Tinkerblue

What the hell did you do all day?

That's a question I've been asked a lot.  Friends and family have trouble understanding what I did every day during the Olympics.   In short... I watched.  I watched the kiosks.  I watched the staff.  I watched the merchandise.  I watched the spectators.  Occasionally I watched the events.

 line up to get into the venue, and the barricades are blocking access to the retail tent.  
 

Normally I would arrive at the venue just before the spectator gates opened.  I would check in with the XP manager to see if they needed anything, I would check the tent to see if anything needed repairing - lights, heating, snow clearing etc.  Once the gates opened and spectators were on venue, I watched.  Did spectators see the retail tents, could they see the signage, could spectators get to the retail tents, was the path clear, was it slippery, could they get in the tent, get to the counter, what merchandise were they asking for, did stock need to be moved, did our queues impede access to other areas, were our queues moving quickly etc?

 this is what I like to see, a break in competition and our tent is full with a line up outside.
 

If the venue had more than one tent, I'd then go and check on the other tent(s).  During a break in competition were spectators aware there was another tent, could they get to it, etc etc.

If the venue loaded out spectators from one event, and loaded in for the next event at the same time how did what effect did that have on our tents?  Did the crowd of outgoing spectators close off access for the incoming spectators?

 ingress and egress at the same time - went relatively smoothly with no major problems.

 

Then I'd try to get back to the venue near the end of competition to check if spectators were shopping on the way out, or were they just interested in getting out of there?  If they wanted to shop were they being allowed access to the tent or were they being funneled out.

In the late afternoon I would head back to the hotel to email in my daily reports, and then head to the evening venues - The Whistler Sliding Centre and the Whistler Medals Plaza and repeat everything.

 

My earliest day started around 630am, as the gates opened at Whistler Olympic Park at 645am - 3 hours before the start of competition and ended at 1000pm after our team debrief at the Whistler Medals Plaza. 

For the first week, I was only responsible for Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Medals Plaza.  In the second week I was also responsible for Whistler Creekside and Whistler Sliding Centre.  I wasn't sure what the second week would be like with all 4 venues,  but it really wasn't any busier.  I just spent a little less time at each venue.  

Somewhere in there I took time for lunch and dinner.

 

Snow, Skis, and Guns

Way back when Steph and I were talking to our husbands about the Paralympics. Neither hubby or Scott believed there was such a thing as the visually impaired biathlon.  So Steph and I bought 4 tickets to the Paralympic Biathlon.   Then Steph and Scott up and went to New Zealand instead.

 

So yesterday hubby and I headed up to Whistler Paralympic Park.  It was kind of weird driving in.  I was in my own little car, with no Vehicle Access Pass and no accreditation.  And it was kind of sad.  Our tent has already been removed.  It used to sit right beside the ticket box office.  And look now there's a big empty space.

During the Olympics , there were 3 stadiums at Whistler Olympic Park - Ski Jump, Biathlon and Cross Country.  For the Paralympics only the cross country stadium is in use.  Both the cross country and the biathlon events will be held in the one stadium.

 

• Athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired and compete against athletes with similar disabilities
• visually impaired skiers ski with a guide
• Paralympic biathletes always shoot from the prone position
• Visually impaired skiers use a an acoustic system for shooting that uses differing tone as the rifle is aimed towards the bullseye
• The bullseye is 15mm in diameter, there are 5 targets all in a row, the distance between the skier and the targets is 10 metres.

Yesterday we watched the qualification and finals of the men's and women's 2.4km pursuit sitting, 3km pursuit standing and 3km visually impaired. I'm pretty sure there were no Aussies in any of the events, but we did get to see a couple of Canadians, including Brian McKeever and his brother and guide Robin. They finished 6th.

 

After the event was complete we headed into Whistler to have a burger and beer at the Brewpub.

 

 and stopped in briefly at the Medals Plaza to say hi to the boys before heading back to Vancouver.

 

 

 

What exactly did I do at VANOC?

Some of my friends and family have been asking me what exactly did I do at VANOC.  So here goes...

I started at VANOC (Vancouver Organising Committee for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) in late 2006 (I can't remember exactly when, but before Christmas) as a pre-games volunteer.  I volunteered at the campus store at the VANOC HQ.  

