WITH GLOWING HEARTS

Here is a fabulous book that anyone who loved the 2010 Olympics, or wants a reminder captured in one amazing book, should definitely own. I plan to own one very soon.

Please order through this link and help to make this website start to generate some income! THANKS!!!



These photos were taken by my friend who took them solely to promote the terrific book he just purchased.

I COULD KICK MYSELF

As I am finishing up my veggie burger at WOP, their farewell BBQ for all of us, I get a call from Shawn who is back at WSC taking passenger info for the last workforce bus driven by Patrick. My radio crackles to life with Shawn's voice. "Sandra?" "Go for Sandra." I reply. "Patrick has just gotten directions to pick up Elvis Stojko at Whistler on his way back. For real." "WHAT?!" I radio back. "NO WAY!" "Yes!" Shawn replies, "And Patrick wants to know if you want to ride along." "YES!!!!" I can barely contain my excitement. "Well get over here right away. He has to go." "Tell him to wait for me." I yell.

Olga looks at me. "What is this?" she asks. I pull her and Dan to one side. I don't want everyone hearing this. "Patrick is bringing Elvis Stojko back from Whistler and asked if I want to go. Do you guys want to come?" Dan says no. Olga looks at me, completely puzzled. "Who is this person?" she asks. I am incredulous. "ELVIS STOJKO. The famous Olympic skater?" No recognition. "You know... Elvis?" "No. I think I don't know this person." "I have to get over there right away. Do you want to come too?" "There's no point. I have no knowledge of this person. It's okay." Alright then. I dash to my car and drive over to WSC as fast as I can. On the way I remember I have a doctors appointment at 1:00. Oh NO!! I have waited a week for this appointment and I need to go today as it's the end of the month and I only have today to get a prescription filled and paid for by PharmaCare. After today, I won't be covered. What to do? WHAT to do? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I won't ever get a chance like this again. I remember how I took my girls to see Elvis skate along with Isobel Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler back when we lived in Seattle. We were the only Canadians there, I am sure of it. And when we went nuts over them, cheering and whistling, we got a lot of dirty looks but didn't care. We even took flowers and balloons for the three of them and then later, waiting out back, saw them walk to their tour bus holding our gifts. That was a thrill for the girls. Me too, if I am totally honest.

Anyway, now I have a very difficult decision to make. As I park the car and dash over to the bus, I can't decide what to do. I look up at Patrick, sitting in the drivers seat - bus running, as I agonize. I really need this prescription and it won't be cheap. It's a new pill that combines an anti-inflammatory with a stomach protector - as suggested my Mamud the other day. I am despairing of what to do. But I finally let the pragmatic side of me take over and tell Patrick I can't go. I have a doctors appointment I must keep. Shawn tells me to call and cancel it, but I shake my head no as the bus door closes and Patrick drives away.

No sooner has the bus turned out of the lot onto the street than I totally regret my decision. WHAT was I thinking?! I should have gone. I so should have gone.

Later when I go to get my prescription filled, PharmaCare only pays for 1/3 of it anyway. They don't cover the stomach protection portion. I so should have gone.

ANOTHER OLYMPIC DAY

My agonized-over plan for a very busy day at the WSC hub ends up working perfectly. With over 40 of our own buses and about 50 of WOP's, the entire day went without a hitch and the bus drivers seemed really happy with it as well - no confusion as to who arrived first so who goes next. At the end of the day Richard, the big honcho from Florida, patted me on the back and said 'great job today'. High praise indeed from a very reserved man.

Finally a few days off. It's my son-in-law's 31st birthday today so I call Ashleigh to find out what to buy him. I am thinking tools, as he doesn't have much of those - being fresh off the plane from England and all. She tells me that her dad got Rob some for Christmas but she's not sure what all he has so she makes a call to him (her dad) and calls me back. Box-end wrenches. So I head down to Sears to buy a Craftman set. Geepers. Who knew there were so many variations of one tool! There's a plain set. Then there's one that ratchets on the closed end. Another set ratchets on both ends. One set has reversing ratchets. Then double that because there's standard size and metric size sets. I stand there for about twenty minutes. The ratchet ones are cool and you can 'try' them because one in the set is attached to a little plastic nut. I try it and it's pretty nifty. What to do. What to do. Finally, I let the price dictate. I buy the plain set. Nothing fancy. Still $60. When I get to the till, the clerk tells me that they go on sale for $35 on the weekend. Crap. But then she says to just bring in the receipt and I will get a refund. Cool!

That done, and with the savings, I decide to add something special to the gift. First I stop at the grocery store and buy him some Cadbury Mini Eggs and two Creme Eggs. He eats those by the dozen. I can't even eat one so I have no idea how he does it. I give him a hard time about his addiction to them and feel guilty buying them for him, but it IS his birthday. I then go to the liquor store for the special part. I scan the rum section for some Pusser's Rum. It's from the BVI and I know that Ashleigh and Rob ran out of what they brought back with them just before Christmas. There's none on the shelves. I ask a clerk and he says they just get it for the Holidays. He says he will check on the computer to see if any stores have some stock left. His search shows that Cloverdale have four bottles. So I drive over there and buy one. A liter of rum in the BVI costs about $9. I considered Pusser's expensive at $16. This bottle costs $45. But I know he will be thrilled so it's worth it.

Tomorrow I am heading down to spend the day in Vancouver and then going to a Victory Medal Ceremony at 6:30. All the venues are a sea of red in the spectator stands and I don't want to be wearing my usual black. I need something red to wear but I don't have anything. I remember a red wool jacket I gave to Denise last year when I culled my wardrobe. Hoping she won't mind, I go take a peek in her closet and there it is. I pull it out to wear tomorrow. I am sure she won't mind.

I am up early as I need to pick Olga up at 9. When I get to her place, her husband is with her. I am fine with it but surprised. She tells me she told me but I don't recall that at all. The plan is to drive to North Vancouver and park the van at my daughter's place and then take the bus down to the SeaBus. The reason being that Ashleigh is coming to the medal ceremony and I don't want her traveling home alone so Olga and Andrew will take the SkyTrain to Surrey and I will go with Ashleigh. That way I can give Rob his birthday present before I head home as well.

Before we get on the SeaBus we take a walk to the dock to look at a Russian tall ship, the Krusenstern, that is in port. Olga claims it's the largest tall ship in the world but, looking at it, I am thinking that is maybe some Russian propaganda because I am positive I have seen larger. But I don't say that. I just admire it along with them. I am sure it would be an impressive sight with the sails unfurled.

