Tochi's Hut

Happy Holidays!

Vincent Lam. Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures. Random House, 2005.

I remember my anatomy group… We had a communication problem.  Men are odd about penises.  They don’t want to talk about them but they secretly believe them to be very important, perhaps sacred.  So we got to the penis on our cadaver, and the men wanted to skip it.  ‘We’ll look at the book,’ they said. ‘No way,’ I said, ‘we need to see the inside of the penis.’ Corpus spongiosum, all that jazz.  Besides, the poor guy’s body was lying there.  A big man, powerful, and it would have been a shame just to let it go to waste.  What did we do?  We talked.  We talked like professionals, and I saw that it was this one guy’s turn to dissect, and there was no way that this man was going to cut up a penis.  So I said, ‘What if I do it?’ and I did it, and I think we all understood the issue better.

>_<

About halfway through the novel.  A very fun, light-hearted, most insightful read so far.

Bears and Bulls come and go.  I bet many of us are seeing our RRSP’s or 401k’s withering.  These two songs have been circulating in recent weeks (Canto w/ subtitles): 放得太遲 by 東加豆 (原曲: 古巨基-愛得太遲 [For the Leo fans out there]) and 熊日 by 東加豆 (原曲: 李克勤-紅日).  In a sad way, they capture the emotions of many players in HK financial markets these days.

I guess everything IS a document for another time. 

Upon our return from Secteur Rocher, we took the bus up to Jardin Exotique de Monaco.  The botanical garden was opened in 1933 and features a wide variety of cactuses.  Before I get to the garden itself, one of the most impressive features is the spectacular views of Monaco the garden offers.  You can see a good, almost aerial-like view, of Monaco.  In the following photo, you see Beau Rivage, as well as the chicane and tunnel exit from the Formula 1 course!

Here's a shot of Secteur Rocher, with the Prince’s Palace featured prominently.  We were just standing right on that rock an hour ago watching the race. :)

Jardin Exotique de Monaco is situated on the north-western cliff (what in Monaco isn’t on a hillside), consisting of several levels almost like a giant staircase.  As you progress through the garden, you descend onto lower levels until you reach a cave at the very bottom.

I have never seen so many different cactuses concentrated in one place.  Given the moderate climate of the region, they are not the type of plants I would have expected to find at a botanic garden here.  I guess they are some of the most resilient plants in the world.

The variety of succulents on display was very impressive – ranging from tall and skinny cactuses to the round and fat ones.  The latter totally reminded me of the spinning leevers from Zelda; I had to resist from taking out my great sword and performing a spin attack to slash them. :)

The landscaping of the garden was equally impressive.  A complex interlock of pathways and bridges, there were multiple ways to get to the same spot.  Some of the stairwells appeared to be carved out of the rock face.   Some of the bridges were made of wood, but instead of normal wooden well-sawed planks and beams, the railing was sculpted to be curvy and twisty.  No real pattern, except it looked like how a natural tree root or branch might grow.  Quite the attention to details.

The other highlight of the garden was the observatory cave.  We had to wait a bit for a guide (who only spoke in French) to take us down into the depths of Moria.  The official site claims that the cave features many fine specimen of stalactites, stalagmites, curtains, columns, spaghetti-like helictites.  You can google those terms yourselves to find out what they mean.

I decided to go with my 50mm f/1.8 lens for this cave.  Given the low lighting, I needed as wide aperture as possible.  Unfortunately, I had major difficulty with the narrower DOF.  I still had to bump up the ISO, and sorely missed my 18mm and VR.  There’s only so much room for you to manoeuvre in the narrow pathways within the caverns.

So yeah, they have nice metal railings that were elevated above the cavern floors.  The walk starts of with a bunch of steps down.  Near the entrance, we saw some excavation of animals, which proved that prehistoric humans were using the caves as a base station for their hunting.  More steps leading down; overall, the descent was about 60m.  Too bad not even my HCx could pick up the satellites to track the elevation changes.  It would have been pretty cool to get a 3D mapping of our cavern exploration route.

So yeah, I didn’t really understand what our guide was saying; it took too much effort to try to translate, and after a while, I just decided to shoot photos and enjoy the sights.  BlueOrca translated bits and pieces of the funny parts to us. 

We got to touch some of the stalagmites that were close to the path.  The texture was a glossy, hard (much more than I expected) and very smooth, though if you tap your fingers on it, they do feel a bit brittle.  It’s really amazing that these things are continuing to grow.  My favourites were when some of the columns – they appeared like a stalactite fused with a stalagmite.

After the approximately one hour tour, we returned above ground.  I needed to retrieve my tripod, which had been confiscated earlier. :(  We grabbed some gaufres by a vendor near the bus-stop.  The guy only had two left, so we had to split the waffles.  Nutella. mmmm :)

The bus came and we were off to the Top of Monaco.  Till next time!

Monaco introduced me to Formula 1.  Since then, I have been diligently getting up every other weekend to catch the Grand Prix.  My TV would be tuned into either TSN or Speed TV, while my computer would be connected to the official Live Timings.  And what a thrilling season this has been!

I always wondered what about a sport that makes people interested.  For example, what is it that kick started my passion for hockey all those years back?   I guess I can be considered a mini Formula 1 fan now. :)

Monaco Grand Prix – Learned of a “Lewis Hamilton”. 

Canadian Grand Prix – Saw Lewis Hamilton run into the back of Kimi Raikonnen when exiting the pit lane.  What a noob mistake!  I like this guy. lol.

French Grand Prix – Missed this race, but saw the highlights afterwards.  Hamilton got docked with a 10 place and later a drive through.  Miserable outing.

British Grand Prix – Silverstone.  A lot of build up to see how local hero Lewis Hamilton would respond.  He totally dominated the wet race.  I think this race was a turning point in my transformation.  With all the hype on Hamilton, I was rooting for him to win too.

German Grand Prix – Hockenheim.  I got up for the race, only to find that TSN was showing the British Open instead. WTF.  Saw the latter half of the race again while at a pub, and Hamilton showcased his death touch on the brakes with two breathtaking passes on the hairpin.  Hamilton was my man!

Hungarian Grand Prix – Hungaroring.  McLaren 1-2 on the grid.  Massa passes Hamilton on turn 1.  Hamilton tyre puncture, drops down to 12th!!! Massa seems to be cruising to victory when his engine blows with 3 laps to go!  “The home straight, with 3 laps to go, is never a good place to park!” My favourite quote all season. 

I’ve started to research more and more into Formula 1.  Found out that I can put up a good conversation with other Formula 1 addicts at work. :)

European Grand Prix – Valencia.  New course, breathtaking marina and bridge.  Quite a boring race.  Massa/ Hamilton / Kubica finished as they started.

Belgium Grand Prix – SPA!  One of the most impressive races of the entire season.  My recap (Note: Lewis = Hamilton = Lewis Hamilton)

Hamilton started in pole, and got off to a good start.  However right at the end of the first lap, Lewis spins on La Source, Kimi Raikonnen of Ferrari (past 3 times winner), passes Hamilton to take the lead.   For the next 41 laps, it was Kimi, Hamilton, Massa.   Kimi had built up a 6 s lead at one point, but once Hamilton came out from his 2nd pit w/ hard tyres, he started chasing.   However, the rain (as predicted) finally came with TWO laps to go.  Most cars had their their hard dry tyres on, so they started slipping and sliding. 
So, Lewis caught up to Kimi and was right being Kimi's gearbox with 2 laps to go.  Lewis tries to go outside to pass Kimi, but was forced to cut off the track across the corner to avoid a collision.  By cutting the corner, he came out in front of Kimi.  He let Kimi go back in front of him (as required).  However, that didn't matter as Hamilton got around Kimi again to take the lead soon afterwards.    Then all of a sudden, Lewis goes wide on one of the corners.  Kimi goes ahead.  Then Kimi spins... Lewis jumps in front again.  Cars were sliding everywhere.  Then all of a sudden, Kimi spins out and crashes into the wall.  It was CRAZY to watch.. my fist were pumping. :D
Some cars pitted to switch tyres.  Lewis and Massa stayed out.  It was one of the slowest and least glorious final lap of a Grand Prix.   But man, Lewis just take it easy. lol.  Those last 3 laps had me on the edge of my seat. :DDD
Lewis takes the chequered.  Ferrari is protesting that turn where Lewis cut the track corner.  The race stewards are investigating.

A few hours after I had sent that out, I saw the news:

OMG.

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium - Ferrari's Felipe Massa has been declared the winner of the Belgian Grand Prix after McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton was given a 25-second penalty for an illegal manoeuvre.

Hamilton had finished first Sunday after dramatically overtaking Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen, but race stewards said he had cut across a chicane to gain an advantage before passing the defending world champion.

There was endless controversy regarding what has become known as the Bus-stop Gate.

Italian Grand Prix – Monza.   Vettel of Torro Rosso won.  Learned that there is no formation lap when race starts under safety car.  Hamilton screwed up qualifying, so started at position 15 on grid.  Hamilton did some massive overtaking and finished 7th.  He almost had a chance of finishing on the podium had it rained. 

This race taught me some of the intricate strategy that is involved in Formula 1.  They had mathematicians calculating everything to the narrowest of margins to maximum the probability of winning.  Dang.

