Then it was all destroyed by the weather man.  (Blame the weather man)

Today is the first day that I was able to sit down at my computer for more than five minutes and actually accomplish anything.  I was on course for greatness, letters were going to be answered, I wasn’t going to fall asleep at the keyboard…then it was all messed up.

It seems that TODAY is my only hope of sun for the next week.  So, now I must drop everything (even though I was getting so much done), and do a complete about face.  I have to head outside with camera firmly in hand.  The cherry blossoms are beautiful and they’re screaming to be photographed before the rain wipes them all out.  Sigh.

Darn…I can’t get to that list of housework now.

After tonight’s broadcast and after looting our hotel mini-bars, we’re going to try to brave the blizzard and fly east to home and hearth, and to do laundry well into next week.  Before we leave this thoroughly polite country, the polite thing to do is leave behind a thank-you note.

Thank you, Canada:
For being such good hosts.
For your unfailing courtesy.
For your (mostly) beautiful weather.
For scheduling no more than 60 percent of your float plane departures at the exact moment when I was trying to say something on television.
For not seeming to mind the occasional (or constant) good-natured mimicry of your accents.
For your unique TV commercials — for companies like Tim Hortons — which made us laugh and cry.
For securing this massive event without choking security, and without publicly displaying a single automatic weapon.
For having the best garment design and logo-wear of the games — you’ve made wearing your name a cool thing to do.
For the sportsmanship we saw most of your athletes display.
For not honking your horns. I didn’t hear one car horn in 15 days — which also means none of my fellow New Yorkers rented cars while visiting.
For making us aware of how many of you have been watching NBC all these years.
For having the good taste to have an anchorman named Brian Williams on your CTV network, who turns out to be such a nice guy.
For the body scans at the airport which make pat-downs and cavity searches unnecessary.
For designing those really cool LED Olympic rings in the harbor, which turned to gold when your athletes won one.
For always saying nice things about the United States…when you know we’re listening.
For sharing Joannie Rochette with us.
For reminding some of us we used to be a more civil society.
Mostly, for welcoming the world with such ease and making lasting friends with all of us.

Yesterday I was up at Whistler.  We got up at 3:30 a.m. and got ourselves to the bus for the 5:05 departure.  It was all relatively pleasant and painless.  I had been dreading it because of all the negatives I had heard, but our departure couldn’t have been more seamless and pleasant (they even gave us free bags of chips as we boarded the bus).  I tried to sleep on the ride, but I couldn’t.  I was too excited about going to see an Olympic event.  We were headed for the women’s giant slalom.  When we arrived at Creekside it was snowing like mad.  Winter!  We made our way over to Sunnyside for a quick breakfast before we headed up the mountain.  It was a big disappointment.  Nothing about it was good.  The hashbrowns were not the usual delicious mix of onions and veggies and thinly cut fries.  Perhaps they were tired of all the Olympics visitors that kept them hopping, but the dark brown, overcooked potatoes that were passed off as hashbrowns were terrible.  My poached eggs were like rubber, and the toast was pretty soft and not toasted.  I like my toast light, but this was as though it had been warmed under a broiler.  Even the coffee was a letdown.  The bill came, and it felt high for breakfast – higher prices, a surcharge and tax all made me realize that eating out was getting too expensive.  This is a place I have eaten at many times, so I was sad that it was so bad.

We headed up the mountain.  We had to climb a fairly steep climb to get to the security checkpoint.  The snow was falling and everyone was cheerful, so it wasn’t that bad.  We cleared quickly, and then climbed down a whole bunch of stairs, and down the side of the hill to get down to the Creekside chairlift.  We loaded and got to the top where the downhill area was set up.  There were lots of Swedes, Fins, Norwegians and Germans up there.  It seemed like Europe had hit Whistler.  Lots of people had “fan club” jackets of the athlete they were supporting, and there were lots of banner and flags of the favourites.  It was interesting that I saw lots of Mancuso flags, but nothing for Lindsay Vonn.  I did see a few signs for Britt Janyk – but it was the Europeans who overwhelmed the site.  It was fun, everyone was happy (except the couple that wanted to pound out the guy who kept waving a big flag and blocking their view of the video screen), and with the snow falling it was almost magical.  It was a little concerning because the weather wasn’t great, lots of snow had fallen and there was a fog bank hanging over the middle of the course.

We walked around the crowd and noted all the people dressed up for their respective countries.  We were kept entertained by this and the information that would come up on the big screen.

