<font color='navy' size='2' face='Comic Sans MS, sans-serif'><br> <font size="2" color="navy" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Yup and some times the 1500 bucks it takes to convention-ize goes along way towards the family vacation. Choices situations and tradeoffs.... that,s what it comes down to. <br>   Its even more expensive to exhibit, teach and pay for you own travel etc. for the privilege of teaching others. Sarcasm implied.<br> Dale<br> <br> <div style="clear:both"><font size="1" color="royalblue"><b><font face="Georgia, Times New Roman, Times, Serif"><font color="black"><font color="mediumblue" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Dale Erwin R.P.T.<br> <font color="green">Erwin's Piano Restoration Inc.</font><br> </font></font></font></b></font><font color="darkgreen"><span style="font-style: italic;"><b><font size="1"><font size="1" color="black"><font color="blueviolet"><font color="black"> <font color="black" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Mason & Hamlin</font><font face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">/Steinway/</font><font color="black" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">U.S. pianos</font><font face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif"><br> </font></font></font></font><font size="1" color="cornflowerblue" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">www.Erwinspiano.com</font><font size="1"><br> </font><font size="1" color="crimson" face="Comic Sans MS, sans-serif">Phone: 209-577-8397</font><br> </font></b></span></font><tt><tt><font color="darkgreen"><br>  </font><br>   </tt></tt><br> <br> </div> <br> <br> <div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"> <br> <div id="AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2"> <style>#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 td{color: black;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Tahoma; panose-1:2 11 6 4 3 5 4 4 2 4;} @font-face {font-family:Consolas; panose-1:2 11 6 9 2 2 4 3 2 4;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 p.MsoNormal,#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 li.MsoNormal,#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 div.MsoNormal {margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"; color:black;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 a:link,#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 span.MsoHyperlink {mso-style-priority:99; color:blue; text-decoration:underline;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 a:visited,#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {mso-style-priority:99; color:purple; text-decoration:underline;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 pre {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"HTML Preformatted Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Courier New"; color:black;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 tt {mso-style-priority:99; font-family:"Courier New";} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 p.MsoAcetate,#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 li.MsoAcetate,#AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 div.MsoAcetate {mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text Char"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; font-size:8.0pt; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"; color:black;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 span.HTMLPreformattedChar {mso-style-name:"HTML Preformatted Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"HTML Preformatted"; font-family:"Consolas","serif"; color:black;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 span.BalloonTextChar {mso-style-name:"Balloon Text Char"; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-link:"Balloon Text"; font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"; color:black;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 span.EmailStyle22 {mso-style-type:personal-reply; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:#1F497D;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 .MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; font-size:10.0pt;} @page WordSection1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} #AOLMsgPart_1_cf714578-5836-4672-9c87-91db00e51fd2 div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;} </style> <div class="WordSection1"> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:">Doesn’t sound like excuses to me at all.  Sounds like valid reasons.</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:">Will Truitt</span></div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div> <div style="border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in"> <div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> <a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org">pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a> [<a href="mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org?">mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org</a>] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Susan Kline<br> <b>Sent:</b> Thursday, July 19, 2012 11:34 AM<br> <b>To:</b> <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org">pianotech@ptg.org</a><br> <b>Subject:</b> Re: [pianotech] Pianotech?</span></div> </div> </div> <div class="MsoNormal"> </div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Well, Wim, in this case the conflicts are far more often than not. <br> In (2000?) the convention finally was held a week earlier than the <br> festival, and I went to Chicago and attended. (I remember <br> meeting you there.) And I met Guy Nichols there, who is sorely <br> missed.