Saturday, February 27, 2010

New videos

Check out the new videos I have put up on youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/DRJCatering

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Well 2 days left, now it is starting to get sad realizing that all the great friends I have made will soon all go back to their own lives as will I. I have met so many great people this month, I will miss them all very much.

Yesterday was pretty uneventfull, people watched for a few hours, saw a great band play in the village, and then went out clubbing with my friends.
Today we catered a party for the Vancouver Organizing Committe (VANOC) or also known as the smurfs, for 800 of the volunteers who work at our venue. It was a fun party, simple and a very nice night.

I have some pictures of the village and various people as well as the smurf party and the crowd at biathalon and some pictures of our work compound check them out at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/UntitledAlbum02

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Bobsled and Friends













Well I am in the home stretch, I had today and Thursday off then 3 last days at work and then home on Monday. I will be very glad to see my kids and wife, but will miss this place and the people alot, it has no doubt become part of who I am.

Went to see the final 2 runs of the womans 2 person bobsled and got to see the USA take home a Bronze Medal, it was pretty cool and the first time I have witnessed firsthand a USA medal win. The bobsled is so exciting to watch and got to see a few flips ( no one got hurt though). Hopefully thursday night I will get tickets for the medal ceremony and see them get their medal and also maybe a USA medal in the Womans Giant Slalom Combined which will be run during the day Thursday. Here are more pics http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/Womans2PersonBobsledFinal

Went out tonight for some Sushi (sorry family) and then out to party a bit as this town was going nuts with the Gold and Silver for Canada in the 2 woman bobsled and also Canada winning medals in speed skating, short track speedskating, and a local from here in Whistler winning the Gold Medal in Womans Ski Cross along with the Canada Men winning their hockey game against Russia.
Thursday is a huge day with the gold medal game USA vs Canada for womans hockey. It will be insane around here, and the anticipation is growing for a possible showdown in mens hockey USA vs Canada on Sunday.

And finally and album of friends having fun. http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/Friends#

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Videos are working

It seems as if my videos are up and running again on the blog so check them out, they are a few posts down.

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Ski Jump


2 Cross Country Skiiers from Japan

These 2 pics are the front of the house night crew I work with, what a great group of people from USA, Australia, France, New Zealand and Canada.






This pic is of Josh (from Canada) on the left who works with me during the day and night and Pedro ( from Angola and Portugal) and Jessie ( from Canada) who both work the morning and lunch shift.
I watched some of the medal round on the large ski jump hill and all I can say is wow. These guys fly over one and a half times the length of a football field, amazing. It was a beautiful day, sunny, warm, and in the high 50's so there are a few interesting pictures in my photo album from today ( you will know them when you see them).

There are also pics of some cross country skiiers ( I have know idea who they were other then some were from Japan).

And lastly but not least there are some pictures of some of my co workers and new friends who work the dinner shift with me, represented are USA, Canada, Australia, France and Portugal/Angola. Check them all out at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/LargeHillSkiJumpingAndWorkFriends.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Hockey Baby







Today was a long but unbelievable day. Got up at 4 am to get a 5:00 bus to Vancouver, arrived at 8, and took a walk and found the olympic flame, it was very cool to see. While wondering decided to go and have some breakfast and found myself in the same mall food court we ate at years ago when we cruised to Alaska from Vancouver, very weird, brought back a lot of good memories.
I then walked about 45 minutes to meet the man I contacted on craigs list to purchase my hockey ticket, we exchanged cash for ticket and I was on my way.

I got to the arena around 10 for a noon game and just walked around and took it all in. The game was what I expected it to be and so much more, it really makes you patriotic to see all the red, white and blue and USA gear, there were a few Norwegian fans there and added to the Canadians who were rooting for Norway just because, the crowd was split about 60/40 for the USA.
The game was more or less a blowout, the USA won 6-1, but I am so glad I went to this game, my seats were 10 rows off the ice and I got some great pics and you can check them all out at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/HockeyVancouver .
After the game I boarded a 4:00 bus back to Whistler and arrived around 7:30 just in time to watch the end of the Canada - Switzerland game ( which was right after the USA game). What a game, Canada won 3-2 in a shootout. So now we just wait for the showdown on Sunday for the USA - Canada game, the winner I think gets a bye in the next round, it will be an exciting day.

There is not much happening in the next few days so I may not post anything but I will be back soon.
Well I got tickets for mens hockey USA vs Norway on Thursday so I will give a report when I get back.

Today was uneventful, not much to report.

