Shanelanie

I went to sonicboom this past weekend. I reconnected with friends I haden't seen in a year and only met over the course of one day. Sonicboom (http://www.sonicboomfestival.com/) is going to become a yearly event I hope, and strangely enough, I feel like if I ever needed anything I could phone those friends and ask, and they would help.

Last year Melanie and Shannon made me feel like I was a worth while guy. That  had something inside that was worth shareing with others. At a time where I needed that the most. This past weekend I was so happy to meet them again; and I found that I needed that same boost.

Things aren't so great for me right now. Stress at work is tough. Stress in my personal life is tougher. To have people whom I met so briefly decide that I'm someone worthy of getting to know better and genuienly want to spend time with felt so amazing. Apparently I look younger than I am, awww yeah! Even if its not true it felt good to hear. Sometimes we need that; well I do anyway. But that was the best part. You guys were sincere.

I try my best to make those around me feel pretty good, because I want to be treated the same way. I have a lot of friends that are captains of the positive bus! (I'm looking at you Dave). I'm happy to count Shannon and Melanie (now forever called Shanelanie) as part of the crew. Martin and Matt, (you guys are also awesome!) don't let those two get away!

Dana was another friend I met again. She and Trevor hooked up after last years sonicboom and are still going strong. Yay for for getting drunk finding eachother and staying together! She pretty much got me back on track with my running. Its been a while since I have had the urge to get out and go but after spending the weekend talking to her I'm excited to hit the pavement again. Thank you for saying I'm not fat!...as I ate my marble slab ice cream >.> (I'm just big boned lol).

Anyway I need to feel special again and my friends are the ones there making it happen. Thank you.

Ugh this post feels kind of all over the place. It's been too long since I blogged. Bah lunch is over. Back to work =(

The Running Man

Why is it that when I am out running someone always has to heckle me from their car as they pass by? I know. I get it. I'm fat...thanks for reminding me. I'm trying to change that, I really am. Today was not a stellar day and that just put the topper on it all. What sucks is that it usually happens at least a couple times a month while I'm running outside. No wonder I can't seem to find anyone to date in this world. Its all about how good you look and I apparently don't got it. <-----check out that fantastic grammar!

It doesn't matter how smart, charming, fun, or nice you are, none of that matters. Just look good and you'll be getting ahead. If I ever have kids (and that's looking like a LONG shot at this point) they are going to be in shape and healthy so help me. It would sure give them a head start in this world it seems.

All I want is one bloody chance. Maybe I won't even screw it up! I think I have a lot going for me honestly. I have a great job which I love. I own my own house. I have a truck and a motorbike that I own outright. I stay active and have an odd but fascinating sense of humor. Well maybe its not that fascinating but I have to talk myself up somehow. But none of that is good enough, cause I don't have the looks to back it all up.

Why is it that it takes 10 people to lift you up and make you feel like someone worth something, and only one person to make you feel like shit? The worst part is all I probably needed was to come home to someone and vent about the idiots I hear on the road, or the frustrating things I deal with in a day, but I don't have that luxury. I'm not good enough for that apparently. Whats wrong with me?

This past year has been probably the toughest in my life. I was always so sure of myself, about my own self worth. I'm starting to lose that and it scares me.

I need to smile more, because I don't know what happens when I can't anymore.
Sorry for venting like this. I've had a rough day and as pathetic as this sounds, this blog is all I've got right now.

I do have to put SOMETHING happy in this post though, and this made me smile. Stop rolling your eyes, I laughed!

Someone call IXII!

Ok...I know this is WAY late but I have been keeping myself busy, and for me right now, that is a very good thing. This post is going to be all about our superb ambulance staff at Creekside and at the Olympics as a whole.

We had the pleasure of working with Cam. He was managing all of the ambulance staff at Creekside and I believe at the sliding center...maybe even further out that that as I do know he was at the gold medal mens hockey game. Lucky bugger! The paramedics were all excellent to work with. They were all extremely well trained and a lot of fun to be around. See the pictures!

Now most of the paramedic staff at the Olympics were there under interesting circumstances. The union they were a part of was in the middle of contract negotiations with the Provence. Tensions were running high during the talks and the union had decided that none of the union workers would be attending the Olympics. As you can imagine that didn't run so well with many of the paramedics that were set to go and volunteer! So at risk for their own careers they decided to show up and work at the Olympic venues anyway. I sure hope that they aren't under any duress from other union associates for volunteering. The world needs medical staff like these guys!