About 10 months later a paid staff position became available in the Licensing and Merchandising Function. I had little to no experience in retail, licensing or merchandising but Benjy took a chance and in October 2007 I started as Retail Coordinator.

What does a retail coordinator do? A little bit of this and a little bit of that, and a lot of "other duties as required."

My job could basically be separated into 2 areas.  Managing the campus store and internal customers for corporate gifting.

 staff store closing
 

The store was open Monday to Friday during office hours.  I had 6 volunteers  (Janice, Kathy, Margie, Sharon, Sheila & Barry) who worked in the store in the mornings, and a part timer, Norm who worked in the afternoons.   All I had to do was open and close the store, order all the product and authorise the invoices. I was also responsible for any sales we did at outside events like the 2 year to go and 1 year to go countdown concerts, The Chef de Mission Seminars, the CP Rail Spirit Train and the 100 day countdown in Whistler.

 

Corporate gifting took up more of my time.  You wouldn't think so, but it did. I had to maintain a supply of in-stock items for those very frequent times when someone phoned me and said "I need a gift and I need it in 5 minutes."   Then when a function was a little more organised I would order in ready made product for them.  And when a function was a lot more organised I would work with the function, brand and the licensee to create custom merchandise for them.  There was a lot of work that went into custom merchandise, you can't just slap a logo on any product.  First, what product did the function want?  Second, which licensee held the rights to that product?  Next - what quantity, what budget and when did they need it for?  Then onto what design goes on the product and does it meet all the guidelines regarding size, spacing, font, language, colours etc etc.  Paper proofs would need to be approved, then pre production samples and finally the final product.  It could take months.  And much back and forth.

  

 retail tent 2009

In August 2009 I started to transition into my games time role as Retail Venue Manager.  For games time I, and one other co-worker from my team were based in Whistler.  We oversaw the operations of the retail kiosks at the venues in Whistler.  Altogether we had 9 kiosks.  4 kiosks at Whistler Olympic Park, 1 at Whistler Creekside, 2 at Whistler Sliding Centre, 1 at Whistler Medals Plaza and 1 at Whistler Olympic Village. We had a contractor who actually operated the retail kiosks.

 Jan 2010

We were their liason with the venue management team.  From November though January we made multiple trips to Whistler to check on the location and size of the tents, the orientation of the doors and ramps, and the location of lighting and heating units.  

 Inside tent before

Towards the end of January we pretty much moved permanently to Whistler, we were there to oversee the build out of the interior kiosks, delivery and merchandise of product, and training of staff. 

 inside tent after
 

We were not sure how our role would play out at during the actual Games, we had a general idea but until the Games started we were a little unsure.  Well our contractor had it all under control, so we had it fairly easy.  

 right before the doors open to our first customer on Feb 12th at Whistler Olympic Park
 

Some examples of what we did have to manage:

Barricades that were erected to funnel spectators through the security gates, funneled them away from our kiosk.  Event Services and I worked out a resolution that made us both happy.

The downhill events were delayed due to weather, the staff were rescheduled for the new day, but their meal tickets were still stamped with the old date.  I had to contact F&B so the staff could eat.

At the Sliding centre, the tents were too hot, it was my job to coordinate with Energy Services to get the heating adjusted.

At one tent we were not getting as many spectators come through as we were expecting.  Working with venue management we made some changes to drive traffic to the tent - announcements on the loud speaker to buy your souvenirs at the Merchandise tent, lights to highlight the entry doors, etc.

 full of customers!
 

For the first week, I looked after Whistler Olympic Park and Whistler Medals Plaza.  Benjy looked after Whistler Creekside, Whistler Sliding Centre and the Athlete's Village.  For the second week Benjy went back to the office in Vancouver, and I had all the venues.  I tried to get to each venue (except the Village) daily, to check in, say hi to the staff, and see if there was anything they needed. 

So that's it.  That's what I've been doing for the last 2 and 1/2 years.

Like any job it had its ups and downs.  Some days were better than others and November 2009 was particularly horrendous.  But overall I really enjoyed working for VANOC.  I've had my fare share of jobs and this experience rates as one of the best jobs I've had. 

