Somedays you roll into a city and someone says something random like, “Hey, want to go to a haunted carnival? They have a bar…” and a few hours later you’re taking a “before” photo.
Eight of us decided to venture into the land of questionable rides, poorly designed haunted houses, and booths that sold shots of Jack Daniels.
I think the highlight had to be the above death trap. That “roller coaster” was held together with R-Clips, crosby clamps, and prayer… To quote Mark Twain, “with Ignorance and confidence, success is sure!” Well against my better judgment I was coerced into riding it with Hugo… halfway through I decided to turn on my camera… I think this video speaks for its self.
That was before the real drinking began. Soon after getting off this ride I took a few shots cowboy style and decided to pose for a photo.
That being said we all had a few drinks as our night progressed. There were more poor choices that resulted in getting on more of those death traps. One of which I may have bruised a fellow riders thigh as I drunkenly white knuckles my way through a contraption called “the screamer”.
We ended the night 2 hours and a few dozen shots between us later. On our way out the gate we stopped for an after photo. I’d say it was a successful night.
Tuesday was not much of an adventure… my emails and phone calls started at 7am and I didn’t start ignoring them until around 9pm.
Wednesday was load in, nothing too special about it. Some day I will document one for you so you’ll understand how truly impressive, yet boring it is to load a show into a venue.
Thursday was a typical day at work. Typical being anything but. I started my day on a scavenger hunt at 6am. You see we have made some modifications to part of our set, but it turns out we didn’t have the hardware to finish the job. So I left the hotel at 6am to start looking for 120 wide mouth 5/16 quick links. 9 uber rides, 2 Home Depot’s, 1 Lowe’s, several “mom and pop” shops, and the next city over (Ft. Lauderdale for those of you wondering) and I had exactly 1 wide mouth 5/16 quick link… it was the example I started with.
So I made it to work about an hour after my crew and we found a way to make things work till I can get the right hardware ordered. Not my proudest moment, but at the end of the day everything worked, the kids loved the show, and I did not have to explain locally sourcing hardware from multiple stores on my expense report. Haha
Thursday evening I had a friend who I’ve known for decades (yes Cole we are old enough that we can say that) pick me up after the show. We went on an adventure trying to find a bar close to the venue. It was just as fruitful as my earlier hardware run. So we ended up in my old stomping grounds from my Odysseo days. There is an outdoor mall a few blocks from my old apartment that has several sidewalk bars to choose from. We of course went tot he Hard Rock Cafe at the end of the pier. We sat down, started chatting, and after a half hour our drinks still hadn’t materialized. So we walked out and found quiet bar that was having a slow evening.
The drinks were fair, the alligator bits were tasty and the stories we traded were top notch. You see Cole is one of those individuals who is so freaking smart that you need a basic understanding of engineering, physics, and budgets so large you can’t comprehend. Luckily I am versed enough in both that we carried on an hours long conversation about the projects we both are working on that I am sure the bar tender thought we were speaking in code. Cole works for a company called Magic Leap that develops augmented reality systems. This thing is seriously cutting edge and worthy of the geek out you are about to witness…
After leaving the bar we went back to my hotel and he produced the developers demo. As you’ll see in the video, it is a set of goggles, but it’s so much more! It does real time 3D mapping of the room and then seamlessly projects images in the room. It senses where you are as you move, it lets your hands interact with the objects, it continuously creates worlds. Last night I legit had a laser battle with a robot that started by jumping out a portal in my wall. It landed on my couch, bobbed and weaved it’s way to my bath room and barricaded it’s self behind my toilet… Despite my best efforts, I did not win that round.
The next game I played was this weird immersive world simulation. Things grew out of the floors, walls, and ceiling. Strange blobs floated through the air. Tiny blue dots that acted like schools of fish swarmed the room… all while the sound track changed according to what you were close to or interacting with. You also look like an idiot to anyone who is watching…
Well friends, the adventures are always around us, and down here in Miami, I am loving life.
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