Once we cross over on the SeaBus, we take the Canada Line SkyTrain to the Athletes Village. Only when we get off, we are nowhere near the Athletes Village. So we walk down a long path and across a road to the gate where five RCMP guard the entrance to a gravel lot and long road that seems to lead to the village. It's obvious we won't be able to go take a stroll through for a look-see, but there are tents set up and I wonder if there's any venues or attractions here to see. I ask the police and they say that the tent is where the athletes and workers eat. (Really?! They couldn't have included a dining room in the huge glass structure they built?) There's nothing to see. So we head back where we came from but follow the railroad tracks to another tent that is set up alongside. This is the departure point for the Street Car that Bombardier built and was brought over from Brussels. It runs to Granville Island. We hop on that and it's beautiful inside. I remark on how narrow it is and the lady who is a Bombardier rep say's that's because it's made for narrow European streets. Which I sorta figured on my own. It runs very smoothly on the specially installed rails, which was the only cost to the city of Vancouver for this service. The street car's themselves were shipped here by Bombardier.

I am disappointed to find that there's nothing special happening at Granville Island. I had heard that there was a great high-wire act and other entertainment but there's nothing going on. Maybe that happens just on the weekend. It's a rainy day but I can't imagine that would be why the outside gathering area is devoid of any activity. Olga and Andrew don't want to spend any time here if there's nothing to see. On a normal day, meaning no Olympics, this place is fun and great to walk through. But one can do that any old day. We are here for Olympic fun and there's none of that going on here. So we get on a Aqua Bus, at $3 per person it's the only transportation we have to pay for as our accreditation gets us on all public transit for free. We bob our way on the waves to the other side of False Creek, disembark, and catch a bus into Yale Town.

We make our way over to Live City Downtown to finally go see Christopher at work. There's not much of a lineup so we are at the security gate in less than 15 minutes. Getting through security is just like the airport. Purse and phone in a gray tray. I beep when I go through the gate so am swept with a sensor bar by an Asian woman. I keep beeping and the woman insists I have stuff in my pockets. I do. Two toffees and a plastic lip balm I just won at a free drink stand. I slid my free bottle of vitamin water down a table marked like a curling rink and got it right on the bulls eye. I was told if I got it on the mark, there were Tee shirts autographed by athletes as prizes. So I was excited when I hit it right on. The guy hands me a Chapstick. What the....? Anyhow, I pull it and the candies out of my pocket and say, "These aren't making that beep." and toss them in the tray. She sweeps me again and I beep. "Pockets" she says. "NOTHING IN THEM" I reply, somewhat short. "There's ZIPPERS here. ZIPPER?" I try to make her understand but I think that this is another case of a language barrier. "I pat?" she says. "Fine." I reply. She pats. Nothing there. She sweeps again. It beeps. "What under there?" "My pants. My shirt. Nothing else." She doesn't believe me. I am starting to lose my patience. It's a frikking outdoor parking lot with a couple of tents, for petes sakes. Not the Pentagon. She finally accepts that it's the zippers when it happens on the other side and lets me go. What a performance.

We go into the pavilion tent thing that is set up on the right. The Canada House is on the left and we will go there later. Christopher is sitting behind a black-curtained off area where the sound boards are. He is on his laptop so doesn't see me right away. When he looks up, I am shocked by how completely exhausted he looks. I haven't ever seen him look this wiped out. He isn't getting much sleep. He starts at 8 in the morning and goes to 1 a.m. every day - no days off. We hug and I introduce him to Olga and Andrew. I ask him if he has time to break away and have lunch with us at White Spot in an hour or so but he doesn't. We chat for a bit. It's really hot inside the building so we don't stay long. We get in the lineup for the Canada House and it takes about 30 minutes for us to get inside. I am surprised to see that the Stanley Cup is on display and there's another lineup to have a picture taken with it and two Mounted Police. I am about the farthest thing away from a hockey fan as one can get, but I decide that this is a unique opportunity so line up for a photo. Andrew is really excited about getting his picture taken with it so I'd be lining up anyway.


That done, we walk around the rest of the displays. There's a cool one of various skis and snowboards that Olympians have used over the decades. A couple of skis are very primitive, from the 20's and made of plain wood. I read the labels on some of them and a gold medal was won by the wearer of one of the wood set.

I hear tell we spent ten million dollars on Canada House. And it was built by a USA company. Not impressed. I was hoping there would be something amazing inside for that amount of money. Outside certainly is nothing to write home about. Yes, there's a giant TV screen built into the outside wall. But the rest is cheap pre-fab product that almost looks like that plastic corrugated stuff they use for signs. I'd love to know why it cost so much. And why they couldn't have found someone in Canada to make it so that, at the very least, the money stayed here.

Olga and Andrew haven't ever eaten at White Spot and, as it's a B.C. legend, I had suggested that we have lunch there and they readily agreed. So we walk down Georgia Street and after a short wait, are seated at a cozy table in the back. We order the 'Zoo Sticks'(deep fried breaded zucchini) for an appetizer, and three Legendary Burger Platters for our main course. When it all arrives, they dig in and find it delicious. As I had hoped they would.

After lunch we walk a couple of short blocks to line up for another 20 minutes or so at the Vancouver Art Gallery to view the showing of Leonardo da Vinci's sketches of the human body. They are on loan from Queen Elizabeth's private collection and free to see for the duration of the games. They are the original drawings and the detail is spectacular. I read that he drew from a cadaver that he slowly dissected. The drawings were revolutionary and the first of their kind. In fact, he died before he could make them public and so were packed away by his heir and forgotten for over a century before being discovered. Even then, there was nothing to compare to them. I remember reading that da Vinci liked to write backwards, in a 'mirror script', and I can see that the neat rows of tiny script is indeed backwards. It's sobering to gaze on these parchments and try to absorb that da Vinci touched them and that every line is from his very hand. Another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Ashleigh calls while we are in the gallery to say she is on her way from work and should be downtown in about 45 minutes. We take our time over the rest of the drawings and then head down towards B.C. Place Stadium, where the Victory Ceremony will take place. We stop on the way to watch a bit of the hockey game between Canada and Russia on the huge screen on the side of Canada House. The score is 3-1 for Canada and another goal is scored by Canada while we are there and a tremendous roar goes up all around for blocks. So great.