Liz was one of the paramedics that we got along with very well. She was in a word, awesome! In fact she even gave me a BC Ambulance patch right off of her own shirt. How cool is that!? Being the kid that I am, I asked her if I could go play lights and sirens. This was the result. It was SO MUCH FUN to sit in the drivers seat and push buttons. Code 3 is when they run lights and sirens when they are on the road, and that must be so exciting! After all the fun in the front Ryan and I got to sit in the back. Now we couldn't just sit there by ourselves so we told Liz to jump in on the bed. Now we did warn her that in the pose she struck we would be taking a picture of her ass, but she didn't move so...

We did decide to take another one though, and it turned out very nicely I think! For those that know me and are keeping count, this marks the first time I have been in the back of an ambulance and not been strapped to the bed. YAY! After the day was over I found out that both Liz and her partner that day were heading back to the Westin. They offered to take me with them so I got to sit up front and get driven back to the hotel in style. Yeah I grinned all the way! Oh and bonus points for those who know where the post title came from!

That's all for now!

The Little Things

So many little things happened out at the Olympics that I needed a blog post to to cover them all. Plus its a nice smattering of randomness.

It was no surprise that there were leaders from many countries visiting the games to watch. Many would not be seen by most visitors and unless you read the papers or watched the news you would not even know they were there. Canada's own Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance. See the picture. Just to the left of the umbrella. Just sitting and conversing with other regular spectators. Pretty cool to see actually. He did however have a contingent of black coated gentleman watching over him, discretely but still there! Think what you will of our Prime Minister, but that was a pretty cool thing to do.

 There were some very nice days to be had at the games through the central weeks. So warm in fact that dressing for a day of patrolling was very difficult. Walking up the path you needed to be in not much else than the shell but standing you definitely wanted a base layer and fleece on. The bright days called for the sun glasses! Speaking of climbing the path, they finally played some music over the speakers leading up to the venue. The crew of cheerleaders who were encouraging the crowds up the path was lead by Francene. She was a lot of fun. Her voice though! Imagine the sexiest most soothing voice you have ever heard, that was her! Then she would switch to french, how cool! Ryan convinced her that she should give a shot out to the med crew on the trail. Awesome! Except he told her to refer to me as Carebear Kallum, which she did of course. Why do I have this sinking feeling that one is going to stick when I get back to Louise.

One of the days that had no event I was working to cover any workforce that may have gotten injured. As luck would have it someone on the course crew did come in with a nasty cut above his eye. Apparently he took a shovel to the face while sculpting the course. At first the doctor was going to glue the laceration shut but it was too wide so stitches it was! We did the procedure right there which was cool, but we also had to ask him if his tetanus was up to date. It was. I of course couldn't remember the last time I had mine done and in a moment of complete stupidity mentioned this fact to Judy our nurse. WRONG! She jumped on my case immediately about not having it, and as anyone who has been reading this blog knows, we had a very well stocked medical trailer. Yes it even came with tetanus vaccine. So here I was getting vaccinated when I didn't even get cut! I really should have it since I was working in a medical position though. Anyone who knows me also knows I have a slight phobia when it comes to needles, but I was all brave. That and Judy wasn't taking no for an answer. The shot didn't hurt at all, however the next day my arm was amazingly sore! Look at me being all growed up!

I did manage to have a room all to myself for the entire stay which was so incredible. I was able to host a couple of people from the crew for a night or two when they didn't want to head back to Squamish; an hour ride by bus, most times standing room only! The absolute best thing about having the room to myself was the fire. At night I would turn off all of the lights and turn on the fireplace. Something about firelight doesn't keep me awake like daylight or electric lights. I drifted off to sleep while the flickering orange light danced on the walls. Something about that was so restful and soothing, it's hard to describe.

I think I'll end here for the evening. Now I want to go sit near a warm fire for a bit!

The Restaurant

Ok here we are at the first rewind post.

A while ago I learned about a restaurant in Whistler called Araxi. It is rather high end but has the distinction of being featured on Hells Kitchen.

http://www.araxi.com/hellskitchen.html

This coupled with the fun of trying a new restaurant was a perfect opportunity for a Valentines dinner! I did in fact manage a reservation for the 14th, awesome! Unfortunately I was to learn not soon after making the reservation that I was fated to go alone; not awesome. The fact that it just happened to be during the Olympics meant that canceling a reservation held a fairly steep monetary penalty, hmm what to do. I was able to move the reservation to another day later in the month, I was still going to be able to go!

