As the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games swiftly approach some more names are being added to the list of Torchbearers over the next few days. Patti is going to have some interesting company on the 12th! Here is the list that I received today:
Day 104 - 10-Feb-10:
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JULIE PAYETTE, Canadian astronaut
Torchbearer 112 at 18h07
Running in North Vancouver
Day 105 - 11-Feb-10:
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JANN ARDEN, award winning singer/songwriter
Torchbearer 174 at 15h17
Running at BC Children's Hospital
RICHARD BRODEUR, professional hockey player - Vancouver Canucks Alumni
Torchbearer 244 at 19h04
Running in Vancouver
MICHEAL BUBLE, award-winning singer/songwriter
Torchbearer 261 at 19h53
Running in Vancouver
Day 106 - 12-Feb-10:
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ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, actor, Governor, State of California
Torchbearer 018 at 07h03
Running in Stanley Park
SEB COE, Olympian, Chair London 2012 Organizing Committee
Torchbearer 019 at 07h08
Running in Stanley Park
ROLLY FOX, father of Canadian cancer hero Terry Fox
Torchbearer 034 at 08h00
Running near English Bay
WALTER GRETZKY, father of Canadian hockey star Wayne Gretzky
Torchbearer 041 at 08h20
Running in Vancouver
DMITRY CHERNYSHENKO, President, Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee
Torchbearer 044 at 08h34
Running in Vancouver
GARETH REES, professional rugby player
Torchbearer 105 at 11h51
Running in Vancouver
STAN SMYL, professional hockey player, Vancouver Canucks alumni
Torchbearer 106 at 11h53
Running in Vancouver
BOB LENARDUZZI, professional soccer player, Vancouver Whitecaps alumni
Torchbearer 117 at 12:23
Running in Vancouver
LUIS PASSAGLIA, professional football player, BC Lions alumni
Torchbearer 118 at 12h26
Running in Vancouver
Yes, you read right, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be running with the Olympic Torch in Stanley Park. It’s going to be a wild few days!!
Another web-clip of my wonderful friend Robyn running with the Olympic Torch. I so wish that I could have been there!
Speaking of which, I’m volunteering every day from now through Thursday night so I’ll be missing a lot of the Torch Relay here in the Lower Mainland, but I have made a few plans. I’m going to head to the Community Celebration in Richmond on the evening of Tuesday, February 9. It was amazing to see the Community Cauldron lit in Montreal and I look forward to seeing this one too! (I’ve just read that Rick Hansen will be lighting the Cauldron, so cool!!). I’ve got Friday morning scheduled to watch Patti run on Davie Street and then there will be the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, so I really can’t complain too much. 
But if you have the opportunity to get out and see the Torch Relay or a Torch Relay Community Celebration – do it! You won’t regret it!
Off to volunteer! Thank you merci for reading and sharing!
Find my latest Vancouver Olympic Buzz Examiner article here:
Where to watch the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Opening Ceremonies for free
Thank you merci for all of your support!
It was a grey and misty day here in Vancouver. And while I do wish that it was raining it certainly made for beautiful ambiance and some neat photographic opportunities.
Concord Place with the mist and clouds around the North Shore Mountains. I don't think my photo does it justice.
Vectorial Elevation over some of the buildings around George Wainborn park. It is stunning when there are clouds in the sky!
And people all over the city are getting into the spirit! On my way home from volunteering I found this…
Olympic Rings and Canadian Flags on a Yaletown condo! Go Canada Go!
And when I did get home there were photos waiting for me from Patti, a wonderful woman I met several months ago at the launch of the Vancouver 2010 Workforce uniforms. If you will be in the downtown area on the morning of Friday, February 12th be sure to watch her carry the Olympic Torch along Davie Street at approximately 8:08am. She’ll be running from around Broughton to Thurlow. I’m going to be there to cheer her on! Sounds like she’s planning on following the Torch for most of the day as well, which would be amazing! I’ll have to see if I can tag along for a bit. Anyhow, right, Patti sent me photos of the decorations in her yard. Here is just a sampling!
I love the light-up hockey player, with red mittens!
