Hello. I’m back to try again!

It’s been over 3 years since I published something here other than school stuff for 1st years. I think I am going to try and blog again some. I am hoping to keep in touch with many friends and family and maybe even share some good stories and insights.

Today I am in San Francisco. It was the day off so I started exploring. Got a tour of Pixar. What a great workplace. You can tell someone who wanted a visionary workplace designed the campus. Reminded me of what Fred Foster wanted the ETC factory to be.

Anyhow if you are reading this, please check back and make comments if you like (I need to figure out how to turn that on).

Take care,

Eric

Tempe, Arizona

The Gammage Auditorium. It’s an iconic space really. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. It’s often called things like “the birthday cake theatre” because it is round and looks like it has decorations on the top edge.

When I first started touring this is a space I really wanted to see. I studied Theatre Architecture in grad school and always thought this was an interesting space.

The biggest challenge here is the loading dock. It is one story down a curved ramp. The curve is such that nothing bigger than a 20’ box truck can navigate driving down it. As a result everything is unloaded in the parking lot and you walk or forklift everything down the ramp.

Because the theatre is on the campus of a university, the parking lot is prime space. This means that not only do we need to share the lot with all the folks that park there on a regular basis, but our audience does too. So, it means we cannot have matinee performances. It changes our load-in schedule to starting on Sunday and opening on a Tuesday. Ultimately for me, it means a couple less hours of time to focus the movers for the show. Amazingly, the opening was good. I still needed a work call to finish focus on Wednesday, but the show looked good on Tuesday and was great on Wednesday.

House Search

For those that did not know I am looking at houses in North Dakota….yep.

We are going to move closer to my wife’s family. It is a different place, but I am hoping to make it a fabulous move. It’s been a long time since I have searched for a new home. This will be a new experience.

I am currently in the Dallas airport waiting for a plane to go to Bismarck and search some neighborhoods with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

Fun times!

San Diego Opening

Great opening night!! A line that often got a chuckle in the show now gets roaring laughter!

“Elphaba, I can’t harbor a fugitive, I’m an unelected official!” Took a while for the audience to calm down after that line last night. I guess this group reads the news!

I got through almost all the pre-sets this time and discovered a couple issues (in terms of the re-focus method) that I’ll figure out and take care of when I get back. I’m headed to Winston for some vacation with the family. I’m also going to Bismarck to see where it is I’m going to be living in the future. Here’s hoping for a great trip to both places!!

Leaving LA soon

Well I’m leaving LA next week. It has been an adventure for sure. Seen a lot of friends and missed a few too. Survived the fires a few weeks ago and hey, it even rained yesterday. We are off to San Diego next, where I’ll take 9 days off and visit Winston for a while and then Bismarck for 2 days….more on that later!

For now check out some pictures from the stop!

Do these monitors look small?

From the Pantages Spot Booth

The new (ish) set up for running lights on the Wicked Tour.

We are now half-way through with our run here in Hollywood. It’s been interesting. I have actually walked around Hollywood more than I ever have before! It’s been kind of fun and educational.

The family was here for Christmas. It was great to have them here. Jen and I were reminded that we were in LA for Christmas once before in 2001 when she was pregnant with Clara. Long time ago…

In other news, I must admit to being a bit worried about the future of employment. The nutcase that is taking over as President hates unions and really doesn’t like people that have to work for a living. At least that is what it looks like to me! His last chance to change labor and tax law resulted in my tax burden going up and my union’s influence going down. Not a good combination for my future. I am looking forward to retiring (full time retirement) more than ever!

Take care, friends!

LA Pantages

We’ve actually been in LA a couple weeks, but I’m finally getting to post about their new monster ramp! This thing is beefy enough to drive the fork loft on. Oh my!

Plus-ing

I was listening to a blog I like today and it talked about “plussing”. As I was listening I realized it was similar advice to a lesson I tried teaching in school.

If you have criticism or a negative comment for someone try to include a suggestion (such as an adjustment to their approach to troubleshooting) or give an example of a time they handled a similar situation in a positive manner.

A simpler statement: try not to present a problem without suggesting a solution.

In the blog, the blogger used Pixar as an example. Apparently they do this as a matter of policy. To add to it, though, you are to make it clear to the person you are giving advice that your suggestion is just a possible idea and in no way are you requiring the recipient of your suggestion to follow your advice, just to take the new idea and run with it.

Pixar Tour 09-16-24

Did a tour of Pixar on Monday. What struck me the most was the expense and effort that the company has gone to in order to make the campus a relaxing and comfortable place to work. No doubt there are times that pressure and stress may be high, but certainly looking around it felt like an employer that was giving their employees a lot of benefits. The campus includes a gym, sand volleyball, a pool, basketball and soccer pitch. Numerous restaurants including a pub. Everyone seemed pretty chill and the vibe was awesome.