Ashleigh arrives and wants to pop in to see Christopher so we stay on the sidewalk and watch the game while she dashes off to see him. She's back in 15 minutes and we walk down to the stadium to take our seats for the ceremony. We are up on the fourth level, so pretty high above the stage, but it's a great view. There are huge screens that all of the goings-on will be projected on so we won't miss anything. While we are waiting, suddenly Ben Mulroney and Tamara Taggert come out and announce that Canada just won the hockey game and that we won gold AND silver in the ladies 2-man bobsled. A huge cheer goes up from the half full stands. They come back a bit later and play an Olympic trivia game with the crowd. It's lots of fun.

I didn't realize that each Victory Ceremony celebrates a province or territory of Canada. Tonight it's Ontario's turn and so there's a film about tourism there and a couple of Ontario bands play. Olga turns to me, all concerned. INXS are the featured entertainment tonight. "I think this is not INXS" she says in her heavily Russian accented English. "I think maybe we have a mistake and INXS is not playing tonight." I reassure her that the band will be on later and she seems much relieved. The bands are done playing and several stage hands roll out the podium for the medal ceremony. As I sit and look down on it as we wait for the awards to begin, I am suddenly struck by how amazing it is to be here. I am about to see athletes receive their medals, in person. I have watched this over and over for years on the TV and now, here I am, seeing it with my own eyes. I have to say I become a little overwhelmed by it and choke back a lump in my throat that has suddenly made an appearance. As I do, the lighting changes and and it's announced that the medalists for the ladies 5000m Speed Skate are walking on stage. The bronze medalist is our very own Clara Hughes, so we won't get to hear our national anthem tonight. But as she receives her medal, a huge roar goes up from the crowd. There is so much national pride going on in Vancouver right now, we would put the USA to shame. It's so out of character for us as Canadians, and it's so great to witness.



Once the medals here are handed out and the Czech anthem is played, we get to watch the medals at Whistler being handed out via the large screens. No Canadians this time for the men's 4 x 10K relay.

INXS finally makes their appearance and the party starts in earnest. I like a few of their songs but I can't say they are a favourite band. I find them a bit too heavy rock for my taste. Tonight they are very loud and very rock and roll. Olga is bopping away to the beat in her seat on one side of me, and Ashleigh is tolerating the music on the other. She is more a David Gray, Ray Lamontagne, Bob Marley sort of gal. I am a more David Gray, ColdPlay, Josh Groban sort of woman. We stay for most of it, and I have to say that the lead singer is fabulous. He is very energetic and entertaining, his voice is incredible, and he's gorgeous. But after an hour, my head is starting to pound. I look over at Ashleigh and mouth "do you want to go?" She nods. So I yell to Olga that we are leaving and we hug good bye. It feels great to get outside in the cool air and the comparatively deafening silence.

We walk to the SkyTrain and thankfully there's no lineups. I am really enjoying having a bit of time with my daughter, something I don't get much of anymore. We chat and laugh most of the way back to her apartment. I am happy to see I don't have a parking ticket on my car when I go to get Robs birthday present out of the back.

Once in the apartment, Rob looks like he might have been napping. We hug and I wish him a happy belated birthday and give him his gift. He loves the chocolates. The Pusser's Rum makes his eyes pop. "I didn't expect to see any of this again unless we went back to the Caribbean." he exclaims. It's a big hit. And he is very happy with the wrenches.

I don't stay long. They are both tired and have to be up early for work. And I am pretty worn out from the day's activities and have to be up at 8 to go back downtown to get my hair done at Avant Garde Hair in Yale Town. Christopher's girlfriend, Izzy, is a hairstylist there and now does my hair. Up until recently, I have had two hairstylists in my entire adult life. One for 10 years and the other for 20. I wanted to support Izzy when she started at Avant Garde and was thrilled with her talent with hair... mine in particular. So now she is my new stylist and I don't plan on switching for a very long time.

VANCOUVER IS ALIVE

I picked up Guy and another bus driver I haven't met, Michel (pronounced Michelle) at their hotel just at the other end of Walnut Grove, Langley from me. We drive to the SkyTrain and park at the mall. We park in the parkade and pay for 9 hours - $22!!! At least I won't get a ticket this time. Last time I went downtown, with Olga, I came back to a ticket for $59 on my windshield. I had no idea a mall had time limited parking.

We walk around the waterfront and go to Quebec House. What a waste of time. The guys were so looking forward to it and then all it held was a stage and a cafeteria. Quebec is whining about not having enough representation of their French language and heritage at the games and then do nothing with their house. Do they want everything done for them? The guys are so disappointed and I don't blame them.














Guy and Michel


We walk around the seawall and get some good photos of the Athletes Village and False Creek. The shore down to the water is very rocky and people have built dozens of Inukshuks with the rocks. It looks great. Near the Edgewater Casino there's dozens of tents set up with a market inside. Most of the goods look cheap and we pass them by but we find a row of stalls selling ethnic foods. It smells divine and we stop to buy some samosas.

There are long lineups for everything that's any good to see. We walk up to the downtown stage for Live Nation where Christopher, my son, is doing sound every day from 8am to 1am. The lineup to get in is 45 minutes long. The guys don't want to wait. We walk to the back entrance and try to use our accreditation and the fact that my son works inside to get in that way but we don't succeed.

Olga calls to say she is arriving at the Stadium station which is right close by so we wait for her and scan the huge crowds everywhere until I finally spot her. We walk to the Bay so that the guys can buy souvenirs but the lineup there snakes around the block. We give up on that idea and walk down to the Sears tower and take the glass elevator up on the outside of the building to the observation deck. It's a gorgeous day and so have clear views to Mount Baker in the south-east and Vancouver Island in the west. The north-shore mountains are sharply outlined against a blue sky, and the ones in the distance with snow look spectacular. We can see the Olympic rings in Coal Harbour. The guys love it. When we come down in the elevator, there are two athletes with us from the Czec team. I don't know who they are though.

We head into Gastown so they can see the steam clock and here they buy their souvenirs. We walk down to the very end where the statue of Gassy Jack and the flat-iron building is. They take lots of photos all along the way. My knee and feet hurt and it reminds me of walking all over London with Ashleigh. Five days into that and I was barely able to walk.

We walk (I sort of limp) down to the Olympic Torch at the foot of Thurlow. It's a shame how it's all fenced off. People are really upset about it and there is a petition on line to 'free the torch'. We take lots of photos and, thankfully, whoever put the fence up thought to leave a space where you can take pictures without chain-link obscuring the view.

