Well, Friday was pretty exciting, with the vote for where the 2016 Summer Olympics will be held.  The contest was between Chicago, Tokyo, Madrid, and Rio.  And that’s the way the voting went, with Rio coming out on top, it will be hosting the 2016 Summer Olympics!  It won the final vote by 66 votes to Madrid’s 32 votes!  That’s a rather ringing endorsement!  (Vancouver won over PyeonChang by only 3 votes!).  Anyhow, congrats to Rio!!

And also very exciting… On Tuesday, October 13th the Vancouver 2010 Workforce Uniform is going to be unveiled!  I haven’t heard yet if I answered quickly enough to get to attend, but I do really hope that I’ll be there for the reveal!  It will be very exciting to see what all of the staff and volunteers will be wearing!  I’m not exactly sure what sorts of pieces will be included in the volunteer uniform, but I imagine that it will likely include some sort of outdoor wear – jacket, mitts and hat, and indoor wear – pants and a top.  Should be interesting!!  I’ll post up all the info after the reveal!

Just a short one again tonight.  My cold feels like it’s improving, but more sleep would certainly help me get over it more quickly.  Hope that you’re all well and happy and healthy!  Regards, santé.

I’m writing this post awfully late.  So late it may even be considered early!  So, instead of saying the Superstore opens tomorrow, as I would have if I had written at 7pm, I get to say that the store opens today!!  Really soon actually, so this will be very brief as I would like to get a little bit of sleep in!

Mascots helping to build the Olympic Superstore - that wall is down now!!

Wonderfully, the PR Firm that has been hired to promote the Opening has sent me a note, including a bunch of information about tomorrow!  (This will save me a bit of time, and mean that I’m not just saying goodnight now )!  Things haven’t really changed from my first post on the schedule, but it does include a bit more info, though look for the list of athlete’s attending here.  Here’s what the plan is!

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October 1st

(all events inside the Olympic Superstore,  main floor of the Bay, downtown Vancouver)

12:00 – 12:15 DJ Hedspin

12:00 – 1:00 Canadian athlete autograph session

12:15 – 1:15 Cowboy Junkies

1:15 – 1:45 Fashion Show of 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel

1:45 – 3:45 DJ Hedspin

2:00 – 3:00 Athlete autograph session

3:45 – 4:30 Dan Mangan

4:30 – 5:00 Fashion Show of 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel

5:00 – 6:00 Sam Roberts band

5:30 – 6:30 Canadian athlete autograph session

6:00 – 7:30 DJ Hedspin

*No tickets necessary, just be sure to get there early to secure entry.

2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel and the Olympic Superstore are coming October 1st!

Hudson’s Bay Company is celebrating the launch of its 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel with free events and concerts, inside the Olympic Superstore, situated on the main level of the Bay, downtown Vancouver  – -  featuring artists like Sam Roberts.

Created by top-notch designers from Hudson’s Bay Company, with input from Canadian athletes, 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Apparel is what you’ll see our 2010 Olympic athletes wearing at these historic Games.

And you can get your own 2010 Canadian Olympic Team Retail Apparel starting October 1^st at all Bay and Zellers stores and online at www.hbc.com.

October 1^st also marks the grand opening of the Olympic Superstore, which is the anchor retail location for the 2010 Winter Games. The store is a breathtaking retail experience, occupying most of the main floor of the Bay in downtown Vancouver. In addition to all of the Vancouver 2010 merchandise, there will be some cool features, like the Happiness café and official pin trading centre from Coca-Cola – for all those enthusiastic Olympic Games pin-traders.

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Alright, I’ll try to add a bit myself quickly!!  The Olympic Superstore looks fabulous!!!  The walls came down tonight.  We got everything set up for tomorrow (today… whatever, you know what I mean ).  The Coca-Cola Happiness Cafe is beautiful!  And they already have an interesting selection of pins available on our pin wall!  Oh, and speaking of pins, the Bay’s Pin of the Month is on the wall and ready for sale in the morning.  It’s a Torch Relay pin and very nice!

Hmm… what else??  Oh!  All Olympic Superstore Staff will be sporting our lovely new uniforms tomorrow.  You won’t be able to miss us!  And we’ll happily be there to help you!  Stop by and check out our Swatch section (3 styles just for Vancouver 2010!) and our Panasonic section (including a Vancouver 2010 digital camera!) and our Royal Canadian Mint section (for all of your coin desires!) and our Birks section (complete with replica torches and a real Olympic Torch!!!).  Oh my gosh.  It’s all too exciting!!  OH!!  And don’t forget to come get your Red Mittens!!!   OH! And meet the Mascots!!!

And the last thing (sort of) before I go to bed – don’t forget!  Visa is a proud supporter of the Olympics and is the only card accepted at the Olympic and Paralympic Games.  So please do remember to bring your Visa card (or cash) to purchase your Red Mittens with!

I am a zombie.  And not just your regular sort of zombie, but a brain-eating, take-over-the-world sort of zombie!!  I am tired!!  And the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) section of the new Olympic Superstore is BUSY!!  Not just busy, insane really!!  I’m so pleased people like the new uniforms!

And speaking of uniforms… I bought a hand-knit, Canadian-made “full rack” zip sweater today and it frickin’ rocks!  I wasn’t exactly sure when I’d wear it, but tonight was cool, and a bit humid, and after the Lions vs. Riders game (go Lions!!) at BC Place, I went for a drink with friends, and the only seat we could get was outside.  Out comes  my lovely new sweater and I was nicely warm and comfortable!!  They have been selling very quickly, even at the $350 price mark, but they are hand-knit in Canada and not something that you can get every day.  The Olympic Superstore should be getting the machine-knit ones in soon as well, and those will be around $100 but I’m not sure if we’ll get any more hand-knit pieces in, and we’re nearly out!!

My new sweater!!

Next – the Pin of the Month in store features the Torch Relay, it is pretty cool and our Torchbearers all seem very fond of them so far!  And speaking of pins…  Thanks to COLD-FX2010.com on Facebook and @COLDFX2010 on Twitter for their rockin’ trivia contest for the “hockey player pin set’!!  They very, very kindly sent me a set (’cause I’m a geeky Olympics nerd and like answering their trivia questions!) and it is super cool!!  I love it.

My new ColdFX Hockey Pin Set!

Oh!  And hey!  I had sent a tweet about the new uniforms while I was on a break yesterday after the release, and it was printed in 24 Hours Vancouver newspaper!!  So neat!  And to think I was already excited that people had come down to visit me ’cause of it, but it’s sorta neat to be in the paper as well.  Actually, does anyone have a copy of the Friday, October 2nd 24 Hours that they can save for me?  I meant to grab one, but as I said right off the top of this post, I am a zombie and totally forgot to get myself a copy.  Sigh.  Oh, and a Metro too please!  It had the new uniforms on the cover, and I did have one of those but it got ruined by something spilling on it at the game.  Sigh again.

Thank you merci for reading!