Patti has really taken 'Paint the town red' to heart! Anything that isn't red is white and usually involves a maple leaf!
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Decorations are popping up everywhere and it’s fantastic. Got some great ones in your yard or your neighbourhood? Send in photos of them before 11pm on Thursday, February 11th and I’ll put your name in to win an Atos Origin fish pin! They are pretty neat and hard to get so start sending your photos in. There are three ways to submit:
1 – Email it to me at 2010vanfan@gmail.com.
2 – Post it to my Facebook group 2010vanfan. Not a member of the group yet? Search 2010vanfan and sign up! 
3 – Post it on Twitter and make sure to include @2010vanfan in your message so that I can see it too!
(And yes Patti, you are entered already!)
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Last topic for tonight – I wrote back in November about Mitts for Kids which is a non-profit programme that is trying to raise enough money so that every school child (Kindergarten through Grade 7) in Vancouver will have a pair of Red Mittens to wear with pride during the Games. Plus, Mitts for Kids is also helping support the Hot Lunch programme in inner city schools. I have heard tonight that they are almost to their goal! Just a bit more help is needed. If you’d like to be involved click on Mitts for Kids to learn more!
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I had been planning on being at the opening of the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre at YVR tomorrow morning at 7am but the time has been moved (new time is unspecified so far) and though it’s unfortunate, I’m happy I don’t have to get up early enough to be out there for 7am. However it has still been a long, wonderful and exciting day so I’m off to sleep. Less than five days to go, wow!
Thank you merci for reading and sharing!
Well, I think it is up and running… I have just started posting to the examiner.com as their Vancouver Olympic Buzz Examiner! This is pretty exciting for me. Today I posted a slightly altered version of my 2010vanfan’s Guide to attending Vancouver 2010. You can check it out by clicking here – Guide to attending Vancouver 2010 events.
What my Vancouver Olympic Buzz Examiner page looks like
Eeek! So exciting. Right, now I’m off to volunteer. There will be so many more athletes in the Village since the last time I was there. I’m pretty excited about that too!
I’m going to start with “I should know better.” I mentioned to a few people during the walkabout that I’m not entirely sure what I’ll do when the Paralympics are over because I have now been writing so many days in a row (205) that I generally cannot fall asleep without writing. So what did I try to do last night? Yes, silly me. I tried to sleep without writing. And I did manage to fall asleep only to wake up with my brain spinning about on various topics at 3am. Sigh. Ah well, lesson learned. I will be posting something every night before sleep, for the sake of sleeping properly, and will just have to make sure that I budget my time according to this new habit. So here we go with what I should have written last night. :D
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Downtown Vancouver was very busy with pedestrians yesterday! It was really neat to just walk along the streets. Robson Square looks ready to go with the Ziptrek towers up, lights, tents and decorations everywhere. Granville Street is abuzz with people looking at the art pieces of Lunarfest. The Olympic Superstore was madly busy, just jam-filled with people looking for Team Canada andVancouver 2010 clothes and other merchandise. And the Coca-Cola Pin Trading Centre was really busy too – there are all sorts of pin traders in town now that I haven’t met before. It was sunny and comfortable outside. A perfect day for a walkabout.
I dragged Rob away from the Pin Trading Centre (he had been the one that wanted to check out venues today in the first place!) and we headed down towards the Yaletown-Roundhouse Canada Line Station to meet up with some others. There was Robert, Kevin, Norman, Jenn, Bryce, Kim, Nancy, James and another woman with a very cute dog in a Canada flag scarf (sorry, I can’t quite remember her name 
). It was quite a group! We started by walking past Casa Italia at the Roundhouse Community Centre on our way to peruse the LiveCity Yaletown celebration site. We wandered around the LiveCity site to the east side of the Roundhouse where the Bike Valet will be during the Games. Our tour continued east along the SeaWall past Concord Place all the way to Russia’s Sochi 2014 House at Science World. From there we hopped on the SkyTrain back downtown where we looked at the International Village on the 5th floor of the Bay and peeked into the Canada Olympic House on the 6th floor of the Bay before heading out through the Olympic Superstore, along Granville Street to Doolin’s Pub, the host of the Irish Olympic House for a bit of refreshment. It was a really great walk with a lot of interesting and enthusiastic people. We even picked up Ricky and Gary along the way!
