August 31, 2004

Mortgage Silliness

(rant)
So let me be fairly vague about this... The credit union I belong to has a mortgage department that must be staffed by idiots...
I was told today that I would need to find someone with an equal income to my own in order to purchase the house I was looking at... Right... Let me go out, get married, and still manage to catch this house before it goes off the market here where houses sell faster than plywood before a south Florida hurricane... A simple no would have been just fine with me since I've already got offers from banks I have never dealt with before in my life... I really am glad that my credit union is really looking out for me... Awfully glad I've put up with the headache of a bank with 2 branches in the country (minimum 70 miles from where I am now) for all the years I've had that account, just so they can screw around with me when I need them to step up to the plate and do what they're supposed to do...
(/rant)

Addendum: I do love you L, forgive me for for my careless post.

Posted by Backstage at 05:24 PM | Comments (0)

August 30, 2004

Spam Spam Spam Spam

Geesh... I've been pretty fortunate over my blog lifespan in not getting tons of spam in the comments... A couple here and there, but nothing more than an annoyance... Something changed today... Seems they've found me... 7 in a day... Let us all say thanks for that lovely little program called Blacklist!

Posted by Backstage at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

Tool Tables

So, with nothing really pressing to do today, I came in to my shop to prep a large belt/disk sander I recently picked up at an auction. You may be thinking, second hand, so I must be just talking about cleaning it up, or possibly new abrasives, but that's not how I work. This machine was in really great shape when I got it. I could have brought it back, put a new belt on (the disk is in perfect shape) and used it from the start with no major problems. First thing to do is track down an owners manual and parts breakdown for the unit. I was sure nothing was missing, but I always check out a used tool before it goes in to use since it could really mangle someone if things come undone. All was well there. Next was to follow the directions to make sure everything was lined up the way it should be so the belt would track correctly. All seems well with that too (belts are on order, so I'm not 100% sure yet) Next comes the hard part and its the thing that almost every shop I deal with neglects.
When you purchase a stationary power tool, they almost all have some kind of table to support your work. On good quality tools, these table are made of cast iron, and machined flat and smooth. Once they are made, the company selling the tool will spray some sort of clear lacquer, or sealant on the table to keep it from rusting. Most people get the tool, and go right in to using it with out really taking the time to make the table nice. For me, that means getting out a random orbit sander, and starting in with 160 grit paper. You want to strip off that protective coating because while it keeps the table nice and rust free, it almost always makes the wood stick to it rather than just gliding over the table. Its less of a problem with the metal working tools, but I strip them too. After the 160, I usually go to 220, or 260. You really don't want to start out below 160 since you really want to avoid scoring the table surface. I've gone as low as 60 on (shudder) a belt sander to bring back a table saw that had been outside rusting for 40 years. That's not something most people want to bother with. If you do have to go that low, work your way back up the grits taking out the scoring, and don't try to jump up in grit too fast or you'll be frustrated at how slow your progress goes. (and how many sanding pads you go through)
Don't bother trying to get the machining lines out of the table unless you've got a lot of time on your hands. For the most part they won't affect much unless you are doing some over the top, excessive fine finish work. I've known people who have had brand new tools taken and re-ground at a machine shop to remove the manufactures machining lines. They end up with a gorgeous table surface, and a sizable machine shop bill. Not needed in my book, but to each their own.
Once you've got your table nice and shiny you've got a couple options on what to do to protect it. The traditional thing to do, and still quite popular is to use a carnauba wax. That's a solid, hard wax, often sold as butchers wax, and frequently an ingredient in car waxes. You rub this stuff on in a circular motion until your arm is sore, then wait a while, and go rub it off until your arm falls off. (think Karate Kid... Wax on...Wax off...) While I've done this, and it works nicely, it really is a pain. Being in theatre, and always looking for a quicker way to do things (not to mention easier) I started using liquid car wax that I was using on my truck. I found that Nu Finish seemed to work the best in terms of how easy ti was to apply, versus how long it would hold up on the tool. A word of caution here, car waxes that are not 100% carnauba wax can cause problems it they rub off the table and on to the wood. You need to decide if that is going to be an issue for your application if you go the car wax route. The most recent method I have found is a product called Top Cote. I got a can of this stuff 2 years ago, and I'm just now about to run out. It hold up extremely well in my shop, and its a breeze to apply. (which means it happens more often, so the surfaces never get a chance to get rusty/sticky again) The two guys that designed Top Cote, are now with a different company doing the same kind of thing, so I'm going to have to give their product a whirl too. I can however safely recommend the Top Cote with no fear of steering you wrong.
Its simple folks, get your tables clean and rust free, then keep them that way, and you'll be amazed at how much easier it is to work with your equipment!

