Traveling to the 2010 Olympic Games Vancouver/Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

After visiting Calgary, Canada, home of the 1988 Winter Olympic games with Mike Clark (Otis Elevator team), I headed out to the 2010 Winter Olympic games to watch Erin Pac, former Farmington student (FHS class of 1999, IAR Middle School, and Union Elementary) compete in the Olympic competition as the USA2 bobsled team. Erin is 29 years old and excelled in track, gymnastics and swimming at the high school. She went on to star in track at Springfield College graduating in 2003. Now a world class bobsled driver, she is in the Olympics.

The competition begins at 5 pm on Tuesday, February 23. We arrived on Tuesday at 2:15 am. There isn’t much time to sleep, find out where to go, how to get there, best time to beat the crowds, and all the other things we need to know so we don’t miss out on what we came to see. By mid morning our plans are set. We even have time to get our picture taken in the official Olympic bobsled.

The security gate opens at 2 pm, so we get in line at 12:30 pm so we can be up front during the race. The entry is easy; the climb up the mountain to the bobsled start is a bit harder. It’s like trying to climb the hill from the lower playground at Noah Wallace School to the upper field for 45 straight minutes with NO REST! We had to follow every curve of the fastest, steepest sliding track in the world.

Now we have 2 hours and 15 minutes to wait before the start of the 5pm race and the excitement is building. Erin’s sled, USA2, is the sixth sled to start on the first run because they go by the current world rankings. In the second run they go in reverse order determined by the first run’s time, best time goes last. So Erin is next to the last since her team has the 2nd best time. At the conclusion of day one, Erin and her partner, Elana Meyers from Georgia, are in medal contention holding onto second place.

The next day we get up early and purchase tickets to the giant slalom event for the morning session. We want to be back in line by 12:30 pm to get through the security checkpoint at 2 pm to get back to the bobsled start and be up front to see Erin and Elana prepare for the start of the third run. In this run (#3) they will start second determined by the previous day’s results. After Erin and Elana prepared their sled, Erin come by our stands and we all wished her good luck.

Erin’s third run was again excellent and the second best time once again thus holding onto 2nd place overall. This means for the fourth and final run USA2 runs second to last remaining in medal contention.

We leave our spot at the start and go to the finish line to watch the results. The place is packed with spectators so we can’t get near the rail where the sleds stop after their run. So we watch the race on the huge television monitor—but no big deal—being here in just great.

With two sleds to go, one being USA2, Erin and Elana are in 3rd place and still in medal contention. With a good last run they are guaranteed a medal. Everyone is glued to the monitor watching USA2 on their last run. They come in with a time that earns them a spot on the podium! USA2, Erin Pac and Elana Meyers, earn the bronze medal.

What an outstanding ending to a childhood dream for Erin. What’s better than being in the Olympics? Winning a medal for your country…precious.

What a celebration we had after the flower ceremony with Erin’s family and fans routing her on for this fabulous achievement.

Next for us? Back to the room, sleep, pack, take a bus to Vancouver airport where we watch the medal ceremony on TV (Erin and Elana receive their bronze medals), and then fly all night arriving home in Connecticut on Friday morning.

What a fabulous time we had and to witness Erin’s victory first hand is something to talk about forever.

John M. Grocki, Noah Wallace School, ‘56

Retired Physical Education, Mathematics Teacher and Middle School Athletic Director

Farmington, CT

Discovering Canada with Otis Elevator Audit Team

Flat Stanley-Whitman joined our "audit" team that was sent from the World Headquarters of Otis Elevator, which is located here in Farmington, Conn. Otis is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation. Otis Elevator Company is the world's leading manufacturer, installer and maintainer of elevators, escalators and moving walkways. Elisha Otis invented the elevator more than 150 years ago, which allowed for buildings to be built going up, as in skyscrapers, and gave rise to our modern citites. Otis Elevator Compnay currently is located in over 200 countries and employs more than 61,000 people.

The audit team from Farmington consisted of 5 individuals (and Flat Stanley-Whitman). We traveled from Bradley Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn. and flew to Minneapolis, Minnesota. This flight took 2-1/2 hours. We expected the next flight to be shorter but our knowlede of the location in Calgary was faulty, and we had another 2-1/2 hour flilght from Minneapolis to Calgary!

Calgary is a city of 1 million residents and is located in the high plains of Canada. From the city center you can see the snow-capped Canadian Rocky Mountains, which are located about 80 miles to the west. In 1988, Calgary hosted the Winter Olympics and the ski competitions took place on these beautiful mountains and ski slopes.

