Day one, preparing for battle.

Sorry for not posting sooner. My wifi card on my MacBook quit and it took a few days and $250 to get it fixed!

KPL got bumped up to first class. Her loss. Some Grandma from Nanaimo enjoyed my company on the plane.
Once in YVR Karen and I ended up walking from the plane to accreditation. She's very nice and a co-worker on Alpine events in Whistler.
First order of business in Lotusland was to taxi to New Westminster to get my ENG Camera and gear as well as a truck. The warehouse my gear would be in is a huge building housing an army of shipping people who distribute all the equipment, sets and support materials for NBC and CTV. The enormity of this endeavor strikes me immediately. My gear is handed over to me by Jeff Long (ENG Photo Supervisor for CTV Toronto). Jeff was one of the guys to amass the equipment 15 ENG guys would be using at the Olympics. Two large light kits, check. Lectrosonic wireless microphones, check. HD monitor, check. More gear than any ENG guy could dream about, and it's all NEW! The one piece that has had me dreaming about and dreading this day is now facing me. The Sony PDW-700 XDCam. It shoots to a Blue Ray disc. It has menus and thumbnails. It's 16x9 and it's staring down a 4x3 camera monkey. I tried to read the 300 page manual before arriving in Vancouver. You should always go into a battle knowing which end of the gun to point, right? After 4 hours of checking serial numbers and training on the XDCam I'm sent away into an unknown battlefield.