The Weekend

So, work is as usual. Only there are no shows this weekend. Kinda weird. I think I will do laundry, clean the apartment and read.

That's all for now.

The Best Laid Plans

This past week was nuts. Sunday, I went to church. Monday I went to work. Tuesday I went to work and then went and picked Britni up from the airport. Wednesday, Britni and I went all over Denver. We picked up her rental skiis, she bought a skirt, had lunch, went out to Red Rocks, and Barnes and Noble. We met up with Carisa at 7:45 and hung out till midnight. On Thursday we got up really early (5:30) and left for Keystone. We picked up Rudy around 6:45. We made it up to Keystone at 9:00. It had been snowing all day long. Driving a Nissan Maxima in the snow, in the mountains, in Colorado, during a winter advisory, is not advised. We skied all day, until one fateful run. I had stopped and Britni was about to stop when she fell over backwards and consequently tore her LCL and sprained her ankle. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the clinic. We left Keystone around 3:45 and made it back to Rudy's house by 6:00. Britni and I made it back to my apartment just in time for the roast beef that I had put in the crock pot to be done. I made the rest of the parts of dinner and we ate. I finally fell asleep that night around midnight. On Friday morning I had to be at work at 6:00 so I woke up at 4:30. I got about half an hour for lunch and worked straight through 3:00 the next 9:30 on Saturday so I woke up at 8:00. I worked all day through 11:00 that night. I fell asleep around 1:00 that night and had to wake up at 4:15 to take Britni to the airport. Needless to say I slept all day Sunday.

I had planned to have a nice relaxing time hanging out with friends and skiing but that only went so far as Thursday. As the saying goes, "The best laid plans of mice and men...." I don't remember the rest but we all know what it means.

Later.

So here we go.....

I am really enjoying my new position at work. It's fun to brainstorm and come up with solutions. We have several shows this week, and even more next week. Things are already taking off for the new year. We have two new people working for us in the production department. I can't believe how much we are getting done.

I went to Apple's web site today and saw that they released the intel chips for the MacBook and the i-Mac. Wow! They have pulled off quite the feat. I think it's really cool. The features that are going to be made available through it are incredible. I think I will have to re-spec my dream laptop on my wishlist.

I am hungry so I think I am going to go home and get some dinner.

Denver....

Well, I'm back. This sounds really weird but I actually missed Denver while I was gone for a whopping 7 days. Pretty pathetic isn't it.

Work is going really well. I am moving up into a management position as of today. I am in charge of all internal projects. This includes maintenance, manufacture, prep..... and all the other stuff that happens with gear before it leaves to go do a show. I am looking forward to my new role. I will still be doing shows but it won't be as rough as it has been. We are hiring a bunch more people which is awesome. I am going to be on salary which definitely has its benefits. I don't think I will have to work the absolutely insane hours that I have worked for the past six months. Though I do think I will miss working that much. I don't know why but that has always been fun for me.

I went with Aaron (the youth pastor at my church) up to Boulder for a new years party. It was kind of fun hanging out with a bunch of people I had never met before.

I have rediscovered the amazing invention called Legos. These things rock. I pulled my legos out of my storage unit the other day and I started playing around with them yesterday. It is amazing how many things you can make out of Legos.

My goal for this year is to eat out only twice a month and only go to the theater once a month. I am going to see how much money I can save by cutting down on unnecessary expenses. We will see how it goes.

I hate New Years Resolutions. You may have noticed that I said "my goal for this year" and not "My New Years Resolution". The concept of a resolution just seems completely unattainable for me. It sounds like do or die. I prefer to have a goal to reach rather than something a prohibitive as a Resolution.

That is my rant for the day.

Later.......

Merry Christmas

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a great Christmas day. I did. It was rather warm here in Williamsburg. This morning we all rolled out of bed around 9:00 and opened gifts. It was a good year. I got some stuff for my kitchen, some tools for work, and some books and music. We finished with gifts around 12:00 and went in to the dining room for our Christmas morning breakfast. We have a tradition of having home made cinnamon rolls and bacon for Christmas breakfast. After breakfast we each took turns taking our showers and cleaning up for the day. Then the whole family just sat and talked. We haven't done that for a whole year. It's kind of crazy. The last time the whole family was together for some leisure time was last Christmas.

We had our next tradition of Honey Baked Ham and Green Beans around 4:00. Some of Mom and Dad's friends came by at 6:00 and we had dessert and coffee. I drank way too much coffee which is why I am sitting here typing this right now. After they left I spent some time helping my older sister set up here new iBook and cleaning up Mom and Dad's computer. The whole family is slowly but surely converting to MAC. Long live the APPLE.

I think next year we will have Christmas in Colorado. I would like to have at least started if not finished building a house by then. I think it would be great.

This is probably my most random blog entry so far. Oh well, I guess I had better get some sleep tonight....

Eh?!

