This evening I rode the motorcycle, knowing it was most likely going to rain. While I rode down Dorsey road I was rewarded for my choice as I accelerated to drive right under a plane landing at BWI. The plane was about 125' overhead I'd estimate. Every now and then you can time the incoming planes and drive directly under their path and it's pretty amazing. It's the justification for having a convertible (which I don't) or driving a motorcycle when you just know it's going to rain before you get back home. If you care to check out the location and try it yourself it's the Thomas A. Dixon Jr. Aircraft Observation Area and park on Dorsey road. Since I currently live and work near BWI off of Dorsey road I have had the chance to view the undersides of the planes more often that most, I guess there is something I'm going to miss when we move our home this Summer/Fall.
Sorry no photo, can't really drive and snap a pic.
When I left to come back home I did get rained on, but it was light. The mild rain seemed to cool things down a great deal so that was a welcome trade.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
On the market
Our house is on the market, and has been for about 45-days. In preparation for the sale we paid for new carpet throughout the house, and paid for paint in about a third of the house. Some would say that "they painted and re-carpeted the house", this statement is not true, I just paid professionals to do the tasks as painting is not a skill I'm efficient with. After said payments the house looks fantastic and is staged well for sale and I have to say it looks better than most of the houses I've viewed. I suspect the sale of our house is all about the bottom line and a lot less about the new carpet smell and fluffed pillows.
It has been frustrating from day one. The first part that we (and everyone else) went through is the agent contracts where you realize how much money is coming off the top in commissions. Six percent is a lot of money when it's coming out of your funds! However, I'm not aware of a reliable way around paying the agents so we're playing by their rules and rates. Perhaps CraigsList could be the answer?
The plus side of the situation is that we are selling our house because we want to. We are not selling because of getting laid off, or because of home equity loans for large TV screens in every room and chrome rims for the Hummer. Nope, we're doing this because we want to step up to a property with trees and a long driveway and maybe even some privacy.
I can't imagine what the situation would be like if we had to sell on a time deadline due to a job out of town, or a lack of cash flow, or to pay for iPhone monthly service. I guess we have got it easy - we're in the black and even if we drop the price by $50k, we're still in the black. Could be worse I guess.
*notice the cat door
It has been frustrating from day one. The first part that we (and everyone else) went through is the agent contracts where you realize how much money is coming off the top in commissions. Six percent is a lot of money when it's coming out of your funds! However, I'm not aware of a reliable way around paying the agents so we're playing by their rules and rates. Perhaps CraigsList could be the answer?
The plus side of the situation is that we are selling our house because we want to. We are not selling because of getting laid off, or because of home equity loans for large TV screens in every room and chrome rims for the Hummer. Nope, we're doing this because we want to step up to a property with trees and a long driveway and maybe even some privacy.
I can't imagine what the situation would be like if we had to sell on a time deadline due to a job out of town, or a lack of cash flow, or to pay for iPhone monthly service. I guess we have got it easy - we're in the black and even if we drop the price by $50k, we're still in the black. Could be worse I guess.
*notice the cat door
digital memories
As I try to recall when things happened at the company that are important to me I always have to refer back to the company website. When did we buy the forklift?
I did not design the site, nor do I know code too well, but I do updates and photo uploading and the such. I've very happy to have a company website to update because I've yet been able to keep up a steady blog entry, and Facebook certainly isn't suitable. Today (August) I made the bold entry to note that we've been replacing 19-pin connectors on most of the multi cable. It's a very dull announcement that really doesn't even belong in this blog, but it has been an expensive event that in two years from now I'll have to refer back to the site to remember that it wasn't last week when I spent all that money on the maintenance.
I've had trouble keeping up with blog entries because I (perhaps) made the mistake of making this sort of a company blog, and less of my personal blog. I guess I could start a new blog without the company tilt, problem is the company and work is such a big part of my life. I don't know.
My digital memory for today notes that I reached 13,000 miles on the BMW R1200GS this evening while driving to the gym. Speaking of the gym I took a long break this Summer and now have made another attempt to get back into the swing of things and have started going again. Making a note that I started going to the gym again would get repetitive if it was noted on a time line so I'm not going to make something about nothing just yet. Last night the wife and I went out for some beers after the gym (net gain). Tonight there were no beers or junk food after the gym visit, so that's good.
