February 2002

    Whistlin' Through Dixie | 2002 NHL All-Star Game: Olympic Preview? | Film: Buffalo '66 | Canada In Decline | 2002 Winter Olympics Begin | Title In Sight | Government Finally Gets It | Restaurant: Tuscany Grill | Déjà Vu All Over Again | Georgia Crematory: If It's Broke ... | Prime Ministers Day? | Restaurant: Legin | Rice Bowl Journal Hookup | Cool To Be Canadian | Ladies Night At The Olympics | Brickstones Sports Bar and Restaurant | Anticipating the Big Game | Canadian Gold | Golden Afterglow | Japanese (Near) Zero | Pizza Night

  • Pizza Night
    Dorami-chan took a much-deserved break from the kitchen yesterday, and Papa John's Pizza got our outsourcing call, partly because of their 17th anniversary 2-for-1 deal, and partly because founder John Schnatter looks a bit like Dorami-chan's favourite local television newscaster, KGW's Joe Donlan. The chain got the highest American Customer Satisfaction Index score of all national fast food restaurants for the third straight year, but we weren't overly impressed by the taste. The tomato sauce and cheese just did not compare with the pizzas we enjoyed on our recent trip to Italy. No complaints in terms of volume -- there was enough for two days of dinner. And we cannot comment on the delivery service -- I went to pick up our order, which may have been wise, considering recent events in San Jose CA that eerily echo what happened to Seattle WA pathologist Rodger Haggitt a couple of years ago.

    (28 Feb 2002)
    Discuss This Topic
    		 [Back to TOP]

  • Japanese (Near) Zero
    During the 1998 Winter Olympics, I had two teams to cheer for: Canada and Japan. Not that I wasn't watching the Japanese athletes this time around, but they didn't provide much to cheer about. Four years ago in Nagano, buoyed by a hometown audience, the Japanese team had great results. But in Salt Lake City, Japan won only two medals, its worst medal haul at a Winter Games since 1988 in Calgary. One was from a gutsy performance by speedskater SHIMIZU Hiroyasu, who despite a back injury missed a gold medal by just 0.03 second.

    To explain this, Japanese Olympic officials cite their dependence on corporate money for training and support, at a time when Japan's economy hasn't been doing so well, to put it mildly. Also, their plans to train at high altitude were apparently disrupted by the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

    One irritating leftover from the 1998 Winter Games was the sportscasters mispronunciation of the name of the city that hosted them: it's NAGA-no, not NOG-uh-no!

    (26 Feb 2002)
    Discuss This Topic
    		 [Back to TOP]

  • Golden Afterglow
    After Team Canada's victory in the men's hockey gold medal game yesterday, it was revealed that a "loonie", or one-dollar Canadian coin, had been placed under the centre ice dot of the Olympic hockey rink by icemakers Trent Evans and Duncan Murie, who happen hail from Edmonton. They were chosen to do the honours for Salt Lake City because their ice at Edmonton's Skyreach Centre is acknowledged by players to be the best of any of the NHL arenas. The quality of the Skyreach sheet is due in part to the fact that so little other than hockey goes on in the 'Chuck, as opposed to cities where the ice gets covered for basketball games, concerts and other events on non-hockey nights. But never mind -- their lucky charm worked to win two gold medals!

    The double gold has Canadians on a high, for the moment putting to the back of the national consciousness the problem of Canada's decline in non-athletic endeavours. Some are pointing to the victories as proof that there is nothing wrong with the way players are developed in Canada. But Canada produces excellence through volume, not a system -- with so many people involved in the sport, some great players are bound to come out the other end. Other countries, though, are achieving almost as much success with much less raw material to work with.

    With the Winter Games over, athletes return home to glory ... or not. For Edmonton Oilers goalie Tommy Salo, the NHL regular season probably can't resume soon enough. The Swedish media hasn't let him forget the "teppen-gohru" that eliminated the Three Crowns from the Olympic hockey tournament. Canada wasn't this vicious to its players after the disappointment of Nagano!

    Thanks to a last day spurt by its speedskating team, Canada won 17 medals in Salt Lake City, two more than in Nagano and a national record. But the expected gold in curling didn't materialize, due to Great Britain's technological advantage.