- Meeting up in Yaletown. From left to right – Kim, Nancy, James, 2010vanfan, Rob, Norman and Kevin. My Mukmuk toque is handy for being found by people! Photo courtesy of Robert.
- Water canons at LiveCity Yaletown. They’ll use these in the water and laser show at night!
- Canada’s residence in the Vancouver Olympic Village! It’s a gorgeous building.
- False Creek, with dozens of inukshuks and Russky Dom and the Olympic Village in the background.
- Some adjustments being made to the model of False Creek in the Concord Pacific display centre. I love that they have the new roof on BC Place already!
- Sochi is ready to welcome the world!
- The Russky Dom!
- Reviving ourselves at Doolin’s after our tour. Left to right – Gary, Robert, Kim, Norman, 2010vanfan, Nancy, James, Ricky’s girlfriend, Kevin and Ricky. Photo courtesy of Robert!
Thank you merci to everyone that came walkabout and thank you merci for reading!
It is a gorgeous and sunny day here in Vancouver, and even reasonably cool at 5 degrees C outside. The sunrise this morning lit up the bridges and buildings on Granville Island. The ferries are chugging along through False Creek. Dragon boats are out practicing – maybe even the dragon boat that will help to carry the Olympic Torch between Granville Island and David Lam Park on the day of the Opening Ceremonies. Gosh this is a wonderful city to be in!
- Another beautiful morning in Vancouver!
Olympic Spirit is building in the city and in the province and it is wonderful to be a part of that. From everything I’ve heard, the energy in Whistler last night when the Olympic Torch arrived was electric! More than 10,000 people out to the celebration site to see the Cauldron lit. It is truly wonderful and exciting. I didn’t get to be there but here are a couple of photos from my friend Rob who did get to be there.
- Tamara Taggart with a gaggle of very excited fans! – photo courtesy of Rob S.
- Big crowds at the Torch Celebration in Whistler! – photo courtesy of Rob S.
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Seems that a few of us are getting together for an impromptu Vancouver 2010 walkabout. If you would like to see a bit of what’s happening in Vancouver and have some free time this afternoon meet us down at the Yaletown-Roundhouse Canada Line station at 2pm today (Saturday, February 6). I’ll be wearing a white Torch Relay hoodie and my orange and blue Mukmuk toque. Where we go will depend on what people would like to see but I would love to walk past LiveCity Yaletown, Concord Place and the Sochi 2014Russky Dom at Science World. Hope to see you there!
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Some exciting events in the next few days:
The Irish House (at Seymour and Nelson) has a soft opening on Monday, February 8 (by invite only I believe) but then will be open to the public! On the 11th it will be blessed by the Most Reverend J. Michael Miller. This is going to be a great place to be and is family friendly during the day!
The House of Switzerland Vancouver opened last night and has a great energy about it! Check it out and if there’s a table, stop by for a meal or snack! Actually, looking at their site the House of Switzerland Whistler opened too!
Canada’s Northern House is already open and well worth a visit! When you’re there don’t forget to enter to win a prize from the north. They have a gold nugget, a diamond and an art tapestry available to be won! I will be going back to check out the activities and to enter my name in this contest!
It looks like most other National and Provincial Houses won’t be open until sometime between the 11th – 13th but those are going to be some crazy, busy, wildly fun days so get ready!
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I’m off to get a few chores done before the walkabout at 2pm. Thank you merci for reading and sharing!
I made it out for a short excursion today. I am so lucky and grateful that Granville Island is only 10 minutes from where I live. I didn’t get a whole lot accomplished other than that today but that’s okay. Tomorrow is looking decidedly busy so it will make up for it.