Posted by Backstage at 03:50 PM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2004

Roadcases

I've been thinking of late about roadcases. Roadcases for those of you not in the know are essentially shipping crates/cases we use to get stuff (yes very technical at this hour in the morning on a Sunday) from A to B without turning it in to its component bits. There are as many designs for them as there are things to be shipped, so this is really just musings about roadcase culture...
There are a few constants that most cases are built around. The first and most important to me is size of the truck. In an ideal world, all the trucks would be the same size, and you could build your cases the right sizes so the truck pack would work out like a Tetris game. While that's not possible, most trucks are between 8' and 7'6" wide of useable space. (yes, ok, the semis are a little wider than 8', but lets keep this simple) Now, when you are starting from scratch you will want to think about what your "ideal" truck pack would be. Some people go with 4 cases across, some 3, some 2... Some nuts make huge cases that go 1 across a truck, though they are often forced to by the size of what goes in the case... Personally I like the 3 pack. It works well for both scenery and lighting in a general way. Naturally I have cases that are different sizes, but the third pack is my goal... Again, in an ideal world, your cases are third pack in one direction and half pack, or quarter pack in the other direction, so you get some more options as your inventory grows. Most likely you’ll be stacking things on top of your cases, like more cases, so you are going to want a rim or dishes on the lid of the cases to hold whatever you put on top from rolling off... You need to think about the height too. Not only will you have to lift things on top of the cases in the truck, but you need to be able to reach the bottom of the case when it is open, to get that last bit of cable out of it. Again in that idealized place, the height of your cases will be either a quarter, third, or half pack if you plan on tipping your cases off their wheels, or it will be a multiple based on how many you can stack up in a truck. (truck heights vary more widely than their widths, so it gets weird here)
Now, all that seems pretty simple. (ok, go have some coffee, the caffeine will help make that all make sense) Here's where things get hairy... Scenery, unfortunately, does not pack well in generic cases. Those nice even sized boxes work great for lighting and sound since their component parts are small. Scenery tends to come in large chunks with a few exceptions. Most of the scenery I ship doesn't get any case, just a bunch of packing blankets, shrink-wrap, and packing paper, or bubble wrap. Things that can go in cases are podiums, tools, water tables, etc... Things you are going to be using over and over, and are really worth protecting, not to mention making it easier to move them around. So far, I've found that the third pack works ok for this type of stuff. Since most of my lighting cases are third pack, it works out nicely most of the time. (we have some things that are 1/6 pack, so they can double in to a 1/3, the trick is to stay in multiples)
After you've gone absolutely nuts figuring out the outside dimensions of your ideal case, now you have to figure out how to fit objects in to that size. You also now have to determine just how you want to build the cases...
For my nickel, I prefer cases that can withstand anything. If you purchase a case from a roadcase company, it will have anything from a 1/4" to a 1/2" thick wall, and reinforcement along all the corners. They're nice cases generally, and hold up pretty well, but it is possible to impale them with a forklift. While that may seem a strange thing to worry about, remember we work insane hours, and sometimes the fork driver has been in that seat for 20 hours. (Don't tell me that isn't safe, I know that, I'm not in control all the time.) When I build a case, it gets built to take a malicious strike by a fork. They're built with 3/4" birch plywood, and some kind of 3/4" lumber reinforcement on all the corners. (I've used poplar, pine, and next I'm going to try Mahogany since I got a bunch of it for almost nothing and it's just a little off for making furniture with) I tend to put either a full length piano hinge on the lid, or strap hinges butch enough to hold a drawbridge. Our cases get a couple layers of paint, and then off they go. For the most part, we do not manufacture cases for sale, as it ends up costing too much to be competitive with people that do a lot of that work. Our price is also up due to the larger material I choose. The few people that buy cases from me, are doing so because they only want to buy that case once, and know that whatever they put in that case will be protected regardless of what happens.

