Having anything that's too easily tipped over wouldn't work here in CA. First decent earthquake and it'd go flying. For similar reasons to Angela's I've had house cleaners. It's not that expensive and frees up some time. For safety's sake I use private parties. With a cleaning service it could be almost anyone; with an individual it's always the same person. On day one the cleaner gets a full run down of the "Do Not Touch" items. They seem to like that there are things that will be cleaned before they arrive. Probably takes some stress off them. So far, so good.
The rules for guests vary with the audience and have evolved with the gear and time, but here's the long version:
Bring music to play. The more variety the better.
Please don't turn knobs or push buttons. If you want something just ask. I shudder to think what would happen were someone to spin my "flywheel" volume knob.
Please don't set *anything* on the speakers or equipment rack. Seems like there's always someone who wants to use the speakers as a drink stand.
Don't move stuff. A friend was interested in how heavy my speakers were, so picked one up. He was not impressed when I told him it had been accurately placed to within a fraction of an inch and now had to be reset.
Which brings up one of the most important. Remember that Frank is very anal retentive about his stereo.
It's not likely they'll forget that last one. Don't I wish. For Xmas a couple of years ago one of them bought me a sweatshirt that read in bold letters "Is anal retentive hyphenated?" My response? "Of course not. Otherwise I wouldn't wear it!"
The rules for guests vary with the audience and have evolved with the gear and time, but here's the long version:
Bring music to play. The more variety the better.
Please don't turn knobs or push buttons. If you want something just ask. I shudder to think what would happen were someone to spin my "flywheel" volume knob.
Please don't set *anything* on the speakers or equipment rack. Seems like there's always someone who wants to use the speakers as a drink stand.
Don't move stuff. A friend was interested in how heavy my speakers were, so picked one up. He was not impressed when I told him it had been accurately placed to within a fraction of an inch and now had to be reset.
Which brings up one of the most important. Remember that Frank is very anal retentive about his stereo.
It's not likely they'll forget that last one. Don't I wish. For Xmas a couple of years ago one of them bought me a sweatshirt that read in bold letters "Is anal retentive hyphenated?" My response? "Of course not. Otherwise I wouldn't wear it!"