Singapore Grand Prix – First night race ever!!!  City circuit through downtown Singapore.  Quite a super duper facility, and a lot of hype on how the race would turn out.  Highlight was Massa taking the fuelling hose with him when leaving the pits!!!!

Japan Grand Prix – Fuji.  Watched this race with BlueOrca and Kungfucius on a horrible internet stream.  Massa cheated and took Hamilton out on a chicane.  Race to forget.

Chinese Grand Prix – Shanghai.  Race at 3am in the morning!!!  BlueOrca got up to watch the race too, despite being a bit under the weather.  Quite a dedication!  Hamilton owned the race from start to finish.  Best overtake was Massa on Raikonnen. XD

Brazilian Grand Prix - Hamilton brings a 7 point lead over Massa (hometown favourite) into the race.

Hamilton will be champion if:
- He finishes fifth or higher
- He finishes sixth and Massa is second or lower
- He finishes seventh and Massa is second or lower
- He finishes eighth and Massa is third or lower
- He fails to score and Massa is third or lower

Hamilton started 4th on the grid and Massa first.  Massa jumped off to a good start and never really looked back.  Race started with a 10 minute delay due to a heavy downpour right when the race was suppose to start.  Hamilton had to overtake Fisichella at one point to regain 5th, and fight off some pressure from Glock and Vettel. 

With about 7 laps to go, Hamilton was carefully nursing a 4th place with Vettel right behind him.  Remember, Hamilton only needed fifth or better to win.  Rain was reported to be coming imminently.

Hamilton and Vettel both pitted with 5 laps to go to switch to intermediate tyres.  When they came back out, they slotted behind Timo Glock, who didn’t switch tyres and had jumped up to 5th.  Hamilton now either had to keep Vettel behind him or pass Glock.

With 3 laps to go, Glock was still posting awesome times with his dry tyres.  The unthinkable happens.  Hamilton runs wide on a turn, and Vettel passes him.  Hamilton was in 6th – a position that will cost him the championship!!

The McLaren just did not have the pace today.  Hamilton could not get a good slipstream on Vettel.  Every time he got close to the Torro Rosso’s gearbox, Vettel will just speed away.  It felt like the last 30 seconds of the Stanley Cup finals, the opposition just scored and you are down by a goal.  Despite all the desperation and do-or-die mentality, you just cannot seem to get out of your own end!!  The agony!

Massa had already cross the finish line to take the chequered flag.  Glock had posted a decent time in the first sector of the final lap.  The camera returned to Hamilton chasing Vettel for that 5th position in the last few corners of the Grand Prix.  That stupid blinking light of Vettel's seemed so close and yet horribly far. I was all but resigned to seeing the championship slip away.  This was not how it was suppose to be.  There is no worse way to lose a championship than this.  As Vettel and Hamilton came around the final corner, what do they find?  None other than a white Toyota struggling to stay on the track in his dry tyres! Is that Glock?!?  It is!!! It is Glock!!!!  It took a few seconds for my mind to register what just happened.  Lewis passed Glock. Lewis was back in 5th!!!!  OMG!!!  

Glock had lost all the 18 seconds lead he gained by not stopping for intermediates.  He was doing all his might to stay on the track, while Hamilton shot pass him to reclaim the fifth place he so desperately needed to take the championship.  The Ferrari boys were celebrating, the McLaren boys were too.  But Ferrari was wrong and they soon realized that.

McLaren F1 Car £Millions | Yellow Race Helmet - £1,000 | Seeing Ferrari Pit Crew Celebrate A Title They Didn't Win - Priceless.

Wow.  This race had it all.  Rain in the first few minutes, rain in the last few minutes.  The greatest of anticipations for most of the race.  The horror when everything seemed to be falling apart.  The despair at watching the entire race and championship slip away. The shock at the miracle that just transpired. The jubilation of a LEWIS HAMILTON VICTA!!!! My heart has not pumped that fast in ages - the race was INTENSE. 

I do not think I will ever watch an event as heart-stopping as this.  The roller coaster of emotions was an experience of a lifetime.  I am so fortunate to have been able to watch this event unfold live.  Imagine, if I had not been at Monaco for the Grand Prix this past May, I would have been totally ignorant of this awesome awesome sporting spectacle.  Actually, I cannot imagine that.

Hamilton wins the World Driver’s Championship by a single point.  What an amazing finish to my premier Formula 1 season experience.  I have learned so much about the sport, about the host cities and countries, about the people and cultures.

Every now and then, everyone needs a boost of inspiration.  I was fortunate to land a $500 ticket to the Changing The World conference at University of Toronto. 

Changing the World brings together the world's greatest visionaries to
inspire young people to innovate and better our world. The topics covered
include: technology, science, design, entrepreneurship, philanthropy,
and the arts. Among this year's speakers are:

1 Nobel Peace Prize winner (for stopping nuclear war)
1 Star designer
1 Architect designing Asia's tallest building
12 Entrepreneurs
1 Giller prize winning author
2 Internet millionaires
1 Engineer who creates $100 laptops for developping nations
1 Girl who was curing Alzheimer's at age 15
1 Girl who gave British young people the power to vote
1 Scientist who stops human aging
1 Guy who created Mac OS X
9 Technologists
1 Futurist creating blob computers
... and more.

15 speakers is each given 18 minutes to deliver their epic talk.  TED style in rapid-fire succession.  Some recaps, highlights, and thoughts from each talk.  My apologies if some of my notes do not make much sense.  I hope that the talks were recorded and made available online later.  There were a few I would highly recommend.

Live Longer. Create the world.

Aubrey de Grey -- world's leading aging scientist, believes that we can live to 1000

• Long beard, as you would expect.
• Shameless Plug.  His book is available on Amazon for $17.79. lol.
• The fact of living is what makes us dying.
• Metabolism –- (Geronotology)—> Damage –-(Geriatrics)--> Pathology.
• Metabolism is big unknown, which makes Gerontology very difficult.
• Geriatrics is losing battle.  You can never get better, only prolong.
• Solution?  Same thing that lets keeps as many VW Beetle (regular car) on the road after 50 years as Landrovers (built to last)  ==> Maintenance.
• We understand damage (cancer, etc) – 7 deadly things:  Junk in, Junk out,
• Claim: innovations in progress to “undo” or “repair” some of the damage => 25 years of research should yield techniques to prolong life by 30 years.
• Claim: hand wavy arguments about history of rapid developments in technology after initial breakthrough.  Airplane: Wright Brothers (1913) to Concorde (1979)
• Longevity escape velocity.
• My thoughts: "Interesting ideas.  Would be nice if they were to come into fruition.  A lot of BS and hand waving though.  Dependent on research that he is not even involved in! Ran way overtime!!”

Eva Vertes -- cancer scientist, made an Alzheimer's breakthrough at age 15

• Book at age 9 started her on medical path. 
• Key to success is to step out of conventional thinking.
• Cancer – mutation causes out of control body repairs, which leads to tumors.
• Conventional Treatments – chemo and radiation – both KILL those “external” bad cells.
• Body interacts with cancer cells though.  Why need to kill?  Perhaps treatments can target these interaction.
• Idea: Cancer starts with a “wound” – initial mutations that cause out of control behaviour.  Killing the tumour (final product) will not heal the “wound”.  Treat the wound instead.
• Idea: Tumors need blood vessels. Strong opposition from medical community for many years.  Now an accepted truth.
• My thoughts: “Brought deep medical concepts into layman’s terms.  Main messages, Step outside the box and asks the question WHY?”

Vincent Lam -- author, 2006 Giller Prize winner for Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures

• Cover of book.  Initially, bag of blood dripping.  Not appealing.  Second idea. A soiled bandage. Eeew.  Finally settled on heart.  His book is also available on Amazon. lol.
• Chinese heritage: When a kid at family dinners, friends and family asked him “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  “I want to be a doctor and writer.”  All they hear is “Doctor and blah blah blah.  Wow!! Doctor!!”
• Accomplished Doctor and Writer.  Two seemingly disjoint fields, but in reality, are the same thing : Story-telling.
  • “While modern medicine is aided by a dazzling array of technologies, like high-resolution MRI scans and pinpoint DNA analysis, language is still the bedrock of clinical practice.” – Jerome Groopman ‘How Doctors Think’
• “Would you want your doctor to tell you this story?”  Medical Students will ROFL when seeing this joke.  Non-medical audiences will give a light nervous laughter (like we did today). LOL.
• Before “science” and “medical study”, doctors were still around.  They were known as the magic healers or the shamans.  They excelled at managing stories.
  • “The shaman is also a magician and medicine man; he is believed to cure, like all doctors, and to perform miracles… But beyond that, he may also be priest, mystic, and poet… (and) appears to be the guardian of religious and popular traditions, preserver of legends several centuries old.” – Mircea Eliade, Shamanism
• A Patient’s story…
  1. I have a problem…
  2. Someone cared for me.
  3. Someone used their special knowledge and tools to help me.
  4. Someone told me what was going to happen next.
• So as a doctor, you must understand the patient’s story, and help them move it forward.
  • “The practice of medicine is an art, not a trade; a calling, not a business; a calling in which your heart will be exercised equally with your head.  Often the best part of your work will have nothing to do with potions and powders.” – Sir William Osler
• My thoughts: “Wish I had recorded this talk!!!!  One of the best of the day.  Really brought a new perspective on how I view medical care and the power/importance of language and communication.  That common theme is what surrounds us and penetrates different ideas and things.  It’s what binds the galaxy together. :P  5-star inspirational.”