    (25 Feb 2002)
    Discuss This Topic
    		 [Back to TOP]

  • Canadian Gold
    The marquee of the Cheerful Tortoise sports bar read "USA Hockey Today 11:30 a.m.", but it was Canadian hockey Dorami-chan and I had come to watch. Would Team Canada have enough to defeat Team USA and win the country's first men's hockey Olympic gold medal in half a century?

    Our question was answered with a emphatic "Yes!" over the next two hours. Team Canada gave up the first goal, flubbed numerous glorious scoring chances, wasted power plays and took a few silly penalties, leaving us nervous after two periods. But they had two effective lines, Lemieux-Yzerman-Kariya and especially Sakic-Iginla-Gagne, and were able to shut down Team USA's top line, Modano-Hull-Leclair. Joe Sakic (one of Dorami-chan's favourite players) in particular looked like he existed on a higher plane than everyone else. Canada missed him, Mario Lemieux and Paul Kariya (another of Dorami-chan's favourite players) at Nagano in 1998. And after much pre-tournament handwringing over Partick Roy's decision not to participate in these Games, Martin Brodeur's goaltending proved more than adequate, with some key saves in the third period. In the end, it wasn't even close, as Team Canada finally pulled away in the third period to emerge 5-2 victors.

    The game drew a fair crowd -- the place was full, though not packed, but people came and went, few staying for the entire duration of the game as we and the one other table of Canada fans did. Our support was understated: no face paint or crazy wigs, just a Canada sweatshirt (me) and a Roots Canada cap (another guy). If we had been watching in Canada, when we left we would have walked out into street bedlam. Here in Portland, it was just another quiet Sunday afternoon.

    The win was great, but Canada needs to thank Belarus somehow, for allowing Wayne Gretzky's grandfather to emigrate to Canada (via the U.S.), and for improbably knocking Sweden out of the tournament and giving Canada an easy path to the final. Maybe Belarus could be made an honorary 11th Canadian province? ;-)

    And so, another Winter Olympiad comes to a close, thankfully with no major tragedies, some hope for a reformed figure skating judging system, and plenty of exposure for diversity in winter sport.

    • Olympics hockey is up to speed
      The Olympics were ice hockey at its best, but don't expect the NHL to change.
    • Riveting Sport and an Angry Backlash
      There were two Olympic tracks: one following the riveting, uplifting competition, the other pursuing a burgeoning backlash and undercurrent of finger-pointing.
    • U.S. Minorities Make Olympics Mark
      U.S. team minority athletes, about a dozen on the team of 211, combined to win a disproportionate seven of the U.S. medal total, which would tie Switzerland in ninth place for total medals if the group competed as a separate country.
    • The Message of These Games
      In a fantastic display of diversity in Salt Lake, the Winter Games, once the playground of the few, have become an all-inclusive melting pot
    • Want to Sire an Olympic Hopeful? Talk to Gene
      For every Olympic athlete, there's a set of parents watching, something you should take into consideration when you're dating.

    (24 Feb 2002)
    Discuss This Topic
    		 [Back to TOP]

  • Anticipating the Big Game
    It is less than twelve hours now until what could be the biggest hockey game ever: Canada versus the United States in the men's gold medal match. The Americans have been impressive, probably the best team in the Olympic tournament thus far. Canada has had luck on their side to get to this point, but there are signs of the players finally gelling into the powerhouse they were expected to be. Who will win? It is too close to call, but Dorami-chan and I know who we will be cheering for: Go Canada, ike (and stay out of the penalty box)!

    • For Canada, it's gold -- or else
      The rank and file in the USA don’t give a flying puck about hockey. Canadian failure, on the other hand, will likely result in a national commission being formed to determine what’s wrong.
    • The War of 1812 shifts to a rink in Salt Lake City
      Let them talk about a common currency, open skies, a continental security perimeter. There's a time for Canada to stand shoulder to shoulder with the United States, and there is a time to go toe to toe.
    • The Edmonton Mercurys
      Canoe.ca's tribute to the last Canadian team to win Olympic gold

    (23 Feb 2002)
    Discuss This Topic
    		 [Back to TOP]

  • Brickstone Sports Bar and Restaurant
    My mother has been in town for the past week for the American Contract Bridge League District 20 Oregon Trail Regional tournament at the DoubleTree Hotel Portland-Jantzen Beach. We haven't seen much of her, though, due to the tight schedule that has the competitors playing their hands all day and into the night. Over the years, I have seen my mother off to countless bridge trips and picked her up afterwards, but this was my first chance to see up close the scale of these events. The floor of the hotel's cavernous ballroom was covered by what must have been 150 card tables! Multiply that by four people each, and that's a significant number of tourism dollars coming to town at a time when the rainy weather would otherwise not warrant it.