When the race got under way, it was exciting to see the women come blasting over the hill and into full view.  We were anticipating seeing “the great” Lindsay Vonn, but she was less than stellar.  Just as she came into view she crashed, got tangled up in the nets and had to be freed.  She broke her pinky finger in the process.  Now she will have even more reason to slam the runs at Whistler.  It’s a world class resort that comes highly rated, but all she can do is complain about it.  She makes me want to stick my fingers in my ears and hum lalalalalalala.

We left Whistler before the second run which was subsequently cancelled due to the bad weather conditions on the hill.  The ride home was just as easy as the ride to Whistler had been.  We walked over to the bus, got directed to the correct bus and then waited about ten minutes until the driver deemed the bus ready to go.  It wasn’t full, but the crowds hadn’t come down the hill yet, and it was probably 75% full.  The weather was clearing to the south, so those on the bus could actually look over Howe Sound and get an idea of how beautiful the area is.

We were unable to take advantage of the tickets back to Whistler today to see the end of the giant slalom.  We had bigger fish to fry – HOCKEY!  We were going to the bronze medal women’s game which was Finland vs Sweden.

The game was a lot of fun.  It was sooo exciting at the end when it went into “sudden victory overtime” as the announcer said.  Finland scored the winning goal and history was set.  The gold medal game was after, and Canada women won the gold medal in that one.

Thanks to spiffle for this list which has been updated daily (sadly) thanks to the #2010profiteers info

Vancouver 2010 Nice Price Restaurants / Bars etc

Edited February 20, 12:30am

These are businesses that have either committed to having prices as usual policies during the Olympics (including gratuity policies), or have been noticed by locals to have stable pricing. If you find one, or want it on this list, please do so via twitter, using the hashtag #2010niceprices.

There are NO new additions for February 20th

Pacific Culinary Institute, Granville Island – a favourite “secret” haunt of Vancouver locals, all prices etc as per normal even though Gastown is Olympics Crazy! (source: @SurreyMarket)
Irish Heather, Gastown no price increases, no cover, no auto gratuity – business as usual at this hopping Gastown favourite (source: @StephenLambie)
Salt Tasting Room, Blood Alley, Gastown – no increased prices, specials as per usual, no autogratuity. (source – personal visit)
Main Street Eateries on S. Main – word from a Main Street Restaurateur is that most, if not all Main St. eateries having prices as usual, no auto gratuities – Go Main Street dining! (source: @LatitudeonMain)
Urban Thai Bistro – Yaletown – featuring “as usual” happy hour, dishes under $5, no auto gratuity. Yay! (Source: @urbandiner)
Phat Sandwiches – Yaletown – nominal price increases, but Vancouver loyalty cards for locals to give a price break during Olympics. (was formely on negative list based on incorrect information via twitter). (Source: Global News Hour)
Au Petit Chavignol – nice discounts on weekends on fondues, wines during Olympics. (source: @petitchauvignol)
Black Frog – offering good prices, incl $5 pints of Guinness during Olympics! (source: @BCBrews)
Incendio Pizza in Gastown – prices “as per usual” during Olympics, no autograt. (source: @IncendioPizza, @SBonnerABV)
Milestone’s in Yaletown – prices kept stable, $8 breakfast is available everyday. (source: @tellytelly
The Whip – 7th near Main has maintained their prices, service during Olympics. (source: @cbjerrisgaard)
The Diamond in Gastown has prices more or less stable. (source – me visiting)
Irashai Grill in Coal Harbour has promised to keep prices neutral during Olympics! (source: @Irashai)
Campagnolo on Main Street – reported to have no price increases, same service as always during Olympics. (source: @campagnolomain)
Refuel Restaurant and Bar keeping prices stable for some awesome food and drink. (source: same as previous)
Corner Suite Bistro Deluxe on Alberni, freshly opened, rumoured has good prices for neighbourhood. (source: @KyledeJong)
Amarcord Ristorante of Yaletown – prices stable, no autogratuity for Yaletown! Yay! (direct from Restaurateur)
Provence Marinaside – removed – auto gratuity, realised it was bad policy – go Provence!

Vancouver 2010 Profiteer Restaurants, Bars, Etc.

Edited February 20, 12:30am

These are places identified as having excessive price increases, auto gratuity policies during the Olympics, or both. If you have a business to add, please do so via Twitter using the hashtag #2010profiteers (or 2010profiteer).

