the sun is about to set on our side of the planet.

 PC  pilots.. One more  roll on the blue chart

 I am home \o/

 I have   paperwork to catch up on,  after the battel, for those    NPCs  who either died or  are  wounded.

 Fort PCs.. Stavros and   Alison are wounded and  are in Med tech ( Stavros  went  up   after the Dec  was clear)

we'll see what happens  if the players  ever  come back.

  Tonight , the Middle Grandaughter has her  concert and  the 5th grade 'Moving up ' thing..she gets to give a speech as well. i'll be leaving  here around   5:30  or  so. Most of the players   inmy other games are here  as well, so  I'll only post  this  here for now

 Screen saver today... Singleton England, shows  some  buildings of a small town, the   one  that's it shows the most  is a church...remined  me of Pics and descriptions  of WWII France. I can almost see  Abert Ball flying His SE5 pass that  church.

Well, that was an exercise in futility...

During my dinner break from the park, I decided to stop in at the theater and start some content copying between theaters (we have three screens, and we usually have an early and a late show in each theater--sometimes, if it's a really long movie, we only show once a day, and if it's a hugely popular movie, we'll show it in both time slots, but...)  Last week, I was in a rush...we got Guardians of the Galaxy 3, but because I was crunched for time, I only copied it to the theater where it was scheduled to show.  Normally, no big issue, but since we also offer private rentals, and one of the offers is they can watch anything we're currently showing, it needs to be available in the other two theaters...so, I needed to copy it around.  Plus, we're getting Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret, which needs to go to all three theaters as well.

Normally, when I start a movie copying to all three theaters around 10PM, it's usually done a little after 1AM...so I figured, if I started them all around 7:30, they should be done a little after midnight...

Got back to the theater a little after 11PM.  Two trailers had finished copying, Guardians was about a third of the way done in the two theaters that didn't already have it, AYTG was about 80% done.  Weird, but with the projectors running, things go slower...

By 11:30, nothing has changed.  The whole transfer process got that far, probably about half an hour after I left...and then froze.  I had to shut down the projectors and restart them to get it all started copying again.  It's finally all done, except for AYTG, copying to the two theaters that had to copy GotG (plus all the trailers in their respective playback programs)...one is about a quarter of the way done, the other has only copied about half that much.  When I stopped in, I told the girl who was managing that I was doing this so I wouldn't have to be here until 2AM...it's now 2:30.

I'm going home.  I'll leave a note that the projectors are on because of content transfers, but I'm not sitting here until 4AM waiting for this to get done.

Sometimes, I REALLY hate the software they've given us to run our projection systems...

That does seem remarkably inefficient.

Throwing even admittedly large files around a local area network should not take that amount of time.

ok...that time of week.. going to  cut grass... insurance adjuster   just left about my roof.. so i have to go..i'll be  back in when the batteries have to charge

 if  anyone  wants to more things  along.. Hack   will  go  with the  'meeting people" to the   south wall of the   beachhead...there are  tropers settign up  a few fire  pits  and   gettign  drinks  for the Yenti and such.

 I have to do  some things  with Shadow   once he lands, the he has to go  woth them to fine out what's going on  for  the fighters.

 the rest of the folks, no mater  where they are  can RP   what they are doing. I'll catch up.

In reply to Mila (msg # 974):

In fairness, by the time you throw five movie files into traffic, you're close to a terabyte of content.  And we're suffering a little from being the "test-bed vehicle" for this combination of software and hardware, which aren't really made to run together but are on the cheaper end of the scale and thus make a viable budgetary option for small, independent theaters running multiple screens.

But yeah...the guys who wrote this software are apparently firm believers in the "That's good enough" line of work.  It does the job, but it's extremely non-intuitive, inconsistent from one option to the next on how fine details work, and the words "User friendly" are down there close to the last thing in the world I would use to describe it.  Not a fan, even when given the explanation that it's intended for large, multi-screen megaplexes that run all their movies from a single main server instead of having each theater on its own server, like ours runs.  I gave the tech guy from the projector company a page-and-a-half feedback list of things that I don't like about it, which he passed on to them at a convention a week or two later...their reaction was basically to shrug and say, "It's working, though, right?  That's all that matters..."

Oh, to get my computer scientist paws on that system...

Is running the entire complex (3 screens, isn't it?) off a single server an option? Or would it require a new machine that would cost more than the owners want/can spend?

I'm always having to tell students to step back from the elegance of their code and remember that they are (or at least, will be once they get into the real world) writing a system to be used, but it seems these guys have learned that lesson a little bit too well :)

A single-server system would be really expensive.  I mean, we went the route we did because it was more affordable, while still allowing us the option to share content across a linked network instead of having to load from the hard drive for each individual theater, and if I recall correctly, getting set up in 2013 with non-current systems that were available on the cheap because larger theaters were upgrading still cost us close to $250k per theater (it would have been more, but we had already upgraded the sound system, knowing that the industry was intending to transition to a digital platform at some point).  That gives you a general notion of what I mean when I say 'really expensive'.  I mean, the same projectors would work, no problem, but a system robust enough to handle three of them simultaneously, as well as processing any additional traffic (like me downloading content from multiple sources at the same time) without stumbling over the playback is getting spendy for a little three-screen theater like us.  The problem is, in part, nobody makes a single-server system for an operation this size...those are designed to handle multiplex theaters with anywhere between eight and twenty screen...it'd be kind of like getting a grass-cutting attachment on a Leopard tank to mow your lawn, just way more machine than you need for the job (and priced accordingly).

