Worth a Look

Here are five articles from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time:

Chicago’s Theater By, With and For Young Audiences: Looking Back and Moving Forward

HowlRound: And shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up?—Plato, 380 B.C.
Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) has a rich and varied history spanning global traditions rooted in entertainment, education and the fostering of imaginations. Yet TYA in the western world is deeply rooted in the social and cultural acceptance of youth as a group in need of control, protection and didactic cultivation. Centuries of prejudice have resulted in dividing professional and amateur theater on the basis of age—underpinned by images of young people as less than capable beings. When TYA is written off as less than, are we watching the effects of adultism materialize to shield projected innocence? If we are going to allow children to hear just “any tale” as Plato wrote, what better story to hear than one created by their peers?

Posted by David at 7/12/2014 04:58:00 PM

Commitment and You

Dimmer Beach: If you commit to a gig for a company, you do it. When you commit to a gig, you are restricting your freedom of certain actions, as you will miss out on things, maybe even other gigs. It happens. It will happen to you, I promise you that.
Now, if you have read some of my other posts, or lived in the production world for any length of time, you know it isn’t quite that simple or black and white. So, let me expound upon that for you.

Posted by David at 7/12/2014 04:49:00 PM

Exceptional Minds Students Contribute to Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Below the Line: Seated among the cast and crew for Wednesday’s screening of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes at the Zanuck Theater, Los Angeles, were six crew members from Exceptional Minds – an L.A.-based digital arts academy for young adults with autism.

Posted by David at 7/11/2014 03:44:00 PM

Busiest film agenda shapes up for Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: If everything and everyone, including superstars Will Smith and Vin Diesel, come and go as planned, the city will enjoy the busiest year of production in the 24-year history of the Pittsburgh Film Office.

Posted by David at 7/09/2014 05:50:00 PM

Hand-Sketching: Things You Didn't Know Your Doodles Could Accomplish

Smashing Magazine: Is sketching by hand more than a nostalgic activity? How is paper any different from a screen, especially when hardware is becoming more and more sophisticated? Is improving your hand-sketching skills really worthwhile when high-tech software is advancing every day? What difference can a pencil possibly make?

Posted by David at 7/09/2014 05:48:00 PM

Things the Prekies Apparently Don't Know

I did this full scale layout exercise with the prekies last week and for the first time since implementing it the whole thing went over fairly poorly.  I'm not 100% sure what the problem was, but I did observe there are three things they absolutely don't know...

To lay out a long straight line you use a chalk line.

A fairly rudimentary carpentry tool, chalk lines are excellent for establishing a straight line.  The "chalk box" stores a reel of string and a reservoir of chalk.  As you withdraw the string it gets saturated with chalk and then you pull the string tight and snap it on the surface you want to mark.  You get a fairly decent mark to follow.  I've seen folks use chalk lines out to 50 feet.

To construct a perpendicular line you can use three tape measures and a 3-4-5 right triangle.

Pretty much always the next step after establishing a straight line will be establishing a perpendicular line.  There are lots of sketchy ways to do this, but using a 3-4-5 right triangle is pretty bulletproof and conveniently scalable.  Best circumstance need three people and three tapes, but with a little back and forth it can be done with three tapes and one person.  The best part is that there's no projection involved - no "eyeballing."  If you select a measurement multiple of 5 longer than you need then your layout will be within your construction.

To lay out large arcs and circles you use trammel points.

Trammel points have taken a bit of a hit in my world with the introduction of affordable large scale output - to say nothing of the explosion of CNC fabrication.  But if you need a large scale compass for layout trammel points are the way to go.  I've used these for shop and theatre layout, for big and little projects, for arcs, circles, and even in a modified way for ellipses.  Before online shopping this was a fairly difficult item do find in a "theatre duty" grade.  Nowadays though they are easily available online.

