Lights, Glass, Action!

Dayquil in a little plastic cup instead of coffee, "Elephant Love Medley" from Moulin Rouge on iTunes. Last day of of set-up dawns bright and already hot (77 degrees). Yesterday went extremely well. The car was unloaded by 1:30 and the walls were up by 2:30. It took quite a bit longer than I thought it would to get them up and it's going to cost somewhat more than I thought it would/should, (I hate paying by the hour for exhibit hall services) but that was the *only* dark cloud in the day.

Before I left last night I had the carpet, the overheads for the lights, the lightbars, the tables, the sales cabinet and all the pedestals up. Today hanging panels, draperies, tablecloths, cleaning the pedestals, lights and glass. The display set-up (of course) is completely new. There's no French wall back area--all 200 sq feet are open. I also have a 2 ft X 8 ft grid wall panel covered with foamcore in the front corner of the booth where I will hang one of the new wall sculptures. I don't have enough storage room for all my boxes, but Dee said I can put them in her booth (she has tons of storage) or I can just put them in the minivan.

And speaking of the minivan, I am going to tell a big secret here. The loading dock for the Philadelphia Convention Center has a block-long ramp down to street level. At one side of the bottom of the ramp is a little outdoor parking lot. It's not only the cheapest parking in the area, but you pay at a machine in advance and just put the ticket in the window. I leave my vehicle there the whole show after unloading. It's even possible, when the line to get into the loading dock after the show is too long, to wheel your dolly down the ramp and load directly into your vehicle. And if you load into your vehicle in the lot, there is one holy grail spot at the end of the first row, right at the bottom of the ramp. Of course this spot was already taken when I parked yesterday, but as I was walking toward the ramp the owner of the car in it was getting in his car. I asked him in disbelief if he were leaving and when he said yes, I raced back to the minivan and quickly bogarted his spot. The only bad thing is that now I can't run to Home Depot for extension cords or anything else. Hope I have enough.

Okay, enough writing and procrastinating in the air conditioning--time to go set-up in the heat!

P.S.--Jester's second surgery went well and he is expected to come home Saturday.