An answer to a Bird's Nest question

While watching the Olympics, I'd wondered why the Bird's Nest didn't have a retractable roof as it was raining down on the competitors and they were getting soaked.

Tonight, I finally got an answer while watching a National Geographic Megastructures show. The original plans did call for a less-open roof and a retractable roof. After the collapse in the Charles de Gaulle airport , construction on the Bird's Nest was suspended for five months while investigations took place. Apparently there were some similarities in construction between the two structures and no one wanted the same thing to happen again.

After the consultations, the design was changed and the retractable roof was scrapped. Now I know why the competitors were rained on. :)

From conception to construction, this was a unique, one-of-a-kind building. Even the steel they used was newly developed especially for the structure so that it would be strong and flexible, both able to withstand earthquakes and be flexible enough to bend and twist over the curves of the building. It's an amazing achievement. I think I'd like to see it someday.

The Olympics are over

The Olympic closing ceremonies were quite spectacular. There were tons of fireworks - I wish we could have some of those awesome shapes! - and lots of movement and colour. It was very splashy and slightly more casual than the opening ceremonies. It was almost over the top, in a way. There was a hand-off to Great Britain, who are holding the 2012 summer games, and that stuff was... even more over the top. The double decker bus in the film turned into a *real* double decker bus! And it transformed into a sound stage! With dancers! It was something else, all right.

With the Olympics over, I'm not completely sure what we'll do with all of our free time. I did manage to get to the gym this afternoon. I haven't done that in a while because I've been sick for so long. The gym I go to has been bought by one of the big gym in the region so there are likely to be changes. At the very least, the company I work for used to have an employee price with this big gym and if they still do, then I could get that discount and stuff. I'll need to investigate.

Tomorrow afternoon I see my oncologist. I'm interested in knowing what my white blood counts were - when I had them done two weeks ago I was still sick. I'll also get my tumour marker results but I expect they'll be fine.

Are all sports equal?

I read an article that suggests that rhythmic gymnastics and synchronized swimming be dropped from the Olympics because they are sports in which only women compete. Moreover, the article says that they're sports that were added before women were allowed to compete in such "manly" sports as wrestling and weightlifting.

I think that the author has a point here - I don't see why there should be any gender-specific competitions in the Olympics. So yes, either open up these sports to men or else drop them. But what should they do about gymnastics? Men and women only both compete in the vault and the floor, and even then, women perform their floor routines to music and are judged according to artistic ability. The men don't perform their floor routines to music, so why should the women?

The vault and floor aside, the men and women compete on completely different apparatus; the men on the rings, parallel bars, and high bar, and the women on the balance beam and uneven bars. Clearly the men's competition emphasizes strength - the rings and parallel bars are all about strength - whereas the women's again tend to be more artistic.

Could men and women each compete in each other's gymnastic events? Maybe. We don't really know, though, because they don't do that right now at the lower levels.... and until/unless they do, it's unlikely that there will be changes at the Olympics. Still, it would be nice if they started to look at bringing some equality to the sports competitions in the Olympics, and not just for gymnastics or synchronized swimming or rhythmic gymnastics or any of the other sports in which only one gender completes.

Crazy weather

I don't completely understand why there isn't a closeable roof on the Birds Nest as it's pouring rain there. It looks like it would be difficult to run 100m on a track that is soaking wet even if they do sweep the water off. At least they're not doing any of the field events during the rain today, unlike in beach volleyball, which plays in the rain as long as there is no lightning.

I watched coverage of the men's 200m and of course Usain Bolt won gold, actually looking like he was running at the end instead of jogging. What was interesting is that both the silver and bronze winners were disqualified for stepping on the white line dividing the lanes. The bronze medal winner wasn't even notified right away - and they knew, because the announcers knew - and so he was walking around with his US flag and celebrating. How awkward. Can you imagine being thrilled that you came in fifth overall and then finding out later that you actually win the bronze? What would that be like?

