SLOC 2002

I got an email from a friend today bragging that he went up to Vancouver and hung out at the Olympics. He didn't go to any events but just got to go hang out. At first I was pretty annoyed because I freaking love the Olympics. Well la-te-da you live in Washington and can go. Pfft whatever! While moping and planning snarky response to this email I remembered that I was a volunteer for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake. So in reality I should let him have his moment. I'll sit back and pout quietly. But this got me thinking about the 2002 Olympics. Here in Utah a lot of people have been talking about when the Olympics were here and reminiscing, so I'll jump on that bandwagon. Why? Because I'm a sheep. Baaa! I follow. I'm sure you would like to see photos wouldn't you? Yeah me too...but I could only find my credentials so that's all you get. Sorry. My job in the Olympics was event services. If any of you went and/or saw the Olympics I was one of those people in the Yellow coats. My specific job was opening and closing ceremonies. Which in all honesty was probably the best job to get. As an event services volunteer the majority of my time I did security. At the opening ceremonies my job was to direct people on where to go outside of the stadium and then during the ceremonies was to make sure we had no gate jumpers. Exciting no? The best part was when the secret service man had to go to the bathroom and I was in charge of guarding President Bush's car. He gave me a secret service pin!

I also have another pin (well I have a lot of pins, but I only mention the cool ones) from the BLM, guess who THAT is from! Yup Dad. Gooooo BLM.
After opening ceremonies we were then assigned to go all over the valley to different events and help out. It was awesome! Because everyone else was assigned to only one venue. I worked the skeleton, met the Queen of Latvia, Hockey, worked the VIP tent and met, Jacque Rouge, Mit Romney, Evgeni Plushenko, The Bare Naked Ladies, Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan, I worked the medals ceremony, met Steve Young and Nelly Furtado, worked men's aerials, didn't met anyone cool, but the aerials are cool on their own, worked the bobsled, confiscated this guys really nice flask, he got mad, worked figure skating directing traffic, not car traffic, people traffic and ended with the closing ceremonies, were I saw Harry Connick Jr. changing clothes! He was doing it outside! Not my fault. I was also directing people at the end and this drunk Dutch speed skater wanted my lanyard and I wouldn't give it to him then he finally convinced me so I gave it to him and he kissed me. Let me tell you being kissed by a drunk man is not totally unpleasant...I loved being a volunteer and it was for sure a once in a lifetime opportunity and I'm so glad I did it. They gave us a watch at the end of the games and I still wear it to this day as a great reminder.
Now on to the current Olympics. I used to love figure skating as a kid. Now? Blah, snore. My sports now are snowboarding and moguls, and really any downhill, men, women doesn't matter.

I absolutely loved Shaun White's half pipe run. It was amazing! He is amazing.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=d924411a-bea6-4fd8-b485-f58dc5238dfe.html#mens+halfpipe+white+wins+gold

Torah Bright's run was also amazing.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=a0bde7de-9843-4851-ba23-f640961c8f3b.html

I also was really excited for the Canadian Men's moguls winner. He's just a cool guy and for sure deserved to win.
http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/assetid=2f250b2b-19c7-4322-ac49-4ccdaa0f1001.html?chrcontext=goldenmoments#mens+moguls+bilodeau+wins+first+canada+gold

After Wednesday I can watch more and I'm ubber excited because I love the Olys. Who doesn't?! One of my mom's favorite Olympic sports is curling. Really? Lame. As Stephen Colbert said, there is a reason they normally play that game in a pub with lots of drinking. But actually I got her on the half pipe bandwagon by making her watch Shaun White's run five times. What? They have a better tv. HD and bigger. On mine you can barely see the faces since its so old and blurry. I had to sit in front of it to watch LOTR so I culd read the translation. But hey it was $30 bucks and I won it in a law school auction. I would also like to fully admit that I have no idea how to post non-youtube videos on here so cut and past the link...

So the next Olympics are in London 2012. I have signed up to be on their volunteer newsletter so then I could hopefully fill out an application to become a volunteer. How cool would that be?! Granted London is going to take UK applicants first then European applicants. Hopefully I can squeeze in their and do it. I'm hoping my Spanish helps and the fact that I've volunteered before. Who knows! We can always hope right?

A Faceplant and Falling Pants...

First off my frustration. I love running. That is my exercise of choice. It is an exercise that challenges me physically and mentally. It helps release my stress and thankfully that has been my replacement for food. Well lately my ACL knee is mad at me. So I've had to cut way down on my miles. So Monday I ran only 2 miles. Of course the knee was mad so I bought a knee brace and have been icing it. So then today I decided just to keep in the mindset of running I'd only do a mile today. Well I started on my run and the knee wouldn't let me. I ended up walking my mile and I wanted to cry. I miss running. But I guess I have to suck it up until the things get better. Its just depressing. So to feel like I'm still getting a workout I go to 24Hour Fitness classes at night. Last night was 24Set. Weight training mixed with cardio. Tonight I did 1 hour of cycling class and then right after 1 hour of yoga. Which leads me into the funny. 2 stories for you.
#1 So cycling always makes me ubber sweaty because its a tough class but I love it. So I was all sweaty and gross from cycling and I went into yoga. I went into the studio set up my mat and then went and changed into my yoga clothes. I ran back upstairs and the class had already started. I was still sweaty and gross and I went into my first downward facing dog after the warm up...well apparently I got either water or sweat on my mat and I put my hands out moved back into the downward facing dog and totally slipped and face planted on my mat. You can't see it but I have mat burn on my nose. It was pretty awesome! But as Janelle said story number 2 is better.
#2: So my Dad told me a story about a guy who worked at the church had his car die and he counted 90 cars in the church office building parking garage drive past him until someone finally stopped. So I was driving back home from the gym and this guys car died. So I about went around and then remembered my dad's story. So I stopped and asked if I could help because no one else was. This was at 5400 South and Bangerter Highway. If you are not familiar with Bangerter Highway it is pretty big and really busy. The guy said that if I could help him push his car across Bangerter to the gas station that would be great. So I park my car and the light changes and I start pushing (FYI a new cadilac Escalada truck is not the lightest car I have ever pushed) So we are pushing and its moving and then these two guys come help. We are in the middle of the intersection and I am wearing my yoga pants that are too big for me but I like them. Well I stepped on one leg and ended up pulling my pants down in the middle of Bangerter Highway. Thankfully I had other shorts on underneath or everyone on Bangerter would have seen my skivvies.
Ah yes. There we go...I try to be normal and it just doesn't work.