The Stage Is Where?

Back in Seattle again. I was just here a little over two weeks ago. Last time it was for the Microsoft Start! conference.

This time, it's for the Microsoft Tech Ready 10.

Next month I'll be here again, although only for three days for a Janeane Garofalo comedy special. That's a lot of trips to the great northwest in the first quarter of 2010. Good for business.

Here's a photo taken from the lighting console. Again, I have to be careful of what I take pictures of and what I talk about since the material being presented at these meetings are classified. So I won't tell you about all the things they talk about while I sit here and write this blog. But let me tell you this, it's pretty boring. Although the Q&A part of the day has been pretty entertaining so far, with the employees airing their grievances to the VP's and then being applauded by 3500 of their compatriots. It's funny to watch VP's squirm and then talk like a congressman.

Aside from the Q&A The only real technical highlight of this show, is the distance from the console to the stage. Basically, the stage is at one end of two exhibit halls (halls E and F) and Front of House is at the other end. I'm thinking easily 450 feet. One and a half football fields. If it wasn't for the big screens you see hung throughout the halls left and right, I'd never know there was someone onstage speaking, and if they were lit properly. That big bright blur in the middle of the picture, that's the stage.

Easy show. I like when the production company builds in enough time to get the job done. We did have a few days of overtime at the start, but we've been in and out on show days. Not to mention I have a day off on Thursday. REI, here I come.

Perhaps more pictures from this lovely city on Thursday. Until then, I have to get back to napping on the console.

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A Little Night Music

Push play on the video and then let it roll before you read the rest of the blog. Make sure your sound is on, but you probably don't want to turn it up too loud, I think the recording is loud enough. I'm making a blog with a sound track.

As we all know, Sean Patrick loves him some Classical Baby. It's that half hour special on HBO that features classical music, art and dance, for the smart baby.

His current favorite song from the show is the clip you are listening to, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart. The actual Allegro movement is over 8 minutes in the version I have, and Classical Baby only plays the first minute and a half or so, which I feature here.

Why the blog post? Besides the fact that I love that Sean Patrick listens to and enjoys classical music, it's more striking to me that he likes this piece.

I think that this is arguably the most recognized piece of classical music out there. I could play this, and any average Joe could wax intellectual and say, "Ah, Mozart".

But what makes it so recognizable and memorable? Besides it being featured many times in movies, I think it's for me, the easiest to hear 4/4 time in. I think we all have an internal metronome of some sort. It's what helps us keep time when we dance. And for those of you who can't dance, you should probably listen to this bit of music a few times.

Special shout out to Mrs. Somma-Demore (sp?) who was my score reading teacher at CalArts. Yes, I did learn something at CalArts. Although I liked music and had a pretty decent internal metronome (I think I did, the girls I danced with at the Pink Cadillac in Waikiki, they may have another opinion) it wasn't until I took score reading with Mrs. Somma Demore that I truly understood why.

I can't play an instrument, but I can look at a score of music while listening to it and after a couple of passes, can see the music move across the paper. A skill I'm pretty proud of.

In time I can only hope Sean Patrick will learn about music and appreciate it as much as I do. If anything, he's got a good start.

Smart baby.

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That's Not A Knife.

If Crocodile Dundee were a cook, and Bobby Flay walked in with this:


He's say "That's not a lemon," then proceed to put this


down on the counter and say, "THAT'S a lemon."

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Corporate Church

Father Clarence was/is a really good priest. If there was one thing I enjoyed about going to church (back when I went to church regularly), was listening to Father Clarence deliver his sermon. I always found them inspirational, and thought provoking. His message wasn't really anything new, be good to your fellow man, don't lie, steal or kill, etc., but his delivery of the message made them very memorable. Sometimes he would compare everyday things to his messages.

I remember once, he compared football to the journey to heaven. How it takes a team to march down the field against opposition to the ultimate goal of a touchdown and an eventual win. So to was our journey to heaven. We needed a team in faith to help us march against the opposition of worldly things, to our goal of eternal life in heaven.

It think it was a Superbowl Sunday, when he gave that sermon. As you can see, many years later, I still remember the message, although I paraphrased quite a bit.

Today, I sit here in Seattle listening to a corporate big wig compare the Olympics and specifically the sport of biathlon to sales and retail. He's doing his best to be inspirational, to rally his troops to the greater cause of selling more.

This is, unfortunately, not inspiring. At least not to me.

I might be the only one in the room, but I doubt it.

I think it's because I don't understand business, retail or marketing. Well, I know when I'm being marketed to, and perhaps that's the problem. All these people are being marketed too, and most of them are in marketing! They are being fed buzzwords and catch phrases and some of them are eating it up. Getting their "spiritual fill", if you will. Do people actually walk away from this inspired to sell more product? Or do they just sit through it to get the pertinent information they need to make it another year running on the same corporate treadmill?

Wow, I sound bitter.

I'm not. I think what I'm saying is I'm very lucky to have the job I do. I'm not bound to a desk (although I do have a home office that I love), filing TPS reports and using acronyms to describe, well, everything. Every week I get to experience something new and interesting, and when I was touring, I got to experience different places. It's never boring and sometimes, inspirational.

There are days when I wish I had a 9 to 5 job, that didn't require as much problem solving and decision making as my job sometimes does. But those are usually days I'd rather be riding my bike or spending time with my family.

Perhaps it isn't fair to compare corporate and retail to religion and church. Their pursuits are very different. But both attempt to you use the same techniques to get their message across.

And right now the message I'm getting is... Time to get back to work...

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