Men’s Short (Tuesday, February 14th, 2006)

- The journey there isn't all that bad after you've done it one and know what you're getting into.

- Hardly any line waiting to go through security.

- Said hello to Ken Congemi who was going by to get into line in another entrance gate. Darn it. Again, I would have liked to chat with him. Would definitely be rooting for his skater. Great potential, clean and smooth skater.

- Saw a friend in the stands...so great to catch up!

- Why oh why are the stands so empty? Oh well, at least I had the courage to take advantage of it and sneak into the level 100 section! Ended up sitting in the first row for the whole night. Can't complain about that!

- Group 1. Start off the night with a bang! At least with the new system, they doesn't have to hold back in the marking.

- Quite impressed with Daisuke Takahashi. He has some serious flare, but I think he's inconsistent.

- Evgeni had some serious speed and power. Such a big difference between him and the other top skaters. Also, he seems a LOT less scrawny than before.

- Sitting in an area filled with Canadians, so it was easy to blend in and was really lucky that more people didn't show up to kick me out of my seat, but it was so annoying. Here's my rant: the people who had 100 level seats didn't buy their tickets. They got their tickets for free because they are affiliated with sponsor companies, are linked somehow to the IOC (but not the big whigs - those people sit on the judges side...also quite empty) or something else like that. So they get the best seats in the house, and most of the time, know nothing about figure skating, and don't even really care that they're experiencing something so great. And then the people who are die hard fans, or just fans in general, end up having to pay big bucks for crappy seats. These privileged people sometime show up an hour late, leave an hour early, walk out during a skater's performance (even the really good ones) to get a coffee, talk during the performances...GRRRR! Frig, if only they knew how lucky they were and made the most out of their experience. Level 100 is also schmooze central.

- If he can keep it together, Shawn Sawyer will be the next one.

- Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. Grrrr.

- Disappointed with the quality of skating tonight. No one is standing up and taking advantage of everyone else's screw ups. Ugh. Sitting in the front row and no one to gawk at!

- I really like Stephane Lambiel's style.

- Remember when Brian Joubert was it? What happened to him?

- Dick Button (a very welcoming person) was chatting with Brian Boitano in the stands and I plucked up the courage to join in.

- Chatted with the Stage Manager of the NBC booth. Realized that Sandra Bezic was in the booth too!

- Evan Lysacek has a really scary triple axel take off. It seems really whippy. I wonder if they're working on that.

- Emanuel does it again, and continues the trend of a crappy night of skating. I had my fingers crossed SO bad.

- Saw Ken Congemi after the event...didn't get to chat for long (again), but I was happy to bump into him again.

- The car ride from Torino to Milan is quite long. A hardwood floor is indeed hard and the walk to Milano Centrale has never been better.