Don't know if it hit -40 this morning, because I did not venture out to see.  Spent the morning reading chapters in the two textbooks from writers who have left it to the very last minute to get their work done, writing feedback, and putting together the workshop I'm giving in St. Louis at the beginning of April.  (My deadline for submitting materials is tomorrow--nothing last-minute about that!)  By the time I went out for lunch at 12, it had warmed up to about -19.  Car started, no problem!

While I was eating lunch, I checked out the availability of nearby caches, though I wasn't going to try for one unless I could find something super easy--like a vitual, because I was not going to wander around in subzero weather and dig into snow banks.  As it happened, there was a cache 500 feet from where I was sitting that another curling traveler (from Duluth, MN) found this morning.  I figured if he found it, I could found it.  So after lunch, I went after it, and by virtue of walking in his footsteps--literally--I did find it without too much trouble.   There is no category in the stats for "coldest cache find," but I guarantee this was it. -19 below and windy (I heard windchill -35) and knee-deep in snow.  Madness, I admit it.  But add Manitoba to the list of places in which I've found caches. I will not be looking for any more!

Got to the Keystone Centre in good time for Draw 4, which featured Team Canada and Northwest Territories, Jamie Koe's team.  He didn't have much more luck against Brad Gushue than he had against his brother yesterday, and he lost again, 7-4.

I didn't leave the centre this time--no point in spending an hour traveling.  I took my laptop with me and got nearly 2 hours' worth of work in; very useful.  I also got to watch them setting up the ice for the next round.  Notes on photos.

Evening match was exciting.  Hometeam went up 5-0, but Wild Card team (a team which played for the gold medal last year and had to win a playoff on Friday night to get into the tournament this year) never let up and eventually won 9-8 in an extra end.  There was a rule change a year or so ago which has resulted in a lot more scoring and more interesting games--at least from the fans' perspective.   I don't really understand why (now they have to leave the first 5 stones in play instead of the first 4 before they can knock them out), but the games are lively. Way more interesting than baseball--even if they do last about 3 hours each!

Had a good time chatting with some local folks sitting in my row.  They did not seem to think that it was completely crazy to come from Virginia to watch curling; made sense to them!  I bought a radio transmitter gizmo that allows me to hear the television commentary, which is sometimes useful and sometimes funny, so I was able to pass on the funny stuff to my neighbors.  They headed home tonight; only had tickets for the weekend.  When they were leaving, Jim (of Jim and Eileen) declared that he thinks I was a curler in a former life.  I guess that means I didn't make a fool of myself! I hope my next batch of neighbors is as friendly.

Might repeat today's plan tomorrow; nine hours in the arena in a day seems like enough; four more for the first round and the break in-between makes for a very long day.  Might save that for the medal rounds.