We hop onto the crowded SkyTrain and get off at Granville so that Olga can try again at the Bay and then go home. She is exhausted because she worked today so has been up since 2am. The guys and I continue on to Yale Town and stop for dinner at The Hamilton Street Grill. I order the wild salmon and when it comes, it's raw in the middle so they take it back and bring a new one that is cooked all the way through. When we are done eating, they bring us a huge dessert - gingerbread pudding with caramel sauce and home made ice-cream - one scoop of pumpkin and one of ginger. It's an apology for my meal being raw. It's divine and, although I was full to bursting after the salmon, I manage to eat several spoonfuls. While we are eating dinner, the TV screens show Maelle Ricker receiving her gold medal for Snowboard Cross. The whole restaurant bursts into cheering and applause. So great.

The sea of red clad people with their Canada scarves and touques is so exciting to see and gives me such a charge of patriotism. There's also a lot of white cowboy stetsons about and they look fabulous. People burst into spontanious cheers for Canada constantly. We also see a lot of people in outfits for various other countries. A few times I am sure we are in the presence of athletes by how they are dressed and the people they are with, not to mention how fit they are but I can never be a hundred percent certain because I just don't know them anymore. I used to know almost everyone competing. That was when I was at home all day with little kids so could watch all the events. Not now.

The guys have to be up early to drive their buses to Whistler so we head to the SkyTrain right after dinner; it's about 8pm. I am worried it will be crammed like it was when we rode it from the waterfront earlier, but I needn't have bothered... it's almost empty and we all get seats.

When I get home I discover I have walked a hole in my new socks and have a big blister on my left sole at the heel. Well worth it!

LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!

The Olympics start TODAY!!!!

The WOP (Whistler Olympic Park) departure hub, which is across campus, have their first event today. Pretty soon after getting our first workforce bus underway at 4:50 a.m., we start parking dozens of buses for WOP that they haven't got room for. It's a good practice run for us.

My biggest concern so far has been how we will use the narrow, two-lane roadway that connects the gravel parking lot (where workforce parks and our trailer is located) with the upper parking lot (where the spectators will line up and load onto our buses) to stage not only our workforce buses and our WSC (Whistler Sliding Center) buses, but also the WOP overflow. I just can't make it work, logistically, in my mind. When I present my concerns to Doug, the overseer, he assures me that at no time will our schedule overlap with WOP's. Their buses will be long gone before ours start to arrive. I want to believe him, but with the constant down-flow of misinformation that I have encountered so far, I am skeptical to say the least. We shall see.

I am finding Jessica very frustrating to work with. She is scattered, disorganized, and will blurt out the first thing that comes to her mind when asked a question - and it is most often wrong. The directions as to how we will organize and do our jobs changes not just daily, but seemingly moment to moment. To say that Game Day does this all the time - it's all they do for events like the Super Bowl - the amount of confusion and misinformation is staggering. On my first day, I was basically handed a clipboard with some forms on it and told to go out there and get to it. Get to what, exactly? I am supposed to be supervising a team, yet I have little to no idea as to what each person's role should be. So I get out there and figure it out as I go along. Today is my 7th day on the job, and I think I have most of it figured out. As long as they don't keep changing things, that is.

I am in the work trailer when the news flash comes on that an athlete has been in a terrible accident on the luge. The footage of it is horrible to watch. We are all subdued and upset by it. I hope he won't die but he hit that pole so fast, he must have some terrible injuries.

When work is done, I drive home in my dodgy van - it's giving me a lot of stress and I now know that transmission is on it's last legs.

As usual, my friend and her daughter are eager to hear about my day. I tell them about the accident but they heard already and tell me that he died. What a terrible start to the games. I feel so badly for his family, they must be devastated. And I can't imagine how the rest of his team feel, as well as the other luge athletes. I would be terrified to go down that track now.

I quickly change clothes and then head out to buy some groceries and some snacks for tonight. It's the opening ceremonies and I am going to watch them with my friend at her daughter's place as we don't have cable here. I get it all done just in time to head over there. When I arrive at the apartment, no one is home. It's half an hour until it starts. I manage to get inside the building when someone else goes in and wait outside the suite door. Finally the daughter arrives and, with 10 minutes to spare, we turn the TV on and start preparing the food.





We have a great time eating good food, drinking the BEST martinis, and loving the ceremonies. I have to admit, I was concerned that we wouldn't do a good job of them, given all the disorganization I have experienced so far. And knowing that they would probably contain a lot of First Nations content, was concerned it might come off as cringingly awful as I found the Lillehammer ones were with all those elves and discordant music. Gosh, they were hard to watch. But I thought Vancouver did a spectacular job, despite the mechanical failure that lead to a bit of an awkward wait for the torch to appear and the resulting three supports instead of four. I particularly loved the bit with the whales. That was amazingly real. I also loved that they changed the speech and lowered the flags to honor Nodar Kumaritashvili. Sixteen thousand people made not a sound during the minute of silence to honor him. Very moving. WELL DONE VANCOUVER!!!!!!!

HOLD THAT BUS!

Back at work today. The torch relay is due to pass right by us at noon.

The Impark guys had a great chance to practice parking masses of people last Sunday as the big church up the road, Willingdon Community Church, uses the BCIT lot as overflow parking. There were three waves of cars as they have three morning services, and the ensuing hundreds of cars were parked without a hitch. We even managed to keep them from going up and down the roadway we use to stage the buses on. Well done kids!

One of the French Canadian bus drivers has taken a shine to me. I joke and flirt with all of the drivers; they are mostly over 60 so I figure it's safe and they seem to eat it up. This one has taken me seriously and today when he arrives, he kisses me on both cheeks and tells me I am beautiful. Is he kidding me? I am wearing a toque, and my kids will tell you I look horrendous in any hat but especially a toque. I have no makeup on. What hair is showing is straggly and wet. I am bundled up in five thick layers so resemble a toffee apple in shape. I laugh him off but he is serious. A bit later he pulls me aside and tells me he would like to ask me out on a date. I smile and tell him "Sure. That would be nice." He is happy. Then I think to ask him if he is married. You never know with the French - even the if he is just French Canadian. He hems and haws. Oh-oh. Either he's married or he is struggling to find the English word for 'divorced'. I am betting it isn't the latter. "I am not married." he says. So it is the divorced word that's giving him trouble. Or not. "I live with a woman." He adds. "Oh! So you are married then, or as well as." I say. He shrugs. "Yes. But it's ok." I laugh. "No, it's not ok." "Oh.. come on," he says in his lovely accent, "you only live once." "Yes, I know." I reply, "and that is why I live this one life with integrity." He shakes his head and looks forlorn. "Cheer up," I say, "you'll get over it." He smiles at me. I am called on the radio and have to walk away to do my job. A bit later he pulls me aside again. "So, I would like to see Vancouver on my days off. I would like you to be my tour guide." I shake my head and grin. Persistent if nothing else. "I will show you around Vancouver if you like," I reply, "but that is all. Just as your tour guide." This mollifies him and he drives away a happy man, waving goodbye. I might have to rethink this decision.

