I was at Vancouver a couple of weeks back. First time in that part of the world (North America). Actually, i was in Montreal for about 1 week for a conference, CHI 2006. It's the premier conference for Human Computer Interaction and I was showcasing my project there. It's about chickens, and this system allows you to remotely touch your pets through the Internet. We used chickens because they are such badly treated animals. Some dude has actually shown that by touching chickens, you give them pleasure and therefore increase their welfare. So we extended this conclusion by building a system that allows you to touch your pet wherever, whenever. Pretty cool eh? :) you can check it out by googling "poultry internet".
Oh I intended actually not to talk about the chicken project, but about the picture above. So as this is my first ski experience, I couldn't help but took a picture with the dude sitting beside me. He was friendly enough to be photographed. He seems like an experienced skier but maybe this is his first time in Whistler too. And by the way, Whistler-Blackcomb is the world's no. 1 ski resort and is the venue for 2010 Olympics. I didn't plan for this trip, but as I was transiting in Vancouver with another friend for 2 days, we thought, what the heck, might as well venture to somewhere new. So we asked around a bit, and found out that hey, we can actually ski even though it's near the end of spring now.
Skiing is tough, mind you. It certainly looks easy to TV, but first thing you learn is to climb uphill and there is just no friction available for you to rub your ski on, and you tend to slide downhill. So what you do is you walk like a duck, but sideways... And imagine now you are wearing a shoe sized 50. yeah... your 2 feet tend to clash. but going downhill is fun... way fun... you tend to feel like the speed is throwing you off balance, but once you get the hang of it, it gives you the speed thrill similar to roller coaster. but maybe slower. but a word of advice, train up your stamina if you intend to pick up skiing. now i understand why it is called a sport!
Oh did I mention also it was the first time I experience real snow? It's funny, they're not as soft as I thought. Perhaps it's due to the late spring season. Heard that fresh snow are much softer. Anyway, they feel like ice kacang. hard... the local kind, not the taiwanese kind. but this kind of hard snow is good for making snow balls. when you whack the other person, it feels kinda painful.
