Unlike seemingly half of Vancouver I'm not a 24-hour Olympic fan. I'm not against the Olympics, only that I don't have a huge capacity to jump up and down in a frenzy. It would take a lot of Red Bull and these days I'm drinking the opposite.

The Olympics must be a huge boon to camera manufacturers -- at least in Vancouver -- because you cannot turn your head these days without smacking your head against a Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax or what have you. Everyone and their grandmother has a DSLR.

I caught the torch-bearer on Friday when they were finally winding up the torchathon a block away from my office. I was going to work as normal -- a bit late, I admit -- and when I walked up from the train station I could feel the surge of excitement as people suddenly started running in one direction. So I went with them and -- bang -- there it was. The torch was passing. I snapped off a few shots and this was the only one that looked anything but a blur.

Later that night I was caught up in the big rally of the anti-Olympics folks outside of BC Place while inside the opening ceremonies were beginning. I left before the riot began -- yes I'm a wimp. A wimp because it began to rain heavily. Too much for me. It started feeling like I had been there before back when I was waving signs. I noticed some of the same characters too. I didn't feel like saying hi.

I woke up too late for the riot the next day too. I saw the smashed windows. Other people I knew were up and ready for it. I've had a cold since the middle of last week. It doesn't prevent me from getting up and about; it just stops me from being excited.