Shop talk

Exhausted.

I and my coworker drove to South Carolina on Monday this week to work on what should be a simple system. One full size dimmer rack and small half rack, and rigging 14 Vari-Lites. The electricians were pulling out an old rack and installing the new one in its place. They were supposed to be ready for us on Tuesday.

On Tuesday we found out that they had not even begun to install the new rack. We concentrated on getting the moving lights up and tried to stay out of their way while making ourselves available for questions should they need anything. We never heard a single question from them.

By Thursday (the day we were supposed to leave) they had the fullsized rack "done" and started to install the half rack. Just before lunch, we checked in to see this:


For those of you who don't know, the fullsized rack is on the left, WITH THE HALF RACK MOUNTED TO IT!!!

After a lot of fingerpointing, they removed the offending piece and landed it correctly. We didn't get finished with the work we had to do after them and out of there until the end of the day on Friday. Then we got to drive 5 hours back home.

Maybe I should just get a paper route.


P.S. - Two things you should check out. Swaran clued me in to Nightmare Revisited a new release of the Nightmare Before Christmas sountrack by bands like Korn. The clips I heard are very cool.

Secondly, I saw a link on the webcomic Questionable Content about Tragedy, a heavy metal Bee Gees Cover band. It sounds cheesetastic.

Free lunch

This week I have been working in The Salvation Army's Kroc Center in downtown Atlanta. I am installing the dimming system and hanging a bunch of lights in the new chapel/auditorium.

Yesterday, I was going about my business when 3 or 4 volunteers came in with a table, a Gatorade cooler and some aluminum serving platters. Apparently on Wednesdays, the volunteers bring in lunch for the construction crews and feed them. A very nice gesture I thought. So, they start serving out hot dogs. the weenies are in the Gatorade cooler, and the trays are full of chili and cheese, and a lady at the end has a big bucket o cole slaw.

Out of nowhere, all of the contractors (like 40 guys) show up and queue up for lunch. I'm a little confused, but I get in at the end of the line, because hey, a free meal is a free meal, right? I am patiently waiting my turn in the line and I start looking at all of the guys around me. Mostly country, good ol boys and gritty, dirty, workmen wearing ratty tee shirts with their profession on them, real dirt under the fingernails kind of guys.

Suddenly it dawns on me that I am standing in a food line, run by the Salvation Army. I'm covered in drywall dust and sweat, and the people around me are in no better shape. I've never felt more homeless in my entire life.


As a side note, the dogs were quite good, but the chili made for a rather, um, musical afternoon. It was like the campfire scene in Blazing Saddles there for a bit.

Epiphany

I saw a re-run of Top Gear on tv Sunday night where two of the hosts held a game of soccer with cars. It looked like such fun that I wanted to scale it down into something people could do without having to ruin their cars. I think the best way to go would be bumper cars, that way you'd get the fun of playing and smashing into one another. Sort of like Whirlyball but with a big soccer ball rather than the lacrosse scoops.

Hrm, there is a Whirlyball court near me...Time to round up some friends and buy a big beach ball.

And so it begins...

Why does a blog always sound like a good idea until you actually sit down to start one? All of a sudden, the realization that millions of people potentially, can read the words I write, puts a lot of pressure on me to perform.

Of course, millions is probably a bit strong for my ego; tens would be a better goal to shoot for. Anyway, this is my new home for all of the strange ideas and thoughts that I will never remember if I don't put them down to remind me.

A small introduction is in order. I live in Atlanta, GA. I have a wife and three cats, a newly refinanced home, a job that sounds much cooler than it actually is(Television and theatre lighting technician) and a desperately middle-class life. I am not yet thirty, but I can see it from here. The end of the month comes awfully fast.

So, welcome to everyone that makes their way here, or stumbles their way here and is wondering aloud where are the Raymond Feist references , I'll try not to disappoint.