THE GAME

Posthumously recording Sunday's Hockey game day - What a day! Out of Control! I thought for a minute I was going to witness 7 simultaneous aneurysms! Whew - I have never been so relieved in my life as when Canada made the sudden death goal - heheheh - spared me from packing that night :) See humorous video - game not yet over (click title link for more photos):


All joking aside, I really was glad my host country won. They deserved it after all the blood, sweat and tears putting on the Olympics cost them. Oh, and did I mention that Joe served Cocktails, Cheese fondue (heaven!), then Chocolate fondue during the game? See photo and drool. That's ho-made pound cake (thank you Colleen), ho-made merengues (thank you Joe).

Here's the final win video "Get the Heart Paddles!!" "Get the cuff!!":

Last Smurf Day (Saturday)

Myself and only one other Smurf were the last of the Volunteers to work yesterday. In fact my boss, Aniket, called me the day before at the biathlon to beg me to get to work at 7:00 a.m. because there was no one to be at the media center. This means I have to get up at 4:30 to catch the 5:20 bus down the street - Ugh! This only sucks, because I don't trust my alarm, so I keep waking up every hour to look a the time - needless to say, I was not bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (is that last thing really ever good?) until 4 cups of the drip at the venue went down my gullet (and pretty much all day). In retrospect, I'm really lucky I didn't have to always work in the media center, because you stand on your feet the whole time - so I was basically on my feet for 13 hours yesterday - that might be an all-time record.

Media Center action:

Cool stuff: The race -this last event - the slalom - is clearly for the cheetahs of the ski world. The skiiers who were in the top 30 were waaaay better than the other skiiers. They all had a much more slender build than say, Bode Miller, who not only spun out, but looks like Paul Bunyan. The winner, a young Italian guy, was clearly going to become a rock star back home, because this was the first slalom win for Italy since 1994 and Alberto Tomba.

I also watched my first press conference, and the Italian was just coming out of his skin, he was so excited - really cool. The silver medalist was a VERY serious older Croatian, who had come back from some very serious hospitalization to win this medal. His support crowd was far less serious, and walked, sang, made merry in a cloud of hops - video:

The bronze medalist was a Swede - are all Swedes this boring? Perhaps their normal language is monotone, also - show some excitement dude!

After more standing, and just helping to pickup press garbage for something to do, I got to help my team haul computer boxes all the way to the top of the press cabins - this pleased me greatly, because my blood had pooled in my feet, and a little sweat felt really good. (nice to see I can schlep and climb as fast as the 20 yr olds...) Also, I climbed ALL the way to the top and got some photos of where the camera elite perch. WOW! What a view!

THEN they threw a Smurf party at 5 or so - a couple of beers, or glasses of wine and a hot dog - not too bad. So funny - this was the second hot dog in a week I've eaten. More than I've eaten in probably 20 years! It didn't kill me, and the grease and the heartburn make for a long-lasting treat! A little Smurf video...

My other boss Jane (the gorgeous red-headed of Scots descent) gave me a beautiful 2010 backpack as a gift, and my last shift-gift was a big blue Swatch Watch! Really cool!

Friday - Biathlon!

4-man Biathlon!!!

No work today, so I joined Joe and Nancy at the Whistler Olympic Park in the Callahan Valley - beautiful! Snowing soggy flakes like a bugger - I didn't realize that the coat and snow pants given to us by VANOC were so absorbent! Check out the cute, spontaneous spectator art on the way in - not sure how many snowmen, but it was alot!

There was definitely a minority of US and Canadian folks at this shindig: beaucoup Norwegians (I fit right in), Austrians, Russians, Germans - The top 3 finish teams were as I just listed. It was noisy! People scream for each good rifle shot, make a sad sound for each bad one, scream REALLY loud when the skiiers go by - It was just a blast - except for the absorbent part. Some folks even come up to these things wearing thin sweatpants and tennis shoes???WTF??*&^%

Here's a couple of good Videos:

Beauty shot here at the end on the way out:

Work and Racing Tuesday and Wednesday

News Flash! We now learned why Russia House was so boring - the health department shut them down!!! How can you shut down service of Vodka - how could that possible get contaminated???? So much for Canadian Bon Vivant - apparantly numerous other houses got food/drink service shut down, fer cryin' out loud...

Forgot to post this video "Cafe Crepe":






Tuesday evening was enhanced when I returned home to the tail end of Nancy's Friend Colleen's Birthday Party (what??!!! another party you say?) where an international exchange of gifts took place - one of my scarves for a Canadian Flag!

Wednesday was another boring work day with Womens Giant slalom first heat, with Linsey Vonn crashing, breaking her pinkie finger, Julia Mancuso flagged off the course, allowed to finish in another run, then crying like a baby because she did so poorly - where did your 'nads go girl? (I have my own video of crash, etc., but it would probably be boring to everyone)

After work, I went to Whistler Village to join my new co-volunteer friend Angela, and we watched the Canadian Hockey team serve the Russians their pucks on a platter. The bar was crazy with inflated wieners being smacked by all. Click on the title for really pretty pics of Whistler at night...

Me and Angela:

Vancouver! The Olympic City

Spent yesterday in the city with Joe and Nancy - what madness! In a good way - We took a good long walk along the waterfront to start, cherry trees and daffodils blooming, across the bay from the Athlete's village - enjoyed the thousands (?) of Inukshuks constructed along the shore, the builder busily working as we watched.

On the left is the shore covered with Inukshuks - appearing and disappearing as the tide comes and and recedes.

We then walked to the Russia House - it is in their Science Center - the big sphere in the background - Nancy really wanted to see this based on recommendations by friends. After 1.5 hours in line (not bad for a free event) - we were totally disappointed! What it was: homage to their corporate sponsors for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia - Augh! We definitely got a bum steer.

Walked to see the flame - it really was incredible!!!

Then, we just walked through the streets that are now closed to cars, milling around with Canadians and people from all over the world. There was plenty of entertainment everywhere, down in the Robson Square ice rink, above the street with the zip line, and (yawn - more Canadian hockey) the street hockey game. Joe livened up the latter by screaming "Car!!!" at them - heheheh. Beautiful street art, including a lantern exhibit made by gradeschool children from Japan (?) and B.C.

As usual, click on the title for all the photos :)

THE GAME - Movie night at the Sotham's

Watched the US v. Canada hockey game this evening - there was alot of words to be shared, but in the end, the video tells the story (as usual) - try not to laugh your butt off... (sorry about the non-hollywood lighting - the tv is THE most important thing in the room - except for our words, of course)

Saturday the 20th - more racing!

We really are stoked every single morning to get up early, ride the long bus ride, and see the world's greatest athletes hurtle down the slope faster than I can take a photograph (thank god for video) - by the 3rd frickin' gate!!!! Today's event: Ladies Super-G. I take video just as much as anything now - hope you find it entertaining. As per my routine, click on this post's green title for the photos - Go USA/Canada!!!!! However, super sad the Canadian gal crashed - this course is now infamous for it's degree of difficulty.

Here she is: Lindsey Vonn