For the last while I’ve heard terrible and malicious rumours ( ) that Vancouver is not looking forward to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Based on the line-up to get into the House of Switzerland – Vancouver to see it tonight, on the night of its opening, plus talking to people and a bunch of other incidents, I’d say it’s a load of hooey! Yes, I said hooey! I stood in line with my parents today to, very slowly, make our way through the main floor of the House of Switzerland, just to see what was happening and it was really slow going! I even saw AirDave but couldn’t stop to talk ’cause it was so busy! However, it was pretty fun. They were handing out Ricola, Lindt chocolate and appies from Switzerland (are they called appies in Switzerland???). There was music, a tonne of people, no where to sit and a lot of smiling faces despite the lack of space.
This may just be me… but based on the opening of the House of Switzerland and on friends reports of what the Torch Relay Celebration in Whistler was like tonight I’d say Vancouver, BC and Canada are ready for the Games! There is a lot of excitement out there and I’m so happy to see it all!
- Gigantic cow bells, Swiss flags, the Alps and dirndles - welcome to House of Switzerland!
- Lindt chocolates being made in Vancouver – no, I didn’t wait in line to try one, hmmm… maybe I should have…
I’m going to try to add some photos of the Torch Relay celebration in Whistler in a bit, but that may have to wait until morning. Until then… Thank you merci!
Sorry about that folks. I had meant to finish writing but at about 10pm last night I realised that I have a kidney infection and had to go find myself a doctor. I have to say, the nurses and doctors at St. Paul’s Hospital are really wonderful. I know that they are busy and often stressed but I never felt neglected, really I felt very well taken care of which was really quite lovely. So a big thank you to all of them! And thanks to all of you for your concern about my health. Not to worry, I’m getting better very quickly and should be right as rain by tomorrow!
Time to finish my Molson story? Yes, I think so. Please read 7 days 16.5 hours to go for the first part of the story.
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The Molson Coors brewery here in Vancouver has set itself goals of reducing its water, electricity and gas consumption by 5% each year and they have been surpassing that. In 2009 they achieved a 7.3% drop in their water usage. Now that is pretty impressive considering they have to put water in the beer. But they are finding ways of reusing water that would have been lost as waste before and improving efficiencies particularly in their steam lines.
While we did see most of the brewery it was sometimes difficult to see how it was all connected but in the end you get beer, and that’s a good thing. I shot two videos to share while I was there. The first is of the cans through the pasteurization line, and the second is of the boxes being filled with cans for final packaging. It was really cool to see this all happening. From packaging we headed back to the ‘meeting room’ though along the way Gord (with some help from one of the workers) grabbed us some cans off the line so that we could have the freshest of Molson beer.
I meant to mention who all was along for the tour besides Gord Rickards and myself. There was also Les, the cameraman from the Vancouver Sun, and then the Molson guys: Rene Holt – Vancouver Brewery Manager, Wade Bayne – Director of Sales, BC, Bryan Cox – Director, Public Affairs and Scott – Chief Engineer of the Vancouver brewery (sorry, I don’t have your last name Scott, nor your proper title). I had a wonderful time learning about the Molson Coors brewery here in Vancouver and all of their efforts to become more sustainable (they are the greenest of all of the Molson Coors breweries in Canada!). Thanks to everyone that came along and contributed, it really did feel like a private tour which made it even more special. I’ll finish off with this photo of Les getting an image for the paper. We were in the John Molson Academy – a really great pub style space inside the brewery where they host meetings and events.
The Molson guys. From left to right: Rene, Bryan, Scott, Gord, and the Vancouver Sun photog Les.
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Since I wasn’t feeling all that well last night I didn’t stay long at my volunteer shift in the Olympic Village. But I was there long enough to see that the Living Room (aka the Salt Building) is going to get some good use. The 4th was the first day that athletes were in the Village and many of them stopped by to check out their Living Room. There were Russians playing video games, Japanese, Chinese and Italians playing pool, French enjoying the couches and many more people in and out, scoping out the place, during the time I was there. The place is going to be electric in no time at all! I can’t wait to be a part of it (but that will have to wait a day or two until I’m better ).
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Hmm…. some things happening today…
Robson Square is getting very busy! I heard that Premier Gordon Campbell went ziptrekking across Robson Street this morning (I wish I could have been there!). The Mascots are practicing their skating there nearly everyday and there are all sorts of lights up now to create quite the visual effect at night!
