Friday Jan 29, 2010

today is Friday and day two of the dress rehearsals with the followspot. It is very exciting. My thoughts yesterday.... I am on spotlight # 6 way up at the top on a Gladiator III series. It is simply the largest spotlight i have ever worked on before! I think the spotlight is about 6 - 6.5 feet long! hahah. It is big for sure and longer than a SuperTrooper spotlight!  It will be an amazing show... you just have to watch it. It is a feast for the eyes, and ears. The show will be incredible. I have only seen a few scenes already and I was full of aaaaaaaahhhhhhhs and oooooohhhhs. I nodded my head and smiled when i heard the music etc and saw the visuals.

My update is... i still have no key for tomorrow, but hopefully it will all come together for then. if it does not, i can always go over to the casino next doors and get a coffee and some breakfast; all will be good. I also hear that there are a few buses running in the middle of the night so all is good. It is an adventure for sure and I will simply take it hour by hour! :)  After all, if it was all tidy, compartmentalized etc...it wouldn't be me and what i am used to, or at least i think it would not be. ;)

January thoughts

It is now almost the end of January i can scarcely believe it. A few thoughts that pop into my head....$/time commuting/cost of living/new experiences

first...the amount of $ needed to live in another city while i am maintaining rent etc in Victoria is quite staggering. The cost of rent in 2 cities is alot and a bit stressful, but the experience will be worth it.

Time commuting - this was a shock to me to begin with but then i can relate to it as the same amount of time commuting to and from Duncan from Victoria. It just makes the day longer on either end.. to and from an extra 1:20 min each way.

cost of living - the cost of living is expensive here in Vancouver but surprizingly the cost of ethnic food is cheaper here than in Victoria. Victoria is an expensive city to live in and the costs of bus passes are staggering... $99 for one month to commute to and from vancouver to richmond etc.

New experiences - the amount that i have learned already is great. The one thing that i have noticed and have appreciated ... if you have an ego.. you better check it or you are out the door! Those i have seen who have big egos have not lasted at all. The PRG touring crew are all amazing and i have not seen one moment of an inflated ego, or anything. They have been nice 100% of the time. Yes the $ could be better... but working with a team who are all on the same page trying to achieve the same goal has been great!

It is Thursday morning and i am filled slightly with anxiety. i know everything will come together soon, but at the moment i see a few challenges to overcome. I work today and tomorrow at 3:30 pm to about 11 pm with the opening ceremony. Saturday I work from 6 pm to 3 am; the transit stops at 1:15 am and the area around the stadium is a no vehicle zone. I also need to be moved an in a new place on saturday ... at the moment i have no key for the new place to stay. Hopefully this will all come together on saturday during the day. The challenge will be at 3 am... i know there wil be a fair amount of people leaving the stadium at 3 am so i might be safe to walk ( to where ever i am staying) at that hour. I understand that there will be new road closures and no vehicle zones going into action tomorrow.. i just hope that it will not be too difficult for me.

an hour has now passed and I am at starbucks so i can use the internet. I feel that it will all come together somehow. It will just be me waiting for Saturday to come and then just see what will become of it all. sigh...

jan 26

Jan 26 - a day off! I hope to be back at work tomorrow... as i just had a series of days off! 5 in fact!

Jan 25

Jan 25 -
Back to work for 8 hours and i spent the entire day below the stage. What an amazing network of everything. This is here and that is there, cables are running everywhere. TV, fibre optic and other cables run below the stage for access across the stadium. It is truly an impressive underground world below the stage ( field of play ).

Jan 24

Jan 24 - a trek to Lynn Valley today ( North Vancouver) to see the Lynn Valley Park and the suspension bridge there. (free). I also walked along the trail in the park to the twin falls bridge and beyond.. lots of steps, trails, trees, and nature at its finest. I then ventured to Stanley park and looked at the western shores where the trees were damaged in previous wind storms in years gone by. A walk around Granville street to look at the art on display and then off to Queen Elizabeth Park and the nature conservatory. Beautiful. It is in the heart of Vancouver and a must for people to see. The water spouts, the view of Vancouver are amazing!!

Jan 20

I am on the skytrain headed downtown and i notice that there is a significant amount of tourists now who have arrived.. what a difference since Tuesday.. the world is now arriving. I noticed that about 10 artists from l'École Nationale de Cirque were on the train and had accreditation. I am guessing that they ...are in the opening ceremonies.. how very exciting!!! As I exited the skytrain station I noticed some art displays that were not in place a few days ago. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Jan 21

Today was a trek to Mount Seymour and Deep Cove. A lovely walk on the trail as I was heading up to Mt Seymour shows lovely trees and a beautiful waterfalls and streams.