I am certain I knew about chalk lines and about 3-4-5 triangle layout when I was in high school.  Trammel points I might not have learned about until college.  So I guess that they didn't have all these tools in their bag might not be totally unexpected - but still a little disappointing (especially seeing as how classes in the past have had them).  Anyway, I think I have a lesson plan for Tuesday.

Outa Gas

Do you have one of these:

What is that? It is the Kobalt Portable Compressed CO2 Regulator distributed by Lowes.  The idea here is that you have a power source for pneumatic tools without the need of a compressor.  I bought one several years ago, worked great.  I loved being able to take air tools on site with me to jobs without having to haul out a compressor, and I love being able to use an air tool for half a dozen shots without feeling stupid.

The product worked on an exchange model like Sodastream.  When your bottle ran out of gas you would take it back to Lowes and exchange the empty for a full replacement.  In the entire time I've had mine I have needed to do this twice.  The first time I went to Lowes and the dude at the desk looked at me like I was crazy but when I found the thing on the shelves his supervisor was happy to ring the transaction.  The second time I needed a refill I happened to be at the store without the empty and thought I should look to see where the item was on the shelf so I would know when I came back.

Except it wasn't.  It appeared as if Lowes had dropped the item and so I would be stuck with a useless tool.

Interestingly this item is still listed on the Lowes webpage: here.  More interestingly is that it says it is not available for shipping, only for store purchase.  And then if you search for the item in a store you get this:

I did the due diligence to enter a bunch of other zips: 60035, 89117, 06405... all the same.  Although it appears Lowes is trying to give the impression this item might still be available my Spidey Sense is telling me it is not.

And so we mope for a while.

At this point I have three problems: the first is that the vendor appears to have abandoned the product (btw you might ask about going through Kobalt rather than Lowes - fwiw they are for all intents in this case the same).  The second is that I am out of gas.  The third is that the reason I am out of gas is that a gasket on the connection for the bottle has shredded itself.

Nothing to be done about problem number one.  (That line has a particular cadence.)  Maybe I can solve the rest.  Briefly toward the end of its useful life I overcame the gasket issue using teflon tape.  Lacking a better solution I guess I can go back to that.  So the real problem is gas.

I have no doubt that any number of the commercial gas dealers in the area could likely fill the bottle.  On the one hand though I think I would feel awfully stupid going into a commercial gas dealer with my 2.5# gas bottle.  On the other hand I have no experience with any of the local commercial gas distributors.  So that notion goes on the back burner.  It does occur to me that over the years a few people have had the same response to the tool when they first see it: "it's like a paintball tank."  So let's run with that.

Dick's refills paintball bottles in "the Lodge."  Off we go to Dick's.  Dude behind the counter looks at me like I am crazy but after a brief explanation he says "ok, I'll try."  Let me say at this point I was REALLY worried for dude as there's no max psi rating on the tank and I have no idea to what pressure they charge paintball tanks, so, you know: BOOM!  But the fates are with us this day and the threads match up and the tank takes a charge and the fine people at Dick's charge me $4.

This works so well I decide that teflon tape is for losers and I need to find a new o-ring.  I measure up the top of the bottle and head off to Lowes.  I haven't had to buy o-rings before and what I think I want is an assortment, but for the second time in this adventure Lowes lets me down and I can't find an assortment.  What I do find is a packet of No. 10 o-rings containing 10 each o-rings that appear to be the right size.  I take a chance and take them home - another $4.

This is a case of measure twice cut once letting me down as the No. 10 o-ring appears to be incorrect.  It fits the fitting all right, but when I go to screw on the regulator it stalls, feels like it is cross threading, and then shreds the o-ring.  So we're looking for something smaller.  Off to the store again.

This time we go to the Home Depot.  Not so much as I don't think I'll be able to find what I need at Lowes and more so because I hate going to the same store twice on the same day - some kind of summer-stock PTSD.  At the Depot I do find an assortment of o-rings (now fat by 9 No. 10 pieces) purchase it and head home having forked up another $9.