The crowds begin to gather for the torch relay. The Whistler volunteers start arriving for the 11:50 bus and gather on the street to watch. They want us to hold the bus until it goes past. I talk to Jessica, the manager, and she makes a phone call. The result; the bus must leave on time. I think that's just mean. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these guys. They're volunteers. We should be able to do this for them. We go up to the street to watch as well. Eventually we are joined by Doug, the overseer for both our departure point, Whistler Sliding Center, and the one across campus that goes to Whistler Olympic Park. I go talk to him and tell him that the volunteers should be able to stay and watch this. He thinks for a minute and then says, "Let them stay." Good!!!

There is a high school across the street and the powers that be let all of the kids out of class to watch the torch go by. It's a huge crowd. As they wait, they motion to trucks that go by to honk, and most oblige. At each honk a loud cheer goes up. It's fabulous.

Eventually the torch relay trucks appear and the kids go wild. Then the torch bearers appear and the flame is passed from one to another. It continues on it's way and the crowd cheers and claps. I get a bit teary. It's great to see that we have as much national pride as the USA has. We just keep it under wraps to let it go at times like these.

As soon as it's over, we gather up our volunteers and get them loaded on the bus. It departs twenty five minutes late, but who cares. It was well worth it.

(Photos by Jessica - my camera was in my car)

FIELD TRIP

I got up at 3 a.m. to drive into work. It's my day off.

So why would I do that? Because the driver of the first bus that leaves in the morning offered me a trip up to Whistler. I haven't been up there for about 7 years, and so haven't seen the new highway. I also want to see what changes have been made for the Olympics. I want to drive the route up there to see the drop-off points for the workforce crew, the order they are in, how far apart they are, and other details so that I can be better informed when I am asked questions by the workforce because, so far, I have been able to answer hardly any.

My car gives me a lot of trouble on the way in. Ever since I had the new alternator installed, as soon as it warms up it starts to feel like it will stall, even when on the highway going 100km per hour. It usually only lasts five minutes or so then all is fine for the rest of the trip. This time it starts almost straight away and doesn't stop for most of the drive in. It's stressing me out hugely as I just can't afford to get it fixed and I don't want to miss any work.

I get there alright and the bus is pulling up to it's spot as I get out of my van. We leave about ten minutes later with only one other passenger, a woman in her late 50's - I would guess - who is a RN and applied to volunteer with the medical department but is working in print media. Go figure.

It's dark the whole drive up, but the driver - Patrick - gives a running commentary on the points of interest along the way. I listen attentively and it's a good thing because later I will need to remember what he's saying but I don't know that right now.

It's about a two hour trip and it's still dark when we arrive. Patric takes our passenger to the last stop. As we turn into the road that runs along the back of the new part of Whistler village, the trees lining the road are completely lit up with tiny blue LED lights and it looks like a fairy land. I try to take a photo but it doesn't turn out. I need to be on a tripod or at least leaning the camera against a solid object that isn't moving.

Once we drop off our passenger at the Whistler Village stop, we head back where we came from but this time Patrick turns into the other three stops; the media center, Whistler Creekside, and the last one, the Athlete's Village. Only we can't see the village because it's behind a bank of trees but there's a huge tent set up behind a security checkpoint. The buses for the athletes must drive into the tent and stop where bomb sniffing dogs and their handlers will go over each vehicle with a fine tooth comb. Once cleared, then they can continue on to pick up the athletes and transport them to their venue.

On the way back down the highway the sun is rising and the Tantalus Mountain Range is lit up pink. Patrick pulls over to a lookout point so I can get out and take some pictures. While we are there, an RCMP SUV pulls up to check on us. Apparently, any bus or vehicle that stops they come over to check out now that all security is beefed up for the games. There are RCMP all over the place. Even one on every street corner.








When we stop later for a doughnut and hot chocolate at Tim Horton's, there are at least 20 RCMP in there and I joke with them about the stereotype of cops and doughnut shops is true. We ask where they are from. Some are from Langley, some are from Ontario, and others from Alberta.

Patrick told us on the way up that there is a pod of whales in Howe Sound at the moment so now I am on the lookout for them. I spot something in the water far below and watch it for a bit but it doesn't move so I assume it's a log. I mention it to Patrick and he looks over and says that it is a whale. What I thought was a branch is it's fin. I am squinting at it, trying to make it out when suddenly it disappears under the water. Yep. A whale. We also see a few bald eagles in the trees at the side of the road near a small river. Apparently there have been a few black bears on the sandbar just up a short way from the bridge we drive over but there aren't any around today.

I ask Patrick about the trouble I am having with my car and he thinks it might be something as simple as low transmission fluid. I tell him I just had the oil changed and asked them to check all of the fluid levels and specifically that one and they said it was fine. But he tells me that unless they checked while the vehicle was running and in drive, you can't tell if it's low. Well I know they didn't do that as I was sitting in the car the whole time. So I need to do that as soon as I can.

When we get back to BCIT, Olga joins us and we turn around to make the trip back up to Whistler with a new group - three women and one young man. This time we are going to Whistler Olympic Park which is on the south side about thirteen miles from Whistler Village. It is full daylight now as it is 10 a.m. and the sky is blue with a few clouds. As we drive along, Patrick tells me that I will now give the guided tour that he gave me earlier. So I try to recall everything he said and remember most of it as we pass the mine at Britannia Beach, which used to be the largest copper mine in the British Commonwealth, and as well mined some gold, and is now a museum; Shannon Falls, the second highest waterfall in North America (or so Patrick said but when I check later at home, it's the third highest falls in B.C.); and The Stawamus Chief, the second largest rock and the largest granite rock-face in North America (or so said my ex).

It's a beautiful drive up in the daylight but so painfully free of any snow, at all, anywhere but on the highest peaks. Usually at this time of year, the snow is piled ten feet high at the side of the road where the plows have cleared it off. I know it's nothing we can do anything about, but it's kind of embarrassing. The whole world will be watching and there's no snow. In fact, I heard on the news yesterday that it's the warmest January on record since they started keeping records. There isn't any snow at the side of the road until we get to Whistler proper and then it's not anywhere close to what is normal.

