January 23, 2010 - The return of the lost blogger :)

Helloooooo Blogmates!!

Yes, yes, and more yesses :) I know I have been remiss in not being here on the blog but until earlier this week when someone reminded me that my last blog entry was in the middle of November, I really had no idea that much time had lapsed! Seriously!! I know I seem to start every blog entry with apologizing for so much time between entries, but that is usually a couple of days or even a couple of weeks... but months?? So out comes the apology again (hey, I can't help it, I'm Canadian!! LOL!!)

So... although I'm over 3 weeks late, I think I'm going to make a New Year's resolution now (I have not made any for 2010) and that is, I want to do more free-form writing and what better place than in a blog? It's not that I even set any rules or guidelines that I have to follow... it's just free-form, whatever I feel like writing about. Ha! Let's see if I can manage this :)

I really do want to keep the blog up, for sure, during the Olympics here in Vancouver. From the buzz and watching the city being prepared... this really is going to be a huge event, even if the Winter Olympics are considered a smaller Olympics than the summer Olympics. I didn't know that... a few people have now mentioned it. I'm thinking it also might be from what part of the world you live in. Being that we are considered "north", when it comes to winter and sports, we automatically think "snow sports" or, Canada's obsession, "hockey". Of course, "figure skating" has become one of the most popular sports to watch, not to mention the "freestyle skiing" and "snowboarding". Hahaha... snowboarding is definitely big up here in Vancouver/Whistler. Remember the first person to win a gold medal when snowboarding became an Olympic sport? Ross Rebagliati, our hometown boy, from Whistler brought home the gold in 1998, but then there was the controversy of whether he had smoked marijuana because there were traces found in his circulatory system. The accusation was eventually dropped because marijuana is not considered a "performance enhancing drug", which of course is taboo in any sports competition. Heck, marijuana is barely considered an illegal drug up here, although it still is, but for the most part, the police turn a blind eye to it. There is more serious crime to be going after than personal use.

Anywho, I digress... that was a nice bit of history to have a local boy bring home the first gold medal in a sport which is very popular on the mountains, and now it is just a given that snowboarding is an official Olympic sport. Now we have to get Women's Ski Jumping to be a sport. Sheesh, I can't believe that in this day and age, we have a Men's event (and there are competitors from multiple countries), yet we don't have a Female event in the same sport, even though there are more than enough Olympic qualified female competitors who WANT to compete at the Olympics.

Well, it should be interesting... the city is gearing up for this event and, as much as I have many concerns, I am hoping the Olympics are very successful and that Vancouver welcomes the athletes with welcome arms... and any/all the world's media/tourists. My concerns have nothing to do with the athletes/visitors or games... but with our provincial and federal government. Of course, I would have those same concerns with or without the Olympics... and I'm just hoping there is no government interference during the games that will be an embarrassment to Canada, and especially, to Vancouver.

Hahaha... will I be going to any of the games? Alas... no. I have to admit, the tickets are impossible to get one's hands on and if I could, I'm not sure that I would want to spend that much money to go to an event where I would probably be watching the big screen most of the time ;) There are other options of how I will be watching the games this Olympics, that I have not had before. Of course, there's Option #1 which is to watch, from the comfort of my own home, on the tv. That is probably how I will see most of them. Then, there's the fun "watch with a crowd" at one of the sites where they will have mega screens, almost like the IMAX set up...where people can go and watch what's going on.

I only wish walking was not such a painful challenge for me!! There are going to be so many things to see and do... and the majority of them (or at least a whole lot of them) will be free. There will be lots happening right downtown in Vancouver, which technically, is within walking distance from my apartment building. But alas... there's no way I would be able to walk downtown, let alone, then be able to walk around once I got there. Of course, one can take public transport (hahaha, forget even thinking about taking one's car anywhere around Vancouver, but especially near any of the Olympic venues)... but the word is out that there are going to be long, LONG, lineups for a bus. And since I would just need to catch a bus to go about 12 blocks, I'm thinking once I'm tired and ready to come home... I am not going to be able to stand for 1 1/2 hours waiting for a bus ;) So, we shall see how that all is going to work out.

For those of you reading, who are in the Vancouver/Lower Mainland area ... here's a great site with a list of where a lot of the free activities are going to be located:

http://snipr.com/u65to [www.vancouveraccess2010.com]

And this is one of my favourites that I'm really, REALLY looking forward to checking out. This one is much more doable for me... in that it is only about 6 blocks from my front door... so I may not even have to get down to it, I can cross the street and see it from the beach:

http://www.alzado.net/vancouver/index_en.html

I am definitely going to have to make sure I have my camera with me at all times because no matter where I am, there is bound to be a photo opp just around the corner .

I still haven't quite decided what my schedule is going to be like. At the moment, I'm thinking I should be able to get to/from the TUTS office since it is in the Park and I can get to it by driving through the park instead of running into road closures and gridlock. On the other hand, if it is awkward, or there will be days where I don't want to miss certain events... then I may stay home and work from home.

Hahaha... so look at that!! My first blog entry since November, 2009, and it's all about the Olympics which haven't opened yet! There is so much non-Olympic things that I've been up to since November, that I haven't even mentioned... I can see where these Olympics are literally going to take over our lives while they are here . I think it's pretty funny that we are making this huge event to celebrate these athletes who are at the top of their game, and here I am literally having to make decisions as to whether I am going to leave the apartment on any given day, depending on how bad the pain is with the damaged nerves. I guess I'm going to have to admit I am not in the same condition as these incredible athletes ;)

Ok... that's enough for today. I'm hoping that I haven't lost all my readers... if I have, then that's my own fault for having left it soooo long between entries :) But if you are still around, please do drop a line... just click on the little pencil or envelope (I forget which one shows up ... I think you need to click on the pencil to leave a comment, or click on the envelope to read the comments if there are any).

And I promise to be back... hahaha... there are still 2 weeks until the Olympics so maybe I can catch up on the other stuff before I really get into my Olympic reporting?? :D

Hugggggs,

Cheryl