On a different note...I gave myself a new injury tonight.  We were stretching some spandex on a frame and stapling it down...staples weren't going into the wood of the frame particularly well, so we hammered them down afterwards.  I went to hit one and got my thumb...which I've done before, but that's usually hitting the thumbnail or squarely hitting the side of my thumb.  This time, I caught the tip of my thumb, on an angle, and actually split it open with the head of the hammer (not a big split, but it wasn't shy about bleeding).  I've got a bandaid on it, but it feels like there's a blood-blister forming next to the split.  And it's REALLY inconvenient...hard to manipulate nuts and bolts with a big bandaid across your thumb-tip, not to mention the throbbing and the sharp pain when you put too much pressure on it.  Not looking forward to seing it in the morning...

That all makes sense. Scale is all-important, and as you say, you need to be able to download and be doing other stuff whilst a film is playing and you cannot interrupt playback - the audience would not be best pleased!

Hope your thumb heals soon. Lick it better...

Man, that  show stuff?  the 'high in the air' stuff  would have me  saying 'no thanks".. but  the  goofy injuries that shouldn't happen  aren't  fun, because you don't  expect them!

Well, having changed bandages a couple of times, now...it's nowhere near as bad as I was afraid it was going to be.  Turns out, the outrageously sensitive part was because I caught more of my thumbnail than I thought, and THAT actually cut my thumb open even more than the split that I had noticed.  Not particularly deep, but it's right along the leading edge of my thumbnail, for about a third of the nail...and since it wasn't a clean cut, but rather a tear, in essence, the nerves are a lot more sensitive right now.

But it's leaps and bounds better than it was last night.  I'm still very limited in what I can do with my thumb, because anything that puts enough pressure on my thumb pushes the tissue back up around the part of the nail that tore through it, so I have to be very careful how I grip stuff and how I try to exert leverage with that hand...but if it keeps healing at this pace, by the end of the coming week, I won't even be bothering with bandaids for it anymore and it will only require a minimal amount of compensating for sensitivity.

In the meantime--regular changing the bandaids, treating the damaged skin with neosporin, and a cold-pack when I go to bed at night.

 I used the old.. Neosporin wrappped   bandaid thing.  it  works pretty great.

  there was a  time  my oldest garandaughter  had a  felt tip marker, jammed up inside  the  barreel, youngest  smashed  it  down..I  tried  to  split the   Barrel with an  excato Knife...grand daughter said " what's that thin you tell us about not  doing stupid stuff?"

 the  Barred  shifte d and the   excato  knife   spit my  tumb and  1/2 in, including the nail..took about an hour  for it to stop bleeding.. I wrapped it  tight  after cleaning in in  cold water..that was fun..., the  next forming   ut was 'sealed '.. i kept it  closed  on and off, for the next  2  days,  and was able to throw  a football on sunday...it hurt like  hell, but i could do it!..

I swear by that   tight bandaid-Neo  stuff!

On the way back home, will be catching back up tomorrow.

Missed you all and gonna need a major recap.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:51, Sun 28 May 2023.

Also did i get hurt at all?

 its  night time.

 The Hermes  Ground  troops   have the air base  and the   repelled one attack  from  jerl.

 the Admiral has  just finished a meeting  with the Yenti. it would seem we have  some natives on our side

 m In the morning, we  will start the Offensive.

So no injuries?

no? noting to speak of, some  NPCs  hurt or killed, but the wall hadn't been hit hard enough for me to make  PCs  roll

 HOWEVER...... the penitentsc ame out of the  ground  tunnel..  Hemsly said he was  Admiral Hack and Got  gunned  down..he was hurt, but the humans  who came out of the ground, didn't seem to be  took good  with thier weapons... Mech riders  cut them down...we have one  that's a prisnor. and a scout tank is  parked  on top the hatch

Zob would like to interrogate them if nobody objects.

 He  can if he  wishes.  Minnet  and Tucker  are sitting with the prisoner.. he wasn't  the leader, the leader is the guy who shot Hemsly...he  was torn to bits   as were the other   dozen or so...this  was the last guy out of the tunnel, he had a pry bar.

Thumb's getting better...tossed the bandaid in the trash at the end of the night at the park...you can see where the skin split, and the part that split away is slightly discolored...looks like a blood blister with a smaller deep blister on top of it...but the split has closed up and it's much less tender than it was last night.