As a consumer, what can you do about these policies? My advice is to drop in, ask to speak to the manager, and make it clear you don’t support Olympic price raising and do not support auto gratuities. Then boycott these businesses – permanently – if they don’t change the policies within the next few days. We need to let these restaurants know that, as consumers, we won’t support businesses long term who are seeking short term profiteering gains that damage our city’s reputation and rip off consumers.

NEW – Simply Thai, Hamilton Street, Yaletown – 18% automatic gratuity applied to all bills. (source: Yelp Reviewer Luisa D.)
NEW – Moxie’s Grill, Georgia Street, Bute Street (possibly Davie too?) – 15% automatic gratuity added to all bills. (source: @trevin)
NEW – Granville Room Bar, Granville Street – 17% automatic gratuity on all bills (source: Yelp Reviewer Hubert F.)

NEW – all Glowbal Group Restaurants / Bars in downtown Vancouver have 18-20% auto gratuity on all bills with unconfirmed reports of raised prices on alcoholic beverages, up  30% (source: Various local media, incl CKNW)
NEW – George Lounge, Yaletown – 18% automatic gratuity (confirmed), price raises of up to 30% on alcoholic beverages (reports of $2–$4 increases, not confirmed publicy). (source: @twowheelgeek)
NEW – Chambar Restaurant, Beaty Street – 18% auto gratuity added to all bills. (source: @philwalston

NEW – Lickerish Restaurant, 1177 Hornby – undertermined auto gratuity (someone please get the rate). (source: @leigh_patterson)
NEW – Morrissey Irish Bar and Restaurant, 1227 Granville Street – 18% gratuity on all bills (source: Yelp Commenter Evilyn 13 T)
NEW – Section 3, Yaletown 18% auto gratuity added to all bills, price increases across board (source: @TeeLee

The Keg, Yaletown – yet another chain business with an 18% auto gratuity during the Olympics. Say no to auto gratuities – boycott The Keg! (source: @TamaraHarvey)
Cactus Club – Burrard – 18% auto gratuity on all bills, have to assume all other downtown Cactus Clubs have same policy (source: @TiaSparkles
Hapa Izakawa Yaletown location Another place with an 18% automatic gratuity added to all bills (source: @YVRMark)

Cambie Bar and Grill, $10 cover (something new – has not have covercharge before). (source: @OnlineStrategy)
Earls Restaurants, Yaletown, Robson, Hornby. Earls has gone on record as stating they were eliminating their 20% auto gratuity; however visitors to Earls Yaletown reported still seeing the charge on their bills the day after Earls stated they were removing it. So Earls – 20% auto gratuity, and  up to 20% price increases. Very bad. (source: various, incl Twitter, Global News Hour, Vancouver Sun)
Red Card Sports Bar, Seymour & Smithe – 18% auto gratuity added to all drink bills (source: @yvrmark)
Elephant and Castle, Burrard – 18% auto gratuity added to all bills “for your convenience”. (source: @iford)
Glowbal Grill Restaurant – Yaletown – 20% automatic gratuity added to all food bills. (source: Global News Hour)
Steamworks Bar / Restaurant – Gastown. 18% automatic gratuity; local customers have noted “significant” price increases to menus; I called Steamworks asked about pricing / autogratuity, and was put on hold indefinitely. (source: @JonJennings)
Megabite Pizza – 100% increase in slice prices downtown. (source: Global News Hour confrimed, Twitter various)
Amended: Dix Brewery BBQ – 17% auto gratuity added to every bill. (source: @GingerLiz)
Academic Public House – 1600 block of W. Broadway – 20% autograt added to every bill. (source: @MattsMedia)
Library Square Public House is charging $5 cover, $18.48 for a domestic pitcher and 20% autogratuity. (source: Vancouver Sun)
Hamilton Street Grill – Yaletown, 18% automatic gratuity on all bills. (source: Vancouver Sun)
German Fan Fest (next to Steamworks, Seabus Station) is a major rip off – $9 watery recycled beers. (source – personal visit)
Doolins / Irish House also another major rip off, and not officially Irish “house” during Olympics. (source – various twitter posts)

Unfortunately, I expect the above list to grow. What can you, as someone local to Vancouver do about this? If you’re a patron of one of the businesses above, don’t just boycott them, let them know (politely, please!) your feelings about these price gouging policies. Failing that, take your business elsewhere – permanently. These things give Vancouver a black eye.

Unsavoury bonus gougers:

Aquabus fee gone up to $4 from $2.50, during Olympics
Also be wary – many ATMs in Olympic-y areas are charging up to $5 for service fees.