I will have some pics up when I return from Vancouver tommorow.

For some reason my videos keep getting pulled down so I guess it is pictures from here on out.

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Tuesday, February 16, 2010







































The above pictures are of the peak to peak gondola as well as a view of the crossing. A picture of my wife with a Mountie as well as with a Canadian Luger, I do not know his name but he had the best finish ever in Luge by a Canadian (7th I think). And then some view from the top of the mountain, there are much more pics on the Picassa site, link is below.


I am working on getting some videos up but the internet in my condo is out and I have to go to starbucks to log in, so I apologoze for the delay. I am off Wednesday and Thursday and am going to a local hotel to use the internet for the day so I should be able to put some on in the next few days.

We went skiing on Sunday and it was incredible, took the gondola to what we thought was the top and then took another chairlift to the real top. The top is 8,000 feet and is a glacier above treeline. We had the most incredible view from the top, pictures really do it no justice, every turn was nicer scenery. Then we took the "peak to peak" gondola from Whistler Montain to Blackcomb Mountain and holy ******, check out the pictures and you will see what I mean. This was the most incredible skiing we have ever done, I can not wait to go again.


As we were walking through the village we met and talked to the relatives of Megan Sweeney who is a USA Luger. So go Megan!!!!!!!!

We also went to see the "fire and ice" show at the base of the mountain where they have skiiers and snowboarders doing tricks, it started later then we thought so we walked around the village a bit. I got in line to buy tickets for the womans 4 person bobsled gold medal round and while I was waiting my wife was given 2 tickets for the medal celebrations that night, so we got to see the American receive his medal in Nordic Combined live as well as seeing Appolo Ono on the bigscreen from Vancouver get his silver medal, again very cool.


Well my wife left very, very early monday morning and again the trip home was another ordeal, missed connections and wrong trains, but even with all the trials and tribulations it was a great weekend with her, an experience of a lifetime spending some time at the olympics.

I worked yesterday and other then that it was an uneventfull day, same thing today. I am off the next 2 days after today and may have an in for some USA Mens hockey tickets for Wednesday in Vancouver, keep your fingers crossed.

I do have a bunch of new pics up so check them out. http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/UntitledAlbum

Monday, February 15, 2010

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Day 2 luge





It is raining today again and we walked around the village and went to see the mens luge first and second runs. It was incredible, you can not appreciate how fast these guys go unless you see it, the fastest today was 95mph.

I am posting some pics to my picassa album at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/DAY2LugeAndMiscPics##

Also Youtube took most of my videos down because they said they were copyright infringement, so I will repost them on the blog.


Saturday, February 13, 2010



















I am writing this on the day after the torch has been lit, and as most of you know a Luger from the Republic of Georgia was killed yesterday in a horrific training accident, I was watching it live on TV along with about 600 Olympics workers, volunteers and catering staff in our dinner tent. This has cast a sadness over the town here, a makeshift memorial has been started under the olympic rings in the village and wherever you are whether it be a loud bar or restaurant or club when the footage comes on TV the whole place just becomes silent, it is very surreal. We have tickets to the luge tonight so it will be very sad to be there after this has happened.
Before all this happened we went to the qualifying round for ski jumping on the small hill, it was very cool, we got to see a world record set of 107 meters, it is amazing to see this in person, you can not get an accurate picture of it on tv.
We are now off to explore, more later.

All my pictures from the ski jump and around the village on day one of the olympics are at http://http//picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/OpeningDayOfTheOlympicsAndSkiJump as well as some video at http://www.youtube.com/user/DRJCatering#p/u.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Opening Day

Well the day is finally here, opening day.

There is only one event today and 1.2 billion people will be watching, it is the qualifying for the small hill ski jump and we will be there. My wife arrived late last night ( well really early this morning) 24 hours after she left New Jersey, cancelled flights and delays and plane changes and airport layovers later.

It was great to see her, we have never been apart this long.

Well I work today later and then am off for the next 2 days to enjoy the games.
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010

An Athlete from Russia in the village taking some pictures, pretty cool.

These are my room mates from left to right, Alex from Australia, me, Brandon, Dylon, Mike and Marc from Canada - I really lucked out we all get along very well and they are good guys.




