The Greatest Show on Earth.....

We thought this would be the best & easiest way to keep all our family & friends up to date on our day to day happenings in Whistler. We'll try to make a post each day, however we're not going to fool ourselves. We're not young fella's any more and the days are going to be long. But we'll try our best to include as many of the highlights of our adventure of a lifetime as often as possible.

Bill Pratt & Mike Greer

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Psych....

Got a little surprise last night. The delivery truck arrived at 9:15 with only 6 skids, when we were anticipating 30. A small wave of panic started to grow/rumble from the bottom to the top as this was clearly not enough food to produce over 8000 meals needed in the next couple of hours. Just in time for the news to get to the senior staff (5 mins) another truck pulls in along side with its trailer chalker block full with 28 skids, for a total of 34, averaging 2000 lbs each. We all had a good laugh, which quickly became subdued when the reality of having to store it all settled it.

Fortunately, prior to the arrival of the groceries, Farmer Becky & myself drew on our experience & knowledge of organizing and were able double the amount of storage space in the produce/dairy fridge. The initial theory (always looks good on paper) was 3 shelving units, 2 on the sides & one down the middle with ample room on either side to slide 5 skids down both sides, then unload them to their respective areas. The chefs would use the products & space would be available for the next shipment. Like I said, looks good on paper.

There's 2 major flaws in the theory. Obviously, the massive numbers of meals having to be produced could not be comprehended in terms of storage & storing requirements. And 2, the prospect (dream) of having a single delivery company organizing the products on your skids to where you've got it stored is unrealistic. Also taking into consideration the massive workload that they're under providing for the Olympics as well.

Needless to say, we've done a little restructuring, by permanently placing skids between the shelves and storing the heavier, easily stackable items on them. A little shuffling here & there in couple of other areas & voila, double the storage capacity. Plus enough room to drop 1 skid in and unload at a time. All of a sudden 34 skids are not so daunting. Olympic efficiency!

What's also very convenient is the cooks & chefs are eagerly waiting for many of the items being delivered (yes, they prep & cook all day/night) and take right from the skids before we off load them. That takes care of about 2-3 skids that we happily don't have worry about. Needless to say, it was a nap on the 2am bus back to the ship & writing to the blog on the return trip to Whistler the same day. ;-)

Cheers, Olympic FSM Mike

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