    Dorami-chan and I met my mother during her brief supper break, and went to the Brickstone Sports Bar and Restaurant in the nearby DoubleTree Hotel Portland-Columbia River. The restaurant and the bar have a superb view of the Columbia River and Interstate Bridge. The restaurant thankfully is partitioned off from the televisions and pool tables of the bar, but unfortunately there is a common sound system, which pipes in music that is bit too loud and lively for relaxed dining. The food was average: even though we were the first customers, the salads we got were already starting to air dry; Dorami-chan's Steak Diane was overwhelmed by garlic, my New York Pepper Steak was a bit gristly and fatty, and the rice accompanying my mother's salmon was undercooked. The service was efficient, though, so we were able to deliver my mother back to her hotel in time for her last evening of cards.
    Brickstone Sports Bar and Restaurant, 1401 N Hayden Island Dr., Portland, OR 97217, Tel: (503) 240-4567

    (23 Feb 2002)
    Discuss This Topic
    		 [Back to TOP]

  • Ladies Night At The Olympics
    Other than the men's medal games this coming weekend, Winter Olympics network NBC has relegated hockey to its cable channels CNBC and MSNBC, so this evening it was off to the Cheerful Tortoise sports bar for me again, this time to watch the gold medal game of women's hockey between Canada and the United States.

    Portland has a women's hockey team, the Rose City Bandits, that participates in regional tournaments, but there is no local women's hockey league, so many women play on teams in the predominantly male adult recreational leagues (which presumably is why the leagues are called "adult", not "men's"). Many of the female players I have played against have an impressive talent level, so I recognized the entertainment potential of this world championship game.

    In eight exhibition meetings leading up to the Olympics, Team USA had been victorious, but on this day, when it counted, Team Canada came through with a great effort. Hayley Wickenheiser, "the female Wayne Gretzky", won faceoff after faceoff and top shelfed a big rebound for a goal, Jayna Hefford scored on a fast break right out of a basketball playbook, and goalie Kim St-Pierre played solidly like another #33, her idol Patrick Roy. They overcame some questionable officiating -- the referee, an American, assigned them 11 penalties, 8 straight -- to win 3-2 and take the gold medal that had eluded them four years ago in Nagano.

    I was the only person watching the game with any sustained level of interest. At the table next to mine, there seemed to be a blind date in progress. The guy was saying all the right things ("I respect women", etc., etc.), but was the only one talking. After a while, his date turned to me and asked, "Excuse me, what time is it?" Ouch!

    Later in the evening, it was the artistic side of women on ice. The final night of the ladies' figure skating competition lived up to its hype, with thrills, spills, wobbles, and, in the end, an unexpected though deserving champion, Sarah Hughes.

    • NPR All Things Considered: Figure Skating Fashion
      Cindi Leive, editor in chief of Glamour magazine, talks about the fashion statements made by the Olympic figure skating competitors. The sport's flashy lycra costumes are often covered with copious amounts of sequins and fringe. Between the outfits and the athletes' rock star hairstyles, figure skating is a sport with a look all its own.
      (RealAudio 3:45)
    • Seattle Times won't forget readers' reminder on Kwan headline
      Headline: "Hughes as good as gold." Secondary headline: "American outshines Kwan, Slutskaya in skating surprise." What's wrong with this picture?

      (21 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Cool To Be Canadian
      The 2002 Winter Olympics have been so-so for Canada from a medals standpoint, but in terms of public relations things couldn't be better. America adopted the cause of Canadian figure skaters Jamie Salé and David Pelletier in the Skategate pairs judging dispute, and since then it has been Canadamania, to the point that Olympics network NBC declared Canada the "coolest country at the Games."

      But in the only sport that really matters to most Canadians, hockey, there has been growing concern about the sputtering performance of the men's team during the preliminary round: an embarassing 5-2 loss to Sweden, a 3-2 squeaker of a win over Germany, and a late 3-3 tie with the Czech Republic. Perhaps feeling the stress of a nation's expectations, Team Canada executive director Wayne Gretzky gave an emotional press conference that was reminiscent of #7 Phil Esposito's rant at the halfway point of the 1972 Canada-Russia series, which, hockey historians note, served as the rallying point for an eventual Canadian triumph.

