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.

Canadian Olympic Spirit Photo Album now online

I have finally manged to put together my Canadian Olympic Spirit photo album. It will be a work in progress that I will add to as I find images or others send to me displays of great Canadian Olympic Spirit from anywhere in Canada. I think I have a few photos on my parents computer that I will have to upload on the weekend.
Here is a preview of some of the images you'll find there.

I have my spies everywhere to capture photos for me! This one was taken in Toronto on Front Street in front of the Globe and Mail office. They are the official newspaper of Vancouver 2010 so I guess it is not surprising that they would decorate their newspaper boxes. A great display of Olympic Spirit. Thank you very much to Hardeep Gosal for submitting.

This one was posted on Twitter by my favourite GM guys GM_ArtAndSerge who I did my Torch Relay ride along with.  This is an image they captured in Moosomin, SK.

This is also an image I originally saw on Twitter that was posted by one of the cool Molson people I follow. I believe it was MolsonFerg who tweeted about this and MolsonTonia who sent me the link to the photo. Thank you so much both of you and to Molson. What great Canadian and Olympic spirit from Molson.





Thank you everyone for letting me use your photos. Keep checking for updates. As we get closer to Vancouver 2010, I have a feeling I'll be adding to this frequently.

Riding Along with the Torch Relay – Part 2

I have to admit that following the Torch with the convoy is pretty cool! I especially enjoyed waving to all the people who lined the streets to see it. It probably doesn’t surprise you to hear I could have stayed with it forever! The best part of the trip though was getting the behind the scenes look at what happens, at least with what Serge and Art deal with, in working to keep the vehicles in the convoy rolling along throughout Canada.

Wow, who is that cool girl in the GM Silverado? Imagine all the shopping bags I could fit into the back of this truck!

When Serge first greeted me, one of the things he showed me was the detailed schedule they receive every morning. I’m not exaggerating when I say detailed. It has every Torchbearer stop outlined by intersection or address, it states what time convoy mode or Torchbearer mode begins and ends, lunch breaks and pit stops are also scheduled. Majority of the time, the convoy is running exactly on time. Pretty amazing when you consider the convoy is made up of approximately 240 people and over 100 vehicles. In Ontario the convoy was travelling on average 200 km a day. In Northern Ontario and the Prairie provinces, it will be 300-400 km a day. One person is responsible for keeping the convoy on schedule. It is a huge job and I really don’t know how they manage to keep it on time every day.

Serge and the GM Silverado. I guess he looks cool too.

Serge also told me about some of the problems that have come up along the way and what they have needed to do to fix them. He said their average turnaround time to have something fixed is 5 hours! I guess that is ok if it is something minor, but for something major that seems almost impossible. But Serge and Art have become masters of the impossible. There aren’t many extra vehicles so they need to keep the ones they have moving. Serge told me one story about a vehicle needing a new door. He worked out a schedule and arranged to have a new door available in a city ahead of them. By the time they arrived everything had been done including the paint, all they had to do was take the old one off and put the new one on.

The morning was quiet for a bit and then the calls started coming. They ranged from needing to change a flat tire, radios not working and the before mentioned generator needing repairs. Serge was working on getting a generator expert to meet them at the evening dealership to help solve the problem. Serge referred to me as his “secretary” as I helped him navigate through the routes and towns. It’s a fun job, I could get used to it (read here GM-HINT, HINT).

The Silverado is kind of like a Command Centre. Serge manages the workload with 2 cell phones, a blackberry and a GPS. There are over 100 vehicles in the convoy that need maintenance, cleaning and repairs. Every night there is a designated dealership to perform any  required maintenance and repairs. Serge also has a small crew with him on the road. When someone calls in with an issue, Serge can dispatch which ever crew member is closest to help out.

I asked Serge if it ever gets tired of seeing the Relay and the convoy. His answer: never. His favourite part is seeing all the kids lined up along the route waving the signs they have made. He also said his regular job may seem boring by comparison when he gets back to it. Completely understandable, how can anything compare to an Olympic Torch Relay? He also told me he is making notes on places he wants to return to. I would like to see that list when it’s complete. Who better to recommend places to see in Canada but someone who has seen them all?

