Making Friends at YVR

On Wednesday when we were at the Vancouver International Airport waiting for our flight back to Toronto, I thought I would check out the Coca Cola Pin Trading Centre. Either I'm a glutton for punishment or my curiosity gets the better of me. I had decided not to try pin trading any further, those traders don't seem to like my wares, but I wanted to check out what these traders had. I do find it interesting to see their collection of pins up for trade. It is cool to see how many different ones are out there.

The last gentleman trader I spoke with was very nice and we chatted for awhile. After a few minutes and I swear this actually happened he said, "You look familiar. Do you write a blog?". Seriously. I was recognized as a blogger at the Vancouver Airport. There are tons of bloggers out there and I was certain he must be mistaking me for someone else, but he knew my blog very well. We chatted some more, he gave me a pin, I gave him Ontario and Gastown pins because that is all I had with me. Where were my Canada Loot Bags you ask? Packed in my checked luggage! Dumb me. I did still have my camera with me and made sure I took a photo. This may never happen to me again and I had to capture the moment. Plus Andrew was a really nice guy. It's too bad I only met him as I was leaving Vancouver. I definitely would have traded pins with him. So he is added to my list of Vancouver Olympic friends. If and when I make it back to Vancouver (maybe this summer?), we will have to have a reunion and break out our pin lanyards for old time’s sake.

Andrew and I at the Vancouver Airport location of the Coca Cola Pin Trading Centre.

Day 2 – My Vision Is Coming True!

February 13, 2010

It was a cool, rainy day today in Vancouver. Still on a high from the Opening Ceremony last night I didn’t get much sleep. I saw some of the TV coverage of the ceremony and I have to say it looks quite different from that vantage point. I loved that I was there to see it and will probably talk about it for the rest of my life.

First stop was the Bay Olympic Superstore where I was meeting Ashley to be interviewed yet again! Her crew is putting together segments from Vancouver 2010 and being shown at the Toronto Auto Show going on right now. I spent a bit of time with them answering their questions, shooting some extra footage of shopping around the store and posed for some still photos. Ashley said I was a natural on camera and a ton of fun to interview. I felt like a complete dork through most of it. This isn’t something that I have experience doing so that was a very nice compliment. After that I did some shopping of my own picking up some Coca Cola pins that I wanted. Tomarra and I both stuck a pin on the map in the Coke Pin Trading centre and received one in return. Tomarra was the brave one and made some pin trades with the people there.

In Vancouver, you can’t let the rain stop you from your plans so Tomarra and I made our way down to the waterfront to check out the external Olympic Cauldron. I wasn’t prepared for the huge fence that blocked it off from us but I guess it makes sense. Usually the Olympic Cauldron is high atop the Olympic stadium, out of reach for any who would want to vandalize it. This one is on the ground where anyone could get to it if it wasn’t blocked off. There was a huge crowd of people checking it out and taking photos. It honestly doesn’t look that much different whether it has 3 arms or 4 burning.

Lunch was next and we hit Earl’s on Robson Street. When we came out from lunch a huge crowd had gathered in the street and police had it blocked off. This part of the street was open to traffic so it was pretty alarming to see the police there blocking the road. We tried to find out what had happened but no one would tell us. Eventually we figured out something was going to happen and it wasn’t anything bad. This was the first time I had been exposed to a “Flash Mob” but it seems they are quite common. It is a group of people who gather in a designated place to perform a dance they have all learned somehow. This one was performed to “Dancing in the Street”. There were thousands of people involved in this. I was so excited! Didn’t I tell you there would be spontaneous breakouts of dancing on Robson Street? My vision was coming true! I told you, I told you! So happy Vancouver people are proving me right!



Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the image of Vancouver 2010 you should keep in your mind throughout these Olympics. It goes to show you that thousands of people can gather in the street having a good time with no issues.

At night we found ourselves at the Four Host First Nations pavilion and were entertained by some wonderful Aboriginal singers. The first performer, Inez who had won many awards has a pop/hip hop sound. Surprised? Yes me too. It was not what I was expecting but just because your Aboriginal doesn’t mean you can’t sing in any style you want. Her music and songs are a strong influence in her music and you can make out some of those traditional sounds while listening to her. The second group was a brother/sister duo called Sister Says. Again from an Aboriginal background, they had a kind of jazz sound to them I think? I’m not a music genius so I’m not sure how to describe it, I can only tell you that I really liked them. What a great way to end Day 2.

