The last week or so

Worked through the weekend, so I ended up having today off which is nice even though they are kind of cheating me out of overtime. We have been doing a lot of hours lately; I had 17 yesterday, so it was really nice to sleep in a little. I have not really gotten much sleep since before Havasu, still a bit tired, but it helped a lot. This week has been finishing up the new set for So You Think You Can Dance, which will air tonight from the Kodak Theater. If I don’t forget then there will be a couple of photos with this post and a couple of more on flickr. It was all done with Ribbon Flex LED’s (the same stuff we used for Singing Bee) Our portion of the set was huge, and the carpenter and weld shop’s were slammed so it was a big game of hurry up and wait, but we made it.

This set did give me a chance to go over to the Kodak Theater 3 days. The set was designed and built to be used at the Kodak, and then in October when it comes back to CBS we could just add on to it and have a set for the next season of the show. Well, the design was off and it did not fit on stage at the Kodak so the crew there moved things around, and cut down some pieces and could not figure out how to get the LED’s back working again. It is kind of nice being the young guy from TV land and getting to go to a legit house and solve the problems for the senior guys. It is a bit frustrating though, because it is a legit house and I am at TV pay rate I am not allowed to do any work, just tell the crew there what I need and point to things. I did finally get them to realize that it was better if they just held a ladder and let me do my job so we could all get out of there.

Since we were so busy with SYTYCD and America’s Got Talent, the shop did not get the set piece for American Idol Built until yesterday. It was originally supposed to be on the truck at 8 last night and got pushed back to 10, and we got it on the truck at 11:45. We were a little late, but almost made it. We pre wired as much as we could through out the day while they were building and scenic was painting, but did not really get to start on the wiring until after 8pm. I was the only one there for the electric, but luckily one of the other guys from the department was there for one of the shows and was able to help me out, or we would have been really late. We actually had the thing lit up and had about 5 min left in cleaning up the wiring when it popped a breaker at 9:50. For some reason the power supplies that we had were not holding the load. We were close to maxing them out, but were still within the specs. I ended up having to split up the load over 4 power supplies instead of the original 2 that the bosses had bid the job at. This meant that we had to rip apart half of the wiring and just about start over. We should still do ok even though we did not make the time for the truck, and we used some extra parts, we still got it done in a lot less hours then what was bid. I don’t have any pictures of it, but I will try and get some, or you can just check it out during the auditions for American Idol. The piece is a US Map with the American Idol Logo across it

I guess that is it for now, I will post this when I get home from Baldy and get some Internet.

C.

not so Comic-Con Comic-Con wrap up

Yeah, I know, we are coming up on the weekend after Comic-Con 2009 and I have yet to post my final Con post.  It has been pretty crazy around here.  We had to leave Con Early Saturday Morning to attend a family funeral, and since then work has been even busier than when I left.  This is really the first chance I have had to relax, so I am sitting up at the Mt Baldy Lodge, with no internet or phone typing this up in word.   It is nice tonight, the weather is cool, and I am right at the open door to the patio so I have a nice breeze, and the place is pretty empty.  There are a few regulars at the far end, but not many so it is quiet and peaceful. Just what I need, well that and the tacos I just had and the desert I am thinking about.

Ok, I have been stalling, trying to remember what the last thing I wrote about con was so I can try and pick up from there, but I have no clue, so I will just move on to work.

We went from basically un-employed, to almost back to normal, and now the last couple of weeks we have been slammed.  It is has been back-to-back shows, with some overlapping.  In the last couple of weeks Ed and I have done LED’s for Singing Bee, The Price is Right and Let’s Make A Deal.  We also did all new LED’s for the wheel on The Wheel of Fortune, along with a “Free Play” wedge for the wheel itself.  Now we are currently working on America’s Got Talent, and So You Think You Can Dance.  “AGT” has been mostly NeoFlex, so it is not too bad, but there is a lot of it, and they had a huge order of lights, luckily I have been wiring, so I did not have to deal with pulling the order, but I did help run the 4/0 cable for the generators and UPS system.

