The Olympic torch entered Vancouver proper today and the excitement throughout the day was palpable. Just after the noon hour, the torch came along Willingdon, passing by the EA campus. It looked like most of the studio were out there to see it come by. I timed it pretty good with two other co-workers as we waited less than five minutes to see it go by. The torch bearer ran right by me. I feel pretty lucky to have seen it twice in less than a three days.
Once I got back to my desk, I continued to watch the torch relay via live web cam. It was amazing seeing the large crowds that came out to watch the torch go by. I felt sorry for the runners who had to navigate the steep hill up Willingdon towards Metrotown. If it wasn't for my dentist appointment, I would have been able to watch Canuck legend Trevor Linden carry the torch along Main Street. Instead, I had to settle for the video above which I found later.
In the early evening, I watched as the torch made its way out of UBC in rainy, wet weather. It was slightly surreal watching the torch being handed off on campus streets and walkways that I myself walked along so many times before, in very similar rainy conditions. Even though it was wet and cold outside, the crowds still turned out in force. I was constantly surprised at the large number of people who were waiting for just a glimpse of the torch.
As the torch made its way across the Burrard Street bridge, the sheer number of people made it impossible for the web cam van to continue. It had to stop and just let the torch go on without it. Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't see Michael Buble carry the flame towards Yaletown.
Today is the last day of the torch relay. The Olympics will officially begin this evening. There have been so many times in the past when I used to think about when the Games would start and my prevailing thought would be, "that is a long time away". It is no longer a long time away. Despite what you might think of the Olympics being in Vancouver, the reality is that there's no stopping it now. Someone will light the cauldron tonight and that will signal the beginning of the Games. The whole world will be watching Vancouver and Canada as a whole for the next two weeks. We might as well make the best of it. Let's cheer on our athletes. Let's show the world what Vancouver has to offer. You might even want to try to have some fun in the next two weeks.
I hope to see everyone around town in the next little while!
In the mid-afternoon tomorrow, I have to venture into downtown Vancouver to see my periodontist. This task isn't something I'm looking forward to for two reasons. First, the reason why I'm seeing a gum specialist is because my regular dentist thinks I'll probably have to have gum surgery in the same damn area again. I'm also a bit worried that transit might be stupid busy tomorrow afternoon. It shouldn't be, as I don't think anything large-scale and Olympic is happening. I lucked out as had my appointment been today or on Friday, I would been caught in some major crowds. Today was a midday dress rehearsal for the opening ceremonies. Friday will be the actual opening ceremonies itself.
I read that today's dress rehearsal caused transit to be very crowded as several thousand people tried to get to BC Place. I wonder if that's how busy transit will be going forward starting Friday. I guess by the end of day I'll know if they'll have to slice up my gums again.
Of all people, it was actually a friend in Australia who let me know that the Olympic torch was coming through my community on this day. Bryan informed me about a week ago that this was the day the torch would be winding through New West. At the time, the exact route had not been announced, so I wasn't sure how easy it would be for me to see it. Then just before the weekend, the route was updated on the official Olympic web site. To my surprise, the route would be going by my apartment building just half a block away. Not only would it be close, it would be coming by at a reasonable hour, around noon. The torch has gone through thousands of communities and people have lined up for it, in the early morning and through bone-chilling temperatures. I figured it would be a mistake for me to not go see the torch bearer run by when the effort to do so was less than buying a loaf of bread at the corner store.
The night before, I decided the best place to see the torch bearer run by would be the corner he or she would have to turn to get off Columbia and head towards the quay. The schedule listed that time would be about 12:30pm. I left my apartment this morning around 11:40am or so. By the 11:45am, I was standing at the corner that I wanted to be at. There were already people lining the street. The crowds were pretty thin but it was easy to see that something out of the ordinary was about to happen. Also lining the street were balloons that the city had put up. A few volunteers were handing out Olympic flags branded by Coke. An energy drink company was handing samples to the people already waiting.
With the crowds being somewhat thin and the time plentiful, I decided to head off to the quay to see if the vantage point would be better there. The torch was headed there because it was scheduled to get on a paddle wheeler ship where it would taken across the Fraser River for the rest of the route. There were a lot more people at the dock and the sight lines weren't as good, so I headed back to my corner.