It's amazing to watch Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt compete. Both are the best in their fields and are a joy to watch; there's no wasted effort and both are beautiful in motion. Both have the ideal body types for their sports and both are HUGE - Michael Phelps is 6'4", while Usain Bolt is 6'5" - but they didn't get to where they are just by having the right body type. Both obviously train very hard. I feel privileged to be able to watch athletes of that caliber because there haven't been people who could do what they can do.

Feeling slightly better

I'm starting to feel better - at least my fever is down. I still have a cough but it's a productive wet cough so I guess that's ok. The cough is worse in the mornings as well.

I'm definitely going to the concert tonight :) The forecast is calling for rain/thundershowers this evening so last night we went out and bought a couple of rain ponchos. The last thing I want is to get soaked and have to sit there for another two hours! We're also bringing a variety of layers because the low is fairly low tonight and we don't want to freeze.

I'm watching the women's Canada-US soccer game and it's pouring there! They're in overtime and it's tied 1-1. Of course I want Canada to win because then they'll go to the semi-final and there's hope that we might win a medal.

UPDATE: Canada lost by one goal in the second extra period :( But they did take it through to those two extra periods and played very, very well. The US was ranked first and Canada ninth so the fact that Canada didn't lost by more was amazing. It was a very exciting game.

More Olympics

How is it possible that I feel worse today than yesterday? Arrrggh. My low fever appears to be back and I've still got this cough and I feel generally icky. We're supposed to be going to see Radiohead in concert on Friday and I don't want to miss it - we paid a lot for the tickets and I was really looking forward to the concert.

We were watching the Olympics today and one of the segments was on women's epee fencing; unfortunately, Sherraine Schalm, who was representing Canada, lost in the round of 16. I was very unimpressed with her behaviour both after the loss and other times that they showed her. She screamed in triumph after every point in a very unsportsmanlike manner. After she lost, she barely congratulated the other player and claimed that the fault called against her was bad. I also clearly saw her shout "F*ck you all" after she lost. And then she tried to rush past her opponent without shaking her hand; the resulting handshake couldn't, in my mind, even be called perfunctory.

I found Ms. Schalm's behaviour extremely unsportsmanlike and I am embarrassed that she is representing this country at the Olympics. One of the commentators said that she had reason to be unhappy, and that might be true, but there is absolutely no excuse for her to be rude.

No sewing but lots of Olympics

I thought about sewing today but it's been raining and it's humid and dreary. Since I had the oophorectomy in October, 2006, my body has changed. I sweat more when it's hot and I get warm more easily, which are expected changes, but I also sweat more when it's cold and damp. That was not a change that I expected, but as a result of it, working downstairs in the basement can be unpleasant on days like today. So no sewing for me today.

Instead, I sorted my vintage patterns (while watching Olympics!). It turns out that I have around 90 or 95 vintage patterns which seems like a lot. Most are from the 50s and 60s. If I were to sell them, I think I could easily get about $5-10 for each one and I know I didn't pay that much for them. Some of them are worth much more than that and could get at least $20; others (like the 1950's German Simplicity patterns and British Simplicity pattern) should go for more than that. Once I sort through all of my contemporary patterns I'll be thinking of selling some of them off as well. I don't expect to get much for them but then I bought most of them on sale anyways.

Having made the decision that I will sell a bunch of patterns at some point, I'm thinking about the best way to actually sell them. I could open a second etsy shop (but I don't really want to do that), or I could open a shop somewhere else, or I could sell them on eBay individually or in groups, or I could approach one of the major sellers and sell them the lot.

I don't know what would be easiest for me. Thinking about it, I want to use some of the patterns and so probably wouldn't be able to sell all of them at once, unless I wait to sell them for a while. I could get rid of a bunch at once, though. I'm sort of hesitant to open up a shop somewhere because I don't really want to turn this pattern-selling into a business; it's more like a de-stash for me, and I don't want to have to be buying patterns to try to sell them. So I'm probably going to have to go the eBay (or another auction site) route. Blerg. I've never sold anything on eBay.

