Day 11

The "roof" of the Santa Fe Opera: The catwalk system contains 8 or 9 catwalks (this is looking down the access walkway, with the catwalk entrances along the right side.

Today continues to be a day of small projects, since very little can be done while there is a rehearsal on-stage. My first project was to install a B-lift camera in the catwalks. The B-lift can rise above the stage level by about four feet, which, in the case of "The Magic Flute" creates a longer playing area, since "Magic Flute" has a raked stage. The B-lift operator is upstage-right, and needs to see where the lift is. The camera is in the catwalks, pointing almost straight down at the lift (is at a slight angle to give some perspective for the monitor). I also hung an IR emitter, which puts out light the camera can see, but the human eye cannot (so the camera can see in the dark). After that, I set up a monitor on the stage manager's desk, and rolled a roving monitor over to the lift operator position, and patched them both into the newly hung camera.

Last night during tech, we were having some trouble with our wireless intercom, in that the assistant stage managers couldn't hear some of the calls made from elsewhere on the intercom system. In our attempts to figure out what was causing it, we inadvertently broke the wireless intercom some more (Oops.) After about an hour of futzing with it, Karl (one of our supervisors) waved his hands over it, deduced a loose cable was causing our new issue, and we were back up and running again. When we went to test our original issue, that was resolved too.

Weird.

The morning went pretty fast, and in the afternoon I vowed to fix an issue that also cropped up last night during technical rehearsals. For some reason, the ICA channel wasn't working from the tech table (Remember, the ICA channel is a special intercom channel that's connected to loudspeakers in the catwalks; If you talk over the ICA channel, you can talk to those in the catwalks who are working with overhead scenery, or focusing lights. Without it, you'd have to shout constantly up to the catwalks. There's a phone connected to the tech table that's tied to the ICA, and it wasn't working. A work-around for the rehearsal was to put out a wireless intercom connected to the ICA, but then there are reception issues, battery issues, etc.

So I break out the tech table roadcase (which has the intercoms, cue light and house light control, etc) and hook it up. I then attach the tone generator to the ICA channel, and trace the tone back down the cables to the trap door which runs back to the dimmer room; all sounds good. I head down to the dimmer room to the junction panel, and begin sniffing cables. The downside to sniffing the cable (as opposed to the exposed end) is that most cables are shielded to prevent interference from other cables. While the shielding does a great job of preventing other signals from getting in, it also prevents my tone generated signal from coming out, so when I sniff a cable, I can barely hear the tone. I wasn't getting any conclusive results until I sniffed over the actual junction bar that all of the intercom channels connect to, and realized that the ICA *was* connected to the intercom, it just wasn't making it's way back to the control room (and the ICA amplifier).

So I did the reverse: I moved the tone generator to the ICA amplifier and went back to the junction room. I found the wire leading to the ICA amplifier, and it WAS connected to the junction bar, but the connector itself was faulty. A new spade connector, and everything works! Problem solving at it's best. While it only takes you a few minutes to read this, rest assured it took me all afternoon to fix it. You're welcome.

We locked up and headed home. There was a department dinner scheduled for tonight and I had to work quickly. I got home and immediately grabbed my letter and CD for Caitlin, and hauled it to the "Mail Call" down the street, trying to beat their closing time. I got in with a minute to spare, and got my package sent off.

Running at 7,000 feet SUCKS when you haven't run in a while. Just a note.

I got back to my apartment and showered and re-dressed in khaki's and a polo, and the carpool re-arrived to pick us up. I had no idea where we were going, but I you have to dress up for it, then i'm game. We parked outside of Gabriel's and headed inside. It's half-indoor and half-outdoor and in this weather, the outdoor is much preferred to the indoor.

A note on the weather in Santa Fe. You know (for those on the east coast) those days after big storms, when the sky is blue, the humidity is way low, and the sun is out? And it's the perfect temperature? and the wind is blowing? That's what it's like here. Every day. Some days it's hotter, but only in the direct sun. The highs are usually in the mid 80's, and the lows are in the low 60's. It's perfect, every day.

So we head inside (boo) and grab a seat. It's the A/V team (Myself, Allan, Jared (the apprentices), Geoff and Karl (the supervisors) and Dave (the Boss). Also joining us are Geoff and Karl's girlfriends. Fresh tortilla chips and red salsa are placed in the center of our table, and we start chatting and snacking.

NOTE: if you're on the fence on coming to New Mexico, DO IT. At the very least, come to Gabriel's. Here's why:

The red salsa at the table was not the jar crap at the grocery store. It was fresh. And slightly hot. A gentleman who I first mistook for a busboy came by with a cart, and started making guacamole. Table-side.



He cuts open the avocados with precision, carves out the best part, then adds the onion, tomatoes, and everything else, and drops two bowls on our table. I've never been a fan of guac, but this was absolutely amazing guacamole. As the server was going around for drink orders, everyone was getting margaritas. Obviously they knew something about this place that I didn't. I also ordered a margarita (which I never do, although Caitlin loves them) to see what the fuss was about. The server ended up bringing two pitchers full of margaritas, and they were AWESOME. There was no taste of tequila, and they were sweet and refreshing. I knew there was tequila in them because halfway through my first, it started to hit me.

Another discover at 7,000 feet: Beer hits you like liquor, and liquor hits you like grain alcohol. One margarita in and I was pretty loose.

(insert jokes about me being a lightweight.)

I ordered the "Puerto Vallarta", which the menu describes as "a rich combination of crab, tiger prawns and chicken breast, sauteed in a fresh tomato and white wine sauce and topped with melted cheese". It too, was excellent. We ended the night with Sopapillas, which were explained to me as a deep-fried tortilla. Not being a fan of deep-fried foods, I was turned off initially, but when 15 of them came out on a platter (with honey in squirt bottles), I had to try it.

Maybe it was the margaritas, but these were amazing! They tasted like a light, fluffy funnel cake. These came right out of the fryer, and with some honey on top, they were unbelievable. I tried another about 15 minutes later, and it wasn't the same. They have to be fresh.

This dinner and the one the first Monday i was here are phenomenal team builders, I never would have expected it but it definitely brings the team closer together.

See you tomorrow!
-Matt