When I returned there still wasn't that many people waiting with me and I was able to reacquire my "front row" position. As I waited though, more and more people appeared out of nowhere. As the minutes went by the sidewalks began to fill with people. Because I was at the edge of the sidewalk, no one seemed to want to stand in front of me because traffic was still going at this point.
As time drew closer to 12:30pm, I witnessed the massive amount of logistical support that goes with running a torch relay through an entire country. First, I spotted a helicopter in the air. Then, the first of many support vehicles showed up. Some were specific vehicles carrying support personnel who needed to go ahead of the torch bearer. Others were sponsor vehicles from Coke and the Royal Bank. These vehicles had speakers and dancers on each side to pump up the crowd and get them into a celebratory mood. Most of these vehicles had RCMP escorts. No matter what jurisdiction the torch goes through, the RCMP are there to provide primary security.
At this point, regular traffic was still getting through but people were nearly spilling into the street waiting for the torch bearer. Not soon after, more RCMP vehicles showed up and these began blocking off traffic. People took this cue to now stand in the middle of the street. A minute later, RCMP officers on foot arrived on scene to move people back if they were in the way. The officers then just stood at strategic spots and they waited along with everyone else. Another minute went by and I could hear cheering up the street. The torch had to be nearby. A squad of RCMP motorcycle officers went by slowly. Behind them was the actual torch bearer.
He was running at a deliberate pace, not too fast but not too slow. I didn't recognize him but he appeared to be in his 40s and he looked genuinely delighted to be running with the torch. The crowd was cheering at this point and a lot of photos were being taken. The torch bearer had at least two escorts running with him to ensure things went smoothly. He ran slow enough that I was able several photos of him. My planning turned out pretty well as he ran by me with less than six feet separating us.
Though he wasn't running that fast, as soon as he went past me, I realized the moment was gone. He disappeared into the crowd down the street as he made his way towards the paddle wheeler. I guess other people thought the same way because a stream of people began following him. It was at this time that I met up with a friend of mine that I knew from grad school. She works nearby and she just happened to be watching the torch come by across the street from where I was. We decided to walk towards the quay to see if we could catch up with the torch before it left on the boat.
We managed to catch up to the torch as it boarded the boat and another torch bearer took responsibility for the flame. I managed to snap a couple more pictures of the torch on the boat before it took off.
In the grand scheme of things, it's pretty inconsequential to see some dude run by with something on fire in his hand. I admit though, I'm really glad I took the time out to see the torch. It's one of these once-in-a-lifetime things and I'll remember this for a long, long time.
The torch will make it's way through the rest of Vancouver during the rest of the week before it arrives at BC Place for the opening ceremonies on Friday. If it's at all convenient for you to see it, I think you should make an attempt.
In the very early stages of making skate 3, we announced the release date for our game. This was surprising to me for two reasons. First, for the previous games, we waited much later on in the schedule before announcing a ship date. We usually get a fairly confident feeling about when the game could go out the door before letting the public know when it would be out. For our third game, we announced our ship date well before we knew how things were coming along with the game. This meant that we would have to avoid any major delays or else we'd have to publicly revise our release date.
The second surprise was the actual date itself of May 2010. Most people think that a game is worked on until close to the date that the game goes on store shelves. In reality, a game is done anywhere between one month to a month and a half before it appears in the marketplace. I remember the exact day I was told that we would be shipping in May of 2010. It was early in 2009 and I remember doing quick mental calculations as to when we'd be the most busy. I immediately realized that we'd be working like crazy during the end of February of 2010. Unless you've been hiding in a cave for the last few years, you know that the Olympics are being held in my fair city during that time. A year ago, I knew the timing would be bad and unfortunately, I wasn't proven wrong in the meantime.
We're extremely busy right now and with the Olympics coming up, it seems there's a lot to deal with. A lot of people on my team live downtown, so their commutes have been interesting. I know my co-workers also have tickets to several events, some of them in Whistler, so juggling work responsibilities with the desire to take in the Olympics is a delicate act.
I know that our game team and company isn't the only one going through this though. There's a certain team that works over a certain Yaletown brew pub that's racing to get their game done. Admittedly, they have a much more enviable position, as after a long day (and evening) of work, they can go down to the LiveCity venue there and relax. There's also another bunch of rock stars who are also trying get their game done. I bet they could slow down time so they can get more stuff done.