So what got me on this tangent, was that I have a few I need to build, and the ideal design isn't coming to me. I've got 2 podiums, and 14 striplights I need to crate. This is all for a client, so it isn't my gear, but I store the stuff, and install it all the time, so it might as well be mine. Here's the catch. The cases need to fit through a specific door that is a little smaller than normal, and they need to fit into a service elevator at the facility we usually use them in.
The podiums are a headache because I need to remove the tops for them to get through the door. Building the crate big enough to hold the podium and its top together makes for a huge case, with lots of wasted space. Building them as two separate cases allows for someone to either forget the top, or to grab the top from podium A when we're using podium B. (yea, refer to the long hours when you ask how that could happen) The striplights are yet another quandary. The client wants them to match his other third pack cases, which we can do, though its not a real efficient case that way, and still fit in the elevator. Problem is that the light is only 1" shorter than the elevator, so by the time you build a box around the light, it's now about 3" too long.
I love a good challenge, but getting around the whole space time issue of two objects not occupying the same space at the same time is giving me a headache... By the end of next week I want this issue solved, and cases being fabricated. I will not however going rushing in half cocked on this one... I leave that to the guys over at the soulgrinder...
Aspirin anyone?

Posted by Backstage at 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

August 28, 2004

Soulgrinder Redux

So I've been working at the shop that chews people up for the last week. I have been working on this show on and off for 5 weeks now. One week on, one week off, because quite honestly, I would show up with an assault rifle if I worked there all the time. (well that is if I could get one in this uptight state...) At any rate, I was working on an automation effect for the last week. It wasn't an exotic effect, but it took a bit of thought.

More stupidity ensues...