Whistlers Own Torch Cauldron

It was lit as part of the first Victory Ceremony at Whistler Medals Plaza earlier this evening.
 

Whistler Olympic Park - home of Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Cross Country and Biathlon

(it's not a blurry photo, that's snow on the letters.)

I have been at Whistler Olympic Park for the last 3 days overseeing the setup of the retail kiosks.  they are looking good.  So now's a good time for a mini tour of the venue. 

Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) is a huge venue.  There are three separate stadiums - the Ski Jump Hills, the Biathlon Stadium, and the Cross Country Stadium.

WOP will host 28 Olympic events, that's 1/3 of all Olympic events.  Whistler Paralympic Park (WPP) will host 32 Paralympic events, that's 1/2 of all events.

Ski Jump - there's the normal hill, the long hill and the men's team event.

 image VANOC

Nordic Combined - as the name suggests is a combination of Ski jumping and cross country.  There are three events - two individual and one team.

Biathlon - is a mix of cross country skiing and target shooting.  Athletes need endurance, speed, a steady hand and accuracy. There are men's individual events, women's individual events, men's relays and women's relays.

image VANOC

Cross Country - Did you know there are two different types of cross country? No?  Well there is.  Classic or Free.  There are men's individual events, women's individual events, men's relays and women's relays.

During the Paralympics there will be Biathlon and Cross Country events.

I am quite excited about being at WOP.  There will be a lot happening.  I don't know how much of the events I will get to see, but I think the atmosphere will awesome.  And the venue team that I work with is a really great group of people.

A little more about the venue.  Venue capacity:

• 12,000 at ski jumping
• 12,000 at cross country
• 12,000 at biathlon
• 6,000 during Paralympics

WOP also has it's own website, go check it out.  www.whistlerolympicpark.com

Getting there:

• From Vancouver take the Olympic Bus Network.  The departure hub is BCIT in Burnaby.
• From Whistler take the Whistler Olympic Park Express from Whistler Village.
• There is no BC Transit to this Venue.
• From bus drop off point, there is a 500m walk to the decision point.  At the decision point, you will chose the path to the Ski Jump (400m), Cross Country (600m) or Biathlon (700m).

 image VANOC

There is a lot of interesting information regarding the terrain, the equipment, the snow making, the trails etc.  Take a moment to read it at Vancouver 2010 or at the Whistler Olympic Park website.

Mum, Dad, Dave and Morag have tickets to the Men's Long Hill Ski Jump on February 22nd.

Tate has tickets to the Women's Cross Country on the 25th.

Dave and I have tickets to the Paralympic Biathlon on March 13th.

Pretty sure Australia is not a medal contender in any of the Nordic Sports, so we'll be cheering for Canada.

 

The Ultimate Souvenir - an Apartment in the Athlete's Village & Olympic Themed Cocktails

Today hubby and I had the opportunity to explore the Vancouver Olympic Village.  And luckily today it stopped raining otherwise it wouldn't have been much fun.

 RQ
 

The Village has an awesome location.  On the waterfront, at False Creek. Great views across to BC Place/Stadium, GM Place/Canada Hockey Place, Molson Canada Hockey House, Quebec House and Science World.

 RQ
 

During the Games the Village is not open to the public.  Only accredited athletes, staff, team officials, volunteers and invited guests with a guest pass will be able to enter the village.

 RQ
 

The Village will be divided into residential and plaza zones.  The Plazas will house the main stage, banking, post office, general store, Olympic store, tourism info, cafe, media centre, management offices, clinic, meeting rooms, etc.

 RQ
 

The Salt Room will be the Village Living Room with games, lounge area, water bar, entertainment etc. The Salt Room was originally a salt refinery in the 1930's, it has also been a paper recycling plant.  A heritage listed building, after the Games it will be a brew pub.

 RQ
 

The residential area will house 2730 residents during the Olympic Games and 350 residents during the Paralympic Games.

 RQ
 

The dining tent is split into two areas - for residents and workforce.  During the Games over 600,000 meals will be served.

 DQ
 

After the Games you can buy the apartments/lofts/townhouses from  Millennium Water.  

The plans include a community centre, gym, London Drugs, Urban Fare, a proposed specialty liquor store, parks, children's playground, water features, retail shops, restaurant, roof top gardens, and water access for non motorized water craft. 