We turn off at the road to WOP, the acronym we use all the time at BCIT, and before too long we pull into the large parking lot. There's another issue with the warm weather. A few of the huge areas they cleared for parking is so soft and wet, the buses get stuck. This is because they fully expected the ground to be frozen, as it should be in January. So now they are frantically trucking in gravel to fill and firm the soil in the last few days before the games start. So between trucking in gravel, and trucking in snow from Manning Park (a five hour trip, one way) to Cypress and then heli-lifting it to the runs, we must be going seriously over budget even more than anticipated. It's not cheap to rent those massive helicopters day in and day out. It's a nightmare, really. There's no other word for it.

There's a group of bus drivers just arrived on two buses along with the big boss from our post down at BCIT. He's brought a bunch of out-of-town divers up to learn the route and how the drop off and pick up will work in this huge lot. He is surprised to see me step off the bus and seems impressed that I would take a day off to come up here and learn the route.



When we head back I get a good look at the Peak to Peak Gondola that connects Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. It's really, really high up. My daughter rode it with her husband a few weeks ago and she said that when she looked down, she was terrified as they were hundreds of feet in the air. It looks terrifying from way down here. But I'd like to come back and ride it some day.

ON THE BUSES

In bed by 6 p.m. with the alarm set for 2:30 a.m.  I have a hard time falling off to sleep but finally manage it with the aid of a humidifier and my Ocean Wave sounds on my iPod.  I wake up every hour or two though until the alarm finally goes off.

I dress in my Olympic togs and am out the door right on time at 3:15 a.m.  There's no traffic at all on the roads and all of the lights are green for me.  I zip down the freeway and pull into the parking lot for the workers right on time at 3:45.  That gives me 15 minutes before my shift starts to find out exactly what it is I am supposed to do.  I head inside the new-looking construction trailer that will be the transportation hub for the Whistler Sliding Center (WSC) office for the next three weeks.

The girl that is my manager introduces herself as Jessica.  She seems very upbeat and jolly and I am guessing in her late 20's or very early 30's.  She tells us right away that she is from the states and that her husband travels all over the world in a rock band.  She then attempts to give us some instructions but it becomes apparent almost right away that she has no idea what she is talking about and it seems that I might know more than she does.  I can't figure out how that can be but it turns out, she just got here yesterday - from the states - and hasn't had any training.  She did, however, get an orientation bus ride yesterday.... up to Whistler!  Why she would need to go up there when she, nor any of us,  will ever have to go there for the job is beyond me.  So as she stumbles around in her thought patterns, guessing at answers to our questions and seeming to make most of it up as she goes along, I try to make sense of it.  And this will prove to be the case as the day progresses and we keep getting conflicting directions and answers.  The one thing that is clear, is that one of my team's responsibilities is to get information from each bus and driver as they arrive and line up.  Stuff like the VANOC bus number, driver name and cell phone number, time scheduled to arrive and the time it actually arrived.

The other supervisor, who I will work closely with, is Olga, a Russian woman in her early 30's who's title is 'Systems Supervisor' - meaning she is in charge of loading the buses.  She has to check that each workforce member has his or her accreditation (the giant tag around the neck) and is at the correct bus hub.  There is another hub across campus that goes to Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) and we must be sure that is not where they should be.  It ends up that we get buses that belong over there, not just people.  Everyone is a bit confused, to say the least, on this first day.  It's a good thing we are transporting workforce only for the first week and a half so that we can get used to this before we have to deal with hundreds of spectators a day on top of workforce.  

I have three crew to supervise this morning; Nicole, George and Teck.  Nicole and George are young.  George is fresh from Germany.  Teck is a bit older and is Asian.  They suit up in the traffic vests and I grab two flashlight wands for Teck and two for George.  I hand the clipboard to Nicole and we head outside into the drizzling rain.  I give the three of them a quick lesson on the way to signal with the wands and then get a chance to show them as the first bus arrives.  I wave the driver in and then to the right with the wands and send Teck running up the road to help get him parked.   I leave George at the entrance to bring in other buses scheduled to arrive soon and take Nicole up to the bus to collect the information we need.   Nicole watches as I do this first bus and then I hand off the clipboard to her to continue with the task as the other buses arrive.

There's a constant flurry of instructions coming over the radio for Olga and me from Jessica back in the trailer.  A lot of it contradicts something she has said previously and I am finding it very frustrating.  It seems that nothing has been planned out thoroughly; it's more a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of thing and a lot of it is left up to us supervisors to figure out.  And there's a lot of logistical things to figure out.  But it's fun and the bus drivers are great.  They are very flirty and I will get a proposal before the day is out.  From a seventy-one year old driver who just celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.  When I remind him that he's been married for fifty years, he laughs and tells me, in his southern drawl, that she's three thousand miles away so it's okay.  He's a hoot.

The first four or five drivers that come in are locals whose regular route is to Whistler so they are old hats and very confident of their jobs.  Unfortunately, we find out at the end of our shift that they thought they only had to go to one stop and so blew by about three others that they had workforce to let off at.  WOP only drops off at WOP.  Our hub, however, not only drops of at the Sliding Center, but at several others as well.  No one bothered to tell the drivers that.  When the passengers tried to tell them they should have stopped to let them off, they said "Oh no.  We just go to WSC." we find out the next morning from one of the workers.  We are not sure if Olivia should have told the drivers where they were dropping off but she makes a note to do that from now on.  It's that sort of thing that we are figuring out as we go along for not only today but for the next two days as well.

Dispatch has sent us all of our mornings buses by 5 a.m.  But they go out at 4:50, 5:50, 6:50, 8:50, 10:50 and 11:50.  The last two guys are not happy at all.  They have a long time to sit around and they got up at 2 a.m. to be here.  Also, they were thoroughly trained on the Lonsdale Key to Cypress Bowl run.  So they know exactly how to get from point A to point B over there.  They have NO idea how to get to Whistler from here, as they're from Altlanta.  Chalk up the first big blunder of many, in the next three days, by Dispatch.

The games purport to be green.  Our first bus (and they are all tour buses that seat 55 passengers) leaves with one passenger.  The second bus leaves with two.  The third leaves with six.  The fourth with four.  The fifth with eight.  The sixth with two.  Yep.  That's right.  In fact, the numbers on the schedule show that only a couple of buses were to leave with that few.  We actually have three buses that are scheduled to leave at 5:50 and there should be 130 passengers between them.  But for some reason we just aren't getting those numbers.  Most of these workers are volunteer.  I am wondering if, now they have their pretty uniforms, they have what they signed up for and don't plan to show up at all. 