Supposedly, the head of automation in this shop was working on the effect for 2 weeks before I started in. Somehow I don't think so, since I did everything except decide what would power the effect. I wish they had given me that choice too, but I'll get to that in a moment... Basically, the effect involves making a whole bunch of things rock back and forth at the same time. They're all about 4 feet apart, and they're on a vertical curve. So to tie them together, they decided to use 1/4" threaded rod. First problem. That threaded rod is about as strong as spaghetti in compression over a 4' distance, tension is fine. So I had to create a better solution for that, no big deal, I figured they just missed that concept...
Next thing was how they wanted to power them. They chose to use a servo motor since they could set position, and choose the direction the units would start rocking in. Not a bad idea really. I'm not a big servo fan personally, but they do work well for that type of thing. Here is were the real problem starts. The servo they got is really underrated for the amount of force needed. It can move the effect, but just barely, and that's no goot for theatre, when we need it to be solid all the time. Fine, get a bigger servo is the solution. In the mean time, I had to install the undersized units. Now, since I'm not a servo kinda guy, I really don't know much about them. My assumption based on the conversations with everyone was that the new units would drop in to the mounts I made for the smaller units pretty easily. I assumed that since they ordered the bigger units they might have checked to see that there was actually enough space in the scenery to install them. I finally assumed that the actuator arm I was using for the smaller units would either fit on the larger unit, or they would get a corresponding arm that would provide me with the same radial distance from the axis of the small servo. Naturally, none of those assumptions was good. Keep all this in mind for a moment.
The scenery that all this was installed on has been sitting on the shop floor for almost a month. Now, at best, we could have worked on the effect for perhaps the last two weeks. At the end of yesterday, I had to put it all in a truck to send to the theatre, so really there was a two week window in which to make the effect work. I was off in PA for the first week of that time, so why nothing happened during that time I can't say, so they put me on it with a week to go. Still not a bad situation, assuming that someone had thought this through at all. After mounting the pivots, I started on the tie rods of threaded rod. That didn't work, but they had me do the entire system with it any way. So I came up with a solution, and they bought me enough material the fix half of the problem the next day. Genius I tell ya... I moved on to the servos (didn't know they were undersized yet, but they had supposedly ordered a bigger one and fed-exed it just in case) and it took me several hours of work to get them installed properly in the first of two units. The second one was a bit easier since I had already found the pitfalls on the first unit. So after powering them up, everyone seems to agree that they need to be bigger. I'm thinking no problem, the new units will be in the next day, and I can make drop them in, or have to modify the mount a little, but no biggie... That was Weds... Thurs I fixed the rest of the threaded rods, and balanced the system out a little better, along with getting the units lined up nicely, and labeling everything. All that time (10 hours) I'm waiting for the new servos, which never came. Friday, I know I'm supposed to break everything down to put on the truck, but because I assumed the new servos would be a simple re-fit to the old plate, I'm not worried... Well the new servo came in at 2:30. By then I had taken the entire effect off the scenery, weighed it, and packed it on a truck. They had me the new unit, and it's like twice the size of the old unit, the actuator arms that it comes with are not only plastic rather than aircraft aluminum (can you say garbage?) but they have a different hub size, so I can't use the old one. Also none of the new ones are the same radial distance as the old ones. Its still not the end of the world since I figure I can just plot the axel of the old unit, and then re-engineer the mount to hold the new one. Sadly the genius brigade that is in charge decided to go with the smaller units, and they want me to make the mount work for these monsters simply as a backup plan. Well its not quite possible to get the axel of the big ones in the same spot as the small ones with out chewing in to the mounting points for the small unit. I got it close... They're within a 1/4" of where the small units sit. It was the end of the day, and I was frustrated with the idiocy, so I failed to mention that 1/4" at the axel will translate to 8" at the visible end of the effect. I did tell them about the 1/4" difference, I just didn't spell out the consequences for them. (hey, they're in charge, and are supposedly the experts, they should know these things... if not, they'll learn it in a hurry in a week or so when the little units burn out)
I left them on that sour note being very glad that I was done. I can accept all manor of problems with equipment, and shipping, and even perhaps not understanding all the different types of material. My real problem with this situation was that nobody in charge, nobody with any authority, actually thought about this, even a little. They handed me a few spare parts and said make it work. I love a challenge, but in order to overcome things like that, they need to let me do it my way. They need to order what I tell them to, when I tell them to... If they will not do the paperwork and research on the equipment before hand, they need to tell me that, and I'll do it on my off time at home, just so I won't be so damn frustrated when I need to make things happen in a hurry... I have seen this shop turn out amazing automated scenery for years, and have never been a part of that. Now after this, I can't even imagine the headache that must be the constant in the automation department. I also tend to be a little scared, since many of the automation projects there are incredibly powerful, and could shred a person in the blink of an eye... I think I'll have to really go over everything myself if I ever rent from them... I've lost almost all my faith in their ability at this point...

Posted by Backstage at 10:51 AM | Comments (0)

Tool Marketing and Design for Women

I was having a discussion with my girlfriend about tools and how they may be marketed toward women. The question came up as to how would a company market tools toward women, and as an extension how they might be designed/redesigned due to that. So I figured I'd put it out there for people to comment on, and see what becomes of it.
My thoughts on it are this. 1) Don't go and make them cute pastel colors, most women looking for serious tools probably aren't going to be sucked in that way. 2) Look at the grips on everything. Most women will have smaller hands than most men. Getting a slightly smaller grip will make them more comfortable. (for the women, it would drive me nuts having large hands)
Other than that, I think you go with the same basic marketing of durable dependable tools. Do you go with value for the money advertising? I'm not sure personally. You start getting in to hazy areas when you go in to marketing. Too many stereotypes that may offend some people, and yet, actually work when you look at market research...
What do you think?

