Mini Working-Vacation

Last October, Rob and I ran sound for a Beatles Tribute Band in Baker, OR. This show led to our biggest project EVER. . . Phase 1 of the project was building a custom stage to fill in the orchestra pit in their auditorium (done!); Phase 2 of the project was to custom build a stage that would extend their existing stage out and over the new orchestra pit stage (mostly done!); Phase 3 of the project is to install a new sound system in the auditorium (dragging on and on and on and on). . . . We made another trip to Baker over the weekend and decided to have some fun while we were at it. I was still feeling very under the weather on Friday so I got to hang out at the hotel while Rob and the kids started working at the school. I love staying at hotels! There's cable TV, maid service and, at this hotel anyway, a swimming pool!!!

The pool was indoors and pretty warm, so we went swimming before bed. Rob and Gloria had a great time. If you look closely at the end of this video, Gloria starts out with shorts on but doesn't end that way. . .

Practice makes perfect. . .

First thing Saturday (well, before noon anyway), we headed to the store for a few supplies. We found this great hot pink extension cord . . . Too bad it was WAY expensive . . .
Found a photo-op outside the hardware store. . .
The high school is full of ladders and rickety passage ways that we have to navigate in order to run cables from the stage to the other end of the auditorium where the mixer will be. . .
Zach is a huge help with this and doesn't mind crawling around in dark, tight spaces in order to help Rob run cables and conduit. . .

Conduit had to be measured and cut . . .
. . . and carefully screwed into the floor once the cables were safely tucked inside. . .

All of these cables will be wired into the front-of-house equipment . . . eventually. . .
Zach had to climb into a space that really wasn't a passage way at all but he tried to convince me that it was. . .

He left the "secure" walkway and said he was climbing down a ladder but I think it was a few 2 x 4's haphazardly screwed together. . . I asked him what he was walking on when he got down there and he said, "a plank" . . . I asked him if he could see the bottom and he said there was a cement floor about 6 feet below him. . . As far as I could tell he was walking on a questionably secured board, holding onto a few beams above him. . . but, of course, it was dark, so I couldn't tell what he was doing!!!!

I kept taking pictures so the camera flash would light it up a little bit!!
After helping Rob screw on a board from the other side of the wall down there somewhere. . . Zach emerged through another opening in the floor and I still don't know exactly how he got there. . .

He climbed out, safe and sound. . .

While we were up there, Rob showed me the work he and Kurt did a couple of weeks ago when they installed huge, heavy speakers from the auditorium ceiling. I trust that they do these kinds of things safely and securely but it was reassuring to see it for myself.
It's hard to see it in this picture, but each speaker has 4 "flypoints" that are attached with long bolts to these two pieces of uni-strut that are laid across the beams in the ceiling.

The speaker is on the other side of the ceiling and the four bolts attach to the manufacture "flypoints" on the speaker itself:

I know it's safe, but I'll probably make it a point not to stand directly under them. . .

Lunch time!! Every time Rob goes to Baker he eats pizza at Piazono's and then goes on and on and on about how great it is. This was my first experience with this pizza place and I'll have to agree with Rob! They even had a tomato-free slice for Zach: Red potato pie with Alfredo sauce! Yum. . .

Back to work. . .

Gloria helped Rob quite a bit, but when she had a little break, she entertained herself with props she found on the stage and the timer setting on my camera:

You'd think she'd get tired of having her picture taken. . .

Rob spent a significant amount of time wiring up the amp rack that will power up the flying speakers and the stage monitors. We tested everything at the end of the day and it all worked just beautifully!!

We rewarded ourselves with a trip to the bowling alley!!

The place had a great atmosphere- flashing lights and 80's music!!

We played two games and, of course, Rob won them both. . .

But I got a few (lucky) strikes, too!!



I always consider it a good game if I break 100! If I wouldn't have blown it on the last frame, I might have even beaten Rob!!

Back to the hotel and cable TV. . .

On Sunday, we still had a few things to wrap up at the school, but first Gloria and Rob took advantage of the hotel pool one last time. . .

They practiced . . .

. . . and practiced. . .

. . . and practiced. . .



. . . and practiced!!

I think they got it!!!

After checking out, we went to the skateboard park behind our hotel. I was walking behind the kids thinking how sweet they looked as they walked along chatting with each other. Suddenly Zach stopped and covered Gloria's mouth. . .

I was too far back to hear, but apparently she was describing some of the graffiti she'd seen . . . oops!

I creatively cropped these pictures in order to keep this blog family-friendly. . .

Back to work. . .

When we finished up at the school, we headed to the city park. . .

Several of the kids at the park were intrigued at this dad that was playing with his kids. . . they all wanted in on that deal. . .

We all played on the teeter-totter. . .

Rob can be such a big kid at times. . .

Zach's a big kid, too, but it's a little more acceptable for him to playing on the toys. . . maybe. . .

This was the closest thing we've had to a vacation for awhile and it was actually pretty fun. We'll have a few more trips over here before it's all wrapped up but we'll finish eventually. . . I hope. . .