I did not design the site, nor do I know code too well, but I do updates and photo uploading and the such. I've very happy to have a company website to update because I've yet been able to keep up a steady blog entry, and Facebook certainly isn't suitable. Today (August) I made the bold entry to note that we've been replacing 19-pin connectors on most of the multi cable. It's a very dull announcement that really doesn't even belong in this blog, but it has been an expensive event that in two years from now I'll have to refer back to the site to remember that it wasn't last week when I spent all that money on the maintenance.
I've had trouble keeping up with blog entries because I (perhaps) made the mistake of making this sort of a company blog, and less of my personal blog. I guess I could start a new blog without the company tilt, problem is the company and work is such a big part of my life. I don't know.
My digital memory for today notes that I reached 13,000 miles on the BMW R1200GS this evening while driving to the gym. Speaking of the gym I took a long break this Summer and now have made another attempt to get back into the swing of things and have started going again. Making a note that I started going to the gym again would get repetitive if it was noted on a time line so I'm not going to make something about nothing just yet. Last night the wife and I went out for some beers after the gym (net gain). Tonight there were no beers or junk food after the gym visit, so that's good.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Double Air Bag Deployment
This was a big week for me. On Friday, 6/25/10 my house went on the market. Now I'm living ONE mile from work, but it's time to move to a nicer neighborhood and house, I'll leave it at that. The process of getting ready and paying for new carpet throughout the house, and getting all of the trim painted, and paying to have a few rooms and ceilings painted is stressful and expensive. But, we are now listed so the hard part is over?
On Wednesday, 6/23 I put a down payment on a 26' Freightliner M2 box truck (for the company obviously). The delivery date for the truck is four to five weeks from now due to the customizations to the truck. We are having the box painted to match the dark silver metallic color of the cab. We are switching out the steel lift gate for a larger aluminum self-leveling lift gate. Lastly we are extending the wheelbase and frame to properly fit the 26' box vs. the 24' box that is currently on the truck. All of the changes are adding up to the four to five week delivery time, but we'll have the truck in time for September when things get very busy again.
In getting prepared for the arrival of the truck we applied and were issued a US DOT number this week. That is the number you see on the doors of all large trucks on the roads that clearly identifies the company that owns the truck. I figured the application process would be slow and difficult but it took about four days, I was impressed.
On Tuesday, 6/22 I was a passenger in car crash this week. Yellow light, Honda accord in front of us hit the brakes, the driver of the car I was in hit the gas to make it through the yellow light and the collision occurred about two seconds later. Both air bags deployed on impact but thankfully nobody was seriously injured. Luckily enough we didn't make known contact with the airbags because my nose and/or glasses were not broken. The driver of the car I was in wasn't injured at all, but I had some cuts on my left leg from where the airbag hatch opened, and my pinky finger on my right hand was jammed on something and five days later is still swollen and sore. The driver of the Honda wasn't injured and was pretty relaxed considering the rear bumper and muffler of his car were messed up. The driver of the car I was in was pretty down about the incident because his car was totaled, and I did my best to push the fact that this was a best case accident - nobody was hurt, the totaled car has 201k miles on the odometer, the tires needed to be replaced, and the driver you hit wasn't a crazed madman at the accident site. Sure, it is never pleasant to be involved in an accident (especially with an injured Pinky!), but things could always be worse, you could have hit a new Mercedes or a dump truck.
When I rode my motorcycle home after work after the car crash I was a bit extra on edge regarding the cars around me. I couldn't help but to think about what an impact from a car or truck would be like on a motorcycle. I guess it would be as fast as the airbags deploying - BOOM, what just happened? I hope to never find out.
On Wednesday, 6/23 I put a down payment on a 26' Freightliner M2 box truck (for the company obviously). The delivery date for the truck is four to five weeks from now due to the customizations to the truck. We are having the box painted to match the dark silver metallic color of the cab. We are switching out the steel lift gate for a larger aluminum self-leveling lift gate. Lastly we are extending the wheelbase and frame to properly fit the 26' box vs. the 24' box that is currently on the truck. All of the changes are adding up to the four to five week delivery time, but we'll have the truck in time for September when things get very busy again.