The show that has been crazy is “SYTYCD”.  I have been involved with it from the bidding process (I have actually gotten to help bid a couple shows in the last few weeks). Our portion of this set is huge, we have over 2000 feet worth of RGB Ribbon Flex LED’s.  The problem is that we have been doing this at the same time as AGT, which has spread the welders and carpenters pretty thin, and they are way behind.  We were originally supposed to ship the entire set on Monday, then it was pushed back to 8am on Tuesday, it is now Thursday, and when I left the welders were still building sections.  Once the welders finish, then the carpenters have to “skin” the frames and cut all the plexi glass, then scenic can paint it, and when they are done then we finally will get to finish.  We have done as much pre-wiring as we can today, but there are just some things you can’t do until it is all put together.  Then today production decided that they wanted to have a new judges desk built, which would normally be fine but we are out of time and out of product, so in the middle of all this we are trying to splice scrap pieces together to have enough to do the desk.

There is no end to this work load in sight either.  I will probably be going to the Kodak Theater to help them get SYTYCD going, we have a set for Wheel Of Fortune that goes out Monday that they have not started building yet, we have additions to the wheel but not sure when that is due.  Also modernizing a few of the Price is Right Games in the next week or so, a set for a new talk show “Ayesha Tyler” that goes out on Aug 10, and we have 3 or 4 bids that have either just gone out or are in process.  It is great though, I am getting tons of hours which will help to put money away for a house.

Wow, I am over a full page in word, that is pretty good for me, and even better for me is the chocolate cake that just made it’s way to the table.

I almost forgot, the last few years a company has been giving out choose your own adventure books to promote a free online rpg.  I have never really paid much attention too it even though the pictures at there booth are funny, but for some reason this year I read the choose your own adventure book, it is pretty short, but very well done, any D&D nerd would enjoy it.  And now I am addicted to the game, it is called Kingdom Of Loathing.  With how busy things have been I have only gotten to play a little in the evening when I should be asleep, in fact, I think I will finish my cake head home to play Kingdom Of Loathing and watch Bones if it is on.

Comic-Con 2009 Friday

Sorry to be so slow on the posts, the internet service from smartcity here at the convention center is horrible.  Most of the time google will not even load.  As always it has been a busy day, we are currently in Ballroom 20 (great seats) waiting for the tv guide sci fi hot list panel to begin.

We started off taking the trolley to the convention for the first time, parking has gotten ridiculously expensive this year (20 bucks) so we decided to park a half mile from the hotel and get the all day metro pass for 5 bucks each and let it drop us off right at Con.

Side note, this panel if great

Ok, back to the day.  We waited in line for Hall H.  If you have ever been to Con, you know what a line for Hall H looks like.  Well, today we actually made it through the line, and got into the first panel of the day which was Warner Brothers.  They had some great trailers, I will go into more detail later if I can remember anything when I ger home

Video Clip for Chuck is playing, looks like a show I should be watching.

Just a few people from this panel, Johnny Cho, Jim Parsons (Big Bank Theory)  Johnny Galecki (Big Bang Theory) Rebecca Romijn, Scott Wolf

Due to a famil situation, this will be are last day at Comic-Con this year, but we will be back next year, hopefully with better internet and better writing.

I know this jumped around a lot, and may not make much sense, but it is a quick update.  I will be tweeting from con the rest of today at @crismateski

C

Comic-Con 2009 Quantum Quest – Thursday

Well, we tried to get into Hall H for Disney 3D, but after a couple of hours and a couple of blocks worth of twilight fans for 2 panels later we gave up.  They let us know that the room was full, there was still about a thousand in front of us, and we had missed over half of the panel we wanted.  So, here we are in Ballroom 20 for the Quantum Quest panel.  It is an animated movie, that has worked closely with NASA for an educational space journey.  Personally I don’t think it looks all that good, not my style of animation, but it has a pretty well known cast.  Well, I was going to try and put a link to the imdb page for the movie, but the wifi at con this year is horrible, so you will just have to look it up on your own.

c.

