[TRAVEL + GETTING TOGETHER] There and back again (long)

#1 · November 14, 2003, 8:41 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on November 14, 2003, 8:41 pm
Posted by: bob_lee <bob_lee@...>

I've actually been back for nearly three weeks, but it takes a while to get
caught up after three weeks out of the office, and I'm still not caught up
but got the major stuff knocked down. It took nearly a week to get the jet
lag out of my system, but a 10-hour change (nine time zones plus the change
from Daylight Savings Time) is a really big phase shift (150 degrees, in
fact) in the circadian rhythm. I'm finally being awakened by my clock radio
again instead of waking up well before the alarm goes off. I'm still a few
weeks behind on reading the Churchbass digests, and the new format isn't
helping. ;^)

Anyway, I missed out on getting together with Rod Banach and Jamie Tarricone
while I was in New England, but then I was trying to cram too much into too
few days anyway, and just barely got to see most of my family. Next trip,
I'll try to plan more time.

After the vacation time, I rendezvoused with Cheryl, one of my fellow QSC
Technical Services engineers, in New York after a couple days at the AES
convention and we commenced on our training assignment, which started with
three and a half days in London at QSC's UK agent, Shure Distribution. One
thing I can tell you is that spending all day in one set of clothes, getting
on an overnight flight from JFK to Heathrow, with your night (and available
sleep time) foreshortened by five hours, then arriving at your destination
and starting your training presentation by 11 A.M. and continuing until 5
o'clock, while the same set of clothes are starting to bond chemically with
your skin, is really a worse idea than it sounds. ;^) I couldn't wait until
we got to our hotel so I could shower and put on some fresh clothes.

A high point, though, was our last evening there (Wednesday, 15 October),
when Steve Lawson picked me up at the hotel for a mini get-together with
Wulf Forrester-Barker and Benjamin Ellis. I had invited Cheryl to join us
because even though she's not a church bass player, her uncle is (and
happens to be a good friend of mine as well as the other bass player in my
church's English-language music ministry). And her boyfriend is a g****r
player at her own church's music ministry, too, and she mixes sound for
them. But for some reason, she preferred to go see central London--Big Ben,
Parliament, Picadilly Circus, and all that--rather than hang out with bass
players. Imagine that! ;^) So Steve kindly dropped her off at the nearest
tube station, in Cockfosters, after giving her some advice on getting about
in London.

Despite my fatigue and a developing cold, it was great to meet Wulf and
Benjamin for the very first time. We went to a Bengali restaurant on Brick
Lane and had some delicious curry and other delicacies of Bangladesh (photo
at www.aes.org/sections/la/images/SteveWulfBenjaminBob.jpg). My right ear
has a tendency to get blocked when I get a cold, so it was a little hard for
me to catch some of the conversation, especially in that noisy environment.
Nevertheless, it is a treat to get together with Churchbass brethren, and a
rare treat indeed to get together with them far away in another country. I
thank Steve, Wulf, and Benjamin for that opportunity! I was hoping also to
meet Andy Long, Greg Collins, and others, but I guess that'll have to wait
for another time.

Speaking of meals, breakfast in London was a more foreign experience than
I'd expected--most notably, fried bread. At first I thought it was some
extra-crispy sort of French toast. Now I know it's not, but I'm still not
sure how or why to eat it.

After London, we traveled on to our German distributor, ProAudio Marketing,
in Frankfurt. To pass the weekend there, we rented a car and made a day trip
to Heidelberg, which is a beautiful little city. On Sunday, we lucked out in
finding in Frankfurt an English-language Catholic parish to attend Mass at
(the original parts of the church building itself were built in 1219). We
met many of the parishioners at a get-together in the parish hall after the
service. There were expat Americans and many Irish, but also many people
from the Pacific islands, Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and
elsewhere. I was chatting with one Irish fellow who was a candidate for the
parish council. I mentioned something about my bodhrán having been made in
Roundstone. Having found a bodhrán player, he promptly introduced me to
another Irishman. I explained that my main instrument is bass, and he then
said he needs a bass player for his Irish band. Aw, this would be an
absolutely perfect opportunity for me ... if only it occurred somewhere
reasonably close to home! SO I had to decline.

