Jotting down some stuff.

Going to work is actually not bad. I think I’m quite lucky having been scheduled for the Athletes Village. Here I am, walking to work and the German team is walking alongside us!

I did my first overtime (total of 16 hrs), and I plan to do a hell of a lot more. The pay is ridiculous and we are now understaffed so there’s always shifts available.

First snowfall I’ve seen since I came up. Was great, big puffy flakes.

I met my Vice Principal from Elementary School while on a lunch break. It’s been 8 years since I was there, but when she sat down I instantly knew she was someone from my past. Oh yea, I also got a haircut.

Going into the village is quite amazing. Already known as party town, Whistler doesn’t seem to sleep at all now.

Michael Smith is up here cooking for the athletes. On his meal breaks, he comes out and sits with us in the workforce dining area! How laid back is that? He’s a tall guy, and every day he comes in the same clothes. Now that’s how you know he’s a true chef.

Michaelle Jean, our Governor General was in the stage area a couple days ago. What for, I don’t know. Probably a speech. Our venue manager was cool and told us to take a break and go out, see her and take some pictures. She was so close, less than 10feet away!

We scan everything that anyone brings in through our x-ray machines, even broadcasting cameras. There’s a picture of an apparent dildo that I’ve seen too.

Living in our shitty accommodation is totally forgotten when I go boarding. Which I did twice! Thank you Olympics for there was fresh pow and tracks to be had even at 12pm.

A group setting up a big booter just beyond the boundaries of 7th Heaven.

Booter country :). See all three of them?

The drunks have already started coming in. Two nights ago, a Slovenian guy came in topless. It’s -3 at night and windy. Before he steps through the magnetometor (metal detector), he strips down to his boxers. The cop stops him before he removes that as well. Then there’s the drunk French guys who come in at 5am! Don’t the bars here close at 3am? They make the shifts go by so much faster and enjoyable. :)

Coming up on 3 weeks here and things are goooooooooood.

This is the first peek into the Athletes Village for me, and most likely for the rest of you, the general public. There will be plenty more pictures, hopefully, as my whole stint up here is entirely in the Athletes Village.

(I’m not tired so I came back and decided to wait out the long upload of pictures.)

Well I’ve finally got a schedule. First shift yesterday was a graveyard.. after I was up all day trying to get one. It was pretty quiet yesterday, 3 people came through in the first 3 hours. Today was a little better, when I arrived there was Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech, Estonia & France coming through. Oh yea, I’m in the Athletes Village, yea.

My schedule is pretty much 4 on, 4 off. Copy pasted it below.

First day off I get, I’m coming back to Vancouver to get my board and gear, I’m so ticked off. They said not to bring your own gear, but I’ve seen at least 10 boards. Heck, I even saw people that were leaving this morning to go up!I’m not wasting my days off to do nothing and not take advantage of this beautiful mountain. You can’t expect me to come up to Whistler and not go boarding at all.

No pictures uploaded yet, but I’ve got some great stuff! Since I’m working graveyard, I’m sleeping after dinner instead of fighting for a spot in the internet room. It’s much too slow anyways, it’s super crowded and it just gets bogged down.

Other than that..it’s not bad up here.

Venue:     Shift:     Scheduled Start Time:          Scheduled Finish:
WVL    PSA 1-D    2/4/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/4/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 1-C    2/5/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/5/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-C    2/6/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/6/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 1-B    2/7/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/7/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/9/2010 4:00:00 PM         2/10/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-B    2/11/2010 8:00:00 AM         2/11/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/12/2010 8:00:00 AM         2/12/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/13/2010 8:00:00 AM         2/13/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/14/2010 4:00:00 PM         2/15/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-C    2/15/2010 8:00:00 AM         2/15/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-C    2/17/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/17/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-C    2/18/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/18/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-C    2/20/2010 4:00:00 PM         2/21/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/21/2010 4:00:00 PM         2/22/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/22/2010 4:00:00 PM         2/23/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/24/2010 8:00:00 AM         2/24/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/25/2010 8:00:00 AM         2/25/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-C    2/26/2010 4:00:00 PM         2/27/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    2/28/2010 12:00:00 AM         2/28/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/1/2010 12:00:00 AM         3/1/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/2/2010 12:00:00 AM         3/2/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 1-C    3/4/2010 4:00:00 PM         3/5/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/5/2010 4:00:00 PM         3/6/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/6/2010 4:00:00 PM         3/7/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/8/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/8/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/9/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/9/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/10/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/10/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-B    3/11/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/11/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/13/2010 12:00:00 AM         3/13/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/14/2010 12:00:00 AM         3/14/2010 8:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-C    3/16/2010 4:00:00 PM         3/17/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/17/2010 4:00:00 PM         3/18/2010 12:15:00 AM
WVL    PSA 3-C    3/20/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/20/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/21/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/21/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-A    3/22/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/22/2010 4:15:00 PM
WVL    PSA 3-B    3/23/2010 8:00:00 AM         3/23/2010 4:15:00 PM

Time to pass out and repeat. Ciao.

This place is insane. I need to work, I need my schedule, I need shifts. I can’t stand being trapped here with nothing to do. The fire alarm went off 3 times yesterday, once early at 6am and twice around 12pm. I went to HR early in the morning to ask for my schedule, and the guy sent off an email to them asking for it to be uploaded. I was to receive it by the end of the day but hey.. the internet went down after dinner around 7pm so I couldn’t check it. Not that it would have mattered anyways because the fucking center down in Vancouver closes at 6pm.

Nobody wants to work, the scheduling department ignored my email request weeks ago, and I never get through the call center, even when I phone in the morning right when they open. The only way things are getting done is if you physically walk into the place and talk to someone.

Lunch was pretty gruesome. Yea the stuff is edible, but it was pretty bland. Turkey Sandwich was a bun, turkey slices and gravy slopped on top. Oh and you get dinky flaccid fries on top of that.

After lunch, I had to get out so I took the shuttle to the Village.

Walking around was great, the sun was out, and it’s great to see familiar things. I didn’t realize, the hotel I stayed at a couple years ago with my family is right beside Araxi. I can’t do much though, I have no cashflow so I can’t spend money yet. So wait, why don’t I have cashflow? Oh right cause I HAVE NO SHIFTS.

I’m also super jealous of the people who aren’t working and are just here to enjoy the mountain. The conditions are great, almost 10m of snow in Whistler. I need to get my gear so I can ride too. Thinking of taking the shuttle back to Vancouver (leaves @ 9am everyday) so I can pick up my stuff. The shuttle leaves at 530pm from Vancouver though, doesn’t leave much time for me to do anything.

So in recap.. can you tell I’m not having the best experience up here? I’m going to hold back on some info that I’ve since learnt in the past couple hours, but I think this whole company is a JOKE. Of course, that’s just my experience and opinion, but I’m really not the only one here. I haven’t heard a single good story from anyone here.

It’s 2am and I arrive at Whistler 6 hours ago. I’m up here with Contemporary Security Canada as part of the GSS team that will be providing security screening for the 2010 Olympics.

So far it has been ….interesting. The accomodations are blarh but hey, they’re taking care of us with food and a roof. Can’t complain that much. Some have said that it looks like jail, and I guess it does. My building is, in actuality, 3 storage containers stacked on top of each other. Amazing, I know.

Don’t know what my schedule is or what venue I’m working at yet.

I’ll try to upload pictures daily. So far it’s just night stuff and what the room looks like. Pretty boring but it’s .. different.

Flickr Set