Karim Rashid -- industrial designer, in 14 museums worldwide, created over 2500 products

• Famous “rock star” designer.  Comes on stage in all white attaire and shiny silver shoes.
• Slideshow of a lot of his very beautifully designed products running in the back.  2500+ products. Everything from the Issey Miyake perfume bottle to the new Mastercard.
• On average, a person interacts with 640 different objects a day.  Why are most of it so mudane?!?
• Everyone is creative.  As kids, we draw on everything.  Our parents would appreciate our art and hang them on the fridge.  So why are we so conforming?
• If 9 out of 10 people say a thing is beautiful, what exactly is beauty?  Beauty is the substance that conveys an idea.
• Stylists vs Designers.  Fashion designers in Italian translate to “Stylists”.  They study previous generation’s fashions and “reinvent” ideas from the past.  “Designers” create things of the present.
• Example:  Project to build a building, for use under these parameters.  I can design something to fit that.  However, if you want some part of it to be Baroque-style, I’m no longer designing, but styling.
• Example: Mastercard.  Redesign it.  First thing he wanted to do was scrunch it and change its shape.  Not possible, as over 16 billion cards are made by the same process every year.  Not a lot of room to innovate.  He went to grab some money, and the idea hit him.  Why do you have to insert it a specific way?  Why can’t you put the magnetic strip on all 4 sides, and hide them with a cool graphic design?
• No one knows the future.  Artists and Designers work in the present.  Everyone else is living and interacting with the past.  Live in the present!
• “This stage needs to be redesigned!” lolol.
• My thoughts: “Most visually impressive talk of the day.  His art is so beautiful that combined with the passion in his speech, the talk was one of the most inspirational of the day.  Message is design something for the present that will change the world!”
• Got my very own Karim-signed GARBINO!!!!!  AP, WH and me.

Hani Rashid -- architect, principal of Asymptote, designing what will be the tallest building in Asia

• Brother of Karim.  Super successful architect.
• As an architect, he doesn’t change the world.  He convinces his clients to change the world.
• Designed for the long term vision.  Not short term goals or “whims”, like environment-friendly ideas which are popular nowadays, but may not be 10 years down the road.
• Proposal for Gutenberg museum in Mexico.  Large pavilion to embody the vision natural already established with the 160m cliffs beside the museum.  Escalator takes patrons into the belly above the pavilion to make it an organic, natural feel.
• World Business Center, Busan, South Korea – Tallest building in Asia. 
• Penang Global City Center, Malaysia – Fusion of Islam and Buddhism.
• Strata Tower - Abu Dhabi, UAE
  • Cool Garage idea.  Everyone who lives here have fancy cars.  You drive into a glass encased garage.  You step out of the car and outside the glass garage room.  Smoke will fill the garage, your car will be lowered and an empty platform will be raised again before the smoke clears out.  LOLOL.  That idea got nixed very quickly.
  • Helicopter pad.  Practically every skyscraper in Abu Dhabi has a helipad.  So, for Strata Tower, one was designed on the roof top terrace too.  One feedback they didn’t expect was when a sheikh told them, the one thing he hates the most is when he’s coming by helicopter, another chopper is already occupying the helipad!! lololol.  They had to go back to the drawing board to make the landing pad support multiple helicopters, so these guys can fly in, have their coffee in the penthouse lounge, and talk about their next big project.
• Failed proposal for UAE “Eiffel Tower” project.
  • Four towers (foot of the Eiffel) supporting a suspended building.
  • Video projectors at the top of the building onto the sky, broadcasting prayer announcements and race results. :P
• Architect for the YAS MARINA CIRCUIT HOTEL!!!!
  • Special requirement from customers.  The building must look good from the ground and from a blimp.
  • Hotel “dome” made up of 6400 unique pieces of glass ($$$) LED enabled.
  • Circuit laps around and through hotel.  Most rooms have view of the circuit.
  • Bridge across the track must be completed 3 months before race, so that Mr. Schumacher, Mr. Montoya, and Mr. Hamilton can practice on the track. XD
• My thoughts: “Man, art really runs in his family!  It’s so amazing the boldness and creativeness that goes into the designs of these landmarks of the future.  Made me think of his brother’s message.  Design for the present, so that it becomes the “past” benchmarks of the future.  Hearing about his visions for the Abu Dhabi hotel was a special bonus.”

Our technology - the best of our future.

Anand Agarawala -- creator of Bumptop, a revolutionary 3D interface

• Created Bumptop as Masters Thesis project.  Instant YouTube hit.
• Disorganized physical desktop conveys information to people that regular OS desktops do not.   Example, if you had to sort a bunch of pictures – you’re not sure of the categories beforehand.  In real world, you’ll start going through the photos and "toss” them into separate piles.  How do you do that easily on the desktop?  Create folders?  Create tags?  It’s very cumbersome.
• Gestures and fluidity very important.  Life is not point and click.
• Unreal 3 physics engine.
• Love the default “Sticky Notes”.  Take a Nap.  Maintain good hygiene! lol.
• Secret email to sign up for private beta faster: mrbump@bumptop.com
• TED attendees and speakers gets LOTS of goodies (suitcases full of goodies).
• Cameron Diaz smiled at him, mingled with Bill Clinton.  lol.
• My thoughts: “Very cool concept!! As a mouse gesture lover, I cannot wait to try this desktop out.  Main message: take a step back and break away from the conventional ideas.”

Mike Beltzner -- head of User Interface design at Mozilla

• Firefox success was not in its browser technology, but the way it was developed.
• Change the world starts with changing the way we think about solving problems.
• Mozilla recognized issues with Web direction.  Netscape and IE were going on divergent paths.  IE was using ActiveX.  Netscape was doing their own thing.  Web pages were falling apart.  Main problem is the code is proprietary.  Someone wanting to “steal” a web implementation, you run into ActiveX embedded object brick wall.  No stealing allowed and that’s it.
• Mozilla had to change the way they thought.  Netscape begat the Mozilla Project.  The Mozilla Project begat a community.  The community participated for the web.
• Tremendous passion and feedback from community.  Strong management and chain in place to filter out good ideas from bad.
• November 2004.  NYT ad paid for by community for Firefox.  The community bets on the web. 
• Jackpot came when web started sharing.  Example: Google Maps came out in 2005.  MapQuest guys woke up one morning, turned on their computers and SHIIITTT!  Google Maps API enabled sharing, collaboration, openness and building together. 
• Participatory approach is the way of the future.  Various degrees in this approach, but the benefits are many.
• My thoughts: “Essentially a why-open-source-is-good talk.  Fairly strong points.  It’s your technology, it’s your future.  Embrace it.”

Don Lindsay -- creator and designer of Mac OS X at Apple, now Design Director at Microsoft Live Labs

• Design + Technology are both key.  IPhone basic design is very similar to Orbiter, a 1991 prototype that failed to make it to market.  Design was there, technology was not.  2G (data) networks were available until 1992.  SMS wasn’t available until 1993.
• Worked on Mac OS X, fluidity was key.  Great design, no technology.  Took 2 years for them to build the visualizer engine to provide the technology.  IPhone is also leveraging the same engine now.
• M$ Live Labs help bring design, incubate technology, so future technology can be delivered earlier. 
• Photosynth talk about rendering 3D from 2D visual analysis.  Again, strong community is necessary to embrace this.  
• Most important benefit is the information they get from places all around the world, submitted by users.  M$ does not have to visit those places to get information.
• My thoughts: “I was looking forward to this presentation.  Unfortunately, no live demo of Photosynth, so the technology wasn’t conveyed very well.  He reiterated similar themes as Mike Beltzner of Mozilla, amassing wealth of information, except he did not emphasize on the sharing part, which I think is kind of important.”

Roel Vertegaal -- technologist, pioneer of Organic User Interfaces

• Human Media Lab at Queens University
• A physical object like a sheet of paper is organic.  If we don’t care about it, we can move it easily out of our peripheral vision.  It’s hard to do the same thing with a computer.
• How to make a computer more organic?  Make them smaller, make them more versatile, make them more robust.  ==> Merge them into their surroundings.
• E-Ink technology.  Example: Computer "Settlers of Catan” hex discs.  If you want to move your boat, you physically lift the disc, and the ship will slide (as if on water), over to the adjacent hex disc.  The images are updated automatically.  COOL!!
• 3D Craytronics at CMU.  Similar idea applied to 3d Modelling that allows collaboration.
• My thoughts: “This guy came off a bit self-centred.  He discounted a lot of cool technologies of present day as if they were nothing (i.e. iPhone, especially with Don sitting right in the first row!!  Anyway, he showed some cool stuff that allows true integration of “computer” technology in every day world.  Pretty much a world where everything you touch (i.e. Coke can) has a computer.  Interesting ideas.”

How can we change the world?