In getting prepared for the arrival of the truck we applied and were issued a US DOT number this week. That is the number you see on the doors of all large trucks on the roads that clearly identifies the company that owns the truck. I figured the application process would be slow and difficult but it took about four days, I was impressed.
On Tuesday, 6/22 I was a passenger in car crash this week. Yellow light, Honda accord in front of us hit the brakes, the driver of the car I was in hit the gas to make it through the yellow light and the collision occurred about two seconds later. Both air bags deployed on impact but thankfully nobody was seriously injured. Luckily enough we didn't make known contact with the airbags because my nose and/or glasses were not broken. The driver of the car I was in wasn't injured at all, but I had some cuts on my left leg from where the airbag hatch opened, and my pinky finger on my right hand was jammed on something and five days later is still swollen and sore. The driver of the Honda wasn't injured and was pretty relaxed considering the rear bumper and muffler of his car were messed up. The driver of the car I was in was pretty down about the incident because his car was totaled, and I did my best to push the fact that this was a best case accident - nobody was hurt, the totaled car has 201k miles on the odometer, the tires needed to be replaced, and the driver you hit wasn't a crazed madman at the accident site. Sure, it is never pleasant to be involved in an accident (especially with an injured Pinky!), but things could always be worse, you could have hit a new Mercedes or a dump truck.
When I rode my motorcycle home after work after the car crash I was a bit extra on edge regarding the cars around me. I couldn't help but to think about what an impact from a car or truck would be like on a motorcycle. I guess it would be as fast as the airbags deploying - BOOM, what just happened? I hope to never find out.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Starscape 2010 and Nelson Ledges Quarry Park - Ohio
The hot month of June is in full swing and we have provided lighting for two Festivals so far. The first event was the Starscape Festival held annually at Fort Armistead park off exit 1 of of the Baltimore beltway. This is the 12th year for the festival which has grown year after year and this year featured three stages (main, beach, and drum & base), one huge Dance tent, and a large VIP area. The main stage featured The Disco Biscuits, Pretty Lights, Lotus, and many others.
The load in days were among the hottest days of the year, and recent memory. The amount of labor (and planning) that goes into a festival is never fully understood by the audience member, but let me rattle off a few of the logistical issues that a festival faces. First thing that comes to mind is weather, then a close second sanitation such as the port-a-pots and trash cans / dumpsters. Don't forget the generators for the stage power, vendor booths, and area lighting. Food vendors, merch vendors, first aid, the massive security required to manage 15k people, parking crew, ticketing, and management. Then there is production with audio, lighting, and lasers. We provided lighting for all areas with two bands from the main stage bringing in additional equipment.
On Saturday morning I rode my motorcycle to the show site and parked by FOH. The 53' trailer for The Disco Biscuits was there at 8:00AM to my surprise. I started talking to the truck driver asking if he knew where gear was going and he explained that he was the driver and that he came from Red Rocks (Colorado) from a Thursday night event. The driver asked me if the motorcycle was mine and I said yes, that it's a new used bike to me, but I love it. He said that he rides whenever he can and showed me some photos on his iPad of beautiful mountain scenes from all over the country. I told him that I was reading a book called Road Show by the drummer from Rush who happens to ride the same model bike. He then told me his name was Mac, and that he was a driver for Rush AND that he rode with the guys in the book from time to time on the spare bike. I told him that he was in the book several times, and what a small world this is. What a strange coincidence, meeting a real life character from a book I'm reading - all be it a minor character, a character none the less.
Back to starscape: Hot, lights, blinky blinky, TONS of people, still very hot. Showed back up for load out which was very long and you might have guessed it - HOT.
I checked the web for show pics and found a few that were memorable.
I'm certain that a lot of beer was sold as a result of the three of them walking around. There was other body painting around the festival, but I think these girls were the only corporate sponsored marketers on the site.
Photo by Nick Fitanides
http://www.phrazz.com
The following weekend I was hired to provide lighting for Several Species at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park in Ohio. I was happy to make the trip to Ohio because it was a chance to work with Several Species again, and I was planning on riding the motorcycle to the hotel. The directions listed the hotel 406 miles from the office, which is a reasonable highway ride on a Friday during business hours. I left the shop at about 10 AM and enjoyed the 400+ mile ride traveling up route 68 to 81 onto the Ohio turnpike. I have to say that the part of the Ohio turnpike I traveled was the best turnpike I've ever ridden. It was scenic, well paved, and the travelers were respectful of the passing lane which is a change from the rolling road blocks in the left lane throughout Maryland.