Today in Olympic coverage we watched some more water polo, some boxing (the poor Canadian guy was trounced), some judo (we don't understand the scoring system at all), some rowing, the women's road race, the US-China basketball game, and tonight we're watching swimming. I like the rowing quite a lot; in some ways it's similar to dragonboating. I think I'd actually enjoy rowing a lot more than paddling, and even though I'm unlikely to get a chance to really try it, I very much enjoy watching it. I find myself moving in the same sort of rhythm as they are, which is kind of odd :) The women's road race was amazing to watch and not just for the scenery - it rained heavily once they hit the mountains. I can't imagine riding in the weather they had.

One thing that I really do like about the Olympics in Beijing are the buildings they built for the event, especially the Birds Nest Stadium and the Water Cube. I love how both are buildings and have function and all of that but at the same time both are very organic. I like that they're not just boxes, and I think that we're not likely to see that kind of architecture in other places. I do hope that when new venues are needed, the architects will look at incorporating organic elements like these buildings do.

More Olympics and sewing

Ok, so I'm still working on the great dress with the collar... I'm almost finished adjustments. After making pattern adjustments, I sewed some seams together and basted others and made yet a few more adjustments. It's almost perfect now, except that there's a little bit extra that I need to put into the side dart and I need to change it's point a little bit. I basted that dart and that part of the side seam several times already today :) It really is just about done and then I can retrace the facings and figure out what the collar pattern looks like now, after my new changes.

When this dress is done I think I'm going to use the pattern as sort of a base pattern for some of the other, similar, dresses that I want to make. I'd rather not go through this kind of fitting again :)

We watched more Olympics today. We got to watch men's gymnastics and some of the swimming. Kyle Shewfelt's performance was beautiful, especially given that he had broken both knees last year. And watching Michael Phelps shatter the freestyle 400m world record was amazing! The commentary for the swimming was hilarious - we could swear the guy kept giving the swimmer's heights as 5point6inches and not 5feet6inches. Maybe the events in Beijing are occurring on a much smaller scale than we think they are. After all, doing everything in 10th scale would certainly be cheaper once you figure out how to shrink the competitors and spectators.

We also watched some beach volleyball and a very little bit of equestrian and water polo. We would have watched more water polo if it had been on but equestrian just isn't our sport. This equestrian wasn't even the jumping one and we thought it was much less interesting watching the horses walk (and occasionally canter) around the field. More Olympics tomorrow.

The Olympics!

The Olympics started today. I didn't wake up for the very first airing of the opening ceremonies but it was shown quite a few times today. The ceremonies were gorgeous and brilliantly executed. I found myself staring at the tv, absolutely rapt with wonder at a few of the things they did - like when they lifted the rings up, or the dancers in glo-suits, or the dancers on the ball, or any number of other gorgeous displays. I also loved the happy-face fireworks :) If you haven't seen the opening ceremonies up until the parade of nations, then try and watch it. It's definitely worth seeing. I expect we'll be watching as much of the Olympics as possible over the next couple of weeks.

A small note about work - if I were to go back, I would start off as part-time and work my way back to full-time. The company I work for doesn't want permanent part-time employees on its payroll so I couldn't do that forever (or I'd have to find another company to work for - not that I'd necessarily mind that). Unfortunately, I'm not ready even for part-time there just now.

Someone told me that I should stay off work until I'd had 30 good days in a row. For me, a good day is getting up in the morning, doing stuff, and staying awake all day until bedtime, when I go to sleep quickly - even when I'm upset about something or if something bad has happened, although it wouldn't apply if I were sick. I've had lots and lots of those good days but over the last couple of months but definitely not 30 of them and certainly not 30 in a row.

Ian also figures that I'm pretty happy doing the things I do with patterns and whatnot and he's right there. At some point, all of that is going to get pretty boring because it'll stop being a challenge and at that point he figures that I'll be much, much closer to being able to work. This summer is really the first time that I've been able to do reasonably complicated things - where I feel that I have to actually think about stuff. And it's a good idea to get used to thinking critically and doing reasonably complicated tasks before going back to work.