Patrick Lor -- founder of iStockPhoto -- acquired by Getty Images for USD $50 million

• Humble beginnings – family made “sacrifice” moving to Canada.  Parents always reminded him of that.
• Photos come from a story.   Story captures the imagination.
• However, great business success requires fans.  They need to talk about you and spread the world.
• Three things you want from your audience: wallet, mind and heart.
• How do you speak to audience?  Many go for wallet, minds, hearts.  You never get around hearts.
• Your story needs to be heart, minds, wallet.  We are going to change the world (heart).  Here’s how we are going to do it (minds).  We need a little money (wallet).
• iStockPhotos photographers were passion about art.  It was not about the royalities or money.  It was seeing their work being used.
• Key turning points for iStockPhoto: Canon Rebel – increased quality and quantity.  Alexa Top 500 - significant achievement for websites.
• Get the community, fan base involved.  They will spread the word.
• iStockPhoto kept to a “rebel” theme – had a rebel CEO with lots of tatoos.  The fanbase accepted and embraced it.  Selling something that was unique.
• 1. Create Passion  2. Hang out with smart people 3. Use cheap or free tools  4. Seek advice 5. Live like a student (no GP’s).
• Dude retired after acquisition.
• My thoughts: “Great speaker!  Really inspirational when he talks about the fundamentals, the grassroots engagement, as being most important for any successful start-up.  I actually recorded most of the presentation cause I thought GBO might enjoy this one.  The video ended up being 1.4GB, so yeah, that’s not going to be uploaded anywhere.”

Andre Charoo -- co-founder of prospectlinker, an online recruiting tool that connects companies to students

• Mentorship – Finding those influential sponsors.
• Have other take ownership of your ideas.
• Take Risk, Think Big, Be Confident, Push Limits, Smart People, Be Uncomfortable, Reputation is key, Compare to the Best, Have others take credit for your success.
• Mentorship is the way to full potential.
• ProspectLink is creating mentorship between students and individuals within companies, so that students can find more about the companies, while companies can find more prospective students.
• My thoughts: “Basic fundamental talk on the value of mentorship.  Not very inspirating though (compared to the other talks).  I hope his start-up succeeds though.”

Chamath Palihapitiya -- VP of Growth, Mobile and International at Facebook

• Change is social.  Social opinion drives changes.
• Facebook and technology enables you to build awareness.
• Easy to organize and find people with common ideas and thoughts.
• You have a voice.  Create a facebook group.  Gather support.  Make an impact.
  • Students rally against HSBC student fees in UK with facebook page.  HSBC changed their policy.
  • US elections.  Obama reaching out with Facebook.
  • South America.  Students rally against the FARC terrorist group.  Worldwide support.
• A single voice can start an avalanche.  Can you be that voice?
• Ended with the following YouTube clip of Obama’s VA speech the night before the election.   Witness the power of what a single voice, and a single phrase can inspire 2.5 years later.  I bet Catnipped can recite the entire speech. lol.
• My thoughts: “I had been looking forward to Chamath’s talk all day, since he’s one of the most successful venture capitalist and an inspiration to many entrepreneurs.  His point didn’t disappoint.  Talks about the collective power that Facebook can enable.  A true driver of change.  The final Obama speech was super effective.”

Matthew Hockenberry -- leading contributor of One Laptop Per Child

• Something about building the common web.
• Most traffic on the web flows between North America and Europe.  Africa, South America, much of Asia (except Japan) are untapped.
• My thoughts: “Wow, what was up with his presentation.  His points doesn’t make any sense.  I tried, but couldn’t connect the dots.”
• OLPC laptop – got a chance to play with this much talked about toy.
  • OS is rather elementary.  I could barely use it.
  • The antenna ears are super cool.  The XO is so cute too.
  • First thing I did was touch the screen, expecting it to be a touch screen.
  • The mouse pad doesn’t register tappings.
  • keyboard feels like those calculators of old, rubber mesh overtop.

Eric Chivian -- Nobel Peace Prize winner for his work on stopping nuclear war.  Among this year's Time 100 for his work on global environmental protection.

• 1985 Nobel Peace Prize winner
• Started with the following joke.  Bush and Palin went to Alaska to go hunting.  They headed to some nearby mountains and …
  
• To change the world, we need to first save the world.  It is not a choice we have.  It’s something we must do.
• Nature’s biodiversity is at risk.  Lots of potential cures and medicines are lost.
• Showed picture of Polar Bears, an endangered species.  (Without any Cola-Cola bottles)
  • Bears hibernate for 5-7 months (laying in near stasis) in a year. Yet, they do not lose bone density, whereas humans would.  If process is understood, a possible breakthrough against osteoporosis.
  • Bears in hibernation do not urinate or poop.  Humans with such a condition would require liver transplants or other drastic surgery.  $25 billion health issue in US.
• Frogs
  • Skin is highly permeable to both gas and liquid.  Yet, they have very little bacterial infections.  Research has lead to development of new antibiotics with no tolerance effects.
  • Toad frog has excretes this glue like substance to capture and protect against insects.  This super glue has been used successfully to repair damage cartilage.
  • Two species of Frogs that reproduce by mom frog swallowing egg.  Tadpole develops in stomach and the mom frog regurgitates when baby frog is developed.  Nature has come up with a way to protect the tadpole from the corrosive acids that break down the food particles in the stomach.  This could lead to better solutions to ease acid stomach.  Too bad the two species are now extinct.  Nature’s million years solution to this problem is forever gone.  As Master Wilson would say, “too bad so sad”.
• Lyme disease distribution maps almost directly to the blue states in 2004 election! Causal effect?  More blue states in 2008 signify lyme disease spreading?
  • Actually, Lyme disease spreading in areas with less biodiversity.  Lack of terminal carriers and predators against Lyme carriers.
• My thoughts: “Interesting talk.  A very well versed speaker.  Very professor like.  Learned a lot of neat facts about bears. lol.  Definitely made me more concerned about maintaining our biodiversity.  Not as much an inspirational speech as a the world is ending speech.”

Melody Hossaini -- founder of UK Youth Parliament, youth leader of Al Gore's Climate Project

• “I’m a movement by myself… but I’m a force when we’re together.”
• “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the realisation that something else is more important”
• Asked Al Gore what drives him on this Climate fight: “Imagine you are walking along the beach and you find a message in a bottle, saying you must do something – and since you are the only person with the Message, you feel a sense of responsibility… I had a similar experience…”
• Working with kids in 3rd world countries.  They need to steal in order to get money.  Then they have to make a choice to use the money to buy food for their families or provide shelter for another week.  These kids had to go through more tough decisions than anyone else in the civilized world.
• These kids would be speaking in swear words all the time, but when they were provided with an opportunity to improve and change, they embraced it.
• Desmond Tutu – 3 qualities you need to change the world. Sexy Legs.  Big Nose.  An easy name like Tutu.  lol.
• What inspires you?
• My thoughts: “A most inspiring talk from a person our age… yet she has done SO MUCH for the world already.  She draws her inspiration from the people she’s helping.  A single person can drive a movement.  Together, we change the world.  Great final speaker of the day.”

Well, after these talks, I really felt re-energized and motivated.  I’m fired up!  Ready to go! XD

I’m going to skip ahead in my E08 recaps to discuss Monaco first.  The Principality of Monaco is a small city-state off the Mediterranean Sea enclosed within the Côte d'Azur region of France. 

Monaco is a 30 minute train ride from Nice, where we had spent the night.  Got up early in the morning and discovered the massive line snaking around the train station.  Dispatched BlueOrca to find Segamatic a ticket (very cool F1 racer ticket), though she had some problems trying to get back in line. :)  The massive line actually flowed very quickly, because the stewards were just shovelling everyone into Monaco bound trains.

The Monaco train station is very unique.  Entirely embedded underground into the hillside of the Principality, you feel like you are arriving at a subway stop more than a train station.  Standing at one end of the station, it really feels like a warp portal, with the trail of lights spanning the length of the tube.  As if you won't notice, cigarette ads and Formula 1 banners pop out at you at every possible location. :)

We came out of the station to the sounds of VOOOOOOM and drizzling rain. Scootering around were many folks sporting the paraphernalia of the various racing teams, half of them I swear, were the tifosi. Actually, at the time, the Ferrari clan were the ones I could recognize. I knew of only one other team, Renault, just because I was tasked to pick up a polo shirt. The streets were lined with many any vendors selling pricey Formula 1 goods. So this was what a Formula 1 Grand Prix was like.

We headed down to the L'Automobile Club de Monaco to pick up the tickets we had pre-ordered. Since this was our first Grand Prix, we opted for the cheapest seats: Secteur Rocher at the unbeatable price of 70 Euros each. The next level were K3 Grandstands going for 390 Euros.  At 70 Euros, I must say the tickets themselves were VERY NICE. Holographic F1 logo with a McLaren.  While researching before the trip, we found this video from Secteur Rocher of someone sitting in some tree on the hill. We joked about camping that tree for the race. :)

The race was due to start at 2pm and we wanted to check out as much of Monaco before the race.  We headed up the Rock of Monaco (aka Rocher de Monaco, hence Secteur Rocher) towards the palace grounds.  On the ramp up, it was amazing to observe the extent Formula 1 go to protect the prime viewing spots.  Many of the good vantage from these “free” locations were boarded up to obstruct the view of the circuit.  Still, many people were on their tippy toes and stretched out just to peer through the cracks.