Selecting the No. 9 o-ring the regulator goes on and off with no drama and I have a working tool again!  All it took was about a year of moping, a day of errands, and about $20.  Next time maybe no moping.

Postscript: The next time I used the thing the regulator shredded the No. 9 o-ring.  I'm beginning to get an inkling of why they may have dropped this particular SKU.  So next time I will try a No. 8.  Good thing I got an assortment.  Also, while at Dick's I noticed that they have the same sized tank for $20.  Maybe it has a more robust gasket.  Have to check that out sometime.

Another Lego Playdate

So my Lego building buddy was over again last week.  While he played with the heavy duty airport fire truck from last time I decided I would take on building an airplane.  And not just an airplane, but pretty much the single biggest Lego model I have ever attempted.

I started off with the front edge of the wings.  I figured I would gang together a bunch of wing pieces into a MEGAWING and then scale the rest of the model based on the size the wing established.  More than once in this process I was fairly certain I would not have enough pieces and while doing the wing I had the distinct thought I would run out of flat grays.  I didn't, but the parts did start getting smaller and smaller.

 

From the wings I worked my way up and forward.  I think I did an ok job managing the taper at the front and the back.  Probably the rear is a little more successful.  We had an extended discussion about whether this could be minifig scale or not.  In the end it isn't.  I think to accomplish that the body would have had to have been maybe a third wider and then all the other dimensions would have had to be upsized accordingly.

I'm not 100% thrilled with the windows.  This is absolutely a case of not having the pieces in inventory.  Instead of the big yellow blocks the windows should be single clear pieces alternating with single white pieces, but I don't have nearly that many of either in inventory.  I also ran out of large flat white pieces doing the roof.

The blue stripe on the bottom was a proactive concession to conserve white bricks.  Actually, one of the cool things about not being a minifig model is that the interior doesn't so much have to work.  That let me use some double width bricks when singles were really called for.  I also think the blue actually helps the body appear to roll away in a fashion that it really doesn't, so that's cool.

The landing gear were sort of an afterthought - or rather they just weren't so much a part of the plan.  They work well enough for what it is, but the rear gear has no place to go.  So it isn't very authentic.

In hind site I think I fumbled the tail a little.  It could have been (should be?) much steeper than I did it.  It seemed right to start the slant where the body started to taper in.  Maybe it should be less linear and more logarithmic a progression.  Also if I had thought I was putting in the stabilizers I could have done another grey stripe lower on the tail to make them blend in better.

If the landing gear was an afterthought then the engines got no thought at all.  The wings looked a little bare and I figured I'd take a stab at some nacelles.  These are the only part of the model where the construction axis shifts.  I think part of what makes this thing cool is that for the most part the dots are up.  In point of fact I actually had to do something fairly atypical to get the right angle pieces to work properly under the wings.  All things being equal they really would rather be on top for the part to work properly.  So in order to get the rear of the engine to mount I had to use a technic shaft through the center rather than the normal snap together arrangement.

I had to stand on a chair to get far enough away to get the whole thing into the frame for this photo.

Once again I finished off the build with the p-touch.  If you are doing the build with a young kid you get more mileage out of a personalized label than just about anything else you can do.

So it could probably use some signal lights.  The gear, tail, and engines are very much a first draft.  The windows are what they are.  But even with all of that I think this is a pretty kick ass build.

As far as the Lego playdate concept goes, I may have inadvertently raised the bar problematically.  Only time will tell.

Ellipses...

