I remember going to a Canucks game with him and showing his gold medal from winning a world championship, but as most athletes understand, a world championship without an Olympic gold still feels incomplete.

His team comprises of Kyle Hamilton of Richmond, B.C., Adam Kreek of London, Ont., Dominic Seiterle and Malcolm Howard of Victoria, Jake Wetzel of Saskatoon, Andrew Byrnes of Toronto, Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook, B.C., Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C., and Price of Belleville, Ont.

So, congrats Kyle! Way to go with having the hard work pay off.

You can read more on them on TSN

1818hrs - Amer tourist killed. At scene now
1908hrs - Registering at bank of america center. American’s home away from home
2054hrs - Finished buffet at boa building. Just given 2 free tix for bball and 2 more tix for swimming.

August 10th
1040hrs - Wasted from yesterday. Pouring rain here this morn. LIkely some cancelled comp today
1749hrs - Rain has stopped. Village is awesome. Buildings are ridiculous..pictures don’t do it justice!

1820hrs - I’m peeing my pants. Training pool is full of the swimmers. Swim tix are going for 800 to 1K on the street
1846hrs - Sitting right in front of phelps mom
2026hrs - Friend of Dwayne wade’s brother might get us one tix for tonight’s game thru him.
2115hrs - World record in my cousin’s swim. Not bad, not bad..going to head home to catch bball game. Neil bush had problems getting tix for opening cermonies.

August 11th
1010hrs - Just chatted with gary hall jr. Very nice guy
1314hrs - Heard bush was found scouring the silk market, perhap for an authentic texas belt clip. Coke and adidas exhibit worth seeing.

Will write more later when I have my pics up from the event!

But that wasn’t where all the drama took place. To actually get into the finals to swim for a spot, a swimmer needs to swim through the heats, then swim through the semifinals, before swimming the finals the day after. So a swimmer needs to swim three times well enough to get a spot on the team (Note, this is why what Michael Phelps is doing in his quest for 8 golds is so difficult is because he needs to swim each of his individual events three times! If they were all sprint events that would be a different story, but he’s swimming a lot of 200m and 400m events, which is a lot of mileage!).

Back to the story, Nathan swims a personal best of 48.89 in his semifinals but ties for 9th place. Unfortunately 9th doesn’t get you into the finals. Then the magic begins to take place. Ryan Locte, one of the best swimmers in the world in backstroke and the individual medley, scratches from the race. Now this was likely done as a strategic move, as he was ranked 5th going into the finals. This means that Nathan is now in 8th place!

Not so fast. He tied with Alex Righi with the same time. So how does one solve this? My suggestion of having them perform in front of Simon Cowell and the other American Idol judges wouldn’t likely be internationally accepted, so they’ll have to do it the good ‘ol fashioned way: (cue the “duh-duh-duh!!” sound effect and quick camera zoom to my face) Swim-off!

A swim-off consists of having the two (or more, depending on how many swimmers end up with the contested time) compete head-to-head in the same event. With the thousands in the stands, and only a lane divider between the two of you, you can cut the tension with a knife. (Can you imagine if you tied for 8th in swimming the 1500m? I hope someone suggests my idea)

Obviously, Nathan edges out his competitor and finds a spot in the finals. With this, he’s got nothing to lose, and everything to gain. (This brings back memories of when I qualified for the BC provincials in the 100free, coming 4th in our region. Usually only the top 3 get to go, but I swam under the provincial qualifying time, opening up a spot for me. I ended up swimming under 58sec for the first in my life, and making the finals in 8th place. Lucky for my opponents, I stayed in 8th..)

So as we now all know, Nathan swims out of his mind and takes another 4 tenths off his PB, and ends up in 4th. Ladies and Gentlemen, my cousin is going to the Olympics.