Comic-Con 2009 Preview Night

Well, this will be a quick post, we got here later then planned, got my art from Ruth Thompson, and hit up In N Out on the way back to the room.  I will put more info tomorrow, and start blogging con tomorrow, as for now it is off to bed.

Oh, one last think, you can follow my Twitter stream at @crismateski  I will be trying to send some random photos from the cell phone, and who knows what else

WIFI at Baldy lodge

Well, I have stumbled across some wifi at Baldy Lodge, not sure if that is good or not.  I was going to type an update in text edit like last week, turned on the Macbook and it asked if I wanted to connect.  I would think that something as expensive and powerful as a MacBook Pro would know that that is a stupid question and just connect me, but it asked.  Of coarse, I said yes.

Depending on how you look at it this was either a much better week, or a much worse week then I have had in a while.  I worked 4 days, which only left 1 day for the lodge, and I was lazy and sat around the house so i did not even make it here early enough to get in a hike today.

Monday I was in the shop for a couple of hours for a wiring project, then shipped off to price so my hours were not on the shop payroll all day.  It does make me wonder though, why there are 3 guys that cant wire, but are kept around.  If we were not supporting their hours there would be a lot more work for those of us that can do the job.  These guys just drag us down and yet they are kept.  It causes shifts like Monday, where I was on Price Is Right, but had to spend the first couple hours in the shop wiring because the 3 in the shop on Monday, only 1 was able to do a very simple project.

Tuesday was a day on Young and the Restless, not a bad day, no cross over, and only 2 sets to rig and focus.

Wednesday, i was in the shop, and got to go to the Radford Lot to repair some of the Luxmax led system I put in for Entertainment Tonight / The Insider.  Apparently, the led’s short out when someone puts a 3 inch drywall screw in to a half inch piece of wood and straight through the node, imagine that.  Luckily it was in a short strand of 7 nodes and not in the strand next to it of 40 so I was able to just swap it out and not have to splice in a new node in the middle of the strand.

Thursday I was in the Shop again, and got a call for a new problem over at ET / Insider.  It is a good thing I happened to be in the shop, there are only 2 of us that now the product.  Turns out that a DSCU controller went out.  It is a little box that goes between the power supply and the led’s that holds the programming so the lighting console can communicate with them.  It worked out well, it was on the desk unit, so between shots, they were able to bring it outside so i could trouble shoot it, I was able to figure out what was wrong before it had to go back on stage.  So while they were shooting I was able to program the new unit and have it ready to go so when they had there next break, I was able to just slap the new unit in real quick.

And, now it is Friday (my birthday) and I am laid off again and enjoying the time with my surprise wifi at the lodge.  Lunch was good as always, I have read the daily bulletin, filled out my absentee ballot (NO ON ALL 1A-1F) signed my application for my FFL 03 permit (Federal Firearms License 03 Curios and Relics) filled out the form to get out of Jury duty, and am now updating the blog.  Pretty busy lunch if you ask me, but it is nice.  Think I will leave here in a few and drop of some stuff at the post office across the street and see if the sheep are down.

Almost forgot, I almost got a photo in the new pamphlet for the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.  My photo did not quite fit the format so it was not selected, but they are sending me 2 free tickets anyways.  The photo they wanted is of a turtle on flickr, I did not think it was a good shot at all and I have much better from the aquarium but that is what they wanted.  Hopefully they will contact me again in the future for some better shots.