The major industry in Calgary is the oil and gas business. They are also proud of their hockey team--the Calgary Flames! We went to see a game and the stadium was a sea of red Flames' jerseys. Here's a picture of the players on the ice.

Michael J. Clark

Otis Elevator World Headquarters

A Day in the Life of Flat Stanley-Whitman with UConn Medical Student

This week, I went to medical school with a first year student, Lindsay. She goes to the University of Connecticut Medical School right here in Farmington, Connecticut. The school is connected to the UConn Health Center and John Dempsey Hospital, so there is a lot going on in addition to the medical school. The medical students are learning and studying to become physicians one day. There are many different kinds of doctors to choose from including a pediatrician, surgeon, dermatologist (skin doctor), cardiologist (heart doctor) and many more.

In this picture I am standing on the keyboard of Lindsay's laptop listening to a lecture from one of the immunology professors. Immunology involves studying our immune system which is the body’s built-in defense system to help protect us from disease. Every day I listened to a new topic; there was a lot of information to learn! After class we had to go back to Lindsay’s apartment or the library to study what we had learned from that day in lecture to help reinforce all the material.

In addition to studying immunology, the medical students have to learn the anatomy of the body which includes the bones, muscles, nerves, arteries and other aspects. The human body is a fascinating and complicating thing. In the picture with the book, above, I am studying the hand and the humerus (bone in the upper part of your arm) and looking at pictures of them from an anatomy book. Lindsay taught me a mnemonic to help remember the bones in the wrist. A mnemonic is a strategy to assist in memorizing something. For the wrist or carpal bones it is “Sally Likes To Play The Tiny Chrome Harmonica,” where the first letter in each word refers to one of the bones in the wrist. Sally stands for Scaphoid, Likes = Lunate, To = Triquetrium, Play = Pisiform, The = Trapezium, Tiny = Trapezoid, Chrome = Capitate, and Harmonica = Hamate. There are 206 bones in the human body, and medical students have to learn them all! There were too many for me to learn in just one week.

Besides learning the anatomy, medical students have to learn how to become a doctor. A physician must have many important qualities such as compassion, patience, professionalism and respect. Therefore, we got to shadow the doctor for the day and help him and watch him treat his patients. Lindsay does this every week for three years while in medical school. The students also take a class called Principles of Clinical Medicine which helps teach them different aspects of practicing medicine. So far they have already learned how to take a full medical history of a patient, which is when the doctor asks various questions to help get a better idea of why the person is visiting the doctor.

That ends my week at the medical school. We did a lot of studying and learning! Off to my next journey.

Sincerely,

Flat Stanley-Whitman

Flat Stanley-Whitman Visits Denmark

GOD MORGAN (Good morning in Danish, pronounced as “Hood Mohrgen”),
We are visiting Copenhagen, which is the capitol of Denmark. Everyone here bicycles (!) and all the streets have bicycle lanes; you can even get free bicycles to ride and return them at the end of the day. The people are very friendly and all of them speak English as well as Danish. This is a small country and everyone is expected to obey the rules-such as no jaywalking and stamping your ticket before you get on the metro (subway)- but no one “checks” to make sure you have a ticket. It is an “honor” system and everyone just follows the rules.

Denmark was the home of the “Vikings” who ruled much of Europe hundreds of years ago, and Copenhagen is surrounded by water. One section of the city has canals, and we went on a boat ride and spent time at Nyhavn (New Harbour). This is where Denmark’s most famous landmark, “The Little Mermaid,” is found. The little statue sits on a rock in the harbor and is based on a story by Denmark’s most famous writer-Hans Christian Andersen. (You may know the story of “The Ugly Duckling,” which he also wrote.)

Copenhagen has a wonderful amusement park called “Tivoli” and this delightful park reportedly was what inspired Walt Disney to build Disneyland! This park was built in 1843 when the promoter urged the King to give the people some amusement to keep their minds off politics. Right now it’s decorated for Halloween, and it’s full of pumpkins and orange lights. Yes, everyone here celebrates Halloween too and the shops are full of witches, black cats and pumpkins.

Today we are going to visit Rosenborg Slot (Castle) where the Kings of Denmark once lived and where the Royal Jewels are kept. This is our final day in Denmark and then we will be flying home to Connecticut. I have enjoyed my holiday very much and hope you’ve enjoyed my pictures.
Farvel (Goodbye),
Flat Stanley Whitman