Posted by Backstage at 09:49 AM | Comments (1)

August 24, 2004

Material Pricing

Ok folks, you'll have to excuse me for a moment while I vent about something... Material pricing is way, and I mean way out of control these days... I ranted a while back about plywood, and that hasn't gotten any better, its still going at around double what is was only a couple years ago... Stick lumber is up too, though nothing like the plywood... Perhaps its up 50% over the same period... Part of the increase I have found is due to regulations put in effect during the Clinton admin, that stopped any road construction through national forest areas. That meant no new access to timber areas for the lumber companies. Now, I don't exactly want them going in the forests and clearing them off the face of the earth, but the problem is that it creates a huge price inflation for the tree farmers. At this point they can charge the lumber companies just about what ever they want, and naturally that price gets passed along to the consumers... I don't really have a good solution here, but something has got to give to get the price of wood down.
Steel is another nightmare right now... Its up at insanely high prices currently, and I don't know exactly why. I've heard of shortages, I've heard of import/export woes with Europe, I've heard it was just due to a building boom... So far, I'm not satisfied with any of these reasons for steel costing almost as much as aluminum was just a year ago. I don't even want to talk about aluminum, I think they think its gold at this point...
The thing that set me off today, is I tried to price out a meat rack for a friend of mine. (we hang lighting fixtures on them for storage, I have no idea where the term comes from) Well the damn thing is a simple frame on wheels with pipe to hang the units on... I shouldn't take me very long to make, and really there isn't too much material involved... I hardly marked it up 5% since this is a friend, and the damn thing is twice what I think it should be...
This is driving me nuts... Usually I can ride out an up and down in one material by going to another, but all three of the main structural elements we use are through the roof, and show no sign of coming down... Clients still want to pay what they did last year, and they don't understand, or won't listen to the facts... All in all, this situation really sucks... ugh...

Posted by Backstage at 07:49 PM | Comments (1)

August 21, 2004

Blogiversary

Damn, I thought I had the trickle posting deal figured out... saddly I was wrong, so I'm a couple days behind... Here's what I tried to get to post on the 18th...

Strangely enough, I find myself coming up on the one year anniversary of my blogging... Sadly I will be out of town Weds when It is one year officially. Champagne, and snacks for anyone that stops by!

Yes, I know, it’s not a year here in Munuviana… The 18th is the date of my first post back over on my Blog-City site… Yea… I’m as shocked as anyone that I haven’t packed it in and moved on too… Thanks for coming by! (yes, even you folks that find me via some VERY strange searches)

Posted by Backstage at 12:00 AM | Comments (2)

August 15, 2004

Another Concert...

So last night, as I was wrapping up a 60 hour week of hell working in the shop recently referred to as the soul grinder, a friend of mine called and asked if I wanted a couple VIP passes to the John Mayer concert down at the Tweeter Center in Camden. Naturally since I had no hard plans, I accepted, and headed down. Over all, the concert was pretty good. I don't have any of his albums, but know a number of the songs from the radio, so I know he wasn't just some annoying pop musician. Since I don't know his studio work though, I will refrain from any judgment on the music. Technically, I had a couple issues.
Perhaps it was our seats, but the sound was just a tad muddy. I can't believe that he mumbles through his lyrics, so I blame the sound rig. Otherwise, the sound was ok. They didn't blast us out of the building thankfully as so many concerts will. He travels with a pretty serious lighting rig. He does not however have a serious lighting show. Its all the normal pans and sweeps of the moving lights with some patterns mixed in. Yes there are a few really nice looks, and a couple interesting effects, but over all, I felt very unimpressed with the amount of bang for the amount of gear they had. This is not to say the lighting sucked, it was quite adequate, but that is about it.
Parking was a bit more of a hassle than last trip down there... I must remember to try to get there a bit earlier next time...

