madsdad

Vancouver more pictures

As you can see, there was worries, so a chain link fence was put up. The wait to see it from an unbostuctive viewing point was always a hour wait or longer. Maddy and Jack with torches. Maddy wanted to hold the Beijing one since she heas held a total of four now. The last one is from the USA vs Russia in Women's Curling.

Vancouver 2010

My whole family went. Making this my 9th games, Maddy's third, Sio and Jack's first. It was less expensive to fly into Seattle and then drive to Vancouver which was only three hours away. We were able to see the USA Men's Hockey team defeat Norway 6-1. We attended an award ceremony at BC place, It is a lot like the Metro-dome only larger. Siobhan had her picture taken with a member of Canada's finest. Prior to meeting Siobhan we ran into Jimmy Roberts a reporter for NBC

Dude Where's my Passport?

These were some of the bad pictures I took the weekend Jim was supposed to meet and drive with me me up to Vancouver. But he claims he lost his passport and now I am a blog critic too, NBC broadcast is by far the worst ever! I will not even begin to bore you with the 100 + reasons it is so bad! Cris Collinsworth at the award ceremonies. I mean get real!
I was fortunate to go to Vancouver this past August. The first picture was taken as driving in Richmond near the airport. The next was a view most people will not see. This has been blocked during the games. I was fortunate enough to speak to some of the guys who worked on the roof and the stats were amazing. This like the media center was made of ash borer wood that was salvaged. If you watch when they are at the fireside you can see the wood in the background. Oh and this was the first time ever a venue had been open to the public prior to the games!

Maddy and Jack

This is one of Jack and his friend Will taken while goofing after their “Holiday” Concert. Maddy and I went to Sault Ste. Marie, ONT for the 2010 Vancouver Torch relay and she was able to hold her 3rd torch. Good thing it was inside because it was -27C outside!

Christmas 09

It's been a while. So I thought I would try to play catch up. Below are before and after. We are grateful to have a friend that is able to get Siobhan double yolk eggs and butter! I do not know of the finally count but I believe that this was around 27 different kinds with a least 10 more that followed. Yes the tree did get decorated! Siobhan, but this proves that there were actually more cookies in the fridge!

Memorial Day

I read a news article on Memorial Day. It stated some numbers. 16.9 million Americans fought in World War II. It also went on to state that veterans are being buried at a rate of 1000 a day. Fact or Fiction? Anyhow it got me to pull down some of my grandfather’s awards. I have asked my father as next of kin to sign some paperwork and then I will get the Army’s exact information. I can not request it as a grandchild but can get limited information under the public records laws. Dumb! Below in Military order are Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, MSM, Air Medal 4 awards, ARCOM 4 awards, GCM 8 awards, Marine Corp Reserve Ribbon, American Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal 4 awards, Army of Occupation, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal 4 awards, Philippine Liberation Ribbon, Philippine Independence Ribbon, United Nations Service Medal, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. I am sure these are not all. I am also sure that I may have some of them incorrect and please drop me a line to correct them.

Bird Watching

Jack and I were sitting down watching the birds in the backyard when Maddy or Siobhan took this. The city had just mowed and the water birds were nesting.

Forgotten Pictures from China

I thought I had posed some of these. Apparently I had not. The first one is a picture taken inside the Forbidden City in a room one of a trillion. This was the Emperor’s birthday room. Outside my subway stop which was only about 3 blocks from my hotel I heard music one day and this is what I saw. There was not even a hat to leave tips. Just music from what I have no clue. This was one of the cleanest Chinese bathrooms I saw. This was at a subway station inside the Olympic Park that was not open during the games. Note the water running. Yes, Craig, this is an aerial drop! Larry and I had a knack for finding a cheap place to eat. I can’t remember how much we paid but it was under $10. I also think that the government cleaned up the place a bit. Those peppers if I remember were really spicy. I had tickets to a Day session of Track and Field. I was in the second row! I traded the security guard for his seat in the front row and was looking right above the Women’s Long Jump qualifying. We also were at Track and Field in the evening and saw the back of Bolt during his medal ceremony. We were in the really cheap seats so we were slow in leaving and this was taken on one of the ramps as we exited the Bird’s Nest. Police, Army, Government Officials were everywhere. Many people said they spoke English but few could carry on a conversation. But the Chinese people would talk to sometimes ten other people until they found some to help you.

