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Dayton Diary 2009 - Thursday 4/16 (Day #2 - Practice) I discovered last night that the network at the hotel is less than stellar. Apart from being excruciatingly slow, it has an aversion to FTP - which makes updating this site somewhat difficult. I finally found a detour to the problem around 1:30 am which, although painfully slow, does allow me to share at least some of my ramblings from Dayton.
The spacious hotel rooms gained unanimous approval from both the parents and the kids. Our rooms are distributed across several of the buildings that make up the hotel complex. Most people managed to get a good night's sleep although I did hear reports of late night activity in building 8 - basses - we know who you are and if we hear you again, your names may be published here :-)
Armed with maps, detailed
directions, numerous GPS' and other super computers disguised as phones, one
would expect that most people could make a short trip from point A to point B
without getting hopelessly lost. Unfortunately this is not the case when all of
the maps that we used were apparently based on the same incorrect data.
On the way back to the University of Dayton practice site we got a glimpse at how some of the local students live... I bet their parents are so proud.
Following rehearsal we headed back to the hotel to relax for an hour or so before dinner. Our original plan was to do the traditional Olive Garden visit but when we called ahead they didn't think they could deal with such a large group at that time. So instead we went to Ruby Tuesday's in Centerville. The food was good and it turned out that one of our waiters marched with the Cavaliers in '04 and 05 and had a friend in Rhythm-X (who was performing with us at Centerville).
The exhibition at Centerville was fun. We got to see several other World line shows, including our hosts and Center Grove. Since our performance time was fairly late, we were unable to stay and watch the Independent World ensembles. Instead we loaded up the truck and headed back to the hotel for the nightly meeting, Dayton Diary update and sleep.
Prelims performance time tomorrow is 11:17am. I'll probably not be able to take pictures inside the venue due to the draconian WGI rules about cameras. However I will try to take some in the lot during warm-up.
More tomorrow...
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The
dreary weather from last night was replaced by a bright, sunny crisp spring
morning. The blossoms on the trees in front of the hotel are magnificent and
several daffodils stand proudly in the morning sunlight.
The
hotel provided a hearty hot breakfast including scrambled eggs, potatoes,
sausage patties, French toast etc. Even the coffee was quite drinkable.
The road
construction, detours and partially built bridge didn't help either. The good
news is that the escort convoy (complete with flashing lights), provided to us by
a local construction crew, did enable us to find the site just in time for
rehearsal.
Rehearsal
time was spent cleaning the show and knitting although, unfortunately for the
parents, we ran out of time before the kids could perform a full fun through.
Following the recommendation of a local hairdresser, Mr. Angers and myself
visited the 
theme
of our show is "Remember". We also discovered that the cemetery is situated on a
hilltop that provides an excellent view of the city.
We
had a minor mishap while unloading for the exhibition at Centerville. The
parking lot was filling up rapidly so we decided to move our vans in front
of our truck before someone else parked there and blocked our exit. For some
unknown reason, Dr. Beat had already been unloaded from the truck prior to
this move and placed in front of one of the van tires. The inevitable
happened, through no fault of the driver, but I'm glad to report that truck
driver Shane (AKA McGuyver) sprung into action armed with just a screw
driver and duct tape and within minutes, Dr. Beat was chirping once more.