We passed by the famous statue of François Grimaldi, who disguised himself as a Franciscan monk to sneak into Monaco’s Castle.  He singlehandedly murdered the guard who greeted him at the gate, then along with his men, overtook the castle and thus began the Grimaldi rule of Monaco, which lasts till this day.  The story and statue really captivated me; Grimaldi is dressed exactly what I’d imagine a legendary wizard from the Middle Ages to be like.

The main attraction on the Rock was Prince’s Palace of Monaco.  We were hoping to take a tour of the facilities, but given it was the Grand Prix weekend, the palace was, as expected, closed.  Who would want to give a tour when the world’s biggest motorsport event is being held outside?  We were a bit muffled when we spotted a sign that said there won’t be a changing of the guards ceremony today.  This ceremony was suppose to happen everyday! :(

I stepped across the chain railing to cut across to the other side.  The guard immediately blew his whistle to warn me away.  Poor guy.  I bet that’s all he does every day; blowing his whistle at trespassing tourists.  Grab some photos of Port of Fontvieille and probably the coolest car I saw up close on this Europe trip – an Aston Martin DB9.  Fortunately, Segamatic was here to point out that this is the Bond car in Casino Royale. :)

We took a quick tour of the old Monaco, famous for her very narrow streets.  Passed by pubs where people were already drinking and awaiting the start of the Grand Prix on the TV.  We got some respite from the rain inside a small chapel.  An interesting figure of Jesus (I think) lying on his back in a glass cabinet as if he was resting in a casket.

Got back to the Palace grounds around noon.  Decided that it was time to camp our spot.  It was then that we realized part of Secteur Rocher included the platform just outside the palace overlooking Monaco.  I am forever grateful to the ticket guy for just checking our tickets and not ripping them.

We manage to find really good spots overlooking the circuit.  Segamatic and I camped a bench, while BlueOrca somehow got right up to the guard wall.  We dug into our crackers (BlueOrca picked up 3 of the same kind) and water.

I knew absolutely nothing about racing before coming to Monaco.  While IndyCar races are held annually in Toronto, I’ve never paid much attention to them.  Just never understood why people fancy fast cars doing hundreds of laps around the same circuit.   Now that I know a tad more about Formula 1, I kind of wish I had visited Monaco Grand Prix with my newfound knowledge and appreciation of the sport.  (I still don’t understand NASCAR though).

The Monaco Grand Prix circuit spans 3.340 km.  From our vantage point, we could say about 40% of the track - from the start/finish line of sector 1 past turn 1 into the Beau Rivage ramp, and most of sector 3 from the long straight between turns 11 and 12 up though the piscine chicane.  We were quite far away from the track; the photographer in me would have loved to be in the grandstands.  However, this being my first ever grand prix, I consoled myself with the fact that I can see more of the track from the Rock than I would have in any grandstands.

Apartments, hotels and buildings lined the left (north) side of the track.  All the balconies and rooftop terraces were jammed with people.  We encouraged Segamatic to invest in one of those units, so that we would be closer to the action on our return visit to Monaco.  One thing that I did not understand at the time was why there were so many cranes.  They made an unwelcomed intrusion in my cityscape shots.  I realized later that they were used to remove disabled vehicles from the track.

We caught the last bit of the Formula Renault 3.5.  My first time seeing an open wheeled race car!  So that’s what’s making all that noise!  The cars were quite bunched up together, but all of them made it through the curves and chicanes with ease, even in these wet conditions.    I wasn’t sure what this particular race was about, as the race ended almost as soon as we’d began watching.

It was a little amusing when I went through my pictures many weeks after the trip.  I noticed the chassis of the cars in this picture were quite different than the 2008 Formula 1 cars.  It took me a second to realize they were from the Formula Renault race.  This was a difference I did not notice while at Monaco.  Levelled up! :)

At 1pm, while we were bored out of our minds waiting for the race to start (bored enough to be shooting these giant seagulls ;-) ), two guards came of the palace to join the existing one in a mini changing of the guards ceremony.  Now, Segamatic and I weren’t going to give up hard fought bench.  Fortunately, with our 200mm zoom lenses, we were able to catch all the action.  Three guards doesn’t really make much of a ceremony, but at least that’s one thing we can check off from our list of things to see.

As it got closer to 2pm, we could see a lot of activity happening on the grid.  The grandstands quickly filled up with people and umbrellas.  The rain also started to pick up. :(  I kept on checkingat my watch waiting for 2pm.  The cars lined up at the grid, their rear lights blinking in the rain.  The 5 traffic lights went off and voom… the cars accelerated off.  The flashing rain lights firing off like little rocket engines as the cars raced up towards Beau Rivage.  That moment.  The rain.  The anticipation.  The sounds.  The cheers.  The speed.  The atmosphere.  Forever etched into my memory.

A few moments later, the first of the race cars came back through the chicane.  They were all coming through in single file and then returned to their place on the grid.  Oro?  The previous start must have been blotched.  They were restarting the race.  (DUH!)  The lights went off again, and this time, the cars bunched up a lot more near the start, and really started to blast off.

Words really cannot describe what it’s like seeing a Formula 1 Grand Prix in person.  To the uneducated like me, it was just cars doing 78 laps of the same circuit.  I didn’t recognize any of the cars or drivers; I didn’t understand the fuelling and tyre strategies; I didn’t even know who were the top contenders.  And yet, it was totally captivating to watch even in rain.  I suspect it’s a combination of the adrenaline build up from the engine vooms and the awesome atmosphere of Monaco and the crowds.

There were crashes: Timo Glock of Toyota having a run with the railing, Nico Rosberg damaging his £10,000 front wing on the first lap.  Several bigger ones happened at other parts of the tracks that we could not see. :(  There were numerous punctures: Lewis Hamilton and Alonso both experiencing rear right tyre punctures.  I didn’t notice Hamilton’s puncture at the time, but I’d imagine had I noticed it, I’d be exclaiming and laughing at his unfortunate fate.  If I re-watched the race now, my shoe might be flying towards my TV.  Anyway, despite all this fun stuff, it’s spectacular to watch these cars travel at such high speeds in these torrid conditions and yet, be able to main the finesse and control required to navigate the twists and turns of Monaco’s narrow streets.  If I was the one racing, I won’t even be able to take the swimming pool at a quarter of the speed they were travelling at.  Actually, I’d probably end up driving through the chicane, and if I gained any advantage, I’d gladly take the drive-through.

Others may claim otherwise, but these Formula 1 cars are the ultimate driving machines. 19000 rpms, 0 to 100mph in less than 4 seconds, superior aerodynamics and so much more.  These are just beautiful machines.   I should mention, the chassis of the car are made of carbon fibre (even the steering wheel is carbon fibre).  This is the same stuff as my precious gitzo!  L33T!  XD

The rain was horrible on my camera.  Raindrops kept on getting onto my filters, creating these blotches on my photos.  Even after wiping it clean, it was only a matter of time before another set of drops built up.  I also did not feel very comfortable having my lens wet, as much as I trust Nikon’s fine build quality.  BlueOrca went ghetto style with the garbage bag around her camera.  I also found out that my umbrella was woefully inadequate against these hurricane calibre winds.  Many thanks to Segamatic for helping keep this umbrella in one piece.  :|

After about an hour into the race, we decided to head out; we had a lot planned for the rest of the day in Monaco, and our schedule was super super tight.  However, BlueOrca became quite adamant about taking more photos of the Grand Prix from different angles.  In hindsight, had I known about the 2 hour limit and with my new appreciation of the sport, nothing could have made me leave the race early.  Anyway, it was an eye-opening experience in many respects. :|

I had one final task to which I was entrusted – pick up a Renault Polo shirt for a coworker.  Good thing I knew exactly what to get, so it was a very quick shopping trip.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same luck with the race programme, as no one seemed to be selling them anymore after the race!!  Somewhere along the way, I misplaced our big bottle of water; an act I would dearly regret later in the day.

Everyone’s first Grand Prix experience is always special.  To have been able to attend it in Monaco, one of the triple crowns of motorsport, is an experience I’ll always remember.  To cap things off, we found out from a bloke on the train that “Lewis Hamilton” won the Monaco Grand Prix.  I had no idea who Lewis Hamilton was.  The chap also had a 1:43 model of the Ferrari F2008.  I was beating myself for not getting a proper souvenir, but then again, I would have probably picked up the F2008.  Now that, would have been a waste of money.  MP4-23 all the way!!

Monaco will forever be remembered as my introduction to the wonderful world of Formula 1.  I cannot wait till my next Grand Prix experience.  Fingers crossed for the Canadian GP in 2009!

"There's dignity in suffering, nobility in pain, but failure is a salted wound, that burns and burns again!"

GCZZZ5: Bruce Trail Dufferin Hi-Land Section

As part of our goal of hiking the full Bruce Trail by 2017, which currently spans 894.1km (555.6 mi) from Niagara to Tobermory, we planned to hike the entire 53.8km (33.4 mi) Dufferin Hi-Land section this past Saturday.

53.8km would definitely be the longest I’ve hiked in a single day.  Given how much I’d suffered trekking the first 38.8km section of Caledon (though the 2nd half of Caledon was not bad), I was worried whether my body would be able to endure.  A few days before the hike, I came down with flu symptoms – chills and nausea.  My legs felt so weak that I questioned whether I would be able to hike even 10km.  Fortunately, a couple doses of Chinese herbal remedies and a strict diet and sleep schedule took care of my flu.