Tisha who also worked on the med spec crew with me agreed to come with which was very sweet of her. I was thrilled I didn't have to spend another dinner alone at a restaurant. It really does suck! Now on to the fun stuff!

The decor was very nice and even though it was busy we didn't need to raise our voices to talk. Sitting in the middle of the room still gave us an impression of having a private conversation which was nice. The door staff were of course well dressed, smiling and beautiful. The wait staff were extremely polite and well versed in the restaurants offerings. We decided on trying a local wine found in the Okanagan Valley. All of the wine was uncorked and put into nice carafes. One we saw was about 3 feet in length! Not always functional but looked really cool. We decided to order direct from the regular menu but they did have a tasting menu as well which looked very interesting!

Bread was served with a chopped olive mixture on olive oil. Tasty but if you don't like olives it would have been salty. We started with the Lobster Salad: crisp crab springroll with avocado and apple toasted couscous, mint and celery leaf salad. We have pictures too!

Next was our main courses. Tisha opted for the Grilled Red Tuna: lemon and lime vinaigrette with toasted quinoa and shaved mushrooms Pemberton jade radish, dried tomatoes with salsify. Tisha and I agree it was probably the best tuna we had ever tasted. It really was amazing!

I went with the Local Wild + Cultivated Mushroom Risotto: toasted sage, white wine and truffle essence parmigiano-reggiano and roasted BC hazelnuts. I also added one gram of black truffles. Yes they sell them by the gram. There are only a few things in the world I have heard of sold by the gram and most illegal. Forget all that! Go get a truffle pig and make some real money haha! I am biased because I love risotto but this was superb!

Then came dessert. Valrhona Chocolate Fondant: chocolate dentelle and dulce de leche milk chocolate earl grey tea ice cream. Best ice cream ever! The molten lava part of the chocolate cake was done perfectly! A wonderful way to finish off the meal.

After we were finished we decided to head to the GLC again for some drinks. Well we went through a LOT of beer and some crazy fool actually ordered us a shot as well. We even got our server into the pictures. Sleep would have to wait! On our way home we decided to take in the empty bobsled for some pictures. Tisha managed to get all wet, so of course I have to tease her about it. Here is a picture of her wet butt LOL!

Homecoming

I have successfully made it back to Calgary. This however is not the end of my journey or the end of the stories I have to tell! I have a backlog of things I need to blog about, so make sure to stay tuned for a bit as I will continue to update this site.

The trip back started at 8pm last night. Unfortunately I didn't even get to use the hot tub one last time. Great sadness! I managed to pack everything I needed and only used one extra bag. My ski bag did however get used to capacity. It had skis, poles, running shoes, ski pants, gloves, and most of my dirty laundry all in the ski bag. Now that was efficient packing! I also had to include all the extra gear I acquired while I was there. Things like, my uniform (smurf suit), gloves, an entire medical backpack etc. The backpack will now be used for all of my summer sports too as I usually took along a smaller first aid kit but this one comes fully equipped! We also got shift gifts which were smaller gifts for working a certain number of days. In total I got 2 pins, one stuffed mascot, a new pair of gloves and a keychain from Birks. Oh and I almost forgot, the final day we worked we all got a Vancouver 2010 watch made by Swatch. Not bad!

Believe it or not I could actually walk with all of these bags, albeit very slowly. They had about 3 buses ready to leave from Whistler that evening. Once one bus was full they would send it off, no waiting! It was actually very smoothly done. I arrived in Vancouver at around 10:30pm and was treated to a fireworks display from the platform. My guess is that I was seeing the end of the victory ceremonies for that evening. The picture is blurry but it was quite beautiful.

Ruth was nice enough to supply me with a sleeping aid which made the ride back quite comfortable. I actually slept right through to Kelowna, but my body is still very tired. Dave was again my transport from the bus station and for that I am eternally grateful! I did manage to secure him one of the patroller backpacks though! Don't ask how. Lets just say it was official surplus!

I did get a couple of texts from Craig while I was on the bus last night. Apparently he was out partying with Sophie, one of he event staff I met while out there. Drat! Wish I was there, the picture explains why, she is gorgeous! She is out all the way from Quebec City! Alas buses take longer to travel than planes. I didn't even know Canada won the gold medal hockey game until Dave told me. Go Canada!

