Amazing what people wear to the Winter Olympics

What is a Biathlon

Since Biathlon is where I spent most of my time at the Olympics I thought I should describe what it is. It involves cross country skiing - up to 20 kilometers (5 laps) and shooting 5 targets at the range on 4 laps (twice prone and twice standing). A miss means skiing a 150 metre penalty lap and generally means dropping 5-10 places in the standing. They may look relaxed when they start but at the end they are exhausted. Its amazing though how fast they recover. Variations include mass starts, relays individual sprints and pursuit for both men and women - 10 races in all. As you can see the photographers are always near the action and so are the photo-smurfs.

The Biathlon Smurfs - 2010 Olympics

My body is back on Gabriola. I hope UPS will deliver my brain tomorrow and then I can start writing about one of the most amazing three weeks I have ever spent. If you ever get the chance to volunteer at the Olympics - go for it.
Picture by Peter Llewellyn.

Boy doesnt winter stuff take up a lot of room

I guess I am ready now. The pants were too long and now Tessa has fixed them. I couldn't even get everything in the bag I took for a month in China! Off we go to join the other smurfs

Getting packed up for trip to Whisler

Everything I want to take is on the floor in bedroom. I wonder how much will fit in the bag? The blue smurf volunteer uniform takes up a lot of space; the jacket and snow pants are impressive. Of course Gabriola is basking in 10 and sunny and the snow drops, crocus etc are blooming - its hard to think about what you need for a somewhat colder spot. I will try to keep blogging and/or Facebook depends on what connections are available. I leave early Monday morning and should be in Whistler by about 3pm. As the crow flies its only about 85 kilometers!

You let the dog sleep where?

This is where he does sleep - well sometimes. Note the wrap around human for warmth. The second picture is where the dog is supposed to sleep:

A pianissimo weekend trip to Vancouver

We left Gabriola on the 9am ferry - It was a bit misty and it turned into a lovely day. By 12:45 after an uneventful ferry ride with a huge crowd of hockey fans, we were at Claire's apartment. We actually did have lunch (at a Thai restaurant) before she started putting the piano together and by mid-afternoon it was finished. The first sounds were marvelous. Claire hasn't played for awhile it didn't seem that way, sounded great. In the evening we went to the Fife and Drum a ballet by Joni Mitchell and the Alberta ballet. It was very good - this was the opening event in the cultural Olympiad that accompanies the Olympics. Going home we passed the hockey crowd again. Vancouver won 5-1. But they didn't look happy ...... Sunday morning brunch at Oysi restaurant a bistro with Jazz. Excellent. In the afternoon Claire continued her return to the piano. We couldn't get a reservation on 3pm ferry - it turned out there were karate and gymnastics competitions in Van. The ferry we did catch, the 5:00 was packed with kids in gymnastics outfits.
A very pleasant weekend.

Got my Oympic acreditation

Monday was a crazy day because it started at 2am in the morning with 100 k winds and the power going out - five times before it finally failed. All the big ferries were canceled (the run from Gabriola to Nanaimo is more sheltered and was just running late). As it happens the float planes started running again first and although the flight was more than a bit bumpy in a 6 seater beaver I got to Vancouver for lunch with Claire. Coming across the strait and flying into Vancouver harbour over the mountains is an amazing trip that I could do over and over again. After getting accredited and outfitted in my mountain uniform I had the opportunity to visit the Main Press Centre for the Olympics. it was very interesting and it was great to meet some of the Whistler team and the photo managers. They seem like a good bunch and the humor reminded me of OR humor at its best. The MPC is much like a small town with everything a print journalist could want including a shopping mall, bank, massage room and food court, to say nothing of 600 work stations and about 200 photo-editing suites. All the camera companies have facilities to fix camera/lens and they have the latest "stuff" to loan the photographers to try it out - long lenses etc. The big agencies - Reuters, Getty etc have seperate private spaces. The 2600 reporters could actually cover the games without leaving the building. All of the main spaces have the names of Islands in the Salish Sea (Strait of Georgia), the main press conference room is Gabriola. When or if you watch the Olympics you will see the mountain backdrop of Vancouver fairly frequently. Just think of me up at the top of the mountain at the biathlon course with the press photographers. PS WOP on the badge stands for Whistler Olympic Park.

A warm and sunny day in January

The sun came out yesterday - yeah! The guest cottage looked very welcoming in the warm sun yesterday (it was about 11 deg. C). If you haven't visited us yet, this is where you would stay.
The daffodils in the village are about 4 inches high and ours are beginning to peek through. The indoor pot of tulips etc. is doing rather well. No tulips outside, the deer eat them. We all still have colds but feel much better. Claire's new piano has arrived on Gabriola and we will take it into Vancouver next weekend. Monday I will fly to Vancouver to get my Olympic accreditation and uniform and also go to a training session at the "big house", the main Olympic media centre, should be fun. I will stay with Claire Monday night and go home Tuesday morning on the ferry.

Yes, thats a real olympic torch - Oscar's

Year of the clinic kick-off IV
One of the GHCS events is to watch the Olympics at the Roxy on the big screen so Oscar brought his torch - he paid $400 to keep it - he got the uniform for free. Its still raining so we definitely live on the wet coast, but it is also 10 deg C so its infinitely better than the rest of Canada. I think we have all had or are having "the cold". It seems to last a few weeks - ugh. Tessa is wearing her bright fluorescent green shirt because she was manning a booth on the Tour de Gabriola, an arround the island bike event in June.