5.31.2008

MotoGP in Mugello

Welcome to Italy ... the land of Ducatis, Ferraris and Alpha Romeos. And Valentino Rossi. Rossi took advantage of being on his home turf, and secured the pole position for tomorrow's Gran Premio D'Italia Alice, his first since switching over to Bridgestone tyres. It should be noted that Rossi has won a few times already in Mugello ... he'll be going for his 7th consecutive victory tomorrow.

Carrying on a tradition that I didn't even know existed, Rossi pulled out a special helmet for the home event, featuring his likeness with a slightly shocked expression on the top (see pic below, courtesy Crash.net). According to Rossi, it's an actual image of him braking at the end of the long straight at Mugello: hopefully it'll bring him some luck, and he can continue his winning ways. I for one am happy to see The Doctor back on top of the World Championship standings, but I wouldn't mind seeing a close race between he and Casey Stoner (who starts the rice from position 1 on the second row). The 2 Americans, Edwards & Hayden round out the 2nd row, while Pedrosa & Capirossi join Rossi up front. Snaps for Capirossi, for stopping the early-season suckage!

MotoGP in Mugello

Welcome to Italy ... the land of Ducatis, Ferraris and Alpha Romeos. And Valentino Rossi. Rossi took advantage of being on his home turf, and secured the pole position for tomorrow's Gran Premio D'Italia Alice, his first since switching over to Bridgestone tyres. It should be noted that Rossi has won a few times already in Mugello ... he'll be going for his 7th consecutive victory tomorrow.


Carrying on a tradition that I didn't even know existed, Rossi pulled out a special helmet for the home event, featuring his likeness with a slightly shocked expression on the top (see pic below, courtesy Crash.net). According to Rossi, it's an actual image of him braking at the end of the long straight at Mugello: hopefully it'll bring him some luck, and he can continue his winning ways. I for one am happy to see The Doctor back on top of the World Championship standings, but I wouldn't mind seeing a close race between he and Casey Stoner (who starts the rice from position 1 on the second row). The 2 Americans, Edwards & Hayden round out the 2nd row, while Pedrosa & Capirossi join Rossi up front. Snaps for Capirossi, for stopping the early-season suckage!



5.30.2008

Oh, this can not end well

So being a public health official, I tend to be a bit of a geek when it comes to things food-safety-related. My Google Reader RSS feed is a pretty solid testament to that fact. One blog that I didn't actually know existed, until recently, is "The Food Poison Blog". A link from said blog was forwarded to me by a colleague, about a recent B.C. Human Rights Tribunal decision, regarding handwashing at a McDonalds. When you bring human rights into food safety, only bad things can happen. Read on ...

So there's this lady named Beena Datt. Ms. Datt has worked at McD's for >20 years. Long time employee, probably pretty committed to the Big Mac, yes? Unfortunately, Ms. Datt came down with a bit of a skin condition, that prevented her from thoroughly and properly washing her hands. McDonald's said "umm ... wanna wash your hands before handling that hamburger patty, Beena?" (I paraphrase, of course), and long story short, Ms. Datt was let go. She took her case, as previously mentioned, to the Human Rights Tribunal, and McDonald's was ordered to pay her $55,000 CDN for wrongful dismissal. Apparently, the Tribunal found that there was no direct evidence between proper handwashing and food contamination. Yes, this happened in Vancouver. Yes, I'm leaving Vancouver.

The story from Food Poison Blog can be found: here
Even longer version of the story, from the blog "Northern Exposure" is: here

Guess who's back?

The title is kind of redundant ... since I'm the only one posting, I'm the only one who's going to be back. But you get the point. My analytics tell me that page views are dropping, so it's time to get back into business! Actually, the main reason I'm increasing the frequency of blog posts is that I suddenly have some more time on my hands. I have 1 week left in my practicum, at which point I'm officially done another degree. The difference between this degree and the last one, however, is that I also have a job ... nay, a career lined up post-graduation. Which is always promising. So while the next 3 weeks may be somewhat hectic (with packing/moving/finding a place to live/starting a new job), the future will have more posts about more interesting topics. Or un-interesting topics, depending on the state of the world.

I think my last post was about the start of the NHL playoffs. How wonderfully serendipitous than, that we're now heading into game 4 of the 2008 finals. Ever since Ottawa shit the bed in round 1, I've been quietly rooting for the Penguins. Maybe not so quietly, even. It's not that I'm a huge fan of Sidney Christ™ (though I don't hold anything against the kid, and I do think that he's what the league needs right now), I've just been a closet Penguins fan since the early 1990's, when my mullet was approximately the same length as that belonging to Jaromir Jagr. I even rocked out a Jofa helmet playing Pee Wee, just like the cool guys on the Pens. So while they're not my favourite team ever, I certainly like them more than the Red Wings (who have won enough Stanley Cups already .... let somebody else have a turn!)

So with the series at 2-1, where do I see it going? All the way to 7 games, of course. There's no way Chris Osgood is good enough to keep the high-flying Penguins at bay. 2 shutouts in the first 2 games was pretty amazing, but I wouldn't expect that kind of thing to be an ongoing trend. He's older than brontosaurus shit (36 in November), and he's bound to break a hip if he starts trying anything too acrobatic. That being said, I don't hold much faith in the goaltending of the Penguins, either. So it's really a toss-up as to who will take game 7. But yes, it will go the distance.

Game 4 goes tomorrow in Pittsburgh, 8pm EST, and can be seen on CBC, NBC and RDS (all in HD), or listened to on XM channels 204, 205 and 206. Also, various other sports-carrying radio channels (I would assume).