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I know we are all busy at this time of year...but I wanted to throw out a quick Thank You to Tim ‘Timmer” Gavinski. Not only is this a thanks to Timmer, but a great example of the intangible benefits of IAHA membership.
Here’s what happened...I was doing a project for Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom that brought me to the great state of Wisconsin. So, I am on the job site, upgrading an animatronic polar bear, when I discover the automation controller I brought was defective. Now, out-of-the-box defects do occasionally happen...but the timing on this was less than ideal, as Mutual of Omaha pays for...and expects...perfection.
So you can see the predicament I was in here. It’s 5:00 pm...the day before the show opens and I have a dead (no pun intended) polar bear. Unfortunately, the controller’s manufacturer wasn’t able to help me get operational by morning...so it was time for Plan B.
Well, first I had to come up with Plan B. So I thought, ‘Who do I know within a hundred miles that might have a similar controller that I could get tonight?”
....and that’s where Timmer enters the picture. I give him a call at about 6:00 pm and explain the problem I’m looking at. Unfortunately, the only available controller he has is buried deep in a trailer. Not one to let me down, Timmer starts calling around and hooks me up with fellow animatronics creator, Jeff Lister who not only has the piece of equipment I need, but is willing to bring it to the job site! At 12:45 am, Jeff shows up as promised and within 30 minutes I had the polar bear ready to go for the show the next morning.
The moral of this story is...without membership in IAHA, I probably would not have known Timmer and my polar bear adventure would not have had the happy ending it did.
So I just wanted to give a big ol’ public Thank You to Timmer and Jeff and to remind others out there that sometimes it is the intangible benefits that makes IAHA membership worth it.
Regards,
Mark McDonough, president
Creative Visions
Here’s what happened...I was doing a project for Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom that brought me to the great state of Wisconsin. So, I am on the job site, upgrading an animatronic polar bear, when I discover the automation controller I brought was defective. Now, out-of-the-box defects do occasionally happen...but the timing on this was less than ideal, as Mutual of Omaha pays for...and expects...perfection.
So you can see the predicament I was in here. It’s 5:00 pm...the day before the show opens and I have a dead (no pun intended) polar bear. Unfortunately, the controller’s manufacturer wasn’t able to help me get operational by morning...so it was time for Plan B.
Well, first I had to come up with Plan B. So I thought, ‘Who do I know within a hundred miles that might have a similar controller that I could get tonight?”
....and that’s where Timmer enters the picture. I give him a call at about 6:00 pm and explain the problem I’m looking at. Unfortunately, the only available controller he has is buried deep in a trailer. Not one to let me down, Timmer starts calling around and hooks me up with fellow animatronics creator, Jeff Lister who not only has the piece of equipment I need, but is willing to bring it to the job site! At 12:45 am, Jeff shows up as promised and within 30 minutes I had the polar bear ready to go for the show the next morning.
The moral of this story is...without membership in IAHA, I probably would not have known Timmer and my polar bear adventure would not have had the happy ending it did.
So I just wanted to give a big ol’ public Thank You to Timmer and Jeff and to remind others out there that sometimes it is the intangible benefits that makes IAHA membership worth it.
Regards,
Mark McDonough, president
Creative Visions