Our next obstacle was the weather. Heavy rains and winds were predicted for the entire weekend, with an expected 30-40 mm of rain.  Rain or shine.  No one said this was going to be easy. 

Got up at 4am, departed at 5am, arrived at the end point just before 7am in moderate rain and dense fog.  The end point is about 20 minutes from Collingwood, where I go skiing.  I did not realize that we had gotten that far north.  I’ve pretty much hiked more than my typical drive to Barrie on Hwy 400!

A bit ironic but perhaps fitting is that the end point parking is besides a cemetery, of all places. :|

NorthernPenguin and Fababoo shuttled us to the beginning.  We also placed a bailout vehicle and some supply drops at strategic locations along the trail.  Met up with a bunch more people at the start.  After a group picture, the hikers got into formation and promptly raced off to the first stile. 

The first stint of the hike started with Mono Cliffs.  I have heard so much about this provincial park, mainly how beautiful it is and its famous Mono Cliffhanger multi.  Being a cliff, the trail starts right off with an uphill climb.  We passed by the artesian well from ages past.  It was interesting to see water just bubbling out of a small little concrete hole.  With its close proximity to the lake, I would have never guessed this was a well.  Highlight of Mono Cliffs was a lookout from the top of the cliffs.  The view was not as spectacular as it could have been, given with the gloomy weather and lack of foliage colours.

It was drizzling rain for an hour or so, which I did not mind too much.  I had more problems with the wet ground, as I kept slipping on the boardwalks and logs.  The worst was when I lost my footing at the top of a stile.  I nearly fell down the rungs on my butt, but at the last possible moment, I pushed off with my other foot and jumped down to the ground.  Fortunately, I struck the landing like an Olympic gymnast.

The big group broke up coming out of the Mono Cliffs section, and soon, it was Rovers3, jeff-trex, Team Goju and I leading the charge.  As if following a trend of the hike, after Mono Cliffs, we would enter Boyne Valley Provincial Park.  Cliffs, now valleys.  Great.

The rain had stopped and the sky started clearing.  It was turning into a beautiful day for “a walk in the park”.  While most of the trees lost their leaves already, their colours blanketed prettily the floor of the trails and forest.  I was actually expecting a lot of ups and downs upon entering the park.  However, with the exception of detouring to search for our first geocache, the first part of the trail coursed through the valleys without too much change in elevation.  The second half was a different story.  The trail all of a sudden decidedly turned uphill.  Coming out of the forest, we saw a big hill ahead with a snaking trail line; this must be the famous Murphy’s Pinnacle!  Good thing that was the side trail in the distance we saw (though we came really close to the summit anyway).  Afterwards, we had to trek through many valleys that gave Boyne its namesake.  Whenever we came onto a ridge and looked down into a valley, we’d see the trail snake up the opposite ridge of the same elevation. :(

Rovers3 left our group at the 18.7km mark and we arrived at Team Goju’s first supply drop at 20.6km.  After a short break for lunch, res2100 stumbled out of the trail to join us.  Continuing on, we rode a ridge before coming out onto a road.  Then we cut through Mulmur Hills with its rolling hills before arriving at our second supply drop.

Given my experience from the last BT hike, on this trip, I made sure I brought enough food.  Hiking while hungry is not fun and with the long distances in this hike, I’d rather carry extra weight than go hungry.  Ended up eating five of my six sandwiches and six of my ten bars on the hike.  The fresh tomatoes from the supply drops were a godsend.

Continuing on, we saw some very interesting rock formations (aka earth cache) before embarking on 5km road section.  Second half of it was all downhill, descending an astounding 150m in elevation into the Kilgorie area.  Of course, as with any downhill on this trail, it only means we were due for an uphill climb on the other side.  :|

We spent a bit of time exploring the Power House beside Pine River.  The only things left standing were four concrete walls and a couple exposed pipes in the ground.  Given the ghost town talks earlier in the hike, it felt pretty cool jumping around inside this building. 

The trail turned sharply upwards to reach the Bell Lookout over the Pine River area.  Daylight was fading fast at this point and we’d only reached the 34.8km mark.  At least we were under the 20km to go.  Res2100 was hurting quite a bit (feet and shoulders) at this point.  For me, I had took a precautionary Advil Liqui-Gel a couple hours earlier, so while my legs were tired, they weren’t hurting yet.

Continued up from Prince of Wales Road before the trail veered off into the woods again.  For some unknown reason, the Bruce Trail Association loves to route the trail up through hilltops.  To make matters worse, it was pitch black already.  Not really expecting any switchbacks up a hill, we spent a few minutes at the base of the hill trying to find the next blaze of the trail.  No one expected to look backwards (up a switchback) for the blaze. :(

At 37km mark, I started to feel my knees tightening up.  Another advil was in order.  Road section until 39.6km, followed by a sharp uphill climb onto a ridge of open pastures.  Since we were out in the open, the strong winds really slammed into us.  Good thing it was mainly backwind.  With the soft pastures, this section ended up being the perfect terrain for sore feet.  Also, this was the first time in my life that I’ve seen cow pies.  Holy crap, some were the size of small pizzas.

The trail turns backwards on Prince of Wales Rd again (I hate this routing), before descending into the valley towards our last and final supply drop.  Despite being only a kilometre away to Centre Rd, the terrain was so rocky that I had to take extra care in my steps.  In the dark and with the leaves on the ground, it was impossible to tell where the rocks and crevices laid.  Any missteps translated into undue stress on my already painful knees.

During this portion of the hike, TOMTEC came over the FRS.  We tried to reply back confirming our location and getting a ride out for res2100.  Unfortunately, after some futile transmissions, we lost the channel.  We got our final pit stop, spilled out the food and advils to fuel ourselves to the end.  Jeff-trex and Team Gojus loaded up on the energy drinks. 

Res2100 had considered taking the 5km road to the car, instead of the 9km trails to the end.   Fortunately, He decided to finish the hike in the proper fashion, much to the relief of the group.  We had heard from Rovers3 that the last 10km featured some nasty rocky descent.  From the topographical maps, we assumed it was this section right after our supply drop.  The downhill portions turned out to be some easy switchbacks, followed by a very manageable uphill climb.  Once we got out of the valley, we trekked along road allowances  (first time I’ve heard of such a term)  and relatively flat terrain all the way to the end.  At certain points on the trail, we spotted glowing red eyes tracking our movements.  Also woke up some very large birds sleeping in the trees along the trail.

Well, it was a pretty uneventful hike to the finish.  We had to cross a little stream that flowed out into a 20ft waterfall at one point.  Knowing all too well how slippery wet rocks can be, I tried to be extra careful with where I was stepping.  Ended up losing my step anyway.  Dunked my shoe into the stream and broke my hiking stick at the same time.  sigh.

From the 1st Line EHS, we made the final left turn onto the home straight to the chequered flag.  As a final test of our perseverance, the road took one big dip before coming back uphill to the cemetery where our cars were parked.  Not that we had much of a choice at this point but to keep going.  The wind was strong and quite chilling, but the sky was crystal clear!  It’s been a long time since I’ve seen so many stars in the sky.

Hiked the final 500m from the car to the finish.  I was dead tired.  The STOP sign with the final blaze marked the end of our journey.  16 hours and 21 minutes, arriving just before 1am in the morning.   53.8km officially (not accounting for elevation changes).  We finished.  Our accomplishment totally did not sink in at that moment.  We took our pictures and scurried our way back to the cars to warm up.  I had such a hard time climbing up the steps into Team Goju’s van.  My knees refused to bend.

We waited for a bit, before travelling down 1st Line EHS to see if we can spot the second group of hikers behind us.  Team Goju took out a mailbox while backing out his van on that road.  I don’t know how he jumped out of his car so quickly given his sore legs, but he returned saying “My van is OKAY!!” lol. The second group ended up waving the white flag at the 42.8km mark.

We picked them up and I got home at 4am.  It was a physical struggle to climb the stairs up to my bedroom (at least 5 minutes to get up that single flight of stairs).  No words can describe how painful that experience was.  I woke up the next morning at 9am (stupid internal clock!) and could barely walk.  Both my knees were shot and every inch of my body was aching. 

Contemplating back on the hike… Not everyone can hike 53.8km and I definitely paid a hefty price for this little adventure.  The biggest satisfaction was not that we hiked the entire section or distance, but that at no point did I even think of bailing out midway.  There were definitely many opportunities for us to quit early (especially that little voice inside Res2100’s head).  But I was here to do 53.8km.  No matter what time I’d finish the hike, I’m damn well going to finish.  Knowing that I have this mental perseverance really builds up confidence for the future, and that in and of itself is what is most satisfying.

Of course, I’m a 1-day End-To-Ender now for a full section of the Bruce Trail too. $$

I did not really go through my photos from the hike yet.  I’ll get those posted once I sort them out.   However, here’s a short video I put together of some of the sights from the hike.

Till next time!

P.S. 53.8KM BABY!

A weekend sojourn to the land of Kabitzin during Canadian Turkey Break.  There happens to be a Geocaching Mega Event happening as well, which convinced BlueOrca, Kungfucius and me to invade the town.

