Circleville Signs
New Member
Well, I thought it might be fun to do a blog about my stay at Sign World 2010. I'll put posts in this thread. Hope you enjoy!
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Sign World 2010 - The Blog
- Thread starter Circleville Signs
- Start date
Circleville Signs
New Member
After a 9 hour drive in, I collapsed at my hotel and woke up bright and early to a shower with tepid water, at best (thanks Priceline).
At 7:45am I headed down Absecom Blvd to the AC Convention Center. Let me say this - AC has to be one of the worst laid out street plans I have ever seen. Getting to the Convention center made me want to violently throat punch as many babies as I could find.
At several points on my sojourn into town, I was almost afraid to come to a stop for fear that my tires and wheels might be removed like I was in the pit at Daytona (along with my kidney).
After finally arriving, I discover that the above referenced Kidney would be required for payment in order to park in the garage (seriously. $20/day - at this point I'm doubting the wisdom of my decision to drive).
Now, registration started at 8:00am. I figured it would be necessary to get there early in order to get my materials picked up and ready to go (the first sessions don't start till 9:00am). Rushing up the steps I am greeted by a massive registration area, with several roped off rows....and there is ONE person in line. I literally took a cold, 5 minute shower and rushed in here to beat OnE person to the line. I'm an idiot.
I get registered, and head to my first class - Photoshop artistry. I will let you know how it goes.
At 7:45am I headed down Absecom Blvd to the AC Convention Center. Let me say this - AC has to be one of the worst laid out street plans I have ever seen. Getting to the Convention center made me want to violently throat punch as many babies as I could find.
At several points on my sojourn into town, I was almost afraid to come to a stop for fear that my tires and wheels might be removed like I was in the pit at Daytona (along with my kidney).
After finally arriving, I discover that the above referenced Kidney would be required for payment in order to park in the garage (seriously. $20/day - at this point I'm doubting the wisdom of my decision to drive).
Now, registration started at 8:00am. I figured it would be necessary to get there early in order to get my materials picked up and ready to go (the first sessions don't start till 9:00am). Rushing up the steps I am greeted by a massive registration area, with several roped off rows....and there is ONE person in line. I literally took a cold, 5 minute shower and rushed in here to beat OnE person to the line. I'm an idiot.
I get registered, and head to my first class - Photoshop artistry. I will let you know how it goes.
greenmachine
New Member
If you park in Trump casino, it is 5.00 to park as long as you leave your car there. It is then a 10-15 minute walk. I do it all the time.
zmatalucci
New Member
should have parked next to the tun tavern. if you eat lunch there, parking is free with your validated receipt.
Craig Sjoquist
New Member
Great start on your blog laughing like crazy, this has got to be good reading more lol enjoy the days at the show.
Circleville Signs
New Member
Session 1 - Turning sign pictures into Photoshop Artistry
After fighting my way through the massive registration line (which consisted of ONE person), I took two escalators up to the fourth floor to get to the classrooms. Important side note for any future AC convention center goers. The escalators here are nearly 180 degrees. As the first one started moving, I started praying. The G forces were enough to make me feel like I was on my way to a lunar landing. End escalator rant.
I entered a nearly empty classroom ( remember, I was 30 minutes early ). I said nearly empty because I couldn't be lucky enough to have had it totally empty.
In addition to the instructor ( who seems like a truly kind and decent man ) there was a couple. Over the next 15 minutes I was forced to listen to the husband ( who wrongly feels that he missed his calling as a stand-up comic ) regale the poor instructor with the loudest litany of terrible jokes I have ever heard. I'm talking real, unadulterated, TERRIBLE jokes. This guy didn't have the social graces to pick up on the fact that the instructor was barely tolerating him. Eventually the instructor just turned his back and ignored this jackass.
The jackass then turned to me. The look of absolute aggression on my face, coupled with the 6'4" physique of a former football player thankfully caused him to shrink down and turn back to his poor wife (who has to LIVE with that all the time).
Over the next 15 minutes a steady flow of people began to trickle in.
At promptly 9:00am the session started. Now, I'm not going to go into crazy detail because if you want that, you should have come to the conference. Suffice to say, there was some great info and one really neat tip that I had never heard before.
Create yourself a digital print of three adjacent squares - one pure black, one 50% black, and one pure white. Print this and put it on PVC/Coro/whatever. Attach this to whatever you are taking a picture of and you have an easy color correction tool!
More to come later!
After fighting my way through the massive registration line (which consisted of ONE person), I took two escalators up to the fourth floor to get to the classrooms. Important side note for any future AC convention center goers. The escalators here are nearly 180 degrees. As the first one started moving, I started praying. The G forces were enough to make me feel like I was on my way to a lunar landing. End escalator rant.