Canada Medal Results: Jenn Heil, Silver Medal in Freestyle. Congratulations Jenn!

I’m A Pin Head/Hustler

Getting ready to go to Vancouver for the Olympics Games has been a very unique experience. For me, this is probably the only one that I will get to attend so I need to make sure I get the full experience. A few months ago someone clued me in to this sport of “pin trading” that has been happening for years at most Olympics.

When you read up on this non official event that does not award medals, you will see that it is commonly referred to as an event bigger than the Olympics themselves. What? How is that even possible? If this was going to happen at our Olympics, you know I had to be a part of it! I raced out and started buying up pins like a maniac. I was running to Rona on my lunch hour in a snowstorm, searching the Vancouver 2010 store online to see what they had, and asking people outright if they could help find pins for me. My mom helped by phoning Bay stores in
Toronto to see if they sold them in stores. In addition to that, I was entering every contest I could find to try to win pins, whether it was by leaving a comment on a blog or answering daily Olympic trivia questions. Some of the suppliers I deal with at work are Olympic sponsors or suppliers. One of my sales reps came across some Panasonic pins and passed them on to me. I have a contact at CTV that I have been emailing to see if there are any spare “believe” pins lying around. Not surprisingly the answer to that was no. My friend works at the airport and offered, I swear she offered, to see if she could find Air Canada pins for me. I was becoming obsessed; I had to have the pins! I had to have them!

Left: Panasonic pin   Right: HBC Mascot pin I won in a contest from 2010VanFan.

Then another genius person who I have met in my Olympic travels, my new friend Hardeep, suggested writing to companies associated with Vancouver 2010 and asking if they would send pins. People, I was on it! I started emailing and asking if they would send pins that I could add to my collection. And some of them did! The first company I emailed was GM and a very nice woman from Customer Service replied and sent me a pin right away. I was ecstatic. I’ve been sending emails ever since. Most have not responded even a week after I sent an email. I got my first rejection today from Canada Post, and I’ve had yes responses from RBC, Rona and Petro Canada. Thank you for supporting the Canadian Olympic fans. I am very happy to be adding your pins to my collection. As I write this post, I received a message from Atos Origin. I had sent them a pin request and they just responded. They are sending me a pin! Thank you @atosJenn!

As for the pin trading thing, I think I may be missing the point. I do not want to part with any of the pins that I have. I understand that you are supposed to trade only the ones that you have doubles of, but it was so hard to get one, how on earth was I supposed to get more than that? The whole trading thing kind of scares me too. You kind of need to know what it is you have, if it is a hard to find pin etc, and make sure you are trading it for something equal. With all of the work and planning and blogging I’ve done for this trip, I don’t know where I could have found the time to educate myself on Olympic pins. This time I think I’ll sit back and watch the action. Maybe by my next Olympics I’ll have become a Pin Master, ready to trade in the big leagues. The Coca Cola Pin Trading Centre is set up at The Olympic Superstore (Bay store) downtown Vancouver if you want to try your hand at trading. I will be at the Superstore buying Coca Cola Olympic pins. I've read that is the only store that is selling them.

As for the pins I purchased from retail, I have started wearing a different one each day to work. What is the point of having them if I can’t show them off? Now it is a morning ritual when I come in for my co-workers to check out which pin I am wearing. And guess what, they want pins now too!

Do you have a story or suggestion on how to get Olympic pins? Leave a comment to share with all of us. My quest for pins is ongoing and I can use all the help and tips I could get.

Thank you so much for reading. It is 9 days until Vancouver 2010 officially begins. It is going to be great Canada.

 

 

 

 

 

Above: My retail pin collection. Right: Some cool Olympic pins I won through the Cold FX trivia contest. Top is the 6 piece pin set, and the single pin is the Sliding Goalie pin. The goalie actually moves from side to side. Very cool! I have one to trade. I was told to get something really good for it.

 

 

 

 

 

Some other Olympic souvenirs I purchased from the Vancouver 2010 online store.  I've been collecting keychains for years and am looking to pick up some more while in Vancouver.  The lanyard is for my Mom. The bookmark on the far left is for me. I am a book lover. I can sit and read for hours and hours at a time.