The last stop was Sennheiser France in Paris. We had allotted three days,
but perhaps because we had less jet lag and more practice doing our training
presentations, we finished after just a day and a half of classroom time and
a half day in the service lab. We ran out of things we could show them, at
least with what was at hand. The good part is that left us with a full day
Friday to explore Paris before we flew back home on Saturday. So that's what
we did; after breakfast we rode the Metro over to the Eiffel Tower and
eventually got to the top. It's quite a view at about 1,000 feet up. The
only problem is you can't see the Eiffel Tower ... ;^) Then we wandered
around the St. Michel and St. Germain areas for a while, doing some shopping
(CDs, more cold medication, some gifts, etc.) and exploring, and then to the
Cathédral de Notre Dame to attend Friday evening Mass. As I did in St.
Leonhard's in Frankfurt, I couldn't help but think of all the preceding
centuries of people worshipping in the very same place. I've always loved
history, but rarely have I been in places with that much of it.

The trip home was long--the leg from Heathrow to LAX was about ten and a
half hours, non-stop. We landed amid the smoky haze and drifting airborne
ashes of the California wildfires. But it felt good to be back home and see
my wife, Allison. Cheryl's a good colleague but also a good friend, and
really like a sister to me, and a good person to travel with, but ah,
there's nothing like being home with your own spouse. And although I thought
I'd be rusty on the bass after three weeks away, the next day at church, I
just really seemed to be right in it physically and mentally, even though I
hadn't seen a couple of the songs before.

So Rod and Jamie: next time! I get back to New England once or twice a year.
Steve, great to see you again, and Wulf and Benjamin: great to meet you at
last!

Bob Lee
Applications Engineer, Technical Services Group
QSC Audio Products, Inc.
Tel. +1 714.327.4667
1 800 QSC AUDIO (USA only)
Fax. +1 714.754.6173
E-mail: bob_lee@qscaudio.com
www.qscaudio.com (product info and support)
www.qscstore.com (accessory and replacement part sales)
* Chairman, Audio Engineering Society--Los Angeles Section
www.aes.org/sections/la/
---------------------------------
To order QSC accessories and upgrade options online, visit us at
www.qscstore.com. Thank you!
This electronic message transmission contains information from QSC Audio
Products, Inc., which may be confidential or privileged. This information is
intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not
the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution
or use of the contents of this transmission is strictly prohibited. If you
have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify us
immediately via telephone.

Posted by: bob_lee <bob_lee@...>

I've actually been back for nearly three weeks, but it takes a while to get
caught up after three weeks out of the office, and I'm still not caught up
but got the major stuff knocked down. It took nearly a week to get the jet
lag out of my system, but a 10-hour change (nine time zones plus the change
from Daylight Savings Time) is a really big phase shift (150 degrees, in
fact) in the circadian rhythm. I'm finally being awakened by my clock radio
again instead of waking up well before the alarm goes off. I'm still a few
weeks behind on reading the Churchbass digests, and the new format isn't
helping. ;^)

Anyway, I missed out on getting together with Rod Banach and Jamie Tarricone
while I was in New England, but then I was trying to cram too much into too
few days anyway, and just barely got to see most of my family. Next trip,
I'll try to plan more time.

After the vacation time, I rendezvoused with Cheryl, one of my fellow QSC
Technical Services engineers, in New York after a couple days at the AES
convention and we commenced on our training assignment, which started with
three and a half days in London at QSC's UK agent, Shure Distribution. One
thing I can tell you is that spending all day in one set of clothes, getting
on an overnight flight from JFK to Heathrow, with your night (and available
sleep time) foreshortened by five hours, then arriving at your destination
and starting your training presentation by 11 A.M. and continuing until 5
o'clock, while the same set of clothes are starting to bond chemically with
your skin, is really a worse idea than it sounds. ;^) I couldn't wait until
we got to our hotel so I could shower and put on some fresh clothes.

A high point, though, was our last evening there (Wednesday, 15 October),
when Steve Lawson picked me up at the hotel for a mini get-together with
Wulf Forrester-Barker and Benjamin Ellis. I had invited Cheryl to join us
because even though she's not a church bass player, her uncle is (and
happens to be a good friend of mine as well as the other bass player in my
church's English-language music ministry). And her boyfriend is a g****r
player at her own church's music ministry, too, and she mixes sound for
them. But for some reason, she preferred to go see central London--Big Ben,
Parliament, Picadilly Circus, and all that--rather than hang out with bass
players. Imagine that! ;^) So Steve kindly dropped her off at the nearest
tube station, in Cockfosters, after giving her some advice on getting about
in London.

