Seattle

This was uploaded on my HTC EVO using the Blogger app.  Let's see how good it is.

Friday afternoon most of the team had flown in to Tacoma and settled in.  A handful of us decided to grab some lunch before heading into downtown Seattle to enjoy the night.  Since we didn't have to set up till Sunday, we definitely took advantage of the night.  Seattle is nice if you enjoy the "city vibe".  Many late night venues cater to the swarms of youngins looking to drink, dance and demoralize themselves.  Overall the people are nice.  Saturday I slept in and took it easy.  I meandered around the hotel and walked up and down the street to see what was around and get a lil exercise.  I definitely miss mountain biking and will be hitting the trails much harder than I was before.  I am trying to figure out a way to get a guitar on the tour with me.  I was told it can ride in the semi truck and now I want to see if my bike can come along too!  (fingers crossed)

Set up on Sunday went VERY well.  At 7:30am we started to unload the truck and set everything up.  We were done by noon.  This is quite impressive and I must give credit to the awesome team I get to work with.  These people work hard and get it done.  On my end, set up of the audio/visual stuff went quickly because I am familiar with everything now.  All the equipment is right where I left it and I expedited the set up by leaving a bunch of stuff inside the home audio rack connected.  After set up was complete I asked the producer how I have been doing and he said, "EXCELLENT!  Better than I expected!"  That made my day!  I have been working hard and being a team player as much as possible.  Glad to see it getting noticed.  We chatted further and he had mentioned that before he was promoted out of the position I now hold, he was making 80K a year for a handful of years.  My plan is to make that much within 10yrs of being here.  LET'S DO THIS!

Yesterday was the first day of presentations and time seemed to go by quickly.  Four of us decided to hit up a seafood restaurant for dinner, so we quickly changed at the hotel and departed.  The food was fantastic.  I'm pretty sure we all four went back to the hotel and went to bed early. 

This morning I woke up around 5am and got ready.  I then made my way down to the hotel lobby and waited for the breakfast area to open.  Hotel breakfasts aren't that good, but it's something, and it's free.  After eating and departing the hotel we arrived at the Tacoma Dome where the convention is being held.  They are building a really cool looking museum right next to the dome.  It will be interesting to come back here and walk through the museum at some point.

As I was prepping for the day I overheard one of the presenters talking to my producer about something that peaked my interest.  The conversation was about suicide and I had caught the end of it.  I politely asked who the presenter was talking about and he said, "my younger brother."  The comparison of his situation to my family's was scary.  We were soon lost in deep conversation about the mourning process and how other people sometimes avoid you when they hear the word suicide.  He put it like, "It's weird when some people learn of a suicide in your family.  They avoid you almost as if they don't want to get a disease."  I can relate to his comment.  Sometimes, however it goes the other way and someone decides to explain to you how stupid and selfish that person was for making that decision.  blah blah blah....   Back to my point.  You never know what someone else is going through and how much you might have in common.  It was great to talk to him about his situation and get to know him on a level other than the show.

I am currently in the middle of our afternoon show and will be working a third show from 6pm-8pm regarding roadside assistance for the Chevy Volt.

still standing.

