Night Lights, part I

Take a look around - enjoy the color/colour.  
Here is Vancouver at night!

some views from the Robson Square skating rink.  a wonderful public space right under the street!

here are some of the illuminated art installations of "Lunar Fest" on Granville St:

a couple shots from the end of Granville:

ST Pauls Hospital on Burrard:

I disagree - I think they fit perfectly.  (near my hotel):

outside of  the Vancouver Art Gallery:

countdown clock:

a really interesting piece under Robson Square.  it's like a gigantic clothespin spring:

b'dee b'dee - that's all, folks!  well, for now at least.  check back soon!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back, friends and family!

Here I am in lovely downtown Vancouver to share my Olympic Adventures with you.  Once again I am surrounded by an amazing group of talented colleagues from all over The World.  And, once again, I'm being steadily swept away by the wonderful international camaraderie which is the Olympic experience.

This time around, the format will be slightly different:  In addition to posting my photos and videos here on the main page, I have also included a link to my photo album which will give you access to many, many more.  As you scroll along, feel free to click any picture for a full-size view.  And, as always, feel free to ask any questions or post any comments you might have.

I hope you enjoy the ride.  Here we go!

the journey begins with my arrival at the Vancouver airport.  thank you, I feel very welcomed indeed:

The adorable 2010 Olympic Mascots (from left to right):
Miga, MukMuk, Quatchi and Sumi.  Quatchi was fine enough to direct me to baggage claim.  What a nice guy... squatch:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/mascot/en/meet.php

First glance of the IBC (International Broadcast Centre) located at the newly built, huge, and highly amazing Vancouver Convention Center. aka: 
MY OFFICE:

I work down in the Master Control Office on the lower level.  Huge windows display the magnificent view of the Vancouver Harbor and Cypress Mountain:

See what I mean?  Breathtaking!

Canada Place - home of the Main Press Center (MPC).  Lovely view during the day...

and night:

(click this one for full-size)

Now, for some views inside the IBC:

the walls are covered with panels containing hundreds of end pieces.  a nice example of repurposing!

here's one for your mobile phone wallpaper:

Well, that's all the time I have for now.  As promised, you can find many, MANY more pictures on my web album here:

Vancouver Olympics 2010

Please check back for updates.  I'll try and upload as often as possible.  Take care and 

ENJOY THE GAMES!

-Sean

The End

I realize it's been a few weeks since I returned from Beijing, but I thought it fitting to post one last blog.  A lot of folks have been asking me, "Hey, what was the best part?!?"  One might think it was the grandeur of the Olympics or the incomparable architecture and culture of Beijing.  While many of those things were quite amazing and unforgettable, I would have to say my favorite part of working at the 2008 Beijing Olympics was... 

the people

People from every continent and every walk of life, coming together to accomplish a solitary goal.  It's a beautiful thing!  

Cheers and Good Luck to all my newfound friends.  See you in 2010!

The Business End

"So, what would you say... you do here?"

During the past 10 extremely busy days, I've been working to bring the Olympics from Beijing to your couch at home.  Since the actual process is long and complicated, I'll break it down in very simple terms:

1. video of the events (track and field, swimming, archery, etc) is shot at the venues (National Stadium, Aquatics Center, etc..) and sent to the CDT (where I work.)
   
2. the video is then sent within the IBC to all the Rights-Holding Broadcasters (NBC, BBC, etc.)
   
3. the RHBs package all the video with commentary and commercials, etc and send it to the satellite farm directly outside the IBC.
   
4. the complete programs are then uplinked to various satellites hovering in earth's orbit.
   
5. the video is then transmitted from the satellites to all the RHBs in their local countries and then distributed to local TV stations and then to your house (in a nutshell.)
   

viola!!! 

