I bought one of the white shirts. I’ve got a lot of black t-shirts.
Author: j
Crazy Sink
Inspired by SETI?
Well we’re here in Mountain View, CA, after a long day of travel. Slept through at least half the flight, which helped. It was due to be early but ended up about 45 late because of heavy fog near the runways. Once safely on the ground things progressed as planned. Our rental car turned out to be the sporty Kia Optima. It’s really trying hard, I’ll give it that. It’s even got Tiptronic(-like) transmission!
Crossed the San Mateo bridge again (this time intentionally,) but that same fog prevented any view of the bay, so we crossed the smaller Dumbarton bridge to the south, which for some reason was not fogged up. A little exploration of the Mountain View area found us some lunch, then it was check-in time, just in time for a major nap. After a couple hours of nap and a couple more of recovery, it was back to Castro St. for dinner, which, despite the abundant choices, ended up being sub sandwiches brought back to the hotel.
And that’s the first day. The hotel promises a “full” breakfast (not a buffet?) every morning, and tomorrow’s speaker lineup at VCF means I’ll be staying the entire day.
Things Happening
Just a few days left ’til VCF! I’ll be spending a few extra days in the SFO area, so many photos should be forthcoming. I’ll try to update from the road when possible. Not looking forward to: flying, driving in SanFran, paying for parking. Other than that, it should be a good time.
This makes me sad
Unfortunately, this will probably work for a long time.
Hamfest score!
It’s a flight simulator control panel. The yoke is mounted on a hydraulic rod, the slides on the right pull out, and although the gauges are fake, the buttons around them are not. The back has some mystery connectors, but I think it was meant for a PC. Time to hit Google for the answers.
Today’s ‘fest (Peotone, IL) was good to me, as it was the last time. Got the flight trainer, a box of Western Electric handset cords and wall jacks, all in plastic, some brand new Trimline bases and handsets in their Bell boxes, a grey(!) 2-line 2500 set, Bell 50a conference phone, a Dec VT330 terminal that came with 2m radio and FMJ packet box (all for $5!) and a few other $1 items here and there. The car is once again full (since I haven’t emptied it from the TRS-80 pickup yesterday.)
I’m at least giving serious consideration to renting a storage unit. I said I’d never do it, because I wanted to draw the line at paying a monthly fee for my collecting habit, but I’ve got enough boxable stuff now (magazines, sofware, books, small hardware) that I could free up a good deal of space at home and get my house back again.
Wow, storage is expensive. Min. $150/mo for the kind of space I need? Ouch.
Long Lines
Former AT&T Long Lines microwave tower, west of State Route 49, north of Valparaiso, Indiana
VCFmw Pics
Here are the pics I took at VCF Midwest. I’ll like other galleries as I find them.
Packing Up
I’m all packed up, time to help the others get their stuff ready to go. Things went well. I’m coming home with about the same, or maybe only slightly more, stuff than I came with. Picked up a Mac IIfx and some random books and such. Unloaded some blank tapes and lots of copies of Windows 1.03. Got myself on the local news (link coming later) saying some embarrassing stuff under the glare of the video light. Saw some great hardware and met some great people. Got to show off some wacky hardware and educate people on how things used to be done and how much fun it wasn’t.
Due to hit the road in an hour or so, after a much-needed meal. Will post full pictures set tomorrow.
VCFmw Dinner
VCFmw dinner
