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!