By the time I get around to blogging it always seems to be after midnight.  I guess one day I should do two posts and then I can be a day ahead instead of running a little bit behind...  This border thing is really highlighting how pretty much all we do in politics is complain.  It'd be nice to hear someone propose a solution or something...  The other day in class one of the kids said "this is the greatest day of my life."  Guess I must be doing something right...  If there was any doubt, my interest in the World Cup ended when the US run ended...  The news from Israel has been even more depressing than usual.  Another instance where some solutions might be nice in the discourse...  I think my tablet has just about had it.  It's having difficulty holding a charge and one of the buttons has become intermittent.  All things being equal I don't think I'll be replacing it...  The Lebron free agency thing has certainly turned the NBA into a little bit of a circus.  I wonder how it will come out...  Late at night I have to turn off my computer speakers or listen to some kind of induced right wing radio show...  Saw a class I thought I might go take today, but it falls right in the middle of six other things - of course...  Should I apply to be a coach for high school ultimate?  Would that be throwing it in on playing?  Have to give it some thought...  The problem with taking side jobs is that you have to do the side jobs...  The dentist says the little flossers with the handles are less than...  Having trouble filling up the Tumblr over the summer.  No problem with the Greenpage though...  Still liking the new car...  The boy rolls over, although he hasn't so much figured out how to roll back...  Really thought the season one finale of "Boss" was boss.  Get it?  Yeh, lame, I know...

Fuzz Factor

Let's just pretend it is still Tuesday.

So I have this side gig.  A drafting job I probably shouldn't have taken, but for someone I had tried to get to hire me previously - so it's not like I could really say no.  As it turns out, it gave me a chance to learn something new about AutoCAD.

Every now and then in class I will tell people that if they think there's something the program should do or a command they think it should have they should just try it because even if the thing isn't in the menus often there will be a procedure.  In the middle of what was shaping up to be a very long, tedious, iterative process I decided that they must have made the program able to deal with the problem I was having even though from my training I would have said it couldn't.  So instead of going through a tracing job piece by piece for the second time I just cut to the end and windowed everything and kinda just said "do it, ok?"

Instead of coming up with an error or doing something totally different than what I was hoping for it prompted me for a "fuzz factor."

The problem I was having was that several things I needed to join together into a single entity weren't quite touching.  In the world I grew up with that meant going through the thing and reconnecting all the vertices.  On this job we're talking hundreds of interfaces.  But someone must have had this problem before and complained loudly enough that they fixed it because now I can set a threshold - say 0.125" and the machine treats everything that comes within an eighth of an inch as touching.

Go ahead three spaces.

After that there were just two more steps to the finish.  Probably saved me an hour, maybe two, and they were middle of the night hours.

For a few years now I've been saying it might be time for me to retrain on CAD as if I didn't know anything.  This project didn't do anything to dissuade me.  One more thing for the "to do" list.

Wote for Comment of the Week

Lets only do 24 hours for summer voting...

Student #1 has left a new comment on your post "7 Musicals We Can’t Wait to See at NYMF":

The seven new productions coming out at NYMF cover a wide variety of topics, some that focus on more serious topics than others. The first show listed, “Der Gelbe Stern,” is a more serious piece that exposes the different ways that political, social, economic, and cultural shifts can change the art of an entire era. In this case, the art of Erika Stern is oppressed during the rise of the Nazi regime. Other productions that are coming out regarding political topics include “Clinton: The Musical” and “Propaganda! The Musical,” both describing the life of a president, one real, one fictional. Other productions that veer towards more serious topics are “As We Lie Still,” a story of a disgraced magician attempting to regain his fame, and “Mr. Confidential,” a production that exposes the darker secrets of show business. “Rescue Rue” is a production with a young target audience that caters to a new demographic by being an “autism-friendly” show. In this show, the lobby will be staffed with autism specialists, the house is guaranteed to be silent, and all flashing lights have been removed from the show. With changes like these, musical theater not only displays it’s public awareness, but also takes a step towards a new future where productions may one day be completely accessible for people with these disabilities. Lastly, “Zombie Strippers” is the black sheep in the lineup for being a campy (not to mention raunchy) comedy designed to be a good laugh for an audience. All seven of the productions are bound to be entertaining, no matter what the topic may be, and NYMF displays a positive diversity of ideas this July.

