Here’s a first-person account from the guy standing next to the mud-caked woman in yesterday’s already-famous photo.

As I’ve told all the journalists who have called, I don’t know the name of the woman. It just didn’t seem important at the time. What seemed important was staying close to her, letting her know that somebody cared and getting her help. Like everybody else, I certainly hope she is okay.

Gonna rock your body ’til Canada Day!

I’m in Canada. For the second time in a year. Weird! My sister-in-law is Canadian, and her and my brother’s wedding was in Montreal last summer. And now I’m in Vancouver on business for a few days.

I’ve never been to Vancouver. I arrived this afternoon and haven’t had a chance to see anything yet (I don’t even know if I’ll get to see much). But it’s weird how big Canada is. Of course, the U.S. is huge, with such a long distance between the east and west coasts; but when a country isn’t your own, it’s weird to think that that country itself can have two places so different from each other.

Granted, I haven’t gotten to take in the flavor of Vancouver yet. But I was reading that the city has experienced a heavy infux of immigration from Asia in the past few years, and I can definitely tell: lots of Asians on the rainy streets as I rode by in the cab. I don’t remember that being the case in Montreal.

Also, I get the sense that Vancouver is crunchier than eastern Canada. But that’s from reading a guidebook – I haven’t actually experienced it yet.

As for the first line of this post – I got to watch two episodes of “How I Met Your Mother” on the plane, so it seemed appropriate.

Found randomly on YouTube: Al Gore’s 2000 concession speech. He’s so thin!