Here’s a shot of my dad as he walked in on the waiting surprise party to celebrate his turning 60.  He had absolutely no idea that fifty or so of his closest friends and family were in on the surprise, and it showed.  He must have stood in that doorway for a good thirty seconds, speechless.  It was a moment I’ll never forget, nor will he I would imagine.  Kudos to my mom for pulling the whole thing off without him catching a whiff of it.

Every year, Kim and I host an Oscar party where we entertain our friends with themed-dishes based on that year’s best picture nominees.  Given that the Academy changed the number of nominees from 5 to 10 this year meant that the gauntlet was kind of thrown down for us yesterday.   We managed to pull it off though, and I’d like to think we came up some good ones, that didn’t taste too bad either.

Like the above, named after the best picture winner The Hurt Locker, we present The Herb Popper.  The recipe is up on Kim’s blog.

Today is Kim’s birthday, and to celebrate I thought I’d post one of my favorite photos that I’ve ever taken of her.  The above was back in ‘05, when we were lucky enough to take a trip together to the Four Seasons on the Big Island, courtesy of my old boss.

Happy Birthday, Pahu i’a!

Here’s two shots from my iPhone blended together from the Norway / Slovakia game that I got to go to earlier in the week.  It was an exciting game, including a goal with .1 seconds left by Norway in the second period to tie the score.  However, it was nowhere near as exciting as the USA / Switzerland game that I also got to see, which was easily one of the most exciting sporting events I’ve ever watched in person.  It was a zero-zero affair until the third period, with quite a few twists and turns along the way.  But fortunately, the States pulled off the victory to proceed into the medal round.

Go Canada, eh?

“In a world darkened by ethnic conflicts that tear nations apart, Canada stands as a model of how people of different cultures can live and work together in peace, prosperity, and mutual respect.”

- Bill Clinton

Somehow I found myself watching the ice dancing finals last night at the Pacific Coliseum, sitting next to, of all people, Jon Hamm and his girlfriend (both incredibly nice folks).  It was cool to see the Canadians win the gold on their home ice, even if it meant the Americans ended up taking the silver.  And I have to say, I’ve got a new-found appreciation for the sport of ice dancing after seeing it in person.  Yes, I’ll call it a sport as it’s certainly a hell of a lot more athletic than curling, no offense to my Canadian colleagues.  Plus, their outfits are just fabulous!

But that’s not to say that I would ever pay $450 to watch ice dancing, which was the price of my ticket last night.  However, if I was offered a free ticket again, I would certainly go, contingent of course that I would be able to sit next to one of my favorite TV actors.

Here’s the view from the balcony of the condo I’m staying at for the week.  In the bottom left hand corner, you’ll see how close the hockey arena is, and unbeknownst to me when I arrived, the Canadians had quite a big game yesterday.  Actually, every hockey game for their team is a big deal, but yesterday they played us.  So here I was arriving with all my luggage off the Sky Train, right in the thick of the mob of red & white gathering outside of the stadium.  It was kind of crazy and quite a fun scene to be amongst once I got rid of my stuff.  And it was even more fun, though a touch depressing, when the Americans won 5-3!

That’s right, I’m at the Olympics, baby!  Just arrived to Vancouver this afternoon; the sun was shining, and it was a balmy 50 something degrees.  Seems a little warm for a city that’s hosting the winter olympics, but I’m certainly not complaing.  So once I dropped my bags off, I just had to get out on the town and take a nice long walk to get a lay of the land.  And of course, I had to make the obligatory stop by the olympic qualdron to check out the flame.