Day 6

Pins - They're all over the Olympics.  People pay BIG bucks and sellers make REALLY BIG bucks. The guy staying in the capsule next to me has made $8000 already and he missed two days of work because he was sick. My first reaction was to be a bit disgusted by all that money going toward something with no intrinsic value that serves no useful function in the world. Then I did the guy next to me at the internet cafe a computer favor and he gave me a couple of US bobsled pins as thanks.  These do have some trading value, so I started looking at what I could trade for. I ran into Lou from the day before (a bigtime collector) and he gave me some tips. I still am a bit troubled by the whole idea, but it is a fascinating part of the Olympic scene.  I've decided to do a short video about them for Worldbridges. A few minutes ago, as I was standing outside waiting for the pictures to download, the King and Queen of pin selling here walked by on their way to set up and I told them what I was doing.  They were very interested in participated and expressed interest in setting something up on the Net to sell their extra pins. Ah, the possibilities...
Speaking of which, I feel like I'm just getting into the groove of things here and having a great time and the idea of leaving tomorrow feels premature. As soon as I finish this, I plan to change my tickets and stay another few days. I have a cheap (albeit small) place in a perfect location (3min. walk to the trains station, 5 mins. from Central square, and 30 seconds from this internet cafe) and people have started recognizing me and becoming more enthused. It does not displease me to walk down the streets of Nagano and hear someone call out, "Hey, it's the Internet guy". Last night, I stood outside of Thrity's a small, very overcrwded place where people gather at night, talking to and taping the Bosnina luge coach, the Brazilian bobsled team (the subject of another video short) and so many other interesting folks. How can I leave now?
Brazilian Bobsleigh TeamBosnian sliders
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