      As west coast viewers in America, we have had watch NBC's tape delayed evening broadcasts of the events. Dorami-chan has not been able to resist peeking at the Internet to find out what happened before watching it unfold on the television. If we were in Canada, we would be able to watch the action live on CBC. Dorami-chan would also get to see some curling, which is conspicuously (to Canadians, anyway) absent from the American main network coverage.

      The American coverage has had Canadian content, in the person of analysts Tracy Wilson and Sandra Bezic in figure skating, Tara Teigen in snowboarding, ex-NHLers John Davidson, Bill Clement, Darren Pang in hockey, Steve Podborski, Todd Brooker, and Tim Ryan for alpine skiing, and Don Chevrier, Don Duguid and Elfi Schlegal in curling.

      Hockey coverage has been relegated to the NBC cable networks CNBC and MSNBC, so we went to the Cheerful Tortoise sports bar to watch Team Canada's first Elimination Round game against Finland. Team USA, as the host country, got to play its quarterfinal game during the East Coast's primetime, leaving Canada with the last slot, late night for the East Coast, but perfect for us. We knew that in a quarterfinal earlier in the day, Belarus had eliminated powerful Sweden, Canada's expected next opponent, with a fluke "teppen-gohru" that bounced in off Edmonton Oilers goalie Tommy Salo's head! I feel so sorry for Salo, who to that point had played well. Swedish newspapers called the upset the "worst ever Olympic fiasco," comparing it to the Swedish national soccer team's loss to Japan in the 1936 Summer Olympics. If Canada could win their game, they would have an easy path to the gold medal game.

      Parking proved to be a problem, as evening classes were still in session at nearby Portland State University. We arrived with the game already in progress and the Canadians up by one goal. An old regular at the bar struck up a conversation I didn't want and was asking me a tiresome question when the next two goals were scored. So, I missed the goals, but I can say that in between Team Canada was looking better.

      (20 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Rice Bowl Journal Hookup
      "What's New" has been approved for hookup with Rice Bowl Journals, a cyber-community started by Carlos Rull where writers of Asian descent can and share their culture, their heritage, and their experiences through their online journals or blogs. Currently there are 682 members, sortable by popularity and country of ethnic origin (33 are Japanese). Check them out!

      • Blah, Blah, Blah and Blog
        The practice of blogging has gained the attention of the mainstream and outgrown its underground trendiness.
      • NPR's All Things Considered: Weblogs and Writing
        The phenomenon of "Weblogs" -- a sort of daily journal that hundreds of thousands of people now keep on the Internet -- is one example of how the Web may transform journalism.
        (RealAudio 3:00)

      (19 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Legin
      Dorami-chan has more of a social life than me these days, so today she was able to introduce me to a place she and her PSU Japanese language instructor friends go regularly for dim sum. The dim sum here (served daily 10 a.m.-3 p.m.) is touted by some as the best in Portland, whatever that is worth -- it isn't as if the bar is set very high in this city. I didn't find the food signficantly better (or worse) than what is offered in the Chinatown downtown. Ditto the ambience, service, and price. Legin does have the advantage of plenty of free parking -- no competition from the vacant shopping centre next door.
      Legin, 8001 SE Division St (at 82nd Avenue), Portland, OR 97206-1065, Tel: (503) 777-2828

      (18 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Prime Ministers Day?
      Today is Presidents Day in the United States, a holiday when America remembers the lives of their former heads of state. Canadians do not observe Presidents Day, largely because as a constitutional monarchy of the British Commonwealth, Canada's head of state is the Queen of England. The province of Alberta has a holiday on the same day called Family Day, but for much of the rest of the country today is just another work day. The Dominion Institute -- a national charity dedicated to improving Canadians' knowledge of their history -- and two major Canadian media entities initiated an online petition last month to establish a new public holiday honour the former Canadian heads of government, the prime ministers, and found 85% support for the idea. Canada's history is short (only 135 years), and, unlike the U.S., a person can serve as P.M. more than once and there are no term limits. As a result, such a holiday would only recognize about 20 people, many of whom I don't consider that admirable or even memorable. The names of others live on only because they are vilified by most Canadians.

