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Monday, February 1, 2010

I'm here...amazed and accredited

I'm simply blown away by the majesty of the mountains here in Vancouver.

I am standing here outside of the Uniform and Accreditation Centre at the Pacific National Exhibition grounds in the heart of Vancouver staring at the mountains on the north shore and I am simply blown away by it all. I can see "the lions", the peaks of Cypress and Grouse and it is a reminder that I am here in the most beautiful city in the world.  What a venue for the Olympic Games!

I got through accreditation and uniforms quickly.  It was a finely tuned machine.  Verify your identity, get a photo taken, get your accreditation, get fitted, pick up your complete uniform and then, before you know it, you are outside the back door, with a big bag in hand and with id around your neck.  30 minutes in all.

That is when I looked up, saw the mountains and had my personal moment with nature.

By the way, these are the same mountains that captivated me when I was 5 years old and on my first trip to the coast.  You see, both my parents were born and raised in BC (Abbotsford and Maple Ridge) but had to relocate after WWII.  So, with family roots in BC, I have visited regularly and have always loved the city.

Anyways, Rob picked me up and brought me to the VANOC offices and here I write.

Here is just one of the neat things that I saw today at VANOC offices....I just dropped down to the Operations Centre to see the 24 hour pulse of the Olympics.  The Ops Centre is a large room with tables around in a circle, with representatives of all of the key operational departments....so any problem can be solved quickly and efficiently.  The room has more televisions and screens that a Future Shop or Best Buy, with multiple feeds of every video channel known to man, so they can see every venue, from every perspective.  Impressive.

Well, I have to run to help out with some of the last minute planning here in the medical services department.  More tomorrow.

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