What a pinhead!

Ha - sorry, had to get kinda cheesy with the title of this blog, because...well....can you blame me..?
I present to you, a few of the biggest Olympic fans.

Hmm. I'm guessing he sleeps standing up.

No comment here.

Where can I get one of these!

11 mths in a rickshaw. Where did he shower?
http://ishare.rediff.com/filevideo-Olympics-Crazy-Fan-id-401674.php

And ah..yes. How could I leave out Stewie?

http://stewiesplayground.com/2007/08/02/stewie-griffin-trains-for-the-olympics/

Where was the pot of gold??

In this case, multiple pots of gold.

For those of you in Philly - I'm sure you noticed the very strange yellow sky that enveloped the city and surrounding areas after that crazy scary thunderstorm on Sunday evening?

For about 20 minutes, the mood seemed quite eerie. I saw my cat staring intently out of the window at something and when I went to see what he was looking at, I saw the most beautiful rainbow I'd ever seen.

This picture above is right over the corporate GSK building in center city.

Actually, apparently there were two rainbows right next to eachother, but I was only able to see one. It was massive, and I could see almost the entire arch. (Hence..potentially 4 mythical pots of gold, somewhere!).

From my vantage point, the rainbow seemed like it was directly over the Ben Franklin Bridge (directly east of my condo building).
I grabbed my digital and ran downstairs to the parking lot to see if I could take a picture of it, but it was tough to get anything substantial, given its massive size (and my tiny lens..), and the yellow hue of the sky.

I got into my car and headed west toward the Art Museum, thinking if I got further away, I'd be able to get a better shot.
Sadly within about 10 minutes, the sky turned black again, and just like that, it dissappeared.

Oh well, at least I was able to see it with my own eyes.

But, I searched on the web to see if any other Philadelphians had been lucky enough to capture anything. Here's what I found.....

Over the Philly Inquirer Building

This one highlights the yellow sky. This phot seemed to be a bit more saturated in color than in reality. But, the yellow hue was definitely there. You get the idea.

This one was taken from Spruce Street. Same yellow hue!

You can see almost the entire rainbow in this one.

Beautiful perfect rainbow. How often do you get to see one of these? I considered it lucky :-)

Definitely a strange, yet cool ending to a laid back weekend for me.

The Great Stretch Debate

I'm about to go hit the gym in a few minutes. But before I do that, I decided I needed to find out a bit more information about stretching.

Huh? what?

Well, believe you me, I did not know that there was this whole universal debate going on about the benefits of stretching. I found out about this a couple weeks ago when one of my coworkers was complaining her muscles were sore after her softball game the night before. I asked her...'Well..did you stretch??'. She said..'no, i hate stretching, its just a waste of time anyways'.
I told her 'well, if you don't stretch, then you get sore the next day, and plus your muscles are more subject to tears. No wonder you're in pain....duh" (Mind you, I had no data to back this mockery up..). She just looked at me and said 'well, no need to judge!' Ummm. Ok?

Then another coworker overheard us and offered up his opinion 'I also think stretching is a waste of time. There's no evidence to prove that it works anyways. In fact, I think its stupid!'.
Well, now I was the one feeling judged!

I was more than a bit baffled, because I always thought it was a crime not to stretch after a workout. But now, two of my coworkers had admitted to the illegal activity of not-stretching. Was I missing something?

I forgot all about this discussion until this morning. I was watching some Olympic re-caps before heading to the gym, and one of the announcers alluded to the infamous stretching controversy once more.

Thats it. I had to google. And this is just a snippet of what I found out there.
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/flexibility/a/aa022102a.htm

http://www.coolrunning.com.au/general/2000e023.shtml

http://agjhealthfitness.blogspot.com/2008/02/is-stretching-necessary.html

Huh. So much debate out there over stretching. And I had just taken it for face value that it was something Thou Shalt Do. I guess there is no evidence proving that it is absolutely necessary.
But, there are definitely benefits too!
I don't care what my coworkers, or any of these websites say. I mean, even my cat Chutney stretches, and he obviously doesn't sit around googling and reading articles. So there!

