It's Thursday. This must be Indy.

Let's get caught up on current events...

I came up to Indianapolis to help out at the RCA Championships.
They are using one of our new videowalls here and I need to get familiar with it's setup and operations, since I'll be installing one in Montreal in a couple weeks.

Getting up here was pretty good-
An early flight on Northwest... I even got an upgrade on the flight due to my FF status w/ Continental. It was Jax-Detroit-Indy... I was able to wrangle the bulkhead-aisle for the DTW-IND flight, so all in all, good travel.
My bags and equipment made it ok too, wonder of wonders.

After my railing against Southwest last week I had to stop and analyze my comments...
I said some harsh things about SWA... And really my problem isn't with SWA as much as it is with the mentality of the SWA passengers.
The flight itself was good, the people were very nice, and the equipment (planes, seats, etc) were all good. What makes it a burden to fly is the extremes you have to go through in order to get a good seat.
(And in reality the regular seats are probably ok...the seats seem to be comfortable and the legroom looks to be better than the coach seats in Delta or American...)

Anyway... I have to take that same flight from OC to Sacramento next week, so I'll try to keep an open mind on things.

Indy- Man, it is hot here.
Actually it has been hot everywhere...but it seems like everywhere I have been lately it has just been steaming. 104 in Sacramento, high 90s in Newport Beach, Same in Jacksonville Beach...
Here in Indy, as we were setting up this morning the thermometer on the Stadium Court read 100 degrees even. We were out there working on the radar displays and the matrix boards- I was melting out there. I don't know how these guys are able to play hardcore tennis for upwards of two hours (including practice and warm-up) in this heat...

The new Toshiba video walls are really nice- and the hardware we have driving them- the new processor and the Folsum... all I can say is "Wow". Nice to work with new state-of-the-art equipment.

North End Wall


South End Wall

Breakdown should be interesting... We'll start tomorrow with our loadout from some of the outer courts. Sunday we'll have 2 matches and around 5:00 or so we'll start really tearing things up. I'll be taking care of most of our video equipment and then getting the video wall ready to come down... We'll have most stuff ready and staged for the trucks by 10:00PM and then at 8:00 AM sharp we'll have our crane and operator on-site and we'll start breaking down the Video Walls on the Stadium Court...
What fun.

I'm here in Indy with a bunch of the Event Staff Guys...
Chris and Glyn, Matt and a few others.
Night before last we stopped in the "International Plaza" of the event site.
I had a rum & coke or two- the guys were drinking beer-
I wasn't up for a long night out and bailed early.
Last night, however... Different story.
We got out at a reasonable hour- Left the site at 10:30 and had a little dinner.
At... you guessed it- Hooters.
I got in there at about 11:00- the place was dead... Odd, for a Thursday Night in Indy.
The problem: No AC. Their air conditioning system has been down for about a month now.
Needless to say, it was not a wondeful thing. The waitresses were surly and the overall atmoshpere was not jovial...
I had a small plate of wings and got out as soon as I could.
I called Chris and he said he and the other guys were on the way out to a club near my location- Ike & Jonsey's.

The place was packed...
I jumped into the Captain and Coke- and as soon as the boys arrived they followed suit. Matt got smacked around within minutes of his arrival for wearing his hat backwards...
(I guess they thought he was a gang banger or something.)
This is odd, because Matt's 23(?) and looks like he's about 16 years old...

Glyn and Matt -
Tell me Matt looks like he's over 21, and I'll call you a liar.

Speaking of Matt- he's has the honor of being part of the quote of the week...

An overly well-endowed girl (her cups runneth over) was passing us on the way off the dance floor...
Matt: "Hey- it's my birthday. How about a birthday hug?"
WE Girl:"Ok." (*Hug*)
Matt: "How about a birthday kiss?" (Pushing his luck.)
WE Girl: "Depends, How old are you?"
Matt: "How old are you?"
WE Girl: "I'm thirty."
Matt: "Oh- Cool. I've always wanted to hook up with an older woman."

Subtle, Matt. Very clever.

And for those keeping score:
No... No happy ending.

We headed off to Howl at the Moon for a bit following Matt's crash and burn at Ike and Jonseys...
The place was packed- there was a $5 dollar cover charge, and it was 5 dollar bucket night. 5 bucks got you a bucket with 5 bottles of warm Coors Light.
Oh goodie.
I had one with the guys then bailed...probably 1:30 or so.

Everyone showed up at 10:15 for our ride into work, so I guess they didn't stay out too much longer...

Just a few more items-

Another goodie from Wondermark...

Reminds me of mischief-making down in the Tortugas.

And for those who still get the giggles from my resemblance to the guy in "American Wedding"...
(You know who you are- the folks that walk by my door and go "Grrar!")
Here's a little something from Married to the Sea...


Ok- back to work with you...
You've wasted enough time.

Famous, out-