Vectorial Elevation is up and running. If you would like to program the lights go to this site.
The Swiss House opens on Granville Island today. I’m hoping to go over for that since it is so close, plus it would be wonderful to write about tonight.
Oh! And my wonderful friend Robyn ran today with the Olympic Torch in Squamish today. I was supposed to be there to cheer and cry and dance and be happy for her but I had to do all those things from home. Since I couldn’t go I did watch on CTV’s Torch Relay Live feed and it was wonderful to watch her. Yay Robyn!! You rock! I’m so happy for you!
Robyn on her Torch Run! Yay!!!
Until tonight… Thank you merci!
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Drat! Forgot to mention something that I thought was really cool… Except for 2 types of Molson Coors beer (MC67 and Export) all of the beer available in all of the Olympic Venues will be coming from Molson’s Vancouver brewery. Just a great little bit of info for all of us!
I intend to do way more with my days than I manage to accomplish, and today I learned a lesson in what that means. I hadn’t been feeling so well last night and when I woke up this morning I still didn’t feel well. I had a long list of ‘to-do’s’ and had to accept that some of it would be left undone. Without some trusty clones I cannot do everything. Instead, I actually heard some advice that had been given to me a few days ago. “Make a list of the 10 things you want to get out of the Games, and be sure you don’t miss those. The rest? It’s gravy.” OK, that is not a direct quote but I’m pretty sure it was Nick from Olympic Rings and Other Things that gave me this advice and I’ve decided to listen. I’ve been a stress ball the last few days and that is no good for me, nor anyone around me. Lesson learned… hopefully early enough that I get my 10 ‘must-haves’ out of Vancouver 2010 and am still able to write something interesting and exciting for my readers. I am still working on my ‘top 10′ but I will let you know when I have it worked out. What are your 10 ‘can’t miss’ items?
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What I did get in today was a visit to the Molson Coors Brewery on Burrard Street today. They had invited the media for a tour of the facility to see why VANOC had awarded them a 2010 Sustainability Star award. Now, this may be my own personal sense of irony, but with sustainability such a big issue in today’s media, I found it very odd that myself and a photographer from the Vancouver Sun were the only two to attend. Apparently there are more newsworthy topics in Vancouver than sustainability these days. Quite honestly, I was influenced to attend more by the tour of the brewery than by the sustainability but I was pleasantly surprised by the whole event.
With only two of us we could have been given a ‘brush-off’ sort of tour, so that the many people leading the tour could get work done. I mean, as far as I understand the Vancouver Sun would be getting their story from the press releases we were given but wanted just a few photos to flesh it out. Instead, it felt like we were given the grand tour, from the thing before the lauterturn (sorry Gord, can’t remember the first tank’s name) right through to canning and packaging. We got to see where Molson Coors had saved not only on water consumption, but on electricity and gas consumption as well as where they managed to reuse water.
The brewery's monthly and year-to-date sustainability chart - to December 2009.
Gord Rickards (yes, I said Rickards) showing us the lauterturn.
I have visited distilleries and wineries before, but nothing quite like the Molson Coors brewery here in Vancouver. I also didn’t expect the treatment that we got, considering there were so few of us media types.
Drat, I’m going to finish writing this in the morning. It has been a long night. Take care. Thank you merci.
Unsurprisingly, I cannot make it to everything that I would like to. If you happen to have a cloning machine handy I could really use at least two more of me, maybe as many as six. Though I’m not sure where I’d keep them all Right then… since that’s not possible, back to Vancouver 2010.
Tonight is the launch of Vectorial Elevation. The artist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer will be in Vanier Park at 6pm to officially light up the piece. From then on you should be able to visit the CODE Vectorial Elevation site to design your own piece of the light art show. I’m looking forward to trying it out!
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Would love to write more but I’ve gotta fly out the door. I get to go on a tour of the Molson Brewery on Burrard Street to see why they won a Sustainability Start from VANOC, and then off to volunteering at the Olympic Village. Athlete’s started arriving this morning so it’s going to be a whole new vibe in there today! I can’t wait! Thank you merci!