Now, after my complete absence for a week, I'm going to disappear again for several days. I'm off to PA to re-roof my parents house before the winter snows hit. Nothing like a nice relaxing summer...

Posted by Backstage at 01:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2004

Motivation?.. What Motivation?..

I'm having a real hard time getting off my ass since I got home from Maine... I could have gone to my shop to work on several projects I'm in the middle of, I could have changed the oil and done some maintenance on my truck, I could have gone and worked at the soul grinding shop I was at before I left, hell I could have gone out and gone for a walk... Alas, the most productive thing I've managed was to get all my laundry done this morning. Someone sent me a project to take a look at. It seems to be something like an entertainment center that is going to hold a fish tank... 150 gallon tank that is... That's just about 1300 pounds of water... I think I'll probably avoid dealing with that... Monday I'm book back over at the soul grinder for a week... If it doesn't really drain all the life from me, I'm sure I'll at least have some fodder for some theatre type posts...

Posted by Backstage at 04:27 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2004

What'd you say?...

Note to self, bring ear protection to concerts... My ears are still ringing...

As a side note to life, I've been a huge fan of Rush for many years now. They're on tour again this summer for their 30th anniversary. Last night I headed down to scenic Camden, NJ to catch their show at the Tweeter Center, which is right by the aquarium and in front of the battleship New Jersey. At any rate, I've seen them 3 times in the past, and quite honestly, this was the best show I've seen. A couple tech notes before I talk about the show a little... The Tweeter Center is set up as a shed for the summer. Its a big proscenium stage with a roof, and then the obligatory lawn seating further out. On the whole the place is set up very nicely, and it handles crowds pretty well it would seem. Everything cost an arm and a leg, but that's standard at any venue these days... Parking was no problem, and the lots emptied out reasonably easily at the end of the night. Sadly, because it is a shed rather than an arena, some of the lighting gear doesn't play as well, notably they have 5 truss units that descend on chain hoists at certain songs. Those things look great in an arena where they hang them out over the audience. In the shed, they hang them over the stage, and while they look interesting, I feel they just become a bit much since they already have a great lighting package on stage. Rush has always used a large video screen at the back of the stage, and this time was no different. However, they have converted from projection on a 3:4 screen, to the main screen looking like a 9:16 jumbo-tron type monitor. (9:16 - think wide screen rather than normal TV) They also have jumbo-tron strips hanging off stage in a staggered ascending wedge shape. Pyro is still in from the Vapor Trails tour during One Little Victory. There are still a couple laundry dryers out there. (they had a couple scantily clad women come out during YYZ to check the laundry, and start the dryers again. doesn't really seem like their style, but hey, they are always changing their style...) There was a rotary vending machine on stage too. Don't know what that was about, as they never took anything out, and I was too far away to see what was in it...

Now, they played 31 songs last night. 31 songs = 3 1/2 hours with one break. They did a some they hadn't played in the past, as well as most of the huge hits. They still have great chemistry on stage, and it sure looks like they still enjoy playing. Hopefully, they'll be at it another 30 years.... All in all, one hell of a show!

Posted by Backstage at 09:39 AM | Comments (2)

August 04, 2004

Maps...

Maps... Yes, maps... Seemingly a simple, and helpful device when trying to get from A to B... Let me relate a couple thoughts on maps, generated via my trip north...