Despite my fatigue and a developing cold, it was great to meet Wulf and
Benjamin for the very first time. We went to a Bengali restaurant on Brick
Lane and had some delicious curry and other delicacies of Bangladesh (photo
at http://www.aes.org/sections/la/images/SteveWulfBenjaminBob.jpg). My right ear
has a tendency to get blocked when I get a cold, so it was a little hard for
me to catch some of the conversation, especially in that noisy environment.
Nevertheless, it is a treat to get together with Churchbass brethren, and a
rare treat indeed to get together with them far away in another country. I
thank Steve, Wulf, and Benjamin for that opportunity! I was hoping also to
meet Andy Long, Greg Collins, and others, but I guess that'll have to wait
for another time.

Speaking of meals, breakfast in London was a more foreign experience than
I'd expected--most notably, fried bread. At first I thought it was some
extra-crispy sort of French toast. Now I know it's not, but I'm still not
sure how or why to eat it.

After London, we traveled on to our German distributor, ProAudio Marketing,
in Frankfurt. To pass the weekend there, we rented a car and made a day trip
to Heidelberg, which is a beautiful little city. On Sunday, we lucked out in
finding in Frankfurt an English-language Catholic parish to attend Mass at
(the original parts of the church building itself were built in 1219). We
met many of the parishioners at a get-together in the parish hall after the
service. There were expat Americans and many Irish, but also many people
from the Pacific islands, Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Africa, and
elsewhere. I was chatting with one Irish fellow who was a candidate for the
parish council. I mentioned something about my bodhrán having been made in
Roundstone. Having found a bodhrán player, he promptly introduced me to
another Irishman. I explained that my main instrument is bass, and he then
said he needs a bass player for his Irish band. Aw, this would be an
absolutely perfect opportunity for me ... if only it occurred somewhere
reasonably close to home! SO I had to decline.

The last stop was Sennheiser France in Paris. We had allotted three days,
but perhaps because we had less jet lag and more practice doing our training
presentations, we finished after just a day and a half of classroom time and
a half day in the service lab. We ran out of things we could show them, at
least with what was at hand. The good part is that left us with a full day
Friday to explore Paris before we flew back home on Saturday. So that's what
we did; after breakfast we rode the Metro over to the Eiffel Tower and
eventually got to the top. It's quite a view at about 1,000 feet up. The
only problem is you can't see the Eiffel Tower ... ;^) Then we wandered
around the St. Michel and St. Germain areas for a while, doing some shopping
(CDs, more cold medication, some gifts, etc.) and exploring, and then to the
Cathédral de Notre Dame to attend Friday evening Mass. As I did in St.
Leonhard's in Frankfurt, I couldn't help but think of all the preceding
centuries of people worshipping in the very same place. I've always loved
history, but rarely have I been in places with that much of it.

The trip home was long--the leg from Heathrow to LAX was about ten and a
half hours, non-stop. We landed amid the smoky haze and drifting airborne
ashes of the California wildfires. But it felt good to be back home and see
my wife, Allison. Cheryl's a good colleague but also a good friend, and
really like a sister to me, and a good person to travel with, but ah,
there's nothing like being home with your own spouse. And although I thought
I'd be rusty on the bass after three weeks away, the next day at church, I
just really seemed to be right in it physically and mentally, even though I
hadn't seen a couple of the songs before.

So Rod and Jamie: next time! I get back to New England once or twice a year.
Steve, great to see you again, and Wulf and Benjamin: great to meet you at
last!

Bob Lee
Applications Engineer, Technical Services Group
QSC Audio Products, Inc.
Tel. +1 714.327.4667
1 800 QSC AUDIO (USA only)
Fax. +1 714.754.6173
E-mail: bob_lee@qscaudio.com
http://www.qscaudio.com (product info and support)
http://www.qscstore.com (accessory and replacement part sales)
* Chairman, Audio Engineering Society--Los Angeles Section
http://www.aes.org/sections/la/
---------------------------------
To order QSC accessories and upgrade options online, visit us at
http://www.qscstore.com. Thank you!
This electronic message transmission contains information from QSC Audio
Products, Inc., which may be confidential or privileged. This information is
intended for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not
the intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution
or use of the contents of this transmission is strictly prohibited. If you
have received this electronic transmission in error, please notify us
immediately via telephone.