Jan 20

Today I wandered around Vancouver to explore. I ventured down West Broadway to UBC. Along the route I found the most charming houses and neighbourhoods. I was amazed at the size of UBC and the residential area as well as the luxury homes that dot the roads in the area. One section ( west end of west broadway) had trees that lined the streets in the most spectacular way. (see photo West Broadway homes). At the end of the same block i found the most charming house right out of an old nursery rhyme. (nursery rhyme house). I also ventured over to Point Grey and looked a the water way by Jericho Beach. I can hardly believe that i have never been to this area in the 22 years that i have lived near Vancouver; I guess i never had a reason to travel that way. I chose to take more pictures again of downtown Vancouver from West Broadway's vantage point.
I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Jan 19

working with i-white lights, colour blasts and versa tubes. NICE!! they are so nice and the results are fabulous. It is going to look amazing! We travelled through to the lighting operations room and stood by for the programmer. What a view from his vantage point! The afternoon had light duties and standing by.... A few more parts of the opening ceremonies were revealed and they are impressive. A HUGE SMILE AND A NOD OF just WOW! I also think that i might be on the victory ceremonies and concerts everynight now instead of the opening and closing ceremonies. Things are constatly changing. Now a few days off to catch up and enjoy the olympic experience. I hopefully will go and see the curling venue and see the olympic rings by the media centre.

Jan 18

Jan 18 - Today is the first day of an afternoon and evening shift at BC Place. Almost all of the heavy work is complete and we are in maintenance mode and lighter duties. we took a trek to the operations room to retrieve the lighting board and move it to another rrom....just WOW! I saw the lighting board that is custo...m made and just wow. I saw the sound board and my heart started to race even faster. The torch relay is winding its way through Alberta and Calgary as i write this blog and before no long it will be in BC.

Jan 17

It is 22:25 and I am on the skytrain heading back to my place i am staying at. My feet are slightly throbbing and i have a chance to sit down at last. I am quite relieved at the moment. I am also quite happy that i am returning after only 9 hours... it is a short shift and i am quite content. Today I worked wit...h Scott and Jeff.. I havent really had an opportunity to work with them much yet and it was great. For the later part of the day i worked with Scott in the President's/Royal Box. What an amazing view from this location! In fact there is a great view from every vanatage point in the entire stadium i feel. I can now say that i sat in the President's box at the Olympics. I sat for just a few moments and smiled. The lighting there will be amazing! I love the design. My few moments quickly returned to reality with me looking down a the saw dust and unfinished areas. hahahah.

Sunday Jan 17 2010

Jan 16 - went out to Coquitlam for a trek and traveled through New Westminster. That Royal city has Olympic Torch flags lining the streets for their Olympic Torch relay!

Jan 16 2010

Jan 16 - BOY AM I TIRED!!! Today included lots of walking up and down stairs, back and forth looking for "stuff" around the perimeter of the stadium; walking up to the 5th floor where the spots are and down again over and over again! Today was the start of the rehearsals with some dancers. Very nice choices of music a...nd the lighting!!! wow.. such wonderful colours..and this is only the start of it all!

jan 15 continued

I forgot to mention that there was another reveal of another item that will be used during the opening ceremonies.. we all looked at it and all smiled and said.. "Look...that's cool!!!"

jan 15 continued

And..thank ...you to whoever prayed for me and my feet... i wore my old "showcall" black boots and they felt like slippers on my feet. Only 2 blisters today and after a while i didn't even feel the pain anymore. When i hit the skytrain tonight, my feet were very tired.

Today was a day of cables cables cables. I walked up and down and back and forth around the stadium, about 13 km in all. I am seeing the fruits of the exercise and I have lost a few lbs already! :) I plugged in 5 pin, soca, trunk and twist lock, for those in the know! Here are a few pictures from today.

jan 14

Jan 14 - a day of lugging lots and lots of soca cable.. ( big thick heavy cable) for the lights. The nice light cables were 50 ft long. I also broke new steel toe boots in today and both heels and calves are very tired and sore.. and most probably bruised. A few new items for the opening were revealed to us today.. very nice.. and quite appropriate! very nice indeed! keep my feet in your prayers please.. they may rebel tomorrow.. I am hoping they will not!

Jan 13

Jan 13..my last day off and time to find new workboots. There are not many Mark's Work Wearhouse stores near so off i go on a new adventure to find boots that fit me. I drive down to Steveston Hwy and the store there, nothing even close that fits. So i decide to venture downtown and take the skytrain to the store on West Broadway. I walk for about 10 minutes and stop and ask a fellow on the street. I arrived at the spot where it was now 10 blocks east and 10 blocks west from where i was situated. He suggested i hop the bus and go to Kingsgate Mall on Kingsway. Away i was off and the bus was crowded with people. This lady was there with her little daughter in a pink shiny raincoat sitting happily in her stroller. We smiled at each other and I disembarked at my scheduled stop on Kingsway. I walked to the boots picked up the only box that said Men's 3... yes Men's 3...promptly new they would fit. I tried them on decided to buy them and saw a sale price on the box. Reg $119.99/ Sale $69.99... I asked the associate if they were indeed on sale; the price rang up as $49.99! I had another $5.00 off with my discount card from IATSE and the Marks WW stores. The entire process took about 10 minutes! I was happy indeed. I wandered back to the stop and waited for the bus. The same lady with her daughter in the stroller walked up with a smile and said that she was waiting for the same bus too! What a small world.