To everyone trying to final right now, I hope we all get a chance to take a breather in the next two weeks or so and have some fun.
One of the many unfortunate things about no longer working in downtown Vancouver is that I haven't been able to watch the preparations as we approach the start of the Winter Olympics. Since I haven't been downtown in about two weeks, I decided to head on down this weekend for a look.
Even before reaching downtown on Skytrain I could see many places were already ready for or very soon to be ready for next Friday. By Science World, I could see that the Athletes' Village was already occupied by people as flags of many different countries could be seen hung out on balconies and in windows. The road closures by Canada Hockey Place which had begun several weeks ago were now fully in effect. Olympic fencing stretched around seemingly everywhere. I could also see some heavy-duty security checkpoints that police had setup.
Once in downtown proper, I decided to walk along Burrard, Granville, and Robson. It wasn't difficult to see that downtown Vancouver is a major hub for all things Olympic. It appeared that every third person on the street had Olympic credentials around their neck. The Olympic volunteers were also everywhere, easily visible with their bright blue jackets. With close to 20000 volunteers spread between Vancouver and Whistler, they'll be hard to miss for the next three weeks or so. I like their uniforms and I bet a lot of them will enjoy keeping them after the Olympics are over.
There also seemed to be a large number of tourists already in the city for the Olympics. I saw a lot of people decked out in gear representing their home nation, walking around and taking in the sights. I wondered where a lot of these people are staying and how expensive this trip must be for almost all of them.
I then wandered off to a few specific locations. I started off with the area near Canada Place because I used to work right next to it (and still have fond memories of working there). Canada Place and the new convention centre is where most foreign journalists and press will be working during the Games. Canada Place is home to the main press centre and the VCC is where the international broadcast centre is located. It was actually pretty neat walking around there. The streets surrounding the two venues have been closed to public vehicle traffic but if you're just a curious pedestrian, you're free to saunter right up either location. Getting into those locations is another story though. Entry to those places is access-controlled and I saw various checkpoints with heavy security. There was also a large concentration of blue jacketed people here.
Just for kicks, I went down into the food court in Waterfront Centre to grab a snack, just like old times where Black Box was downtown. Even the McDonald's there got a makeover for the Olympics with all the employees wearing bright red shirts with "Canada" on them. Strangely, McDonald's even had an "ambassador" of sorts, walking around chatting up food court patrons. Everyone else there seemed to be related to the Olympics in one fashion or another, either working as security, official, volunteer, or visitor.
My last stop was the LiveCity venue in Yaletown. There are two LiveCity venues and the other one is located near W. Georgia and Cambie. Each venue will be providing free entertainment each day and night while the Games are on. It's a great way for people who can't get tickets to events to experience the Games in a fun and free manner. The Yaletown venue is on the site of David Lam Park. There's fencing around the entire park now and the venue isn't ready until Friday. Nonetheless, I did a quick walk around the perimeter. I saw workers near the water setting up a water display. The venue looks to be quite large in size and I could hear music coming from the large tents that had been already set up. I think it's awesome that there will be two large venues that will allow people to party each night of the Games.
From my observations today, a couple things come to mind. First, I cannot imagine the organizational power that is required to prepare and setup a major, epic event such as an Olympic Games. There literally must be a million details that must be accounted for and taken care of. I'm actually quite impressed with modern society that we're able to pull off something this big without something major going wrong.
Second, I think that despite whatever anyone thinks of the Olympics being here in Vancouver, it's too late to stop it. No amount of protesting or dissent now will make the Games any cheaper or divert any money to social programs or programs any sort. Sure, you're free to protest it while the Games are on and if that's your thing, you should have the right to do so. I would suggest though that everyone try to experience and enjoy at least one little thing about the next two and a half weeks. There are a lot of free events being put on in the city. Hell, if you even just talk to one person from another country, I think that would be worth it. The number of times an event of this magnitude comes to your hometown is small.
Last but not least, it's clear to me that a lot of people are quite excited and ready for the start of the Games on Friday. Just from the vibe I was getting from being downtown on the weekend, it's going to be a very interesting next few weeks.