      (18 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Georgia Crematory: If it's broke ...
      A bizarre story broke this week out of Noble, a town in northwestern Georgia. Over 100 rotting corpses were found on the grounds of a crematory there. Apparently their cremation oven had not been working for years. Instead of making the needed repairs, the crematory owners dumped the bodies out back, pocketed the charges and provided grieving families with urns full of potting soil or concrete dust -- anything but their dead relative's ashes. It seems nobody checked to see what was inside! A similar thing could never have happened in Japan, where the custom is for relatives to examine the cremains together and pack the urn by passing bits of bone to each other, chopsticks to chopsticks. This association with death is why it is taboo to do the same with food.

    • Déjà Vu All Over Again
      We blew it! My recreational hockey team, NSA Gang Green, reached tonight's championship final of the Sherwood Ice Area's Adult Hockey Winter B league with effective teamwork and hard work, but brought none of that game to the rink, as the Nike Sharks outhustled us and won 3-0. We got this far last year and lost, too -- we are becoming the Buffalo Bills of the league!

      We will have to redeem ourselves in the Spring League, which starts next month with a slightly different structure: B level becomes "Gold", and C level gets split into "Silver" and "Bronze" to accommodate the large number of absolute beginners who want to try the sport. Maybe this growing interest in hockey is a sign that the lobby group behind NHL 2 Portland was correct after all with its market assessment. The campaign wrapped up this week, having produced data that Portland Oregon Sports Authority thinks is sufficient to convince the National Hockey League to consider Portland as a possible new home for one of its troubled existing franchises. I still have my doubts, especially now the recession has hit Oregon so hard.

      (16 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Tuscany Grill
      For Valentine's Day Dorami-chan and I went out for a dinner that recalled our recent trip to Italy. Knowing this is usually one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants, I had made a reservation weeks in advance. As we arrived, an older couple, perhaps thinking of a more laidback Portland of years gone by, inquired about walk-in seating. Not a chance -- the place was packed! The room set the mood with its earth tone walls and rustic ornaments. We had: Stuffed Calamari, Pasta Fagioli (bean and pasta soup), Insalata d'Finnochio, Sedano e Arancia (shaved celery root and fresh fennel with orange segments, tossed with basil and Parmigiano-Reggiano in an olive oil and orange dressing), Capellini Fra Diablo, Coniglio di Patricio (pan-seared rabbit), Peto di Pollo Diavola (braised chicken), and, to finish, White Chocolate Mousse with Macadamia Nuts -- all delicious and brought to our table by gracious service.
      Tuscany Grill, 811 NW 21st Avenue, Portland, OR 97210, Tel: (503) 243-2757

      Valentine's Day is another custom that Japan has imported relatively recently from the West, but in altered form: in Japan, it is women who buy chocolates -- for men they admire from afar, as well as for men at their workplace, not as a show of affection, but out of giri (obligation, hence the term giri-choco).

      (14 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Government Finally Gets It
      As if in response to the latest round of articles in the Canadian popular press decrying the decline of Canada in terms of economic competitiveness and other measures, the federal Liberal government, after years of denial, today admitted that for nearly two decades -- all of my adult life to date -- the nation's productivity has declined, and there has been a brain drain and a growing income gap between Canada and the United States. An "innovation agenda" was announced to address the problem, starting with a comprehensive review of current policies. I came to the United States to study health informatics because there are few forward-looking places in Canada where one can get formal training in this emerging field, and those that exist are underfunded. It may take 10 years for Canada's innovation programs to be implemented, let alone show any effect. In that amount of time, I will hopefully build a strong health informatics career in America.

      (13 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Title In Sight
      My recreational hockey team, NSA Gang Green, earned a spot in next week's championship game of the Sherwood Ice Area's Adult Hockey B league tonight with a 7-3 semifinal victory over an undermanned Team Black. It was a relief in more ways than one: we were without our regular goalie, and Dorami-chan had invited her friends Toyo-sensei and Michiyo-sensei from the Moshi Moshi Project, Portland Public Schools' distance learning program for the Japanese language. Hopefully the contest was entertaining enough for them, although the closest thing to the fight had hoped to see was some "spirited conversation" at one point after some aggressive backchecking.

      (09 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • 2002 Winter Olympics Begin
      The 2002 Winter Olympics got under way tonight, with a wide-ranging opening ceremony program that featured figure skating by Japanese American Kristi Yamaguchi and others, choreographed by Japanese Canadian Sarah Kawahara of Montréal QC and Toronto ON.