well folks, day one is over and i am relaxing in my beautiful hotel room once again.  it was a very long day.  left the hotel at 7am, unloaded the tents and outside stuff in the 1 million square foot lot, then headed inside and started unloading all the main room and break-out room and registration equipment.  i then proceeded to set up the projectors and get them dialed in then moved onto the audio side of things.  hooked up the main audio rack, mixer and FM transmitter and set up all my speakers and sub.  tested it out and....... perfect.  sounds fantastic.  on to the lights.  i raised the tree and hooked the dimmer board up and.... nothing.  boo.  so i lowered the lights down and decided i should probably open all the shutters on each light.  haha... silly me.  as i was adjusting one of the LEKOs, the back fell off and broke the bulb.  "son of a...."  someone forgot to tighten the back plate of the light thus resulting in me picking up shards of glass and bleeding.  that's when i decided to go get my gloves on.  timing is everything.  before we know it, it's noon and time for lunch.  we had a "walking lunch" which means we get to leave the property and fend for ourselves.  so four of us hopped in my rental car and made it a "driving lunch".  went to a roadside mexican place and ate some very good food.  mmmm  it was awesome.  they had three different juices in large "pour-your-own" jugs for you to try.  watermelon, cantaloupe, and pineapple.  OH MY GOSH!!!  those were SO good.  tasted just like biting into the fruit.  super refreshing and delicious.  we finished devouring our meals and went back to work.  around 4:30pm the tour leader started sending all the hired hands away and i was hurrying to finish up.  the tour leader (used to have my current position) then helped me out for the last hour and we knocked out the three break-out rooms.  each room as their own little sound system and plasma with laptop.  everything went pretty well and i can't wait to start the day tomorrow.  all i'll have to do is power everything up, test it, and chill.  mmmm.... love my job.  of course if something goes wrong i'll have to actually DO something.  but that's okay, it will break up my day nicely! :)  i will be uploading the before and after pics so you can see how much we actually set up.  it's quite impressive for a day's work.  im about to go to bed so i'll see you all tomorrow.

i say "um".

booyah!

im currently sitting in the philly international airport waiting to board my flight home.  there are a few problems with this and a few good things about it.  the good thing is that im gunna be home for a few more days and fly out to L.A. this sunday.  they cut me early because i no longer needed to be there hanging around.  i got everything i needed to know and they said i am all set and ready for L.A.   that means confidence... IN ME!  it was definitely great to hear.  the few bad things about this is that it is 2:37pm and i am waiting for my plane that is scheduled to board at 6:06pm.  yeah, i'll be waiting here for four hours.  but wait, there's more!  when i checked in the "checker-inner-guy" said the flight is running an hour behind!  WOOHOO!  so here i am, for five hours, waiting for my rocket to come.  (jason mraz reference there)  at least i'll have plenty of time to finish all my invoicing and get some notes together for L.A.  please feel free to call me if you'd like, i could use the conversation!  :)  take care everyone

finally a breather

we got a good jump on the day early this morning just like yesterday.  first i did a walk through and made sure all the equipment booted up okay.  secondly i ran the presentations on all five laptops to make sure they were flawless.  everything ran as planned.  today was a rehearsal for the show.  a "dummy" group walked through the entire presentation and it took about four hours.  we ate lunch and i got to sit with the lead audio engineer for this team and discuss his way of troubleshooting certain problems.  i took a ton of notes.

i feel MUCH more prepared now than i ever have.  i feel that i can now make my production flow smoothly.

i have not been sleeping very well for some reason and today it all finally caught up with me.  thank god we had a short day and were able to return to our hotel rooms at 4:30pm.  i decided to take a two hour nap.  it is now 12:39am tuesday morning and i am about to go to bed.

tomorrow i will be assisting the lead engineer during the show.  lets hope everything goes smoothly.

TRAVELING CALENDAR

If you would like to be able to see my traveling plans on my Google Calendar, please send me a message with your email address. (gmail addresses will work best, if you have one)

Have a great day everyone!  :)

Philly Day 2

6am came early this morning as I didn't sleep all that well last night.  i quickly decided to make some coffee to help wake me up.  hotel room coffee isn't anything to get excited about but i was relying on getting that little caffeine boost to get my day started.  

all i found was decaf... good morning to me.

skipping the brew, i decided to take a quick shower.  that did the trick.

we all met up in the lobby of the hotel and hopped in the rental cars to the convention center in King of Prussia, PA.  this place is huge.  the "drive team" quickly unloaded half of the semi trailer and started setting up the tents in the parking lot.  the semi then backed up to the Main Room of the convention center and my team unloaded the rest of the equipment in record time.  without a beat the guys had a great jump start on setting up all the screens and draping for the stage area.  i proceeded to assist the head technician of this Philly show by setting up the audio/visual equipment in the 3 break-out rooms.  everything looks fantastic and runs flawlessly.  it's great to take a step back at the end of the day and sigh knowing that you worked hard to make it happen.  the chevy volt is a fantastic car.  there are many neat features and some that i don't understand what in the world the designers were thinking.  like storing the charge cable under a panel in the floor of the trunk. 