I also took a class at Bass Pro Shops last weekend (one of my Favorite stores).  Bass Pro is a toy store, they sell all kinds of outdoor stuff from firearms, archery supplies, camping, fishing, boats, atv’s, outdoor clothing, food.  they also do a lot to help the outdoor community, and one of those things is free classes.  I have taken many of them, most on Hunting which I don’t do, and have no interest in, but the principles used in bringing an animal in for hunting applies to photography.  The class this week happened to be and introduction to fly fishing.  It was a good class, they showed us the basics of selecting a rod and reel, the parts, how to select line, and the most common knots needed and the order to put it all together in.  This sunday is the casting portion of the class, but you have to have your own equipment so I don’t think I will be going.  I cant justify the $150 to buy all the gear to try it out when I have never done it and don’t know if I will even enjoy it.  I have nto been able to find anyone to borrow gear from yet, but when I do I will take the coarse at a latter date.

Well it is about time for the sheep to be down, so I think I will pack up and head out for the day

Long winded, but sticking to the blog title.

Well, my 7 Day weekend ended yesterday, and I had to go back to work, actually it was nice.  Except for the having to leave the house at 5am thing, it was a good day.   Ed and I were the only ones in, wiring some neon for the floor of a new show we will be getting after Idol or DWTS.  I am not sure of the name of the show, dont remember.  It was pretty easy as wiring goes, it was floor pieces, but it was all in sections so we were able to bring it in the office and do all the work on the bench where it is easy to get to.  Put in about 10 hours, and that is it for the week.  Yes, it was 7 days off, 1 on, and now I have at least a 3 day weekend.  So, I am sitting here typing the post from the Mt. Baldy lodge, I don’t have cell signal, or internet, so this is being done in Text Edit, and will be posted later.  Not that you needed to know that, I could have just posted this tonight, and you never would have known, but telling you helped to fill some space and gave me time to think about what to say next.  Since I still have nothing, I will tell you that I had the special for lunch, Chicken Sandwich on grilled parmesan sourdough with cheddar and bacon no tomato or avocado, fries, and I am just starting on my second pot of coffee, yes pot, not cup.  I also read the Daily Bulletin, which is normal when I come up here (remember, no internet or cell service).  If I remember I will add a link to the paper tonight before I post this.  Chatted with Nanette, the bartender, waitress, manager, as well as some of the locals, and a couple from the San Bernardino County Sheriffs Citizen Patrol.

Oh, Man, I almost forgot the most important thing, even after harassing my Mom and my Aunt about it.  My Uncles book has been published after some short delays at printing and is now available on Amazon.  Go HERE and buy at least a couple copies.  The book  is “The Forgotten Disturbed” by T L Trevaskis. Here is the synopsis:

Is it a mark of insanity when your life turns into a faerie tale? Or is it a sign of awakening? And how do you tell the difference? Jessica Kendall thinks she is fleeing a nightmare, when she impulsively trades her promising but mundane career at a California university for the isolation of a tiny farming village in south-central Germany. She soon discovers, however, that it is not quite so easy to run away from a dream. There is something odd about her stern but grandmotherly new landlady, Frau Totmüller, and something even odder—and more wonderful—about the old woman’s handsome, successful son. Drawn to the enigmatic Hermann, despite her fears and misgivings, Jessica soon finds herself immersed in a world of magic, ancient artifacts, and unimaginable power that seems to have been waiting for her all her life.

I have already ordered my first copy, and ready for it to be here.

As far as the rest of the day, and the weekend to follow,  tonight, I may be going Bowling with Paige, it is the event for the school tonight.  Not sure if I can make it there as the CERT Team has had a large shed donated, and the church across the street has allowed us to have it put on there property.  It is probably being delivered tonight, and I volunteered to help get it set up and should be getting a call tonight to confirm if it is happening.  It is a big step for us, as it will give us a central location to have supplies, and we have put in for some gear from the county, so if any of that comes through we will have a safe spot for it.

I am also planning on going for a short hike in Ice House Canyon, but since it is already after 3, I probably will only go up to the Chapman Trail split which is about a mile up from the trail head.  This weekend, we may be going up to Holcomb Valley (Big Bear) to go camping at a yellow post site depending on weather.  Also have a friends birthday party on Saturday night, that we may be going to.  I would like to see her, but don’t really know any of her friends, so it is a little awkward, but we have not seen her since Halloween.  She will be joining us for Comic-Con this year so that will be fun.  Oh, look at the battery level, I forgot I has Insomiax running when I left the house, so I only have 17 min of battery left, I better turn the screen brightness down.  There, now the screen is a bit hard to read, but I am up to 18 min of battery.

