MSRP because Henry's has a price match policy and another store advertised it for that price. Henry's also has a price protection policy (and for Christmas they extended it to last longer than usual), so I knew that if the camera went on sale, either at Henry's or elsewhere, for less money after Christmas, they'd refund the difference.

Well, Downtown Camera had it on sale this week for about a hundred bucks less than what I'd paid, so I printed out the page from their Web site and took it to Henry's. Oddly enough, they didn't bother to check with Downtown Camera (either by phone or on their Web site) to see if I was doing anything underhanded (I wasn't); they just refunded the difference, plus taxes since they process it as a return for the original price followed by a sale for the new price. Score!

And then this evening, my friend Katie and I went to see Sherlock Holmes at the Orion Gate Grande theatre. I had a free date night pass that I got as a prize from my walk-a-thon; none of the prizes had particularly interested me, so I invited people who had pledged money to say what prize they wanted (and encouraged them to bribe me to award it to them). Katie's bribe worked: she picked the date night (two tickets, two drinks, one popcorn) and said she'd take me as her date.

There were some projection problems. Throughout all of the ads, trailers, and the movie itself, there were arcs of light flashing on the screen (apparently due to the print being scratched). As well, during scenes in which there was dialogue in French, the subtitles were partially cut off at the bottom of the screen. So as we exited the theatre, staff were handing out free admission passes. Which means I get another movie night with Katie. Score!

Actually, the theatre had a number of problems. Katie said a couple of the stalls in the women's washroom were out of order. There was an "out of order" sign on one of the paper towel dispensers in the men's bathroom (though it was actually working). At the snack bar, one of the machines had an "out of order" sign on it, and there were signs all over saying cash or coupons only, so I guess their debit system was also down. And the air hockey table in the games room was also out of order. It looks like they've been letting maintenance slide during this busy season ...