I entered a nearly empty classroom ( remember, I was 30 minutes early ). I said nearly empty because I couldn't be lucky enough to have had it totally empty.
In addition to the instructor ( who seems like a truly kind and decent man ) there was a couple. Over the next 15 minutes I was forced to listen to the husband ( who wrongly feels that he missed his calling as a stand-up comic ) regale the poor instructor with the loudest litany of terrible jokes I have ever heard. I'm talking real, unadulterated, TERRIBLE jokes. This guy didn't have the social graces to pick up on the fact that the instructor was barely tolerating him. Eventually the instructor just turned his back and ignored this jackass.
The jackass then turned to me. The look of absolute aggression on my face, coupled with the 6'4" physique of a former football player thankfully caused him to shrink down and turn back to his poor wife (who has to LIVE with that all the time).
Over the next 15 minutes a steady flow of people began to trickle in.
At promptly 9:00am the session started. Now, I'm not going to go into crazy detail because if you want that, you should have come to the conference. Suffice to say, there was some great info and one really neat tip that I had never heard before.
Create yourself a digital print of three adjacent squares - one pure black, one 50% black, and one pure white. Print this and put it on PVC/Coro/whatever. Attach this to whatever you are taking a picture of and you have an easy color correction tool!
More to come later!
surf city
New Member
Yup that's what I do every year and the Tun Tavern has awesome food.
Circleville Signs
New Member
Where is this "Tun Tavern" of which you speak?
zmatalucci
New Member
Circleville Signs
New Member
Session 2 - Q&A with Butch "Superfrog" Anton
This was a toss-up session for me. Joe Diaz is teaching a CorelDraw class concurrently, and I almost went to that one. However, since I don't USE CorelDraw, and since Joe is teaching a class that is actually applicable to me tomorrow, I decided to sit in on the Q&A with the legend.
Now, as some of you may know, I am an aspiring sign painter. I've been working on teaching myself this skill through books, websites, and sporadic practice. The chance to sit down and listen to Butch shoot the bull for a couple of hours was too priceless to pass up.
Now, for those of you who have never seen or met Butch, I'll give you a mental picture. Remember the old horror movie Phantasmagoria? Well, Butch looks like the creepy old guy with the flying sphere of death. But he smiles a hell of alot more, and is funny as all get out. U have to admit though - I'm still a little nervous that he might get mad and throw a sphere of death at me.
Do you know what the best thing about a Q&A session is? It isn't the insightful and penetrating questions that lead to great discussion. Oh no. It's the idiotic questions that you quite literally feel less intelligent for having heard. Here is a smattering of those questions from this session...
(after a short discussion about oneshot vs. Urethane paints) "Do they really make urethane paints?"
(follow up question to the above question - and winner of the 2010 non-sequiter award) "how long does dibond last?"
(in response to a great tip for multiple primer layers on HDU/Redwood sign) "I don't understand...where do you get color to put in your primer?"
(runner up winner for non-sequiter of the year - in response to the discussion previously referenced) "what design software should I use?"
One last thing. Here's a tip to all of you conference goers...Even if you know it all - shut the hell up. People came to the class to hear the instructor. You chiming in with follow up answers to the instructor's answers EVERY SINGLE TIME is going to get you donkey punched. By me. Very soon.
Once the inane questions got out of the way, we actually got into some pretty cool stuff. Butch has a wealth of knowledge about nearly every segment of the sign industry.*
Butch was the originator of FrogJuice, which was the first liquid laminate on the market for the sign industry. Kind of cool - I didn't know that.
Using a liquid lam on calendared cut vinyl can add 1-2 years to the life of the vinyl.
Don't wait for a digital print to dry before spraying with liquid lam - the lam will bond to the ink better, and cause the ink to bond to the vinyl better.
Very cool session. Sorry Joe - glad I chose this one
This was a toss-up session for me. Joe Diaz is teaching a CorelDraw class concurrently, and I almost went to that one. However, since I don't USE CorelDraw, and since Joe is teaching a class that is actually applicable to me tomorrow, I decided to sit in on the Q&A with the legend.
Now, as some of you may know, I am an aspiring sign painter. I've been working on teaching myself this skill through books, websites, and sporadic practice. The chance to sit down and listen to Butch shoot the bull for a couple of hours was too priceless to pass up.
Now, for those of you who have never seen or met Butch, I'll give you a mental picture. Remember the old horror movie Phantasmagoria? Well, Butch looks like the creepy old guy with the flying sphere of death. But he smiles a hell of alot more, and is funny as all get out. U have to admit though - I'm still a little nervous that he might get mad and throw a sphere of death at me.