Eagle River Snowmobile

The annual snowmobile trip has completed year 9. The place we have been staying at rocks. This was a 5 bedroom, 4 bath 3800 sq. ft. house. Unfortunately all the rooms are not furnished and the place did not have ESPN. The basement only had one bedroom furnished. There was no furniture in the second bedroom in the basement or the great room which was huge. From The Orange shirt clockwise thats John, Gino, Craig, Jeff and Dano. Friday’s ride was nice! This was taken outside North Twin Lake near Phelps. I decided to see how close I was to the border and 10 miles later I found out. I only saw four cars on the 30 minute ride to the end of Hwy 17 in the state of Wisconsin. John decided to grow hair in a place called Irish Waters in Three Lakes right on Hwy 45

Happy Holidays

Santa was back logged this year.

Random Beijing

I did not order and Olympic tickets so I still have time to post some Beijing pictures. I was protesting the VANOC’s policy and how they sold tickets. The only way I could get tickets to see an awards ceremony is if I was a Canadian citizen living in Canada. Outside the subway entrance which was about a half mile away from my hotel I heard this guy and then found him. He was not pan handling for money. The next is the lights that lined Olympic Park all had the Bird’s Nest theme to it. The last was one of the nicer bathrooms I found. This was actually not even open yet. This was at the underground subway stop that was to open after the games. Nice hole to drop stuff into!

Haiku and Hockey

Is it Jack and Phil?
Or Bucky and the Sign Guy?
Jack Taught Dad Haiku

Siobhan got help this year from Jack. For Halloween Jack and Siobhan made Bucky’s head out of paper mache. Jack wanted to wear it to a hockey game so I let him. He was the hit of the game. He was on television and numerous times on the Jumbotron. Jack had also taught me how to write a Haiku.

Playing in the snow
With my sister and cat Zach
It is very fun

Winter can be fun
Eating icicles feels cold
I like eating snow

Blizzards cancel school
We don’t have school in winter
Snow is very fun

Then I wrote my first one!

Jack likes the Summer
Dad goes to the Olympcs
Maybe Jack goes soon!

Smog Fog and Hotels

Well, most of the questions I have been asked concerned air quality and where I stayed. The first picture was taken on the 3rd day I was there To me it really seemed as they seeded the clouds because that day was so foggy before it rained steadily for over four hours. Then a day later I took a similar shot of the exact same building. This I think was a hotel but check out those big screens! The next picture was of a key of sorts. I had to place in a slot if I wanted electricity to work any place in my room. I had to take it with me during the day as it was also my room key. I wonder how much energy we would save by making this a requirement for all hotels in the US. My room consisted of two twin beds with a TV that actually had 9 stations. One was English speaking but that showed no Olympics. During off season this room is about $60.00 a night including breakfast. I also found two things about the beds they do not have what we would call a mattress these were box springs. I was told that was normal in China. The bathroom was just fine but look closely and you can see I did bring my own T.P. I refused to use the sandpaper they had.

Second Day

My second day I spent going to Workers Stadium, to see the USA men’s Soccer team get beat and beat badly by a better Nigerian team. I liked to take pictures of signs so here are two shots I took that day. One is just plain wrong on so many levels. This was a motorcycle I wished I knew more about. It looked like it had been parked in a no parking zone for quite some time. The female police officer seemed to ask if it was mine and when I showed her my camera she understood that I just wanted to take a picture of it.

My first full day in Beijing

http://tv.disney.go.com/disneychannel/hannahmontana/Day two in Beijing started off interestingly enough. I got up real early at 6 am and realized that no one had running drinking water in the campus. These jugs were filled and left at the end of each dorm. This appeared to be an all girls dorm. I never figured out where they got the water. I bought 1 liter bottles for less then .50 every day. On my way to pick up my tickets I saw a car like Siobhan’s. The only thing I could find that was made in the USA was some Buicks. They were few and far between but considered a luxury. Most of the cabs that cost around $4.00 were Korean Hyundais. The video shoot of me walking out with my Packers shirt and tickets was a reenactment but really took place on this day. Not a bad actor right? But I did go to the Canada vs. China baseball game. It will probably not be seen as an Olympic sport again any time soon. This is primarily for two reasons. First, Major League Baseball will not release the players for a month. The second reason, well like Hank said I won’t even go there. The sky was very well, let’s just call it solid. But see what I said about empty seats. This was the larger of two baseball stadiums. I really believe this was from the government seeding the clouds. The next day it rained hard and blue skies followed with very little clouds expect for my last day. This was a picture of the subway line one which I took everywhere for only .33 each way. I meet some ladies from Spain’s basketball team. They had just won but where playing the US women’s team the next day. Jack watches a show on Disney with a person named similar. This is also called an accreditation badge. There were numerous different levels from coaches, media and even volunteers. She apparently played in the WNBA briefly for SLC. It is a shame that more opportunities for women like her do not exist.