It is hard to see but there is a
gondola connecting these 2 peaks.
Well it is 2 days before the olympics started and it is getting very exciting. I saw them practicing ski jump off the small hill today. Not much else to report, I have been working a lot. I have uploaded some new pics to my album at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/Day47 . There is one picture on there that has 2 mountains on both sides and if you look close you can see the gondola connecting the peaks, it is called aptly the "peak to peak gondola". My wife is coming to visit tomorow, but the snow made it interesting ( I would expect nothing else as the black cloud strikes again). Her flight was cancelled for tomorow morning and luckily I got her re-booked on later in the day, she will just arrive in Whistler at 2:00 am instead of 8:30. I guess it is better then her not coming at all. I have some more video to link to also but it is not ready so I will probably put the link on later today.





Monday, February 8, 2010

No pics today, sorry.
I worked last night from noon to 10 and got home around 11:30 and had to be up this morning at 3:00 am to get the bus to my venue so I could be there for my 5:30 am start.

Today was lockdown day, all venues become secure and "clean" and after that you need to go through massive security every time you go in, employees, althletes, press and everybody else.

At 6:15, 450 police and army showed up for breakfast, they were not supposed to be there until 7 so we were not ready. Pressure is cooking for 450 people armed with assault rifles and guns.

Today starts the ultra security that will exist through the end of the olympics. There are police everywhere and it is going to get more intense as the week goes on. I am starting to see althetes dressed in their countries uniforms walking around our venue and through the village. I have know idea who they were but I saw cross country skiiers from Estonia and Finland and in the village I have seen groups of British, American, Russian and Swedish althletes walking around.

In the tent that I serve to they have about 16 large flat screen TV's and whenever I go in there to eat or check on things I see the commercials for the Olympics on TV and I smile to myself everytime and say holy ***** I am actually here at an Olympics. Yesterday and today you can really start to feel the electricity in the air and the buzz when you are out and about, it is soooo cool. I miss my wife and kids a lot as well as everyone else, but with every hour I spend here I know I made the right decision to come out here and do this, the feeling here is incredible.

I work tomorow night and then I have my first days off ( Wednesday and Thursday ) and i may try skiing one of those days.

Hopefully I will have some pics tommorow.


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Sunday, February 7, 2010








Today was a crazy day, everything that could have went wrong at work went wrong. I had everything timed to go out perfectly at 5:00 and then the bags i was heating everything up in started breaking open in the cooking water, so I decided to put them in the steamer, but guess what it broke after one round of food, so we heatedup the food up on the stove. After that the roasted vegetables I was cooking did not cook in the time I was told they were supposed to cook in. Well to make a long story short I pulled it off and got everything out before serving time, so my bosses were very happy. Hopefully tommorow will be better.

Anyway they were practicing ski jumping today on the small hill and it was very, very cool. I got some great pics, I put some on here but check them all out at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/Day3WhistlerOlympics#

Saturday, February 6, 2010

February 5th

Well I took really cook video today of the Olympic Torch coming past out venue on the Olympic Torch Relay, but when I went to upload it on 2 seconds of it came out and it was before the torch came by so you are just going to have to take my word for it that it was very cool to see.

Other then that just work today, our numbers we cooked for doubled from 60 to 120 today so things are starting to ramp up.

No pics today, maybe tomorow
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Friday, February 5, 2010

My second day at the olympics and my first day at work







Well today was my first day at work, my schedule through sunday is noon to 10 at night, I am working out of a trailer serving all the workforce and the media at the cross country venue (and ski jumping).
The job seems very easy, no real cooking, supervising mostly. My bosses are very cool so that is good. Everyone I have met includng my 5 roommates are great, so that is a plus.

So far all has been awesome, here are a few pics and you can see the rest at http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/Day2Whistler#

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

http://picasaweb.google.com/pieshops1/DayOneInWhistler#

The link above is for all my pictures from day one in Whistler.

And hello to everyone at Aircruisers.

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Arriving at Whistler

















The ride from Vancouver was about 2 hours and what a beautiful ride on the "sea to sky highway". Arrived at Whistler around noon today and went right away to get my credentials. This was quick and painless. I also got my housing assignment, i am staying at "Twin Lakes" condo, the condo is beautiful, there is one room with 3 queen futons, 2 bedrooms with twin beds in each and I hit the jackpot with my private room with a king bed and my own bathroom and shower.

I went out and explored, went to Creekside, where the downhill events are and went to the Whistler village where the snowboarding downhill ends and where the "Araxi" restaurant from "Hell's Kitchen" is. All I can say is awesome, it is beyond beautiful up here.

I have posted some video's on my Youtube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/DRJCatering and put some pictures on here.

I start work tommorow, I am working at the Whistler Olympic Park, they call it WOP, it is fun to say that. I will be cooking for the media at the Cross Country venue.

Thats it for now.

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