The hotel was better than expected and for once in my life the check in went smooth, they were expecting me - I was "with the band". After unloading the hard cases from the bike and changing into shorts I walked to the neighboring Ruby Tuesdays and attempted to consume a full rack of ribs. I ate until it hurt than gave up, eyes were bigger than my stomach this time I guess. I grabbed a ride in a minivan with band members to the venue at Nelson Ledges which turned out to be about 35 minutes from the hotel. Our load in was set for midnight after Kashmir, a Led Zeppelin tribute band. I hung out backstage and heard Kashmir belt out song after song from the band in a very true fashion and I was thoroughly impressed with the ability of the singer to do a full three hour set without a break, no break.
It was midnight and the festival goers were nowhere near done for the night. Hundreds of people were in front of the stage area, vendors were selling food and drinks, and the beer drinking was showing no signs of slowing. It was time to load in lighting and what felt like a nice warm June night soon felt like a sweltering August in Texas. The stage roof was far shorter than expected and the lighting was crammed in with moving lights closer together than planned and a general feeling of being crammed. We worked with what we had in the venue and we made it work. Image Engineering sent a laser system for this event as is basically required of a good Pink Floyd tribute band. It is always nice working with Image and I've always enjoyed working with and for them in the past. After several hours and a few set backs we got into a different minivan and went back to the hotel for air conditioning and a comforting bed. I though while falling asleep in the van about the thousands of festival goers that were camping in this heat.
The next morning I woke up earlier than planned and so did my roommate for the trip Josh (from Image Engineering). We joined other band members in a car this time for a quick trip to a nearby Bob Evans. After breakfast we made a stop back at the hotel to grab sunscreen and I grabbed my bathing suit because there was talk of a huge lake. I didn't see a lake last night, but the park website did show such a thing. We were set to take the stage around 8:30 so there was plenty of time to relax and cool off before the work day really started.
After getting to the backstage area and making sure everything was in place from the night before I went to Josh to check out the lake and surrounding woods where the bulk of the campsites were located. The lake was fairly large with a vast camping area that had banners hung for their favorite classics band - Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and even Ozzy. This place was huge and packed to sell out capacity. The general vibe from overhearing conversations and talking to people was that they were there to see Several Species that night.
After the walk around the lake I put on my bathing suit (sorry no photo) and jumped into the lake. It was breathtakingly cool, but did the intended job of lowering my core temperature briefly. I quickly dried off in the hot sun even though the humidity was at best - sticky. I thought to myself, next year I'm bringing a raft to sit around in the lake, but how will I fit that on the bike. I know, I'll ship it in a road case with the lighting gear.
I had lunch while watching War Pigz, an Ozzy Tribute band. The front man for this band had all the Ozzy moves down and really put his all into the performance. While the festival goers at this event were clearly not big metal fans, he did draw quite a crowd in tie dyed shirts and other hippie fashions.
Before Brit Beat, the Beatles tribute band was to take the stage we set all the floor moving lights that were not placed the night before. It was quite hectic getting moving lights and data lines placed while Brit Beat was moving their gear onto the stage. This is always the case on festival stages weather they are giant or tiny, too much going on in the same area with little time to make it all happen. We got everything set just in time. I went to front of house to make sure all of the equipment was responding to the controller while Brit Beat told the crowd in British accent that the next song was from their LP, A Hard Day's Night. The rest of their set was seen while I adjusted positions on the moving lights without the lamps on and made final adjustments before our set started. The combination of moving lights and a very serious Beatles band was ironic, but I think I'm the only person that noticed that detail. Another detail I noticed that Beatles fans (myself not included) would appreciate was that the bass player was playing left handed, in true Paul fashion.
View from backstage right of the beach
The Several Species set started to a cheering sold out crowd. The set was cut short a little bit due to the generator for lighting and audio being under powered or over loaded which caused the PA to cut out four times, mostly during guitar solos. Chris the guitarist who had the PA cut out on him didn't miss a beat as his monitors didn't kick out, or he's just that good. Thankfully the lighting gear never gave out which is probably poetic justice in that we had a great deal of LED equipment so we were using far less electric we would have for the same show a few years ago. The crowd was very energetic and left wanting more, maybe next year.
