Smaz, Luckystar917 and I all went to Macau yesterday to set up for the exhibition that will open this Saturday. We left Hong Kong at 10 am to make sure we were there on time to begin. Well, at 11 there was a car waiting for us at the pier and we were off. Sadly, the venue wouldn’t be ready until 2:30 so we headed off to a nice little dim sum restaurant for the first ever Macau puzzle meet up. it was just us three in a private room playing with my toys. I had (obviously) seen them all before, but did take a picture of those two taking a picture. Something happened to my camera so everytime Luckystar917 shows up in a picture her head has been taken over by morph! Does anyone know how to fix that problem?

Someone finally came back to pick us up at 3:30 and by 4 we were at the venue ready to set up. As we entered the room I kind of felt like Old Mother Hubbard. Nothing was ready and they were still bringing up the display cases. When all were up there, we finally were able to start setting up the puzzles. After a bit of discussion about insurance and security, the exhibition lost out on some of the older more expensive puzzles. I just didn’t feel that it was safe enough to leave them there. Somewhere along the way the messages got crossed.

Once all the puzzles were set up, we were told for the third time that the cards with the names of the puzzles on them had not been printed yet. (Hmm, wonder why, they only had them for at least a month!) No problem, Luckystar917 studied design, and I brought all the information with me so we just cut up my bits of paper, glued them to some black card and were on our way! It's a good thing she was there, because Smaz and I had a different plan that wouldn't have looked so nice!

Luckystar917 gazed fondly at some of the puzzles, I could see she was thinking about knicking a few!

Because of mixed messages, we had to improvise a bit when it came to stands to hold the puzzles!

I got a lovely picture of Smaz ahum, working!

Once the cards were placed by the right puzzles (there was a bit of a laughable moment for me when neither of my partners could work out what a Whip-It was) we were ready to put the glass cases on top. We were told the workmen left at 8 pm for the day, and since it was only just after 7 we had plenty of time….apparently they tell time differently in Macau. Every one of them had buggered off home. After listening to a bit of one-sided yelling in Cantonese over the phone Luckstar917 got it in her head that we could do this ourselves, and we did! There are even pictures to prove it!

By this time it was very dark, and did I mention there were no lights on in the venue? One lady had a mini-flashlight, and another was using the glow from her phone to help guide us carrying these 100 pound half inch thick glass cases around. All the while we were doing this a group of men I knick-named the Monkeys were bringing in rather large, wooden display boards. We finished putting up all the glass, and problem solved right! Wrong! There were 14 display cases and only 13 glass covers. I guess they count differently in Macau as well! Luckily that was for a couple of wooden puzzles I picked up here rather cheaply, a Meji candy tube that is easily replaced and a packing pineapple puzzle that I have a duplicate of…the woman in charge promised they would put the case on first thing in the morning. Fingers Crossed!

a few display cases

the last of the cases

Thanks for the photos and for displaying all those puzzles Rox!!!




Pantazis


PS. I would love to be a monkey too... those guys look cool LOL
PS2. You are always the best solution to unorganised people. Well done once again!

We double checked the locks on the upstairs doors (I broke the handle off one so I know that door won’t be opened anytime soon) and then headed downstairs to wait for security to lock the last door.
I took a few last photos and we headed for the ferry home. I know Smaz wanted to eat dinner in Macau, but after the ride over in the morning, there was no way I could do it. This was part of the fun. Jetfoils are supposed to glide over the water, I am sure ours bounced all the way there. Yes, for those of you that want to know, I did get sea sick. And I prayed all the way there that we would make it alive. Going home was smooth sailing for the first part of the ride, but they did make an announcement saying the trip would take a bit longer because of stormy seas. That was an understatement. Half an hour into the trip I was back praying to the porcelain gods one more time. I was so happy to finally make it back to Hong Kong I wanted to cheer!
I won’t be there this Saturday for the opening, so if anyone does go, please post pictures. I just can’t stomach (get the pun) the thought of going over there again so soon. It’s now 7pm here, and I’m finally able to sit up without being sick.
I want to thank Smaz and Luckystar 917 for coming along and helping out. Without them, I would not have been nearly so calm. My toys would all be back home now and I would have chalked it up as a missing day in my life.
Enjoy the pictures!
What a wonderful day it all turned out to be!

