Letters from friends & family


2/09/02 - Letter from Dean Lang

Ahhhh, did I get your attention? Actually, I did carry the Olympic torch today. One of my customers is making the torch holders for the Olympics and I was there today photographing him and it for an article we are doing in our company publication. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hold the torch myself.

Janet and I received our accreditation badges for our venues yesterday, so we are ready to go to work. Those college day's activities must have not shown up on my background security investigation, thank goodness. Tomorrow Janet will participate in a practice drill and they will actually be landing a Black Hawk helicopter at her location. I just hope she isn't the one directing it in. It could become another "Black Hawk Down!!!"

Hope you enjoy the photos...

Dean

2/11/02 - Letter from Dean Lang

Hello All,

Sorry for the "groupie," but you can imagine that Janet and I are a bit busy these days with our 10-hour/day Olympic work schedule and our regular jobs. But we are having the time of our lives, just not sleeping much. Thought you might enjoy a few pics:

As you can see, Janet and I are all "credentialed-out" for our security jobs with our nice new UOPSC (Utah Olympic Public Security Command) jackets. We have not seen many of these tan jackets around, so we feel sort of special. Most of the volunteers have blue jackets, the cops have yellow ones, and the firemen have red ones (of course). The poor military guys didn't get anything. I have traded a lot of pins, snagging ones from Secret Service, State Department and many local police departments throughout the country. Really a fantastic bunch of guys and gals so far. Yesterday I dispatched for the Secret Service--- Impressed??? I guess you can imagine that I am in heaven with all these high-tech surveillance toys at my disposal.

The German flag picture is for our German friends, just to let you know that Salt Lake is crawling with Germans, along with many other nationalities. We are hearing many tongues these days. Yesterday the head of Security for Korea came through with two assistants. I gave each of them a Salt Lake pin, but they didn't reciprocate, darn. We also had the President of Slovenia come through, but the important guy, Wayne Gretski was the highlight of the day. One of our officers was given a pin and Wayne's autograph on a police patch. He was so excited...

After I told this guy from the Czech Republic how much I enjoyed his country's beer, he gave me a pin. Turns out he is with the International Olympic Committee, so the pin is a real special one, and actually not made in China. I was excited, but would have preferred a Gretski pin.

And finally, I wanted you to see that our skiers are very, very good here in Utah. They even ski down the sides of large buildings. So, what do you think??

All the best from Olympia!!!

Dean

Return to: letters