Free hat from the Globe and Mail

Today was a 'work day' for Louise and we had a few adventures too. First off, Sasha was also in but really there is nothing odd about that. These two dogs get along just fine. They both like sleeping. One of the newspapers is having a contest where they give away free tickets to Olympic games. I won't bother giving the details on how to win because well, tomorrow is the last day anyway. But if you are interested you can follow this link and I'm sure they can set you up.

The general idea is that you have to be one of the first to a mystery location to win the tickets. Louise and I headed out and walked through some of the Olympic Village to get there. Along the way we passed a part of the seawall where a guy was stacking rocks. Well, look at the first two pictures to get an idea of what I am talking about. If you look closely you will see that he has done this about a thousand times along this section of shore.

In order to qualify for the free tickets, you also have to bring a copy of today's paper. Well that was easy to do - our office gets the paper delivered. However, Wheezie and I arrived at the secret spot about ten minutes after the last tickets were gone. So sad. We did get a consolation prize though, a free toque.

Yes, I went and took pictures of my dog wearing the hat.

Don't expect it to be on her regularly though. By the time I got a couple quick snaps Louise was already starting to pant from overheating. I guess she vents a lot of heat through her head.

Anyway, that was today's adventure. Oh and if you are curious, the secret location for today was the gates at Chinatown. I really should have taken photos of that. Maybe next time.

Harry and Louise

Louise isn't the only dog in the city who is enjoying the Olympics. This little guy is Harry, and he lives in our building. We see him out and about quite often. I don't know about Harry, but for Louise the Olympics have been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, there are lots of interesting things to do and see when out on her walks, but on the other hand, we are often out to places where dogs cannot go.

She still gets to go to the office with me though. Actually things have become a little more flexible at work since two of the dog owners at the office are off on maternity leave. Yes, it has been said that there must be something in our water at the office. It works well for us though, so that's all right.

The other day Louise was in the office with me and during our lunch break we walked over to Sochi house. Holy crap the lineups to get in that place are daunting! We have friends who waited for over two hours to get in. Obviously Louise and I weren't able to do that over a lunch break so instead we headed over to check out the crew dismantling the stage where Steven Colbert performed. Louise was more interested in the mud in front of the stage. To her credit, the show was already over so there really wasn't much else to see.

We still get out to see things like the light displays, huge crowds and other Olympic related art displays, but most of them are the ones I have already posted about. I guess we have to plan some dog-friendly activities soon!

Still without a view of the torch

Louise has been participating in the Olympic Celebrations around town too! It's not just a people event. This first shot was taken when the Olympic torch ran past the office, which I documented briefly over here. Even without that though, Louise and I have been seeing a lot of the sights just simply by getting out for our nightly walks.

To her credit, she is the main reason that I was out all those nights taking pictures of the Vectorial Vancouver light display. That reminds me, I should revisit that again sometime this week if for no other reason than we haven't been there in a while.

The next shot was taken on Valentine's day - this is Louise eagerly checking out the fantastic plate of oysters we had. While she didn't get any oysters she did manage to get a couple scraps of lobster meat. But really it was a day for the cats to celebrate, as Valentine's day was Sophie's tenth birthday. We gave them some tuna but of course posting photos of cats on this blog would be bad form.

So moving right along, finally back to more Olympic talk. Louise, Holly and I were out walking the other night and went down to Coal Harbour in an effort to see the Olympic Torch. It is still a tricky shot to get, what with the fencing and all. Along the way we discovered this Olympic sign and Louise obliged by sitting in front of it. And really, that's all I can ask of her, isn't it?

Torch run madness!

We got up early today in order to see the Governator carry our torch. Of course, we only saw him on TV because I slept in a little too late. But our plan was to go to a slightly different spot where there would be free pancakes, so we already knew that we would miss Arnie by about twenty minutes.

The pancakes were... less than satisfying. They had aluminum shavings on them somehow. I guess the cooking surface was aluminum and it was rubbing off on them. Some folks didn't seem to mind or notice but we did and thought it was gross.

Somebody asked me to report on the Olympics from a pug's point of view and well here it is: all horses and asses. For more on that, check this out. The horses booby trapped the running path for the torch bearer.

So that was our early morning excitement. Then it was off to work, but it was VERY crowded trying to get to the sky train because the torch runners were still out, running along the streets we needed to cross. It took us twice as long to get to work but it was fun and you could sense the excitement so I didn't mind at all.

The plan was for Louise to come to work with me today because the torch route eventually went right past our office. In typical work fashion we held an Olympic torch party, complete with a wii-sports competition. At the scheduled time we all headed downstairs to line the street and cheer on the torch bearer. Those photos haven't been looked at yet, so I'm sure I will have material for more posts soon. For now you will have to settle for this spectacular shot of Louise kicking it up in front of McDonald's after peeing on their sign post. How's that for athletic spirit?

Vancouver Olympic Pug

It is rare for me to put up two photos that were taken at the same time but in this case I got a kick out of both shots. Louise and I were out for our walk and headed down Robson street to see what was going on. We were not there long before we happened to come up on one of the Olympic torch bearers! Things were very hectic as literally hundreds of people were lining up to take their picture with this woman.

She was so patient with everybody. Maybe because her parents were there watching, who knows? I am kidding of course - she was having a good time. Louise and I waited for a break in the action and I picked her up. Another woman was excited to meet Louise and then offered to take our picture for us. I figured that was a good idea and here are the photos. I like how in the first one Louise is still not quite sure what the heck this torch thing is, and then she moves on to trying to see who the heck is standing behind her in the second photo.

Louise and I were just about to fade out into the crowd when the father of the torchbearer (I really should have asked her name - if anyone can provide it in the comments I will be grateful) asked if we could pose for another photo. He had grown bored of taking pictures of all the people but a dog, that was something new and interesting to him.

After all that we headed downstairs briefly to see the ice rink below the street. It was very crowded thanks to a busker performing so we headed back up and back home - but had to stop to get a photo of Louise on a snowboard. She hopped right up on it like it was made for her and a crowd of people started taking her picture.

All this, and the Olympics haven't even started yet.

Catch that plane!

On this morning's walk, Louise helped me out with some early Valentine's day shopping. Once we had that done we were free to go explore the town to see what new things the Olympics have brought us.

One thing we are starting to see is a lot more people. It's good, I love hearing the different languages being spoken on the street. We do seem to find fans of Louise from just about anywhere though.

I think we set some kind of a record today with how many people asked if they could take Louise's picture. The record has to be for how many people ask, because I can't really keep track of the ones who just take a photo of her without asking (which is also ok, we don't mind).

Eventually we ended up down at the waterfront only to find another section of the seawall that is closed off to the public. This caused a minor detour that had us come out near the sea planes. This would normally not be a problem but about five minutes later I heard the engines roar as one of the planes prepared to take off. This got Louise barking at the plane, much to the delight of the people nearby. Once the plane took off Louise was pretty quick to calm back down.

Which is good, because then we encountered a toddler out walking with her parents. She was fascinated with Louise and even said 'nice doggy'. Louise stayed long enough to pose for a few pictures and then we were on our way.