A Golden Olympics and A Party Like No Other

Palm trees in Vancouver at the Westin Bayshore.

Sunshining on North Vancouver just after the Hockey Gold.

The golden rings with the snow capped mountains and North Vancouver in the background.

A Russian athlete receives a pin from the Olympic Club from a volunteer Canadian ambassador.

The Canadians wearing the colours outside the Olympic Club with was my "home" for 18 days.

The party filled the streets after the game.

Two Russians going home to regroup and plan for their chance to host the world in 2014.

Vancouver residents were in the streets from early morning until well into the night

By many reports, the closing ceremonies surpassed the opening ceremonies for fan appeal.

The calm over Vancouver with the Science World in the background and the Inuit stone sculptures along the sea wall.

And the Gold medal game from above thanks to our hockey insider

A Few More Pictures

3 More Gold Medals and a first in Winter Olympics

Hello everyone! Canada already has more gold medals than any other country hosting the Winter Olympics. Way to go Canadian athletes!

During the past two days the medal count keeps climbing. We claimed 3 golds and a bronze in men's speed skaking, one is snowboarding, and Kevin Martin made us all proud with a terrific win in men's curling. A couple of unfortunate misses led to a silver for the women's curling team yesterday.

After a late night last night and and early shift this morning, I was invited to the men's curling gold today! The photos hardly do justice to the excitement that was in the new Vancouver Olympic Centre today. I am two for two in gold medals in the events that I was at this week. On this basis I have suggested to the Men's Hockey team that they give me a ticket to tomorrow's game so that I can bring them the same good fortune. I have not heard back from them yet.

Today's special guest at the Club was Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty. I gave him some important advice on the upcoming budget deliberations and debated a point spread on tomorrow's hockey game.

Tomorrow ends this magnificent journey with many memories and highlights. I will do a summary of these over the next couple of days.

I have to give a huge thank you to brother Gary and Loraine for opening their home and the hearts over the past three weeks. They insisted on providing us with their "room with a view of the Fraser River and majestic mountains that I have grown to love so much. The homecooked meals were just what was needed after many hours of standing, walking and serving the hundreds of thousands of people at the Olympic venues. A car was left at the bus exchange on the evenings that the bus service would have required a 15 minute walk. Laundry days were a breeze with Gary's help and direction. And of course, a cold beer was always ready when I walked in the door to watch the final Olympic event of the day. Often a shot of taquila for medicinal purposes was in hand speed the movement to dreamland.

The best part was the bonding that occurred after to nearly forty years of living a half a continent apart. Loraine always had a "good morning" greeting regardless if it was at 5am or 7 am. When my computer crashed a few days into our visit, Loraine offered her laptop so that this blog could continue. Both Gary and Loraine ensured that every need was taken care of. THANK YOU GARY AND LORAINE!!!!

Other pictures today include a guy on a segway, the two best looking Mounties in Vancouver, a lady who is either a "stone head" or "head stone"...neither label seems to work.

Apologies to those who listened to the live telephone feed to Rogers Cable at 11 am Friday. I understand that the reception was poor.

Say tune ....

Pat
Thank you Gary and Loraine for the great people that you are and making this Olympic journey possible!

I am in awe...

Today, Thursday, could have been my day off. Instead I worked the bronze medal women's game and a bit of the gold medal game. Then... I found a 10th row seat near centre ice to spend the rest of the Gold medal game and join in the excitement of Canada's women blanking the USA 2 - 0.

Also, a lady who took a photo of me zip lining sent the pic to me so I am adding that to my blog. ENJOY

Sadly, only 3 shifts left but I am sure I will have some interesting blogging before I am done.

So tomorrow we will be on the edge of our seat as we watch Men's Hockey Semifinals, Curling finals for men and women and well as many others.

HOT OFF THE PRESS -JOANNIE ROCHETTE wins a bronze medal in ladies figureskating - now that is a courage young woman!

Gold, Two Silvers and a Bronze... What a day!

The rain in Vancouver stopped by mid morning so the crowds began lining up for all the sites again today. There were a few photo ops during my work shift but by 4:30 PST all that I could focus on was the Russia Canada hockey game. With a 4 -1 lead after one period excitement was in the air.

Today the photo ops include the start of the Russia Canada game; the Aussie Boxing Kangaroo wanting square off; two medal-winning skiers from the Netherlands exploring Vancouver; daffodils and spring flowers in downtown Vancouver; and the 2010 Vancouver Olympic flag.

With Canada man-handling Russia 7 -3, our two-woman bobsled teams taking Gold as well as Silver, women's short track team taking a silver and the incredible Clara Hughes taking a bronze in 5000 m long track speed skating, today, Wednesday left us all more enthused than ever as we move to the final four days of competition.

My Olympic pin collection continues to take off with donations from Chinese, Bahamas, Peru and USA Olympic Committees as well as several corporate sponsors adding to my pins. To think that I started with 6 when I left to Vancouver!

Tomorrow I will be working at the Bronze and part of the Gold medal hockey games. With hockey and curling heating up there are some huge team efforts left to cheer on. The world is watching ....Stay tune!

Canada is down one GOLD but is on the move now

Ashleigh McIvor made us all proud today as she won four closely fought rounds of ski cross in the snowy hills of Cypress Mountain. And yes, our men's and ladies curling, ladies two-man? bobsled and ladies hockey, to name a few are all poised to make the podium in a few days. Then we have men's hockey. Today's 8-2 win has regained the team's confidence and the spirits of all faithful Canadians.

While the rain is falling in Vancouver this afternoon, I understand that more snow is blanketing Ontario. The moist air had the positive effect of decimating the line-ups to many pavilions and venues. The Royal Canadian Mint had another 4 hour lineup at 8AM - one hour before the doors openned.

I am now networking with the IOC staff and committees as well as the Sochi delegates as I consider working at the 2012 and/or 2014 Olympics.

While I continue to meet and greet world leaders from Olympic Countries, today I greeted long time friend Paul Tratnyek and his daugher Anna outside the Olympic Club. Also my hockey insider greeted Cousins Angie and Bob DiFruscia at Canada Hockey Place.