 DQ
 

I could handle the location, and the idea of living in the Village.  But.  They are way out of our price range. And the units are too small.  Perfect size for some people, just not for us.  

 DQ
 

After we finished our tour, hubby headed out to the hangar to work on the plane and I went downtown to meet Andrea. Our plan was to head over to the Yew Bar at the Four Seasons Hotel to try out the Olympic themed cocktails.  Yep, at 1 o'clock we decided it was late enough in the day to start drinking.

We ordered one of each cocktail, the bronze, silver and gold so split between us.

 

Bronze, representing the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics.  It contains maple syrup, whiskey, egg white, apple slices, and a creme brulee crust.  This was by far my favourite, and Andrea was generous enough to let me drink most of it.

Silver, representing the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.  Served in a glass cowboy boot, no less. It's basically a Caesar made with Crystal Head Vodka (Dan Ackroyd's smoked buffalo infused vodka).  It was served with a swizzle stick of buffalo jerky.  I was not a big fan of the silver drink.  All I could smell was the buffalo and the clamato juice was overpowering.  Andrea drank about 1/2 of this one and then we left it alone.

Gold, representing Vancouver 2010.  It's liquid sushi.  Very typically west coast.  Gin, lemon juice, cane sugar juice, cucumber and salmon.  Andrea's not a fan of cucumber, and I can't eat salmon so we removed the garnish and the drink was pretty good.  Andrea drank most of this, as I was hording the bronze drink.

They were labour intensive and time consuming for the barman to make, and they were not cheap. Was it worth it?  I'm glad we went.  I really enjoyed the bronze cocktail and I don't need to replicate the silver or the gold.  But I don't need to go back.  However it was great to spend the afternoon with Andrea, made the trip downtown worthwhile.  

Andrea will be volunteering during the Olympics and Paralympics.  She started her own blog 2010vanfan in the summer and her goal is to post every day in the lead up to and during the games.  Andrea recently quit her job so she can focus on blogging the Games full time.  She'd like to be a writer when she grows up and is hoping to parlay this experience into paid work at a later date.  

Public Viewing of Alpine Ski Events at Whistler Creekside

Did you know that 90% of the Whistler Blackcomb runs are open?  So you can still go skiing or boarding. And if you ski at Whistler Creekside there are public viewing areas set up so you can stop and watch the alpine events.  Isn't that cool?  

You'll need a lift ticket, strong intermediate skiing or boarding skills and be prepared to walk a bit.

 clicking on map will open a PDF file from Whistler Blackcomb.

More information is also available in the Pique, Whistler's News magazine.
 

Whistler Creekside - home of Alpine Skiing

Whistler Creekside was created and opened to the public in 1966 in the hopes of hosting the 1968 Olympic Games.  Over 40 years later that hope is now a reality.  It provides the longest vertical decent in North America.

 image VANOC
 

The men's events will take place on the Dave Murray Run, considered one of the top 3 courses in the world. The women's events and Paralympic events will take place on a combination of Wild Card, Lower Jimmie's Joker, Franz's Run and Dave Murray.

 Weasel Workers
 

The events for both the Olympics and Paralympics are:

*Men's and Women's Downhill - each athlete makes a single run, the fastest time will win gold.

*Men's and Women's Super G (Super Giant Slalom) - each athlete makes a single run, the fastest time will win gold.

*Men's and Women's Giant Slalom - each athlete makes two runs, down two different courses on the same slope.  Usually the first run is in the morning, and the second run is later in the day. The times for both runs are combined and the fastest combined time will win gold.

*Men's and Women's Slalom - the shortest course with the quickest turns.  Each athlete makes two runs, down two different courses on the same slope.  Usually the first run is in the morning, and the second run is later in the day. The times for both runs are combined and the fastest combined time will win gold.

*Men's and Women's Super Combined - each athletes skis one downhill run and one slalom run, the fastest combined time will win gold.

Getting there:

• from Vancouver take the Olympic Bus Network.  The departure hub is at Langara College.
• from Whistler take BC Transit from the Gondola Transit Exchange in the Village
• expect to walk 400m from the bus drop off point on hwy 99 to the venue entrance
• from the entrance to the viewing points you can walk 800m uphill or take the chairlift.  Expect long line ups at the chairlift (announcements will let you know the wait times).