Although ending up 4th means he’s not considered an alternate and will go to the Olympics, the question remains to whether Michael Phelps, who swam under 48 in the preliminary heats before dropping the race, will be selected to be part of the relay. However, as results from Athens has shown that a relay member can take part in the prelims, and NOT swim in the finals, and still get a medal in the event. We shall see…

But in any case, congrats Nathan, and may they never use my idea to decide ties in swimming! All the best on the upcoming 50 free race as well!

You can read more here or here:

Here’s also listed on NBC as a “dark horse”

You can also watch his 100m Short Course Win here

Many are mourning the losses in different ways (newest count puts the number dead at over 40,000 with 5 million still missing…). Some of China’s largest web portals such as Sina and Baidu, have made their usually colorful pages black and white for the 3 days (if you’re quick you can still see them).

An inordinate amount of variety shows have been dedicated to the effects of the quake. If I remember correctly, I saw about 6 channels playing the same program. And the others? Well, they were live coverage of the aftermath.

One of my favorite English journals comes from the director of Care For Children, who had just gone to Sichuan to visit many of the welfare centers that have been damaged during the quake. Search for Care for Children in Facebook to find the blog.

It’s hard to say whether the quakes have subsided. A quick glance at the Earthquake Hazards Program shows that Gansu has also seen a handful of tremors, tho none over 6 on the Richter scale. Friends have already sent our requests for tents to be provided for those suddenly homeless in that region.

I think I’m going to to take a long walk now….

More pics here:

I received a bunch of emails and FB messages over the last couple of days asking me whether I’m alright. Thankfully nothing has happened over here in Shanghai, with the exception of a few large building swaying during the Monday quake (Thank you for your concern!). Actually quite a few buildings were evacuated people, which was probably a wise thing as there’s no knowing whether there could have been aftershocks, etc.

However, not enough can be said about the Sichuan area, where rescue efforts are still underway. 7.8 on the Richter. 6.1 as one of the aftershocks. Early afternoon when everyone is in class or at work. Constant rain hampering efforts. And you must have heard about the school that collapsed on the 900 children inside.

Picture from Sohu.com
Premier WenJiaBao, a geology major, has done an amazing job mobilizing the forces to assist in the rescues and repairs. My friend commented that the Premier probably has the best game plan for this disaster: “Whatever it Takes”. Doesn’t matter what they need, food, aerial support, troops, power, they’ll get it.

A friend was teaching at my company’s Chengdu factory on that fateful Monday. Although he was fine, it took angels to get through the airport and over to Shanghai for his next leg of his journey. Said he didn’t know they actually grabbed his ticket and put him on his plane that was taking off.

It’s hard to describe the type of support people are offering their own countrymen. Donating money and resources doesn’t seem to be an effort at all, as it seems to me that the collective whole of this country understands that this is just another day in the life of China.

The Red Cross has set up channels to take donations as well as the Care for Children, as they have quite a few adopted children in that area.

If you want to take a look at a great timeline of events, Here’s a great English blog of the updates during that first day.
And more here from Shanghaiist
For Chinese news, check out Sina here.
Sohu here has some great pics as well.

Oh yes, and please keep praying.

P.S. If you have any experiences or thoughts from the incident, leave a comment…

This May holiday will be even more interesting with the ongoing protests that many locals are supporting against France and, unfortunately, in turn, our regular French-based shopping paradise (for families), Carrefour. If you’ve read some of the latest news articles (here or here), it seems that a lot of people are planning on not shopping at Carrefour over the holidays to make their statement.

Chinese nationalism has been on the rise the last month or so, aptly timed before the Olympics and in face of resistance found during the Olympic Torch relays. Perhaps you might have also noticed in your MSN friend lists that some of your Mainland Chinese buddies now have a (heart icon) China at the beginning of their name. Yup, they’re related. For some interesting takes on the recent Chinese nationalistic movements, check out this link.

Usually the best things to do during May holidays is to hibernate in your home or to head out of the country. But this year, I will be heading out to Shenyang in a couple of days, traveling with a bunch of friends helping out with an event. Should be exciting going to a city that I’ve never been to before!

What are your plans for the holidays?