I was disappointed in Canada House (someone smooth made 9.5 million off that boondoggle), but I got to hold an Olympic torch and see a real Rocket Richard jersey. Other than that I thought it was a national disgrace. I wonder how long the Chicago firm thought about that one before slapping that tent together in January.

The weekend crowds were colourful and happy, despite periods of rain. I sat in a crappy little restaurant and got charged $20 for two beers and a plate of french fries. When I was going to pay the owner rushed over and told us we didn’t need to leave a tip as they had already added 20 per cent to the bill. Say what??? It seems that a lot of restaurants did this for the Olympics – jacked their prices. Apparently foreigners don’t tip well so they just add 20 per cent to the bill to cover it Well, as a local I won’t be going there again. There are several restaurants doing this it seems. Megabite pizza has raised their prices by 300%. The .99 cent slice of pizza is now $2.49. Earl’s has added 20% to the bill and the $4 breakfast by my office is now $6.50 all day. Just add those restaurants to my list of “I’ll never go there again” spots. I can’t believe the greed and avarice of these opportunistic bastards. I think they need to remember that the games are on for 2 weeks, and after they are done there will be a whole lot of people still here. I know that my list of businesses that I will visit gets shorter by the day. Don’t huff and tell me to get over it. I think its ridiculous the way these places are trying to screw everyone. They claim its because they have to hire more staff and buy more stuff…why…because you are BUSY all day now??? Isn’t that what businesses want??? I didn’t forget Mr Tube Steak and the hot dog that was $2 more either!

Today Vanoc had the fence moved around the flame. You can actually see it now. They managed to make yet another line for you to stand in. If you want a great photo op, its worth waiting to get on the viewing platform.

The womens downhill was running while I was on my lunch hour. Skiier after skiier crashed, but some made it down. No doubt people will blame vanoc for the track. It was spectacular to watch.

As I live in an Olympic “hot zone” I thought I would take some pictures of what it is like being in my neighborhood these days.

This is a new sign (above) that suddenly appeared one  day.  I kept thinking they should have had something like this long ago.  I hope that they will be able to change the sign after the Olympics and redraw it with the appropriate (permanent) information.  These signs have popped up all over town.  It would be a waste if they were taken down after the Olympics.  I’m still trying to figure out where I live.  I have been here for 1o years and it has always been called East False Creek, Main St, East Vancouver.  I have never ever been called Mt Pleasant (that’s a whole different area).  I guess, since we don’t have a name, they figured Mt. Pleasant sounded good.  No map I have found today refers to this as Mt. Pleasant (that’s up the hill from here and to the east).

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Above are three of the various banners that are all over town.  These are the ones on my street as I walk home.  They are attractive banners, in both official languages – I see that every second sign is in French and all the sports seem to be represented.  My only question is…what does the blue sign under the last banner mean?  It popped up yesterday.  I have NO idea what any of the acronyms represent.  I’m used to seeing movie signs – and this seems to be in the same vein.  It’s on a need to know basis, and if you don’t need to know…you’ll never figure it out.  If you head to the left as the sign represents you end up in the parking lot beside Science World (which is now Russia House) and you are beside all the tents that are Quebec House, Saskatchewan House, Hockey House etc.  If you go straight on, you can get to the media centre at Canada Place.  With all the road closures, our street has become one of only two northbound streets open heading to downtown. Main St is the other one, but with the closure of the viaducts this weekend, traffic will be very interesting to say the least.

Next there are all the “parking restriction” signs.  These are my favourite because they are EVERYWHERE.  In this case, we are talking about a two block area.   This is my walk home, north along Quebec St, and it is only two blocks.  It is a block full of condominiums (five towers), and townhouses.

This is the sign right in front of my house.  All the signs get confusing, but this one bugs me the most.  The bus sign points to the bus stop.  After 10 years of living here with no way of getting to Yaletown we finally got a bus last year.  It’s a half hour walk along the seawall (which is closed for the Olympics to get here), or it’s a bus ride…the next sign is our actual bus stop.

