We've been doing more in our off-hours this Olympics than probably any of the Games that I've worked before. (Maybe that accounts for not having time to post about what I'm up to?!) I don't know the reason for that, but I can't complain. (Well maybe for the loss of sleep, but that's my own fault - and also the norm for this kind of gig.) It probably is a result of when our schedule falls this time around. I'm working the 3a-3p shift, though we often get out earlier, depending on whats going on that day and the workload at the time. The 2am wake-up to go to work isn't the most fun, but being free of work in the afternoon means some daylight (it gets dark around 5:30pm here) and early evening to try to do something and still have time to get a few hours sleep in. Probably my favorite so far is actually what we've done on a "down day" (a day after a trek across town where we need to rest up a bit.) Rather than grab beers in the hotel lobby, we ventured to the back of Olympic Park to sit on the grass with a beer in the sun in the festival area - a grassy park with music and big screens of Olympic events and the Skol house pumping a DJ and, of course, serving beer. A few days ago we hung there during an insane Basketball match with Brazil vs Argentina watching with a thousand of our new Brazilian friends. (Unfortunately, they lost.) After the game, an on-stage act of Carnivale music brought people to the front to samba and dance. Join in? We'd had enough beer to make that happen. Even after all that, we weren't done, stopping at a local pop-up burger stand on the way back to our hotel. It may not be as much of a "down day" as intended, but the fun was worth every bit of it.