Do you know what the best thing about a Q&A session is? It isn't the insightful and penetrating questions that lead to great discussion. Oh no. It's the idiotic questions that you quite literally feel less intelligent for having heard. Here is a smattering of those questions from this session...
(after a short discussion about oneshot vs. Urethane paints) "Do they really make urethane paints?"
(follow up question to the above question - and winner of the 2010 non-sequiter award) "how long does dibond last?"
(in response to a great tip for multiple primer layers on HDU/Redwood sign) "I don't understand...where do you get color to put in your primer?"
(runner up winner for non-sequiter of the year - in response to the discussion previously referenced) "what design software should I use?"
One last thing. Here's a tip to all of you conference goers...Even if you know it all - shut the hell up. People came to the class to hear the instructor. You chiming in with follow up answers to the instructor's answers EVERY SINGLE TIME is going to get you donkey punched. By me. Very soon.
Once the inane questions got out of the way, we actually got into some pretty cool stuff. Butch has a wealth of knowledge about nearly every segment of the sign industry.*
Butch was the originator of FrogJuice, which was the first liquid laminate on the market for the sign industry. Kind of cool - I didn't know that.
Using a liquid lam on calendared cut vinyl can add 1-2 years to the life of the vinyl.
Don't wait for a digital print to dry before spraying with liquid lam - the lam will bond to the ink better, and cause the ink to bond to the vinyl better.
Very cool session. Sorry Joe - glad I chose this one
Joe Diaz
New Member
I was almost late for my first seminar. I was talking to grandpa dan and lost track of the time. But I'm done now and felt pretty good with how things went. No one stormed out of the room so that is a good thing. I plugged signs 101 though. Fred would be proud.
I hope to meet some of you. If you see me and use an alias here, let me know who you are because I'm pretty bad with that stuff.
I hope to meet some of you. If you see me and use an alias here, let me know who you are because I'm pretty bad with that stuff.
Circleville Signs
New Member
Session 3 - The world is not flat
Thanks to the tip in this thread, I at lunch at the Tun Tavern. AMAZING crab soup.
I head back to the convention center for the last session of classes for the day. I'm really excited for this class which is being taught by Dan Sawatzky. If you don't know who Dan us, he makes some of the most unique and amazing dimensional signage around. This class is all about the thought process that goes into his design and production process. Needless to say, I'm stoked.
Then I walk into the room.
Right in the front are Know-it-All and Jackass. If you've been reading today, you will remember these two. They have already nearly brought me to the point of physical violence. Them, together, could be my emotional napalm.
I sit down, and hear Know-it-All explaining the intricacies of ADA signage to some poor sap who didn't know any better than to enter a conversation with this tool sack. During this conversation, (about ADA signs) we also got a thorough background on this winner. Needless to say, he is gods gift to the sign biz. He also doesn't work for a sign company or own one. Hr works for a hospital, which, coincidently enough, does 8 billion a year in receivables. Don't ask me why that's important. He just made sure we knew it.
I haven't wanted to punch someone this bad in a very long time.*
The good news is that because Know-it-All is dominating every conversation in the room, Jackass has been neutralized. He looks like a sad little man with no audience. I imagine this is like a slow Thursday for Joe Piscopo.
As all of this is happening, the AV guy is struggling with getting the projector to work properly. Jackass sees an opportunity, but BEFORE he can jump in, Know-it-All ditches his current brag session in MID SENTANCE and tries to provide his diagnostic services. The AV guy looks like he might beat me to kicking this dude in the face.
The session hasn't even started yet and it is already my favorite. It will only get better when the inevitable happens and some random person picks ip a chair and beats this idiot into silence. And by random person, I mean "me".
Actual interaction that just occurred.
Me - (as Jackass is explaining the inner workings of the Gerber Edge to a mostly bored looking older lady) "Is there ANYTHING that you don't know EVERyTHING about?"
Jackass - ......blank stare....."what?"
Me - "please stop talking. You are making my ears bleed."
Thanks to the tip in this thread, I at lunch at the Tun Tavern. AMAZING crab soup.
I head back to the convention center for the last session of classes for the day. I'm really excited for this class which is being taught by Dan Sawatzky. If you don't know who Dan us, he makes some of the most unique and amazing dimensional signage around. This class is all about the thought process that goes into his design and production process. Needless to say, I'm stoked.
Then I walk into the room.
Right in the front are Know-it-All and Jackass. If you've been reading today, you will remember these two. They have already nearly brought me to the point of physical violence. Them, together, could be my emotional napalm.