It's really cold outside at night so we take turns going into the trailer to warm up.  But that's almost worse than just staying outside because once you get toasty warm and come back outside, it feels twice as cold.  I decide to stay outside unless I have to go in for a work related issue.

Nicole goes to use the bathroom.  One of three port-a-potties.  She comes back complaining that it's too dark in their to see where anything is.  We need lights inside or something to light it up until the sun rises.  Which it eventually does and is nice and sunny and warm as soon as it rises above the trees.

We are released at noon to go home, even though my hours are until 2 p.m. because there's just nothing to do now the last bus has left.  We still get paid for a full 10 hours so I am happy to leave if that's what they want.

On day two, it's rainig a lot in the morning but I stay pretty dry in my skookum jacket and snow pants.  Even my polar fleece gloves seem to repel the rain.  I am with one less crew member today as Teck was told not to come in as we really don't need four of us with so few buses coming in.  My big issue today is that there is BCIT traffic using the road we are staging the buses on, to get from the upper area to the lower area of the campus.  Even though I have signaled for them to slow down, they rarely do.  I go into the trailer and talk to the parking supervisor, Dave, about how we can make this road safer for my crew and the passengers and he radios his guys stationed at the top and bottom of the road to make sure to signal for the cars to slow.  It doesn't help.  When one guy speeds up after being signaled by a parking attendant, I step out and signal for him to stop.  He does for a second or two, and I signal with large gestures for him to slow.  He floors it around me and up the hill past my crew and some passengers.   I am furious.  I guess Jessica saw me because she calls me on my walkie and tells me that in no way shape or form am I to stop the cars.  I radio back and tell her I understand the rule but if I feel my crew or myself is in danger I WILL stop the cars.  She tells me I can't.  I repeat what I said.   About an hour later I am standing at the side of the road, watching for a bus to arrive.  I have my hood up because of the rain.  Suddenly there is a truck passing me from behind.  I never heard him until he was right beside me and it made me jump almost out of my skin.  Not two minutes later, one of my crew and one of Olga's is coming down the hill, hoods up, and a truck comes right up behind them and they don't hear it.  They continue to stroll down the road until I yell, "Watch your backs, a truck." and they jump off to the side.  They are both a bit rattled and tell me they never heard a thing.  That's it.  I have had enough of this and so I go into the trailer and tell Dave that we have to do something about the safety issue of this road.   He decides that, although we are not supposed to, he is going to cone off the road at the top and bottom, and his guys will turn cars back.  Once that is done, the stress goes right out of my day and I can concentrate on other issues.

The rain tapers off but there's no sunshine today as the clouds are thick overhead, so we stay cold pretty much the whole day.

We have more passengers today, but still nothing like the numbers we have on our schedule.    And I get to go home early again.  I could get used to this.

On morning three I get there at 3:45 to see two buses in the parking lot beside the trailer.  It's meant for workforce vehicles.  I go into the trailer and find out that one bus was here overnight and the driver slept in his bus.   Strange.  Olga and I are also told that the schedule has been changed.  Instead of leaving at 50 minutes past the hour, they will now leave at half-past.  So 20 minutes early.  We soon find out that it seems no one bothered to pass this information on to the workforce members and they are not arriving in time for the change so the bus leaves without them.  They are unhappy, to say the least.  This is typical of everything I have experienced so far with these games.  The left hand has no idea what the right hand is doing most of the time.

Shawn and Mamud have replaced Nicole and George today.  So I have to train them with the light wands and the radio.  They are super smart and get it right away.  Turns out Shawn is some CEO of a company and Mamud is a doctor from Nigeria.  They are here just for the experience of working at the Olympics.  It's not the first time I have felt that the people who have applied to work at these games are not being utilized to their full abilities.  Olga speaks fluent Russian, for petes sakes.  Why is she moving passengers onto buses?  Shouldn't she be the guest services for the Russian delegation, at the very least?  Or maybe translator?  I just shake my head.  I know I should be doing something more than moving buses about, that's for sure.

We have a lot more passengers today.  Still not the numbers on the schedule but a lot more than either of the days before.  It turns out that most of them showed up the other two days but had no idea where to go because there is no signage, waited around where they thought the bus would be, and then went home when it didn't show.  I don't know if there is supposed to be signs and they just haven't arrived yet.  None of the signs I know we need for the spectator boarding areas have arrived.  So maybe there's more that points the way to us for the workers that are coming as well.  I don't know.   But we have a lot of very frustrated people arriving out of breath, after having run over from some distant point, just to discover that their bus departed 20 minutes early today.  

Olivia gets the directive to keep the old scheduled time for the 10:50 and 11:50 buses.  It seems that the order to leave early was another screw up by Dispatch and should never have happened.  So all those people who left on the other buses plan to show up 20 minutes early tomorrow.  I am glad I am not working tomorrow because they are going to be furious.  I am sure of it.

I spend some time today writing out everything I have worked out for my crew.  I have numbered each position, written down a description of that position's duties, and worked out a solution to a huge problem of how to park buses that may need to get out before the others ahead of them, including an 'accessible' bus - for wheelchair bound people.   We only get a couple of those a day, once the spectators start to arrive, and so I had to come up with a way to set it aside while dealing with our other buses  AND overflow buses from WOP which are supposed to park in our area.  This has been a nightmare for me to try to figure out and today I tell Jessica that I don't believe we can accommodate them.  They will have to stick with the original plan, which was for them to circle the block until there IS room over there.  Otherwise it's a logistical nightmare.  I have no idea, when the bus pulls into the lot, whether he is ours or theirs and thus where to put him.  Once he's parked in a line, others will come up behind and then he can't be moved.  If we have two lines, one ours and one theirs,  and take up the whole narrow road, I can't get the accessible bus through.  And how do I know which line to put which bus in anyway because, as I said, I can't tell when they pull in, who's they are.  So I don't want WOP buses in our lot.  I hope she can work that out.

It was very cold this morning when I got out to my car; I had to scrape a thin layer of ice off of the windows.  It is by far the coldest morning we've had of the three.  Despite having added a turtle neck sweater to my three layers of Olympic togs, I am freezing cold.  I spend a lot more time in the trailer today.  But eventually the sun comes up and it gets nice and warm again.

Olga and I let our crew go early again but we stay behind to get into a golf cart with Jessica and tour the top lot where we will load spectators and suss out the area and potential issues.  We come up with positions for each of Olga's crew and work through a few other kinks.  We sign out at just after 2:00 p.m. and I am ready for my four days off.

