TheBanyanTree: The Day Ronald Reagan Saw LaRose Karr

[LaRose Karr]

This story was written after Ronald Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
I don't know why I got this little surprise and thrill on an ordinary day
but it sure is a fun story to tell.  The studio I visited was Fox Studios
and I met with the software developing team from Fox Interactive. This was
when they released the Independence Day and Simpson's software.

LaRose

The Day Ronald Reagan Saw LaRose Karr

Today at work I wore my souvenir T shirt from a movie studio in Los Angeles.
A lady I work with said "That's a nice shirt:". So, of course being the
story teller I am, I had to relate my travel experiences.

A year ago, my boss approached me one day and said "I've been watching you
around work. You are really smart but no one is giving you a chance to
advance. I've got a job for you to do."

It turned out that he wanted me to fly out to Los Angeles and discuss the
technical support business with a studio; concerning some new software being
released.

Lots of people fly from city to city on day trips but let me tell you up
front that I am not one of them. This was only the second time I had flown.
The plane had mechanical problems to begin with. We were delayed for over an
hour because the heater wouldn't work on the pilot's window. They finally
decided after replacing the heater (it still didn't work) that WALA we could
fly without it.

OK, I finally get to LA and get the rental car. Not ever having been to LA,
of course I took a wrong turn and ended up in east LA. I did what any
country gal would do, I stopped and asked for directions. And yes, I noticed
the bars on the windows in the

neighborhood. A nice Spanish gentleman said "Do you know you're in East LA?"
He gave me directions and I promptly got lost again. This time I pulled over
at a very well maintained body shop, made a call to the studio and told the
receptionist I was lost. She

was nice, gave me directions and so did the owner of the body shop.

I got back on the LA freeway and saw homeless people living under
overpasses. I truly didn't realize the way these people have to live. You
must remember I live in a closeted part of the world in NE Colorado. We
rarely even have crime.

I again had to stop and make a call. A man laying on the side of the street
asked me for a quarter. A part of me wanted to give him the quarter but I
was afraid I'd be mugged.

FINALLY, I turned onto Avenue of the Stars, and boy did I know I was in the
right place! The executives I met were very nice. Two young men immediately
took me out to eat at their Cafeteria and then let me shop at the gift shop.
After that, they gave me a tour of the studio. I saw where some shows were
filmed. It was very interesting to see the large studios which looked like
barns to me and seeing the sets being built by the carpenters. I think they
told me the studio had approximately 4,000 employees.

The trees in California were beautiful and full of flowers. As we went back
into the Plaza, one of the guys pointed at a blue car with the door open. He
said "That is Ronald Reagan's car and since the door is open, he will be
coming out soon." Well, we hung around and the secret service guys checked
us out to make sure we weren't loonies. Although, by this time I probably
looked like one. At the airport a kind lady had informed me that the tag on
the back of my dress needed to be tucked in! Wouldn't that have been a sight
on a business trip in LA!

Sure enough, after a little bit, Ronald Reagan walked by and waved at
everyone and got into his car. That is the closest I've ever been to a
former president.

We then discussed the software and I talked about technical support and
common calls. The most technical person in the office was an Englishman. I
don't think he liked me. Maybe it wasn't that he didn't like me, but rather
he thought I was a little country hick.

I first told him that Quick Time (an extension on Macs that allows you to
run movie clips) would give error messages on bootup if more than one QT
extension were installed. Mac operating systems don't give you any warning
or prompt you to overwrite. Well, he assured me that he had gotten all the
bugs out of the software, after all he developed it.

So, to prove his point he went to a computer (we were in a lab, not his
usual office). And lo, and behold, there was a Quick Time bug on that
computer!

I then began to discuss video issues. By now I could tell that this guy
really was the most technical in the office and the other guys were
wondering how I managed to talk with him on his level. He assured me there
would be no video issues. Again, he went to a computer and as he booted it
up he told me they had an expensive $1,000 video card in this computer. The
software loaded to a flashing question mark. YES, another video conflict.

We ended our meeting and I drove back to the airport. I took a lot of
pictures from the car. And I couldn't remember where the car rental business
was located but dug around in the car and found a map. I might add that
during this day, I spent a considerable amount of time praying and telling
God that I couldn't make it without his help. This was during the time I was
lost.

I asked a lady at the airport to take my picture and then boarded my flight
home. I sat next to a Chinese guy who couldn't speak English very well. As
we took off at the airport, we flew out over the ocean and then turned back.
The Chinese guy seemed worried about that and got out a map. He pointed to
the map and then said "Denver? Land?" I tried to assure him we were indeed
going to Denver.

Once in awhile on the flight, he'd try to talk but we never were able to
communicate. I stayed in a motel outside Denver that night and drove home
the next day. After all, I had only worked 19 hours that day.

I went to work the next day and came home. Had been home about 10 minutes
when my twenty year old son came in, told me he was blowing off college to
go to Wisconsin, and live near a girl he'd known one month. You can guess
that our fan was not in good shape after all that stuff hit it - and that
was the ending to my trip!

My boss was happy and said he knew he'd sent the right person. I then
developed training materials for the software and trained the technicians!

copyright 1997, LaRose Karr