The Olympics... and beyond

Ok, maybe that headline is a bit misleading. I did, in fact, make donuts today, which was my final day doing the Yum Yum Shop thing prior to my flight to the Olympics, which happens tomorrow night. However, I will not reach the Dolomites by tomorrow evening. In fact, I won't even make France until Wednesday morning. Italy comes on Wednesday afternoon. But, no matter how you slice it, the Olympics are here and whether I'm ready or not, it is time to get going. Sunday I spent some time doing the stupid little things you don't think about. After making the donuts, I did laundry so it's not piled up while I'm gone. Then I went through and made sure all my bills were paid for the rest of the month. This afternoon I stopped at TD Bank and picked up the euros that I had ordered and after covering a couple of hockey games, stopped in at the office to pick up a few things, go through some last minute paperwork to make sure stuff was in order while I'm gone and take all t...

I am sitting here on my couch near the end of a dead end road in the Lakes Region on a Monday morning. Usually, I would be in the kitchen at the Yum Yum Shop, cooking up donuts and other baked goods, but with the snowstorm coming through on Sunday afternoon into this morning, the boss decided to keep the bakery closed, so I got a day off and in that, got a little time to sit down and put together some thoughts as we get closer and closer to Milan-Cortina. In the last few weeks I have spent some time watching World Cup alpine racing, the speed skating Olympic trials and some freestyle skiing, even hitting up moguls World Cup in person when the circuit came to Waterville Valley in mid-January. The Winter Olympics are always my favorite because I really enjoy the sports that take place and seeing some of the spectacular venues that the World Cup races go through has me ready to see some of the impressive locations that I will get to see in northern Italy in the coming weeks. But there is ...

Less than a month. After the process I’ve been through the last year-plus, it seems hard to believe that wheels up to Milan-Cortina is less than a month away. But here we sit. My flight to Milan (via Paris) leaves Boston on Feb. 3, so as I write this on Jan. 4, it is indeed less than a month until I fly out though it’s more than a month until the opening ceremony, which takes place on Feb. 6.  I have to admit, I’ve been struggling a bit lately. The holiday tournament schedule kind of wiped me out and as we prepare to get back to regularly-scheduled regular season action every night, I am not really feeling it. Most days I just want to go home and go to bed. That, however, would not be terribly productive.  Traditionally I am always excited as time ticks down toward the Olympics. I go through schedules and look at all the information I can find trying to see what I’m going to do or what I have to look forward to. I haven’t really done that this time. Maybe it’s a lack of time, ...

Last April, prior to the Paris Olympics, I made the trip to New York City to attend the Team USA Media Summit, which was a great chance to hear from multiple athletes across multiple sports ahead of the Summer Olympics. I really enjoyed the experience and was looking forward to the possibility of Team USA doing a similar event ahead of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. Team USA announced the Winter Olympics Media Summit for yesterday and today in New York City. Originally, I was psyched to spend a few days with the Winter Olympic athletes until I realized that I was not going to be able to be there. I had committed to being the stage manager for the Village Players production of Sweeney Todd, which was in tech week last week, meaning we had rehearsal every night and being in New York for a couple of days did not fit into that schedule. I still wanted to be a part of the event, so I registered and then kept an eye on the schedule as to who would be attending. Knowing I had Tuesdays and...

Back in April of last year, I took the train to New York to attend the Team USA Media Summit, which was held to coincide with the 100-day out mark for the Paris Olympics. The Media Summit featured press conferences and chances to interact with athletes who were preparing for the Summer Olympics. You can read about my experiences in the April blog posts from last year  here .  Team USA sent out the invitation to this year's Team USA Media Summit a few months ago and after the great experience I had last April, I eagerly accepted the invitation and was excited for the chance to get to experience some of the athletes ahead of the Winter Olympics in Italy. This year's event was also scheduled to coincide with the 100-day out mark for the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics. After I registered, it occurred to me that I likely wouldn't be able to make it to much of this year's event, as I had volunteered to stage manage the Village Players Theater production of Sweeney Todd, which ...

I first started covering the NASCAR Cup Series appearances in Loudon back when there was two visits a year from the cycle and it was still New Hampshire International Speedway and owned by Alton resident Bob Bahre. Over the years, I have missed a race or two, but always try to get to the track for at least part of the race weekend. When I first starting covering these races I marveled at the monstrous undertaking that putting on a NASCAR race was and I remember being impressed at how it was pulled off. I also remembering how cool it would be to cover the races all season long, going from track to track as the series moved around the country. Since that time, I have started covering the Olympics and while NASCAR is a huge undertaking, the Olympics take that to another level. The work that goes into putting on the Olympics is like nothing else on earth, with multiple facilities, thousands of press, volunteers and staff to move around those multiple facilities is incredible. That being sa...