Headed down on Saturday morning.  Stopped at Grove City Outlet for some shopping before arriving into Pittsburgh around 5:30pm.  A lot of construction going on along I-79.  Two of the three lanes were blocked off in the last two miles before I-279 interchange.  The two lanes were perfectly drivable, I’m not sure why they blocked it off.  Of course, being a Saturday, no one is working.  Ended up taking 50 minutes to travel those two miles.

Met up at Kabitzin’s (had trouble finding the entrance, until I re-read the directions more carefully, duh!).  Got to meet Bunky and was given the royal tour of the really fancy Kabitzin residence, along with that movable wall cabinet.  Saw some very awesome Maui wedding photos, and was introduced to Sydney and Toby. :D  Much to my surprise, Kabitzin and Kung were researching the Fuji Speedway on the computer. lol.  Dinner at Elbow Room.  I think Kabizin made the best choice.  Kabitzin didn’t make any puns that I caught, much to my disappointment! XD

After dinner, Kung and I parted ways with our gracious hosts.  Kung and I got some water and Oreos before heading to Station Square and the Incline.  Kungmobile’s GPS reigned supreme as it navigated us around road closures and bridges.  I only had to cut off like 3 cars trying to follow Kung. :P

Took the incline (known elsewhere as funicular or peak tram) up to Mount Washington, and was greeted with this awesome view of the Trois Rivers and downtown Pittsburgh.  There were these spacecraft landing pads like that of Bespin Cloud City sticking out on the hillside for uninterrupted panoramas.

Walked around downtown for a bit before checking into our hotel.  BlueOrca arrived shortly thereafter, and we got the ITV feed for the Japan Grand Prix set up.  I do not know whether the internet was just crappy at the hotel, or the stream was bad (I suspect the former), the ITV feed would choke at the most inopportune times.  Race started at 12:30am with Hammy at pole.  He was last after lap one due to a super questionable collision.  That pretty much ruined my night right there.  Stewards ruled the race again.  A race to forget.  :( 

Got up the next morning and headed to Meadowland Racetrack (HORSES) for Pittsburgh Geocoinfest 2008.  So many TB in the parking lot.  Got into Room 266 and the main conference room.  Registered (no event geocoin left).  Walked around the various vendors and people showcasing their wares.  Didn’t see any geocoin that was cooler than Tochi’s Traveller’s Coin.  Took a picture with Signal.  BlueOrca was having a lot of fun discovering coins, while Kung and I took a walk around the hotel lobby several times. XD

Eventually, we were able to convince BlueOrca to go geocaching in WV and O_o.   WV caches were relatively easy to find. Had lunch for the first time (for me) at Cracker Barrel.  The first O_o cache was a killer.  We scoured the recycling hut, and even the great BlueOrca could not find it (so I don’t feel too bad for not finding it myself).  Ended up getting the cheesiest micro in a guardrail to colour the state.  BlueOrca found a cache in her dreams.

Headed back into to Geocoinfest and hotel afterwards before fooding at Station Square.  Took BlueOrca up the incline.  Attempted a difficulty 3.5 or 4 later in Pittsburgh, but DNF at the end of the night.

Kung left the next morning while BlueOrca and I headed out for a Pittsburgh exploring / geocaching day.  Schenly Park, UPitts, CMU and PITT STOP (Who’s the NUT again?).  BlueOrca spotted some Quaker snacks at a 7-Eleven.  After raving how good these Quaker treats were, I could not believe she didn’t open one to share!   I still don’t know what it tastes like.  Oh well.  Drove by Shadyside and I recognized the area from a previous visit. :P  Frick Park.  Shrine of the Blessed Mother for this shot.

Drove across a railway bridge and found Southside Works. Ate at the Cheesecake Factory (WOOT!), brought a cheesecake, before some caches to finish off the night.   Caching in the dark means quadruple checking the same place and then checking it again.  Took me about as long to find my headlamp as I needed to find certain caches.  Haven’t had this much fun caching in a while. :)

Parted ways with BlueOrca the next morning. Drove back home. There was no lineup at the border.  Had a fun chat with the Canadian Border officer, who questioned why I didn’t go gambling in the states, lol.  I told him the Canadian Dollar sucks too much nowadays ==> no capital.  We ended up chatting for a minute about the exchange rate and politics (it was election day) before he “let me go”.  It’s experiences like these that makes me feel welcomed coming back home.

Pittsburgh is a very pretty city.  A bit hilly for my tastes, but she does have her spectacular aspects.  Definitely a place I would revisit to explore further.  Next time, kayaking on the three rivers for sure. XD

Badminton season started a few weeks ago.  KP, AA, JZ, and IS all came to “try out” badminton this week.  Since JZ didn’t have his own racquet, KP brought along two of his racquets from a $20 “badminton” toy set that he picked up at Canadian Tire.

I had just come off from a game.  AA, who was using KP’s toy racquet, asked to borrow mine.  A few minutes later, I was up for another game.  I thought about asking for my racquet back, but decided I could play a game with this toy racquet.  In the warm-up rallies, the racquet balance felt totally off in my hands; I thought I was just too used to my own racquet. The grip (or lack thereof) was hard plastic; I totally expect that with the sweat build up in my palms, the racquet would sooner or later fly out of my hands.  The strings had no tension at all; at least I will not hit the birdie out of bounds with this racquet.

This is a story about this toy racquet.  Boy, this thing was making me work for my points.   Since I couldn’t really get too much speed on the birdie, I had to really focus on the placements of my shots.  After a while, I felt the racquet handle cutting into my palm.  I just assumed it was the hard plastic.  Little did I know, fractures had begun to develop in the handle.

Then, as I got the perfect lob return shot from my opponents.  My body arched up, hips and shoulders rotated, racquet head sailed over my head for a smash onto the birdie… at the moment of contact, the handle of the racquet just exploded in my hand.  The frame of the racquet flew off into the next court. I had half the handle left in my hand, the rest were shattered into bits and pieces all over the floor. 

W.T.F.

“Holy Cow!!!” “What happened?!?!” “OMG!!!” “I’ve never seen a racquet break like that!!” were the general reactions from the crowd.  I was so embarrassed and glad that the racquet frame did not hit anyone.

JEEZ.

I picked up the pieces and went back to AA to ask for a trade of my own racquet.  He and JZ almost fell over laughing seeing the broken racquet.

My hand was traumatized by the experience.  For the next few shots, whenever my racquet made contact with the birdie, I subconsciously expected the racquet to explode in my hand again and felt surprised when it didn’t explode.  I can totally understand why people suffer from post-traumatic disorders after a disturbing experience – the reactions are totally involuntary, even if you mentally try to convince your body everything is okay.  Don’t worry, I recovered pretty much after a dozen shots.

This experience made me realize other things.  Good racquets are an engineering marvel!  I always just focused on racquet head angle and speed, and never really thought about the transfer of kinetic energy through the racquet during a shot.   It totally makes sense now that I think about it – just never considered how much force goes through the handle and up the frame.  Dang.

My trusty Yonex never felt so good in my hands.

To avoid any rigging inquiries by the stewards or backlash regarding certain cities having gained an unfair advantage, I hereby declare the entire Côte d'Azur, by definition, to be 5/5.  Côte d'Azur, also referred to as the French Riviera, is arguably the most beautiful and one of the most posh regions of France.  I have been told of countless wonders and stories of the French Riviera from various sources over the years, so this has always been one of my must-visit places in the world.  Naturally, the many incarnations of E08 itinerary always included Côte d'Azur - guaranteed success!  Our plans call for several days in this area, with the first stop in Cannes.

Now… the planning of this E08 trip has, at times, been frustrating.   We originally had more people, but various conflicts in schedule forced some to bail out –.-;  In the end, we had settled on these two weeks in May which overlaps with Victoria Day and Memorial Day long weekends.  When it came time to book accommodations, I realized something was fishy when hostel/hotel prices were up to 10 times more expensive during these two weeks than any other time of the year.  What we did not realize when we initially picked the dates is that our visit to Côte d'Azur coincides with two of the most celebrated spectacles in the world – the first of which is the famous Festival de Cannes.

We spent the night in Nice and took an early morning train into Cannes for a day trip.  The scene at Nice’s station was a mess.  We did not expect such a big crowd!  BlueOrca was smart with our EuroPasses; we skipped the lines and jumped onto the next train to Cannes.  40 minute ride from Nice to Cannes.

Having grown up around another major film festival for the better part of my life and knowing how it transforms Toronto for two weeks every year, I was really curious what Cannes would be like.  BlueOrca also hyped it up by telling me about a giant Indiana Jones façade adorning some building’s exterior.

The train station was only a few blocks away from the main pavilion of the 61st annual Festival de Cannes.  Unfortunately, unlike TIFF, most of the festival’s viewings and activities were held in a private, secluded section of the water front.  Only accredited film and media members were allowed in.  Too bad I forgot to register myself as a reporter for Tochi Media Conglomerate. :(

What does one do at a film festival?  Watch movies, see the stars, interact with well dressed people, ogle at all the fancy cars. :D  We had to see at least one movie while at the film festival.  Our first pick was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which had came out two days prior.  However, Indy was only being shown at a regular theatre, so we opted for the Festival-sanctioned Director’s Fortnight showing of independent films later in the evening.