      • Sarah Kawahara
        One of the 25 most influential people in figure skating, Kawahara choreographed Michelle Kwan's programs for these 2002 Olympic games, and has worked in the past with Scott Hamilton, Dorothy Hamill, Tai Babilonia & Randy Gardner, Oksana Baiul, Surya Bonaly, Chen Lu, and Ice Capades.
      • Oxnard Ice Skating Center - Oxnard, Ventura County CA
        Where Kristi Yamaguchi and Sarah Kawahara skate

      Other Canadian content in the opening ceremonies included the Canadian, American and British team uniforms, all designed by Toronto ON clothing company Roots, and singer Robbie Robertson, ex of The Band.

      During the recounting of Utah's pioneer history, it was nice to see the writers of the program included the settlers from China. But was it just coincidence that NBC-TV cut to a commercial just as the Chinese team entered the stadium?

      Athletes will be competing in 78 events in Salt Lake City. In many of them Canada stands to do well, but the Canadians I know are focused on just one: men's hockey. After a disappointing fourth-place finish in Nagano in 1998, anything less than a gold medal will send the nation into a spiral of self-doubt. I will also be interested in the progress of Japanese American Apolo Anton Ohno of Seattle WA, widely touted to medal in speedskating.

      (08 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Canada In Decline
      Late last November, I was on a trip to Italy and offline, and so missed "Is Canada a country in decline?", an essay by University of Toronto history professor Michael Bliss published by the National Post newspaper. I am just catching up with the many responses it evoked.

      • Is Canada a country in decline?
        Canada's weaknesses are becoming so numerous and so glaring that a moment of national truth is approaching, a time when Canadians must face up to the implications of their country's economic, social, cultural, political, military and diplomatic decline.
      • COMMENTARY: The fate of U.S.'s northern suburb
        Canada is on a sleepwalker's journey: a badly led, complacent, country where denial is a way of life, mediocrity passes for excellence, and policies of drift and acceptance the norm.
      • True patriot love
        Advocates of mediocrity, content with underperformance and international embarrassment, find proposed solutions to Canada's perpetual decline unnecessary and extreme. But it is far more patriotic and complimentary to Canada to hold the country to the highest standards, than settle for a deteriorating status quo.
      • 'Let's Roll' sounds positively unCanadian
        The entrepreneurial spirit of the Americans who died on Flight 93 is a big part of the reason why the U.S. is outpacing Canada and the rest of the West
      • Sure we're in decline, but why?
        Nation's decline has to do with willingness of Canadians to give up control over the shape of their own society, to knuckle under to the dictates of global capital. "Let's Just Roll Over" might be an appropriate Canadian anthem.
      • Canada is just like high school
        About 3,000 people in Canada control everything -- sports, the arts, politics, business, media, academia, even crime. Ordinary Canadians feel helpless.

      (03 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Buffalo '66 (USA 1998; Dir: Vincent Gallo)
      (This work was distributed by Lions Gate Films, a Canadian company.)

      (02 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • 2002 NHL All-Star Game: Olympic Preview?
      Most Portland sports fans watching television on Saturday afternoon were probably tuned in to the NBA Blazers game, but Dorami-chan and I watched the 52nd annual NHL All-Star Game, played this year at the Staples Center in Los Angeles CA. At 8-5, it wasn't as high scoring an affair as last year's iteration. This was a bit of a preview of the Olympic hockey competition, as the coaches tried out line combinations. Dorami-chan was thrilled that two of her favourite players Paul Kariya and Joe Sakic were a unit with Mario "The Magnificent" Lemieux. They combined on a beautiful goal early on, when the North American team seemed to have things in control. But in the third period, dark clouds appeared on the horizon as the Russians of the World team took the game away.

      (02 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]

    • Whistlin' Through Dixie
      I am just back from a trip to Atlanta GA for the 2002 Annual Conference and Exhibition of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. It was quite an eyeopener to see the mindboggling range of vendor products that implement all the theory we health informatics students have learned about in class. The state-of-the-art is further ahead than I had thought, but has yet to be installed in all but a few hospitals, in part because hospital administrators are still skeptical of the value of information technology in reducing the costs and improving the quality of healthcare.

      (01 Feb 2002)
      Discuss This Topic
      		 [Back to TOP]