What is it about airports? There is something about being there that makes people tense and irritable. I couldn't believe how many people were grumpy and unreasonable at the airports on Thursday. I had a great flight, don't get me wrong. It was just amazing to see how many people freak out when they are not in total control of their own situation. There was one guy who freaked out at the ticket counter because he had to go to the next one over to check in because he was flying international. They didn't tell him to get back in line, or wait longer. They just asked him to take three steps to the right so that he could check in at the proper station. What a menace.

I am at Mom and Dad's now. When I first arrived the heater was not working in the house because the blower motor had burned up. The HVAC company put a temporary one in today so that we could at least have heat through the weekend. Tomorrow we are going to Cheesecake Factory for our annual Christmas Eve dinner. It is a new tradition we started last year. We are going to the 11:00 pm Christmas Eve service at Mom and Dad's church. I don't know as I necessarily like their church. It is very traditional and seems somewhat lazy. I don't know, maybe I am just too young to appreciate their style.

Merry Christmas to Everyone!!

Later......

Cars

I bought a car on Saturday. It is a 1997 Nissan Maxima. I know it is not my dream car but it was such a good deal it would have been dumb to pass it up. I now have a car that has heat, cloth seats, power everything, .... The list goes on and on. It's great. This is definitely a far cry from the truck. Don't get me wrong. The truck was a much appreciated source of transportation that more than did its fair share of going from place to place. It is just nice to be comfortable in a car again.

Last night was our company Christmas Party. It was a whole lot of fun. There was tons of food, and lots of goofing around. We did a white elephant gift and our annual company awards as well. It was great. I hold the record for the most hours worked in one pay period, 227 hours. It was a good party. I wore my new tux, which rocks. I found a great deal at a tux store called Mr. Neats. I didn't know that a tux could be so comfortable. If only all of my clothes fit that perfectly.

I am flying to Mom and Dad's on Thursday. My flight leaves at 6:30 am. That means that I have to get up at 4:00 am. Oh well, I guess I can just sleep on the plane. I hope there aren't a billion kids running around, and yelling and screaming on the plane. This will be a good vacation. I will be coming back to Denver on Wednesday the 28th.

When I get back things will be changing around the office quite a bit. I will talk more about this as it gets closer.

I think that is all the news for now.

Life Lessons from the Slopes

I went skiing yesterday! I actually intentionally took a day off and went skiing. It was great. There were 8 inches of fresh powder on the slopes at Copper Mountain. The lift tickets normally cost $69 but I was able to find a grocery store that does discount lift tickets and I only paid $45. I borrowed skis, poles, and boots from a friend. I can't believe how perfect a day it was. It was sunny all day long, very little wind and great snow.

We were riding up the lift just after lunch and Aaron said, "I can't believe that anyone could see this and not believe in a creator". That got me to thinking. How true is it that anything that we observe or even inspect shows the perfection and creativity of God. I was thinking the other day about audio (seeing as that is my job) and realized that nothing has changed about the physics of audio since the beginning of time. The progress that has been made is due to people putting definitions to the laws of physics. Spiritual growth is kind of like that. We aren't creating something new each time we take a step of spiritual growth. We are just learning what the laws are and defining them appropriately.

All that said, Colorado skiing is just as good as everyone said it would be.

Till next time.....

already?!

I was looking at the calendar today and I realized that Christmas is two weeks away. I haven't done any Christmas shopping, bought any decorations, or eaten any Christmas related food. I think I am slipping, Christmas is my favorite time of year. I can't believe that it is coming up so soon. That is my personal rant for today.

And now for the news.

I had a show for Sammy Kershaw this past Friday. It was one of those shows that should have happened really easily but didn't because of an non cooperative client. The power was not connected until 11:30 in the morning, the dirt riding arena was all tilled up when we arrived. It took them an hour to pack it down. The lock on the truck froze and cracked so we had to find some bolt cutters to get the truck open. The client was to provide 12 stage hands, we got 10 cowboys instead. We got it done and the show itself went great but it sure could have gone easier with the load in and out.

I was getting ready to leave the venue and was doing my pre-trip inspection of the truck and discovered that the airlines that connect the tractor to the trailer had cracked off of their connectors so I had to sit around for an hour and a half waiting for Ryder to show up and fix their truck. I hate it when I have a rental truck and something breaks on it. I would expect a rental truck to be in perfect working order, not ready to break at any given moment.

I am going to go buy a tuxedo this week. Our company Christmas party is black tie and I figured that if I am going to rent a tux I might as well put that money towards buying one as there are some shows that we do that require tuxes. I think it will be kind of fun. I am going to start looking for one today. I have some time this afternoon.

That's all for now.

Back In The Saddle

Today was my first day back at the "shop". It is kind of fun now that all of the dust has settled from the mayhem of the last two weeks. I am taking care of most of the lighting stuff. It is actually pretty interesting. I am starting to enjoy it. I'm one of those people who love to have a good challenge in front of them and this is a good challenge. I am incredibly hungry so I am going to cut this one short.