As I write this blog, my phone rings.  It's Jessica.  Tomorrow's staging supervisor, who hasn't worked yet, just called to say she won't be coming in.  Can I come in?  I say yes.  So no day off for me just yet.  And tomorrow is going to be 'fun'.  The parking lot is used by a church for overflow parking and hundreds of cars will be using the road we blocked off for the past couple of days.  Oh joy!!  But the parking lot attendants will use it as practice for the flood of vehicles we expect to get once spectators arrive and I am glad for the extra hours.  It turns out that with my new schedule of four days on and four off, all but one week I will only get 30 hours.  That coupled with the pay reduction, I won't be making anywhere near what I first thought I would when I was hired by the agency back in October.

Olga With Dan, One of Her Crew

Post Script: Can I just say how much I HATE the new Blogger and how it totally screws up where I want to place the pictures? I have fiddled around with this post for over an hour to try to get them right and I can't do it. I must leave it as is as I have to get to bed for my early rise tomorrow.

TRAINING DAY

I got an email from the manager of transport for Cypress Mountain.  Apparently he is still under the impression I am working up there.   Included in the email is my schedule for working on the mountain for the next three weeks.  I send a reply telling him I am not working on the mountain anymore.  Then I take a good look at the schedule.  Krikey!  He has me down for seven - twelve hour days in a row, one day off, and then eight days.  But that's not what has me shaking my head - I do work in film after all so that's not such a big deal.  A couple of times he has me working from 10:30 am to 10:30 pm and then starting the next day at 6am.  What??  Is he kidding?  Another sheet tells me to allow an hour to get from downtown Vancouver to Cypress on the buses provided.  And it's a 20 minute walk from the drop off to where I will be working.  And I am to show up for work 20 minutes early.  So that's an hour and forty minutes already and I haven't accounted for the drive into Vancouver.  Add an hour and a half for that, at least.  So that means three hours and ten minutes to get to work.  Say two hours to get home, and that's being conservative.   That leaves me three and a bit hours to sleep and get ready to go back - so basically two hours sleep, as I would need time to shower etc. and make and eat breakfast as they said today that we should arrive with a full tummy (and well rested?!?).  Really?  Has this guy ever heard of the term 'turn around'?  Or don't labour laws apply to the Olympics.  And if not, is it really a good idea to expect someone who is working around really big moving vehicles all day to be safe with that little sleep?

I can't TELL you how glad I am to not be working on that mountain.

I went out last night into Vancouver to go hear Prairie Dance Club with a friend from film.  They are such a good band.  I really hope that the right person hears them soon and gets them the exposure they need to become as famous as they deserve to be.

I don't get home and into bed until around 1 a.m. and the alarm is set for 7:45.  I have to be out of the door by 9 to be at training by 10.

I leave right on time and it takes me about 40 minutes to get to BCIT.  It takes me another 10 to figure out where on the huge campus I am supposed to be.  I finally spot a couple of security guys and they point me in the right direction.

When I get parked, and follow some people, I end up in a portable construction trailer that is empty of any furnishings but has about 40 people inside.  Apparently the desks, equipment, and a couple of large screen TV's will show up in a day or two.

People arrive late throughout the first hour of this training session.  How is that okay?  It doesn't bode well, I think, for them arriving on time for work.

We stand for the next two hours as a woman goes over what exactly happens at this location.  There are two separate areas; one for Whistler Olympic Park and the other for Whistler Sliding Center.  I have no idea yet which area I will be working at or exactly what I will be doing.  At each area there are three separate teams.  One is parking.  They will direct people coming to catch the buses as to where to park.  The other two teams are in charge of the buses.  One team, called the 'Staging Crew' will work with the buses lined up waiting for their turn to move ahead to the loading area staffed by the 'Spectator Systems Crew' - the third team.  On the giant accreditation placard I am wearing around my neck, it says I am a 'Staging Supervisor'.  The email I received to tell me to show up for training today said I am a 'Spectator Systems Supervisor'.  So who knows.

All I know is, by the time I have stood for two hours listening to the instructions from the parking manager, half of which don't apply to those of us with the buses, then walk around the parking lot in the drizzling rain for another hour to where the Sliding Center area is, and back again, and then listen to the manager for us bus bunch talk for another half an hour (out in the elements) about what parts we should ignore from earlier and, instead, what we need to know - I am feeling a bit underwhelmed.

When the agency informed me that the job I was initially hired for, RA Supervisor, was no longer being staffed by them and that I would be working at a 'Staging Area', I had some questions.  Namely, what would my job description be?  I was told that I would be overseeing a crew and mostly be doing scheduling and be responsible for keeping their spirits up.  Not exactly accurate information.  Scheduling is being done by the agency.   I am outside the whole 12 hours of my shift, working alongside the crew.  There's a long list I was given as to what my responsibilities are (if I end up being a 'Staging Supervisor').  None of it says 'keep up the spirits of the crew'.  Rather it says stuff like: sign out equipment; check in drivers that have to go directly to staging area - complete drivers log with name, bus number, mobile number, spot time and start time;  confirm assigned bus route with driver; brief driver of competition schedule, peak population movements, special movements, and possible break window; make sure route signs are properly placed in bus windows; communicate via walkie with System Supervisor to advance buses from staging to loading areas.   And this puzzling missive: Help coordinate Driver Seat Slide when it occurs in staging area.  Alrighty then.

If I work on the staging side of things, I will start my shift at 4 am, which is great because I will miss rush hour going in.  If I work on the loading side, I will start at 6 am which isn't so great because rush hour will have just started when I leave the house.  Or I will leave later in the day (better) for the unloading stage of the day - when everyone gets back from Whistler tired and cranky and can't find their car.   It's all a big mystery at this point as to what exactly I will be doing but I could be starting to do it as early as Thursday because we also bus staff up to the venues and they start going up this week to start their training.

I learned that I should have been at a classroom session that dealt with how to do most of my job, but I never got that memo from the agency so not only did I miss out on a whole bunch of important stuff I should know, I missed out on getting paid for it as well.  Speaking of which....

I was told that my rate would be $15 an hour as a supervisor, with one dollar of that being held back until I completed the contract.  If I was a manager (this is back when I thought I would be the RA Supervisor or Manage the Supervisors) it would be one dollar more.  Now I am informed that my rate is $12.44 an hour.  HUH?  Can they do that? 

And they told me that I would be working for two months, through the Paralympics.  Well that's not true.  I was told today that this 'Staging Area' is only operating for the Olympics and after February 28th, I am out of a job.

I am beginning to think that the people at the agency are all either super incompetent or way out of their league here.