whose counting?

Really enjoyed my day at home. Watched the movie 'In Bruges'. Quite good. Watched some TLC (managed not to call and cancel cable today). Did some laundry. Drank vitamin water. Peeled grapefruits. All in all it was success. Barking cough is still there but I no longer feel feverish and exhausted. One more day of rest and I think I will have beat pneumonia.

Back to work Friday and Saturday but Sunday will be off. Going to watch the gold medal ice sledge hockey game at UBC with Ritchy. Should be fun.

Day 10 or 14: Something is terribly wrong...and now I know what it is

Pneumonia! Damn bug is apparently the cause of my 8 days of fevered work, labored breathing while walking up the stairs and panicked texts to Rachel that I think I might not make it.

Have made executive decision to take a full day off tomorrow and half day off Thursday. Have unloaded an 11 hour shift and 9 hour shift on to other staff. I just used the p word and everyone backed away in fear and told me to stay the hell away from them. It is really effective. Almost like telling people I have the plague.

This ends my 14 days straight of working. Getting sick on day 3 really put me over the edge. Going to sleep and watch movies for all of tomorrow. Have tons of fruit and veggies here to provide me with nutritious meals on the road to wellness.

Relieved I have not gotten around to cancelling cable yet. A little Oprah tomorrow will be just what the doctor ordered.

Day 9 of 14: Too much and too little

Wandering around in a complete fog with this cold. Really need it to end. Have doctor's appointment tomorrow. I was feeling bad for myself until someone from another department complained to me today that they haven't had a day off since January 4th. Now, you may ask what will I do next year at this time? This time next year we have a 17 day event, break and then another event. Not three months continuous of events and trying to do our day jobs.


Making fish and green beans for dinner. Hope healthy eating will help me kick this thing.

5 days to go until my day off!

When are we going to see photos of the new addition? I keep refreshing the blog to see if brother Dave has posted an update. Or maybe he will post to facebook. Still confused on what the name is but hoping mum will bring back clarification and photos when she visits later this week.

Day 5 of 14: failure

We've been yelling 'failure' at one another quite a bit at work lately. It seems harsh but has us laughing more than anything else. For instance; when I was working at the sliding centre the ceremonies team failed to meet their time standard for getting the medal ceremony started. We walked away saying 'Too bad the whole event failed because of the ceremonies team.'

Well today I 'failed' to make it to the office. The cold is sitting on me like a parked truck with ebrake on and does not look like it will be moving anytime soon. Feel like hell. I did work from home; firing off emails and taking phone calls. Have managed to infect others in my team and they too are at home cursing an open work environment that spreads germs like a day care full of snot nosed toddlers.

My friend Sarah sent me this ecard and told me to give to my coworkers. I laughed out loud and proceeded to print it out so that I can give it to the one person on my team that plays baseball.

Back to vitamin water and spicy foods.

Day 3 of 14: rock the Kasbah

Today I officially submitted my vacation request for April. Maybe it was the fact that I have woken up with a cold, maybe it was the fact that tomorrow is a suit day, but I needed to firm things up for my vacation in April.

I then came home and put the deposit down on my trip, entitled 'Morocco Kasbahs and Desert', described as;

'Compact and independent, this adventure gives you the best of Morocco with maximum flexibility. Experience a 4x4 excursion of the dunes of the Sahara, climb high-walled kasbahs, cross the High Atlas mountains, and wander the rabit-warren alleys of Fez and Marrakech - Do it your way.'

Over 8 days I visit; Casablanca, Rabat, Roman ruins of Volubilis, Meknès, Fez, Merzouga, 4x4 desert sand dune excursion, Todhga, Ouarzazate, Ben Haddou, Marrakech, Djemma El Fna Square.

At the end of this I will meet up with Chris and Rachel for some sightseeing in Marrakech before we head to Tangiers to catch the ferry to Spain for a week of relaxing in the sun.

The thought of this trip is really keeping me going.

Must go sort out my dry clean only clothing for tomorrow.

Day 2 of 14

Today is day 2 of 14 days straight of work. March 1st will be my next day off.

So far I am feeling good and still fitting in a workout a day. The true test will be to see if I can still eat well, keep my apartment tidy and not run out of clean clothing.

I have a mix of very formal events for work (suits) and working out of a venue (fleece vest, jeans and running shoes) this week.

There will be a mix of double or triple (Swiss) cheek kisses for my European counterparts and long hours at an indoor, but extremely cold, venue.

Managing expectations, volunteers and time.

Communicating via cell phone, email and radio.

Working at HQ, HIL and the Westin.

Off to get a good night sleep in preparation for Day 3.

Tricks and Sun at Cypress

Just to one up Rachel I am uploading a video. I am also putting up a photo where Rachel is obviously not engaged in the photo taking and saying hi to someone. Notice I am wearing a rowing jacket? Still don't own winter wear. Am committed to looking for some end of season sales so that next winter I look the part.

It was a lot of familiar faces at Cypress and confused looks as to why I was getting to sit in the VIP tent and drink Coors light.

I just kept pointing to Rachel and saying 'I'm with her. This is not a work function for me.'

Two other rowers were at the venue; Marnie and Karen. You just can't keep us away.

My next event is a week of working at Wheelchair curling. It will be 8 days of shifts ending at 9pm or as late as 11:30pm. Good times.

One year to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am starting to get a lot of questions from people about what I will do after. It feels much like when you are graduating university and everyone wants to know what your next step is.