Jan McL

Didn't mean to suggest you specifically should consider buying it, but kudos for doing the math.

Glad this topic has been resurrected! One of my first PSM purchases was a Magliner cart that lasted for the entirety of my career. That cart's been sold, but there remains a newer-model Gemini Jr. cart for sale in NYC at Gotham Sound & Communications that's just been marked down. The pictured aluminum drawers have been sold, but there's lots of useful hardware improvements, including the rack mount improvements and downward-facing handles that make carrying it up stairs easiest. Make me an offer. Eduardo is the person at Gotham with whom I've been communicating. https://www.gothamsound.com/used-gear/offer?product_id=8661

In case you want to try some cat5 options out @thomasvanderbrook, I have a bunch of pairs from Instasnake very reasonable having just retired. They're all cat5 --> 4 x XLR3's. Shoot me a PM. There's also a bunch of great quality cat5/6 cable wanting a new home. https://www.markertek.com/product/ets-sds901/ets-sds901-instasnake-4-mxlr-3-foot-pigtail-to-rj45-jack-all-pins?ne_ppc_id=1806871132&gclid=Cj0KCQiA7aPyBRChARIsAJfWCgKCWLWnQthkfXwsTsDSxPqadLhxlGguvjUYUyry-owXVWRVraNqiCwaAss-EALw_wcB

Thanks, Mattias. Set attitude is close to Everything, right next to Showing Up. ".....smorgasbord of fun and adventure....." OMG, that will be the mantra as I begin to conceive the shape of the future. Thank you once again for your kind wisdom, Crew. XOXOX

Thanks Olle. Means a lot. Writing / drawing helps me think stuff through. Having a close reader or two makes the thinking even more clear. I am eternally grateful to and honored by you. Invaluable part of the process of living to me. I've every confidence that the right opportunities will present themselves. Just as with anything I've done, have consulted with experts in the field, done the research and thanks to the internet and friendships, am able to put the word out. For sure good points, Al. All of your spot-on bullet points have cycled the brain pan. I could probably create a bangin' curriculum for a film school. Just need a few million to get it going. Ha. The town I"m seriously looking at has a university whose student numbers have gone down by 50% to 8K. Fairly certain they don't have a film curriculum but they do have broadcast radio and TV. Anyway, 'nuff for now.

^^^This for sure.

Have not been much here these last couple years. Went slightly into Nest Egg Panic. That combined thankfully with great material offered more back to back than I'm accustomed to executing kept me out of trouble. Delighted that said panic helped me push kit rental, parking perks/reimbursement and above-contract wages to my market's limits. My body on the other hand is less-than-delighted. Two years straight of regularly not drinking enough water have taken an undeniable toll, with repercussions that cannot be accommodated in a production environment. The realization came surprisingly quickly since it turns out the body will not be ignored. There were tens of paper-thin red flags that it might be 'Time'. I kept track. Hyper Vigilance due to: squeezed production / post production schedules, inexperienced leadership, wacky shooting styles, changing RF world. RF Chaos. So much troubleshooting, data point gathering. Acoustically exhausting locations due to high ambient noise. Old School Macho Assholes. I've encountered only a few in my fairly long career, but a bunch came back to back. My capacity to turn around the bad juju of wanting to kick said assholes in the nuts was near nil. The red flag was actually verbalizing that sentiment to the EP. Time to go soon. The last 4-5 years have been monitoring the Nest Egg regularly and spent considerable time researching: Real Estate. Where in the world to land. I cannot afford current region. Have explored all directions but south. I need to go five or six hours distant from NYC to buy within the parameters I've set which are: cash purchase less than $100K, garage, single story, preferably within walking distance of a grocery store. Others as they approach and execute Retirement. Our venerable host Jeff Wexler has been an invaluable source of first hand, real time info on the subject, as have Al McGuire and Eric Toline. We've spent a few of hours together in videoconference every weekend for five or six years, during which time I witnessed all of these fine engineers work, work less, hit hiccoughs, triumph over trepidation, and ultimately seamlessly make the crossfade. Bravo gentlemen. I hope to be able to execute the move with half their courage and precision. What to do. Writing, documentary film, teaching. At this point I'm tired and hate everything. Need to give this some time and put it out there. Am much more at ease having begun to sell the gear and gotten great and generous responses from our NYC community. Kept it rather on the QT local to NY since shipping is such a PITA. Thanks to all who bought / will buy. Also more at ease having confirmed I've enough hours to receive full insurance coverage and learned that I don't have to choose between the monthly pension check and the lump sum: you get BOTH! Yippee. Surprise! There's the house. As usual, this won't be the last entry on the subject and much anticipate your thoughts on the matter.

Colleague successfully removed R1a hiss in his IEM's via the installation of a resistor in a M--> F headphone adapter cable. Did not note the value but I'll text him after 9A to find out.

Clearly an exceptional woman, like her father. This is HUGE. Respect all around.

Thanks, Olle. We had a 24/7 therapist available by phone for the duration. Don't know if anyone used the number, but the idea of being able to consult with someone helped considerably.

Got my start making cold calls to sound people in my region. One fellow (a utility sound) invited me to set. Just kept coming back. In the interim, was working as a tech for a big sound rental place where I was taught how to troubleshoot and repair stuff.

Great to add some science to anecdotal experience. The facts left me profoundly...sad.

I've been told many times that when a piece of electronics gets soaked during production (particularly in salt water, but generally speaking) it should be replaced by production because its lifespan has been significantly reduced. Sorry you're in the tangential middle of a crapstorm. Not the optimum place to be for sure. Please let us know how it shakes out for you. Here's how I handled the recent event of boom operator being taken down by an ocean wave. This was a union, narrative project. Everything was photographed then rinsed with production-provided distilled water and placed in rice. I knew none of the items would survive but...due diligence and all... Wrote to the APOC with cc to our Gotham Sound Sales King informing of the incident and asking for a quote for replacement CMIT5U, 7506 and R1a. APOC took care of approvals, issued PO's and arranged with transpo to pick up the pieces. In the interim, I made sure I intersected with UPM with a brief verbal sketch of the event and officially presented her with the dead CMIT5U. This was "on production" in any event but the accident happened because the scene was supposed to be shot in thigh-high water (for which everyone prepared) but kept moving ever-deeper until eventually the wave / human ratio became too steep.

Had to be careful in the application of the glue re: timing (length of time the hot element near the mic). We did a test that ended up being "the thing". The amazing customer was aware that it might not fare well for the shirt; they had multiples. Hot glue gets into the pores of the fabric. It remains fairly flexible. Got a fingernail between the glue and the tee shirt and peeled it off. May have had to use scissors or a blade to get it off the B6 but no damage was sustained.

Son-of-a-gun.