If we don’t go camping, we will probably hike Ice House Canyon, I am hoping the the heat wave we had this week would have melted the snow enough for us to make it to the saddle with the gear I have.  On a side note, backpacking gear is way expensive.

And now, since this post has not been random enough, and gone in many directions, Monday we went in search of a place to go wilderness shooting.  We spent some time looking for the place I had in mind up near Big Bear, and we were where the Topo Map and GPS said it was, and could not find anything even close, so we went to a back up spot over near Baldwin Lake.  It was pretty easy to find, not a huge spot, but good for pistols and shoot gun, you could do some short rifle, but really only had about 75 yards before a steep hill, which was fine for me since at this point I have not been able to afford the rifle I want (Remington 700VTR) and only have a  Pistol (Springfield XD40 5″ Tactical) we had plenty of room.  Dont know if it would be like this on a weekend, but we were the only ones there.  Which is nice, you dont have to wait for a cease fire to go check your target, and you don’t have to worry about someone being stupid.  We did not shoot too much, went through about 200 rounds between the 2 of us, which is good since it is almost impossible to get ammunition right now.  I have a bunch of .22lr rounds from when I went shooting with Twink, but dont have a 22 so it does not help me much.  Paige and I both want a 22 though, she like the lack of kick, I like the cheap ammo.  Well, I just went into reserve battery power, so I will shut this off and finish it later when I get home.

Ok, so it is now lunch time on Monday (Turkey sandwich and a banana) and I am just now getting ready to post this entry.  It is a bit long, a bit random, and a bit late, but here it is.

Just a reminder

In this day and age, politicians seem to do what ever they want, and most of us (including myself) are not fully aware of our rights.  So, here are the first few amendments, and I recommend that you follow the links at the bottom to read the constitution and the amendments for your self.

Amendment I fn2 [ Annotations ]Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Amendment II [ Annotations ]A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Amendment III [ Annotations ]No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

Amendment IV [ Annotations ]The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amendment V [ Annotations ]No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

The above was copied from http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendments.html and you can go there to read the rest of the amendments, and to http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html to read the constitution

Just a quick Ruth Thompson update

Just happened to browse past the Site of Ruth Thomspson (the artist that I collect and spend most of my Comic-Con budget on) and noticed that she has a new dragon this year. In a way I hope it is the only one this year since it looks like the budget will not be as big, but I really want two or three, not that I have room for what I have.

Multnomah Falls Photos and stuff

Well, I took today and went up to Baldy Lodge for some lunch, read the paper, and edit some photos.  I really enjoy going up there, it is just so relaxing.  There is no cell phone coverage and no available wifi, which means there is not a lot to distract me.  I get to sit and read the paper, edit photos, drink some coffee and enjoy the ambiance of a small mountain community.  Since I was there for a while today, I was able to read the entire Daily Bulletin (minus the classifieds), I know it is not a huge paper, but it is still nice to do once in a while.  I also got some Photos edited from Portland while I sat in front of the fire with a cup of coffee.  The weather up there was nice, 38 degrees and pouring rain, they were getting snow up farther, but I did not go up that far today.  Work is still pretty slow, I only had 3 days this week, just like last week, but it might pick up a little bit next week.  Bold and the Beautiful will be coming back, so that will give a few more hours a day to the department.  It will not get us all working, but should help to at least get us a few more hours.  Monday I will be back on the Price is Right, not where I want to be, but it is at least work so I will take it.  I have been enjoying having the time off, I get to hang out at Baldy Lodge, and I have gotten to do a lot of hiking, but I really want to get back in the shop and get back to my regular work schedule.  Well, I am a little tired, and cant really think of anything else to ramble about so I think I will just add a photo and a link to my Flickr sight and end this post.

C.