 

Mum, Dad, Dave and Morag have tickets to the Men's Super G on February 19th.

Tate has tickets to the Women's Slalom on the 26th and the Men's Slalom on the 27th.

Whistler Sliding Centre - home of Luge, Bobsleigh and Skeleton

I thought it might help if you knew a little about the venues before you got here.  I talked about Cypress Mountain here.  Over the next few days I'll give you a little info about the Whistler venues.  Of course you could Google them for yourself.  But I thought I'd save you some time.

 VANOC
 

The Whistler Sliding Centre (WSC) is located on Blackcomb Mountain. It's really close to Whistler Village. If you are coming up from Vancouver on the Olympic Bus Network the bus will drop you at the Whistler transportation mall.  From there it's a 25 minute walk to the Sliding Centre or you can take the shuttle or ride the gondola. 

 

The WSC will host multiple events:

Men's skeleton

Women's skeleton

Men's single luge

Men's double luge

Women's single luge

Men's two man bobsleigh

Men's four man bobsleigh

Women's bobsleigh

 

The Whistler Sliding Centre is one of only two sliding centres in Canada.  (The other is in Calgary)

Venue capacity - 12,000

1450 metres of track

152 metre vertical drop

16 corners

It takes about 40 minutes to walk from the spectator plaza to the upper start house.

 

Post Games, the sliding centre will operate as a high performance development centre, it will also have youth and recreational club programing and public admissions for tours and rides.   Yep, starting some time in 2010 you can hand over some cash and in some form or other you can hurtle your way down the track.

     

Mum, Dad, Morag and Dave have tickets to runs 3 and 4 of the men's and women's skeleton on the 19th.

Tate (a friend from summer camp many years ago) is going to the women's bobsleigh on the 24th.

Mum, Dad, Dave, Chris and Andrea have ticket to runs 3 and 4 of the men's four man bobsleigh on the 27th.

Australia doesn't have any athletes in the skeleton or the bobsleigh, so we'll be cheering for Canada. Just remember to dress warm it will be really cold and you'll be standing outside for a few hours.

Olympic Bus Network Tickets - done and almost printed

Finally got round to booking the Olympic bus network tickets for Mum, Dad, Dave, Morag and whoever!

Mum and Dad have tickets to the Ladies Snowboard Halfpipe on Feb 18th at Cypress Mountain, and then we have 6 tickets to the Ladies Snowboard Cross on Feb 16th also at Cypress.  I'll be working on the 16th, so Dave gets to take 2 friends with him.  

Public transit is included in the event tickets, but for the events on Cypress Mountain they will need to use the Olympic bus network.  There isn't any parking at the Olympic venues, hence Olympic bus network is how spectators will get from Vancouver to Cypress or Whistler venues.  You have to book in advance here.

For Cypress the cost is $12.00 per person for a return ticket plus taxes etc, so it works out to $14.00 each. At least until January 10th.  Then the fare increases to $25.00 each.  Hence the urgency to book now. It's something I've been meaning to do since the middle of December and I keep forgetting.  It's done now, before the increase.

There are 3 departure hubs to choose from for Cypress - Capilano University, Simon Fraser University and Lonsdale Quay.  To get from here to Capilano or SFU would mean driving or multiple buses, so Lonsdale Quay it is.

Every one is going to have to get up early, and get the West Coast Express from here to downtown Vancouver. And I say early, cause they will need to be on the 6.54am train out of Pitt Meadows.  But it's a very nice train and they can all have their coffee and read the newspaper on board.

 At Waterfront Station everyone will have to transfer to the Seabus for the ride across to Lonsdale Quay.  Maybe they'll get to ride the new one - the Pacific Breeze.

 Charlotte Boychuk

Once they all clamber off the Seabus at Lonsdale Quay they will need to find their way to the Olympic bus network station and board their 8:35am bus to Cypress.  The tickets are all printed and waiting for them, or would be if our printer had any ink.  But they are saved to my hard drive and we will print them before the 16th. They look like this (Yep, I blacked out our name and the bar code)