I also asked Serge about their blogging and posts on Twitter. Did Serge and Art need Twitter and blogging lessons before heading out on the Torch Relay? Serge laughed when I asked him this and admitted that yes, indeed he did require and get lessons about posting on Twitter and blogging. For people who have just been introduced to these methods, I think Art and Serge do a great job. It certainly lets us follow along with them and makes us feel like we are right there with them.

It truly was an amazing experience to be a part of it for the short time that I was. I am grateful to have had the opportunity. Serge was a great guide and gave me insight into what goes on behind the scenes. Thank you very much Serge for answering all my questions and having me ride along with you. A very special thank you to Michael Allison from The Wilcox Group for inviting me to do this and getting it set up. Hey GM, if you need an extra body on board to help out Art and Serge, well, they know where to find me!

Enjoy the rest of the ride Art and Serge!

To view photos from the day, please visit my online photo album.

Serge's Vancouver 2010 credentials.  I want one of these for my car!

The Hamburgular from McDonalds.

Riding Along with the Torch Relay – Part 1

Some pretty amazing things have happened to me since starting my Journey to Vancouver 2010 – Diary of a Fan blog. The best yet was an invitation to do a Torch Relay ride along with the GM guys from Twitter, GM_ArtAndSerge. I mentioned these guys before in my Mississauga Torch Relay blog post. I’ve been following their adventures with the Torch Relay on Twitter and through their blog, Art and Serge’s 2010 Road Trip: Adventures With The Flame.

Imagine my shock and surprise when I received an email asking if I would be interested in doing a ride along through one of the Torch Relay routes. Without hesitation my answer was yes. A few emails to figure out logistics followed and on December 26th I found myself making my way to London, ON, 2 hours west of Toronto, to meet Serge and the GM Silverado on the 27th at 8am. Serge arrived a bit late, having come from repairing a generator that is used on one of the media vehicles. It seems that problems can and do happen at any point during the day. I jumped in the truck and we took off down Dundas Street to catch up with the convoy. It was making its way out of London that day, the final destination being Kitchener, ON, about an hour west of Toronto on our glorious 401 highway.
We caught up with the convoy on the last part of the London route. Immediately I was amazed by the amount of people out on the street to greet the torch. When you’re driving through it and seeing the constant amount of people, it is pretty impressive. We kept up with the convoy through Thamesford. I swear there were more people here than in London. There were tons of people lined along the streets. Happy faces looked back at me smiling and waving to the convoy and Torchbearers going past.

People come out to see the Relay in Thamesford, ON

From there, we jumped ahead of the convoy and made our way to Woodstock, ON. We found a spot along the route and watched the convoy come off of the 401 and make its way North on Norwich Street. A band from the Salvation Army was set up in a parking lot and played O Canada when the convoy came into view.

When the convoy passed, we got into the flashy Silverado and followed it to the Community Centre where there was a scheduled break. They almost didn’t let us onto the road leading to the Community Centre until Serge flashed his Vancouver 2010 credentials. This has an Open Sesame effect, and let us access the Community Centre for a break as well.

Coming out from the washroom, I saw a Flame attendant holding the lantern that the Olympic Flame is carried in. After waiting for her to finish a conversation, I pounced on her and asked if I could take a picture. One gentleman asked to hold it. Now that I think of it that would have been a great photo, me holding the Olympic flame. Too late now!

After Woodstock it was onto the mid day Celebration in Stratford. Serge had some business to attend to. I wolfed down some pizza and went outside to see the Torch come through and onto the stage to light the cauldron. Shortly after that, it was time for Serge to drop me off. He had to get some things arranged for their evening maintenance and wouldn’t be following the convoy in the afternoon. I stayed in Stratford long enough to see the end of the route of the Torch. From there my Mom, brother and I went to Cambridge for one last look at the Torch. And then, it was time to go home. The next time we see the Olympic Flame will be in Vancouver.

Photos above of Stratford, ON. Right: Coca Cola truck in Woodstock, ON. It just makes me happy when I see it.