Its all the buzz at the Olympics!

Olympic themed buzz cuts are the rage amongst Chinese kids! Mr. Wu, a barber, decided to give away 29 free haircuts in honor of the 29th Olympiad.

However, as news of his cuts got out, more and more kids started showing up around the block.

So, being the nice guy that he is, he decided to give as many cuts as he could, collecting donations to help the victims of the recent terrible earthquake in the Sichuan Province.

The kids in these pictures are incredibly adorable with their new do's. What amazed me is that how YOUNG they are!

I was watching the story on NBC, and there were kids still in their strollers, lining up to get their hair cut.

Of course - not all of them liked the process......which goes to show you, it doesn't matter what corner of the globe you live. Some things, like scary haircuts, are always universal.

08.08.08

Today is supposed to be an ultra lucky day in some parts of the world, like China. (This, according to my chinese-american coworker A). The number '8' in Chinese is very significant.

No wonder the Olympics are opening on this date over there!

So, I told her, since she is Chinese, then she should go out and say a little prayer for me. Just an all around prayer, you know, for good health. A good man maybe. Oh, and wealth and power.

Oh why not? If she's Chinese, and all the good energy is being focused on her today, then I might as well ask for a small favour right? Ok, I'm just half joking!

In all seriousness, as I sat here watching the opening ceremonies, I could not help but feel chills go down my spine.

The opening ceremonies were ridiculously awe inspiring. The choreography was impeccable. The whole time I was watching, I wished I could have some small part of it all. Go here to see some incredible photos from the ceremony!

Needless to say, the emphasis on the Olympics is even more deliberate this year, not only because of the lucky date, but also because of the scrutiny that China has been under over the last year.The incredible growth in China's technology sector has brought an intense focus to the country, and now that intensity has amplified in the days leading up to tonight's opening ceremony.

But, hopefully, the games will let the rest of the world see another side to China, that I hope to see some day.

As the 2008 Tai Chi performers formed a perfect circle for the third time, all moving their arms in the same direction, the commentor explained one of the simple philosophies of the ancient form of meditative exercise - that also alluded to the complex shift in the Chinese cultural and economic landscape:

"Movement in one direction often begins with a very subtle movement in the opposite direction".

I like that!

Eyes glaze over

I have one of those professions that not a lot of people do. Not a lot of people that I know anyways (outside of my professional network of people).

So what is it that I do?
To make a long story short, I help make drugs. Efficiently. Not the illegal kind. Biotech stuff. Not little white or blue pills. But stuff that gets injected into your body if you're really really sick. Proteins. Antibodies. I basically work in a factory.
But, its actually incredibly cool!

However, the more I talk about it to people outside my business, anything past the novelty of 'I make drugs!' leaves them with a glazed look in their eyes. Its a dillema really. I really can't qualitate what it is I do without sounding utterly boring. Which is a shame, b/c its really not. I'm just a huge nerd maybe?
They don't make TV shows or movies about biopharmaceutical engineers. Unless they
involve some kind of bioterrorist attack on the world, and then the biopharmaceutical engineers are called in save the day.

Doctors have ER, House, and (my personal favourite) Grey's Anatomy.
Lawyers have Boston Legal, The Practice. Law&Order. Claire Huxtable!
Even scientists have CSI.
Cops have....well every other show is a cop show
Even middle aged fa-..uh..I mean heavy set men have TV shows (and skinny wives!) - According to Jim. King of Queens. Still Standing.

And, when you delve into the world of reality TV, you have chefs, interior designers, animal wranglers, wedding planners, dancers, comediens. DOG WHISPERERS! I mean, they are all on there.
EXCEPT for my kind. And this is why, when I talk to people about what I do, they start staring off into space, yawn, and eventually nod off. Because they can't relate! They've never seen a TV show that made us popular. You know?

Are any of you in a profession that are deemed too boring to be portrayed on TV?
Let me know...