<br> <br> In 2010, they were a week apart, but I was housebound convalescing <br> from Guillain Barre Syndrome. (Double vision, neuropathy, not nice). <br> It did allow Jeff Hickey to stand in for me. He'd been running the <br> convention in Las Vegas, which conflicted with another local festival <br> I always tune for. We had the very devil of a time getting that covered. <br> It showed me that concert tuners are pretty scarce (and VERY busy!) <br> around here. <br> <br> I think what I'm trying to say is that sometimes excuses are true. <br> <br> Susan Kline<br> </span><br> <a href="mailto:tnrwim@aol.com">tnrwim@aol.com</a> wrote: </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal">Susan</div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"> </div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal">Over the years the convention has been held as early as the middle of June and as late as the end of July. Of course there are always conflicts. But to use 7 different excuses is just a way of saying "the convention isn't worth anything to me". </div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"> </div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal">Wim</div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><br> Sent from my iPhone</div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><br> On Jul 17, 2012, at 9:10 PM, Susan Kline <<a href="mailto:skline@peak.org">skline@peak.org</a>> wrote:</div> </div> <blockquote style="margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt"> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Well, Wim, there is also one piano tuner who has tuned for a small music festival <br> every year I could for fifteen years. Missed when my mother died in 2004, missed <br> when I was home ill in 2010, otherwise always there. I just got back from it. <br> <br> Now, if PTG would DEIGN to hold its convention EVEN ONCE at a time other than <br> exactly the SAME WEEK in July, I MIGHT BE ABLE TO ATTEND!!! <br> <br> They depend on me. I like them. Even if I were willing to miss their festival, <br> they'd be very hard put to find another qualified tuner the week of the convention. <br> <br> Why is it written that this particular week MUST be the time of the institute <br> every single year? Not a week earlier, not a week later, but always THAT WEEK? <br> <br> frustrated ... <br> Susan Kline, RPT <br> </span><br> <a href="mailto:tnrwim@aol.com">tnrwim@aol.com</a> wrote: </div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div><blockquote style="border:none;border-left:solid blue 1.5pt;padding:0in 0in 0in 2.0pt;margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt"><pre><tt>Well, Wim, Not everyone can make it to the convention ;-)</tt></pre><pre><tt> </tt></pre><pre><tt>So there .............</tt></pre><pre><tt> </tt></pre></blockquote></div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> <div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Duaine</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">There are piano tuners who say they can't afford to attend the convention. There are piano tuners who say they don't have the time. And there are piano tuners who think the convention is not worth attending. But then there are piano tuners for whom the PTG Annual Convention is THE most important event of the year, and they will do anything to attend. What so ironic is that they keep showing up year after year, because they've somehow found the time and the money to attend. Maybe there's something to that.</span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Attached is an article I wrote after the convention in 1995, which I've updated for this year. But the sentiment is the same.  It probably won't change your mind about not wanting to come to Chicago next year, but it's at least a different perspective of why my wife and I go every year. </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"> </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">Wim   </span></div> </div> <div> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:">-----Original Message-----<br> From: Duaine Hechler <a href="mailto:dahechler@att.net"><dahechler@att.net></a><br> To: pianotech <a href="mailto:pianotech@ptg.org"><pianotech@ptg.org></a><br> Sent: Tue, Jul 17, 2012 7:58 am<br> Subject: Re: [pianotech] Pianotech?</span></div> <div id="AOLMsgPart_0_c83c45cd-42c9-44f7-9446-613f33ea01ff"><pre style="background:white"><tt>Well, Wim, Not everyone can make it to the convention ;-)</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>So there .............</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>On 07/17/2012 12:37 PM, <a href="mailto:tnrwim@aol.com">tnrwim@aol.com</a> wrote:</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> If you would have come to the convention you would have found out.</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> Wim :)</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> Yes, it will continue for at least another 6 months</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> Sent from my iPhone</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> On Jul 17, 2012, at 10:00 AM, "Joseph Garrett"<<a href="mailto:joegarrett@earthlink.net">joegarrett@earthlink.net</a>>  </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>wrote:</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> Any news on the destiny of this list?</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> Joe</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> Joe Garrett, R.P.T.</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> Captain of the Tool Police</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> Squares R I</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>>> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt> </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>-- </tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>Duaine Hechler</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>Piano, Player Piano, Pump Organ</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>Tuning, Servicing&  Rebuilding</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>Reed Organ Society Member</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>Florissant, MO 63034</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>(314) 838-5587</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><a href="mailto:dahechler@att.net">dahechler@att.net</a></tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt><a target="_blank" href="http://www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com/">www.hechlerpianoandorgan.com</a></tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>--</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt>Home&  Business user of Linux - 11 years</tt></pre><pre style="background:white"><tt> </tt></pre></div> </div> </div> </blockquote></div> </div>  </div> </font></font>