Student #2 has left a new comment on your post "Yale Offers A Course That's Cross-Listed Between P...":

As someone who is both scientifically minded and artistic, I often felt like people have viewed those two traits as contradictions. There is this idea that some people are left brained and some people are right brained, but this class shows that there is not an uncrossable line.

I love how a class like this could help many different students. It would be a dream class for dancers who are also math nerds, but there are so many more people who could benefit. Dance students who need to take a math class but don’t like math can use this class to put mathematics into a context they love. Mathematically minded students who want to learn dance would be able to learn it more easily if it is explained in the way they like to think. This class would even help students who aren’t passionate about math or dance, but want a break from a standard classroom setting and a chance to be a bit more active. I hope intersubject classes become more common, after all, this class works for many students because it is integrated.

@Jasmine Lesane: I like what you said about different departments having preconceived notions about other fields. It isn’t unheard of for departments to have skewed views of each other, even though overlap students exist. Classes like this could help decrease barriers between departments and, in turn, increase overall respect for difference.

Student #3 has left a new comment on your post "Release Your Inner Genius With These 5 Tips":

Romans defining the word Genius as inner spirit guiding us to our calling seems strangely fitting. Genius is what permits us to do what we love, and yet it lives in the eye of the beholder, truly making it an inner spirit. This article, by outlining the 5 steps to releasing your inner genius, gives us a way to discover this Roman phenomenon. To start, we are told to be mindful. Seems simple enough. The second step, conscious openness, is where the article begins to get interesting. The insinuation is that we must not follow any set guidelines for doing things, we must do what feels natural, not what rules or recipes tell us to. Omnivorousness is also recommended in this article, but not in the eat meat AND veggies sense. We must take in all information of all kinds to truly open up our mind to the full extent of our world. Practicing positive affirmation might be the hardest thing on this list, if only because we as a species are inherently negative, so forcing yourself to look on the bright side constantly might prove to be more than a little challenging. Finally, we must never stop learning. We must even relearn. By forgetting old, we can let the new in, and then let other people and experiences bring us back to the old. This five-stop roadmap just might make a genius out of anyone.

Student #4 has left a new comment on your post "Antipermanence: An Argument for Increased Infrastr...":

Very relevant and engaging article. I'm intrigued by the dichotomy of the large commercial-oriented theaters of Broadway and the more independent regional theaters, and Feinberg presented the information in a compelling and well-organized manner. I especially liked her relating theatre to an ever-changing organism; theatre can become whatever we want it to be. In addition, I appreciated her taking into account the next generation of theatre-consumers (that's me!) and how adjustments should be made for them. It's not very often that I walk into a theatre and see a crowd of other people around my age, and I fervently hope that someday theatre can touch a more diverse audience.

Altogether, I'm inspired by this Feinberg and her dedication to using her research to further develop the theatre world. I'm definitely going to see if I can dig up anything else by Feinberg, hopefully to further grasp the state of art and how it relates to the world. She certainly doesn't shy away from calling out theatre establishments and their apparent hypocrisy. Is every establishment doomed to commercialism? Is that a bad thing? Probably. 

Student #5 has left a new comment on your post "Broadway? Bigscreen? ‘Blue Highway’ Preps for Both...":

“Blue Highway” is an out-of-the-ordinary production with ambitious goals in crowdfunding, casting, and publicity. Turning a screenplay for an indie film into a full-fledged Broadway production isn’t something that happens every day, especially not when making an attempt to overlap casting between the two fabrications. Expecting to raise half a million dollars through crowdfunding alone may be a stretch, though it is not unheard of, and the marketing team will have to be extremely effective in their ability to raise awareness for the show. Even creating a documentary on top of it all to narrate the privations of going from set to stage may make everything too busy and hectic, and though it could be used as another form of media to raise awareness about this expensive endeavor, there might be too many things happening all at once for the show to stay organized and on-track. It seems like a valid strategy to express this story through various forms of media, as although it was originally a screenplay, the failure of one production does not necessarily mean the failure of the others, ensuring a probable increased rate of success for the independent film/show/documentary combination.

