Just Rambling--

[JIMRPT@aol.com]

Just got back from a trip to North Carolina and wanted to share a few
thoughts with my colleagues.
 First- is that we certainly work in a field where experience can mean much
less than perception and that two heads are better than one.  I was asked to
consult on a problem Steinway at a small NC College and was happy to do so
since I was redelivering a piano, to NC, that I had screwed up the repair of
anyway!  Working with your peers can be at times intimidating and very
enlightening as to who considers whom their peer. Two heads working on a
problem and having to put their solutions into words and not just actions is
a tremendously valuable tool and one we should all take advantage of as often
as possible. Working together we were able to take a rather dismal instrument
and turn it back into more of what a Steinway should feel and sound like, at
least the music Chair likes it. We did it all with regulation and voicing,
some of the other techs ideas and perceptions, and some of mine. The main
point of this tale is that if you have the opporunity to do such a
collaberation by all means do so the benefits (for both techs) will amaze
 you.

  Second- I just got back from NC today after spending last evening in the
neighborhood of FRAN and watching how the Carolinas reacted to a Hurricane,
after dealing with them in Florida for so long. Their perception of the
dangers of Hurricanes are different from Floridians and they have much more
respect for  these storms than most "native" Floridians. But that is not what
I wanted to talk about.  Coming home today, down I-95, barely twelve hours
after the leading edge of FRAN came ashore at Wilmington NC, I passed convoy
after convoy of trucks headed North to aid the areas hard hit by FRAN. These
Convoys consisted of all manner of services i.e., telephone, medical,
electrical depts., D.O.T. teams from various States, National Guard troops,
18 wheelers carrying relief supplies from various cities and groups, Red
Cross convoys, Forestry Depts from several States, well you get the idea.  I
can not attribute this quick reaction to any single source but it was most
heart warming to see my fellow countrymen on their way to help their
neighbors in States , three  States away !   We live in such a great country
and we all too often take it for granted when we hear about such actions in
the media. When you see it happening first hand as you drive down the road it
drives it home to you. We are truly blessed to live in this Country with all
of our faults and frailties because caring and support for one another is
truly what this Country is all about. This was brought back to me driving
down I-95 and when I stopped for gas and talked with some of the 'Georgia
National Guard' headed to 'Pennsylvania' to assist in their recovery from a
storm that was still in progress in Penn.
That's all, just wanted to share these two related experiences and thoughts
with y'all.
 JIm Bryant (FL)