Olympic Fever --Guest Blogger, Taylor Van Nest

Pre-note from Taylor... "I just wanted to say thank you once again to Beth and all her sisters for letting me blog again and welcoming me so warmly to the team. And thank you to everyone who responded last week, I look forward to many more this week!!"

About a week or so ago I woke up to the great news on TV that in 100 days we will be welcoming the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. I'm just going to come out and say it: I absolutely love anything and everything about the Olympics. Beth can attest to this: for the 2 week period that the 2008 Beijing summer games was on in August I was practically useless at work. If I wasn't watching the Olympics at home I didn't want to do anything else. So if you read my blog from last Friday, you know just how much I enjoy anticipating events!

So come February 12th, 2010 I will plan to neglect all my studies, ignore all outside social life, and more than likely drive myself hungry if I forget to replenish myself. Ok so maybe I won't be that critical, but I get close to it. I'm one of the rare people who prefer the Winter Games over the Summer Games, but I think that's because I just love snow. There's just something about the whole event; the spectacle of it all is mesmerizing. It's not just about the games themselves (I'll get to that in a minute) but the unity of the world getting together. I always love the message of peace, but the celebration of culture and location is always something to admire too. The Olympics go above and beyond to mix sporting with culture, to insert themselves into the history and art of a region.

Take Vancouver's location for example - On it's website, the Olympics proclaim a whole art exhibition related directly to the Olympic event: "From January 22 to March 21, the best artists from Canada and around the world will play in our own backyard. Genre-bending theatre; stunning virtuoso dance; fierce, fresh music; breathtaking visual and digital art extravaganzas — Cultural Olympiad 2010, presented by Bell, will bring it all to Metro Vancouver and the Sea to Sky corridor."

Sounds pretty awesome, huh? But then again, it can't beat some of the adrenaline, crowd-cheering excitement of an Olympic sport game. I love the ski and skating events of course, but I also heavily enjoy the lesser acknowledged games. I love the events such as biathlon, cross-country, and my favorite, curling. Yep, believe it or not a curling event is very exciting. It requires a great amount of skill, timing, and luck. It's not always about how fast someone can be but how well they can play the game. It is also as unique, challenging, and exciting as a skier going 80 mph down a slope!

So like I said, come February 12th don't bother calling me - I won't pick up the phone! The previous winter games, in the majestic Torino, Italy, cannot be matched. But hopefully Vancouver will surprise me in new ways. The theme of this year's games is "With Glowing Hearts". I know that mine is already warming up with anticipation!!So now I turn to you: are you looking forward to the Olympic games? If so, what sport do you look most forward to? And while we're at it, do you have a favorite past Olympic games (Nagano 1998? Salt Lake City 2002?)? Let me know and come join in the anticipation with me!

Here are some Olympic-related links in case you want to explore more!:

http://www.vancouver2010.com/

http://www.curling.teamusa.org/?cmpid=2&keyword=US%20Curling

~~Taylor