1) the AAA map of Maine sucks... They managed to label a couple interstates wrong. Hello, how do you not get that right?...
2) because of 1) you should stop and buy the Maine Atlas at the DeLorme Map Store... It was excellent, and seems like they got it right.
3) When you get to MDI, you will find that there is no single map that will cover your needs, unless all you want to do is drive the loop and get back off the island. After much looking, the best map we were able to get of Bar Harbor was a photocopy of a single 8.5 x 11 map that listed the main streets. I find this hard to accept, but that seems to be the case... You will also need your bus route map and schedule. Finally you will need a trail/carriage road/highway map. The one I found the best was from National Geographic. There was a much smaller one printed on Tyvek that would be ok if you need to save an ounce or two, but the Nat Geo map was nicer...
4) When marking you route on a map, choose a marker that is transparent such as a highlighter... Using a sharpie will only annoy you later as you attempt in vain to read something you obliterated with it.
5) When reading your trail map, pay attention to how close the topographic lines are to each other... Close means steep... Somehow I managed to miss that concept before coming down the West Face Trail...

As a side note, and random observation, DeLorme doesn't make a map of MDI... Um, Hello?... They're based in Maine... Most people going up to MDI will stop in Freeport along the way... How do they not figure out they should make one?... Yes they had the Tyvek one, and the National Geographic one in the store, but why not their own?...

Posted by Backstage at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2004

Food...

So while in Maine I noticed something... Why is it that a place where you go to have lobster up there, is called a "lobster pound"? What's the deal?... Are these stray, un-licensed lobster found running around the neighborhood?... Do you just go there if you suddenly can't find you pet lobster, in the hopes that someone kindly turned it in?... Why pound?... Why not Lobster Restaurant?... Lobster Eatery... Lobster Diner?... Even Lobster Shack, though Shack seems to have been taken by the crab places... Do you think there'd be a turf war over that?... Lobster vs. Crab... And then which species of crab would it be?... While I think a blue claw could hold its own against an average lobster, I imagine you'd need a Dungeness, or a Stone crab to take on some of the bigger lobsters... And then there are those huge lobsters, you'd need a Snow crab, or King crab to deal with them........ Huh?... Where was I?... Oh yea... Pounds....
So I was going to write down the better places I had food up there, but I didn't really need to... In Yarmouth, there is nothing better than a place called The Muddy Rudder... They've got any place in Yarmouth, or Freeport beat hands down... We stopped someplace along Rt. 1 headed to MDI called The Lobster Pound, Thinking that was a rather unique name, I didn't write down the town... Food was good, it was right on a little sandy beach, so the view was nice, though I imagine you can find a place like it in many of the towns along the road there... Up at MDI, we had a couple meals at The Thirsty Whale (a couple blocks down Cottage St. from Main St.). Great little pub/restaurant. They know how to pour a pint of Guinness, which is half the battle in my mind... Chowder was excellent, and they nailed the burgers we had. (after a few days of nothing but seafood, we wanted some beef)... We had a couple meals at Rupununi as well. (they're right off the village green) They have a great balcony area, street level outdoors, 3 bars, pool tables, indoor seating, etc... Very cool bartenders, and the food is excellent... For breakfast we found Cafe This Way. They're also just off the green. The food is excellent, and the coffee is strong. (I mean that, its strong!) For lunch, we were usually on the trails, so there's not much to mention about Cliff Bars, and the cheese, pepperoni, and bread we'd pack with us... There is a smallish (well to me from the land of mega size supermarkets) supermarket down cottage street where you can get food, eventually, you are going to need a break from eating out all the time...
I didn't mention the places I didn’t care for. That wouldn't be fair, since they may have just had an off night, or I may have picked a bad dish...

Posted by Backstage at 12:43 PM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2004

Vacation

So... What did you do on your summer vacation?... (feel like you're back in grade school listening to some writing assignment after school begins yet?)


My trip to Maine was perhaps the most enjoyable I've ever taken. I can't count trips when I was a little kid, as at that point you find things as mundane as pocket lint interesting...

Details below...


