It is coming up so fast!  We have the opening of the Olympic Superstore, the unveiling of the Team Canada 2010 Olympic and Paralympic uniforms (and the unveiling of the uniforms of those of us in the Olympic Superstore!) to look forward to in the next 30 days!

Mukmuk on an "ice machine" - for collectors much clever than I am...

What else do we have to look forward to in the immediate future??

Well, first off, if you are hoping to be part of the Vancouver 2010 experience, up-close with the athletes, on TV, live within the Sea-to-Sky corridor, at least 15 years of age, female and available for about 40 hours per week during the games then Vancouver 2010 wants you!!  They are looking for specialized volunteers for flower and victory ceremonies!!  I am totally jealous of the girls that get to do this, however, there is no way at all that I will have that much time free.  I joke about not sleeping for two weeks during the Games (work, volunteering in the Vancouver Athlete’s Village, attending events, and blogging, but really I should get a few hours per night… maybe…).  If you don’t fulfill these requirements either, but are still interested in applying for a job or a volunteer position, check out this link.

So what did I learn about Vancouver 2010 today?  I learned that I really know nothing about pins yet…   I thought I was getting there but there are so many sources that it’s really hard to keep up.  The image above is a new pin called “Mukmuk – ice machine”.  Seriously?  Mukmuk on a zamboni and I don’t have one yet?? Seriously??  How did I miss this?  How did I find out about this at work when we don’t sell them?  And very, very few others have them for sale either?

I would like to have it on record that this experience should be reinforcing that I should specialize in my pin collecting.  The smart thing to do… the only sane thing to do, is to select a style, group, set, or some sort of confining feature in your pin tastes and only collect those (for example: “mascots” “National Olympic Committees” “Sponsorship pins”.  Have I done this?  Well… I would love to say that I have, but it would be a lie.  I collect everything that looks interesting (which is really quite a lot, and seriously makes the lady interested in one gold coin look very smart!).  I think I have recently been meeting people interested in trying to collect all of the retail pins (that is, pins available for purchase from a store such as the Olympic Shop I work in).  But really, this is already a vast number of pins!  There are also sponsorship pins, governmental pins, bid pins, law enforcement pins, National Olympic Committee pins and likely others (stay tuned for others… I am hatching a plot).  Check out pincollectorsite for a low-down on some of the options (personally pleased to see the Cold FX slider hockey goalie pin as his pin of the week, since I recently scored one of those!).

Cold-FX slider goalie pin - tres cool!!

So, with about 3 months until the Opening Ceremonies of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games… do you need to specialize your pin collection or can you be a “pin mutt” like me??  I so far have mascot pins, sponsorship pins, retail pins, government pins, bid pins and related “non Olympic” pins.  And I have this problem that I’m not a very good trader.  I like to collect pins that I like.  I do try to get doubles of some of my pins so that I can trade, but I am innately adverse to risk, and somehow pin trading seems risky to my “pack-rat” nature.  I do have a selection of pins that are theoretically for trade but have difficulty parting with them.  Though to be fair, I’ve had little opportunity to part with my pins, except for my experience at the Olympin Show in Richmond, where I think I did alright, mostly due to the honesty of the traders I talked to…  I got a few pins that I wanted and surprisingly I had pins of interest too…

So, I guess it comes down to this, a question to you, my readers… Do I keep collecting (and hopefully bringing myself to trade for…) any pins that I find interesting or should I be a good pin trader/collector and start specializing?  I cannot have all of the pins (neither enough money nor ferocity to chase them down).  Should I buckle down and aim for complete “sets” or go with the flow and see what I happen to like (dangerous as this often means buy!)?  And how do I become a better trader?  I know that part of my reticence is that I want a story with my pin.  So far all of my pins have a story, sometimes nothing more than my own silliness, but really they all say something to (and sometimes about) me.

With only 3 months to go before the Games start I really need to sort myself out.  Pins are going to get more abundant, interesting and enticing as the days go by…  I really am asking for help.   What would you do?  What would you suggest?  What pins interest you?  Oy vey!  What’s a girl to do??  I really hope you have some answers, or at least thoughts, for me (or pins??? maybe pins???).

So what pins am I pining for currently?  Besides the above Mukmuk on an “ice machine” (I will always say zamboni, but that must be some sort of trademark infringement…).  Here are a few…

Sea-to-Sky Hockey Pin set

BC Wildlife 7 pin puzzle set

Canadian Olympic Committee Hockey series

Acklands Grainger cones pin

New Teck bronze - silver - gold pin

Vincor pin - yes, it does have to do with wine...

Omega mountain pin - really cute!

Molson Maple Leaf pin

Port Metro Vancouver pin

And yes… there are way more, but I’m going to stop now.  Though I’ll throw this out… if you send me a pin (or a few, so I can trade and share with readers) I’ll show it on my page with a link to your site.  This is only valid for Vancouver 2010 related pins, as I will have my blog shut down if I advertise for non-sponsors or non-related folks.  However I’m looking forward to hearing from all of you!  Even if you can’t send a pin, send in a pin story!  I’m always keen to hear what’s happening.

PS – Check out Cold-FX.com for your chance to win a limited edition pin set!!  Or… tickets to the Games!!  Contests through their website, Facebook, purchase and others!  Thanks Cold-FX!!  Love my goalie pin by the way, and hope that I win a set of your pins to show on this blog!!