The 2010 Winter Olympics: And Here We Go

Well, here we are, two days away from the start of the Winter Olympics. As everyone knows, the event is massively over budget. The last time I checked, the total cost (thus far) of the Winter Olympics was at 6 billion dollars, the majority of which was paid for by the people of British Columbia.

I’ve been on the fence for a while now about whether or not I want to be in town for the Olympics. I didn’t vote for them, but at the same time, here they are, and there’s no going back now. So to that end, I finally decided that I’m going to try to be in Vancouver for at least a week during the games to ultimately see what they are all about, and see if I can help bring exposure to what it’s like to be a tourist in your own city for a period of time.

As many people know, Dave O. started the True North Media House initiative last year as a way to have social media band together to tell the real story behind the games from a semi-grassroots perspective. Many other of my friends are part of the initiative, including Rebecca Bollwitt, John Bollwitt, and John Biehler. So to that end, I’m going to head into the city on the weekend and probably set up shop for a week or so, spending my evenings walking around town with my camera and hopefully bringing a people’s perspective to the event, similar to what I did when I was backstage at the 2008 Canadian Juno Awards in Calgary.

Dave O. has graciously offered me a piece of floor where I can set up an air mattress, so as of this moment, that’ll probably be home for next week. Boris Mann and Bootup Labs have offered me a place to work during the week, so I’ll have a place with WiFi for my normal day-to-day activities. But other than that, I’ll probably switch into Olympics mode on this site in the near future.

I’m still working out the logistics of everything, including debating buying a Canon 5D Mark II in the next day or two to finally have a full frame camera. Once I have my plans finalized I’ll switch a few things around on this site and head out into the city with my camera.