I’m not impressed that my bus stop is no longer there.  Now, I can’t go to Costco, the liquor store or the Urban Fare market.  I’d like to say I’ll be so busy going to all the events around me, that this minor inconvenience won’t bother me – but that would be a lie.  We all know where the tickets went (hello city hall, hello fat cats, hello government trough dwellers, hello scalpers) and we all know that nobody we know is going to any of the big events with a face value ticket.  I am going to some short track speed skating, some skiing at Whistler (don’t get me started on transportation) and I do have nosebleed (and I mean NOSEBLEED) tickets to see Burton Cummings at the Victory Ceremony.  I bought a package early and got lucky.  For $900 I am going to 3 events and a victory ceremony.  I’d like to see the opening or closing ceremonies (they were fabulous in Salt Lake) but that won’t happen unless I get lucky.  The last time I checked they were going for about $800 each.  So, I’m not impressed with all the inconveniences and closures, but I hope the games are successful.  I just wish Canada would smarten up and actually celebrate their athletes and be proud.  I know more about Russian and Australian athletes than I do our own.  Why would that be?  Oh yeah, all our money went into the pockets of the rich and not into promoting the actual sports  represented.

I don’t mean to be cynical.  It just drives me crazy that we live in a country where we have great athletes and great opportunities.  I used to idolize Karen Magnusson when I was a young girl and she would teach me skating; I sat on the edge of my seat watching Kathy Kreiner tear down the hills in Calgary.  Why aren’t we celebrating these athletes in the run up to the games?  Why don’t we hear more “ra ra Canada” as this is OUR Olympics?  No, we’re too busy trying not to offend anybody to do that.

The games are almost here – pray for snow for Cypress.  It’s not looking too healthy.

While we’re on our Olympics rant…let’s talk transportation.  From the beginning we were told that we would have to take public transportation (of course the system that already sucks and has no room at the best of times would be the backbone) in order to get around the city.  They even built an amazingly expensive train to the airport which opened “just in time” for all those Olympics visitors.  I guess that it’s not just the public who hate the taxi drivers and the taxi industry – Mr. Campbell obviously does too.  In pushing the green agenda, they have cancelled the bus that runs by my house and is convenient to getting to a part of town that one can’t get to otherwise.  Oh well, those businesses don’t need my business during the Olympics.

I have tickets to a 10am event at Whistler.  This means I have to be on a bus at 5:05 am (have to be there three hours early so I can get through security, which means I have to be at the bus stop (not downtown, not anywhere I can walk to, not even by the bus station) at 49th and Cambie half an hour before that.  There is NO way I can do that using public transportation at that hour (first train from my house is 5:05 am), on top of that, the taxi that might drop me off there, won’t be able to get anywhere close to the destination as they seem to be relegated to areas outside the “Olympic zones”.

For anyone going to Cypress “surprise surprise surprise” – it was revealed today that people taking that bus will have quite a hike to walk.  It turns out the bus will drop you off 2km from the event site.  It’s funny that Vanoc couldn’t tell anyone this before they bought the tickets.  Had I been looking for tickets, it definitely would have influenced my decision, especially if I was in some way mobility impaired.  Up until now, all the information made one believe that you would be dropped off close to where you needed to be (not 2km away).

While we’re on the subject of “misinformation” need I mention the word “hockey house”.  The cost to get in there is $500/day.  Well, I guess they weren’t selling enough tickets so they introduced a special price ticket for $99 – making you believe you were going to have access to all.  Several days after these went on sale it was revealed that “surprise surprise surprise” these tickets were only good for the days that the women played.  Not when the men played.  This was beyond outrageous.

Canada has all kinds of rules and laws, and now we are changing the BC laws to make it convenient for people from other countries.  After all but banning smoking in BC and bragging about the health benefits etc, and how green we are in all ways – it was announced that there will be smoke pits at the Olympic events.  We can’t ban smoking.  Why not?  It’s our law.  Why can’t we ask people to respect our laws?  I shake my head.  Of course the VIP’s will get special access to half the smoke pits and won’t have to do things like go through security again after having a puff.  Everyone else (not rich or connected) will have to line up again and go through security again.  I don’t smoke, so it’s not an issue, but I just think it’s ridiculous.

Now that my head is about to explode, I come to my favourite rule.  They are going to confiscate any/all cameras that have a built in flash.  So now I can’t take my “good” camera to Whistler because it has a built in flash which I never use at events like this.  I don’t think I can even take my pocket camera as it also has a flash.  When I think about it, the only cameras that don’t have a flash attached are those from years ago.

I’m sure that as time goes on we’ll learn more because the powers that be have been less than honest up to this point.

The Rockies are beautiful and full of highways and animals.  So, to save the animals (and people that hit them) they built a bridge.  This is the actual Calgary turn off on Hwy 1.  The animals figured it out!!

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