I had hoped that being in Italy might strike the creative spark to allow me to resurrect 10-4GB from its postless doldrums. But alas, I am foiled by a complete lack of both internet and phone system at our Olympic Venue. As it turns out, the Olympic Committee figured that since we're stationed in a hotel, those issues would already be taken care of, but our hotel cannot get internet and satellite television and all those things one needs to survive. The athletes and media big shots are staying at the nice hotel at the top of the mountain, and have all those amenities.

On the plus side, we do have a beday. I'm using it for laundry.

I'm writing this from an expensive internet cafe in Sauze d'Oulx, a few kilometres up the mountain from the hotel. The other Asbury students at the venue, Josh and Liesl, seem much less willing to adapt to the situation, so we might be up here quite a bit, I don't know. Me, I'm perfectly content to learn how to operate without internet for a few weeks. I've almost finished my Woody Allen book, and it's so inspired me that I plan on going back and re-writing Rigged as soon as I finish.

I promise - and I mean this - that all the dozens of journal entries I'm writing for my Olympic journal will be faithfully typed up and added on 10-4GB after I return. And I mean, all the entries, not just the technical ones I'm supposed to hand in. I'll put up all the entries about cleaning ladies who wake me up to yell at me about my sleeping habits, and buying Josh his first drink but drinking it myself, and lovely Italian girls who make the time here much more interesting, and being the worst camera assistant in the history of the Olympic Games. There is much to tell.

In the meantime, watch the Olympics when you can. I'll be working on the Aerials and Moguls at Sauze d'Oulx Jovenceaux, as the camera assistant to the handheld camera who runs up to each skiier as they finish their run. I show up in a lot of the wider shots, you can watch for me.