Worth a Look

Here are a few articles from last week's Greenpage that might be worth your time...

Twitter Hashtag Encourages Hollywood to #HireTheseWomen

jezebel.com: A hashtag on Twitter is helping highlight women working in Hollywood and encouraging the industry to take note of them.
When Women and Hollywood unveiled their totally depressing infographic about the lack of women directors hired by major studios recently, most people weren't all that surprised. The information revealed that by and large, the major Hollywood studios (the Big 6 as they are known) are not hiring women to helm major releases.

Posted by David at 7/03/2014 04:39:00 PM  

Should a Degree Influence Casting?

DENNIS BAKER: Hey guys, my name’s Clara. I’m a long time reader, first time guest blogger (well, here, anyway). I’m friends with a bunch of amateur, semi-professional and professional actors and recently a debate was started over brunch. I think, and maintain, that an actor with a four-year degree (or better) should get a little extra consideration by those behind the table at auditions.
For argument’s sake, let’s say after callbacks two actors are in contention for a lead role. All other things being equal (implausible, I know), who should get the role: the actor with a degree or the yeoman?

Posted by David at 7/04/2014 10:45:00 PM

USITT Responds to Tony Decision to Cut Sound Awards

sightlines.usitt.org: When the Tony Awards administration decided on June 11 to eliminate future Tonys for sound design, USITT realized it had to publicly address the shock and dismay sweeping through the theatrical design and tech community.
The next morning, USITT Executive Director David Grindle wrote a letter to the American Theatre Wing expressing USITT’s position that cutting the sound design Tonys dismisses and disrespects the artistic contributions of sound designers in Broadway shows, and that the decision should be reversed.

Posted by David at 7/01/2014 04:13:00 PM  

Ask The Experts: Is It A Bad Idea To Live With My Co-Workers?

Fast Company | Business + Innovation: When you are starting out, or living in an expensive city (we're looking at you New York and San Francisco) roommates can be a necessity. But while your co-workers are awesome to spend 9 to 5 with, do you want to deal with their dirty dishes and late night guests?

Posted by David at 6/30/2014 05:51:00 PM  

In Memoriam: Jay O. Glerum, 1939-2014

Stage Directions: Jay O. Glerum died June 26, 2014, in Bothell, Washington, after a brief illness. Born August 16, 1939, Glerum attended Montgomery Junior College and later the University of Washington, where he met his wife Sara (Sallie) Johnson. In addition to teaching at Seattle and Marquette Universities, Glerum started his career working at Peter Albrecht Company, a theatrical rigging-design company based in Milwaukee, eventually becoming one of the world’s foremost experts in theatrical rigging.

Posted by David at 7/03/2014 12:11:00 AM

Our House

In the middle of our street.

We had some people over today for a post fourth of July fourth of July cookout (a friend on Facebook was very particular that just cooking on a grill was not in and of itself barbecue).  Over the course of the afternoon I wound up talking about some of the folks that helped out with our home renovation.  I don't think I've ever posted about them and so I figured I would take one of these posts and hit the highlights.

The GC on our job was Sparkle Construction.  Greg took on the job from another contractor that had done design drawings and bid the project.  Sparkle took the job fixed fee and pretty much managed to toe the line on that without many of the home show "oh by the way" moments.  They did demolition, framing, insulation, drywall, moulding, flooring and tile; as well as manage painting, plumbing, hvac, fireplace, and electric.  All in all we were very please with their work.

Greg also hooked us up with some other subs worth calling out.

Kellner Millwork did our staircase renovation.  I have to say that overall this was one of the most difficult parts of the project to realize.  Mostly it was about trying to do something really different and coming up against the residential building code.  In the end though we got a really special highlight to our first floor and we're really happy with it.