No thanks needed. And I must appologize to Calzone and Dave Litwin, but I just didn't trust the security enough with all the mixups to put up your puzzles. (Calzone, I did put in 2 of yours) They will come with me for show on the 15th though! The funny thing was, the exhibit holders didn't want company names on the cards. They made a big mistake by not making them before hand! All web addresses are there!

They were having so much fun and laughing the whole time they were working I just had to take their pictures!

This time I'm afraid all credit goes to Luckystar917! Without her, I could have never done it! Her translating services were absolutly amazing! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

I guess she is indeed your Lucky Star!




Pantazis

Indeed she was!

And no comments about my old baggy eyes. I was up and running for around 12 hours at that time, had spent 1/2 an hour with the dry heaves, and was frustrated beyond belief!

Never again will I complain about inefficiency here in Hong Kong. I've seen the worst now. For me, it was even worse than in Thailand. They had a team to do each little bit of work....one set for the boards, one set to carry the display cases, one to carry the glass, one to put the glass on....I wonder how they ever get anything done. Thanks to Luckystars improvising and cool head, we managed just fine. We all need one of her around in difficult times!

No need to apologize. Just don't do it again!

Well, if anything happens to my puzzles you'll get an order for two more from me in the near future.

looks fun!

thanks for the pictures. but I gotta ask, whats the pink pig/creepy face thing? and why is it covering the same persons face? was she camera shy?

That is a Morph, the only production 2x2x1 to be made, and I am guessing camera shy is the reason.

Roxanne: Not having my puzzle shown because you value it is an honor of its own. And being in company with Mr. Calzone is good company indeed.

Dave

Rox, what is the flat snake puzzle in the snake cabinet?

I believe it must be the Geo-Loop puzzle from Binary Arts:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcDfNt8aRV4




Pantazis


PS. There is also a similar one, the Geo Morph 12.

binary arts Geo Loop, Yoshi's square, and the DIY Rubik's Snake from Hessport's Rubik's Shop.

The GeoLoop is held together by a ribbon, Yoshi's square is glued on sticers, and the snake is a tongue and groove sort of thing that can be taken apart.

More photos can be seen on facebook.

If you are interested, My puzzles made the Macau news. Something abut developing a cubing culture?!

http://new.cyberctm.com/cn/info/tvnewslist.php?id=90704009

Indeed, one person can make huge impact! Well done!!!




Pantazis

thank you for the great work Katsmom!



and yes.... its becos of camera shy.
Katsmon is really good at catching me in the camera (while not letting me know... the evil photographer << )



its not only me. we did it all together
with SmaZ carrying all the puzzles throughout the entire trip, with him cutting all the labels out and moving the glassess....etc. (and now with his new puzzle )
and all those wonderful puzzles that you bought with you plus all those labellings and descriptions for the puzzles.
Being able to see all those rare puzzles just makes your eyes shine

[/quote]

congratulations! you made it into the news

Rather than start a new thread, I thought I'd post these here.







I am looking rather off color here. There was a typhoon warning up on the sail down, and a higher one on the way back. I was working last weekend in Macau and took a quick run over to check out what they did with the place. I was very impressed. It didn't look like this when we left.



This afternoon I went to visit Smaz and he had a gift for me from the organizers. I was so heart warmed (I know that's not a word, but I don't know how to express my joy and surprise, and just general gratitude) The stand is made of glass with everything etched into it and has a very special place on my desk waiting for it. It was honor enough for me to be able to show my puzzles in public. But this is even better than that.

The stands look great, the posters look amazing, love the overall design! Kudos to all involved!

Skarabajo

Haha, everything looks fantastic! And quite a crazy story going on there too. But you got a new puzzle out of it, changed the world, and lived to tell of it. I think you managed pretty nicely! Although I am convinced you must be one of the most calm and collected people on this earth. With that many set backs, I would have been steaming mad! Congratulations on a job well done.

PS, I added you on facebook.