We took a stroll along the water front promenade, Boulevard de la Croisette, to check out the beaches, booths, boutiques and palaces.  We passed by a row of white roof huts (classic Cannes Film Festival icon) that showcased various countries and their films. I really love film festivals because you get to see films that are “non-Hollywood”.  So few of these movies ever make it to mainstream theatres back home.  Take Pan’s Labyrinth for example – Hollywood would never create such a film.  It really is a pity that there is so much art and culture we are missing.  Anyway, Cannes is an important showcase for such films, especially those of European origin.

This product of Ukraine was particularly interesting – Sappho – Love Without Limit.  Where can you highlight and celebrate such a provocative, erotic film besides a film festival?  What made it more amusing for me was that the subtitle resembled the second Umizaru movie Limit of Love.

We made a brief stop at the official boutique store, where BlueOrca picked up a t-shirt to wear at home and I brought the most expensive key chain of my life. There were many performers showing off their arts and crafts along the street. At various times, there were groups of people dancing to music coming out of a boom box. :P

It seems like there was a contingent of adoring fans outside every single hotel, waiting for their idols to come out. BlueOrca and I hung around for a few minutes, but didn't really see the point of wasting our time like this. Chances are, I won't even recognize the stars anyway - although, Harrison Ford was rumoured to be in town. XD  We did manage to see a lot of nice cars - Lamborghinis, Ferraris, you name it, they have it. I've never seen so many different colour Ferraris in my life. Also got my first close up look of a Tesla. Too bad Segamatic was not here yet. lol.

The atmosphere here really epitomize the lifestyle of Côte d'Azur - definitely a place for the rich, lavish and carefree.  If I ever become super rich, I’d love to get a yacht and sail into Cannes (and probably Monaco and Marseille too), dock and just party. 

There were many giant billboards and decorations advertising the latest and upcoming films.  Here is the one outside of Intercontinental  Carlton that got BlueOrca all excited.

After a quick lunch, we explored a hill that rises above the western part  of Cannes.  There was a cache there with the longest log ever.  Good thing I found it first, so BlueOrca had to roll it back. XD

From the hill, you get a pretty spectacular view of the city.  We could see the pavilion and convention centre where the Festival was taking place.  On the deck of the helicopter landing pad like building, someone famous must have been holding a press conference.  From our super far vantage point, all we could see was a constellation of camera flashes going off every couple minutes.  Too bad we didn’t have a super long telephoto.  We raided the tail end of a wedding party at this restaurant near the top.   All the guests went home with a bottle of wine. :P 

There was some church at the top of the hill that we visited briefly.  My memory is kind of fuzzy from this point on, as I started feeling the worst of my cold.  I seem to get sick at least once on every trip. :(  On our way back to downtown Cannes, we passed by a façade of the bus terminal that I particularly liked. 

We decided to go through the shopping district (I think this is the first time on the trip where we’ve gone “shopping”. lol).  Two of the memorable shops were a pirate candy store, where the loot was literally barrels full of candy and a souvenir shop where BlueOrca spotted an inflatable Orca (or whale, I still cannot tell the difference).  BlueOrca was contemplating on starting a pin collection on her slingshot backpack, the first being the palm logo of the Festival.  She debated for the better part of an hour – considering factors such as cost, usage, future and anything else you can think of.  I was to the point where if she did not buy this darn pin, I would have brought it for her.  We ended up heading back to the official festival boutique store where BlueOrca picked up her pin, while I got a postcard.  After she paid for it, we found out it was not a pin. Good thing the cashier was kind enough to give BlueOrca a refund.

With some time left before our movie viewing at 7pm (had to get in line by 6pm), we decide to hit the beach.  This is, by far, the liveliest beach on our entire trip.  The sun had returned.  My only problem was that my bathing suit was back in Nice.  :( We just took off our shoes and went for a stroll along the water.  BlueOrca drew her trademark logo and an unflattering (fatter than irl) version of Tappy in the sand.  My attempt at an Orca ended up looking more like a dolphin (in my defense, Orcas are dolphins).  I apparently missed some critical part in my design - a part that I still cannot remember.  Footprints in the sand. :)

We had some quiches for dinner.  Saw a few very spectacular sand sculptures that were nearly completion. 

We brought these 7 euro tickets to watch the prestigious independent film guild known as Directors’ Fortnight.  I do not think I have ever watched these so-called amateur films.  Perhaps the closest would have been Blair Witch.   From the program we were expecting to watch a 1hr 20min feature film, timed perfectly to give us some time to walk over to the beach to catch the late night outdoor movie at 9pm.

Everyone took their seats and the show started.  This dude in an all white suit and a lady in a colourful dress took the stage and started explaining the mission and purpose of the Directors’ Fortnight.  I was like.. wtf. ._.;  The show then turned into an awards presentation, kind of like a mini Oscars.  Tonight was apparently their closing night gala.

The experience of witnessing the awards presentation in person was quite unreal.  You can sense in the atmosphere that this evening was very special for many in attendance.  The winners were like any awards show, ranging from some really animated ones to some very humble ones.  However, they were all very honoured with and proud of the awards and the guild.  I totally felt like an outsider experiencing something truly special, something truly great.  The colourful lady I’d mentioned earlier was an interpreter, translating from French to English and vice versa.  She was the best part of the show.  At various times, after a long speech by the speaker, she would summarize everything in one sentence, much to the pleasure of the crowd.

After the fun stuff was taken care of, the show transitioned to the feature films of the night.  The short film was Benny Safdie’s The Acquaintance of a Lonely John.   It was the life of one guy (John) as he goes about a day of his life.  A little sloppy, John is pretty much the type of person you would not even notice on the street.  However, his little actions and gestures of kindnesses are beautifully captured in the film.  For example, arriving home one day, he finds a little bird trapped inside his air conditioner.  Instead of dismantling his air conditioner to take care of the darn bird, he feeds it some seeds.   While subbing in for a friend at a gas station, he accidentally overfills someone’s tank.  He tries to make up for the extra with his own money.  His friend also pulls a prank on him by “robbing” the gas station and he took it all in stride.  The film, while only like 15 minutes long, makes one appreciate the small wonders and joys of the people and life around us.

The next film is the feature of the night entitled “The Pleasures of Being Robbed” by Josh Safdie, Benny’s brother.  Story is about this girl, Eléonore, who goes about her life stealing miscellaneous things from people.   Film starts of with this girl seeing another girl that she knows (the other girl doesn’t really know her).  Eléonore gives her “friend” a hug and picks her purse.  Similarly, she goes stealing some DVDs, some grapes, and a basket of baby kittens, the latter gets tossed onto her bed, to the joy and horror of BlueOrca.  The weirdest part is that this girl isn’t stealing for money, greed, etc.  There is really no reason given for her actions.  She just does it.  The description for the film states “A curious and lost Eléonore looks for something everywhere, even in the bags of strangers who find themselves sadly smiling only well after she's left their lives. They owe her their thanks.”  Unfortunately, with the awards ceremony, we were running late, and the film at the beach was about to start.  We decided to leave early, so I never figured out how the people ended up being better off after Eléonore pickpockets them.  Even now, as I’m summarizing this, I’m aching to see the rest of the film.

So yeah, the closing night with the Directors’ Fortnight was a pretty cool film festival experience.  However, we were heading off to the beach, where every night of the festival, the festival committee selects one film to show to the public on a giant projection screen by the beach.  Woot.  We were going to see an official film from the festival!

Before that though, we made a quick run to the train station to check the schedule for the last train to Nice.  On the way, we saw a mini Hummer, which sounds like an oxymoron until you see one.  We got back to the beach and found a good spot on the ledge. 

So, why was the film we were watching black and white?  We then realized this was a showing of a 1962 psycho-thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?  The Festival was not picking a film from this year’s film roster!  Argh.  Anyway, I would have never watched this film had it not been this festival.  The movie was quite a nail biter.  The plot is about a pair of sisters: Blanche, a former movie queen who was crippled to a wheelchair due to an accident and Jane, a former child star.  Blanche is trapped in a house with her sister who is a little messed up in her head.  Her successful childhood stardom which was overshadowed by her sister’s fame and her involvement in her sister’s accident led Jane to her sadistic torture of her crippled sister.  Both a horror story and a thriller, I was pretty much glued to my seat the entire time.  My favourite character was poor old Edwin.  He was only trying to make a buck.  In the scene where Jane shows Edwin her doll, that “WTF” look on his face was priceless.

Halfway through the show, fireworks went off out in the sea.  It was such a pretty sight… how can one not love Cannes? :)  Ironically, we had to leave before the movie finished in order to catch our train.  I finished watching the rest of the movie on YouTube after the trip.  The movie wraps itself up quite nicely.  Many questions including the title of the film are answered.  Glad the Festival stewards made a great choice. :)

We caught the last train back to Nice.  A ticket officer on the train came awfully close to checking our Europass tickets, but never ended up getting to us.  Got back into Nice after midnight and after a walk towards the Promenade, we checked into our Hotel.  We’re exploring Nice the next day, so that means we can sleep in a bit!

This Cannes experience has been a most memorable one, to say the least.  Even though we didn’t end up seeing any movie stars, Cannes gets a well deserved 5/5.  I told you so. :P