Pandemic Projects

An in-progress list of the things that have kept me busy, employed, and dare I say it, alive during the past 18 months. 

First, I've live-streamed a bunch of yoga classes. Starting with an iPad on a tripod, and evolving over time to include:

• Lights (I pulled the kirtan lighting package out of storage and set up a bit of a stage) 
• Sound (I employed a wireless headset for the instructor for better sound, carefully sanitized between uses) 
• Facebook Live, migrating to 
• Youtube, migrating to 
• Vimeo
• Got the studio up to speed on Zoom, working with instructors who were able to teach from home, and setting up in-studio resources, including
• A Zoom cart - which started with back to back monitors (one for instructor one for operator, who had to sit through class in the room) and adding external cameras and mics
  
• Transition to HDMI cameras and an amazing little switching box that is as close to being a TD as I'll ever get. We used that for Zoom classes (initially) to prove the concept and test the hardware / cabling, before
• Permanently mounting the HDMI system in Studio A (with a control area in the office), and bringing the zoom cart back to life for independent use. Set up includes a remote monitor (for the instructor), some specialized microphones, and provision for bluetooth headsets, direct music from the room sound system, etc.

So right now, we've got a full blown, 4 camera system in Studio A (we livestream all of our in studio classes) and a rolling Zoom cart in Studio B (which I'm still tweaking, hoping to be able to livestream Studio B classes, as well as do zoom only classes)  

And other (sort of related) projects: 

• Cleaned out the long abandoned (10 years) studio storage room
• Cleaned out the shed behind the studio
• Orchestrated the great paperwork purge of 2020, Katie and I were able to send 40 banker's boxes to the shredder.
• Dug out the studio planters and made ready for flowers (they look lovely) 
• Picked up a new hose and reel (ours got swiped early in the pandemic)
• Purchased and supervised the installation of large roller shades on the east side of Studio A (where the morning light makes live streaming challenging)
• Purchased a collection of orange traffic cones (imprinted with WHY, the studio brand) to replace the crappy buckets full of concrete and fence posts doing service as parking lot dividers. 
• Assembled an old wire cart to use as a prop rack 
• Developed a system to set props aside for 72 hours between use (the better to ensure COVID safety on surfaces)
  
• Purchased dozens of white pillowcases (to cover bolsters) for yin and restorative classes
• Laid out little removable stickers on the floor(s) a dozen or so times, to facilitate social distancing and keeping students from blocking camera angles

My mantra over the past 18 months: never let a perfectly good pandemic go to waste.