By Will Bettmann

Editor's note: USU Journalism student Will Bettmann is working the grind at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. This epistle is an extract from his daily diary.

Last week they tightened up the security. I used to be able to drive straight to the trailer I work in right outside the Salt Palace, which is serving as the media center for the Olympics. Now, I have to park a mile away, catch a shuttle, and pass through no less than four security checkpoints, including an airport-like baggage screener, before I can reach my workplace.

I am a peon, a worker-bee, a grunt. But I am based at the main media center upon which more than 10,000 journalists, broadcasters, and other media people will soon descend, so hopefully I will have a good seat to the biggest show that Utah has seen in a long time.

Yesterday during a furniture-moving mission, I got to see the inner workings of the media center, including more wires and broadcasting equipment than one could shake a chair at. I started work almost a month ago, and I have primarily been confined to a single-wide trailer parked on the west side of the Salt Palace and watched by an increasing number of National Guardsmen. It is not uncommon for one of the military guys to come into our trailer with an M-16 slung over his shoulder and ask if he can use our microwave to make popcorn. We say "yes."

I am one of about 25 members of the motorpool for International Sports Broadcasting, which is the host broadcaster for the Olympics. I have been told that around 70 percent of the Olympic footage broadcast around the world will be filmed by ISB crews. Our job at the motorpool is to provide cars and/or drivers to just about any ISB employee that needs to go somewhere. Since the company will be operating around 900 cameras during the Games, there is a lot of driving to do. I am one of three dispatchers at the motorpool, which means I am supposed to keep track of who needs to go where, and when.

More later. I have to go help the other journos.

LD
LD

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