We Got To Move These Refrigerators, We Got To Move These Color TV's
It appears I made it to 49 after all. The way this past week started out, I wasn't exactly full of confidence I'd survive in good enough shape to be more than a blubbery pile of goo on the floor by now, but despite the set backs, the delays, all the things that were supposed to go one way, but insisted on going the other, here I am.
The second team of movers proved more than equal to the task, even despite the fact that our massive main reception desk initially couldn't be maneuvered out of the old office. But, removal of a few drop-ceiling panels and brackets gave us enough clearance to just squeeze it out.
And the guy who did our data line wiring just happened to be available for a brief window and was able to come in and rewire the entire phone system on Thursday, plus fix a couple of boo-boos (totally my fault) that were overlooked during his first installation.
So, once again, just about everything came down to the absolute wire. But, the good news is the phone system was up and running on Friday morning, we sussed out our data network and all the various and sundry machines are happily beeping and booping with each other and - most importantly - with the outside world. The only negatives at this point are one network jack that seems to be on-the-fritz, and the fact that my boss picked up a virus on his laptop most likely due to the temporary jury-rigged Internet connection we set up earlier in the week (we ganged my co-worker's Clear Wire modem to my wireless router, but had to leave everything open and unsecured, because nobody else could get my WEP access code to work - the techno-geeks among you know what I'm talkin' 'bout).
Friday morning I rented a small storage locker and in the afternoon picked up a rental van, and we all schlepped over to the old office to clean out the last of the odds-and-ends, hauled it all back to the new office, emptied the truck, then filled it with about 60 bankers boxes full of old documents we don't need on-site, but aren't allowed to throw away, and my boss and I then took them over to the storage facility and loaded them in. Even though I rented the smallest space they had available, we still only managed to fill it to about one-third capacity, which means we can still get to things in the highly unlikely event we ever need to access anything.
The final bit of business was to contract with someone to clean out the detritus still left at the old space and haul it off to the dump/recylers. There's a company in the same building that does this, but their estimate was IMO somewhat excessive, so I contacted the building maintenance man (the same guy who drove me to distraction on the kitchen counter project), and he underbid by about $200. Plus, he would have had to check us out of the space anyway, so this way we don't have to worry about that part of things either. He came by around 5:00 p.m., we handed him a check and all the keys and access cards for the old building and parking garage, and so the moving part is now officially done.
There's still a huge amount of work to do: lots of re-arranging, moving things into place, getting rid of packaging, along with general clean-up and a final move in of a couple of items, most notably our conference table which is in the process of having its surface refinished. But that will happen next week - or beyond.
I finally managed to attack my new office on Friday, and even in the short amount of time I was able to devote to it, got it into workable shape; now it's just a matter of dealing with the finishing touches, and turning the place into our new home. We have about a month before our annual Holiday Party, which should be plenty of time.
So, tomorrow it'll be back to a somewhat normal routine, plus playing catch-up on the rather modest backlog of things that didn't get dealt with last week. It's just good to have it all over and done with - the scope of this project turned out to be akin to the massive build-out at the Theatre I managed in the spring of 2008; just as nerve-wracking, frustrating, but ultimately satisfying in its completion.
Now, all I have to do today is whip together a ginormous fundraiser for tonight.
I Have Only One Burning Desire Let Me Stand Next To Your Fire
When a Goth, tribal dancer decides she wants a beach party for her birthday, she GETS a beach party complete with doumbeks, tambourines, and fire-dancing under the summer stars.
Too bad it also came with some jerk(s) raiding our picnic shelter for unattended snacks and beverage coolers. That's some bad karma they're not going to earn down for quite some time.
(And may the person who took my motorcycle jacket last night suffer eternal torment)
UPDATE (Monday):
After checking with the Seattle Channel people and coming up blank (I'd set the jacket down next to some of their gear, and wanted to make certain they didn't accidentally pick it up), I just called OTB and was informed it did in fact end up in their lost-and-found; apparently, it wasn't turned in until after I'd already asked their staff on Friday.
So, yay to the nice person who DIDN'T walk away with it!
The Machines Have Been Drinking From The Waters Of Lethe
Thanks to everyone for the birthday shout-outs yesterday, whether in-person, by phone, e-mail, facebook, or even song. It was a great, and surprisingly productive, day and I think everybody had as much fun at the various and sundry scheduled events as I did!
It was a great way to start the second-to-last year of my 40's.
Three birthday parties in three days makes for a very long, but very enjoyable weekend - even with record-tying high temps. Friday evening was devoted to a celebration in honor of our esteemablethe theatre's Artistic Director, Bret Fetzer. Saturday I facilitated a 40th Birthday Party for another good friend Susanna Wilson (officially joining the club on July 2nd), and last night had pizza and delicious cocktails to celebrate the birthday of Annex's Development Director, Jaime Roberts.
Needless to say, I'm a bit birthday'ed out, but best wishes to all.
Speaking of record temperatures, yes, summer has arrived in the Upper Left-hand - with a vengeance, and about a week early to boot. A few weeks ago, the general topic of conversation revolved around how rotten the weather had been, and when-oh-when would the warm temps arrive, because people were starting to go, well, a little funny in the head. This being Seattle, though, I'm guessing that if things continue at their current pace (although it looks like the daytime high temps are going to taper off just a bit over the next week or so), it'll be about three weeks before the same people who complained about the lack of sunshine begin complaining about the lack of cooling rainfall - it happens every year.