View from FOH, it's a fairly small stage
Start of the show, it's hard to run the show and take photos too
The show looked a lot better than this photo
After a hot and sweaty load out I was completely exhausted and made my way into the drummer's minivan going back to the hotel. The air conditioning in the room never felt so good. A quick shower and I was out like a light. The next morning I grabbed a table for one at the Bob Evans and rode the motorcycle back home enjoying the scenery and roads of Ohio, West Virginia, and a to a lesser extent, Maryland.
The load in days were among the hottest days of the year, and recent memory. The amount of labor (and planning) that goes into a festival is never fully understood by the audience member, but let me rattle off a few of the logistical issues that a festival faces. First thing that comes to mind is weather, then a close second sanitation such as the port-a-pots and trash cans / dumpsters. Don't forget the generators for the stage power, vendor booths, and area lighting. Food vendors, merch vendors, first aid, the massive security required to manage 15k people, parking crew, ticketing, and management. Then there is production with audio, lighting, and lasers. We provided lighting for all areas with two bands from the main stage bringing in additional equipment.
On Saturday morning I rode my motorcycle to the show site and parked by FOH. The 53' trailer for The Disco Biscuits was there at 8:00AM to my surprise. I started talking to the truck driver asking if he knew where gear was going and he explained that he was the driver and that he came from Red Rocks (Colorado) from a Thursday night event. The driver asked me if the motorcycle was mine and I said yes, that it's a new used bike to me, but I love it. He said that he rides whenever he can and showed me some photos on his iPad of beautiful mountain scenes from all over the country. I told him that I was reading a book called Road Show by the drummer from Rush who happens to ride the same model bike. He then told me his name was Mac, and that he was a driver for Rush AND that he rode with the guys in the book from time to time on the spare bike. I told him that he was in the book several times, and what a small world this is. What a strange coincidence, meeting a real life character from a book I'm reading - all be it a minor character, a character none the less.
Back to starscape: Hot, lights, blinky blinky, TONS of people, still very hot. Showed back up for load out which was very long and you might have guessed it - HOT.
I checked the web for show pics and found a few that were memorable.
I'm certain that a lot of beer was sold as a result of the three of them walking around. There was other body painting around the festival, but I think these girls were the only corporate sponsored marketers on the site.
Photo by Nick Fitanides
http://www.phrazz.com
The following weekend I was hired to provide lighting for Several Species at Nelson Ledges Quarry Park in Ohio. I was happy to make the trip to Ohio because it was a chance to work with Several Species again, and I was planning on riding the motorcycle to the hotel. The directions listed the hotel 406 miles from the office, which is a reasonable highway ride on a Friday during business hours. I left the shop at about 10 AM and enjoyed the 400+ mile ride traveling up route 68 to 81 onto the Ohio turnpike. I have to say that the part of the Ohio turnpike I traveled was the best turnpike I've ever ridden. It was scenic, well paved, and the travelers were respectful of the passing lane which is a change from the rolling road blocks in the left lane throughout Maryland.
The hotel was better than expected and for once in my life the check in went smooth, they were expecting me - I was "with the band". After unloading the hard cases from the bike and changing into shorts I walked to the neighboring Ruby Tuesdays and attempted to consume a full rack of ribs. I ate until it hurt than gave up, eyes were bigger than my stomach this time I guess. I grabbed a ride in a minivan with band members to the venue at Nelson Ledges which turned out to be about 35 minutes from the hotel. Our load in was set for midnight after Kashmir, a Led Zeppelin tribute band. I hung out backstage and heard Kashmir belt out song after song from the band in a very true fashion and I was thoroughly impressed with the ability of the singer to do a full three hour set without a break, no break.
It was midnight and the festival goers were nowhere near done for the night. Hundreds of people were in front of the stage area, vendors were selling food and drinks, and the beer drinking was showing no signs of slowing. It was time to load in lighting and what felt like a nice warm June night soon felt like a sweltering August in Texas. The stage roof was far shorter than expected and the lighting was crammed in with moving lights closer together than planned and a general feeling of being crammed. We worked with what we had in the venue and we made it work. Image Engineering sent a laser system for this event as is basically required of a good Pink Floyd tribute band. It is always nice working with Image and I've always enjoyed working with and for them in the past. After several hours and a few set backs we got into a different minivan and went back to the hotel for air conditioning and a comforting bed. I though while falling asleep in the van about the thousands of festival goers that were camping in this heat.