One final update before I head to bed, or rather watch some tv and try and wind down. I wanted to mention an e-mail I have had received tonight. For anyone who read the post on the 27th you know about Frank's story. Well Ruth had sent the blog to Wendy, Franks widow, and she was very touched. Here is an excerpt from her response to Ruth:

That is amazing. I cried the whole way through. What a great thing to do. Frank would have been amazed at the impact he has had but all I can say is that he deserved it. Thank You.

Well I pretty much teared up at that. It seems such a small thing but she is right, he deserved it!
Thanks again to all who are reading. More to come.
And on the 17th day he rested.....sort of!

Olympic dreams

Tonight's blog post is a bit special. Tomorrow will be my last day at the games but just to let you know my stories will continue a bit past the closing of my time here, there is just too much to write about!

Last night I went to a restaurant called Araxi. It was amazing. I originally had a reservation for February 14th (yes that's valentine's day) and I cannot begin to tell you how difficult that was to pull off. Needless to say, those plans kind of fell through but that's another story entirely. The point is, I went, and I had a wonderful meal. More to come in a later post!

Tonight I want to talk about a story from a friend I have met out here at Whistler. There are no pictures, save one, just a tale I want to share with everyone who reads this blog. Thank you very much for doing so by the way!

Ruth is one of the doctors that works on my crew out here on the spectator medical team. She is a doctor that lives here in Whistler and is one of the most amazing people I have met out here. She came to Canada from Ireland and fell in love with the Whistler area, and being here I can totally understand why. This story however is not about her, but someone she knew. His name was Frank.

Frank was an Australian gentleman who spent 5 months out of the year at Whistler. He did this for the an astounding 20 years! He was an amazing skier and was an instructor back in Australia. He routinely brought people out to his home here in Whistler for some amazing skiing and all around fun. Much of his time would be spent touring this group of people around the mountain and instructing people on their skiing technique. The instruction was all under the radar of course as private lessons are strictly forbidden on the mountain because of course they want you to use the hills own ski school. Well that was all fine and good, so the group affectionately referred their trips to the hill as "Skiing with Frank", and wow could he ski. Few people could keep up with him and as I understand it none could match his technique, or love for the sport. After the day on the hill his wife would have an amazing meal prepared for the guests as they arrived back from a day of fun. These meals had also gained a reputation of being exceptional in every way.

Sometimes the groups Frank would host would be of varying skill levels and the people who just wanted a day of skiing sans the instruction, would go off with another host who knew the mountain. This is where Ruth would come along and help out by acting as mountain guide to the more skilled skiers. Ruth was able to ski with Frank on her own when time allowed and was able to enjoy and learn from him every time they went out. One such day happened to be in January of 2009. Another terrible day in paradise as some of us would say. Frank was incredibly excited about the Vancouver Olympics and couldn't wait for them to arrive at Whistler. Truly they have been a sight to behold! The day of skiing ended as it normally would and I think this says it best:

“The snow will fall, the sun will shine, the lifts will run, and isn’t that enough?” -Warren Miller

The next day Frank would suffer a stroke. Ruth received a call from his wife in the middle of the night and gave instructions to hang up and call 911 and she would meet them at the hospital emergency. Bear in mind that Frank at 74 could out ski most people at 30 and was in amazing physical condition; this was a very serious situation! Two days later he would succumb to his injuries caused by the stroke and pass away. His wife had his body cremated and held a party to celebrate his life. Everyone who attended was given a small ribbon tied bag with some of the ashes contained inside. The instructions were to go ski, and spread his ashes over the area that he loved the most. Everyone obliged. Ruth however held on to one extra bag. This is where I picked up the story.

One year later we find ourselves at the Vancouver Olympics. The alpine event hosts some of the best skiers the world has to offer and has been an amazing sight to behold. Ruth had planned to go up and spread the last of Franks ashes on the Olympic course at the games. Unfortunately none of us on the spec med crew have lift passes or reason to go on course, so Ruth asked one of the course workers to go up tomorrow morning and finish her last duty to a very close friend. Because of Ruth, Frank will see the Vancouver Olympics, just as he wished to do.

I hope one day I am worthy of friends like Ruth, and also hope that when my time comes, I can pass doing the things I dearly love, just as Frank did. I'd like to end this post with the motto that has been used at the Olympics as I believe it exemplifies this story and the way that Frank had touched the lives of everyone he met and those that remember him.

With Glowing Hearts