Olympics – One Week to go…. Uniform Delivery…

Greetings People…

Another week down… Today [Yesterday] I have safety training – Occupational

Health and Safety stuff – so that those who are not used to Australian

conditions do not get killed… Also I will be trained in local procedures…

and what to do if something goes wrong… [And of course it will not 🙂

]. After that 43 of us are going to dinner in Centrepoint. [Dinner was

great… Looking over the wonderful city… I think some people will want

to stay]

Safety Training: All 36 inch Microwave dishes must be taken up ladders

in SOBO issues back packs, which are certainly not large enough for the

dishes… Hearing protection will be supplied for use when transiting the

plant room to the roof of the UNSW. Torches will be supplied and must be

carried when there in case there is a blackout and you find yourself in

the middle of the plant room with no lights. ID Tags should be worn UNDER

clothing when on rooftops as they do not want a repeat of a guy who hurt

his eye when the accreditation blew up and hit him, but the accreditation

must also be visible at all times.

Last night I went to the dress rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony, thanks

to my Olympic Club membership. Dare I say it the Olympic Club membership

was worth it… I would now be prepared to pay over $1,000 to see the real

thing.

There were a few failures last night, such as the compare dropping his

notes and delays between segments. I was at the southern end, which had

a great view, but was some windy. I was also under the flag. Also on the

subject of flags, it tore last night. And when you see the ceremony you

will see what I am talking about. After the opening, I feel sorry for Athens

who will have a problem with topping it in 4 years time.

I visited the Main Press Centre yesterday, and it was quiet… In the

Olympic store there they had T-Shirts ‘I SURVIVED THE MAIN PRESS CENTRE’.

I bought some pins saying the same thing.

Last night I was on the southern side of the Stadium having just walked

from the International Broadcast Centre [IBC]. I was outside the gates and

wanted to get to the press centre… All the Support Services people pointed

me back to the IBC, exactly where I had come from… I had to tell them

that the press centre was on the other side of the stadium and that I just

did not know how to get there… Whilst I was asking a journalist wanted

to get to the baseball stadium. Support did not know where that was, so

I was able to tell him where it was, just not how to get there. 3 weeks

later I found out I should have used another entrance to get to the MPC

from the IBC, via the superdome car park.

I finally got my official Uniform… My haul was

In addition to the crew clothing that does (or does not) comply with relevant

law…

Please note that I am not admitting to having any clothing or pins in Australia

that have the words “Sydney 2000” on them without permission. If you see

me wearing them you will find this is a figment of a deraigned imagination…

On Thursday I was also sent an official MEDIA transport guide. I was

also contacted by SOBO[SOCOG] wanting to make sure where I start work friday.

Yepp… the same place I have been working for the last 2 weeks…

I am still amazed at the $$$ in the games… I saw 6 shipping containers

in the parking lot… They had come from England for the games, by AIR.

It is amazing… Security is interesting. No-one cares about leaving laptops

or anything else lying round… When there are cameras and other equipment

around not being nicked, why bother with small stuff.

Traffic is still manageable – It is taking me 40-50 minutes each way,

which is certainly not bad. It is about 37Km each way. I do not think I

would want to do it for the rest of my life, but it aint too bad. Last

night for the rehearsal I parked in Nyrang street in the compound, and found

that it was a very fast drive both ways. Definitely faster than the train,

but I have parking…

As for the work we are doing, we have put a TV Camera on a MANLY ferry…

the one that will be used for the torch relay the final day. That will

be on TV world wide. I will be adding a GPS so that we can track its location

from Auburn.[We never got around to putting the GPS on the ferry]

I have also built up a bit of equipment. Over the last couple of evenings

I have built remote controls for the video switchers so that someone can

choose which is the best TV picture to use from each downlink location.

Today I installed my equipment on the lead vehicle of the MARATHON –

neglecting of course to get any photos… I will maybe get those tomorrow..

[I now have the photos]. I also helped putting on a closed circuit TV on

the lead, so that the driver knows about how far away he is from the runner.

Under international rules the lead needs to be at least 20m in front of

the lead so that they are not given an unfair advantage…

Our team has basically finished the video link from the Manly ferry.

This will be a remote control camera that is on all the time whilst the

games are on… 24 hours a day… It will also provide live video during

the torch relay… It is one of the few digital video RF links.

I have been doing more driving people around… It is a rare day that

I do not have to drive someone around… after all it is safer for me to

be driving than for an american used to driving on the wrong side of the

road.[As you will hear later, we have already written one car off]

Being a local certainly helps with some things… Half my workshop is

appearing at our field workshop… Everything from electronic parts to

power tools.. I brought in my Circular saw, jigsaw, angle grinder, tyre

pump in the last few days. I have not yet needed to make sawdust, but have

helped others make it…[Later you will hear how my boss gave away these

tools after the games thinking they were his]

I finally met the president of the company I am working for… She came

over for a few days from the usa to see how things are going… After all

she only gets to see some of the people during the special events… [most

of the team contract in for each event I have worked out]

SOBO, the Sydney Olympic Broadcasting Organisation, has an official

mascot. Syd, the Platypus is ours. For us he is standing up using a video

camera…

Today I actually got to visit the airport and say the helicopters…

They look very small and flimsey… Too small… I am told we will have

2 up for the opening.. I do not know about the torch yet…

I also got a new digital camera.. The one from the USA never arrived

so I purchased one from Dick Smith… Great… I will have lots of photos

available soon.. Today I got to do some electrical engineering… working

out how to get a generator to the roof of the UNSW Library… The problem

is the ladder to the roof is too small, you cannot have the generator inside,

etc… And it is 15 stories up… So have the generators on the ground

with a long cable… but will the cable break… I came really close to

bringing in PPI… I still do not have a solution that is acceptable, but

it will come.

Am I enjoying myself? YES. Would I do it again? YES. Would I pay to

do it? YES YES YES. What could compete with this. Not only is the Olympics

the pinnacle of sport, it is the pinnacle of technical pursuits, and I

am there for that reason. Anything I do in the future will be a let down…

Sure I might help to keep the lights on, but that aint the Olympics.