The next morning I woke up earlier than planned and so did my roommate for the trip Josh (from Image Engineering). We joined other band members in a car this time for a quick trip to a nearby Bob Evans. After breakfast we made a stop back at the hotel to grab sunscreen and I grabbed my bathing suit because there was talk of a huge lake. I didn't see a lake last night, but the park website did show such a thing. We were set to take the stage around 8:30 so there was plenty of time to relax and cool off before the work day really started.
After getting to the backstage area and making sure everything was in place from the night before I went to Josh to check out the lake and surrounding woods where the bulk of the campsites were located. The lake was fairly large with a vast camping area that had banners hung for their favorite classics band - Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and even Ozzy. This place was huge and packed to sell out capacity. The general vibe from overhearing conversations and talking to people was that they were there to see Several Species that night.
After the walk around the lake I put on my bathing suit (sorry no photo) and jumped into the lake. It was breathtakingly cool, but did the intended job of lowering my core temperature briefly. I quickly dried off in the hot sun even though the humidity was at best - sticky. I thought to myself, next year I'm bringing a raft to sit around in the lake, but how will I fit that on the bike. I know, I'll ship it in a road case with the lighting gear.
I had lunch while watching War Pigz, an Ozzy Tribute band. The front man for this band had all the Ozzy moves down and really put his all into the performance. While the festival goers at this event were clearly not big metal fans, he did draw quite a crowd in tie dyed shirts and other hippie fashions.
Before Brit Beat, the Beatles tribute band was to take the stage we set all the floor moving lights that were not placed the night before. It was quite hectic getting moving lights and data lines placed while Brit Beat was moving their gear onto the stage. This is always the case on festival stages weather they are giant or tiny, too much going on in the same area with little time to make it all happen. We got everything set just in time. I went to front of house to make sure all of the equipment was responding to the controller while Brit Beat told the crowd in British accent that the next song was from their LP, A Hard Day's Night. The rest of their set was seen while I adjusted positions on the moving lights without the lamps on and made final adjustments before our set started. The combination of moving lights and a very serious Beatles band was ironic, but I think I'm the only person that noticed that detail. Another detail I noticed that Beatles fans (myself not included) would appreciate was that the bass player was playing left handed, in true Paul fashion.
View from backstage right of the beach
The Several Species set started to a cheering sold out crowd. The set was cut short a little bit due to the generator for lighting and audio being under powered or over loaded which caused the PA to cut out four times, mostly during guitar solos. Chris the guitarist who had the PA cut out on him didn't miss a beat as his monitors didn't kick out, or he's just that good. Thankfully the lighting gear never gave out which is probably poetic justice in that we had a great deal of LED equipment so we were using far less electric we would have for the same show a few years ago. The crowd was very energetic and left wanting more, maybe next year.
View from FOH, it's a fairly small stage
Start of the show, it's hard to run the show and take photos too
The show looked a lot better than this photoAfter a hot and sweaty load out I was completely exhausted and made my way into the drummer's minivan going back to the hotel. The air conditioning in the room never felt so good. A quick shower and I was out like a light. The next morning I grabbed a table for one at the Bob Evans and rode the motorcycle back home enjoying the scenery and roads of Ohio, West Virginia, and a to a lesser extent, Maryland.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Germans are coming
Today was a stressful Monday, par for the course. We were expecting two large deliveries of new equipment for the Summer show season and beyond. A small delivery was also expected from German Light Products of a software uploading programmer. The paperwork and accounting "to do" pile was getting in the way of more pleasant items such as - lunch, such is life. I'm not complaining although it sounds like I am.
On the agenda today was the strange repair to a new Impression LED moving head. GLP, German Light Products, is the manufacturer that now has a presence in the US. A few weeks ago I got a call from an experienced LD reporting that one of the six Impressions he was using wasn't behaving like the rest in a color roll. On a Saturday I called the number that I found on the web for GLP and left a voice mail. Much to my surprise I got a return call in five minutes. Then I called last week with two fixtures in front of me to go over all of the possible scenarios that could cause them to respond differently. After two days the GLP rep concluded that somehow the software needed to be reloaded and they sent out the software uploading programmer.