I sit down, and hear Know-it-All explaining the intricacies of ADA signage to some poor sap who didn't know any better than to enter a conversation with this tool sack. During this conversation, (about ADA signs) we also got a thorough background on this winner. Needless to say, he is gods gift to the sign biz. He also doesn't work for a sign company or own one. Hr works for a hospital, which, coincidently enough, does 8 billion a year in receivables. Don't ask me why that's important. He just made sure we knew it.
I haven't wanted to punch someone this bad in a very long time.*
The good news is that because Know-it-All is dominating every conversation in the room, Jackass has been neutralized. He looks like a sad little man with no audience. I imagine this is like a slow Thursday for Joe Piscopo.
As all of this is happening, the AV guy is struggling with getting the projector to work properly. Jackass sees an opportunity, but BEFORE he can jump in, Know-it-All ditches his current brag session in MID SENTANCE and tries to provide his diagnostic services. The AV guy looks like he might beat me to kicking this dude in the face.
The session hasn't even started yet and it is already my favorite. It will only get better when the inevitable happens and some random person picks ip a chair and beats this idiot into silence. And by random person, I mean "me".
Actual interaction that just occurred.
Me - (as Jackass is explaining the inner workings of the Gerber Edge to a mostly bored looking older lady) "Is there ANYTHING that you don't know EVERyTHING about?"
Jackass - ......blank stare....."what?"
Me - "please stop talking. You are making my ears bleed."
Jillbeans
New Member
I hate when I go to something like this and there's a blowhard there.
This particular one is a painter and he knows everything there is to know about how to hold the brush blah blah blah and he has the best blah blah blah.
His voice sounds like the Charlie Brown's teacher voice to me.
I've seen people back away from him as soon as they see him, while others who are unaware are trapped by him.
I've been to a seminar where another person actually interrupted the lecturer and went on to describe their procedure to the shocked assembly.
This person had had their piece of equipment (bought used) for about a month yet considered themselves to be an authority.
The lecturer just let them say their piece and went back to what he was saying before the interruption.
Butch is OK, I've hung out with both him and his brother. Butch has just survived a long bout of cancer. He can be pretty amusing at these things.
Dan is much quieter in person than his online persona.
What you want to do is go to the Bullpen and hang out with Bill Riedel and if AJ is there check him out too (Alan Johnson)
I have not met Joe D but I know his folks very well.
They are a real hoot. So Joe probably is too.
Have fun!
Love....Jill
This particular one is a painter and he knows everything there is to know about how to hold the brush blah blah blah and he has the best blah blah blah.
His voice sounds like the Charlie Brown's teacher voice to me.
I've seen people back away from him as soon as they see him, while others who are unaware are trapped by him.
I've been to a seminar where another person actually interrupted the lecturer and went on to describe their procedure to the shocked assembly.
This person had had their piece of equipment (bought used) for about a month yet considered themselves to be an authority.
The lecturer just let them say their piece and went back to what he was saying before the interruption.
Butch is OK, I've hung out with both him and his brother. Butch has just survived a long bout of cancer. He can be pretty amusing at these things.
Dan is much quieter in person than his online persona.
What you want to do is go to the Bullpen and hang out with Bill Riedel and if AJ is there check him out too (Alan Johnson)
I have not met Joe D but I know his folks very well.
They are a real hoot. So Joe probably is too.
Have fun!
Love....Jill
Circleville Signs
New Member
Session 3 - continued
Wow. There aren't even words to describe how exciting an inspiring Dan's session was. I had seen his work before, but getting a glimpse inside his head was staggeringly impressive.
I wish this post was longer, but I'm speechless...
Even Know-it-All finally shut up.
Wow. There aren't even words to describe how exciting an inspiring Dan's session was. I had seen his work before, but getting a glimpse inside his head was staggeringly impressive.
I wish this post was longer, but I'm speechless...
Even Know-it-All finally shut up.
Craig Sjoquist
New Member
Well so far your writing is awesome laughing so hard I can't get up off the floor.
Yes Butch and Dan are two awesome people, you picked 2 great classes to go to and Joe's class outta be the same.
Waiting for your next post.
Yes Butch and Dan are two awesome people, you picked 2 great classes to go to and Joe's class outta be the same.
Waiting for your next post.
SlightlyChilled
New Member
Gary I have no problem telling someone off I do it better in person then it type. Ill you might kill someone just have my back that's all I ask hahaha ....I will be on the road tonight with my dad driving with me he sounded like a kid all hopped up on THE DEW. Ill be at ballys
See you all later Colt
See you all later Colt
