Monday Meanderings - Jan 25

Do you ever wonder why you get annoyed when you can't read the sign the panhandler on the corner is holding up? It's not like we don't know what he wants. Do we need to "approve" his sign? Just asking.

I did the sound for a "Youth Talent Show"  Friday night. Wasn't planning on it, but about 4pm I got a panicked phone call; the guy they thought was going to do it bailed at the last minute. After getting there at 6 and talking to the "planners" I became convinced the original guy was smart to bail. About 20 "acts;" each with a CD and specific instructions on "loud here, soft here." We got through it okay, and the kids raised a couple of thousand dollars to help them go to Peru on Spring Break. They are going to the Comunidad de Niños Sagrada Familia- the orphanage in Lima where we were. So I guess it was worth my effort.

I saw somewhere that Austin is home to more marathons, half marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks, fun runs and challenge races than any other city in the US. That being the case at least 3 of them have routes that make getting to Westover a challenge on Sunday race mornings, and the 3M 5K passes in front of the building (volunteers from Westover man a water station in front of the church).

Normally, these races begin early enough that all the runners are long-gone by the time we make our way to the building, and only if there is a delay in taking down the barricades do we have any real problems. Yesterday morning I had to be there early to set up sound, and arrived about 8, thinking that we could go up Steck to Mesa, and if the barricades were still up we could park at Anderson High and walk across the street. 

Much to our surprise, when we got there the mainstream of the 5,500 runners was still passing on Mesa. No way could we buck that river of runners and get across the street! Turns out high winds had blown over many of the barricades along the route during the early morning hours, and with the barriers down, auto traffic was creeping into the race route. Not until they re-secured the route - about an hour later than the scheduled start - could the race begin!

It took about 20 minutes, but there finally came enough of a thinning of the runners that I (and a couple of members of the praise team waiting with me) could maneuver our way across. I don't think more than a half-dozen runners stumbled over us, so it worked out okay.


And either someone has way too much time on his hands - or we have been invaded.