In other news: rehearsals for the show are going quite well, despite having to cut short our rehearsals this weekend - just couldn't compete against bad B-52s wannabes, and all-girl AC/DC cover bands (because, really, what says "Gay Pride!" MORE than an all-girl AC/DC cover band?) blasting away at us from down the street; which is just as well, because with the doors and windows closed our little theatre space resembles nothing so much as the inside of a rather largish toaster-oven.
Not that I'M complaining, mind you, just stating for the record.
My schedule is full-up today, so I didn't make any plans for a birthday celebration. However, a completely unexpected opportunity fell into my lap yesterday afternoon, which resulted in the arrival of a store-bought German Chocolate Cake to a local watering hole about 8:30 p.m. last evening. I sent out a last-ditch email at around 6:30 p.m., when I was informed of impending delivery, and actually had a few people show for the event (shout outs to Flaming Banjo, Lisa V. and Rachie-Rache - who happened to drop in completely unaware, but stayed anyway).
Promptly at 8:30 p.m. a clean-cut young man bearing a QFC cake-on-a-tray walked in and promptly began eyeing the place, which was packed with becostumed Halloween revelers, for someone who looked like they were waiting for a cake. We waved enthusiastically until we caught his attention.
Since said young man works as an intern for one of the local alterna-weeklys the event was recorded for posterity (and preumably public snarkage at the hands of their web site commentors.)
The sordid details can be found here. Frankly, I would have preferred being hand-fed my birthday cake by someone of the female persuasion, but at my age, beggars can't be choosers.
(And don't ask about the thing on my head - how many of you WOULDN'T debase yourselves slightly, in exchange for free cake?)
THURSDAY 11/01: Tech/Dress for SPF; possible birthday imbibement, if time allows.
FRIDAY 11/02: SPF performance
SATURDAY 11/03: SPF performance
SUNDAY 11/04: SPF performance/strike.
In the meantime, I need to finish the sound design for my Ghosty character, scrounge up a couple more props and costume pieces, do a bit of clean up in the theatre prior to our Thursday show, scrounge up a couple of props for the SPF piece I'm directing, and try to get in a couple of nights of theatre attendance in-between everything else.
And then I get a week of respite, before the theatre fundraiser I'm co-chairing, which goes up on the 12th, followed by our annual Annex retreat on the 16th - 18th.
This past week has been (and will continue to be) chock-full of little odds-and-ends of things being started and/or completed.
The Columbus Day Holiday came in tres handy, as that was the day I actually managed to get a few things done: the boat got washed, the inflatable deflated and stowed, new dock lines and new shore power cable attached. After that, I had a meeting with our local theatre union federation, then did some work on prop pieces I'm going to be using for The Theatre's annual Halloween Event. That was followed by another meeting for The Theatre Staff, after which I spent a couple hours helping to finish painting the set for The Show, and finally rounded out the day by attending a 50th Birthday Celebration for my friend James, wherein much good-natured ribbing ensued, to be sure. I've got one coming up myself in just a few weeks, although - thankfully - not that "big milestone" one yet. Still, only three more to go until I get there - yikes!
Dang - when I look at it all in order - that was a lot to get done in one day!
This week includes finishing up some last-minute PR for the show; starting rehearsals for a 10 minute play I'm directing that will be done as part of an evening of short pieces early next month. Then of course, The Show opens on Friday, on which day I'll also be a guest commentator for the blog site belonging to our local alterna-weekly newspaper, which should be - interesting.
Four or five hours of climbing up-and-down ladders today and I feel like I was convicted of chewing gum in Singapore (yeah, I know that's a myth, but that's how my feet feel!). Still, each hour of work helps to bring our little theatre space a little closer to being useable.
And while I'm at it, Happy Birthday, Mr. H., who entered his 30's in inimicable fashion last evening:
The cake, was frosted with an outline of the State of Kansas:
(a theatre - or more specifically, an Annex Theatre in-joke. And yes, those are corn-on-the-cob holders subbing for candles. And for those of you waaaay in on the joke, the cake actually "bled")
Sometimes you can learn strange things things about yourself during momentous events in other people's lives. For example: apparently, I have some sort of latent talent when it comes to playing croquet:
Certainly not something with which I was previously aware, but I won all three of the evening's matches - on customized courses, with some particularly difficult obstacles, mostly performed in the dark using flashlights, and despite A Certain Someone stealing my "lucky red ball" just prior to the third match (of which I spent roughly half playing under a significant handicap). My trophy for achieving this incredible trifecta, or hat-trick, or whatever the croquet equivalent may be? No, I didn't take the "Space Mad Libs", or the strange bottle of Portugese wine, or the "cow gun", but instead opted for the sling-shotty goodness of the "Aero-Copter".
(Red Ball Thief - and baker of "Bleeding Kansas Cake" with The Birthday Boy.)
But of course, now I can't help but wonder how different my life might have been, had I only discovered this innate ability a couple of decades earlier, at least in time to have turned pro.