Long day at work...boss texted me just as I was starting to get up, asking when I'd be at work, and then asking if I could run to a fabric store to get some stuff for some of the costume fixes that needed to be done.  Fabric shopping around here is always hit-or-miss, and the list she gave me looked more likely to be misses than hits...so I asked for photos of the fabric, to make sure I could match it...she didn't have any.  So, instead of running straight to the fabric store, I had to go to the park, get eyes on the costume pieces so I knew what I was looking for, and then go to the fabric store...

Which had changed its business hours and wasn't opening til noon.  So, I ran to Walmart, in the extremly slender chance that they had any of the fabric we needed (they didn't.)  Went back to JoAnns, sat in my car for another fifteen minutes until it was past noon.  Got out, started walking to the store, noticed there were four other patrons standing at the doors...one was on her phone...

Turns out, the store STILL wasn't open.  Company policy doesn't allow employees to open for business if there's no one else there with them so the one lady had come in, turned on the lights, gotten ready...and then everyone else who was scheduled to work had failed to show up.  Went back to my car, got out again when another group of patrons walked up...and another employee showed up, so they could open.  I've been on the clock for close to an hour and a half at this point, and have accomplished absolutely nothing...

JoAnns had two of the four fabrics we needed.  Not great, but better than nothing, bought it and headed for the park.  It's TWO AND A HALF hours, at this point, when I finally get around to actually getting stuff done.  I've been running on a reheated Taco Bell chicken quesadilla and a little Mountain Dew (yep...three weeks into this, I've turned back to caffeine to help me endure...)  I have some peanut M&Ms, head to the Opera House to see how things are going there, jump in on the costume list...

A while later, I look at my watch and realize it's 9:15pm, things just got quiet because the park has closed for the night, and I have taken neither my lunch nor dinner break...sometimes that ADHD hyperfocus kicks in and overrides everything else for a while.

But, after leaving the park between 11:30 and midnight for most of the week, I left by 10:25 tonight...so I could go to the movie theater and change the weekly ads...

It's time to go home and go to bed.

Show opens Saturday.  Most of my tasks are done.  The couple of lingering question marks are things I can't do while everyone else is in rehearsal.  Suspect tomorrow will be spent helping finish off the costume notes, unless there's some pressing issue that demands my immediate attention...but it's nice to be starting dress rehearsal week in a place where I'm helping other people finish their list, instead of trying to get on top of my own list.  They can still add plenty to mine (and they might), but I feel good about where I am with it all tonight.

never been in  the situation where  1000s  will  be   affected  by your  work (  mailman, affects  one  family at a time through his  route!) Hope things   keep gettig whittled  down

.........................

almost forgot... Happy Memeorial  Day here in the  States, the 'kickoff' for  summer, more or less.

 Remember the  Fallen..and  we also tie in taking flowers to  graves of loved one..one or two  of my Granddaughters  will be coming with me.

 so? all those having   cookouts  and such..enjoy..but also  remember

enjoy the holiday, have fun and be safe

It's been twenty some-odd years since I had the option to take flowers on Memorial Day...always involved in the big push to get a show ready to open.  A lot of years, I don't think much about it...this year, it was kinda weighing on my mind.  Maybe I'll do a belated visit after the shows open...see if I can visit Dad's gravesite again without totally breaking down in tears (that was a shock...my niece got married in the same city where Dad was buried...it had been about ten years since he passed away, and I hadn't been able to bring myself to go visit his grave, but I felt like I had come to terms with the loss...  After the ceremony, I went to the cemetery, found his headstone...and started bawling, for about twenty minutes...  Haven't made it back to visit since then.  And my aunt and uncle are buried in another cemetery just a few miles from that one...)

Got a bunch of new projects thrown at me tonight...I wish I could say I was surprised, but I really wasn't.  One is to set up a couple of vertical fog machines under the grating where our old stage monitor speakers are currently located...we aren't using them anymore, so...  It would be easy enough, except for two problems...fog machines take a LOT of electricity, and pretty much every circuit on that end of the building is loaded to the gills, so I have no idea where I'm going to get electricity to them, and getting the DMX signal to them is going to be a little tricky because the cable connectors won't fit through the grate and that means some kind of fiddling and fussing to make it work...  Gotta set up a new string of lights, take down half the lights I've already strung, reposition lamps in the strings, and switch out lights that are hanging out in the house already...

You know...little stuff that anyone can throw together in no time flat...no big deal...

On the one hand, it sucks to have projects like this thrown at you last second.  On the other, it's a helluva vote of confidence that they're tossing them out five day before we open and having full confidence that I'm gonna make it happen.

And, at least I'm not the light tech who has to take up the floor grates every couple of days to refill fog fluid.  There's always that for a plus, as well.

And my thumb is getting better.  Still tender, but I didn't have a bandaid on it at all today.  I did, by the end of the day, take a tube of superglue and run a bead over the length of the cut...the surface skin was drying out and starting to snag on stuff and pull at the wound, so this seals it so it can't catch on stuff, and it should last for a day or two.  At least I can use my left hand at most of its regular capacity again...that first day, it was kinda like having half a thumb...