Tuesday, February 23, 2010

enough with the pins already

some people might be tired of the pin trading
(for me collecting) but enough is never enough

45 (non duplicates) and counting

Below is Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, the only team member of the Ghana ski team, he started out working 6 years as a receptionist at a local indoor ski amusement center in his home town, It took about 10 seconds to make it down the man-made snow slope.
He eventually graduated to real snow and a real slope and now he is representing a charity organization that benefits the endangered snow leopard.
I got his autograph and then he did a news broadcast in which the interviewer said,
"Is it ok to wish you good luck at not coming in last place"
after the interview they ask the audience who they thought deserved a t-shirt,
I raised my hands and shouted, "I'm a volunteer all the way from California" .
The broadcast interviewer then polled the audience
"How many think this American deserves this T-shirt after Canada was defeated
in last night's hockey game against the US?"
He gave me the shirt anyway, despite the thunderous BOOOOOOO's.

He signed the hat "The snow leopard"


this is a lucky shot, most of my attempts are of the ice


it is an ordeal just carrying in the bobsleds


this is the 2 women bobsled team from Japan, they may be slow
(they don't even take a running start) but the sled is a work of art



Bob asked me to get some "behind the scenes shots",
this one is how they heat the tents




the garbage and recycling bins are bear proof
(don't worry they are hibernating now)

members of the Cree 1st nation tribe


Roger Tsang wore that sweater skiing in 1984



Some of the crew who have told me "where to go".
Rob (seated in front) is from Australia.
Do you see how we are squinting,
we brought the table outside to have lunch,
we usually have lunch and dinner in this heated tent.


the beautiful view from our condo

Monday, February 22, 2010

more zip trek


I had to buy the photos taken of me upside down,
it was amazing!


click on this one to enlarge it, you can see the suspension bridge
and tree house platforms with traveled along in the rain forests

Sunday, February 21, 2010

speaking at church


This is the small chapel in Breckinridge,
North of Squamish and south of Whistler, but look at that view.
The RS president (who is from Russia, beautiful accent) ask me to speak in RS
and share my experiences from the olympics. There were 40 people in attendance,
20 of us were from the olympics.


after church I went for a gorgeous walk in the woods to Lost Lake

I just happened upon my "Dream cabin" in the woods




This is Lost Lake, it's lost under the snow


then I interviewed for an afternoon job
walking the sleigh ride horses


I also visited the aboriginal museum,
a hand carved canoe, it is a solid piece of tree, over 20 ft long

Saturday, February 20, 2010

zip track


flying is so cool






my 1st snow cat

Friday, February 19, 2010

Views



guess what they have up on that crane... it's a satelite

this was my lunch break view, not bad, Eh
Publish Post

I watched the skeleton events today, during my shift breaks.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

skiing whistler

as you can see it was a perfectly beautiful day to ski in Whistler,
below is a view of the sliding center track from the Gondola

8 yr old Mark rode up one of the chair lifts with me,
turns out his Grandmother lives in Fresno, small world, Aye


that's a jumper in red, they were jumping and doing flips all over this hill


this is the view from the glass bottom, peak to peak gondola







a great spot to view the woman's downhill finals, USA GOLD