Ice in was fun. No it wasn't. The started out really well, with a surprisingly fantastic complementary breakfast from the hotel.
8 or 9 plates later, we hopped on the shuttle to the venue. Turns out the labor force was the least of our worries, and were in fact some of the hardest working locals I've seen. However, we were given a unit with no slush ice (trust me its important), a leaking panel (also not good), a Zamboni that has been turned on for prolly a couple months and may or may not hold a charge now, sketchy start cards (they make the compressors go), and a whole host of other misc issues. On the plus side, i met the coolest old English guy ever, Steve.
Steve made several awesome racist jokes to TC, who loves that shit, and helped us get everything where it needed to be. I look forward to having a beer with him in Ireland. Another highlight of my day came when i got to combine 2 of my very favorite things: shoveling on ice, and heights, when i got to shovel the top of a 15ft trailer so slick you could barely stand on it.
Needless to say, after lots of frustration, a few phone calls to Florida, and some really good Hungarian workers, we started making ice. After 12 hours at the venue, Joe and I were able to take a taxi back to the hotel, where i slept for 6 hours before returning to the building to continue laying down water for another 8 hours. I cant complain too much about that though, cuz when i got to come back to the hotel and sleep, Joe had to go in for what SHOULD have been an 10 hour shift, but was instead a 12 hour shift cuz some adorable skater forgot to come in for her overnight shift. Being the lead ice guy comes with a few nice perks, but i dont envy how often he gets F'd over. What good is having your own room when you're always at the venue...
Had some fine lunch eats at the hotel restaurant when i got back, sitting in front of a big giant street level wall of glass watching the snow come down and the many many hot hungarian girls go by while i enjoying some paprika heavy potato soup, followed by some paprika heavy paprika based minced chicken stuff covered in paprika. it was all very good. Ideally ill get some more sight seeing in tomorrow on my day off, since in about 6 days we jet for Berlin.
Well, more rest for me now. i'm fighting off a cold and id rather not ruin any time here by being sick. Plus now that the skaters and crew are here, the internet is pretty much garbage.
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