JRM at Ekoji Buddhist Temple Obon festival July 13, 2024

[cteno4]

We had a great time yesterday at the annual Obon festival at the local Ekoji Buddhist temple. It’s a wonderful little festival with Bon Odori dancing, Taiko, and marshal art demonstrations. Also great food!

 

We set a small rectangle layout up on two 6’x30” tables set side by side. It was in their parking lot which has a bit of a slope to it so I put down a 2x4s across under both sets of table legs on each side and then we just levels the 4 ends of the 2x4s to level both table together. Worked out well for a fast and sturdy level on a surface sloping on two directions.

 

small layout was perfect for the small event. We get tons of kids at the event (sorry my phone battery died so didn’t get much in the way of crowd shots) and they enjoy the layout along with many of the adults. We have been doing the even for 13 years now and have become a fixture, our big inflatable goji is alway a hit and the organizer says it wouldn’t be Obon without goji there.

 

it was a very hot and sticky day, but that’s summer in dc usually.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

[Dillon]

Nice layout display, I guess we’re both busy that day.

 

Also, how’s the Otakon display layout going? Anything new this year?

[cteno4]

Just doing the logistical plans for otakon here today! The dc convention center is huge and getting stuff in is a very long and involved process as we can’t use the loading docks on Saturday now (was great when we could use it as we could leave the car there and much more of a straight shot to the exhibit space). We only do Saturday as we usually can’t get enough folks to do multiple days down there and load in Thursday and load out Sunday is a total madhouse. By coming in just Saturday we miss all that and Saturday is the biggest day of the con.

 

I think there will be at least one new module, maybe 2. Have to make sure on our table sizes and how many modules we have to fit on them. The dc convention center has odd sized tables, they are thin and I think only 7’. We don’t have the large suv for transport this year, so it will be just my new little Kia nero PHEV transporting stuff. It just replaced our old Prius V which amazingly had the cargo volume of a midsized suv (the V is a very long car) and was hard to find an efficient PHEV with any cargo space and Nero was about the only one that fit the bill, but had a tad less cargo space than the Prius v did, but this weekend’s test at Obon showed it actually packs better than the V did (and higher bed so easier for my 6’4” frame to work in w.o crawling into the back all the time) and packing full to the third layer for something like otakon is actually much easier than in the V! Whew. I figured if more space is eventually needed I can always get a roof rack and put layout tubs in a big soft sided cargo bag and strap it down. It was a lot or research to find the right permutation of variables as it’s usually just me and a few bags of groceries 95% of the time or the pile or club gear a few times a year, so silly to get a huge car for those few times a year. Nero worked out perfectly.

 

jeff

[Dillon]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

Just doing the logistical plans for otakon here today! The dc convention center is huge and getting stuff in is a very long and involved process as we can’t use the loading docks on Saturday now (was great when we could use it as we could leave the car there and much more of a straight shot to the exhibit space). We only do Saturday as we usually can’t get enough folks to do multiple days down there and load in Thursday and load out Sunday is a total madhouse. By coming in just Saturday we miss all that and Saturday is the biggest day of the con.

 

I think there will be at least one new module, maybe 2. Have to make sure on our table sizes and how many modules we have to fit on them. The dc convention center has odd sized tables, they are thin and I think only 7’. We don’t have the large suv for transport this year, so it will be just my new little Kia nero PHEV transporting stuff. It just replaced our old Prius V which amazingly had the cargo volume of a midsized suv (the V is a very long car) and was hard to find an efficient PHEV with any cargo space and Nero was about the only one that fit the bill, but had a tad less cargo space than the Prius v did, but this weekend’s test at Obon showed it actually packs better than the V did (and higher bed so easier for my 6’4” frame to work in w.o crawling into the back all the time) and packing full to the third layer for something like otakon is actually much easier than in the V! Whew. I figured if more space is eventually needed I can always get a roof rack and put layout tubs in a big soft sided cargo bag and strap it down. It was a lot or research to find the right permutation of variables as it’s usually just me and a few bags of groceries 95% of the time or the pile or club gear a few times a year, so silly to get a huge car for those few times a year. Nero worked out perfectly.

I remember you told me that you can only do a Saturday, can’t wait to see the new module.

[Tony Galiani]

When is the show?

 

Actually, I just found the dates - looks like August 2nd - 4th.  One of these years I will make one of your shows but that is the weekend we leave for Germany.

 

And, funny enough, we recently bought a Kia Niro as well - just the basic hybrid but pretty handy and easy to load my music gear when I car pool with other band members.

 

Cheers,

Tony

Edited July 15 by Tony Galiani

[cteno4]

Tony,

 

some day yes Tony! We are just doing Saturday Aug 3.
 

lol on the Nero! We went for the PHEV as like 95% are trips less than 25 miles or so. Almost 1000 miles on it and not even a half tank of gas used! At this rate I’ll fill it up every like 3 months. EV would have wasted 90% of the battery with such short use mostly. I wish we didn’t have such a dense tree canopy over all our property (total shade a lot of the year) as a few solar panels would be perfect to keep the two PHEVs topped up.
 

It’s cargo space is a nice more of a cube space that packs our boxes much better than the Prius v or the various SUVs we have used. Also drivers seat goes wayyyy back for me! Car dealers thought I was nutz measuring cargo spaces in different ways to try to figure out which would work best. Kia dealer was nice enough to let me toss in a dozen boxes just to check and it looked good, but nice to see the full load packed in so well. But very happy with the little guy.

 

jeff