(my apologies to all the broadcast folks reading this...  I'm trying to explain it as simply as possible here :)

so, seeing as I've been here for nearly a month, I suppose it's fitting that I finally show you some pictures of where I'm spending the majority of my time.   The CDT.  CDT stands for Contribution, Distribution & Transmission (it's in the middle of the IBC.. I know, too many acronyms)...  anyone that actually wants me to explain any of this in further detail can see me after class.

away we go!:

in front of the DX (distribution)  monitors.  a bunch of small TV screens?  nope..  what you're looking at here are six 103-INCH flat-screen monitors!!!  I have outlined one in yellow to show the actual size and scale.  It takes at least 4 grown men to lift one of these bad boys...  imagine having one at home!

in front of the "smaller" monitors.  there are 36 of these in the room, each displaying 12-16 feeds at once.

at my desk.  I'm happy about all the green lines on the network monitoring screen (left).  green=good!

another shot of the 103" monsters.  top middle is displaying the opening ceremony.

Here I am posing quite geekishly in front of some of our Nimbra 680 nodes.  This is the gear responsible for safely transporting the video signal from the stadiums to the CDT, all via fiber optics.  My team and I are responsible for maintaining the health of the network, which consists of about 150 of these finely-tuned, mean, lean, Swedish-engineered machines.  A shout out to all my good friends at Net Insight, the company responsible for manufacturing these magnificent beasts.

well, that's all for now.  time for bed!

I'll try to keep the updates coming!

One Day Left!

A little more than 24 hours until the big day.  In case you didn't already know,the number 8 is considered extremely lucky in China.  So 8/8/2008 at 8:08:08pm is the perfect day and time in which to hold the opening ceremonies.  I happen to be one of the lucky ones working during that time as well.  yay!  

A little background (from Wikipedia):

Eight

• The word for "eight" (八，捌) in Chinese (Pinyin: bā) sounds similar to the word which means "prosper" or "wealth" (发 - short for "发财", Pinyin: fā). In regional dialects the words for "eight" and "fortune" are also similar, eg Cantonese "baat" and "faat".
  
• There is also a resemblance between two digits, "88", and the shuang xi ('double joy'), a popular decorative design composed of two stylized characters 喜 (xi, 'joy', 'happiness').
  
• Telephone number 8888-8888 was sold for USD$270,723 in Chengdu, China.
  
• The Summer Olympics in Beijing are scheduled to open on 8/8/08 at 8:08:08 p.m.
  
• A man in Hangzhou offered to sell his license plate reading A88888 for 1.12 million yuan.
  
• Dragon Fish Industry in Singapore, a breeder of rare Asian Arowanas (which are "lucky fish" themselves, and, being a rare species, are required to be microchipped), makes sure to use numbers with plenty of eights in their microchip tag numbers, and appears to reserve particularly numbers especially rich in eights and sixes (e.g. 702088880006688) for particularly valuable specimens.
  

and so forth and so on...

So, before all the excitement and mayhem, I decided to take one last peaceful walk out on the Olympic Green two nights ago.  I was working midnight to 7am so it was the perfect time for me to go out, enjoy the calm and relatively cool atmosphere, and snap a bunch of pictures.

Here are a bunch of shots from that night.  I must say to was quite a surreal experience and I'm really glad I was able to get out of the office for a little while to explore the empty and alien world of the nighttime Beijing Oylmpic Green.

Enjoy: 

first, some shots of the Water Cube in all it's LED encrusted glory.  

a video:

now, a couple pictures I altered for maximum desktop background usage.  (for those non-savvy folks, left-click on the image to open the high resolution version, then right click on the image once it loads and select "set as desktop background")

the water cube:

the national stadium:

these "mini nests" line all the pathways to the stadium.  ain't they cute?!?

most of the Olympic Green is covered with these color-changing lighted footpaths.  very alien, indeed!

not a UFO coming to abduct me, just a cluster of lights.

That's all for now.  As promised, I will provide plenty of pictures of the IBC in a few days.  I was just waiting until all the feeds are up so you're not just looking at a bunch of blank screens.  how considerate am I?

until then...