My name is Derek Leffew and my website is http://www.derekleffew.com.
I’ve been a guest lurker here for sometime, but just last week bought a new MacBook, built a website, and decided to step out of the shadows. I suppose I heard someone calling “Step into the light, CarolAnn!” All this because Embarq is forcing me to change my Earthlink email address, which I’ve had since 2000. And a colleague told me how I could get registration and hosting and 200 email addresses for $10/year.
As for the metric system, I haven’t read ALL the past posts on the forum. But I will say that the first .PDF on the reference page of my website is a Fractional/Decimal/Metric Conversion Chart that I made in Excel. So I guess count me as “on the fence” until I understand what the ruckus is about.
As for Mac vs. PC, I’ve been back and forth and simultaneous many times. For years I was a closeted Mac user. I had a Mac desktop at home but would carry a PC Laptop for Show Control gigs. But seeing as how it’s the 21st century, and every Lighting Designer I know carries a gray aluminum or titanium PowerBook or MacBook Pro, I’ve decided to come out Load and Proud. I’ll still be ridiculed by some for having a white plastic MacBook with a 13.3” screen, but I feel LAPTOPS should be small and lightweight. When it’s at home, it’ll be connected to an external monitor, keyboard, trackball (hate mice, love the Kensington Expert Mouse, have probably bought ten of them since 1992) just like I did with my first Mac, a PowerBook 180 not C, I didn’t believe in color displays back then—still not sure I like them on Light Boards, other than the Colortran Color Track, of course.
I suppose my first stage lighting experience was in fourth grade, in the 1960s. I was in the school chorus. Teacher had to leave the “gymatorium” and, being bored, I found the Main Circuit Breaker panel on the DSL Proscenium. Three breakers were labeled something like “red x-ray; blue x-ray; white x-ray.” They were off, so of course I flipped one on to see what would happen. Teacher came back about then and said “How did you make the stage red?” I told her “I flipped this switch right ‘chere.” Since I was not, pure of voice, shall we say, I was given the task of flipping on and off the three breakers during the concert. Viola, My First Cue Sheet, coming soon by Fisher-Price.
I had forgotten entirely about that when my next experience happened. July 4, 1976, the entire township was celebrating the Bicentennial festivities when I was pressed into service because I was hanging out in the parking lot outside the high-school auditorium. It was basically "Hey kid, c'mere. Wha-cha-doin'?" “Nuffin’—I’m not doing anything wrong.” Next thing I knew, I was climbing stairs to a light booth and shown a Strong Carbon-Arc Trouper built in the 1960's. "Point it at whose-evers singing, turn it off when they're done" was what the guy told me--then he disappeared and I never saw him again. I believe he was a “friend” of the high school technical director/drama teacher..
That’s enough history for one sitting. Currently, I’m a freelance Lighting Designer/Programmer/Electrician/SpotOp/Stagehand/Box-Pusher in Las Vegas, NV, USA. I have one main house I work in, a large arena hosting rock/country touring concerts, corporate shows, and sporting events. You can guess the Venue (Hint: the entire, massive, building is a distinctive color, unflattering to human skin-tones), but I’m not permitted by my employer to tell you.
As you can tell, I am long-winded and have strong opinions about everything. I also have years of practical experience and a desire to educate. Call me the Martha Stewart of Stage Lighting. No wait, don’t!
I’ve been a guest lurker here for sometime, but just last week bought a new MacBook, built a website, and decided to step out of the shadows. I suppose I heard someone calling “Step into the light, CarolAnn!” All this because Embarq is forcing me to change my Earthlink email address, which I’ve had since 2000. And a colleague told me how I could get registration and hosting and 200 email addresses for $10/year.
As for the metric system, I haven’t read ALL the past posts on the forum. But I will say that the first .PDF on the reference page of my website is a Fractional/Decimal/Metric Conversion Chart that I made in Excel. So I guess count me as “on the fence” until I understand what the ruckus is about.
As for Mac vs. PC, I’ve been back and forth and simultaneous many times. For years I was a closeted Mac user. I had a Mac desktop at home but would carry a PC Laptop for Show Control gigs. But seeing as how it’s the 21st century, and every Lighting Designer I know carries a gray aluminum or titanium PowerBook or MacBook Pro, I’ve decided to come out Load and Proud. I’ll still be ridiculed by some for having a white plastic MacBook with a 13.3” screen, but I feel LAPTOPS should be small and lightweight. When it’s at home, it’ll be connected to an external monitor, keyboard, trackball (hate mice, love the Kensington Expert Mouse, have probably bought ten of them since 1992) just like I did with my first Mac, a PowerBook 180 not C, I didn’t believe in color displays back then—still not sure I like them on Light Boards, other than the Colortran Color Track, of course.
I suppose my first stage lighting experience was in fourth grade, in the 1960s. I was in the school chorus. Teacher had to leave the “gymatorium” and, being bored, I found the Main Circuit Breaker panel on the DSL Proscenium. Three breakers were labeled something like “red x-ray; blue x-ray; white x-ray.” They were off, so of course I flipped one on to see what would happen. Teacher came back about then and said “How did you make the stage red?” I told her “I flipped this switch right ‘chere.” Since I was not, pure of voice, shall we say, I was given the task of flipping on and off the three breakers during the concert. Viola, My First Cue Sheet, coming soon by Fisher-Price.
I had forgotten entirely about that when my next experience happened. July 4, 1976, the entire township was celebrating the Bicentennial festivities when I was pressed into service because I was hanging out in the parking lot outside the high-school auditorium. It was basically "Hey kid, c'mere. Wha-cha-doin'?" “Nuffin’—I’m not doing anything wrong.” Next thing I knew, I was climbing stairs to a light booth and shown a Strong Carbon-Arc Trouper built in the 1960's. "Point it at whose-evers singing, turn it off when they're done" was what the guy told me--then he disappeared and I never saw him again. I believe he was a “friend” of the high school technical director/drama teacher..
That’s enough history for one sitting. Currently, I’m a freelance Lighting Designer/Programmer/Electrician/SpotOp/Stagehand/Box-Pusher in Las Vegas, NV, USA. I have one main house I work in, a large arena hosting rock/country touring concerts, corporate shows, and sporting events. You can guess the Venue (Hint: the entire, massive, building is a distinctive color, unflattering to human skin-tones), but I’m not permitted by my employer to tell you.
As you can tell, I am long-winded and have strong opinions about everything. I also have years of practical experience and a desire to educate. Call me the Martha Stewart of Stage Lighting. No wait, don’t!