Later....

wanderings, wishings, and where to go

Well, I got back from Miami on Saturday night. The whole trip was kind of a whirlwind. We were about an hour south of Memphis when the arm that the accelerator is mounted to snapped. That sucked. We sat for about 4 1/2 hours waiting for Ryder to bring us a new accelerator assembly. This mishap put us at New Life Ranch at about 10:15. This was about 6 hours later than I had anticipated. So, Stuart, Brett, Cass, Rhett and I stayed up till around 4:00am talking and hanging out. It was great. Mike and I left at 7:00 on Saturday Morning and drove back to Denver. When we got here there was snow on the ground and it was freezing outside. I love it.

Today I decided to go and try to find a GAP to find my favorite jeans at. The GAP that I found was out of the size that I wear. It just so happens that there is an apple store in the same mall as the GAP. I decided to drop by and drool over a few things. That is where I am writing this post from. The new iPOD's are awesome. I have a 60GB on my Christmas list. Just under it on the Christmas list is a 15" PowerBook. I guess we can all have dreams.

I am going to Mom and Dad's for Christmas. I bought my ticket today. I have to be at the airport at 4:30am. Oh well. I guess that is better than not going at all.

For those of you who haven't found the great Trans Siberian Orchestra, I definitely recommend it. They have 5 albums, all of which I really like. I am trying to take Mom and Dad and go see them live while I am there for Christmas.

I think I am going to continue browsing.

Apple Rocks

Laundry

When packing for a trip one must have enough clean clothes to actually pack in the first place. I have been so busy lately I haven't completed my laundry in about five weeks. I have been doing the obligatory loads so that I have the necessities of the clothing world but I have not actually had all of my clothes clean for about five weeks now. That, I decided, is completely unacceptable. I have vowed to not let laundry go uncompleted past any given Sunday. I have done 13 loads of laundry in the past 36 hours. Mom was right, the more you do sooner the less you will have to do later. I am proving that one for sure.

I am going to some friends house for Thanksgiving dinner. It will be interesting. I am the only one who will be there who is not a member of the family. I am curious to see you that will work out.


I need to buy a plane ticket to go to Mom and Dad's for Christmas. I can't believe how expensive tickets have become. It is ridiculous. Oh well, I guess that is the price of inflation.

Tomorrow morning Mike and I leave for Miami so you will not have anything new to read for a while. There will be plenty when I get back for sure. This will prove to be one eventfull trip.

b'de, b'de that's all folks

Truckin'

So, I passed. Yup, I passed my CDL class "A" test. I can officially drive big-rigs now. It's kinda cool. Mike and I leave for Miami at 6:00am on Friday morning. We are stopping in Kansas City on the way to check out a new mobile stage (A semi that folds out in to a 40'x50' stage). Then we are on to Miami, straight through. The show loads in at 8:00 on Monday morning. Tuesday we have rehearsals ALL DAY. Wednesday is the show and we will load out on Wednesday night.

This next part is for all of you I left behind in Arkansas.

We will be leaving Miami on Thursday morning. That means that we will have enough time to stop by NWA and most likely NLR to hang out for a few hours. I am trying to arrange everything right now. I will call as many people as I can when I know when I will be there.

That's all for now.

No Time Like the Present

I was reading a multitude of Blogs today, most linked from The Harkey Blog, and I decided it was high time to start one of my own. I think that most of the people who know me know that I am horrible at keeping up with friends and returning phone calls. I figured there was no time like the present to start doing a better job of it and so here it is, a blog by Eric Roa.

I am a workaholic by definition. That means that I avoid everything for the sake of work. I will work before doing laundry, before eating, before sleeping, and the list goes on and on. Well, it just got easier for me to make that excuse. The entirety of the lighting departement at the producuction company that I work for (Richter Scale Productions, Inc) just walked off of the job last Thursday. That leaves four of us to handle everything.

I am leaving Friday for a show in Miami. It is a corporate annual awards dinner in which a theater group does a song and dance routine as a means of presenting the awards. I am not looking forward to the show itself but I am looking forward to travelling. We leave on Friday morning and drive a tractor-trailer around 30 hours to Miami. The great part is that I get paid 10 cents a mile while I am driving. I love it. Paid by the hour and then paid by the mile.

Tomorrow is the day of reconning. I have to take my practical test (this is the technical name that the government uses for driving test) at 11:00am. I absolutely have to pass because I need to have my CDL class "A" for Friday's trip. I already have my class "B" license and I am upgrading to a class "A" so that I can drive just about anything under the sun. Driving "Big-Rigs" is a lot of fun.

Everyone that I have talked to is asking for pictures of me since my move to Colorado. Here is the only one that I have run across to post. I am the one on the far left of the picture. This is the Starship/Survivor show that I did back in August. The stage is one of our semi's that folds out in to a 40'x40' stage. I am mixing monitors, the guy next to me was my assistant for that show, and the two on the right are the guys that were taking care of backline (instruments). It was really, really rediculously hot that day.

Anyway, that is the first post