The SUP arrived today and I was able to break away from the paperwork to use the uploader. The pdf instructions that were sent to me in an email were the most detailed and easy to follow instructions I've ever seen. Full color photos showing the particular detail to pay attention to while connecting the hardware, very impressive. The whole process took about five minutes, and fixed the software problem.
That was encounter #1 with Germans.
The caller ID showed "Out of Area" with a string of numbers, most likely a telemarketer. I picked up and heard a bunch of noise then the caller asked for me by name. It turned out to be the tech from Protonic software, whose product is EasyJob software for rental operations. The conversation went well and I'm fairly confident that we will be purchasing the software very soon. We have already purchased and installed a new server for the database software, so half of the work is done. I say that now before we start the implementation of a new software platform, ha.
Here's a picture from LiveDesign of a Paramore concert featureing a bunch of Impressions in action.
On the agenda today was the strange repair to a new Impression LED moving head. GLP, German Light Products, is the manufacturer that now has a presence in the US. A few weeks ago I got a call from an experienced LD reporting that one of the six Impressions he was using wasn't behaving like the rest in a color roll. On a Saturday I called the number that I found on the web for GLP and left a voice mail. Much to my surprise I got a return call in five minutes. Then I called last week with two fixtures in front of me to go over all of the possible scenarios that could cause them to respond differently. After two days the GLP rep concluded that somehow the software needed to be reloaded and they sent out the software uploading programmer.
The SUP arrived today and I was able to break away from the paperwork to use the uploader. The pdf instructions that were sent to me in an email were the most detailed and easy to follow instructions I've ever seen. Full color photos showing the particular detail to pay attention to while connecting the hardware, very impressive. The whole process took about five minutes, and fixed the software problem.
That was encounter #1 with Germans.
The caller ID showed "Out of Area" with a string of numbers, most likely a telemarketer. I picked up and heard a bunch of noise then the caller asked for me by name. It turned out to be the tech from Protonic software, whose product is EasyJob software for rental operations. The conversation went well and I'm fairly confident that we will be purchasing the software very soon. We have already purchased and installed a new server for the database software, so half of the work is done. I say that now before we start the implementation of a new software platform, ha.
Here's a picture from LiveDesign of a Paramore concert featureing a bunch of Impressions in action.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Progress on multiple fronts
March and April passed at lightning speed as usual. I'm happy to report that I have still been pretty good about sticking to the gym routine and I'm *slowly* seeing results. To followup on the "net weight loss post". I'd say that my current net loss from about TWO months ago is two to three pounds, but maybe we'll go with my doctor's approach of the muscle gain is off setting the fat loss, so the weight number is rather unimpressive... Not sure on that one, but the key word is slow, results, progress, reporting, whatever.
So, yesterday I did a max chest press lift of 250# which is good for a thirty-something guy who is weighing in under 200#. I think I'm a few months from 275#, but I'll let you know when I hit that goal.
WORK BLURB-
Work has been super busy and things are going great. We have some fun events on the schedule and I'm excited about this month and the Summer. I can't reveal much more except that I have gotten back in contact with
Several Species and we are scheduled to do the lighting for them at the Classics Weekend festival in Ohio at the Nelson Ledges Quarry Park that is on June 12th. I'm not a fan of facebook, but I have to say that it IS good at reconnecting people, and in this case it is how I reconnected with Several Species. Come and see the show in Ohio, they are really a great tribute band and I'm not just saying that because I'm working for them.
So, yesterday I did a max chest press lift of 250# which is good for a thirty-something guy who is weighing in under 200#. I think I'm a few months from 275#, but I'll let you know when I hit that goal.
WORK BLURB-
Work has been super busy and things are going great. We have some fun events on the schedule and I'm excited about this month and the Summer. I can't reveal much more except that I have gotten back in contact with
Several Species and we are scheduled to do the lighting for them at the Classics Weekend festival in Ohio at the Nelson Ledges Quarry Park that is on June 12th. I'm not a fan of facebook, but I have to say that it IS good at reconnecting people, and in this case it is how I reconnected with Several Species. Come and see the show in Ohio, they are really a great tribute band and I'm not just saying that because I'm working for them.
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