First stop was Yarmouth. Yarmouth is where I stay every year when I run up to Maine for Christmas trees for my family. There is a quaint little motel there, with reasonable rates, and it's always quiet. Yarmouth is just south of Freeport, and that's the main attraction in the area. Freeport is home to L L Bean. There are a whole bunch of outlets there as well, but they wouldn't exist without Bean.. If you have never been, Bean is an outdoors store. They carry hiking, fishing, boating, hunting, biking, camping, etc... They also carry really nice clothing, and outdoor wear. So, much money was spent there and the outlets... As a side note, back down in Yarmouth, is the home to DeLorme. DeLorme is a mapping company, so if you need a map, that's the place to go... Very nice selection of stuff, and the worlds largest rotating globe in the lobby. (40' diameter)
After a couple days there, and a quick hike through Wolfs Neck State Park, we headed up to Mount Desert Island. MDI is an island right off the coast. (and I mean right off the coast, I might be able to throw a rock across the water separating it from Maine proper) We stayed in Bar Harbor, which is the main tourist area there, though there a re a few other towns on the island. We walked around and spent some more money there as tourists can't resist doing... Afterwards, we started the hiking that I went there for. (hiking = good, its hard to spend money on a trail) Acadia National Park is located on MDI, as well as a couple smaller islands, and a peninsula. I went there once as a kid, and remember thinking it was impressive. Now as an adult, I still think its impressive, and I'll be going back as often as I can afford to. First hike was up the north ridge of Cadillac Mountain. 2.2 miles up that trail, gaining about 1100 feet in elevation. We went up and back down that trail with half an hour at the summit in about 3 hours. (couldn't dawdle, we had to catch the last shuttle bus from the trail head home) Sadly, it was a very foggy day, and we couldn't see much more than a couple hundred feet in any direction, but it was beautiful none-the-less. The next day, the weather decided to cooperate, and it was overcast, but pretty clear up to the cloud layer. We headed up Cadillac South Ridge. South is 3.5 miles from where we caught it, with a gain of 1300 feet to the summit. We took a little detour around Eagles Craig loop for some better views, so that added to the length just a bit. By the time we got to the top, there was enough haze to obscure things beyond 7-10 miles I'd guess. Still gorgeous, and no complaints... On the way down, we decided to hike down a different trail, called Cadillac West Face. Now, if you've been paying attention, you noted the elevation gained, over the distance traveled. You also may have noted we hiked the ridges. Note now that I said west FACE. I wish all this had occurred to me then... At any rate, West Face drops 1300 feet over a tad more than a mile. Most of that elevation drops off in possibly just over a half mile of trail, as the crow flies (ignoring switchbacks) it probably drops it in 800-900 feet. Translation... STEEP!... I started thinking I wanted my repelling gear now and again... Making matters worse on that trail was the water. I don't know if it was the rain water running off, or just perpetual mountain leakage, but some areas are soaked on that trail, and the rocks have developed a slimy coating of lichen. Let me say this once. Don't try to go down this trail. Up would be difficult, but ok, down is asking to fall off the mountain in a big ugly, dashed on some rocks kinda way. They seem to have renamed the trail recently to Bubble Pond trail. I think they're doing a disservice to it, its a face, not a trail... Before you tell me I should have read about the trail in a trail guide, I tried. We had “the” trail guide to the park, and it gets nothing more than a foot note saying “steep, rocky”… The last hike we took was along the Ocean Path, down along the south west side of the island. This is a super easy trail, that everyone takes. You gain/loose 210 feet over 1.8 miles. It is nothing but gorgeous views from Sand Beach, through Thunder Hole (missed it thundering as it was high tide sadly... next time for sure...) down to Otter Cliffs. You can stay along the path, but you will want to take some of the side paths out on to the cliffs for amazing views.
Naturally after hiking all day, one must relax afterwards... Large quantities of seafood, and good beer were consumed each night as we talked about the day's hike, and what we would do the following day. After four years without a vacation, I could not have dreamt a better trip... The scenery was near perfect (pesky fog) the company was wonderful, and the food excellent... I know where I'm going next vacation already...

Posted by Backstage at 10:26 AM | Comments (0)