Today is a day dedicated to rest and going about Richmond. I managed to do some errands and check them off of my list before the busy times start again. Tonight i am catching up with a girlfriend and tomorrow I am off to look at more Olympic Venues and take pictures.

Seriously the line up at Petro Canada today... 15 minutes. I am not joking!

Monday January 11 2010

Today was a day for rest and relaxation. The weather of +10 degrees caused alot of rain and after a while i decided to venture out.

I went over to the Olympic Oval and walked about. You can see from the pictures that all is not finished at the venue, but I am positive that in 2 weeks the pictures will be different and looking ready for the world.

I went to the mall to wander about and decided to go into Winners. I have a gift card from Alan for this store and searched about. Just about when i was about to give up I saw a familiar LOGO! I couldn't believe my eyes and started to try to the selection.
I found a winter jacket and wouldn't you know it was lime green!! I am very happy with my new addition to my wardrobe! I ended up paying only $15.00 so i am very satisfied.

Sunday at last

I woke up tired and fatigued. I drove to Burnaby to attend the Burnaby Willingdon church for a morning church service. WOW. They have alot of people there. I was squeezing through people like a busy skytrain during rush hour on a weekday morning. There were people sitting in the congregation with ear buds listening to the service in their natural languages. I was impressed.. translations into Korean, Chinese and other languages. The music was loud, but then i sat in the balcony right behind the tech booth and the line arrays were pointed straight at me; I am sure it wasnt as loud on the floor.

I then proceeded to Metrotown to wander around; I have been there before but it had been a few years. I wandered around and chose to leave after 90 minutes as i was tiring out quickly. Do you think i could find my car! I will say it only took 10 minutes to search it out.

I am now back at the place i am staying at in Richmond lying on the bed trying to rest my poor feet. Lesson learned. do not go back to metrotown when i am fatigued!

I have seen very little around that is reflecting the Olympic spirit; some stores do have Canada flags and the Olympic mascots decorating the windows.. but very little so far.

I will go and search out the Olympic Oval tomorrow and maybe the Olympic curling venue. I will take a few pictures from outside and post them when i can.

Day 3

The day started off great with my meeting up with Heather on the skytrain at Riverport station.. we were on coffee yesterday at BC PLace and learned that we were taking the same route to get to the same place at the same time.. so we should catch up and travel together. This was nice. We talked about bruises, fatigue and my experience of getting lost already since my arrival last tuesday hahahah.

More lights, more stacking and unstacking boxes, more walking and more carrying lights to their destinations at BC Place. I walked by one of the wardrobe rooms and saw a glimpse of a costume for someone.. it waa a lovely colour and looked quite nice. I can hardly wait to see the rest.

The afternoon had a bit of a surprise that i can not really get into specifically, but i appreciate the ground riggers that i work with at SOFA so much more now. I plan to walk up to them and thank them the next time i see them on a call in Victoria.

I exited the venue ( like Wednesday) and saw that GM Place beside us had a hockey game in full swing with the Canucks versus the Calgary Flames. I commuted back to Richmond to see the 3rd period and overtime of the game on TV; full of rivalry and flights as well. A good time to sit back, have dinner, an ale, and rest my feet. Oh yes, i did have some popcorn after that!
how i missed that. Now 4 days off total to recover from my sore aching muscles and bruises. By the way,, I walked 22 km at work.

Day 2

day 2 was very tiring as well. To walk the ring road of BC Place is 1 mile I understand. I walked a total of 22 km at work I think as my pedometer said 23.5 km when i got back to the house.

The after lunch part of the day consisted of taking macs, varilites, and another light our of boxes and placing them in certain places... 200 of them. About 9 or 10 of us did this for 4 hours.

I was SOOOOOO tired and my arms were soooo sore by the end of the day.
It didnt help that when i finished my day I drove to Richmond to find a CIBC, London Drugs for some pain killers and then promptly got lost and had to wander for an extra few minutes the wrong direction and then had to back track back to the car. Those extra minutes counted preciously for time off of my feet!!

A day on the sky train and checking out downtown. I almost feel ready for tomorrow.

Yesterday was the first day of my new adventure… I was on my way to the Winter Olympics! I can scarcely believe it . I was on the ferry and all was quiet with exception of the World Junior hockey game and the buzz surrounding that. I decided that i will pen my thoughts and feelings over the next 8 weeks, and I hope it will be an experience that will be an enlightening and memorial experience that I will carry with me for the rest of my life.

My first reality shock of how much it costs over here (other than the price of gas at $109.09) was the price of a bus pass today for a 2 zone pass.. $99.00. Wednesday I will experience a trip on the Canada Line.

stay tuned for more to come later today