Wednesday Feb 24

Good evening!

Yesterday was a long day as I had thought it would be. It turns out that the "winner" of the race was disqualified for an improper lane change or something. I just know that the folks in Orange were not very happy.

My boss gave me a ticket to Short Track Speed Skating tonight. It was great. I got to see Ohno win his heat. I also got to witness Canada winning the Silver in the 3000 relay and the USA bring home the bronze. It was a hike to get to and from the venue. The walk from the bus station into the venue was over 1 Km. I ended up walking over 14 Km today.

While I was downtown for the speed skating I had the chance to trade more pins! Yeah! I also checked out the Olympic flame. Very cool. Words really cannot describe what it is like to see this huge structure with 5 flames and the meaning behind it.

Tomorrow is a day off from competition at the ROO. However, it does not mean a day off for our team. We are meeting at the normal time of 6:30. I will try and get some pictures of the flame and the short track races posted tomorrow.

Cheers.

Monday Feb 22nd

I had a great day off. I went down to Kitsilamo beach (not sure if I spelled that correctly)... I walked along the beach. A real beach. With sand and waves and birds and stones and shells. I spent several hours just enjoying the beach and all it had to offer. There were many ocean liners in the area. I love the big ships. It was warm enough that once again I spent most of the day just wearing a T-shirt. I could really get used to this weather.

After the beach I got on a bus and just went for a ride. I ended up somewhere near downtown. Koen happened by and saved me from walking in the wrong direction. I ended up back at pacific center where I walked around for a while and ate some really good sushi. I then headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow will be a long day. Concessions open at 9 am and stay open until after 1 pm. It is the longest race, I think the 10,000 m. We should be rather busy. It will make the day go by fast but it will be a lot of work keeping the coolers filled and ensuring that each and every customer gets a perfect serving of Coca-Cola products.

Sunday, Feb 21st

Nice day off yesterday. I walked 13 Km around downtown Vancouver. Walked along the river, by the Olympic Athlete's village, into China town and other assorted places. It was a great day, I spent most of the day in only a T-shirt.

The medals ceremony was nice, but no medal were presented at our site, only Whistler. They did have some First Nations dancers, and they were great.

I ate in Chinatown. I had curry chicken with vermicelli and shrimp with pork salad rolls. I washed it down with Vietnamese coffee. Yummy.

I am having a hard time uploading photos to my blog. The computer doesn't have the newest version of adobe flash whatever... and I cannot download it on to the PC. So check out my facebook photo album at the following address:

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=100000332906213&k=Z6E3Y5TXWW5A4CGJPB63QTVVUTE1666NUWFWKCP1UU&oid=1137978788182

My last scheduled day off is tomorrow. I plan on finding a sand beach and spending some time walking around on it. Nothing else really planned.

Saturday

I have the day off today. Medals Ceremony tonight. Should be lots of fun. We went to the shore yesterday and had Fish and Chips for lunch. I even was able to get a little sun. I plan on going downtown today and also trying to find the water. I am looking forward to walking on the beach if possible.

Thursday Feb 18th

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to my blog. It has been very busy around here. We have been working 12+ hour days. I did have a day off on Tuesday, but I went into work from 630 to 11 am. We were down a few teammates and my boss asked me to work. Of course I said yes.

Today was my first "real" day off. I slept in then went to a local mall. I did some shopping, picking up Olympic items for a few friends and family. I then went over the airport for dinner. Tonight I am staying in.

Saturday I have tickets to the medals ceremony. Should be lots of fun.

I saw Jerry Thornton again today. It is so nice to see folks from "home". The recycling that they have in this area is impressive. Everywhere I go, there are recycling bins. Each bin has pictures of what is acceptable. People actually seem to follow it as well. I am not referring only to the venues, but the malls, the airport, the skytrain stations and the hotel. It is like everywhere I turn around they have recycling available. I am looking forward to the day that our city does this.


Here are some photos from my venue and last few days.

Friday, Feb 12th

Overall it was a relatively quiet day. We finished preparing the venue for competition tomorrow: checked vending stocks, cleaned all menu boards etc. We should be good to go.

Not sure what to expect tomorrow. Competition is between Noon and 2:40 or so. The concessions are open for 6 hours, and the workforce dining will serve twice the number of people as before. It will be challenging to keep up with the orange juice there. It seems like all the workers really like OJ, it has been the best mover since we opened.