imagine with me if you will...

you take a long trip with your spouse and two kids.  decide it's getting late and turn off the freeway to bunk down in a hotel for the night.  the hotel has designated "charge parking spaces" for your vehicle for another $30 a night.  you NEED to charge your vehicle so you have no choice but to pony up the dough.  you then proceed to remove the few items you need to stay overnight.  not all your baggage, just a few.  BUT WAIT!  you need to charge your car as well.  might as well unload the vehicle because the charge cable is stored under a large floor panel in the trunk.  not so, "easily accessible" if you ask me.   OH SURE!  if you don't travel with any luggage then you will be fine.

other than "little" issues like that the vehicle is pretty neat.

it is now time for me to go to bed.  tomorrow we will meet in the hotel lobby at 6:15am and head over to the convention center to meet with the clients (chevy personnel).  they will be given the complete tour and everything should go smoothly.  

i will be taking detailed notes on some areas of the set up so that i can easily mimic the set-up in Los Angeles.  

okay, time for bed.  see you all tomorrow.

p.s. i wanted to add a video in this blog however the internet connection im using decided otherwise.  i'll put it in the next blog if i can.

Philly Day 1

CHEVY VOLT TOUR

I decided to enjoy the 2 weeks prior to leaving for Philadelphia for the new job.  I had a fantastic time hanging out with a bunch of friends, going to a Tiger's game, bonfires, mountain biking and a whole bunch of other things.  I am going to miss all of that while I am away.  However I will be keeping you all up to date on what is happening while I am on the road... er in the air.  So hold on tight, cuz here we go!

BIG PHILLY STYLE!

I started my trip off just like every other excursion I've ever endeavored with last minute packing.  I literally took clothes out of the dryer, folded them, put them in the suitcase and walked out the door.  I forgot nail clippers.  It took me 35 minutes to drive to the airport and another 35 to check in, go through security and get to my gate.  I'm a pro at this traveling stuff.  We boarded the plane and waited.. and waited.  Ends up some of our baggage hadn't been loaded yet and the pilot kept apologizing over the PA.  "Sorry folks, this is not acceptable.  I would encourage you to send some emails to Delta voicing any frustration with the delay."  So that's what I am going to do.  Maybe I can get something out of it.  We finally took off and the flight was nice and problem free.  well.. almost.

The girl seated at my right was wearing long jean shorts and I quickly noticed her leg hairs were longer than mine.  This was gross.  Especially because plane seating is tight and I'm a big guy.

It was only a matter of time until our legs made contact in a 

FURRY FRICTIONY FRENZY.  

I landed and quickly made my way to the baggage claim to find my suitcase on the belt right then.  Perfect.  I was set to go.  Shuttle to the rental car place, drive off in a brand new Impala with Betsy.  Betsy is a very nice woman whom I'll be working with for a few days.  After a 45min drive we arrived at the Holiday Inn Express in King of Prussia, PA.  This is a nice hotel.  I have my own suite with two large HD LCD tvs, couch, table, fridge, and two air conditioners.  I can get used to this.  The entire team is staying at the same hotel so it is easy to get to know everyone.  Everyone decided to go grab a quick bite, however the only place in walking distance was Hooters.  gross.  The food is NOT good and I'm not much for the..."scenery".  I ordered carry-out and spent the last couple hours in the hotel room getting settled in.

Tomorrow I will go to Wal-Mart and stock the fridge with healthy dinner and breakfast stuff. 

I have to be down in the hotel lobby at 6:45am to meet up with everyone and head to the production site.  My team will be unloading all the trucks and getting all of the gear opened and start setting up.  I will be assisting the head a/v tech for the next few days.  Pilot show is this Tuesday!


I will be updating my blog every night of my tour.