Believe me. I felt weird not going downtown today. I felt a little antsy, like I was missing something. But tomorrow it’s back to Vancouver where I’ll be hanging out in Yaletown for a flickr meet-up after work.
In lieu of some funky downtown shots, I thought I’d give you a “collectible” update.
Here’s my special bag for my Winter Games collections. Yup. That’s plural. I know. I’m all caught up in the fever.
Let me first start by saying that I know I tend to go on about the Mint Pavilion, but it is right across the street from my office. The thing during the games now with The Mint is this – every day, they have a quarter exchange – you take in your boring old moose quarters, and they give you the quarter of the day with a sport on it. Very exciting. A few of us at the office are into it. Perhaps I should say, the people in the office with kids or grandkids are into it. And me. So far I’ve collected 3 sports quarters…
Figure Skaters:
The Snowboarder:
The Arial Skiing:
Wow. This is no Michelle Kwan, is it. BOO.
However, the pin collection is coming right along:
And it seems everyone is getting into the action. Check it out. The Salvation Army has a Winter Games pin:
And this pin, gifted to me by Phil,
turned out to be a pin from a religious college in Alberta. And speaking of religious, another thing I’ve noticed around downtown is an awful lot of recruiting for various churches in amongst the art displays, the crowds, the pin traders and everything else. There’s one group that has translated The Bible into all different languages and are giving them away for free. Another group keeps handing out brochures that say things like Organic Fruit or We Love Chocolate on the front and then you open it up…and it’s information for a particular religion. Amazing. I had no idea so many different organizations would come to Vancouver for the “captive audience”.
Back to Winter Games coverage tomorrow!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Just to let you know, one quarter, in every olympic quarter roll, is also extra special, with the maple leaf in red – so far only the men’s hockey, women’s hockey and Cindy Klassen quarters are the quarters I have (not sure if its just these 3 quarters) but they look really great!
Hi Brandi! Thanks for that info. Wow. A red maple leaf? I must have it!!! This is turning into Willy Wonka golden tickets now.
Cool!!! I can so feel the the excitement- I’m living vicariously thru you!! I can’t wait to see what you do today!
And creepy about the religious stalkers, Norm finally scared the JW’s away the last time they came by telling them they were stalking us- lol!
Oh my! That is so cool about the quarters! I do hope you get a red maple leaf. super cool.
That whole religious thing is quite something, isn’t it? I heard a Buddhist abbot talk about when he was training in Thailand (I think) and the various religeons attempting to convert the natives. One church offered free bicycles, so everybody joined and got their bicycle. Then another church offered something else and everybody joined and got that freebe. When the dust settled they mostly stayed Buddhist. He said he was talking to one of the trainers in one of the religeons involved who told him they sent missionaries to Thailand to train the missionaries more than convert the people! Oh! So now when I see someone on a street corner flogging redemption, I offer them assistance with their spiritual development. ; )