Another vendor that came through Greg was Rex Glass.  Rex did a KILLER shower panel for us.  We had very specific things we wanted to see in the bathroom we remodeled and Rex did a great job.

We also worked with a designer on our job.  We had looked for a consulting architect with no luck and went it alone with Greg helping on the contractor side and Maggie from mad Designs helping on the design side.  Maggie was great.  She didn't fight us on our particular aesthetic and really worked with Mrs. TANBI as a collaborator.  The results here were also great - the link above is actually our kitchen on her website.

Maggie also brought along a float of good vendors.

Top of that list was East Hills Cabinet.  We'd originally talked to East Hills about being GC of the whole job, but after seeing it they declined saying it was more than they typically did.  That, I think, was a good sign right off the bat.  East Hills did the cabinets in the kitchen and the vanity in the bathroom.  We've since had them out to do some office built ins too.  Good price.  Great work.

Maggie sent us to look at tile at The Tile Collection.  This place is ridiculous, just room after room after room of tile finishes.  Mrs. TANBI says "they have all the tile."  Ultimately we skimped on our kitchen backsplash (we got that at a store you may have heard of: The Home Depot).  There were some budget issues in this area and some lead time issues, but again, overall very happy.  Plus this is a neat place just to look around.

We also got Don's Appliances through Maggie - or maybe we found them on our own but she works with them all the time.  If we hadn't been fortunate we probably wouldn't have wound up using them, but when we went to see their stuff at the Pittsburgh Home Show we became enamored with a suite of appliances they'd brought to the show as display items and they cut us a good deal.

For what it's worth, we also found our original contractor (who lead us to Sparkle) at the home show.  If you're doing a renovation there's no better one stop shop.

Last on this hit parade is another mad Designs referral: Typhoon Lighting.  Most of the lighting in the renovation turned out to just be recessed cans.  Sparkle handled that scope of service.  But there were two more prominent fixtures: one for over the stairs and one for over the dining room table.  Mrs. TANBI and I did a lot of online shopping for what we eventually bought, but Typhoon handled the purchase for us and were great about helping us find what we wanted.

So that's the cast of our renovation.  I hope those folks are around should we choose to do more work in the future.

Three Fourths

It's the fourth of July!  We had dinner and brought the boy home to sleep.  During the day I did yard work to get ready for having people over tomorrow.  Sitting listening to the fireworks going off outside I got to thinking about past Fourths.

It's really amazing to me how few previous fourths I remember.  I can recall going to fireworks at DHS and at the HPHS athletic field, even going to Lake Forest once or twice.  I can recall the years I worked at Gilson.  But considering how old I am there are fairly few that stick out.

Three that do come to mind:

When I was twelve July 4 found me and my dad in Estes Colorado.  We were doing a cross country drive back from California to Chicago after the whole family had spent some time in LA.  I remember we went to see Superman 2 at a local movie theatre.  My dad thought it was stupid and for the rest of the trip would burble: "Not God.  Zod."  At least it made an impact.  We watched fireworks from the theatre parking lot.

In what I think was the summer after high school graduation I got to go to the Fort Sheridan fireworks and sit with some of the higher ranking officers.  One of my friends dads was one of the five highest ranking officers on the base.  Their seats were very, very close.  That was the first time I think I saw a ground display.  They must not have done them at the other shows I went to.  Being close up really changes fireworks.

Maybe three summers later I got even closer.  The summer I worked at Northwestern we had a shop party on the 4th.  Evanston does their fireworks at the beach right next to the Performing Arts Center and at the appointed time we headed up to the roof of the proscenium theatre.  This time we weren't just close, but we were pretty much level with many of the shells.  Very cool.  On top of that, the vantage let us see up and down the lake and to a bunch of exhibitions inland.  We must have spent an hour trying to place a municipality with each display.

Of course as I'm typing other years are coming to mind: working a turnaround in Maine, going to fireworks at Desert Breeze in Las Vegas.  There's no big conclusion here, just three fourths.