I think this trip started with my wife on Barranca Beach in the Algarve. Like many beaches in the Algarve, there are many rocks or large stones along the sides of the beach. For those of you that know me well enough you know that when the mood hit me, I used to be in the habit of piling stones. Before I go any further I will say that I am not responsible for any of the Inukshuks or rock piles along the 401!! At any rate, the mood hit me at Barranca Beach that day. I saw a bunch of stones laying there and assembled them into a pretty good replication of an Inukshuk. Then we went back to our favourite restaurant and tried to explain to our waiter what an Inukshuk was and how it was the icon of these winter games. Okay, that's lame but it's pretty late (in my body time) and I think I have a good case of jet lag.
When the shuttle bus from Vancouver dropped me off at the front of "Blackcomb Suites" (and not really knowing if I was at the right hotel) I basically tackled the first guy I saw with any Bell paraphenalia. It turned out to be Brian who was my neighbour across the hall. He let me know that I was in the right place and it was at this point that I let the bus driver go! I met my roommate "Laurent" from Montreal shortly after. He didn't let me know it at the first meeting but I was saying his name wrong. It is supposed to sound more like Lawrence than the way I was saying it. I just kept thinking "Oh God, it's the whole Mont Tremblant, Mont Blanc thing!" If anybody meets a local from the St. Jovite area, they have a particular way of saying Tremblant! Where I would say "trembl'on't," the local St. Jovite people would say "trembl'eh'nt!" So my french roommate's name is actually pronounced like "Loren." I just hope I never say "Low rent" because that is the way I try to train myself to remember it. Anyway, it turns out that Laurent is a marathon runner. Good for him! However, he keeps his running shoes and his spandex running gear (I call them underwear, 'cause they look like shiny long john drawers) in the closet next to our entrance door. He tells me to not worry and hang my coat in that same closet and when I slide the door to hang my coat, "STANK!" My best buddy Jeff put it best. He said it smells of "ass." I take my belongings quickly to my room and decide that I will use my double sized bunk bed to store my stuff. I have to say it took a couple of nights to get used to the idea of sleeping in a double sized bunk bed. I was always worried of getting up with a jolt and sitting straight up. This of course would have resulted in a concussion from the bottom of the bed above which would have knocked me out. I wondered how many times it would be safe to go through this nightmare-concussion ordeal. I sure wish my boss let me go earlier so that I could have at least come to some agreement with Laurent about taking the king sized bed with the ensuite bathroom. I decided that since Laurent's running gear were stored in the closet directly opposite my bathroom at the front door, that would at least put me in the right mood for my morning bowel movements!
Everybody here on my crew said that because I brought my skis, I also brought the snow. For the most part, it was raining for the past few weeks, almost every day. With all that rain I think I would have started building an ark! Nonetheless, I got excited to see the snow plow/salter go around our traffic circle on my first morning in BC. It seems to melt though and then it starts to accumulate again. I learned today that it has to do with the frost line and its movement down the mountain with day time heating. Just a matter of time before the frost line is well below us. Lift tickets are about $1500 for the season, so maybe if I don't eat for a month I'll be able to ski.
I jumped right into work today and sitting in our trailer you would think that we are zipping around the world. You would hear things like "I did this something in France. I did that something in Poland" etc. There are many other companies here as well working away, doing their thing and it kind of reminds me of being on a movie set. Everybody is happy and peppy and positive. I also got to know Joe at the worksite today! I can't say that he fits that happy, peppy mode. Of course he was having a "friendly" discussion with Laurent over the amount of time it took him to activate ten IP phones. He was starting to get the reputation of being addicted to the "crackberry." Additionally, with Laurent being from the Montreal area, he is used to the more structured work habits of the Quebec union local. At 10:30 sharp he's looking to have a coffee break. At 12:00 pm sharp he's looking to have his lunch break. Since we skipped coffee to have an hour break at lunch and then delayed lunch to finish what we were doing, we all expected Laurent to be ravenous. When he ordered a coffee and carrot cake for lunch, we all just turned to one another and said, "What the ..."
I got my last piece of luggage today courtesy of Michele, more commonly known as Mickey. I would say she is pretty happy and peppy and positive so maybe its something in the water. I know they seem to see enough of it!
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