We got off a little early tonight so my boss and teammate can make the opening ceremonies. Like most people, I will be checking it out on TV.

Tomorrow starts at 6:30 and could be a long day. The rumor is that on Sunday we will start splitting up the hours between a morning and afternoon shift.

My next day off is Tuesday. I will be going to watch Curling in the evening.

Thursday

I had a rare day off today. My boss had tried to give another teammate the day off, but he showed up to work. So I joking offered to take the day off in his place. My boss said, do it. I didn't think he was serious, but he was. So I went over the daily safety training and went back to bed.

I took the Sky Train to the downtown area. I walked around the mall and went to the Olympic Superstore in The Bay store. It was huge. It had a full Coca-Cola Happiness Cafe in it. I was able to enjoy my very first Coke Zero from a glass bottle there. YUMMY. I shopped for my friends and then waited in a very long line to check out.

I met up with one of my teammates at the airport and we had dinner together. There was an Olympic store there as well. I was able to finish off some lists at that store. Much easier to shop. More organized and they had kids sizes too. So I finished off my list there.

Even though it was my day off, I still ended up walking for over 9 KM.

ROO

Len with Torch

Event Tickets

I have my tickets for the 3 events I will be able to see. On Feb 16th, I have tickets to Curling. Feb 18th, Ice Hockey. Feb 20th, Celebration/Medal presentation. Feb 22nd, Aeriel Skiing. Should be fun!

Walking each day

Dawn, a teammate of mine in the same venue and I are now wearing pedometers to track our walking. On Saturday I ended up with just over 12 KM walked, Dawn had over 15 KM. Yesterday was over 10 KM for me and today was around 20 KM. My feet are sure telling me that I have been walking more than I am used to!

Tuesday Night

Good evening!

Today was the opening of the Ozone. The Olympic Venue Operations Director ran the torch this evening. It was very moving to be able to see the flame with him carrying it. There were many red jackets in attendance to cheer him on.

The flame then went through the city and came to the Ozone to kick off the opening of the area. The place was PACKED with people. Lots of good food and good times.

ROO is almost ready. All the coolers and vendors have been filled, the POS is out and the menu inserts are ready to put up. Just doing finishing details for the venue. What a beautiful building. I'll try and post more pictures of it. The roof is made from reclaimed "pine beetle" wood. the pine beetle has ravaged the BC forest, and this is a way to use the wood from the trees killed by the beetle. It is the largest pine beetle wood project of its type.

Tuesday Feb 9th

It has been very busy getting ready for the games. We are working between 10 and 12 hours daily to wrap everything up. I did have Sunday off to watch the Superbowl. I went downtown and walked around for a while. They have all sorts of art displayed on the streets.

The USA team headquarters are in the same hotel. I have meet a few athletes, and a few coaches. Sort of nice to see the Red White and BLUE when surrounded by only Red and White.

Overall it is going great. I have a lot less free time than I was anticipating. We have 3 computers set up for around 200 of us, so that I why I have not been able to post daily... Hard to get computer time sometimes.

Thursday update

Wow, have I been busy the last few days. Once we got our assignments, we had some more training the next day. My boss then took us to the venue and started us working right away. We went bowling that night. The weather was mild and rainy.

On Wednesday we filled coolers, cleaned coolers and moved product. This will sound very repetitious, as it is what we are here to do. We did get a chance to see some of the Canadian Skaters practising. Very cool to hear the clicking on the ice of their skates as they go around. As normal, Vancouver was mild and rainy.

Today more of the same. Counted inventory, moved product and loaded machines. I had to take product to the center of the ice, all Field of Play stuff. Very different view of the arena from inside the oval. Today was a beautiful days with sunshine. Great view of the mountains. This is really scenic country. I might actually get to see some stars tonight if the weather holds.

Tomorrow will be more of the same. The equipment was delivered to the Ozone today, so we will spend time filling it tomorrow I am sure. I hope it is as nice tomorrow for the filling as it was today for the receiving.

I am working on getting more pictures uploaded.

Venue

I will be working at the Richmond Olympic Oval (long track speed skating) and Richmond Ozone, and outdoor park with vendors and concerts that is free to visit/attend.

Should be a ton of fun. They are working me hard already. I will try and catch some time to update with pictures soon.