Flashback to 2002, Observations

This is going to be a collection of thoughts (actually, it is mostly stuff I forgot to include previously.)
* A large number of the paid supervisory staff are people who are actually "event groupies", that is, they are people who go from event to event and don't have any permanent job. One girl has parents in Canada, but doesn't consider herself Canadian - she says she is a citizen of the world and has not had her own home since she got out of college. Many of these guys worked in Sydney, a couple even were in Atlanta. They work World Cups, Academy Awards, all sorts of things.
*I actually got a little taste of what the other hosts did on the night that I stood and watched Victoria Jackson. It was a blast directing spectators to their sections and answering their questions. (I do think that I wouldn't like standing every night, however. My knees were terribly stiff standing in the cold for an hour. My arthritis now has arthritis.) I also had a great time visiting with one of the security officers who has been taking special care of me in the booth. He checks in each night a couple of times to make sure we are all right.
*On one of the later nights, four burly guys from Boston (they sounded just like the car guys!) came into the IB to get recommendations on a cheap, but decent place to eat nearby. I suggested Crown Burger on the corner. We started talking and they told us that they had been spending the entire time sitting in a warehouse keeping an eye on medical supplies that had been brought into SLC, just in case of a large disaster. Everything about what they had was a big secret. They couldn't even tell us where the warehouse was. (We have a pretty good idea, though. Bob has a delivery service that started coming in one day with security clearance badges. They told him that they had to be accredited because they were storing emergency supplies.) These poor guys were four of nearly a hundred who had been sitting there for 10 days, just outside of the biggest party in the world. Someone had given the company 4 tickets to the Medals Plaza and they had been picked to attend. They just wanted to find some way to share as much as they could with the others. I gave them enough Olympic penlights for everyone, along with walking maps and anything else I could round up. They were delighted and gave me a special Haz-Mat pin that is pretty rare.
*Speaking of pins, I did pretty well, considering I didn't buy any. Besides the Steve Young special, I got the 6 shift and the 12 shift pins from SLOC, an Event Services pin from the ES stff, a "Charge pin from all the training sessions (with an incredible matching kazoo!), a white crystal logo pin with attached Visa pin (from Visitor Information Services), a copper Utah-shaped pin that says "I was touched" (from the Colorado masseuse), a couple of Jet Set Sports pins - one of the closing ceremonies and the other with the logo - (from a kid who was so relieved to get his cell phone back), a "Kids are #1" school pin (from 2 sisters that I taught at Murray - 2 of 5 sisters that I've had long term), a cast pin from the OMP that shows the Hoberman arch (traded with a "Child of Light"), a pretty silver and gold snowflake and a darling one with a quilt and a sewing machine from my sister, Karen. One that means a lot to me is a funny little counterfeit pin with a skier that was given to me by the Hispanic service worker after I gave him all the penlights. He was proud to be able to give me something back. I think I am going to put them all on my Roots Beret and keep it together.
*Saturday night, when I got to the tent, I found one of the security patrol who had come in to sit and eat his takeout from McDonald's. He was going to leave, but I made him stay. As we visited, I found out that he was the Police Chief of Berlin, Vermont. He said that he was an Army brat who was born in Kansas. I asked him where and he said, Ft. Riley, Kansas. I have never found anyone else who was born where I was! He was even born in the same hospital a couple of years later. We talked for half an hour or more before he had to go back to his post. He gave me his card and told me to come visit. Wow!






*When we were recruited, we were told that each night we would get a hot meal (and you know how that turned out) and snacks. The Support Operations hosts would bring boxes in to the IB at the beginning of the night, filled with granola bars, salt water taffy and mints, and some bags of an evil snack food called "Wahoos" (sort of like Fritos, but puffed up and light and artificially flavored). The assortment never varied. One of the granola bars was pretty good - cinnamon roll flavor with yogurt covering, but it was in an almost identical package to a terrible version that was fake banana. Not a nice surprise. Some nights, when the bands were so loud and awful, we had an assortment of folks in, asking for earplugs. I started telling them that we didn't have any, but the white pieces of commemorative salt water taffy from our snack boxes would do in a pinch.
*One night all I did was make cab and dinner reservations. It amazed me that the needs came in groups like that. I found out that many of the cab drivers didn't have English as a first language. No one else in the IB had a clue about what restaurants to recommend. Once they got past The Training Table, they were lost. Good grief, don't these people ever eat out? A funny couple, who were Russian, but had lived in Washington, D.C. for a while, wanted to know if I approved of their eating at Market Street Grill, which someone had recommended. I was a little wary about sending them for seafood (which is wonderful in the Maryland & D.C. area) in landlocked Utah, but they were determined. Unfortunately, MSG was booked until midnight, so I managed to get them in at P.F. Chang, which was closer. Then I arranged for the Olympic shuttle to pick them up in a reasonable period at the restaurant. Honestly, I am going to be a concierge in another life.
*The best thing about this whole experience has been the incredible people I have met. All the bus drivers, many of whom are retired, who volunteered from all over the country and were delighted to be here. The security personnel at the OMP - a boarder patrol officer from Tampa and the Police Chief of Berlin, Vermont, and the corrections officers from everywhere. They were all great guys spending their vacation time away from their families to be part of the party.
I loved: the feisty little lady from Connecticut who nearly jumped the nasty Russian journalists that were giving me a hard time, the sweet Scottish old darling who was a rabid curling fan and kept trying to sneak into the athletes area to congratulate the first British gold medalists in years, the dozens of folks from Colorado who couldn't miss something this close, the Dutch band, decked out in orange, who played "Deep in the Heart of Texas" and "La Cucaracha", the wacky Norweigans, with their Viking helmets and cowbells, the Swiss team members, wearing long silver coats that looked like dress robes from Hogwarts, all the retirees, who were good sports and a great time on public transportation, the sweet volunteers who patiently screened visitors to Temple Square and greeted everyone with a smile (even the anti-protestors - we heard that they took hot chocolate and donuts out to them. The recipients didn't know what to do!)
Almost everyone I had anything to do with was polite, warm, friendly, appreciative, happy or all of the above. (The biggest complaint was that some people couldn't believe that it was for real)
My favorite story is that a man from Visitor Information Services was helping a European who asked a bunch of questions, and , finally , leaned over and whispered, "Where can I see some Mormons?" The VIS guy leaned in and whispered back, "Be careful, they are all around you!"