Day 8: Second Day Off... 'We Were Made For This'

I finally got some sleep last night! Not too much, but just enough to function relatively normally right from the get-go.

Today's mission:

• Hit the HBC Superstore downtown and get some Canada gear

Result:

• HBC 1 : 0 Michal

So, the Superstore is basically an oversized Olympic apparel section at the Bay downtown Vancouver. It's the official site where one can get anything from a pin to a hoodie to a giant Quatchi. Well... so one would think considering that the store is open 24 hours a day and it is constantly restocked. I got there in the early afternoon and joined the queue of happy tourists and locals eager to get their hands on anything red and white, or... big and hairy. Mascots, folks, I'm referring to the mascots here...

After a 45-minute wait, I finally got in. "Get your free large Quatchi if you spend $60 or more on mascots!" was blaring from a megaphone at the store's entrance (I would not want that job... Actually, I would not want any of the jobs at that store. Period.). I dove into the men's section. Browsing, browsing, browsing... Where are all the cool jackets and hoodies? Where are the nice Canada backpacks? (I really want one. Like... REALLY!). There was nothing nice left! Well, unless you're a newborn - they may have still had a few nice things in those sizes. It was an upsetting experience. One of the associates promised that they restock regularly but that initial queue is hindering me from wanting to go back...

After that disappointing start to the day, I met up with my buddy Laine and we went for coffee at Gastown. We hang out for a bit, until he had to head to work. I walked him there and decided to check out the Bell Ice Cube, which was just around the corner. The queue was only a couple of minutes long and they were giving out free earbuds. So I went in. It's basically a giant glass cube structure, filled with Bell's latest technology and flat screens displaying various Olympic events, live. You can plug in those fancy earbuds to the numerous outlets hanging from the ceiling by each viewing station to get an audio feed from a specific event and get the full Olympic TV experience. It was pretty neat, I must admit.

From there, I headed over to Cambie Bridge to get a few shots of BC Place and then down to LiveCity Vancouver. Andrew managed to sneak us in without waiting in the queue (by sweet-talking the gate guards) that was over 60 minutes long. We got some decent Chinese food on-site and enjoyed some live music while waiting in yet another line, this time for the Coca-Cola tent. At that point, I decided that I would much rather sit at a bar than stand in another queue (this one looked like it would take 2 hours to get in...). So, I bounced off to Scores, where my other friend Adam was having beers with some friends. We had some brews and watched Canada lose in a bunch of speed skating events. It was quite upsetting and I was getting quite tired. Also, the thought of getting up at 2am for my 5am shift forced me out the door and back home. After all was settled and done, it was already past 11pm. Thus, 3 hours of sleep is all I'm getting!

Will I survive Day 9?

According to HBC: "We Were Made For This" :)